David to number the people, that he might have an oppor tunity to do them a mischief; but the later Chronicler softens the narrative by interposing the agency of Satan.20 The passing notices of Satan in the Bible afford but scanty information concerning his history, character, and sphere of action; a remark which unfortunately applies to a great many other subjects. The hasty hints might be plain enough to those who heard them and were familiar with contemporary belief; but they are dark and dubious to us who are parted from the writers by so many thousand years, so many leagues of land and ocean, and such an arid wilderness of controversy. The idea, too, was undoubtedly a mutable and growing one, assuming from time to time very various forms. It is clear, however, that in the very early times the agents of evil were not conceived of as separate from and hostile to Jehovah. They were his ministers, doubtless estimated according to the nature of their work. Saul's melancholy is attributed to "an evil spirit from the Lord." Such parasites were supposed to hang about the celestial court willing to do dishonest jobs which purer spirits declined. In this respect the narrative in the first book of Kings, chapter twenty-second, is of peculiar interest. The kings of Israel and Judah undertake a joint expedition against the Syrians, but, like all leaders in those ages, wish to consult the oracles concerning so important an enterprise. The prophets of Israel, "about four hundred men," unanimously predict a splendid victory; but Jehoshaphat wishes to hear Micaiah. That prophet is sent for and gives a discouraging response. In reply to a remark of Ahab he proceeds to disclose a wonderful secret of transactions behind the scenes. No hint is given that what he here relates is a mere apologue in the manner of Esop. He declares it directly as "the word of the Lord." Either Micaiah flatly lies before the two kings or he has really seen what he tells. But if he is merely uttering a pungent sarcasm in the form of a fable, that does not in the least affect our argument as to the ideas then held by the Jews. The fabulist forms his groups out of figures already well known and his plots from familiar incidents; else his lessons would lose all their point and value. His foxes are always cunning, his wolves voracious, and his magpies garrulous; and 20 Compare 2 Sam. xxiv. 1 with 1 Chron. xxi. 1. his hogs are never so absurd as to seek for acorns under the elms. So if the prophet were merely weaving a fable whose scene was heaven, it would still be the familiar heaven his hearers knew and believed in. But he proceeds in most solemn form,-" Hear thou the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so." The view here given of heaven is the common one of that age and country,-the reflex of an eastern court, with the monarch on his throne surrounded by a host of officers and retainers-with the addition of one attendant more obsequious than honorable. The result is a close counterpart of the second book of the Iliad, where Zeus sends to Agamemnon a lying dream to deceive him to his hurt. A somewhat similar scene is presented in the prologue to the Book of Job. Let it be premised, as accurate enough for the present purpose, that this is a strictly Hebrew book, written some time in the seventh century before Christ, by an Israelite inhabiting, or at least familiar with, the pastoral country stretching away eastward from the Jordan towards the Euphrates. The book is obviously a work of fiction; but that does not in the least affect the fidelity of its representations. The purport of the opening scene, as we understand it, is as follows. The celestial dignitaries came on a a high court day to tender their respects to, and hear the behests of, the divine majesty. And Satan came also among them." them." No history or pedegree of this personage is given, as every reader is presumed to know him perfectly well. The writer tells who Job was and all his friends; but Satan needs no introduction. His appearance at the public reception occasions no surprise or alarm. There is a good understanding between him and the sovereign, and he speaks his mind with remarkable freedom. He bears considerable resemblance to the king's fool of the middle ages, who alone is privileged to say saucy things to his lord. But he is ill-minded, moody, snarling and discontented, as if he had undergone some great disappointment that had soured his temper forever. His trade is to find fault, and for the best actions he insinuates always some selfish, ignoble motive. The Deity is indulgent to his acrid temper, and wishes to convince him that he is mistaken in thinking everybody bad at heart, and calls his attention to the virtuous, generous and pious Job, as an example sufficient in itself to convince him of his error. Satan, in his Mephistophelean way, replies in effect, "No doubt, Job knows on which side his bread is buttered. He is well paid for being good; but try him with trouble, and see if he don't curse you to your face." The lenient reply is," Satan, I am sure you are mistaken; indeed so confident am I of this, and so anxious to cure you of that uncharitable notion of yours, that I am willing for you to make the experiment yourself. You will see that Job will maintain his integrity." So Satan sets out and musters the most terrible agencies of ruin. Tornadoes and lightnings, bands of Sabeans and Chaldeans slay the sons and servants of the blameless man, and kill or drive off his cattle. Still "Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." On the next court day Satan comes again among the others. The Lord addresses him as well as to say, "You see, Satan, I was right. All your trials have not detected the least flaw in my faithful servant." But the incurable cynic has an answer at hand: "A man will do anything to save his life. He is afraid to provoke you now, for fear you should kill him outright; but make him so sick that he thinks he shall die anyhow, and you shall see." Even this malicious suggestion is complied with, but the fault-finder is charged to spare the life of the victim experimented on, in order that amends may hereafter be made to him. The exordium to the Book of Job is the only part of the Old Testament that affords any considerable materials for the reconstruction of the popular idea of the Hebrews, before, and about the time of, the captivity, respecting the Devil. It is quite at variance with the Arian doctrine of Ahriman, who is equal in rank to Ormazd, while the two are kept far asunder by mutual antipathies. The idea here presented is equally at variance with modern Christian be lief. The Satan of the Old Testament is in some sort the minister of the Almighty. The idea was no doubt constantly undergoing a gradual change and developement. A wide difference is observable between the earliest and latest notices. The first of the series remaining, we believe to be the story of the lying spirit sent to deceive Ahab; the last, the vision of Zechariah. The idea of Satan being an officer of the divine government may sound strange in modern ears, but it is familiar enough to the East. The Devil-wor shippers of the Kurdish mountains justify their rites by saying that Satan is a courtier who has lost favor with his sovereign, yet who knows but he may still maintain a correspondence with the court, and may some day be restored? Will he not be very grateful to us then for remembering him now? 21 The Satan of the twenty-first chapter of first Chronicles is but a slight advance on the "lying spirit" that tempted Ahab to his death. In second Samuel (xxiv. 1) it is explicitly stated that "the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go number Israel and Judah;" the Chronicler says as plainly that "Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel." Now either Satan is here the agent of the Lord, like the lying spirit that deceived the prophets or the two statements contradict each other. The reader will choose the alternative he thinks most probable. The passage in the third chapter of Zechariah purports to have been written at least as late as 515 B. C., probably over a century after the Book of Job. The prophet sees in one of his visions "Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him." One can only suppose the picture to represent Joshua pressing some request before the representative of the Deity, and Satan using whatever art and influence he had to dissuade the angel from granting the petition. But the celestial satrap is very decisive, and answers the adversary with proper severity. Slight as the notice here is, it indicates something of the change going on in the Jewish mind. We notice the greater use made of angels, and a widening of the breach between Satan and the powers divine. In the Book of Job, Satan appears before the Al21 Kleuker Anhang zum Zendavesta ii. 1-49. mighty himself, and his cynicisms are not answered by a single unkind word; but here a mere angel stops him with a very severe reproof. It is doubtless but a repetition of the same idea that the archangel Michael is represented as entering into no argument with Satan, but cutting him short with the very words in Zechariah-" the Lord rebuke thee," (Jude ix.) The passage in the Psalms (cix. 6) is exactly parallel to the one in Zechariah, if indeed it relates to Satan at all, which may be doubted. Both may well have the same date and the same idea, for the psalms are of very various dates, the ninetieth being attributed to Moses, and the hundred and thirty-seventh written in the captivity. The querulous and fault-finding temper of Satan is well suited to the odious office of government spy or informer in which he is so often represented. So the Rabbins asserted, as we have seen, that the goat was offered to him on the day of atonement to prevent his reporting before the Lord the misdeeds of the Jews. The Jerusalem Targum to Lev. ix. 23 makes Moses say to Aaron, "Take thee a calf for a sin-offering, that Satan may not lodge a complaint against thee because of the calf which thou madest at Horeb-and say to the children of Israel: Take a he goat, because Satan is transformed into a he goat, lest he complain of you." To the same effect speaks the Shemoth Rabba (fol. 117,)" Dixit Rabbi Jose, Michael et Samael similes sunt sunegor et kategor, qui in judicio stant, uterque loquitur et sermonem absolvit. Si Advocatus novit quod victoriam reportaturus sit, celebrat judicem, qui sententiam prolaturus est. Accusator etiam verba quædam addere cupit, sed huic statim dicit advocatus: tace et audiamus effatum judicis. Sic quoque Michael et Samael stant ante thronum Shechinæ et Satanus accusat, Michael vero merita Israelitarum proponit, Satanas plura loqui cupit, sed Michael ei silentium imponit." The same idea again recurs in the Revelation of St. John (xii. 10,)-"The accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our God day and night." That the idea is the same throughout is further evidenced by the fact that some of the best manuscripts, instead of the regular form kategoros, accuser, in the passage from the Apocalypse, have the corrupt rabbinical form kategor. |