Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Shoshanna,

> "Even if an angel of G-d did give the vision to Daniel, it still came 
> from G-d"  Obviously everything comes from G-d.  But if it came from 
> an intermediary, it didn't come directly from G-d.  And what do you 
> mean, that "otherwise the vision would be from an angel of Satan"? 
> There is only G-d, and Satan is only another angel, Satan doesn't 
> have angels working under him.  There are many many angels, an angel 
> is a servant of G-d, and exists only to do a particular job, when its 
> job is done, it ceases to exist - even Satan will no longer have a 
> job to do one day.
>  



HH: Have you ever read the Apocryphra? It reveals a Jewish concept of 
Satan that is like the Christian view of Satan, which of course was a 
Jewish view because the first Christians were all Jews. Here is 
something from the Jewish Encyclopedia on the view of Satan in the 
Apocrypha:
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=270&letter=S

The evolution of the theory of Satan keeps pace with the development of 
Jewish angelology and demonology. In Wisdom ii. 24 he is represented, 
with reference to Gen. iii., as the author of all evil, who brought 
death into the world; he is apparently mentioned also in Ecclus. 
(Sirach) xxi. 27, and the fact that his name does not occur in Daniel is 
doubtless due merely to chance. Satan was the seducer and the paramour 
of Eve, and was hurled from heaven together with other angels because of 
his iniquity (Slavonic Book of Enoch, xxix. 4 et seq.). Since that time 
he has been called "Satan," although previously he had been termed 
"Satanel" (ib. xxxi. 3 et seq.). The doctrine of the fall of Satan, as 
well as of the fall of the angels, is found also in Babylonia (Schrader, 
l.c. p. 464), and is mentioned several times in the New Testament. Satan 
rules over an entire host of angels (Martyrdom of Isaiah, ii. 2; Vita 
Adæ et Evæ, xvi.). Mastema, who induced God to test Abraham through the 
sacrifice of Isaac, is identical with Satan in both name and nature 
(Book of Jubilees, xvii. 18), and the Asmodeus of the Book of Tobit is 
likewise to be identified with him, especially in view of his 
licentiousness. As the lord of satans he not infrequently bears the 
special name Samael. It is difficult to identify Satan in any other 
passages of the Apocrypha, since the originals in which his name 
occurred have been lost, and the translations employ various 
equivalents. An "argumentum a silentio" can not, therefore, be adduced 
as proof that concepts of Satan were not wide-spread; but it must rather 
be assumed that reference to him and his realm is implied in the mention 
of evil spirits of every sort (comp. Demonology, and Kautzsch, 
"Apokryphen," Index).

>  
Yours,
Harold Holmyard