Free The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels Page A

truly separate people, “holy to the Lord.”
    The more radical prophets denounced those Israelites who
    tended toward assimilation as if they were as bad as the nations;
    only a remnant, they said, remained faithful to God.
    Certain of these prophets, too, had called forth the monsters
    of Canaanite mythology to symbolize Israel’s enemies.5 Later
    (sixth century) material now included in the first part of the
    book of the prophet Isaiah proclaims that “the Lord is coming to
    punish the inhabitants of the earth ; and the earth will disclose the
    blood shed upon her, and will no more cover the slain” (Isa.
    26:21; emphasis added). The same author goes on, apparently in
    parallel imagery, to warn that “in that day, the Lord with his
    great hand will punish the Leviathan, the twisting serpent, and he
    will slay the dragon that is in the sea ” (Isa. 27:1; emphasis
    added). The author of the second part of Isaiah also celebrates
    God’s triumph over traditional mythological figures—over
    Rahab, “the dragon,” and “the sea”—as he proclaims God’s
    imminent triumph over Israel’s enemies. Thereby, as the biblical
    scholar Jon Levenson observes, “the enemies cease to be merely
    earthly powers . . . and become, instead or in addition, cosmic
    forces of the utmost malignancy.”6
    THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF SATAN / 39

    Certain writers of the sixth century B.C.E. took a bold step
    further. They used mythological imagery to characterize their
    struggle against some of their fellow Israelites. But when
    Israelite writers excoriated their fellow Jews in mythological
    terms, the images they chose were usually not the animalistic or
    monstrous ones they regularly applied to their foreign enemies.
    Instead of Rahab, Leviathan, or “the dragon,” most often they
    identified their Jewish enemies with an exalted, if treacherous,
    member of the divine court whom they called the satan . The
    satan is not an animal or monster but one of God's angels, a being
    of superior intelligence and status; apparently the Israelites saw
    their intimate enemies not as beasts and monsters but as
    superhuman beings whose superior qualities and insider status
    could make them more dangerous than the alien enemy.
    In the Hebrew Bible, as in mainstream Judaism to this day,
    Satan never appears as Western Christendom has come to know
    him, as the leader of an “evil empire,” an army of hostile spirits
    who make war on God and humankind alike.7 As he first appears
    in the Hebrew Bible, Satan is not necessarily evil, much less
    opposed to God. On the contrary, he appears in the book of
    Numbers and in Job as one of God's obedient servants—a
    messenger, or angel , a word that translates the Hebrew term for
    messenger ( ma’lak ) into Greek ( angelos ). In Hebrew, the angels
    were often called “sons of God” ( bene ‘elohim ), and were
    envisioned as the hierarchical ranks of a great army, or the staff
    of a royal court.
    In biblical sources the Hebrew term the satan describes an
    adversarial role. It is not the name of a particular character.8
    Although Hebrew storytellers as early as the sixth century
    B.C.E. occasionally introduced a supernatural character whom
    they called the satan , what they meant was any one of the angels
    sent by God for the specific purpose of blocking or obstructing
    human activity. The root stn means “one who opposes, obstructs,
    or acts as adversary.” (The Greek term diabolos , later translated
    “devil,” literally means “one who throws something across one’s
    path.”)
    The Satan ’s presence in a story could help account for
    unexpected obstacles or reversals of fortune. Hebrew
    storytellers
    40 / THE ORIGIN OF SATAN

often attribute misfortunes to human sin. Some, however, also
    invoke this supernatural character, the satan , who, by God's own
    order or permission, blocks or opposes human plans and desires.
    But this messenger is not necessarily malevolent. God sends
    him, like the angel of