From what I understand, the idea of Satan was originally a sort of prosecutor for God, intended to test humans through tempting them. When and how did perception of him develop into an ultimate evil and an enemy of God?
From what I understand, the idea of Satan was originally a sort of prosecutor for God, intended to test humans through tempting them. When and how did perception of him develop into an ultimate evil and an enemy of God?
Comments
Welcome to /r/AskHistorians. Please Read Our Rules before you comment in this community. Understand that rule breaking comments get removed.
Please consider Clicking Here for RemindMeBot as it takes time for an answer to be written. Additionally, for weekly content summaries, Click Here to Subscribe to our Weekly Roundup.
We thank you for your interest in this question, and your patience in waiting for an in-depth and comprehensive answer to show up. In addition to the Weekly Roundup and RemindMeBot, consider using our Browser Extension. In the meantime our Bluesky, and Sunday Digest feature excellent content that has already been written!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
The original word in Hebrew is Sheitan and it meant “Adversary” and in this way it was used as a prosecutor for god. This is especially true in a story like Job wherein Satan and God seem to be on friendly terms.
In Karen Armstrong’s “The History of God” she outlines the pathway of contemporary monotheism from its roots in the pastures of near Turkey I believe (The ancestral home of Abraham). The four names for god being found in the four communities who lived there.
But your question is about Satan and I’m not sure I remember her touching on that point. But it’s important to note how much of contemporary Christianity “borrowed” from other faiths. From the dates for Christmas, to the Imagery of Easter Bunnies, Christian’s and every religious diaspora includes endemic beliefs as they grow.
Even today, Christianity in Africa and Asia has a very close relationship to the belief systems it replaced. They still have witch doctors and perform exorcisms. So it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that Satan came from other sources as an antagonistic force to God.
Zoroastrianism is often discussed as one of the oldest religions and they have a firm belief in both good and evil beings. Jewish lore talks about Demons and other creatures that aren’t necessarily created by god (Kabbalah for instance) or are the product of relationships between divine beings and mortal ones.
Personally, I root the archetype of Satan to Paradise Lost by Milton. The devil we hear about today most seems like that devil.
In the medieval era, the false gods of the Old Testament were often considered these devils. Gog and Magog were said to be dragged back to London in chains and their relief was carved onto the large wooden doors of an important structure until the Nazis bombed it.
So, if you understand, it’s a lot of midrash. Midrash is Jewish criticism of the Torah and Talmud but it most looked like telling stories about figures in the Bible whose stories had yet to be told but the stories were n relation to a contemporary social problem of the authors. Narratives require tension and God needs a foil. Notice that Genesis never mentions the snake or serpent as satan. It’s just a tempter. Milton retold the story of Genesis 3 to criticize the Interregnum Government (this is hotly debated) and Oliver Cromwell. But it’s still the story most Christians hold onto about the fall (which is perhaps found in Revelation depending on your religious view of the text (pre-, post- or amillenial) but if you ask a Christian, they tell you Milton’s version not the Revelation version.