Torah Study Blog

According to Numbers 22, the prophet Balaam was called upon by the Moabite people to curse the Israelites. Balaam asked God if that was ok, but God said, “You must not curse that people, for they are blessed.” (Numbers 22:12)

Balaam is offered riches to ask again, and God tells Balaam to journey toward the Israelite enemy in Moab. However, after telling Balaam to make the journey, God sends an Adversary to block Balaam’s way. The use of the word “Adversary” in this story is the one and only time it is used in the Torah, the first five Bible books. In Hebrew the word “Adversary” is sa’tan or, colloquially, Satan. Frankly, it’s a great story about a talking donkey and I highly recommend reading Numbers 22 to learn the story. However, this Torah Study blog is about the development of Satan in popular culture and it would take too long to recount the entire story here.

In brief, an Adversary (or Satan) is put in the way of Balaam. In this story Satan is not a proper name – it is a job description. The adversary will serve the purpose of obstruction.

In 1 Samuel 29 the Philistines ask their commander why David, who is from the enemy Israelite tribe, is marching with them and they ask that David not join them in battle lest he become, “adversary”, or a sa’tan. This is a job title, not a name.

And in I Kings 11 God is angry with Solomon who loved many foreign women who were leading him astray, so God “raised up an adversary” to cause problems for Solomon. Again, a job title.

In 2 Samuel, David ordered a census be taken and God became incensed. Chronicles is a retelling of the story of the Israelites, and includes the fact that David took a census. But in 1 Chronicles 21 we are specifically told that, “Satan arose against Israel and incited David to number Israel.” The blame for the census is squarely put at the feet of a divine being, Satan.

In Zechariah 3 a story is told of the high priest standing with an “angel of the Lord, and the Accuser standing at his right.” In this case the Accuser, also known as Satan, takes on the form of a specific divine being.

The most famous story in the Bible regarding Satan can be found in the Book of Job. Job was a very good, God-fearing man. God is challenged by the Adversary to wreak havoc on Job’s life to see if he would remain righteous in the face of nightmarish adversity. Job’s flocks are destroyed or stolen, his children die, and Job is stricken with all-over skin inflammation. Job’s wife and three of his friends come to commiserate with Job and bemoan that God allowed these terrible things to happen. However, Job remained unwavering toward God, so God, “blessed the latter years of Job’s life more than the former.” (Job 42:12)

Rabbi Jaech told us that scholars believe that the figure Satan morphed from a job description to a specific name of evil because monotheism had become firmly established. After the idea of only one God became established, it is easier to allow for angels, or other divine beings - even Satan. There is no question that these extra beings are not on the same level as God because there is only one God. But there can be other beings who are players in the narrative.

The earliest Christians were actually Jews who followed the teaching that Messiah had come in the form of Jesus, and they effectively used the idea of a Satan who tempts people into doing bad things, and this is a theme that stuck throughout the millennia and can be seen in multiple artistic depictions of Satan being overthrown.

In the Jewish tradition Satan works for God whereas in the Christian tradition Satan is much more personified. In the Book of Revelation there is a war that breaks out between the angels of heaven and some rebel angels, who are led by Satan and are cast out of heaven. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus is tempted by Satan several times but always overcomes these temptations and it able to go lead his people.

The Rabbis of the 1^st and 2^nd century CE were aware of the stories about a personified Satan and also used him in Midrash. Rabbi Jaech showed us passages from the Talmud that attribute the Binding of Isaac, when Abraham prepares to sacrifice his son Isaac to God, as happening because Satan goaded God into it.

And there are other Talmudic stories that show Satan tempting people to behave badly. Satan is portrayed as a divine being with special abilities, but he is not the equal to God. In fact, Satan often acts to tempt to see if people can prove themselves to be better than the temptation. People are not supposed to try to confront Satan themselves, they are supposed to let God handle Satan. But the people should be humble and aware of the dangers of temptation.

misquotes or misunderstandings in what Rabbi Jaech taught us are the responsibility of Tara Keiter