I came across this article by a Rabbi that presents a totally different view of Satan and Hell than we Catholics have. So, did Jesus change the teaching of hell and Satan, did the church? How did our Christian notion of he’ll come to be?
chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/512017/jewish/Is-there-any-sort-of-Purgatory-or-Satan-in-Jewish-teachings.htm
Let me quote some passages from the article and try to give a Christian response.
According to Torah, no spiritual force opposes G‑d. This includes Satan, who is a spiritual entity that faithfully carries out its divinely assigned task of trying to seduce people to stumble.
I am not aware of any passage in the Torah that says no spiritual force opposes God, and I think there are several passages from the Old Testament that indicate the contrary. Three examples are Zechariah 3:1-2, Job 1:6-12, and Job 2:1-7.
In the first passage, St. Michael the Archangel apparently rebukes Satan. It seems to me that he would not do that if all Satan had done was follow God’s will. Therefore, it seems that Satan did something contrary to God’s will, in this case by trying to keep a holy man out of heaven.
In the passages from Job, Satan apparently tells God that He is wrong, and that Job is not really righteous at heart, but self-seeking. Therefore, it seems that Satan disagrees with God, which is a kind of opposition, unless I am missing something.
Satan is also identified with the Prosecutor above – that’s what the word Satan itself means: it’s just Hebrew for prosecutor – who levels charges against the guilty party who succumbs to its wily arguments. Look in the beginning chapter of the Book of Job and you’ll see that clearly.
When I read the Book of Job, I think it has kind of a comical description of Satan, but I think it still reveals that Satan opposes God. I don’t see why his being a kind of prosecutor makes a difference. In my opinion, you can have a just prosecutor or an unjust one, and I think the evidence suggests that Satan prosecutes at least some people unjustly.
In fact, the Talmud says, all that Satan does, he does for the sake of heaven.
I would like it if the author were here to answer questions about his document. For one, I wonder about the Talmud. If I remember correctly, that is a collection of ancient Jewish interpretations of the Torah, and sometimes I think I’ve seen people cite multiple perspectives out of it. Because of that, I would like to know where the Talmud says what this author claims it does, and if there are any other perspectives in it.
I would also like to ask him this question: if all Satan does is for the sake of heaven, why does St. Michael appear to rebuke him in Zechariah 3:1-2, and why does he appear to disagree with God in the early parts of Job?
Without him, the defense attorney wouldn’t bother to dig up all the merits of the defense. And the defense would have to try so hard to give himself more merits.
If I understand this author correctly, he thinks that Judaism offers a picture of the devil as a prosecutor, and Christianity denies this image. But if that’s really what he thinks, I don’t think that’s accurate. I’ve never seen a Christian
deny that Satan has a role to play as a kind of prosecutor. Even the New Testament apparently calls the devil “the accuser” in Revelation 12:10, and I think that’s a synonym for “prosecutor.” It’s just that I think the Bible also reveals Satan to be an evil being who wants to see men suffer. A prosecutor can be evil, right? So how does a modern Jew explain the evidence I’ve cited that I think supports the view that Satan is evil?
Regarding how our Christian notion of Hell came to be, I haven’t researched how Jewish people thought about hell and the devil at the time of Christ, but I’m guessing Jesus didn’t reveal the true nature of these things all at once during His lifetime. In other matters I’ve researched, I think I’ve seen a trend in matters like this: I think there’s typically evidence for Christian beliefs both in the Old Testament and in the writings of people from Jesus’ time period, and that helps us illustrate that our beliefs weren’t completely new to the people of the time. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will come along to share more insight.
Let me know if that helps.
