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Satan,
Devil, Demons in the Old Testament
One
of the subjects that came up is our belief of
what the Scriptural record means when it uses
words like Satan and the devil. Is Satan in the
Bible a supernatural archangel that has been cast
from heaven? Or do the words Satan, Devil and
Demons mean something entirely different than
what is taught in modern Christianity, including
the Jehovah's Witness Organization?
These are the questions I hope to determine in
this word study.
We
will look at the original languages of the Bible
(Hebrew and Greek) to determine how and when the
words Satan, Devil and Demons are used. Every
occurrence of the original word will be analyzed.
The King James Version (KJV) and
the New World Translation (NWT)
will be the main Bible versions used and Strong's
Exhaustive Concordance will be the main
supplementary source for definitions.
Please
note that the KJV uses italics to show
words that do not have a corresponding word in
the original languages. I have used this format
as well. I have also used the NWT format for plural
verbs (ie. all capitals) and brackets [ ] to define
"inserted words to complete the sense of the English
text", or in other words to show words that do
not have a corresponding word in the original
languages.
Satan
- The Old Testament
The
Hebrew word is "satan" ÷f;c; (pronounced 'sawtawn').
It means "adversary" or "one who withstands".
There are places where the English word "Satan"
occurs, but these are not the first time the original
Hebrew word is used.
The
first time the Hebrew word is ever used is found
in Numbers 22:22 .
"And
God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the
angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary
against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and
his two servants were with him." - KJV
"And
the anger of God began to blaze because he was
going; and Jehovah's angel proceeded to station
himself in the road to resist him. And
he was riding upon his she-ass, and two attendants
of his were with him." - NWT
The
highlighted words "for an adversary" (KJV) and
"to resist" (NWT) are translated from the Hebrew
"satan". We see here the angel of YHWH acting
as a "satan" or adversary against Balaam. In case
you think this may be a mistake, let's go
down to verse 32 .
"And
the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore
hast thou smitten thine ass these three times?
behold, I went out to withstand thee, because
thy way is perverse before me." - KJV
"Then
Jehovah's angel said to him: Why have you
beaten your she-ass these three times? Look!
I - I have come out to offer resistance,
because your way has been headlong against my
will." - NWT
The
highlighted words "to withstand" (KJV) and "to
offer resistance" (NWT) are the words that are
translated from "satan". Again this is in reference
to the angel of YHWH, except this time the angel
is using the word in reference to himself.
Now
go back to these verses and read them again except
insert the English word "Satan" in place of the
words used. It does not make sense.
The
next time the word is used is in 1 Samuel 29:4
.
"And
the princes of the Philistines were wroth with
him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto
him, Make this fellow return, that he may go again
to his place which thou hast appointed him, and
let him not go down with us to battle, lest in
the battle he be an adversary to us: for
wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his
master? should it not be with the
heads of these men?" - KJV
"And
the princes of the Philistines became indignant
at him; and the princes of the Philistines went
on to say to him: 'Make the man go back, and
let him go back to his place where you assigned
him; and do not let him go down with us into the
battle, that he may not become a resister
of us in the battle. And with what should this
person put himself in favor with his lord? Is
it not with the heads of those [our] men?'
" - NWT
The
words "an adversary" and "a resister" are from
the word "satan". This is what the Philistines
were referring to David as, in the context of
a military enemy. If you insert the word "Satan"
here you again find a passage that does not make
sense. The passage MUST be translated as "an adversary"
or "a resister".
David
uses the same expression when speaking of Joab
and Abishai in 2 Samuel 19:22 .
"And
David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons
of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries
unto me? shall there any man be put to death this
day in Israel? for do not I know that I am this
day king over Israel?" - KJV
"But
David said: 'What do I have to do with YOU
men, you sons of Zeruiah, that YOU should become
today a resister of me? Will anyone today
be put to death in Israel? For do I not well know
that today I am king over Israel?' " - NWT
The
word "adversaries" and "a resister" are from the
word "satan" in the Hebrew.
More
"Satans"
The
following passages all contain the Hebrew word
"satan".
1
Kings 5:4 -
Military enemies of Solomon
"But
now the LORD my God hath given me rest on every
side, so that there is neither adversary
nor evil occurrent." - KJV
"And
now Jehovah my God has given me rest all around.
There is no resister, and there is nothing
bad happening." - NWT
1
Kings 11:14 -
Hadad the Edomite
"And
the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon,
Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king’s
seed in Edom."
"And
Jehovah began to raise up a resister to
Solomon, namely, Hadad the Edomite of the offspring
of the king. He was in Edom." - NWT
1
Kings 11:23 & 25 -
Rezon son of Eliadah
23
"And God stirred him up another adversary,
Rezon the son of Eliadah, which fled from his
lord Hadadezer king of Zobah:"
25
"And he was an adversary to Israel
all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that
Hadad did: and he abhorred Israel, and
reigned over Syria." - KJV
23
"And God proceeded to raise up to him another
resister, namely, Rezon the son of Eliada,
who had run away from Hadadezer the king of Zobah
his lord."
25
"And he came to be a resister of Israel
all the days of Solomon, and that along with the
injury that Hadad did; and he had an abhorrence
of Israel while he continued reigning over Syria."
- NWT
Psalm 38:20 -
Those that render evil for good
"They
also that render evil for good are mine adversaries;
because I follow the thing that good is."
- KJV
"And
they were rewarding me with bad for good; They
kept resisting me in return for my pursuing
what is good." - NWT
Psalm 71:13 -
David's enemies
"Let
them be confounded and consumed that are
adversaries to my soul; let them be covered
with reproach and dishonour that seek my
hurt."
"May
those be ashamed, may those come to their end,
who are resisting my soul. May those cover
themselves with reproach and humiliation who are
seeking calamity for me." - NWT
Psalm 109:4, 20, and 29 -
David's enemies (adversaries)
4
"For my love they are my adversaries:
but I give myself unto prayer." - KJV
4
"For my love they keep resisting
me; But on my part there is prayer." - NWT
20
"Let this be the reward of
mine adversaries from the LORD, and of
them that speak evil against my soul." - KJV
20
"This is the wages from Jehovah of one resisting
me And of those speaking evil againt my soul."
- NWT
29
"Let mine adversaries be clothed
with shame, and let them cover themselves with
their own confusion, as with a mantle." - KJV
29
"Let those resisting me be clothed
with humiliation, And let them enwrap themselves
with their shame just as with a sleeveless coat."
- NWT
What
about the occurrence of "Satan" in Psalm 109:6?
This occurs in the KJV, but not in the NWT,
which translates the Hebrew word "satan" correctly.
Let's look at Psalm 109 in
a little more detail and see why the NWT has translated
this correctly.
Verses 1-5 "Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the
deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken
against me with a lying tongue. They compassed
me about also with words of hatred; and fought
against me without a cause. For my love they are
my adversaries: but I give myself unto
prayer. And they have rewarded me evil for good,
and hatred for my love." - KJV
David here is concerned because of the wicked
men that surround him. He even calls them "my
adversaries", or "satan" in the Hebrew.
In verse 6 ,
he continues:
"Set
thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan
stand at his right hand."
David appeals to God to "set a wicked man" over
his adversary, and says further, give him an adversary,
too.
Why would I replace "Satan" with "adversary"?
Actually, the whole Psalm requires it.
Look at the number of times the Hebrew word "satan"
is in this Psalm. A total of four times:
V.4 trans. "adversaries"
V.6
trans. "Satan"
V.20
trans. "adversaries"
V.29
trans. "adversaries"
With the translation of "Satan" in verse 6, it
makes no sense unless God and an alleged evil
being were in it together... David is pleading
with God to place that "satan" with his "satan"
to punish him (compare v. 29 ).
A
Parallel Passage Dilemma
As
you may or may not know, the records of Kings
and Chronicles have large sections in them that
are parallel. There are also sections in 2 Samuel
that have parallels in Chronicles as well. The
NWT translators seem to have been aware of this
by the way they translated the 2 Samuel passage.
The one parallel passage we are going to consider
is 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21.
2 Samuel 24:1 "And
again the anger of the LORD was kindled against
Israel, and he moved David against them to say,
Go, number Israel and Judah." - KJV
"And
again the anger of Jehovah came to be hot against
Israel, when one incited David against them, saying:
'Go, take a count of Israel and Judah.'
" - NWT
Because Israel was acting sinful the LORD caused
David to number Israel as a punishment on Israel.
The king was not supposed to number the fighting
men, but he was to rely entirely on the LORD.
As a result of David numbering Israel the LORD
sent pestilence upon Israel (verse 15). As the
angel of the LORD reached Jerusalem, David prayed
to the LORD, and Jerusalem was spared (verses
16-25).
In
this case, the NWT translation of 2 Samuel
is
incorrect. A literal translation of the Hebrew
text supports the KJV.
"And
the anger of Yahweh added (increased) to burn
against Israel, and moved David about them, saying,
‘Go, number Israel and Judah.’ "
What is so remarkable about Yahweh punishing Israel?
The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles...
1 Chronicles 21:1 "And
Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked
David to number Israel." - KJV
"And
Satan proceeded to stand up against Israel
and to incite David to number Israel." - NWT
That's right! Satan! The translators
saw fit to leave the word in this passage untranslated.
Why? Maybe they were not reading carefully...
It should have read "And an adversary stood up..."
as there is no definite article preceding the
Hebrew word "satan".
In 2 Samuel it is the LORD (YHWH) who sends David
to number Israel, and in 1 Chronicles it is "Satan".
Which one is right? Well, they both are... Remember,
the Hebrew word "satan" just means "an opponent,
or adversary". In other words, Yahweh was an adversary
against Israel.
Joshua
and a Satan
Zechariah 3:1-2 "And
he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before
the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing
at his right hand to resist him. And the
LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee,
O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked
out of the fire?" - KJV
"A
he proceeded to show me Joshua the high priest
standing before the angel of Jehovah, and Satan
standing at his right hand in order to resist
him. Then [the angel of] Jehovah said to Satan:
'Jehovah rebuke you, O Satan, yes,
Jehovah rebuke you, he who is choosing Jerusalem!
Is this one not a log snatched out of the fire.'
" - NWT
The Hebrew word "satan" occurs 4 times in these
two verses. So in these verses there is an adversary
or an opponent, who is "resisting" or acting as
an opponent against God and his will. Does this
require the person/being to be "supernatural"?
No. Consider the following.
1.
There is no definite article.
2. Zechariah 1:1 tells us the time period when
Zechariah wrote his prophecies. The date equates
to approx. 520 BC. What events were occurring
at that time?
At that point in time Ezra was rebuilding the
Temple in Jerusalem under God's direction...
And there were certain who were trying to interfere
with the process... Ezra 5 ...
These were the "satan" or opponents...
Job
What
about Job? Surely that must be a different word...
No it is exactly the same word.
Read the following verses and replace the word
"Satan" with the word "adversary" or "opponent"...
Job 1:6-9, 12
Job
2:1-4, 6-7
Each of these 14 times it is the same Hebrew word
"satan", as used in all the other passages in
the Old Testament...
Job
1:6 -
"Now there was a day when the sons of God came
to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan
came also among them."
Who
are the "sons of God"?
Scripturally,
"sons of God" can refer to angels, as is the case
in Job 38:7, which is the only time
it used in this way.
Job
38:7 "When the morning stars sang together, and
all the sons of God shouted for joy?"
In
most cases, "sons of God" is an expression about
human worshippers of God.
John
1:12 "But as many as received him, to them gave
he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name..."
Romans
8:14 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of
God, they are the sons of God."
Philippians
2:14-16 "Do all things without murmurings and
disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless,
the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst
of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye
shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the
word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of
Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured
in vain."
1
John 3:1-2 "Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us, that we should be called the sons of God:
therefore the world knoweth us not, because it
knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of
God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we
shall be like him; for we shall see him as he
is."
"Present
themselves before the LORD"
While
there is one passage that speaks of angels as
being "sons of God", there are none that speak
of angels presenting themselves before the LORD.
Jesus tells us that " always behold the
face of my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew
18:10). Now, on the other hand, there are many
cases of men presenting themselves before the
LORD. Here are a few.
Deuteronomy
19:17 "Then both the men, between whom the controversy
is, shall stand before the LORD, before
the priests and the judges, which shall be in
those days..."
Exodus
34:1-2 "And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee
two tables of stone like unto the first: and I
will write upon these tables the words
that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.
And be ready in the morning, and come up in the
morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself
there to me in the top of the mount."
Leviticus
14:11 "And the priest that maketh him clean
shall present the man that is to be made clean,
and those things, before the LORD, at the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation:"
Deuteronomy
31:14 "And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thy
days approach that thou must die: call Joshua,
and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the
congregation, that I may give him a charge. And
Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves
in the tabernacle of the congregation."
Acts
10:33 "Immediately
therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done
that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here
present before God, to hear all things that are
commanded thee of God."
Who
did all this stuff to Job?
Traditionally,
orthodox Christianity teaches that Satan afflicted
Job with all these things. But, what does the
Bible say?
Job
1:21 "And said, Naked came I out of my mother's
womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD
gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be
the name of the LORD."
Job
2:10 "But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one
of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we
receive good at the hand of God, and shall we
not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin
with his lips."
Job
19:21 "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O
ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched
me."
Job
27:2 "As God liveth, who hath taken
away my judgment; and the Almighty, who
hath vexed my soul;"
Job
42:11 "Then
came there unto him all his brethren, and all
his sisters, and all they that had been of his
acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him
in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted
him over all the evil that the LORD had brought
upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money,
and every one an earring of gold."
It
was Yahweh who afflicted Job.
Who
is the Satan of Job?
From
the above evidence we can conclude that the Satan
is human, and one who was part of the assembly
of worshippers, but was opposed to true righteousness
(2 Timothy 3:5). This Satan cannot be a supernatural
evil being presenting himself to Yahweh (Psalm
5:4-5; Habakkuk 1:13 ).
Questions
1.
Is "satan" good or evil?
Let's look back at the first passage we looked
at in Numbers. Who is the "satan", or adversary?
The angel of the LORD! Well how about 1 Sam
29:4? David is the "satan". 2 Sam 19:22? The sons
of Zeruiah are the "satan". 1 Kings 11? Hadad
the Edomite and Rezon the son of Eliadah where
the "satan". How about 1 Chron. 21:1? When compared
with 2 Sam. 24:1 we
find that is Almighty God (YHWH) who is the "satan"
in this episode!
Is
"satan" good or evil? Neither. All the word means
is "an adversary". The context of the passage
tells you whether the action is for or against
someone.
2. Why would translators have chosen the different
translations for the same word?
To
my knowledge, the only reason the translators
would have chosen to transliterate the word "satan"
is because of their preconceived notion of a supernatural
being.
The translators have done the same with the Greek
word "hairesis" (pronounced the same as the English
word "heresy"). They have translated the word
as "sect" in Acts 5:17; 15:5; 24:5; 26:5; 28:22,
but have taken the same word and translated it
as "heresy" in Acts 24:14 and "heresies" in 1
Cor. 11:19; Gal. 5:20; 2 Pet. 2:1. Actually the
Greek work conveys the sense of a faction or division;
such as the Pharisees were a division (sect) of
Judaism. Hence the word refers to those who divide
the church, like those in 1 Cor. 1:10-13.
"Problem"
Passages
Isaiah
14
Amazingly, people still use this chapter to "prove"
the existence of a supernatural devil. The context
of this section of Isaiah is the "burden of" different
nations.
Isa 13:1 The burden of Babylon.
Isa
15:1 The burden of Moab.
Isa
17:1 The burden of Damascus.
Isa
19:1 The burden of Egypt.
Isa
21:1 The burden of the desert of the sea (Elam
& Media verse 2).
Isa
21:11 The burden of Dumah.
Isa
22:1 The burden of the valley of vision (prob.
Jerusalem).
Isa
23:1 The burden of Tyre.
Isa
30:6 The burden of the beasts of the south (prob.
Judah. Ref. To the "woe to Ariel" in Chapt. 29).
A careful reading of Isaiah 14 reveals that this
chapter is a "proverb" or parable against the
king of Babylon (v. 4). In this
chapter the trees speak (v. 8)!
What about the phrase "How art thou fallen from
heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" (v.
12 )?
The first point I'd like to make is the word
"Lucifer" is the Hebrew word "heylel" from the
root "halal" meaning "to shine, or to make a show".
This word usually is in reference to boasting,
but it is also used in the sense of praise (i.e.
to God). Hence a proper translation would be "How
art thou fallen from heaven, O shining one, son
of the morning". This would make this a taunt,
which would be consistent with it being a parable.
As I said above, this is a parable, and in fact
Jesus uses a similar parable in the NT.
Matthew 11:23 "And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to
hell: for if the mighty works, which have been
done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would
have remained until this day."
Compare this with Isaiah 14:15 .
"Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the
sides of the pit."
An OT example of a similar parable is found in
Lamentations.
Lamentations 2:1 "How hath the Lord covered the
daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and
cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty
of Israel, and remembered not his footstool in
the day of his anger!"
The final point is this person is referred to
as a man (v. 16).
Ezekiel
28
Like
Isaiah 14, this passage used to be quoted for
proof of a supernatural satan. Again, the context
of the book it is in will reveal the truth.
Ezek
25:2 prophecy against the Ammonites
Ezek
25:8 prophecy against Moab and Seir
Ezek
25:12 prophecy against Edom
Ezek
25:15 prophecy against the Philistines
Ezek
26:3 Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus
Ezek
27:2 a lamentation for Tyrus
Ezek
28:12 a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus
Ezek
28:20 prophecy against Zidon
Ezek
29:2 prophecy against Pharaoh king of Egypt
Ezek
30:4 prophecy against Egypt and Ethiopia
Ezek
30:22 prophecy against Pharaoh king of Egypt
Ezek
31:2 prophecy against Pharaoh king of Egypt
Ezek
32:2 a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt
Ezek
32:18 a lamentation for Egypt
This
is just a small selection. As one can readily
see the prophecies relate to either a nation,
or the ruler of that nation.
Now
let's look at the chapter up close.
Ezekiel
28:2 - "Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is
lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God,
I sit in the seat of God, in the midst
of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not
God, though thou set thine heart as the heart
of God:"
The
king ("prince" is translated from "nagid" meaning
"commander") of Tyre had lifted up his heart in
arrogance like his contemporary Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon (Dan. 4:28-30), and like a future
(to Ezekiel's time) ruler, Herod (Acts 12:21-22).
Both these men paid for their folly, one with
his life, and one with the temporary loss of his
kingship. This is exactly what God tells the king
of Tyre is going to happen to him.
Ezekiel
28:7-10 - "Behold, therefore I will bring strangers
upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they
shall draw their swords against the beauty of
thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou
shalt die the deaths of them that are slain
in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before
him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou
shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand
of him that slayeth thee. Thou shalt die the deaths
of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers:
for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD."
The
RSV translates verse 9 as: "Will you still
say, `I am god,' in the presence of those
who slay you, though you are but a man, and no
god...". This translation is consistent with
the NIV, NASB, NEB, TEV, Moffat and the New World
Translation.
We
see God emphasizing to the king of Tyre that he
is a mortal (v. 2 & 9). We find God using the
same expression about Egypt in Isaiah 31:3.
Ezekiel
28:12 "Son
of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of
Tyrus."
Ezekiel
is now told to make a dirge (according to Strong's,
a musical one) for the king of Tyre. "With
cutting irony Ezekiel depicts the proud king of
Tyre as the first man created, radiant with wisdom
and beauty" (Note from NIV Study Bible). The
poetry takes on the imagery of the creation. Note
that there are also contrasts with the creation.
As this is poetry, in the form of a dirge, and
a parable, we can see that the descriptions cannot
be literal, like that of Isaiah 14.
NB:
This man is depicted as falling through arrogance
and greed. Greed for riches (v. 4, 5 &16
).
The Satan of orthodoxy is depicted as wanting
"souls" not money....
Devil
- Old Testament
Now
that we have covered every verse in the Old Testament
in regards to "satan", let's move onto the
English word "devil" and it's presence in
the Old Testament.
This is easy actually... the word "devil" does
not appear in the OT. This is purely a New
Testament word and will be dealt with later.
Devils
(Demons) and Satyrs - Old Testament
In this section I have used the KJV only, except
where noted.
What
does appear is the English word "devils". This
English word occurs four times in the KJV. They
are in:
Leviticus
17:7
Deuteronomy
32:17
2
Chronicles 11:15
Psalm
106:37
Of the four passages, two are one Hebrew word
("sa`iyr" - ry[ic; ) and two are another Hebrew
word ("shed" - dve ).
Sa'iyr
This
word occurs 59 times in 57 verses in the OT. They
are as follows:
Book # of Verses
Genesis
3
Leviticus
19
Numbers
27
2
Chronicles 2
Isaiah
2
Ezekiel
3
Daniel
1
Total
57
In two of the Genesis passages the word is used
in describing Jacob's brother Esau.
Genesis 27:11 - "And Jacob said to Rebekah his
mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy
man, and I am a smooth man:"
Genesis 27:23 -
"And he discerned him not, because his hands were
hairy, as his brother Esau's hands:
so he blessed him."
In both verses the word is translated "hairy"...
Now if the word were translated "devils" or "goat
shaped demons"(NWT), the verses would look rather
odd.
In the remaining Genesis passage the word is used
in reference to what Joseph's brothers did
to Joseph's coat after they sold him to Midianites.
Genesis 37:31 -
"And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a
kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in
the blood;"
The word in this verse is "kid". Now go back and
read this verse and replace "kid" with "devils"
or "goat shaped demons".
In every reference in Leviticus, except one, the
word is translated "kid" or "kids" or "goat" or
"goats".
These are the passages:
Leviticus 4:23, 24; 9:3, 15; 10:6; 16:5, 7, 8,
9, 10, 15, 18, 20, 21 (twice), 22 (twice), 26,
27; 23:19
In Numbers 7 it is translated "kid" in all occurrences,
except one and that is "kids" (verse 87). They
are:
Numbers 7:16, 22, 28, 34, 40, 46, 52, 58, 64,
70, 76, 82, 87
In the rest of Numbers, it is translated "kid"
and "goat".
Numbers 15:24; 28:15, 22, 30; 29:5, 11, 16, 19,
22, 25, 28, 31, 34, 38
2 Chronicles 29:23 "And
they brought forth the he goats for
the sin offering before the king and the congregation;
and they laid their hands upon them:"
The context of this chapter is the revival and
Passover brought about by Hezekiah, Judah's
first righteous king in many years. Sacrificing
a goat was part of the ritual, but if you translate
the word "devils" or "goat shaped demon", the
whole thing takes on a different meaning....
The rest of the passages are:
Ezekiel
43:22, 25; 45:23
Daniel 8:21
Before we get to the verses translated "devils"
there are two additional verses that need to be
looked at...
Isaiah 13:21 - "But wild beasts of the desert
shall lie there; and their houses shall be full
of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there,
and satyrs shall dance there."
Isaiah 34:14 -
"The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet
with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr
shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also
shall rest there, and find for herself a place
of rest."
Isaiah 13 is referring to the destruction of Babylon.
It is referred to as being so empty as to be overrun
by wild animals. Most modern translations use
"goat" instead of "satyrs".
Young's Literal... "And Ziim have lain
down there, And full have been their houses of
howlings, And dwelt there have daughters of an
ostrich, And goats do skip there."
American Standard... "But wild beasts of
the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall
be full of doleful creatures; and ostriches shall
dwell there, and wild goats shall dance
there."
New King James... "But wild beasts of the
desert will lie there, And their houses will be
full of owls; Ostriches will dwell there, And
wild goats will caper there."
In Isaiah 34, the prophecy is about the destruction
of Edom. Again, most modern translations use the
word "goats".
New King James... "The wild beasts of the
desert shall also meet with the jackals, And the
wild goat shall bleat to its companion;
Also the night creature shall rest there, And
find for herself a place of rest."
American Standard... "And the wild beasts
of the desert shall meet with the wolves, and
the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
yea, the night-monster shall settle there, and
shall find her a place of rest."
Again, the word proves to be better translated
by the English word "goat(s)".
Now
to the last two occurrences...
Leviticus 17:7 "And
they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto
devils, after whom they have gone a whoring.
This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout
their generations."
Again more modern translations help.
American Standard... "And they shall no
more sacrifice their sacrifices unto the he-goats,
after which they play the harlot. This shall be
a statute forever unto them throughout their generations."
Word English Bible... "And they shall no
more sacrifice their sacrifices unto the he-goats,
after which they play the harlot. This shall be
a statute forever unto them throughout their generations."
Webster's Bible Translation... "And
they shall no more offer their sacrifices to idols,
with which they have committed idolatry: This
shall be a statute forever to them throughout
their generations."
Young's Literal... "and they sacrifice
not any more their sacrifices to goats
after which they are going a-whoring; a statute
age-during is this to them, to their generations."
The context of the chapter is worship, and in
fact the previous chapter uses the same Hebrew
word 14 times, and each time the translators used
"kids", "goat" or "goats", all in the context
of worship.
Young's and Webster's translate the word
as "idols", probably in the context of "goat-idols".
As the Israelites were prone to giving in to the
worship of pagan idols in the OT, so the translation
is most probably a correct one...
The other passage, 2 Chronicles 11:15 ,
we find that Jeroboam had instituted false worship...
"And
he ordained him priests for the high places, and
for the devils, and for the calves which
he had made."
Again, more modern translations clear up the matter,
and even indicate that the conclusion we drew
from the previous passage was correct.
Young's Literal... "and he establisheth
to him priests for high places, and for goats,
and for calves, that he made --"
Word English Bible... "and he appointed
him priests for the high places, and for the male
goats, and for the calves which he had made."
So once again we find the translators of the KJV
using their preconcieved ideas, instead of translating
a word consistently... Take a look at these passages
in the NWT. You will find that same is the case
with the translators there.
Shed
In
Deuteronomy 32:17 and Psalm 106:37 there is an
Hebrew word that is once again translated "devils".
These are the last two occurrences in the OT.
Deuteronomy
32:17 - "They sacrificed unto devils, not
to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods
that came newly up, whom your fathers feared
not."
Psalm 106:37 - 38 -
"Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters
unto devils, And shed innocent blood, even
the blood of their sons and of their daughters,
whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan:
and the land was polluted with blood."
Even these verses alone should tell you that what
is being referred to is idols.
Stong's, while giving you the most unhelpful
definition of "a demon", which is not correct
(more likely "pour forth, or breasts"), it does
give you the root word... "shuwd" which is defined
as "to ruin, destroy, spoil, devastate"
Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon comments
on this word:
"As
a noun masculine plural, it was the name given
by the Hebrews to the idols worshipped by the
inhabitants of Canaan."
Many
of these Canaanite gods were multibreasted female
images. The male counterparts were warriors and
ravagers. So whichever definition you go by ("pour
forth or breasts" or "to ruin, destroy, spoil,
devastate") you still get the same result... false
gods - idols. My personal opinion is that
the idol was Molech... To worship Molech you would
offer your infant first born child (usually a
son) and he/she would be laid in the arms of this
idol. The weight would trigger the arms to lift
and the infant would roll into the idol. The inside
of the idol was a furnace, and the infant would
be burned alive.
Conclusions
- Old Testament
The
Old Testament has nothing to say about the supernatural
Satan of orthodox Christianity. Instead it shows
that the Hebrew word "satan" is a general word
used for anyone who opposes another. It does not
denote good or evil, but is a neutral word.
The
word "devils" in the KJV and "goat shaped
demons" in the NWT are a mistranslation
of two words that should be rendered "goat" (sa'iyr)
and "idols" (shed)
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