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  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Satan
  • Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2006 00:41:44 +0200


----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Kirk" <peter AT qaya.org>

Not in Job 1:8-12 and 2:3-6, if Satan is an angel. for Satan is shown as
taking the initiative in proposing a course of action, although he
requires God's permission to carry it out. Similarly with the snake in
Genesis 3:1-5, where God's permission may be implicit. These are the
action of a being with free will making his own decisions. Anyway,
anything else makes God the author of evil.


Peter,

First of all, there is no "Satan", as an individual being, in the Tanakh. "Ha-satan" means "the adversary", and I'm not even sure if the same being is meant in all cases. Note 1 Kings 11:14 and 23, in which God sends a "satan" against Solomon - in both cases mere humans!

Second, in Jewish tradition, the snake of Gen. 3 has nothing at all to do with Satan. He's just a jealous, clever, talking snake. At most, he represents our own human "yetser ha-ra", our "evil inclination", which is ours to overcome.

God, as Creator of all, is also the creator of evil. If there were no evil, there would be no free choise and no reward for overcoming evil. The idea of there being a powerful, almost god-like, evil being that carries on a cosmic struggle against God is a pagan one, which found its way into some parts of post-biblical Judaism and from there into Christianity.

Yigal Levin

The concept of




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