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24/7 · 07-24-2007, 04:42 PM

From my website:

DISCLAIMER: The information below is rather lengthy. It is obviously not for everyone. I wrote it in part because it is very clear to me that the great majority of people have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to the figure we now call Satan, yet they speak with such authority on him. Hopefully the information below presents some clarity, though I am fully aware that some people are not interested in being confused by the facts.
==========================================

The concept of Satan (as enemy of God and man, and a separate entity from God all unto himself) did not arrive into Jewish theology until about 500 years before the alleged time of Jesus. Prior to that time, the Jews, in their religious thought, perceived Satan as nothing more than an agent of God, an adversary if you will. In fact, the word Satan was NOT a common name; rather, it was a description. The word meant “adversary” or an “opposer” or “accuser” so anything and anyone who opposed another person could be called a “Satan.” It had NOTHING to do with some great evil entity who went around tempting and trying to destroy God and man.

The very first place we find the word in Hebrew is actually in the book of Numbers and it actually is given as a description for an angel. When the angel met Balaam and his donkey (see Numbers 22), the Hebrew word used to describe the angel who stood in Balaam’s way to prevent him from moving forward was “Satan” and this angel was sent from the Lord. Again, it was NOT a common name for any single person or entity. It was a descriptive word.

To prove this even more, look at 1 Kings 11:14 where the Lord stirred up a Satan (translated into English as “adversary”) against Solomon. You can also look at 1 Kings 5:4 or 2 Samuel 19:22 and where you find the word adversary or adversaries, it is translated from the Hebrew root word for adversary, s’tn . Anyone thinking I am just making this up can refer to a Hebrew lexicon like the one below:

Crosswalk - Devotionals, Christian Music, Family, Christian News, Forums & more

As per early Jewish theology before and during the exile, in the divine heavenly court, the figure of Satan was seen as nothing more than an integral part of the divine assembly, one God used as an emissary of sought or like a court prosecutor. We find this in the book of Job (partly written or fully written AFTER the Babylonian exile) where Satan appears amongst the other ’sons of God’ in the presence of God, a strange place for the enemy of God (as believed today) to show up and be accepted don’t you think? Anyway, he is commissioned by God to attack Job to test him, yet another conundrum Christians are hard pressed to deal with - God and Satan, his alleged enemy, working hand in hand to break a man down to nothing. As far as the Jews were concerned, God was not evil, but he used evil to fulfill his will and evil spirits and Satan were the vehicles he used to accomplish this.

To prove the point even more, all one has to do is compare II Samuel 24:1 with I chronicles 21:1. Instantly a contradiction jumps out, or is it so? In one book (II Samuel), God is supposedly the one who leads David to number the people which then in turns incurs the wrath of God (the silliness in this is a whole other story) while in II Chronicles 21:1 we are told that it is Satan. So which account is correct? Well if you follow the evolution of Jewish theological thought, you realize the early Hebrews/Israelites/Jews believed ALL things, bad or god, ultimately derived from God. This is the reflection of the older book of II Samuel, however, in I Chronicles, most likely written after the Babylonian exile, but most definitely edited during that time or after, the Jews saw things a little differently. To disassociate God from being directly involved in evil acts, they reasoned that he commissioned agents to do such work which is what we see reflected in I Chronicles 21:1 and also II Chronicles 18:19-22 where God consults with a lying spirit and commissions him to go lie through the prophets of Ahab. From this process in the evolution, it was not a great stretch to begin removing Satan from God altogether and making him his own entity, independent of God setting the stage for the Satan many people have in mind today.

What spurred these changes in Jewish thought, and how Satan became associated with the serpent in the Garden of Eden and the great enemy of God and man in the New Testament and beyond is next.

Close to 600 years before the time of Christ, the Babylonians under command of Nebuchadnezzar invaded the kingdom of Judah, home of the Jews. Not only was the kingdom invaded; its people were hauled off into exile in Babylon, capital of the growing Babylonian empire. This one event was a national disaster for the Jewish people, one of total humiliation for one key reason. In ancient times, it was believed that the gods fought one another and these battles were played out in the respective nations where they were worshipped. In other words, when a nation went to war with another nation, it was believed their respective gods also went to war. If a nation lost in war, it was reasoned that their god also lost and rendered inferior and insignificant. For the Jews this was unthinkable and it was up to their prophets and holy men to make sense of this. They concluded (in their retelling in the books of II Kings and II Chronicles) that the reason their people were defeated, humiliated and hauled off into captivity was because they failed to honor their national god Yahweh in favor of serving other gods. This idea helped to remove any notion that the Jewish god was actually a failure to his people.

The Jews hated their Babylonian captors. This is reflected in Psalm 137, a mournful Psalm penned in Babylon, which expressed the anguish of the Jews in captivity. There is mention of the Babylonians mocking them and requesting them to sing their joyful songs of Zion knowing full well the Jews had nothing happy worth singing about. In the latter portion of that Psalm, we read the depth of the hatred the Jews had for their captors. They considered anyone blessed who would take Babylonian children and smash them against stones.

Half a century later, a new power was emerging to the east of Babylon. They were the Persians under the command of one of history’s greatest rulers, Cyrus the Great (Persia being modern day Iran). It appears his reputation of being a fair and benign ruler preceded him because the Jews gushed over him. They saw him as a savior, their deliverer, the one who would rid them of Babylonian rule. In 538 B.C.E, Cyrus invaded Babylon and took control of the city and the Jews came under Persian rule. It is said that the people of Babylon, including the many Jews, did not even put up a resistance and actually welcomed Cyrus with opened arms. Within one year, Cyrus issued a decree that allowed the Jews to return back to their ancient land and this began a very amicable relationship between the Jews and Persians for the next 200 plus years as Persian retained dominance in the region.

On the religious front, the Persians had a rather complex and interesting religious system. Their religion was based on the teachings of a Persian holy man by the name of Zoroaster (Zarathustra in Greek). While there are many things he taught that could be found in the later religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, I want to focus on his concept of the evil one - Angra Mainyu. It was his belief that the universe was ruled by an all-pure, all-powerful being, the father of light, righteousness and truth, by the name of Ahura Mazda (Ormazd). The righteous of the earth was governed by his commands. Conversely, the master of darkness and evil - Angra Mainyu, rivaled him. The wicked were under his control. He was responsible for all things evil including death, disease and havoc. According to Zoroaster, the two were at constant war with each other, played out in the hearts and minds of humans. When men did or thought evil of evil and bad things happened, Angra-Mainyu was to be blamed and when they did good and lived righteous lives and good things, Ahura Mazda was glorified. This was to go on until the end of time when the forces of good, led by Ahura Mazda would go into battle against Angra-Mainyu and the forces of evil for one final, ultimate and great battle in which the forces of good would triumph.

CONTINUED....

07-24-2007, 04:42 PM	#1 (permalink)
24/7 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: SoFla Posts: 70 Credits: 37	Speaking of this dude they call Satan From my website: DISCLAIMER: The information below is rather lengthy. It is obviously not for everyone. I wrote it in part because it is very clear to me that the great majority of people have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to the figure we now call Satan, yet they speak with such authority on him. Hopefully the information below presents some clarity, though I am fully aware that some people are not interested in being confused by the facts. ========================================== The concept of Satan (as enemy of God and man, and a separate entity from God all unto himself) did not arrive into Jewish theology until about 500 years before the alleged time of Jesus. Prior to that time, the Jews, in their religious thought, perceived Satan as nothing more than an agent of God, an adversary if you will. In fact, the word Satan was NOT a common name; rather, it was a description. The word meant “adversary” or an “opposer” or “accuser” so anything and anyone who opposed another person could be called a “Satan.” It had NOTHING to do with some great evil entity who went around tempting and trying to destroy God and man. The very first place we find the word in Hebrew is actually in the book of Numbers and it actually is given as a description for an angel. When the angel met Balaam and his donkey (see Numbers 22), the Hebrew word used to describe the angel who stood in Balaam’s way to prevent him from moving forward was “Satan” and this angel was sent from the Lord. Again, it was NOT a common name for any single person or entity. It was a descriptive word. To prove this even more, look at 1 Kings 11:14 where the Lord stirred up a Satan (translated into English as “adversary”) against Solomon. You can also look at 1 Kings 5:4 or 2 Samuel 19:22 and where you find the word adversary or adversaries, it is translated from the Hebrew root word for adversary, s’tn . Anyone thinking I am just making this up can refer to a Hebrew lexicon like the one below: Crosswalk - Devotionals, Christian Music, Family, Christian News, Forums & more As per early Jewish theology before and during the exile, in the divine heavenly court, the figure of Satan was seen as nothing more than an integral part of the divine assembly, one God used as an emissary of sought or like a court prosecutor. We find this in the book of Job (partly written or fully written AFTER the Babylonian exile) where Satan appears amongst the other ’sons of God’ in the presence of God, a strange place for the enemy of God (as believed today) to show up and be accepted don’t you think? Anyway, he is commissioned by God to attack Job to test him, yet another conundrum Christians are hard pressed to deal with - God and Satan, his alleged enemy, working hand in hand to break a man down to nothing. As far as the Jews were concerned, God was not evil, but he used evil to fulfill his will and evil spirits and Satan were the vehicles he used to accomplish this. To prove the point even more, all one has to do is compare II Samuel 24:1 with I chronicles 21:1. Instantly a contradiction jumps out, or is it so? In one book (II Samuel), God is supposedly the one who leads David to number the people which then in turns incurs the wrath of God (the silliness in this is a whole other story) while in II Chronicles 21:1 we are told that it is Satan. So which account is correct? Well if you follow the evolution of Jewish theological thought, you realize the early Hebrews/Israelites/Jews believed ALL things, bad or god, ultimately derived from God. This is the reflection of the older book of II Samuel, however, in I Chronicles, most likely written after the Babylonian exile, but most definitely edited during that time or after, the Jews saw things a little differently. To disassociate God from being directly involved in evil acts, they reasoned that he commissioned agents to do such work which is what we see reflected in I Chronicles 21:1 and also II Chronicles 18:19-22 where God consults with a lying spirit and commissions him to go lie through the prophets of Ahab. From this process in the evolution, it was not a great stretch to begin removing Satan from God altogether and making him his own entity, independent of God setting the stage for the Satan many people have in mind today. What spurred these changes in Jewish thought, and how Satan became associated with the serpent in the Garden of Eden and the great enemy of God and man in the New Testament and beyond is next. Close to 600 years before the time of Christ, the Babylonians under command of Nebuchadnezzar invaded the kingdom of Judah, home of the Jews. Not only was the kingdom invaded; its people were hauled off into exile in Babylon, capital of the growing Babylonian empire. This one event was a national disaster for the Jewish people, one of total humiliation for one key reason. In ancient times, it was believed that the gods fought one another and these battles were played out in the respective nations where they were worshipped. In other words, when a nation went to war with another nation, it was believed their respective gods also went to war. If a nation lost in war, it was reasoned that their god also lost and rendered inferior and insignificant. For the Jews this was unthinkable and it was up to their prophets and holy men to make sense of this. They concluded (in their retelling in the books of II Kings and II Chronicles) that the reason their people were defeated, humiliated and hauled off into captivity was because they failed to honor their national god Yahweh in favor of serving other gods. This idea helped to remove any notion that the Jewish god was actually a failure to his people. The Jews hated their Babylonian captors. This is reflected in Psalm 137, a mournful Psalm penned in Babylon, which expressed the anguish of the Jews in captivity. There is mention of the Babylonians mocking them and requesting them to sing their joyful songs of Zion knowing full well the Jews had nothing happy worth singing about. In the latter portion of that Psalm, we read the depth of the hatred the Jews had for their captors. They considered anyone blessed who would take Babylonian children and smash them against stones. Half a century later, a new power was emerging to the east of Babylon. They were the Persians under the command of one of history’s greatest rulers, Cyrus the Great (Persia being modern day Iran). It appears his reputation of being a fair and benign ruler preceded him because the Jews gushed over him. They saw him as a savior, their deliverer, the one who would rid them of Babylonian rule. In 538 B.C.E, Cyrus invaded Babylon and took control of the city and the Jews came under Persian rule. It is said that the people of Babylon, including the many Jews, did not even put up a resistance and actually welcomed Cyrus with opened arms. Within one year, Cyrus issued a decree that allowed the Jews to return back to their ancient land and this began a very amicable relationship between the Jews and Persians for the next 200 plus years as Persian retained dominance in the region. On the religious front, the Persians had a rather complex and interesting religious system. Their religion was based on the teachings of a Persian holy man by the name of Zoroaster (Zarathustra in Greek). While there are many things he taught that could be found in the later religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, I want to focus on his concept of the evil one - Angra Mainyu. It was his belief that the universe was ruled by an all-pure, all-powerful being, the father of light, righteousness and truth, by the name of Ahura Mazda (Ormazd). The righteous of the earth was governed by his commands. Conversely, the master of darkness and evil - Angra Mainyu, rivaled him. The wicked were under his control. He was responsible for all things evil including death, disease and havoc. According to Zoroaster, the two were at constant war with each other, played out in the hearts and minds of humans. When men did or thought evil of evil and bad things happened, Angra-Mainyu was to be blamed and when they did good and lived righteous lives and good things, Ahura Mazda was glorified. This was to go on until the end of time when the forces of good, led by Ahura Mazda would go into battle against Angra-Mainyu and the forces of evil for one final, ultimate and great battle in which the forces of good would triumph. CONTINUED....