For many of us living in the modern age with even the tiniest understanding of Judeo-Christian theology, the concept of good-vs-evil is purely instinctual. Throughout the world, but especially in American culture, these dueling forces are personified by God (good) and the Satan (evil). It is practically ingrained in us, Christian or not, to associate evil with the devil and “what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable or admirable” with God (Phil. 4:8, CJB). Surely, it has always been this way—right?
Well no, actually. I can already hear the fundamentalists screaming, “But the snake in the Garden was Satan!” But where does the Bible say this? My favorite Christian dumbtank, Answers in Genesis, argues that it is no stretch to believe the Genesis serpent is Satan, because two verses in Revelation assert that Satan is a serpent.1 Satan and his minions possess the ability to enter humans and animals to complete their evil tasks. Great, demon-possessed snakes… sounds like an idea for the creators of Sharknado.
My concern in this post is not on the Genesis serpent, however. My concern is with the first reference to “Satan” we have in the Bible. Satan first appears in the Book of Job, which some argue to be the oldest book in the Bible. But the Satan of Job is not the Satan of contemporary Christianity, or even Second Temple Judaism. The Satan is a member of God’s heavenly council. Let’s take a closer look at who this figure truly is.
The Satan: Who?
The Satan, in Job, is not so much a character as an office that reports to God. Modern scholars typically accept that the Hebrew title, ha-Satan, means “adversary,” “accuser,” or “executioner.”2 Looking at the dynamics between the two in the prologue to Job, it is clear that Satan is more of a subordinate to God, rather than an adversary. In the book, Satan carries out the work of God. He is, after all, a member of God’s celestial council.
There is some debate that the book of Job is actually a pagan book. This is because God does not act alone; he acts through his henchmen, including the Satan. These council members are, however, lower than God. In Job, they are literally identified as “the sons of God”—including the Satan. This makes us stop and wonder, who is really the bad guy in Job? Is it the Satan, for attacking Job? Or is it Yahweh, for selecting Job and allowing his subordinates to determine to torture Job?
The Satan, in Job, is God’s instrument of suffering. We in our 21st Century thinking typically believe that “the mean ol’ devil” is the enemy of Job. But this could not be any further from the truth. God is the cause of Job’s suffering. As one commentator notes, “The dialogue does not explore the possibility of Job’s suffering coming from any hand other than God’s.”3 In this proper reading of Job, the Satan is the knife that God uses to cut Job. God is the antagonist of this story, not Job, and not the Satan.
The Satan: What does he do?
What do you think the Satan of Job does for work? Poke people with his pitchfork? Do the exact opposite of everything God does? Lead an army of demons against the church? The answer may shock you: he is sent to judge and punish the wicked. He does not recruit humans to torment the righteous, he tortures those who are not righteous. One researcher argues that the Satan functions as “the eyes of Yahweh,” in finding the unrighteous and serving retribution.4 Because Job is righteous, the Satan must receive special permission from God to chastise him.
The figure of Satan as we know today is the product of intertestamental books. As we already know, the God of the Hebrew Bible is violent and wrathful. Once we get to the prophets (e.g., Amos) God is all but Israel’s greatest adversary. Portraying God as the source of suffering started to become a bit complicated. Thus, the apocryphal literature made the manifestation of evil a powerful deity named Satan. The New Testament would go on to expound upon this figure, the scapegoat of causal suffering, and make him the archenemy of God.
But in Job, Satan is not a monster. The Satan we know today is not present in the book of Job. The Satan, the office of God that causes human suffering, accomplished the necessary work of Yahweh. The Hebrew Bible never posits that God has an archenemy who inflicts the world with suffering. No, the deity who makes Job suffer is the same deity who created him and the world. The God of the Bible is the cause of suffering throughout the Old Testament. He is not merely a God who is sometimes wrathful, as the church often portrays the Hebrew God. The Hebrew God is the God who makes both the righteous and the wicked suffer.
There are only three places in the Bible that make reference to “the Satan:” Job 1-2, Zecheriah 3, and 1 Chronicles 21. None of these verses depict a tall, red goatman holding a pitchfork. None of these passages depict an opponent of God. The problem of suffering produced the idea of a Satan character. Judaism reached a point where explaining God as the cause of suffering was not conducive; the religion needed to blame suffering on someone, and thus, Satan was created.
Conclusion
Is Satan real? I do not believe so. The Satan of Christianity evolved as a way to explain evil and suffering. The Satan of Job is an officer of God who accomplishes God’s dirty work. He is God’s hitman, in a sense. Christianity needed a scapegoat. Saying that God causes suffering is in line with what the Old Testament teaches, but that is not a pretty idea. It will not cause the church’s numbers to spike. So, a villain was necessary. Since the intertestamental period, the character of Satan has evolved into the being we know today. But in Job, Satan was not what we think he is today. Because of the church, we read our own ideas of Satan into Job. But that is not biblical exegesis. That is indoctrination by the church.
1. Bodie Hodge, “Was Satan the Actual Serpent in the Garden?” Answers in Genesis, https://answersingenesis.org/angels-and-demons/satan/was-satan-the-actual-serpent-in-the-garden/
2. Ryan E. Stokes, “Satan, YHWH’s Executioner” Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 133, No. 2 (Summer 2014), 252. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.15699/jbibllite.133.2.251.pdf?refreqid=fastly-default%3Adfacac0deec924a3dd8e0051d71c9df1&ab_segments=&origin=&initiator=&acceptTC=1
3. Wilson, Lindsay. Job. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015, 190.
4. Stokes, Ryan E.. The Satan : How God’s Executioner Became the Enemy. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2019. 42. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/reader.action?docID=6172714#
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