To my knowledge, HaSatan is regarded as a sentient being, but not an adversary of G-d’s. Rather, he is an angel sent by G-d and responsible for being humankind’s accuser and tempter in an effort to test our free will. He pushes us to the limit by testing our devotion to G-d. As is so often the case in Judaism, however, HaSatan takes on a double meaning. IOW, it is not central to Jewish teaching that one believe Satan is an entity; that is, one may also believe him to be our own evil inclination when it is abused instead of being exercised according to its normal aggressive function. In either case, the meaning of HaSatan differs from the Satan found in Christianity (as well as Islam, I believe), in which he is portrayed as the leader of the dark angels who defied G-d and revolted against Him. Although Christianity does not accord to Satan the omnipotence of G-d, he is still considered a persistent entity to be reckoned with in the struggle between good and evil. How and why the Jewish meaning of HaSatan changed in Christianity has often puzzled me.
Hi Meltzerboy,
I was hoping to shed a little light regarding your last sentence.
What you said in a previous post, #949 ‘’ If you study the Torah, as do Hebrew scholars and Jewish rabbis and their students, with the aid of the Talmud and, in some cases, also the Kabbalah, you will find there are layers of interpretation to several passages: the plain text, which is literal, as well as more profound interpretations, which may be metaphorical, analogical, didactic, homiletic, midrashic, poetic and so on. One can find, for example, both a literal interpretation of an event and a didactic lesson derived from it. Or, apart from Biblical passages, poetry can be interpreted on more than one level at the same time.’’
Christians would agree with this and the idea of Satan as a fallen angel would come from our interpretation of Isaiah 14:12-15. ‘How art thou fallen from heaven, O bright star, son of the morning…’ We would see these verses as having another layer of interpretation / a deeper meaning than only applying to the King of Babylon and have ascribed them to Satan as well.
We also see this in the Prophet Ezekiel speaking of the Prince of Tyre in chapter 28. Especially verses 11-19. Verses 13 and 17c seem to be speaking of someone other than the Prince of Tyre when they say 'In Eden, the garden of God, you were, and every precious stone was your covering. (we have all talked before that the Garden of Eden could just be symbolic, but that aside…). And verse 17c ‘I cast you to earth…’ But the whole chapter is worth a read.
We would get another revelation from the New Testament book of Revelation when Satan, the great dragon in Revelation 12:9, fell, it appears that he took a third of the heavenly host with him (a “third of the stars” were taken to earth with him by his tail, Revelation 12:4).
We would see this verse as a complement to Daniel 8:10 'And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them ’
I hope this has somewhat answered your question. I had originally intended this to be a short reply, but it kept growing and growing.
Simca
