Devil The Devil In Judaism Names Of The Devil The Original Names

The notion of a central supernatural embodiment of evil, as well as the notion of angels, first arose in Western monotheism when Judaism came into contact with the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism. Unlike classical monotheism, Zoroastrianism features two godThis article focuses on the concept of singular, monotheistic God . See deity, gods, or goddesses for details on divine entities in specific religions and mythologies. God is a term referring to the supreme being generally believed to be ruler or creators, one good and one evil, locked in a cosmic struggle where both are more or less evenly matched and the outcome is uncertain. Ahura MazdaAhura Mazda ( Persian (Hormoz)also Ormazd Ormuzd Hormuz Ormus Ohrmizd The Wise Lord is a god of the Zoroastrian religion in Persia. He is revered and worshipped by Zoroastrians as the good god. He is opposed by Angra Mainyu (Ahriman), who according to som ("Wise Lord"), also known as Ohrmazd, is the god of light, and Ahriman ("Evil Spirit"), also known as Angra Mainyu, is the god of darkness. In a final battle between the supernatural forces of good and evil, human soulThis page is about the core essence of a being. For the music genre, see soul music; for the chief city of South Korea see Seoul. The soul in several philosophical movements and many religious traditions, is the core essence of a being. In some traditionss will be judged in a fiery ordeal, and only the good will survive. Accordingly, humans are urged to align themselves with the god of light and his angels and to shun the god of darkness and his demons.

Christianity views Satan as a being created by God, whereas the evil god of Zoroastrianism is not a created being.

1 The Devil in Judaism

In HebrewThe Modern Hebrew language is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. What makes it unique is that the original Bible, the Torah, by Orthodox Jews held to be recorded in the time of Moses 3,300 years ago, was written in Biblical Classical, the Devil is called Satan. The Hebrew biblical word satan means adversary or obstacle The word satan in the meaning of human adversary appears in 1 KingsThe Books of Kings Sefer Melachim in Hebrew) are two books of the Jewish Tanakh and included by Christians in their Bible (the Old Testament). They contain accounts of the kings of ancient Israel and Judah. The two books of Kings comprise the fourth book, Chapter 11, where God makes Hadad the EdomEdom Standard Hebrew Edom Tiberian Hebrew Eom sounds like the Biblical Hebrew word for "red" and is a vividly apposite designation for the red sandstones of Edom. Edom' is also an alternative name for Esau according to the Hebrew Bible. The Book of Genesiite an adversary to King SolomonSolomon or Shlomo ( Hebrew: Standard Hebrew: #X160;lomo Tiberian Hebrew: #X160;lomoh meaning "peace") in the Tanakh ( Old Testament), is the third king of Israel (including Judah), builder of the temple in Jerusalem, renowned for his great wisdom and weal.

In the book of Job (Iyov), Satan appears as an angel submitted to God. One might say that he rather manipulates God into letting him test Job and put Job's faith on trial. Satan says that Job is faithful to God only because he has a good life with a good family and lot of property. God permits Satan to cast disasters and plagues upon Job. First, Satan destroys Job's property, then his family, and finally he strikes Job himself and causes him to become ill.

In later Jewish mythology, Satan tries to rebel against God but the rebellion fails and God sends him to exile into hell, a concept that didn't exist in Judaism originally and which later developed from Christian influence.

2 Names of the Devil

2.1 The Original Names

Originally, only the epithet of "satan" or adversary was used to denote " the Devil". Later this epithet was capitalized and became his proper name: Satan. So he is mentioned in the Old and New Testament. Zechariah 3:1--"And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him." 1 Peter 5:8--"Your adversary the devil." By adversary is meant one who takes a stand against another. In the Bible, Satan is the adversary of both God and man.

In Matthew 10:25 and 12:24, Mark 3:22, and openly in Luke 11:18-19 there is an implied connection between Satan and Beelzebub, originally a Semitic deity called Baal-zebul, one of the Baals. Beelzebub has since became another name for Satan.

In John 12:31 and 14:30 Satan is called Prince of this World, and this became a nickname for him.

The Devil, diabolos: This name is ascribed to Satan at least 33 times in the New Testament, and indicates that Satan is an accuser or slanderer (Rev. 12:9). He slanders God to man (Gen. 3:1-7), and man to God (Job 1:9; 2-4).

The wicked one: Matt. 13:19--"Then cometh the wicked one." Matt. 6:13; 1 John 5:19. This title suggests that Satan is not only wicked himself, but is also the source of all wickedness in the world.

The tempter: Matt. 4:3--"And when the tempter came to him." See Gen. 3:1-6. None escape his temptations. He is continually soliciting men to sin.

The Beast ( Book of Revelation 13:1-18) is a term John used to refer to a "puppet" of the dragon's (Satan), and a term supposedly used by John in Revelation 17:3-17 to designate the Devil (or the Antichrist); this name appears several times in the book of Revelation, and it became another nickname for Satan.

Dragon or The Old Serpent: These epithets are used extensively in the Book of Revelation.

In Spanish, the Devil has always been referred to as El Diablo or Satanás. El Diablo is also a derivate of Diabolos.

2.2 The Division of an Entity in Three

When the Bible was translated into Latin (the Vulgate), the name Lucifer appeared as a translation of " Morning Star," or the planet Venus, in Isaiah 14:12. Isaiah 14:1-23 is a passage largely concerned with the plight of Babylon, and its king is referred to as "morning star, son of the dawn." This is because the Babylonian king was considered to be of godly status and of symbolic divine parentage ( Bel and Ishtar, associated with the planet Venus).

While this mythological information is available to scholars today via translated Babylonian cuneiform text taken from clay tablets, it was not as readily available at the time of the Latin translation of the Bible. Thus, early Christian tradition interpreted the passage as a reference to the moment Satan was thrown from Heaven. Lucifer became another name for Satan and has remained so due to Christian dogma and popular tradition.

Later, for unknown reasons, Christian demonologists appeared to designate "Satan", "Lucifer", and "Beelzebub" as different entities, each with a different rank in the hellish hierarchy. One hypothesis is that this might have been an attempt to establish a hellish trinity with the same person, akin to the Christian Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

2.3 In Christian Tradition

Christian tradition differs from that of Christian demonology in that Satan, Lucifer and Beelzebub all are names that refer to "the Devil", and Prince of this World, The Beast and Dragon (and rarely Serpent or The Old Serpent) use to be elliptic forms to refer to him. The Enemy, The Evil One and The Tempter are other elliptic forms to name the Devil. Christian demonology, in contrast, does not have several nicknames for Satan.

It should be noted that the name Mephistopheles is used by some people to refer to the Devil, but it is a mere folkloric custom, and has nothing to do with Christian demonology and Christian tradition. Prince of Darkness and Lord of Darkness are also folkloric names, although Lord of Darkness tends to be incorporated to Christian tradition.

The medieval Cathars believed that the Old Testament Yahweh was, in fact, the devil, based partially on ethical interpretations of the Bible and partially on the beliefs of earlier gnostic sects (such as the Marcionists) who regarded the god of the Old Testament as evil or as an imperfect demiurge. Early Gnostics called the Demiurge Yao, the Aramaic cognate to the Tetragrammaton, YHWH (Yahweh). Moreover, research into Ugaritic texts revealed that the names of the Jewish god were the same as separate gods worshipped in the same region; Yahweh is cognate to Ugaritic Yaw who is there the god of chaos, evil, and world domination.

Most Christians believe that the Devil is a fallen archangel.

2.4 No concept of Devil in Hinduism

In contrast to the Judaeo-Christian traditions and Islam, Hinduism does not recognize any central evil force or entity such as the Devil opposing God but does recognize that different beings (e.g., asuras) and entities can perform evil acts and cause suffering in the world. However, for Hindus and Vaishnavites, in particular, it is believed that God incarnates to destroy evil when evil has reached its maximum. (see avatar.)

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