Who Is Satan? Pt. 1

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Intro Question

Based on your Old Testament knowledge only, who or what is Satan?

What Scripture references can you point to to support your position on Satan?

 

Take the time to Pause the audio recording for a minute or two and write down a few of your ideas. Write down who or what you think Satan is. Think of some Old Testament passages that you may use to support your reasoning and write them down.

 

Main Question for today

How does the Old Testament use the word "satan?"

 

Background information

The word "satan" comes from the Hebrew word שטן  and it means " an adversary," "opponent," or "one who stands in opposition to." So in the generic sense, it means exactly that-- someone or something that stands against someone as an adversary. 

 

Now just שטן  on its own means “adversary,” but in Hebrew there is something called the “definite article,” and it is the English equivalent of the word “the.” The article looks like this ה and it shifts a word from an indefinite state to a definite state. For example, instead of “a ball,” “a church,” “president,” it becomes “the ball,” “the church,” “ the president.”  השטן

 

So when this definite article is attached to a word, it makes it definite. And more specifically, in Hebrew, it can turn the word satan into a proper noun like a name or a title. So the presence of a definite article turns it into a title like “THE Satan”, while its absence usually means the generic word for “adversary” and is treated like a noun.  

 

In total, the word "satan" appears about 27 times in the Old Testament-- sometimes with and sometimes without the definite article.

 

Three Categories of Satan

 

Human Adversaries

Let's take a look at a few examples in the Old Testament where "satan" refers to Human adversaries

1 Kings 5:4, 11:14, 23, 25

1 Samuel 29:4

 

Note that these passages do not contain the definite article when the Hebrew word "satan" appears. When no article is present, the English translates "satan" as "adversary," when used as a noun in these passages. in 1 Sam 29:4 the word "satan" is being used as a verb and is translated as "he will turn against." Here the Philistine commanders are calling David a "satan"-- one who will "turn against" the Philistines. 

 

Think about how the word "satan" is being used in these passages. Write some of your thoughts down and think about how this information impacts your understanding of "satan" as we move forward.

 

Celestial Opponents

Let's take a look at a few examples in the Old Testament where "satan" refers to Celestial Opponents

Zechariah 3:1-2

Numbers 22:22, 32

1 Chronicles 21:1

(Just for fun-- 2 Samuel 24:1)

 

The Zechariah passage does have the definite article with the word "satan." Satan is functioning as the "opponent" to God in this passage. Yet the broader context of the passage does not seem to indicate that Satan is or isn't evil. In fact it seems that Satan is serving as a prosecuting attorney (we will touch on this more in the Book of Job section below).

 

Satan is not out to destroy Joshua but rather argues that Joshua is not fit or qualified enough to be Yahweh's priest. Yet Yahweh argues that he is. So the Satan is serving as an opponent in the way someone would be an opponent in a debate or a court case. 

 

Numbers 22:22, 32 is the story of Balaam's Donkey. There is no article attached to the word "satan."

(Fun fact: This is the first time from the start of Genesis until now that the word "satan" appears in the Old Testament.)

Who is the "opponent" or "satan" in this passage?-- An "Angel of the Lord." 

Here the Angel came to "stand against" Balaam. 

 

1 Chronicles 21:1 is when David is incited to take a census of Israel. There is no article attached to the word "satan."

This is an interesting passage and is an exception to the rule we have talked about so far. Here, there is no article with Satan, yet it can still be translated into English as "The Satan"-- Capital "S" Satan as a proper noun or a title. 

This passage is the only time in the Old Testament where Satan could be used explicitly as a personal name (rather than a title). 

 

Just for fun-- take a look at 2 Samuel 24:1 and compare it to 1 Chronicles 21;1

Who incites David to take a census? In 1 Chron. it's Satan, yet in 2 Sam. it's the Lord. One possibility is that God is functioning as a "satan" (opponent, adversary) to David who then succumbs to sin. This could work since there is no article attached to "satan" here, but this issue has some textual complexities with the note above about "satan" being used as a personal name in this passage. 

So this point is very interesting and unclear. We wanted to point this out to you so you can get a taste for the complexities of Scripture and have a more diverse understanding of who or what this Satan figure is. 

 

The Book of Job

Let's take a look at the Book of Job for another perspective on  "satan."

Job 1:6-12

Job 2:1-7

 

In these passages, Satan does have the definite article. These passages definitely describe a specific entity known as "Satan." Here the Satan could also be considered a Celestial Opponent to Job. 

 

Consider this:

If someone hit your car, or broke into your house, or stole something from you, would you want a really good prosecuting attorney or a bad prosecuting attorney? Why?

You would want a good one of course!

 

In the judicial system and in a court of law, what is the function of a prosecuting attorney? 

A prosecuting attorney is someone that makes accusations against the defendant and who tries to get a guilty plea from them. So simply because they accuse people of wrong doing, that doesn't make prosecuting attorneys good or bad, it just means they are doing their job. Prosecuting attorney's simply fulfill their functions within a court case in order to ensure that justice is being carried out as well as making sure that those who may have committed crimes receive a proper punishment. 

 

Having considered this, you could argue, that the Satan in Zechariah and Job is simply fulfilling his role as a prosecuting attorney. Yes, Satan caused the death of Job’s family, destroyed his riches, and ruined Job’s health, but who explicitly commanded and allowed/instructed Satan to do this to Job?

God did. Yes the death of Job’s family is bad, but it was God who specifically instructed Satan to carry out these actions . Satan’s actions were approved by God himself. So Satan was simply carrying out his role and function obeying God's commands.

 

Reflect

How has this impacted your understanding of Satan? What has changed?

Did you learn anything new? If so, why is this significant?

Is any of this a salvation issue? Or is there room for different interpretations that does not impact our understanding of Jesus, the Gospel, or salvation?

 

Homework

Notice how we did not cover Genesis 3 in the Garden of Eden. Your homework for this week is this: if you believe that Satan is the serpent in Genesis 3, write down as many reasons why you believe this and provide scripture references to support your position.