Greetings gentle reader! Welcome back to the Island, glad to see you again! As some of you may know, this originally appeared before on the Island, and I decided to rewrite it, and touch it up a bit. It is based upon a discussion I had in the chats one day about the Devil, and why people hates him so. I mean when we read the bible we see that Satan did not do anything really evil or bad. God is a lot more violent and hate filled than the devil. Thinking about this, I decided to look into the matter a bit, and the rework on this article will be the first in a series of articles on the devil and the development of the devil concept. I will stay with the christian devil concept for the most part. Although the entire concept of the devil is not limited to the christian faith, I will limit this look at the devil to the christian devil.

That is the question, did Satan get the Shaft? We will be looking at the Old Testament this week, and concentrating on all the verses that Satan makes an appearance in. When we read the bible in context, we will see that Satan did nothing evil, or at least evil enough to garner the hatred that is felt for him today. When we read the bible, Satan really did not do anything all that bad. For the most part god is the bastard of the bible, and not Lucifer. Satan is not all that bad of a guy. I know, this is a strange topic for free thinkers, but if you think about it, it is not all that strange. For the most part, all the thought and philosophizing is done about the existence of god, and whether or not it is logical or practical to believe in god... and blindly following doctrines. But I thought I would shift gears a bit and talk about the "archenemy" of god. Lucifer.....

When we read about Satan in the OT, we get a different picture about the arch enemy of the lord. For the first part of this look into the history of the christian devil we will look at Satan in the bible, and read all the verses about him. As the topic develops, we will then look into the NT and then into the history and development of the devil concept.

The word Satan appears in the OT 15 times. The word serpent appears 27. Devil is not in the OT. At least not the KJV. Anyway... the first appearance of "Satan" is not in the book of Gen. It is in the book of 1 Chronicles chapter 21:1. Here the Satan moves David to take a census of the Children of Israel. Now that is evil pure is it not? Lets read the verse shall we?

1 Chron 21:1
"And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel"

Pretty evil I have to say. Another neat thing is that this account is also given in the 2 Book of Samuel chapter 24, and in that account god moves David to number Israel. This will tie into something a little later in this topic, so keep this in mind.

The next actions and time we see Satan is in the book of Job. Where the evil Satan is given his way with Job, all by the express permission of God. The interesting thing about this little account is that Satan is standing in Heaven, with the other Sons of God, implying that he is a Son of God as well. Now, evilness is evilness, and I thought god could not tolerate evil..hmmm... anyway, Satan is not really doing anything here, just standing around and GOD brings the entire Job thing up to Satan. Lets read the verses shall we?

Job 1:6-12
"Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.7  And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? 9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? 10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. 12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD."

Hmmmm Satan talks with god, (after being cast from heaven) and does not even mention Job. Seems as if god is bragging about his little servant huh? Satan points out that God has protected his little servant, and blessed him with prosperity and the like, since god has done this, Job may not have ever really had a hardship upon his life, and that if there was hardship he may just doubt the goodness of god. What does god do about this? Instead of just telling Satan (a created finite being) to go screw off he instead GIVES SATAN THE PERMISSION TO MESS POOR JOB’S LIFE UP!!! (But he cannot kill poor old Job) How’s that for a loving god? Does not stick up for his children and lets the bad guys have his way with them to prove a point. Let’s see what happened to Job next:

Job 1:13-19
"And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: 15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.16 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. 17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. 18 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: 19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee."

Now, where is Satan? Do you see the devil here? Looks like natural catastrophe, and bad evil barbarians, and THE FIRE OF GOD, not Satan WOW!!!! That’s the devil for you gentle reader! (Not to mention the most amazing luck that those poor servants survived!

Well needless to say, god wins the wager, and Job does not doubt or curse god. Satan lost. But is god satisfied? NO!! Not on your life! God again pulls the same thing with Satan, and brags once more. Satan again just points out a few logical things. Next thing you know God lets Satan do as he will with JOB himself as long as he does not kill the poor bastard. Sounds evil to me that God would do this for a silly little point.An interesting thing we should also notice here is that in verse 3 of the 2nd chapter God tells Satan that he made god move against Job, what about that! Lets read that verse:

Job 2:3
"And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause."

God offers, and then blames it all on Satan! But wait it gets better!! Satan is really evil now!! Lets see what he does to poor old Job!

Job 2:6-7
"And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown."

Damn that is pure evil! Smote Job with sores! God kills thousands of people with wars, plagues and other happy things, and Satan moves David to count, and Job gets a rash! That devil is evil all right! Also, we read that Satan did not cause Job to curse God either, it was his wife! Another neato verse in Job that struck me as odd is this one:

Job 42:11
"Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold."

Plain and simple, this was the work of the LORD and not the evil evil Satan!

The next Satan episode is the Isaiah Lucifer tid bit. Lucifer is supposed to be the name of the devil, but in all honesty it is not. No really seriously. Lets read the verse shall we?

Isaiah 14:12
" How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!"

Now the original Hebrew word used here is heylel. Which is not a persons name, but the morning star, or Venus. In Greek it is translated as Phosphorus in the Septuagint, and in the Latin Vulgate we get Lucifer. Interestingly enough only a few translations of the bible has the name Lucifer in it, namely the KJV and NKJV. Lets look at a few translations shall we??

Isaiah 14:12 (KJV)
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!"

Isaiah 14:12 (NKJV)
"How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!"

Other versions of the Bible don't use the word "Lucifer".

Isaiah 14:12 (NIV)
"How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn!"

Isaiah 14:12 (NASB)
"How you have fallen from heaven, star of the morning, son of the dawn!"

Isaiah 14:12 (NLT)
"How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning!"

Isaiah 14:12 (RSV)
"How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!"

Isaiah 14:12 (YLT)
"How hast thou fallen from the heavens, O shining one, son of the dawn!"

When we look at the rest of the passage we can see the context, and determine that this is not a reference to the devil:

Isaiah 14:13-15 (KJV)
"For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."

The verses above really describes the planet Venus which is also known as the Morning Star. Since Venus is an inner planet, it's always relatively close to the sun, and can never be seen high in the sky during the day since the sun blocks out the light of Venus thus it "tries" to rise higher than the sun and exalt the its "throne." Similarly, at night, Venus is still close to the sun, and follows the sun into darkness, and can't be seen very long after sunset, thus being cast down into the "pit." Since it's only seen close to sunrise and sunset the idea of being a fallen angel would fit would you not think? Besides Jesus is the morning star, not Satan as we see in the Book of revelation chapter 22.

REV 22:16
"I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star."

Also the chapter is a rant against the king of Babylon. Lets read the tell tale verse shall we?

Isaiah 14:3-4 (KJV)

"On the day the LORD gives you relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended!"

There you go, no devil, no Satan, and no evil being done here. There is nothing more to see here, move along!!!!