Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Shoshanna Walker <rosewalk AT concentric.net>]

Shoshanna Walker wrote:

> Just so you know - Judaism does not teach that Satan "fell", that is
> a Christian idea.

Well, isn't it rather a judeo-christian idea?

No, it is a Christian idea

http://www.outreachjudaism.org/satan.html

Who Is Satan?
Question:

Dear Rabbi Singer:

When you were in Buffalo, NY in November of  '96, during the extended 
question and answer time, you were asked your view on angels and 
specifically about Satan.  I was astounded at your answer and was 
more astounded that the other rabbis present did not step into the 
discussion.

In your explanation of Satan and other fallen angels you attributed 
the creation of evil to G-d thus making Him responsible for evil.  
There are at least 87 references to G-d's holiness in Leviticus 
alone!  In 11:44 G-d says, "I AM HOLY."  Is not holiness the absence 
of sin?  There are many scriptures to prove that G-d hates sin 
(evil), that He cannot tolerate evil in His presence.  How, then, can 
you attribute evil to G-d?  I am interested in the Biblical support 
for your statement.

I have a fair understanding of Judaism and have found nothing in all 
of my reading to support your view as traditional.

Awaiting your reply.

A seeker after truth

Answer:

The rabbis to whom you made reference have spent their entire lives 
immersed in the study of the Jewish scriptures as well as other 
sacred Jewish literature and were, therefore, not "astounded" by the 
Judaism that was taught in Buffalo that evening, as you were.

Why weren't the rabbis stunned by these Jewish teachings on Satan?  
Because the Hebrew scriptures explicitly declare that the Almighty 
Himself places both the good and the evil that He created before 
mankind in order to provide His prime creation with free will.  
Deuteronomy 30:15 states,

See, I [God] have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil. 

In Isaiah 45:7, the prophet describes God's creation plan when he reports 
that,

I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; 
I the Lord do all these things. 

I did not invent these verses, nor did I tamper with them.  In fact, 
the Bible I used in the above quotations is the King James Version, 
which is a translation that could hardly be construed as friendly to 
the Jewish faith.

These edifying verses underscore the fundamental biblical teaching 
that it is the perfect spiritual balance of good and evil in the 
world that confronts every searching soul.  This is the Almighty's 
divine sovereign plan for creation: It is through man's personal 
decision to turn away from evil and choose good that virtue can be 
attained.

Isaiah 45:7 and Deuteronomy 30:15, however, pose a serious 
theological problem for Christians who maintain that God did not 
create Satan, the angel of evil.  According to Christian doctrine, 
Satan was the highest-ranking angel who, through his own act of 
spiritual defiance and outright disobedience, became the chief 
adversary and slanderer of God and the embodiment of evil in this 
world.  In Christian theology God never created evil; He is only the 
author of righteousness and perfection, as you maintained in your 
question.  Therefore, God could never create something as sinister as 
the devil himself.  Rather, Satan's unyielding wickedness is the 
result of his own spiritual rebellion.

Although this well-known Christian doctrine has much in common with 
the pagan Zoroastrian Persian dualism out of which it was born, it is 
completely alien to the teachings of the Jewish faith and the words 
of the Jewish scriptures.  In fact, the Christian teaching that Satan 
was originally intended by God to be a good angel but, in an act of 
outright defiance, ceased to function as God had intended him to, 
suggests that God created something imperfect or defective.

For the Jewish faith, Satan's purpose in seducing man away from God 
poses no problem because Satan is only an agent of God.  As a servant 
of the Almighty, Satan faithfully carries out the divine will of his 
Creator as he does in all his tasks.

Satan is one of the many angels mentioned in the Bible.  It is worth 
noting that the Hebrew word for angel is malach, meaning 
"messenger."  The same is true for the English word angel, derived 
from the Greek word angelos, which also means "messenger."  
Throughout the Bible, an angel is a messenger of God who carries out 
the divine will of the Almighty.  There is not one example in the 
Jewish scriptures where any angel, Satan included, opposes God's will.

In no part of the Bible is this more evident than in the Book of 
Job.  In the first chapter of Job, Satan appears with other angels 
before God and suggests that Job's steadfast faithfulness would not 
withstand personal pain and utter destitution.  Satan then requests 
from God the chance to test Job's virtue.  The Almighty grants this 
request, but He meticulously outlines for Satan what he may and may 
not do when putting Job to the test.  Satan obediently follows his 
Creator's instructions.  Job is immediately put to the test and, by 
the third chapter, begins to struggle.  He questions his Maker as to 
why he was created and, in a moment of despair, wishes aloud that he 
had perished in his mother's womb.  Still, by the end of this 
unparalleled biblical narrative, Job's virtue prevails over Satan's 
unyielding torment.

While in Christian terms Job's personal spiritual triumph is a 
theological impossibility, in Jewish terms it stands out as the 
embodiment of God's salvation program for mankind.  In Deuteronomy 
30:15, the Torah attests to this principle and in Isaiah 45:7, the 
prophet echoes this message when he declares that the Almighty 
Himself creates evil.

This biblical principle, however, was apparently too problematic for 
the Christian translators of the NIV Bible (New International 
Version).  They clearly recognized that a Bible which asserts that 
God creates evil calls into question one of Christendom's most 
cherished teachings on salvation.  How can the church insist that man 
is totally depraved when his God placed him in a world where he is 
free to choose good over evil?  How can the church hold to a doctrine 
of election or predestination when free will is man's to express?  
How can Christians maintain that God did not create evil when the 
Jewish scriptures clearly state otherwise?

Understandably, the NIV translators saw fit to alter the prophet's 
words by rendering the offensive Hebrew word rah as "disaster" 
instead of correctly translating it as "bad" or "evil."  The NIV 
Bible therefore mistranslates Isaiah 45:7 to read,

I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create 
disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.

The word "disaster" inserted by the NIV is so ambiguous that the 
uninformed reader would easily come to the conclusion that it refers 
to such things as earthquakes and hurricanes.  This skewed 
understanding created by the NIV mistranslation effectively conceals 
Isaiah's original message.  As mentioned above, the KJV (King James 
Version) does correctly translate this verse and render the Hebrew 
word rah as "evil."

One final point is in order here.  Christians often point to Isaiah 
14:12 as a biblical reference to support their teachings of the final 
and complete downfall of Satan which brings to an end the long and 
otherwise successful career of this fallen angel.  They argue that 
Isaiah's mention of the fallen "morning star" refers to Satan's 
ultimate demise at the end of time when Satan will finally be cast 
into a lake of fire as articulated in the twentieth chapter of the 
Book of Revelation.

There are, however, two serious problems with this assertion.  First, 
if Christians maintain that the "morning star" is a reference to 
Satan, how do they explain Revelation 22:16 where Jesus is called the 
"morning star" as well?  Secondly, a cursory reading of the 
fourteenth chapter of Isaiah reveals that the "morning star" spoken 
of in Isaiah 14:12 is referring to Nebuchadnessar, the wicked King of 
Babylon, and not to Satan.  In 14:4 the prophet explicitly names the 
king of Babylon as the subject of the prophecy.

That thou shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and 
say, How hath the oppressor ceased, the golden city ceased! 

Throughout this chapter and the preceding chapter of Isaiah, the 
prophet foretells the rise and fall of this arrogant king who would 
use his unbridled power to plunder Jerusalem and destroy its Temple 
but, at the end, would suffer a cataclysmic downfall.  In 14:12 
Nebuchadnezzar is compared to the planet Venus whose light is still 
visible in the morning yet vanishes with the rise of the sun.  Like 
the light of Venus, Nebuchadnezzar's reign shone brilliantly for a 
short time, yet, as the prophets foretold, was eventually 
overshadowed by the nation of Israel whose light endured and outlived 
this arrogant nation who tormented and exiled her.

Yours,

Rabbi Tovia Singer