Zechariah speaking of Satan

[Hellisreal]

As a child this always bothered me. I often wondered why God would entertain conversations with Satan about mankind.

It still does trouble me., in a different way now.

The serpent of Genesis 3 is easily identified with the Christian devil, quite true. However, he is just as easily shown to be separate from the satan who appears in Job and Zechariah.

In Job especially, God and the satan have a little chat, and it’s quite obvious that their relationship is more like that of an employer and employee than that of James the First and Guy Fawkes. The satan is God’s prosecuting attorney against humanity – his job is to continually protest our unworthiness. In Job, God allows Satan to try to prove his case. In Zechariah, he once again stands as an accuser.

The satan I am speaking of is not a tempter, not a stealer of souls, not the ruler of hell. He’s not the same thing as the Christian devil, big-S Satan. We may not like the little-s satan because of his function in the heavenly court, but he’s still an angel in God’s employ.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

The name Lucifer is an invention of Milton’s. Notice how it’s Latin, while all the other angelic names are in Hebrew and Greek

That’s what comes of following the Latin Vulgate - it’s all the fault of St.Jerome, or whoever translated Helel in Isaiah 14 as Lucifer Neither that part of the chapter, nor the chapter as a whole, is about “the devil” - it’s a lament over “the king of Babylon” (who has been identified with several monarchs), as the text states: he is described, in mythological language borrowed from Canaanite literature (some of which appears in the Psalms), as the day-star: i.e., the planet Venus (as we call it).​

The star Wormwood in Rev. 14 looks like an echo of the Helel-passage; as is Luke 10.18.

Satan is a title, meaning ‘accuser’ or ‘adversary’. It’s clearer in the book of Job that it describes the function of a particular angel – he constantly tests humanity with God’s explicit permission, acting as a prosecuting attorney against us. The satan is not really evil, he just has a horrible job.

Here in Zechariah 3 we see the satan standing in his place as lawyer, accusing Joshua. As in Job, however, God has other plans – and this time, apparently, is not feeling like gambling.

With his function there, compare Rev. 12. 9.​

Satan as the ultimate evil is a development of the New Testament. As far as original names go, I believe the one you are looking for is most likely Samael – though it is not the only name identified with the Christian devil. Abaddon/Apollyon, the angel of destruction in Revelation, is also a candidate; so are Beelzebub, the Philistine deity and lord of the flies; Ahriman, the Zoroastrian supreme evil; Yaldabaoth, the Gnostic demiurge; and more.

Sammael is mentioned in the inter-testamental literature: such as 1 Enoch. Speculation about the angels in Judaism did not really get into its stride until then, so the question cannot be answered from the OT. And the NT discourages such speculation.​

The leader of the evil angels is also referred to in the inter-testamental literature as Mastema, & Semjaza. Angels are regarded as agents of punishment, & of evil, without themselves being evil. At some stage, Satanael (another of his names) is made out to be the brother of Jesus, & to have become satan the devil by the loss of his last three letters.