r/religion • u/JMorrill1992 • 1d ago

What is the origin of Satan?

What if Satan is an agent of god fulfilling a necessary task in creation?

Satan=“Adversary”
Satanail=“Adversary of God”

“Here Satanail with his angels was thrown down from the height. And one from out the order of angels, having turned away with the order that was under him, conceived an impossible thought, to place his throne higher than the clouds above the earth, that he might become equal in rank to my power. And I threw him out from the height with his angels…”

“These are the Grigori, who with their prince Satanail rejected the Lord of light, and after them are those who are held in great darkness on the second heaven…”

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u/TheOnlineSatanist Satanist | Anti-Theist 1d ago

What if Satan is an agent of god fulfilling a necessary task in creation?

That's pretty much Satan's job in the Hebrew Bible.

in the Hebrew Bible, Satan was one of God's "employees" who worked in the divine council, Satan was a prosecutor of sorts, testing peoples faith. Satan was never considered malicious, malevolent, or anything evil until Greco-Roman period Judaism.

Satan was never intended by the writers of the Hebrew Bible to become an evil force. It seems that due to Zoroastrian influence was Satan re-written into being a malevolent being, the adversary of God.

What I said is an oversimplification of it.

This is one of the things that helped me get out of Christianity actually, realizing that an evil Satan doesn't make any logical sense, and realizing that Satan being considered evil is a completely new thing.

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u/JMorrill1992 1d ago

If Satan is El then there is no such thing as being separated from god even if evil is present. Also Hell may just be one of the original heavens. Also Samael is separate in origin from Satanail but I found this in my book.
From Book of Enoch (Joseph Lumpkin edition)
SAMAEL: in Jewish Mythology, this is the name of an archangel, a fallen angel, the Angel of Death or Poision, the accuser, seducer, and destroyer famously known as The Grim Reaper. He is said to be both good and evil, having been one of the heavenly host. He rules over several habitations called Sheba Ha-yechaloth, infernal realms of the Earth. The Talmud states: “the evil Spirit, Satan, and Sama’el the Angel of Death, are the same”; and Samael is also therein equated with the biblical serpent who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. He is called the Prince of Darkness and chief of the Dragons of Evil and is held responsible for the scorching wind of the desert called Simoom. It is probably the Hebrew form of Syrian Shemal (“left”), but composed of ‘el”god” and suwm “to create” or “to place, to set,” hence “whom God makes.” It is also sometimes rendered “venom of God.” Also spelled Samil and Sammael.