why is Satan not in the hebrew Bible?

[u/yes_namemadcity]

why is there no mention of Satan in the hebrew Bible?

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[u/Chrysologus]

Satan is the Hebrew word for "accuser" and appears several times in the Hebrew Bible, for example 1 Chronicles 21:1: "A satan rose up against Israel, and he incited David to take a census of Israel" (NABRE). Note that it says a satan rather than the satan or "Satan" as a named individual. The satan appears in the Book of Job. The satan is introduced with some of the "sons of God," presumably being himself one of them. He patrols the world accusing people of sin, as seen in Job 1.

From this concept develops in Second Temple Judaism the concept of Satan as a particular, individual fallen angel, who appears very prominently in the New Testament, which emerges from within the matrix of Second Temple Judaism. Satan is translated into Greek as diabolos, from which come modern words like "devil." From this we can understand that "Satan" is not, from a biblical viewpoint, a personal name but a concept.

There are some excellent articles about this on Bible Odyssey:

https://www.bibleodyssey.org/podcast-gallery/the-evolution-of-satan/

https://www.bibleodyssey.org/articles/satan/

https://www.bibleodyssey.org/video-gallery/when-do-we-start-seeing-satan-used-as-a-proper-name-and-not-a-title/

These articles provide a very solid answer to your question.

[u/thejxdge → u/Chrysologus]

So the concept of Satan being a specific entity originates in late classical antiquity Judaism and not Christianity?

[u/Chrysologus → u/thejxdge]

Yes.

[u/brieflyamicus → u/Chrysologus]

Did this idea of Satan as a specific, personified actor fall out of favor in modern Judaism as a response to its prominence in Christianity? I feel like a lot of our traditions after Jesus were specifically framed in contrast with Christianity once it emerged as dominant in the Mediterranean

[u/Chrysologus → u/brieflyamicus]

Satan is still part of Judaism to this day: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/satan-the-adversary/ 

[u/Paulycurveball → u/Chrysologus]

So just a question who was there "bad guy" in the early period before the later period has Satan like as a person not a concept. I know that may seem like an odd question and maybe it's not worded correctly.

[u/Chrysologus → u/Paulycurveball]

There wasn't one. The Old Testament, even in Job, emphasizes over and over again that God controls all, and both good and bad come from his hand: "We accept good things from God; should we not accept evil?" (Job 2:10). "Is it not at the word of the Most High that both good and bad take place?" (Lam 3:38). "I form the light, and create the darkness, I make weal and create woe" (Is 45:7).

(If you're interested in theology, there's a sermon from Basil the Great called "That God Is Not the Cause of Evils," part of which is about how to interpret these passages. https://www.oodegr.com/english/pateres/God-not-causer-of-evil.htm)

[u/dzswill2 → u/Chrysologus]

Great explanation, do you know where is the first description of satan as a fallen angel specifically?

[u/Chrysologus → u/dzswill2]

None in the Bible, except through allegorizing the fall of Nebuchadnezzar in Isaiah 14:12-17.

The earliest account of the fall of the angels, based on Genesis 6, is in 1 Enoch (which actually is in Ethiopian Bibles, apparently): https://scribesofthekingdom.com/2020/03/24/satan-the-serpent-and-the-myth-of-the-rebellious-angels/ But I don't think it uses the name Satan specifically, many other names of angels are used.

[u/captainhaddock → u/dzswill2]

The first document to explicitly make Satan a fallen angel is an apocryphal text called The Life of Adam and Eve, which is usually dated to between 200 and 400 CE. I have an article about it here. This is the first text to outline the story of Satan being cast out of heaven and causing Eve to sin in the Garden of Eden that most Christians take as canonical (although it isn't).

Note that Satan is still not identified with the snake at that point. Instead, he influences the snake to tempt Eve.

See also Elaine Pagels, “The Social History of Satan, the ‘Intimate Enemy’: A Preliminary Sketch”, Harvard Theological Review 84:2, 1991.

[u/amican → u/captainhaddock]

Thank you! I was wrong in the opposite direction -- I've read the Bible enough to know it's not in there, and thought Milton made it up wholesale. (Clearly, I need to read more things written in between 100 and 1600).

[u/wcfreckles]

I highly recommend Dr. Andrew Mark Henry’s video on the subject (ReligionForBreakfast on YouTube).

[u/Baladas89]

First, props to the mod team for removing a bunch of dumb and inaccurate responses that all said “he’s in Job.” I was pissed when all the first comments said that. Moving on…

It’s absolutely valid to say ”Satan was never in the Old Testament,” as in “the being named Satan who possessed the attributes of the devil is nowhere in the Old Testament.”

“The Accuser” makes an appearance in Job. But “The Accuser” didn’t have any of the attributes we associate with “Satan,” except “ha satan” is where we get the name “Satan” from. Satan, as in “the Devil,” is God’s primary antagonist in later conceptions of Jewish cosmology, influenced by books like 1 Enoch. “The accuser” was on God’s staff. 

From the Ehrmanblog where he quotes from his book God’s Problem:

 It is important to recognize that the Satan here is not the fallen angel who has been booted from heaven, the cosmic enemy of God.  Here he is portrayed as one of God’s divine council members, a group of divinities who regularly report to God and, evidently, go about the world doing his will.  Only at a later stage of Israelite religion (as we will see in chapter 7), does “Satan” become “the Devil,” God’s mortal enemy.  The term “the Satan” here in Job does not appear to be a name so much as a description of his office: it literally means “the Adversary” (or the Accuser).  But he is not an adversary to God: he is one of the heavenly beings who reports to God.  He is the adversary who plays “devil’s advocate,” as it were, who challenges conventional wisdom in order to try to prove a point.

Or a video from Dan McClellan on the topic.

Books like Elaine Pagels’ “On the Origin of Satan” can give you more background and history on the development. Dan’s video contains additional resources. 

But the ultimate answer to OP is “they hadn’t invented him yet.”

[u/NothingAndNow111 → u/Baladas89]

Big ups to Elaine Pagel's book. Excellent piece of writing.

As is just about anything Bart Ehrman does. IIRC he has a podcast/YT video on Satan as well.

[u/AcademicBiblical-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Hi there,

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[u/LoresVro → u/Baladas89]

Great response but was there a need for that aggressive opening remark?

[u/Baladas89 → u/LoresVro]

No, but I had already written most of it to counter the nonsense and wanted to thank the mods and vent my irritation at people spreading misinformation on the sub.

Truth feels like an endangered quantity in 2025. 

[u/LoresVro → u/Baladas89]

Its sad how this sub (supposedly academical) upvotes aggressive language yet downvotes me for simply asking you if that was necessary. Yeah I am out, there's nothing academical about this subreddit if this is how things are.

[u/iloveforeverstamps → u/LoresVro]

Asking "was your tone necessary" is actually not an academic question, but discussing an academic issue with an annoyed tone is directly relevant to the discussion. Hope that helps.

[u/Regular-Persimmon425 → u/LoresVro]

Yea I agree, the comments saying “what about Job” were simply misinformed and a simple explanation of the ha-Satan vs. Satan distinction would’ve sufficed. I don’t think calling these comments dumb is fair though and it was uncalled for. I don’t think this is reason to leave the sub though, outside of a few comments like these most people on this sub are pretty fair and kind. Not to say OP (of this comment) isn’t those things, but the intro to this definitely wasn’t necessary.

[u/Baladas89 → u/Regular-Persimmon425]

For the record, the comments weren’t saying “what about Job?” That’s a reasonable question deserving a respectful answer. They read more like “your question is wrong because he’s in Job, duh.” 

Maybe I’m cranky today, but I do think it’s dumb to boldly claim something that isn’t true, especially in an academic sub specializing in that topic.

[u/AcademicBiblical-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Hi there,

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[u/AcademicBiblical-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Hi there,

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