From the Accuser’s appearances in the Books of Job and Zechariah, it seems that the job entails calling attention to the unworthiness of mankind. He is ha-satan- the Accuser-and it is a job description rather than a proper name.

When referring to the celestial adversary, the word is typically accompanied by the definite article. The Hebrew word śāṭān, meaning “accuser” or “adversary,” occurs several times throughout the Hebrew Bible and refers to enemies both human and celestial alike. It is within this divine court of justice and retribution that Satan has his origins. He is behind the good and the bad, behind the blessings and the curses.

Other than human beings, YHWH has no nemesis, nor are there malevolent spiritual forces not under his authority. It isn’t the devil that spreads evil across the face of creation-it is mankind. In the Hebrew Bible, YHWH’s greatest enemies are not fallen angels commanding armies of demons, nor even the gods of other nations, but, rather, human beings. But does our modern conception of Satan have any resemblance to the devil in the Bible? Just who is Satan? Is this horned, red-skinned monster with a pitchfork ruling hell truly the great enemy of God envisioned by the writers of the Biblical texts? Wood engraving by Gustave Doré depicting Dante’s Inferno, Canto XXXIV, in which Dante and Virgil encounter Satan in the Ninth Circle of Hell.įrom the most comical of cartoons to the most grotesque of gargoyles, the majority of the population today can immediately recognize an image of the devil.

Samel nemesis monster legends