Week 6 ———  The Devil You Say (an incredibly brief introduction)

Matthew 4:3-11— Mark 1:13b  —  Luke 4:3-13

Jesus is on day 39 of 40 days of being tempted in the wilderness.  Then, we will come to the three detailed temptations we find in Matthew and Luke.  So, it is time to introduce the next character, the devil.

First, let me remind you of another Hebrew word you already know.  (You know many:  Amen, Hallelujah, Hosanna, Messiah, Gehenna, Rabbi, manna, etc.)  This word is ‘satan’ and is defined as “accuser, or slanderer.”  It is used in Psalm 71:13 “May my satans be put to shame.”  Here, your English version translates the Hebrew word to English, and it reads:  “May my accusers be put to shame.”  This word is not a name.  In Hebrew, whenever it is used to refer to an individual, it is preceded by a definite article “the,” so it is always “the satan.”  It is a title, not a name.  

The Greek word for “accuser or slanderer” is ‘diabolos.’  It was the Greek word used to translate the Hebrew word “the satan” when the Older Testament was translated into Greek.  Sometimes, the Greek and English versions use the Hebrew word ‘satan’ instead of translating it to ‘diabolos’ or ‘the devil,’ and when they do, our English translations leave out the definite article “the.”  The word ‘satan’ is also capitalized in the King James English translation because all titles were capitalized in the 1600s.¹  So without a preceding ‘the’ and with the capitalization, ‘satan’ came to be thought of as a proper name.

In Mark 8:33, Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!”   Now, I hope you don’t think Jesus was saying that Peter was actually the enemy, the devil.  Peter was acting as an accuser, saying that God’s plan was not a good one.  But 43 out of 45 translations I checked use the Hebrew word ‘satan’ (usually capitalized) rather than translate it to ‘accuser.’²

But what about “Lucifer”?  Isn’t that the name of the evil one?  No, not at all.  “Lucifer” is from a very unfortunate translation of the Bible done in 405 A.D. by Jerome, the Latin Vulgate.  He mistranslated Isaiah 14:12, which actually refers to the city of Babylon and the ‘morning star’ (the planet Venus).  If you want to read how this happened and how this is also responsible for our understanding of the devil having horns, pointy ears, and goat legs, I included the source in the note below.³

Why is all of this important? This is ‘according to David,’ so feel free to disagree. (If you do, please let me know—as the rabbi said, “How can we learn if we never disagree?”) Names are important. Remembering someone’s name gives them honor.

You know that Egypt has many massive temples and monuments. You may not appreciate that they are covered with unique hieroglyphs carved in stone—whole stories of a pharaoh’s life.  If you are the pharaoh and commissioning a temple, you put your name all over it —stories of how wonderful you are, stories of your victories in battle, stories of how you saved Egypt.  In some places you can see where someone has scratched off the pharaoh’s name from the stone inscription.

The pharaoh Akhenaten tried to change Egyptian religion to worship only one god (the sun god).  After his death, Egypt reverted to polytheism, and there was an effort to erase that whole era from Egypt’s history.  Most of the cartouches with his name have been chiseled out. By removing his name, they dishonor him.  To remember and proclaim someone’s name brings them honor.  We still do this today.  We name buildings, bridges, and roads after people to honor them.  Those who are killed are remembered by name.  The satan, the accuser, does not deserve any honor.  He has no name.

There is a name above all names; there is one who deserves all the honor.

Philippians.2:9-10   “Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Whether you say it as the Hebrew ‘Yeshua,’ as Jesus’ mother did, or ‘Iesous’ (Greek), or ‘Isa’ (Arabic), or ‘Yesu’ (Swahili), it all brings glory where it is due.

So why don’t we say the Father’s name?  He gave his name to Moses in Exodus 3:15, at the burning bush:

Exodus 3:15   God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

“This is my name.” What is the name, “the LORD?” That’s not a name; that is a title. When I read that verse in my Hebrew Bible, there is no ‘the’ there, and the word is not ‘lord,’ but God’s name.  Our English translations of the Bible substitute ‘the LORD’ (in all capital letters) whenever the Hebrew text has God’s actual name listed, which is 6824 times.  Almost all commentaries will say we don’t know the exact vowels in God’s name because they were omitted from the Hebrew text.  Indeed, the middle vowel is not listed in the standard Masoretic Hebrew text, which makes the word unpronounceable.  (Hebrew words require a vowel between middle consonants. Interestingly, the traditionally accepted pronouncement of the name is “Yahweh,” but that is also not a valid Hebrew word for the same reason.)  The reason given for the missing vowel is that rabbis said that God’s name is too holy to pronounce.  Before the time of persecution by the Greeks, however, in which public reading of the Torah was outlawed, as well as saying God’s name aloud, God’s name was used frequently and in everyday language, such as in greetings. Recent research has found over 7000 instances where scribes accidentally left in place the ‘missing’ middle vowel in copies of Hebrew texts, with the pronunciation being ‘Yehovah.’ (As expected, no instances of the vowels of ‘Yahweh’ have been found.)⁴

Plenty of passages in the Older Testament invite people to praise the name of God and talk about how blessed his name is.  Certainly, this is inconsistent with keeping his name a secret.  How sad that when Yehovah gave Moses his name, he said that this is how he will be remembered, but we have essentially erased his name from our Bibles.  (I will translate God’s name as “Yehovah” instead of using “the LORD.”)

Psalm 34:3 “Oh, magnify Yehovah with me, and let us exalt his name together!”

Nehemiah 9:5    “Stand up and bless Yehovah your God from everlasting to everlasting.  Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

So why does the satan have no name?   

Job 18:5,17 “Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out…His memory perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the street.”

The wicked will not be remembered or honored.  Their memory will perish.

We first encounter this accuser in the Garden of Eden, where he is in rebellion against God and tempts Adam and Eve to join him in rebellion. He is described there as a serpent or snake. He and the demons are seen as former members of God’s throne room, part of the heavenly council.  (In Isaiah chapter 6, the prophet sees the throne room and describes the council there as ‘seraphim,’ which is Hebrew for ‘snakes.’)  These demons and the devil are the forces at work in this world, corrupting on a grand and personal scale.  They are at work seeking to destroy God’s good creation and forcing it back into chaos.   

I really don’t want to get into the question of “Why is there evil in the world?”  There are thousands of books on this subject with numerous explanations.  Let me say this:

When God created the world, it was all good. There was nothing bad. But then there was rebellion by members of God’s heavenly council and by man. And then, not everything was good. There was evil. I prefer to think of good and evil as relational concepts. God created a world with opposites: up and down, light and dark, hot and cold, and good and evil. 

‘Up’ and ‘down’ are not things but are relational.  People living on the other side of the earth define ‘up’ as being in the opposite direction as we do.  How do you measure darkness?  You can measure light with a light meter.  There are no darkness meters.   Darkness is not so much a thing as it is the absence of light.  Darkness can only be measured in the presence or lack of light.  A hole exists only as the absence of dirt in the ground. But it can not be separated from the idea of dirt.  It is a relational concept.  Evil is not a thing that can be defined except in relation to good.  Evil is the absence of good.  Since evil is a relational concept, it is anti-God, a movement away from or counter to God.

We are not cosmological dualists;⁵ we don’t believe there are two gods, one good and one evil.⁶   The fallen former members of God’s heavenly council are entirely subordinate to God.  The satan has to ask God’s permission to test Job (and Peter, see Luke 22:31.)  The demons have no choice but to obey Jesus.  The accuser is called the “ruler of this world” (John 12:31), but only because God has granted him that position for a brief time.  God is ultimately in charge: “The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” (Daniel 4:17).  The accuser’s reign is limited by God in its range, power, and time. 

Do not dismiss, however, the concept of spiritual battle in this world.  It is just as real as everything you can see with your eyes. The satan and the demons are in constant work to drag everyone and everything away from God and into chaos.  We are told to be watchful and alert because:

“Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  1 Peter 5:8

We are warned to put on spiritual armor to protect us in this battle:

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”  Ephesians 6:11-13

So be aware of the battle, be prepared for the battle, but be assured that the final battle has already been won.

Jesus saw his mission as an attack on the forces of evil in this world.  1 John 3:8 says, “…The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”  This is as prophesied: 

Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

And Jesus defeated the satan and the forces of evil on the cross.

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” 2 Col. 2:13-15.

So when the accuser, the satan, comes to God’s court as the prosecuting attorney against you, he opens his briefcase to pull out a list of all the charges against you, and it is empty.  All sins have been forgiven; all debts have been paid.  He has no evidence to present against you.  He is ‘disarmed,’  Col. 2:15

But for Jesus in 27 A.D., after 40 days in the wilderness, the battle is ahead of him.  The Accuser comes at him with multiple ways to get Jesus to step off the path God has for him.  We will discuss the three temptations next time.

1.  “By the 17th century, the practice had extended to titles (Sir, Lady), forms of address (Father, Mistris), and personified nouns (Nature). Emphasized words and phrases would also attract a capital.”  The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (David Crystal), p67.

2. Young’s Literal Translation and  the Weymouth Translation translate as ‘adversary.’  Note that by modern English rules, a title would be capitalized here because it is in the form of a direct address.  (My English teacher said that both of the following are correct:  “The pastor came to visit.” and “Thanks for calling, Pastor.”  The second occurrence is capitalized because it is a direct address.)

3.   “The Lucifer Myth”  by Roy Blizzard.  https://www.biblescholars.org/2013/05/the-lucifer-myth.html

4.  If you want to understand more about the pronunciation of God’s name and why it is not spoken aloud by most Jews today, this book by Dr. Nehemia Gordon, a Hebrew scholar, and a Karaite Jew, is essential.  Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence. 2012.

5.  Cosmological Dualism is the belief that good and evil are two equal and opposing forces that balance the universe.  

6.  The ancient Persians worshipped many gods until Zoroaster had a vision (sometime between 900-1200 B.C.) that there were two gods, a good god and an evil god (a dualism).  Isaiah 45 is a prophecy that there will be a ruler named Cyrus. Cyrus was the ruler of Persia who conquered Babylon 140 years later.  In this prophecy, God has a message for Cyrus of Persia to tell him there is only one god.