SATAN (Heb. šātan). An invisible personal agent, the enemy of man who leads him to perdition by drawing him away from God.
The term (from the verb šātan "to oppose, to persecute," especially by accusing: Ps. [Heb.] 38:21; 71:13; 109:4, 20, 29; Zech. 3:1 [Septuagint ἀντιχαῖσθαι], "to obstruct" the way: Num. 22:22, 32; cf. the abstract šītnōh "hostility"
Gen. 26:21, "accusation" Ezra 4:6) occurs in the Hebrew Bible nine times as a common noun: "adversary" in war (1 Sam. 29:4; 1 Kings 5:18; 11:14, 23, 25) or in court (Ps. 108:6) or one who bars the way: 2 Sam. 19:23; cf. Matt. 16:23 and Matt. 8:33: Jesus rebuffs Peter who obstructs his path to the cross; 1 Macc. 1:36 the Akra fortress is erected εἰς ἀνάβολον, as a "barrier." In three passages (Job 1-2; Zech. 3:1-2; 1 Chron. 21:1) it designates the being who accuses man before God or induces him to sin; he is "the adversary" par excellence; but only in 1 Chron. 21:1 is it used without the article, as a proper name. Like the Septuagint, the New Testament uses the Greek term ὁ ἀνάβολος (v. DEVIL), which is its literal translation, but 36 times it has ὁ ἀνταγνάς (with an Aramaizing ending).
The idea of S. is connected with that of God's "judgment." S. is the public accuser who "stands against" (ἀππαδ' al: Zech. 3:1; 1 Chron. 21:1; cf. Ps. 108 [109]:6); he is similar to the mezhīr 'āwān ("who brings guilt to remembrance" with a view to punishment, death) of Ezek. 21:28 ff.; 29:16 (cf. Gen. 41:9; 1 Kings 17:18). And since, in the prophets' theology of history, the fortunes of a people correspond to God's judgment upon it, the two s. (the Edomite Hadad and the Aramean Rezon) whom Yahweh raises up against Solomon (1 Kings 11:14-25) rise up, in the final analysis, against his sins. Beyond Micah's vision (1 Kings 22:19-23: Yahweh sends a "lying spirit" to destroy Ahab), two symbolic scenes present S. at the divine court. In the prologue of Job (Job 1:6-2:7), S. appears before Yahweh together with the angels ("the sons of God"); he has vast competences and powers: he roams the earth and spies on men there, he lies in wait for the virtue of the just man by tempting him; Yahweh authorizes S. to proceed against Job, after entrusting to him the forces hostile to life (diseases, natural calamities, human crimes), so that it is "the hand of Yahweh" that strikes Job (1:11; 2:4). Similar is Zechariah's 4th night vision (3:1-2), where the ṣāṭān accuses, rightly, the high priest Joshua who is guilty: but God becomes angry against S. and the angel (v.) of Yahweh prevails, as the agent of grace (in Num. 22:22, however, the angel of Yahweh acts as a ṣāṭān). The third passage that mentions S., instrument of the divine "judgment," is 1 Chron. 21:1, where S. (a proper name!) is substituted for Yahweh, who in the older text 2 Sam. 24:1 tempted David directly: a change due to dogmatic motives, just as later Jub. 48:25 will transform Ex. 4:24. For Tobit father and son and for Sarah the infestation of Asmodeus brings many sorrows, but "the trial of temptation is necessary" and Raphael comes to free them from the demon (Tob. 12:13-14). Primitively S. is not a perverse angel; through later contamination the angels who executed God's plagues were identified with the demons, beings evil by nature (J. Bonsirven, p. 239).
In the Old Testament the ṣāṭān represents the threat of ruin hanging over man; he is the one who disturbs the relations between God and men, and in particular between God and Israel, by bringing human sins before God and obstructing the divine economy of salvation. He is conceived either as the accuser who exploits, and avidly spies upon, moral guilt, or as a destructive demonic force connected with the plan of divine providence over individuals and peoples; in both cases he is subject to God, from whom he seeks to take man away (cf. Dante, Inf., XXVII, 112-29; Purg., V, 100-29: Guido and Buonconte of Montefeltro). The essentially perverse being was 'Azā'zēl, conceived as a demon of the desert, upon whom every guilt of Israel was laid in the annual rite of atonement (Lev. 16:8-22). The biblical S. is an entity without analogies in other religions. W. Bousset and H. Gressmann wrongly affirm its Persian origin. It cannot come from Iran because metaphysical dualism is totally absent from the Old Testament; still less from the Babylonians, whose bēl dabābi is always a man (J. von Rad).
S., as the "tempter" who brings ruin to man, appears first in the serpent that tempts Eve and ruins man (Gen. 3:1-15), which symbolizes "evil" (Gen. 4:7); he is connected with the dragon (v.), whom God dominates and defeats. He is akin, although in the Old Testament he appears distinct, to the "evil spirit" (opposed to the "spirit of Yahweh" which abandons Saul when the latter breaks [with him]: 1 Sam. 16:14-16; 18:10-12; 19:9; 26:19; 28:15-16), referred to divine causality by virtue of an absolute theocentrism; the "evil spirit" works as a spirit of discord (Judg. 9:23), is a "lying spirit" that impels one to transgress the divine will (1 Kings 22:19-23). To such spirits many Jews and Christians later attributed the moral corruption of humanity, holding the "sons of God" to be angels who descended (fell) from the heavenly court, from whose commerce with "the daughters of men" the wicked nēphilim were born (Gen. 6:2-4).
S. appeared rarely in the Old Testament writings. The midrashic apocalyptic (v.) abundantly filled the gap. In late post-exilic Judaism, from the 3rd or 2nd century B.C., S. appears by then as the antagonist of God, the cause of every evil, the head of the kingdom opposed to the Kingdom of God. To this evolution, besides the intent of exonerating from Israel's calamities the divine justice and providence, there contributed both the dualistic tendency due in part to the growing hatred for the gentiles, and the coalescing into the figure of S., which becomes determinate as it expands, of the most ancient traditions of the serpent of Eden, of the fall and the union of the angels, of the angel of death, of the struggle with dragons. S. absorbs the moral concept of the "evil nature" (jējer hā-ra) with which S. ruins man (Num rabbā 20; Babā Bathrā 15 a), and that of "angel of death," with which he is sometimes identified (Babā Bathrā 16 a); more and more he is the tempter and seducer, he is the "enemy" who does every physical and moral evil to man (Henoch 69:4, 9). The biblical demons, such as Asmodeus, Lilith (v.), those that inhabited the desert in the form of impure animals, the sē'rim ("hairy ones," "goats"), the sēdhim (idd "to destroy"; cf. the Assyrian sēdu, a theriomorphic genius, good or evil), the līlin, rūbīn and rūbāth, which harm man in soul and body, are distinct from S.: in Henoch 53:3 S. and the "angels of punishment" differ from the fallen angels and from the demons. The S. multiplies, becomes a generalization: the category of the many s. is being formed (S. in the plural: Abiqar 3:38, 49; Henoch 40:8-10; etc.), subject to the one S., who is subject to the "Lord of spirits" (Henoch 65:6); with time the s. were confused with the demons.
S. is the serpent that tempted Eve (Vita Ad. 12; Apoc. Abr. 13; Apoc. Mos. 16; Apoc. Sedrach 5), out of envy (Wis. 2:28; Sanhedhrin 59), according to Sōrā 9 and Gen. rabbā 18 out of concupiscence; Gen. rabbā 24 and 42 attributes Cain and many demons to S.'s commerce with Eve. S. is "the serpent of the beginnings" (nābāš haq-qadhmōn), of whom the gāim are disciples (Siphrē 138 b). The Targumīn often introduce S. into the biblical narratives, e.g., Targ. Ion. on Ex. 32:19.
In Enoch (10:4, 8; 13:1; 54:4; 55:4), the chief of the demons is 'Azā'zēl (or Semjaza: ibid. 6:7), whose hosts were subjected to S. (Enoch 54:6); 'Azā'zēl in Apoc. Abr. is the chief; in Testam. Salom. 7:7 he is the archangel whom the demons obey. Gadreel is the S. who deceived Eve (Enoch 69:6). S. is often equivalent to Belial (v.), and above all to Sammael, the chief of the demons in Ascensio Isaiae and Baruch gr. (4:8: he tempted Eve); after the 2nd century, Sammael takes the place of S. in the Midrashim (Gen. Rabbā 29) and in the Talmūd: "The angel Sammael, the impious one, is the chief of all the s." (Enoch 40:7; Deut. rabbā on 33:1); Sammael, identified with the angel with whom Jacob wrestled (Gen. 32:25-32), is held in check by Michael or Phanuel; he is the "angel of death" who tempted Eve (Targum Ier. 1 on Gen. 3:6). The chief of the kingdom of evil is Mastema (= S.) in Iubil., Damasc., the "Manual" of the "Community of the covenant" of Qumrān. S. was an archangel named Satanael before he rebelled against God with his angels (II Enoch 29:4; 31:3-6; Vita Ad. 12-16). Armies of demons are under the command of S. (Enoch, Iubil., Testam. XII Patr.). At the end of the world S., with his demons, will be rendered powerless or annihilated (Iubil. 23:30; Testam. Dan. 5, Simeon 6:6), which excludes a dualistic conception.
In the New Testament the preternatural person of S. is the center and the synthesis of the death-dealing empire (Hebr. 2:14) of evil. New Testament demonology is entirely in function of soteriology (B. Noack). S. interposes himself between God and men to prevent their salvation; Christ, instead, interposes himself as the life-giving mediator. Characteristic of the New Testament, especially of the Johannine and Pauline writings, is the idea of the universal kingdom of S. through sin and death and the absolute antithesis between S. and Christ and between their kingdoms (flesh and spirit, darkness and light). The entire "world" (in a pejorative sense: Io. 1:10; 7:7; 15:18; 16:20; 17:9-16; I Io. 2:16; 5:19; Mt. 18:7; Gal. 6:14) is subject to S. because of the extreme sharpening of the ontological-ethical dilemma (God or nothingness, life or death, holiness or iniquity) tending toward the unity that excludes all dualism.
The biblical concept of S., stripped of the midrashic extravagances, is found again in Beelzebub ([v.]) E. Riehm connects it with the Aramaic be'el dēbahāh "enemy" ("the chief of the demons," in the devil (v.), translation of hafāṭān, also called "the evil one" (Mt. 13:19, 38; II Thess. 3:3; perhaps Mt. 6:13 b), "the ancient serpent" (Apoc. 12:9; 20:2), "the enemy" (Mt. 13:39), "the prince of this world" (Io. 12:31; 14:30; cf. Lc. 4:6), "the god of this age" (II Cor. 4:4), "the prince of the power of the air (thus is Beliar called in Test. XII Patr., Levi 3), of the spirit that now works in the rebels" (Eph. 2:1). His innumerable host includes "the principalities (al āp̄zā), the powers (al ēbōnōn), the rulers of this world of darkness, the spirits of wickedness (that fly) in the lower atmosphere (ἐν τοῖς ἐσονρανίοις)" (Eph. 6:12; cf. Rom. 8:38; I Cor. 15:24), who govern all those who do not belong to God (Io. 15:19; 17:14; I Io. 4:4-5). As ruler of this world, S. has nothing in Jesus, who is not of the world (Io. 8:23; 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 17:14-16); S. cannot harm the children of God (I Io. 5:18). S. confesses that his power is derived (Lc. 4:6). He is a tempter who knows how to exploit even Scripture (Mt. 4:6) to seduce the Messiah; Judas is his victim (Lc. 22:3; Io. 13:27); Peter and the Apostles are shaken by him (Lc. 22:31). His power is superhuman (II Thess. 2:9), and it opposes evangelization (I Thess. 2:18). The kingdom of S. stands against the Kingdom of God (Mt. 12:26; Mc. 3:24). But S. and his demons recognize the power of Jesus, the Messiah sent by God to destroy the works of S. and his own (Mc. 1:24, 34; 3:11-15, 23-27; 6:7; I Io. 3:8; cf. Act. 16:16-18), to free his disciples from the world of S. and introduce them into the Kingdom of God (Io. 15:19; 17:12, 14). Salvation consists in being liberated from the dominion of S. (Act. 26:18). For every evil, physical and moral, is under the control of S. The woman who "had a spirit of infirmity for 18 years was bound by S." (Lc. 13:11, 16). When the Apostles cast out demons, S. collapses (Lc. 10:18; v. LUCIFERO).
S., who sinned from the beginning (I Io. 3:8), is the agent of sin (Rom. 6:12-14; Io. 8:34), by which he makes man a slave (Io. 8:34) and assimilates him to himself (Io. 6:70; Judas). This slavery is maintained and strengthened through the flesh, which is man's organic connection to the world (Rom. 7:17-8:13). S. uproots the seed of the divine word from man's heart, to replace it with spurious grain, zizania (Mc. 4:15; Mt. 13:19, 39); his intent is to "blind the minds of those who do not believe, so that they cannot be enlightened by the gospel of the glory of Christ" (II Cor. 4:41), by means of the captious "wisdom of this world" (I Cor. 2:6) and the "depths of S." (Apoc. 2:24). "The tempter" (ὁ παρᾶς ἄννε: I Thess. 3:5; I Cor. 7:5; cf. Mt. 4:1-3) induces men to lie to God (Act. 5:3); his method is falsehood (Io. 8:44) and to seduce he "transfigures himself into an angel of light" (II Cor. 11:14). Against his seductions (II Cor. 2:11) and violence, against the "synagogues" of the followers of S. (Apoc. 2:9-13; 3:9), against the apostates who return to S. (I Tim. 5:15), the Christian must resist, fight with the weapons of the spirit (I Pt. 5:9; Iac. 4:7; Eph. 6:10-17). Christ has defeated him on the cross and he will be annihilated (Col. 2:15; II Cor. 10:5). God will crush the "ancient serpent" (Gen. 3:15) under the feet of the faithful (Rom. 16:22). The world of S. now fights Jesus and his own, but Jesus in the end will win and conquer the world (Io. 16:33; 17:21, 23); "the prince of this world" is already from now on condemned and "cast out" with the Crucifixion (Io. 12:31; 16:11); still "a little time"! (Apoc. 12:12). The Apocalypse describes the immense conflict between the two superhuman powers of God and of S. with their hosts. After the definitive defeat of the Beast and the kings of the earth (Apoc. 19), S. ("the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the seducer of all the earth": Apoc. 12:9) is imprisoned in the bottomless pit for 1000 years (Apoc. 20:2); then he is released and deceives the nations, but in the end he is cast into the lake of fire (Apoc. 20:10; cf. Enoch 54:5-6; II Pt. 2:4).
In I Cor. 5:4-5 and I Tim. 1:20, the guilty one is handed over to S., who will destroy his flesh, so that the sinner may be converted and his spirit may be saved in the judgment. "A murderer from the beginning" (Io. 8:44), S. kills those whose master he is (cf. II Cor. 2:11); this death-dealing function of his, annulled by the Crucified One (Hebr. 2:14), is perhaps connected with that of the destroying angel (Ex. 12:23; II Sam. 24:16; II Reg. 19:35; Sap. 18:25; I Cor. 10:10 ff.). Illness or persecution, "a thorn fixed in the flesh," is a "messenger of S." (II Cor. 12:7); S. is also in this an involuntary instrument of divine grace (ibid. 9), as happened in the Crucifixion of Christ (I Cor. 2:8).
In the Bible there does not surface the persuasion, current among Babylonians and Arabs, that the demons and their chief dwell in subterranean regions. S. with his spirits resides in the aerial strata (Eph. 2:1; 6:12), while the holy angels are in the higher spheres of the heavens. S. "and his angels" were cast down from heaven to earth (Apoc. 12:7-9). After passing through the other 6 heavens, Jesus descends to the firmament where "the prince of this world" dwells (Ascensio Is. 10:29; cf. 7:9; 11:23).
Among the Fathers, S. is "the adversary" (ἀντιπείωνος; Clement, Ad Cor. 51, 1; Ps. Barnabas, 2), "the evil one" (πονηρός, ibid., 4); over the way of good are set the angels of God, over the way of evil the angels of S. (ibid., 18). Christians must flee the snares of S., head of the iniquitous age (Ps. Barnabas, 18 ὁ ἄρχων καυρὸν τῆς ἀνολίας; St. Ignatius, Ad Eph. 19, 3; Ad Trall. 8, 1; Ad Smyrn. 9, 1); the Eucharistic Synaxis annihilates "the powers of S." (ibid., Ad Eph. 13). On temptations and the way to overcome them: Hermas, Pastor, II, Mand. 4, 3; 12, 4-5; etc. The baptismal liturgy entailed the renunciation of S. (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. 19, mystog. 1; PG 33, 1065-76; St. Augustine, De Symb. ad catechum.; PL 40, 627-28, 637-38, 651-53, 659-61; John Chrysostom: PG 49, 241-76; S. does not govern the world; Gregory of Nyssa: PG 46, 417-30; Constit. Apost., VII, 41; F. X. Funk, I, Paderborn 1905, pp. 444-49). On S. and the fall of the angels, St. Justin (Apol., I, 5; II, 5; C. Tryph., 69 and 124) and St. Irenaeus (Adv. Haer., I, 10, 3; III, 23, 3; "the head of the apostasy") return to the subject. Christ "bound the Strong One," defeating S. in his dwelling, hell (Origen: PG 14, 1052); cf. W. Bieder. Many present the Redemption as a ransom that Christ paid to S. as a "debt" of justice, especially St. Augustine (cf. J. Rivière). The idea of the accusing angels remains (St. Epiphanius, In laud. S. M. Delparae: PG 43, 501). S. and death are often identified. St. Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., V, 21, 3, and 22-24 (PG 7, 1181-88) affirms the dominion of S. over the world. This dominion belonged to S. by right: St. Leo the Great, Sermo de Nativ., 22, 3 (PL 54, 196); St. Bernard deduces (from II Tim. 2, 26; Io. 14, 30; Mt. 12, 29; Lc. 11, 21; 22, 53) against Abelard "diabolum non solum potestatem sed et iustam habuisse in homines" (PL 182, 1065) from which only Jesus redeems. Cf. Council of Trent, sess. V (Denz-U, 788), and the treatises of St. Thomas (In IV Sent., II, dist. 3-7; Sum. Theol., 1°, qq. 63-64).
Post-Christian Semitic vocabulary has adopted the name S. from the Bible: Arabic šajtān, Syriac sātānā, Ethiopic najētān. In the Quran Šajtān and Iblis (= šakāḇoḥ) are synonyms; S. is sometimes the (single) angel who fell for not having wished to adore Adam (sūrah, 2, 32), at other times he is one of the gīnu (18, 48); he made Adam sin and deceives his descendants, except the believers, who drive him away by stoning him (2, 32-34; 15, 28-42); he is the enemy of man (35, 6); those tempted by S. have recourse to Allāh (7, 199-201; 23, 90).