A
Anonymous
Guest
In for a penny ...
In Hebrew ha-satan ("the satan"), is used as the title of a character that attempts to provoke punishable sedition where he finds none, thus acting as an adversary of human beings, bent on separating them from G-d. By circa X-mas day (whenever that was) 4 B.C. or thereabouts the title had become understood as the proper name of a BEING. Satan is seen as an adversary not only of human beings but also primarily of G-d.
It is important to understand that when Jesus, Paul, Qumran et al. refer to the “devil”, or to “satan” the way they understand the cat they are referring to, they would recognize as the scary bastard who stars in the Exorcist 1970 some odd years later. Obviously some of our religious ritualization & things would be lost on them, but they would have understood perfectly the CONCEPT of who it was spitting up pea soup & cussin’ up a storm.
As to “devils” helping G-d in the “old testament” this probably is a confusion of the role of Malech Hamoves, or the Angel of Death as you know him in Exodus.
No “devil” by definition is G-d’s helper, its just a misinterpretation (usually by our para-pals) of the true role of those two beings I just listed.
Ultimately all this talk about Satan and his nature goes to the heart of how to account for and understand evil in our world. That is always an important question and we should be proud of ourselves for entertaining it.
In Hebrew ha-satan ("the satan"), is used as the title of a character that attempts to provoke punishable sedition where he finds none, thus acting as an adversary of human beings, bent on separating them from G-d. By circa X-mas day (whenever that was) 4 B.C. or thereabouts the title had become understood as the proper name of a BEING. Satan is seen as an adversary not only of human beings but also primarily of G-d.
It is important to understand that when Jesus, Paul, Qumran et al. refer to the “devil”, or to “satan” the way they understand the cat they are referring to, they would recognize as the scary bastard who stars in the Exorcist 1970 some odd years later. Obviously some of our religious ritualization & things would be lost on them, but they would have understood perfectly the CONCEPT of who it was spitting up pea soup & cussin’ up a storm.
As to “devils” helping G-d in the “old testament” this probably is a confusion of the role of Malech Hamoves, or the Angel of Death as you know him in Exodus.
No “devil” by definition is G-d’s helper, its just a misinterpretation (usually by our para-pals) of the true role of those two beings I just listed.
Ultimately all this talk about Satan and his nature goes to the heart of how to account for and understand evil in our world. That is always an important question and we should be proud of ourselves for entertaining it.