Satan and the Fall

We see “the Serpent” in Genesis 3, and it’s just a poetic term for Satan. The Hebrew word for “snake” is nakawsh (naw-kawsh) — doesn’t that sound like a snake? Say it drawing out the last syllable for dramatic emphasis. Yet Paul says he was an “Angel of Light” (2 Corinthians 7:14). In the Garden, Eve instinctively recognized him as a person of authority. If we compare this scene with the opening paragraphs of Job, we begin to get a picture of someone who was allowed to come and go on the Earth at will, had tremendous power, and yet was accountable to God. Further, he had some access the God’s throne room, and seemed familiar with the protocols for addressing God.

Next, we look at Isaiah 14 where we get the name “Lucifer” — an English rendering of the Greek translation of Hebrew Scripture. The poetic lines of condemnation for Nebuchadnezzar (vv. 12-15) sound a great deal like the condemnation against the “King of Tyre” in Ezekiel 28:11-19. In the case of Tyre, we know for a fact that there was never any person bearing the title “King” over Tyre. There was a Prince (more accurately translated “leader from among the people”). We also know that the Prince was simultaneously the high priest of a very nasty religion. In the eyes of Hebrew prophets, the heathen god a people worshipped was their true ruler. For centuries, Bible scholars have said that this passage in Ezekiel could only be about Satan. Keep in mind, that there is a sense in which every pagan god and goddess was merely a front for a demon (1 Corinthians 10:19-20) when it involved genuine worship. It’s not too much of a stretch to see Tyre’s demon as Satan himself.

If you chase down the passages in Scripture regarding Satan (AKA Lucifer, the Enemy, the Accuser, etc.) and piece them together, you get a feel for this character. Seen as a whole, they describe one who, at first was the “Covering Cherub” of God. Try to imagine that few in Creation can bear the presence of God Himself, without losing their created form (i.e., they die). Thus, someone had to be a cloak to shield Creation. God created a special being to handle the task. This meant that all traffic/communication between God and Creation had to pass through this Living Cloak. No surprise that this being got a big head over his unique status, and tried to skim off some of that glory and praise meant for God, and keep it for himself.

Is this not the same thing the prophets denounced in the latter days of the Covenant? The Chosen People took themselves too seriously, convinced they were God’s gift to Creation. They forgot that they were simply the chosen messengers; they forgot that Israel the Nation was supposed to be Israel the Message. So while Jesus did encounter a few folks who remembered this (Luke 2:25-32) in His time, you would think they were a tiny minority. Today you can read and study the Talmud, if you get your hands on an honest translation that hasn’t cut out all the embarrassing stuff, and be told that only Jews are actually human, while the rest of us are animals.

You’ll have to decide for yourself how much this affects the way Jews as a whole and Jews individually interact with the rest of us. Compare that with Anglo-Saxon arrogance or any other presumption of superiority we encounter on this earth. It’s human nature because it comes from the Fall; it’s part the fundamental attraction in Satan’s sales pitch to Eve about the Forbidden Fruit. We are born with a reflex to measure all things by our own internal chatter. Our assumptions are surely so sensible; how could anything think differently?

When Satan came to visit Adam and Eve, he had already suffered the demotion from Covering Cherub to Divine Jailer. The only way he could prosper now was to increase the occupancy of his jail. The primary seduction was suckering folks into his own mistake. This business of presuming that human reason is sufficient to answer all the important questions of “life the universe and everything” is the very essence of the Fall. This is what puts us in the jail, because it is contrary to cosmic reality, contrary to the moral fabric of Creation, and contrary to God’s moral character. The nature of sin itself is arguing with God.

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8 Responses to Satan and the Fall

  1. Pingback: Kiln blog: Satan and the Fall | Do What's Right

  2. Pinko says:

    Ridiculous post, Ed. Beyond the first paragraph, all else is just cartoon theology invented by Jesuits for simpletons… It just ain’t so. Much of what you say here resonates with me, and I’m sure most of your readers (which is why I’m still here!) But this is that old Babylonian box again. And it’s tedious. Think outside of it.

    Otherwise, I like your new blog style!

    • pastor says:

      Thanks for dropping by, Pinko. Babylonian Jesuit? I’ll have to remember that one. Meanwhile, the other stuff I say that resonates arises from a genuine conviction that such imagery as this is as close as we will get to the truth. My conscience is clear and I am at peace; I sincerely hope you find the same.

  3. Pinko says:

    Well, I guess my problem with this sort of teaching “resonates” at the particular frequency of your statement that “such imagery as this is as close as we will get to the truth”…

    How do you know that? That’s a big assertion, brother. That WE will ‘not get any closer to the truth’ than what you stated in your post? I doubt I’m the only one who would disagree with you here. You certainly don’t have the ultimate and clear channel on Truth, and I doubt you’d even claim that. But isn’t that what you said? That your cartoonish description of these things is as close as WE will ever get to the truth? Nuts.

    As I said, Jesuit lies. Satan is not the “Divine Jailer”. He is the Adversary. Huge difference. That we are now his “meat” (dust–Gen 3:14 and 3:19) is his CURSE. I doubt he’s enjoying it.

    Satan is indeed the “god of this world”. And he has indeed “deceived the whole world”, as Jesus has told us. How? In every way, my friend. YET, he is ultimately restrained by God and does nothing outside of God’s Master Plan. And FYI, Satan has always been the deceiver, the murderer, the liar, from the very beginning (John 8:44)… God needed an Adversary, so He created one. The Devil was ALWAYS that “crooked serpent”. Wouldn’t he just love you to believe otherwise though! 😉

    I contend that the truth barely resembles the silly stories the “Universal holy apostolic church” has told us– AND that we can get much closer to it by first rejecting their lies.

    • pastor says:

      Some of what you say echoes things I’ve written elsewhere. You still seem to miss the point of parabolic and symbolic language. The Hebrew word that transliterates as “Satan” means “adversary” in the sense of prosecutor. In Ancient Near Eastern culture, that would be the nobleman who also ran the penal operation, roughly equivalent to our “jailer.” No issue there with suggesting he serves the purpose of the Divine Sheikh (as God portrays Himself), and that he does not enjoy his position. I think you wrestle too much over words and falsely assume I use words the same way you do. But I’m not hostile to your comments, and I use them help teach those who tend to agree with me a little more.

      Edit: I was referring to parable as the closest we can get to the truth, and I was relating the parables as best I understood them from my study in Hebrew and Ancient Near Eastern literature.

      • Pinko says:

        I don’t recall any prescription for jails or penal colonies in the Hebrew scriptures. If that’s what you mean by ANE cultures. If you mean the wicked neighbors Israel had, jail would have been a mild punishment. Imprisoning people seems like a pretty western idea to me. Correct me if I’m wrong, but if the Father requires “jailing” humans as punishment for any crime, He apparently forgot to mention it in His Word.

        So then, how is the Adversary actually the “divine jailer” in your understanding?

        Anyway, I’m no more “hostile” to your words then you are to mine… Just want you to know that. Truth is a most precious Pearl, IMO. Those who claim to traffic in it are necessarily held to a higher standard than the rest of us schmucks. I don’t, nor would I ever claim to have *The* Truth. But I actively seek it. And no one (save Christ) can say THEY have it without simultaneously confessing their own delusion. Can’t you be deceived, Ed? Of course you can. None of us are immune to that. Elohim has created Evil, and Darkness (backwardness, ignorance, deception, blindness) and we are ALL subject to it. It’s part of our upbringing. It serves to humble us. It is somehow necessary in His plan of creating us in His image. And since the Father cannot lie, He made One who can. It’s Satan’s job. The Liar.

        But ten-four. I probably agree with you more than you think. More importantly, I consider you a brother. Your misguided bullshit is just that. I have mine too. It’s just that on this point, you stepped in it. Wash your feet bro.

        Peace.

        Also, God bless you. I find no guile in you, and you’re no doubt a greater disciple than me. Don’t ever be discouraged in your mission in this sorry world.

        • pastor says:

          I hope you haven’t read any hostility in my comments, either. At least half the time I’m grinning like a Cheshire Cat because what you write is stuff I’ve seen before back when I thought debate was worth my time.

          My understanding is that the cultural equivalent of prison would be more like slavery. I suppose you are familiar with the Joseph narrative and his time in Potiphar’s house? Egyptian archeology indicates Potiphar’s position as “jailer” was simply a franchise to take profit from using imperial prisoners to do work without pay in tasks most people would refuse to do. That arrangement was quite common throughout the Ancient Near East. Most prisoners were turned over as slaves to some person of power within the jurisdiction of the court, but in smaller kingdoms it was often a particular noble or prince. Sometimes he would have orders to make life painful for some particular “prisoner” (which would make him the nobleman a Lictor, too) but it was usually just slave labor. A particularly ambitious and greedy prison master might decide to bring accusations to the king about this or that misbehavior so that he could increase his slave count. Sorry, but I read all this stuff back in the 1970s and didn’t keep all my references and textbooks; but the image of Potiphar was quite common in that part of the world. It was a standard feature of Ancient Near Eastern feudalism and Israel arose from that broad cultural background. There isn’t much in the Law of Moses about it because the nation wasn’t organized that way until later when they had a king. However, your family chieftain could punish you by forcing you to do some unpleasant work, and there was hardly any point to putting that in the Law. Lots of other common cultural stuff isn’t mentioned directly in the Law, but we see it peeking out as us from the narratives later on.

  4. Pinko says:

    Indeed. So Satan is a Slave Driver. Why not just SAY that then, so I could agree with you? 😉

    Why conflate the western narrative of “jailer” (prison guard) with the word? Really, what decent man has any respect for prison guards? Sheesh. But I do understand a slaver..

    FWIW, I was a child in the ’70s. Back then, I was still was playing with my Apollo 11 legos, being formerly indoctrinated in the Jesuit heliocentric lies of Luceferic Darwinism (albeit unbeknownst to me!). Today I know better. Also, I’ve likewise lost all interest in “debate”. Instead, I tend to just ‘put things out there’ for the benefit of anyone who, like me, might be searching. Hint: ‘The complete reverse of everything you’ve been told is the truth.’ No charge for that one, Ed. Copy-write it yourself. Next book title.

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