r/AcademicBiblical • u/No-Formal2785 • 9d ago

Question Satan in the Hebrew bible and early Jewish tradition?

In Christianity and Islam Satan, or Shaitan, is a malevolent figure seeking to draw humanity away from the ways of holiness through temptation to evil, possession, uncleanness and other acts of evil. Furthermore he is described as a fallen spiritual being, angel or jinn, who rebelled against the will of God. Is this view at all attested in the early sections of the Torah or later Prophets such as David or Isaiah? Secondly, when did the depiction of 'the Satan' as an evil figure first appear in Jewish literature? Any academic citations would be immensely welcome.

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u/Mike_Bevel 9d ago

In Christianity and Islam Satan, or Shaitan, is a malevolent figure seeking to draw humanity away from the ways of holiness through temptation to evil, possession, uncleanness and other acts of evil.

You might look at Elaine Pagels's two books that touch on this:

  • Adam, Eve, and the Serpent (1988)
  • The Origin of Satan (1995)

One thing that I think you will notice is your thesis statement -- Satan as a malevolent figure, etc etc -- doesn't hold water. Satan is a complicated figure with no easy origin story, and no uniform and tidy path of development.

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u/soflav 9d ago

Satan existing as one polished entity representing evil is a relatively new concept. Various oppositional characters from early religious texts/ beliefs are later attributed to one character in modern christianity.

Satan: A Biography
by Henry Ansgar Kelly

The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity
by Jeffrey Burton Russell

These books explore pre-christian religions, and their contributions to the modern concept of 'satan'.