The Hebrew (Old Testament) word “satan” simply means adversary. It is not someone’s name. In one place it’s used to describe God, when He was an adversary to Israel, when they were sinful.1 In the Greek (New Testament) the word is “satanas”. This means it was transliterated (spelled out as pronounced) from the Hebrew, instead of translated (interpreted). Likewise, from both the Hebrew and the Greek, these words are transliterated in the English, instead of translated. They should have been translated into their proper meaning, “adversary” (or “enemy”, etc).
Our worse enemy that keeps us from God is the unrestrained impulses of our flesh.2 It is personified early in the story of Cain,3 and possibly earlier, as the serpent in Eden.4, 5
Kaufmann Kohler’s theory, in his ‘Jewish Theology’, chapter 31, is that just as the serpent in the creation story ‘represents the evil inclination which arises in man with his first consciousness of freedom’, so Satan is an allegorical figure ‘representing the evil of the world, both physical and moral.’6
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Author: Bible Maniac
Keywords: satan, devil, diabolos, Lucifer, satanic, satanical, fallen angel, rebel angel, yetzer hara, yetser hara
Bible reference(s): 1 Chronicles 21:1, Job 1:6, Job 1:7, Job 1:8, Job 1:9, Job 1:12, Job 2:1, Job 2:2, Job 2:3, Job 2:4, Job 2:6, Job 2:7, Psalms 109:6, Zechariah 3:1, Zechariah 3:2, Matthew 4:1, Matthew 4:5, Matthew 4:8, Matthew 4:10, Matthew 4:11, Matthew 9:32, Matthew 9:33, Matthew 11:18, Matthew 12:22, Matthew 12:26, Matthew 13:39, Matthew 15:22, Matthew 16:23, Matthew 17:18, Matthew 25:41, Mark 1:13, Mark 3:23, Mark 3:26, Mark 4:15, Mark 5:15, Mark 5:16, Mark 5:18, Mark 7:26, Mark 7:29, Mark 7:30, Mark 8:33, Luke 4:2, Luke 4:3, Luke 4:5, Luke 4:6, Luke 4:8, Luke 4:13, Luke 4:33, Luke 4:35, Luke 7:33, Luke 8:12, Luke 8:29, Luke 9:42, Luke 10:18, Luke 11:14, Luke 11:18, Luke 13:16, Luke 22:3, Luke 22:31, John 6:70, John 7:20, John 8:44, John 8:48, John 8:49, John 8:52, John 10:20, John 10:21, John 13:2, John 13:27, Acts 5:3, Acts 10:38, Acts 13:10, Acts 26:18, Romans 16:20, 1 Corinthians 5:5, 1 Corinthians 7:5, 2 Corinthians 2:11, 2 Corinthians 11:14, 2 Corinthians 12:7, Ephesians 4:27, Ephesians 6:11, 1 Thessalonians 2:18, 2 Thessalonians 2:9, 1 Timothy 1:20, 1 Timothy 3:6, 1 Timothy 3:7, 1 Timothy 5:15, 2 Timothy 2:26, Hebrews 2:14, James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8, 1 John 3:8, 1 John 3:10, Jude 1:9, Revelation 2:9, Revelation 2:10, Revelation 2:13, Revelation 2:24, Revelation 3:9, Revelation 12:9, Revelation 12:12, Revelation 20:2, Revelation 20:7, Revelation 20:10, Tobit 6:7, Tobit 6:17, Wisdom of Solomon 2:24, Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 21:27
Source: Bible Maniac
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