We can summarise the Old Testament evidence like this. There is no mention of the devil anywhere in the Old Testament. Satan is not mentioned until half way through the Old Testament, and then he is only mentioned in four places. In two of these the word clearly refers to an ordinary human enemy. In the other two, Satan is probably a symbol of human wickedness, opposing God and His people. There is no mention of any angel rebelling against God and being cast out of heaven.
The Old Testament is a Jewish book. How did the Jews themselves understand the four Old Testament references to Satan? Did they believe in a supernatural Satan, or did they look upon Satan as a symbol of human wickedness?
Here are the words of three scholars, none of them Christadelphians, who have answered that question.
1. A Social Scientist, A. Lyons
"To the ancient Jews, who were hard-core realists, Satan symbolised man's evil intentions."4
2. A Jewish Encyclopedia
"Judaism (the Jewish religion) has never seriously accepted the concept of a power almost co-equal with God and fighting for possession of the world or individuals. Belief in a personal Satan is rare amongst Jews."5
3. A Jewish Rabbi, R. S. Brookes
"Judaism has no place for the belief in the power of a Devil or Satan ... Satan is rather the personification of evil—the evil inclination."6
It seems clear that in Old Testament times the Jews did not believe in a supernatural Satan. They evidently held the same view as the writer and the publishers of this booklet: that Satan is a kind of parable, a symbol of human sinfulness.
Who Invented the Supernatural Devil?
We have seen that the Old Testament does not teach the doctrine that Satan is a wicked spirit. Scholars tell us that the ancient Jews did not believe this either. Yet by the time of Christ many Jews and many Gentiles had come to believe in a fallen-angel Satan. Where, then, did this doctrine come from?
Historians explain that it all began in the country known as Persia, which today we call Iran. About five hundred years before Christ the Jews lived under the Persian empire, and they knew a lot about the religious beliefs of the Persians.
The Persian religion eventually came to be known as Zoroastrianism. The Persians believed in many gods, but especially in two great supernatural beings. One was a good spirit, called Ahura Mazda, the god of light and the giver of happiness. The other was an evil spirit, called Angra Mainyu, the god of darkness and the source of unhappiness. The Persians thought that these two great powers were constantly fighting for possession of the world, and for the souls of men.
The Old Testament prophet Isaiah was concerned about this false teaching, perhaps because he could see that some Jews might be influenced by it. So in one of his prophecies he made a direct attack on the Persian religion. Perhaps to make sure that nobody missed the point, he addressed this particular prophecy to Cyrus, the King of Persia:
"Thus says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus ... I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God ... I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make weal [happiness] and create woe [unhappiness], I am the LORD, who do all these things" (Isaiah 45:1-7). In other words, God declared that the Zoroastrian religion was wrong. There were not two supernatural powers, there was only one—God Himself. Angra Mainyu, the Power of Darkness, did not exist. The Lord God was the source of both light and darkness, both joy and suffering.
Isaiah was not the first to teach this. Hundreds of years before, in one of the earliest books of the Bible, God had said through Moses:
"See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no God beside Me; I kill and I make alive; / wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of My hand" (Deuteronomy 32:39). Not, "Satan wounds and God heals", but, "God wounds and God heals."
Evil Spirits in the Old Testament
Another way to see what the ancient Jews believed is to study the references to evil spirits in the Old Testament.
There are only a few passages in the whole of the Old Testament that speak of evil spirits, or anything of the kind. All of them are quoted below. They deserve a very careful reading, because people who have never noticed them before are often astonished by them.
"And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem" (Judges 9:23).
"Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him. And Saul's servants said to him, 'Behold now, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you ... seek out a man who is skilful in playing the lyre; and you will be well'." (1 Samuel 16:14-16). "And on the morrow an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house" (1 Samuel 18:10).
"Then an evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand ... And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear" (1 Samuel 19:9,10).
"Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets" (1 Kings 22:23; see also verses 19-22).
"He [God] cast upon them [Egypt] the fierceness of His anger, wrath and indignation, and trouble, a band of angels of evil" (Psalm 78:49, Revised Version).
"So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel... And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented of the evil and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, 'It is enough; now stay your hand'." (2 Samuel 24:15,16). Evil spirits from the Lord—angels of evil—an angel of destruction. This is all the Old Testament has to say about "evil spirits". It is more than enough to show what God's people believed in Old Testament times.
To them, evil spirits did not mean wicked spirits. It did not mean independent spirits, acting separately from God. To the children of Israel in those days, evil spirits were righteous spirits, spirits acting under God's command and doing His will—holy angels, in fact—who inflicted punishments upon sinful men.
They were called "evil" spirits simply because the men receiving punishment regarded it as an evil. In these Bible passages—and in lots of others—the word "evil" is not used to mean wickedness (although it is used in that way sometimes). Here it is used just to mean, "something unpleasant", or, "suffering". This was how Job used it when he became ill; he said, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil [also from God]?" (Job 2:10).
There are many references to angels in the Old Testament, and in every one the angels are portrayed as creatures under God's control. There is no suggestion that an angel could possibly disobey God. The possibility of a rebellion in heaven seems to be ruled out by this Scripture:
"The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all. Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do His word" (Psalm 103:19,20).
A Clear Answer
We have seen that there is a clear answer to the question: what did God want His ancient nation, Israel, to believe? It is this:
God is almighty. He is the Master of the universe He created. There are no other gods, and no other spirit beings except His own angels, who always do His will. Both happiness and unhappiness, pleasure and pain, come from God Himself. He tolerates only one rebel in His universe: man. And that is because some men are capable of being redeemed from their fallen state.
But of fallen angels, or rebellious spirit beings, the Old Testament knows nothing at all.
Angra Mainyu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR00a9FZdEk
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