The word satan appears only once without “the” in front of it in the entire Hebrew Bible: in 1 Chronicles 21:1. Once again, the satan is not Satan who we read about in the New Testament. The messenger rebukes the satan and orders that Joshua’s dirty clothing be replaced, as he promises Joshua continuing access to the divine council. This vision is Zechariah’s way of pronouncing YHWH’s approval of Joshua’s appointment to the high priesthood in the face of adversarial community members, represented by the satan. Before him stand YHWH’s messenger and the satan, who is there to accuse him. In Zechariah 3, the prophet describes a vision of the high priest Joshua standing in a similar divine council, also functioning as a tribunal. Though a perception of “the satan” as Satan would make this portrait of God easier to swallow, the story demonstrates otherwise like Yahweh’s messenger in Numbers 22, this satan acts on YHWH’s instructions (and as a result of God’s braggadocio) and is not an independent force of evil. The satan challenges God to a wager that if everything is taken away from poor Job, he won’t be so good anymore, and God accepts.

God argues that Job is rewarded because he is good, and not good because he is rewarded. the satan’s contention that Job only behaves himself because God has rewarded him. In Job’s case, what’s on trial is God’s assertion that Job is completely “blameless and upright” vs. In Job, “ the satan” is a member of God’s heavenly council-one of the divine beings, whose role in Job’s story is to be an “accuser,” a status acquired by people in ancient Israel and Mesopotamia for the purposes of particular legal proceedings. In Numbers 22, the prophet Balaam, hired to curse the Israelites, is stopped by a messenger from Israel’s God YHWH, described as “ the satan” acting on God’s behalf.

The noun satan, Hebrew for “adversary” or “accuser,” occurs nine times in the Hebrew Bible: five times to describe a human military, political or legal opponent, and four times with reference to a divine being. Photo: Patrons’ Permanent Fund, National Gallery of Art.

Depicted here are God the Father, cherubim, angels, Adam, Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden in Domenichino’s painting The Rebuke of Adam and Eve (1626).

Garden of evil book