The existence of Satan or the Devil as the leader of the forces of evil has become a common depiction even in popular culture, though it is important to note that many Jewish and Christian communities prefer to interpret the figure as a type of “evil inclination.” When we look for Satan in the canonical texts of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and New Testament, however, we find a gradual development from a vocational role, to a member of the Heavenly Court, to God’s Adversary.
Our earliest texts contain few discussions of the evil character called “ha-satan” or “the Accuser," and he seems to have begun in earnest after the Exile. The general Hebrew term “satan” (שׂטן) refers often to adversarial roles that humans perform (1 Samuel 29:4; 1 Kings 11:25). However, Balaam’s talking donkey saves him from being killed by a divine figure described as an adversary on his way to curse the Israelites (Numbers 22:22–35).
The word satan with the definite article (Hebrew: הַשָּׂטָן, ha-satan, or “the Satan”), on the other hand, refers to a specific divine being that appears at first almost exclusively in Job and Zechariah. In Job chapters 1 and 2 (where שׂטן occurs 14 times), “the Satan” is the "Accuser" and is depicted as one of the “sons of God” (בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים), whose job was apparently to act as what we would today call “the Devil’s advocate.” This Satan is obedient to God and acts only with his permission, never exceeding his mandate.
If we turn to Zechariah 3:1–2 (where שׂטן occurs three times), which is set just after the return from Exile, we see a slightly different depiction. Zechariah describes a vision concerning the High Priest Joshua in which God rebukes the “Accuser,” for seemingly exceeding his mandate and actually opposing God.
An important glimpse into how Satan takes a more adversarial role and becomes responsible for evil acts once ascribed to God after the Exile can be found by comparing 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. In 2 Samuel 24, it is the Lord who gets upset at David (v. 1), convinces him to take a census of the people (v. 1), and then sends an angel to punish the people and nearly destroy Jerusalem (v. 15–17) because of David's “sin” of conducting a census (v. 10). However, when 1 Chronicles 21:1 begins its retelling of this same incident, it ascribes the blame to the Accuser, who convinced David to take the census (v. 1), which makes the extreme punishment (v. 7) easier to understand.
It is only after the interactions of the Persian Period and during the Hellenistic Period that we begin to see evil divine beings participating in a cosmic war between good and evil. The first apocalyptic development comes in The Book of the Watchers in Enoch 1–36 (mid-3rd century BCE). The Athenians had transformed the myth of Prometheus stealing fire from Zeus into a foundation of their culture. Enoch here equates this theft of “civilization/wisdom” with the “sexual union/knowledge” of the sons of God with human women in Genesis 6:1-4. The very foundation of Hellenism is now transformed into a stolen corruption founded in direct rebellion to God. This story is referred to in both 1 Peter 3:18–20 and Jude 6 in the New Testament. The leader of this rebellion would go by many different names over the years, with Semihazah, Asael, Mastema, Beelzebub, Lucifer, and Belial being common, before the Hebrew “Satan” and its Latinized rendition “Diabolos/Devil” would become prominent.
A second apocalyptic development in response to Hellenism can be found in Daniel 7 (written just before Antiochus IV’s death in 164 BCE). In a change from the first six chapters where the kings of the world were ultimately “good” and rewarded God’s obedient, here they are depicted as hybrid, unclean beasts. Drawing upon the Ancient Near Eastern combat myths like Baal vs. Yam or Marduk/Bel vs. Tiamat, these beasts are associated with the chaotic foundations of Creation. Many texts following upon this tradition would equate evil beasts and dragons with the evil foundations of the current world, like 4 Ezra.
In some later apocalyptic traditions these two distinct origins for evil are combined into one so that the angelic rebellion comes with Creation. Revelation (c. 90 CE) uses images of the red dragon that rebels against God (Rev. 12), supports the evil kingdoms of the world (Rev. 17), and is associated with Creation and the chaotic depths (Rev. 13). The rebellious beasts would be destroyed along with the world so that a new Creation could take place (Rev. 20–22).
The connection to the snake of Eden that tempts with forbidden knowledge (Gen. 3:1–7), seemingly becomes obvious in hindsight. However, we must note that in Genesis 3, the serpent is never referred to as "Satan"—only as "the serpent" (הנחשׁ, ha-naḥash). As far as Genesis 3 is concerned, it is simply a talking snake; at no point does the narrative describe the serpent as Satan, but it is easy to see how people would merge the two concepts in the later Hellenistic period.
The strong apocalyptic influence on many early Christian communities was one of the driving influences why the serpent in the Garden of Eden came to be identified with Satan, and how this interpretation became so engrained in the popular imagination.
Originally Published 12/1/21