Devils & Demons:
Satan is assigned to him the characteristics of the accuser and seducer. It is Satan who in,
1 Chronicles 21:1, Written about 300-250 B.C. “And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked (seduced, enticed) David to number Israel.” This is considered by most critics to be the composition of Ezra, and therefore post-exile.
Now in the older Hebrew version of the same incident we find in,
2 Samuel 24:1, “The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, go, number Israel and Judah.”
So progressive revelation tells us that Satan was behind David’s actions, and in earlier reports, as in
In 2 Samuel, this same act is attributed to an angry God, an understanding of Satan is still not clear.
Again, it is Satan who throws suspicion on the holiness of Job; and with the permission of Jehovah, causes a series of misfortunes to befall him, his family, and possessions.
Zechariah 3:1, the Devil, is represented as, “Resisting” the angel of God (Jesus,) and as a false accuser of the high-priest Joshua. “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.”
Even at this period of time in the above, an evil nature is yet not directly ascribed to the Devil, but we can assume from the text that he takes a great pleasure in activating evil.
The Jews while in captivity to the Persians had become familiar with the cult of Zoraster. But it was impossible for them to transfer the dualism of two equal Gods’ into a creed of one true God. This would have destroyed the foundation on which their entire history rested.
At this time, the nation of Israel had become weak, foolish, hemmed in, and crushed by the mighty advancing Empires. Now they permitted themselves to attribute their misfortunes to a demonic race; a race headed by the Devil. Believing, even if these devils were inferior to God, they could now believe that God had not forsaken his chosen people.
The Devil and his demons were represented as having been angels who had fallen from their “High estate; and were being punished by God. These demons now assumed a position of hostility, but did not have the power to frustrate God’s Divine plans. These opinions found a positive reception among the Jews, as well as among those Jewish theologians who held that along with the Mosaic Law, oral tradition was also a legitimate source of doctrine.
The sect that rejected the above was that of the Sadducees. They considered the above, and the doctrine of Resurrection from the dead; of Messiah, and the Messianic kingdom; of the Last Judgment; of rewards and punishments; and of angels and demons. They believed them to be new, outlandish, anti-Mosaic myths and theories.
Conflicting opinions prevented the ideas of the Devil and of demons from obtaining any dogmatic and systematic stability. On the other hand, the people and the Pharisees did believe in the existence of evil spirits; but their private understanding had all the sensation, and confusion of superstition.
So the question begs to be asked, “What condition were the Jews in when the Gospel of Jesus Christ lifted the veil of oblivion that had partially covered their faces for centuries? When the N.T. opens, we find a swarm of demons in Palestine.
Phil LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com