The Satan

How God's Executioner Became the Enemy

Ryan Stokes

3/5

"I liked it"

Review

These are the kind of questions Jewish and Christian thinkers have been wrestling with for millennium, and they’re fundamentally encoded in Jewish and Christian canonical scripture. If you want a clear answer from the Bible, prepare to be disappointed, as Stokes shows quite effectively in The Satan: How God’s Executioner Became the Enemy that the history of a “Satan” character has evolved over time both inside and outside scripture.

It’s hard to draw a straight chronological line through the ancient literature to show how this evolution occurred, because ancient texts are hard to date, and their authors are hard (nigh impossible) to identify. Oftentimes, ancient texts are composite (made up of older, even more obscure material). But, Stokes tries to draw a rough line through the ages, by looking at literature from different periods.

Stokes says that “The history of beliefs about the Satan is in actuality a history of beliefs about God,” and I see what he’s getting at. Different authors within the OT, NT, and extrabiblical texts had different theodicies and understandings of God and the Satan character. Reading this book further undermines any idea of univocality in scripture (the idea that the Bible speaks with one voice).

According to [univocality], the Bible manifests a single theological and ecclesiastical paradigm which allows exegetes… to appeal to and synthesize texts separated by several centuries and virtually irreconcilable worldviews in the interest of the extrapolation of doctrine and, secondarily, administrative guidelines.

I believe the root of this assumption is the belief that the Bible contains all the necessary information for the institutionalization and administration of a community of faith, which, in my opinion, seems to be related to the idea of biblical inerrancy.

— Daniel McClellan, On the Univocality of the Bible

It’s abundantly clear to me at this point that different authors of the Bible had different theologies and would certainly disagree with one another. The Bible itself contains re-interpretations and re-tellings of stories (see the synoptic gospels, or the Deteuronomistic historian retelling the OT). But I digress…

In the book’s conclusion, Stokes provides an adequate summary of how the Satan character evolved:

The Satan began as a punishing emissary of God, bringing death on those whose actions warranted such treatment. The notion of the Satan as an attacker or executioner would remain part of the tradition through the first century CE and later. Nevertheless, this notion would recede into the background as thinking about the Satan evolved. The Satan came to be regarded more fundamentally as one who created problems for the righteous than as one who troubled the wicked. The Satan became a deceiver, a tester, the enemy of God’s people, and eventually even the enemy of God.

I enjoyed this book as a primer for the more obscure parts of the Old and New Testaments that discuss strange divine beings, as well as an introduction to many noncanonical Jewish and Christian texts like the Book of Jubilees, the Book of Watchers, and some important pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The material was slightly dry at times, but that’s more a reflection of my level of interest.

Takeaways

Notes

I can’t draw a strict chronological line through all these multifaceted, composite, undated works of literature, and neither does Stokes, really. We can speak of directions of change, so that’s what I’ll try to do here. Each section is sorta a generic “idea”, and I’ve organized them in rough chronological order (something that Stokes doesn’t directly do but I wish he did).

satan(s) as Attacker and Executioner

Stokes argues that in the earliest Jewish texts, the term Hebrew terms stn (“satan”) and hassatan (“the satan”) refer to generic “satan” characters. The term “satan” is best translated in these texts as “attacker” or “executioner” (not “accuser”/“adversary”, as English translators commonly do). The satan/hassatan titles can apply to both people and divine beings (both good and bad).

There is not yet a proper noun “Satan”, because he is not presented as a distinct individual. Instead, certain human or divine beings act in the role of a satan by attacking or executing individuals, mostly as a means to God’s ends (e.g. by punishing wickedness). The idea that these satan(s) work against God is barely present.

Important Passages

Demonic Hierarchy

At some point, we start to see a Satan character start to form. It goes by many names (e.g. “Prince of Mastema”, “Angel of Darkness”) and is characterized by authority over evil forces (demons/evil spirits). The Book of Watchers is an especially important document, as it basically provides a clear and very influential etiology for demons and evil spirits.

The Satan character is still controlled by God and used for good purposes, but starts to develop its own will apart from God.

Important Passages

Cosmic Battle

At some point, the dark forces and the increasingly individual Satan character are said to be in a sort of cosmic battle with Israel and God, even directly attacking God’s people and influencing them to sin.

Important Passages

God’s Clearer Enemy

…religious thinkers reshaped the Satan tradition in various ways to meet the needs of their own communities, transforming this modest functionary of Yahweh into the great enemy of God and God’s people.

In later literature, most terms for Satan (e.g. ho satanas, “the satan”, ho diabolos, the devil, Beelzeboul, etc.) are equated to represent a single being. Satan becomes an important and more clear character. His name as “Satan” may or may not be a proper noun, but this change will happen at some point during or after this stage. The distinction between evil spirits and demons is blurred.

Like the Prince of Mastema and Belial, Satan primarily works in opposition to God. However, the old notion of God “using” Satan as an agent of God’s will is still present (2 Corinthians 12). Satan leads other evil spirits, and together they influence humans, Israelites or otherwise, to sin (Matthew 4:1-11, 1 Corinthians 7:5). They also cause physical affliction (Luke 13:10-17).

We see multiple instances of biblical authors re-interpreting old stories, and incorporating new theology. For example, saying that Satan, not God, incited David to perform a census (2 Samuel 24 → 1 Chronicles 21), or that Cain was motivated by Satan to kill Abel (1 John 3:12). Like those before him, John re-interprets old scripture in light of new theology whilst writing Revelation.

Important Passages

Humans Responsibility for Sin

We have observed a trajectory in the later literature increasingly to credit these superhuman beings with responsibility for human wickedness… Several works composed in the late Second Temple period came to the defense of God’s character and offered an alternative explanation for humanity’s moral failings. Those who are looking for someone to blame for sin need only to look to the sinners themselves.

Important Passages