Satan is to be better understood as an "accuser" or "adversary". The term is applied both to supernatural entities and human beings. The term Satan in Hebrew is derived from the root meaning "to oppose", "to be an adversary" or "to act as an adversary". In the Book of Numbers he is not malevolent and God witnesses him preventing harm:
"But God was incensed at his going; so an angel of the LORD placed himself in his way as an adversary (Hebrew: satan)", Numbers 22:22[5]
Different uses of the word "Satan" in the Tanakh
The Hebrew "Satan" is used in the Hebrew Bible with the general connotation "adversary", or those who act as a adversaries, as with:
* An enemy in war and peace[6]
* An accuser before the judgment-seat[7]
* An antagonist who puts obstacles in the way, as in Numbers 22:22, where the angel of God is described as opposing Balaam as an adversary.
In the Book of Job, ha-satan("the adversary") is a prosecuting attorney against mankind in the heavenly court of God. Other angels are not mentioned by name. He is known as the accuser and is the angel which questions mankind's loyalty to God. He argues that man is only loyal because God gives them prosperity. He is the one who actually delivers all the ills upon Job to test his faith on Gods command.
In 1 Chronicles 21:1, Satan incites David to commit the sin of taking a census of Israel. Five hundred years earlier, this same story portrayed Yahweh as the one who incited David to take the census (2 Samuel 24:1). The later story was written after the Hebrews had been in exile in Babylon and had been exposed to Zoroastrianism.
The Strong's Concordance number for the Hebrew word "Satan" is 07853 and 07854.[8]
"7853 satan saw-tan' a primitive root; to attack, (figuratively) accuse:--(be an) adversary, resist."
"7854 satan saw-tawn' from 7853; an opponent; especially (with the article prefixed) Satan, the arch-enemy of good:--adversary, Satan, withstand."
This can be used to research the Biblical usage of this word.
Satan as an accuser
Where Satan does appear in the Bible as a member of God's court, he plays the role of the Accuser, much like a prosecuting attorney for God. The following information has been taken directly from the article on 'Satan' in the Jewish Encyclopaedia:
"Such a view is found, however, in the prologue to the Book of Job, where Satan appears, together with other celestial beings or "sons of God," before the Deity, replying to the inquiry of God as to whence he had come, with the words: "From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."[9] Both question and answer, as well as the dialogue which follows, characterize Satan as that member of the divine council who watches over human activity, but with the evil purpose of searching out men's sins and appearing as their accuser. He is, therefore, the celestial prosecutor, lawyer who sees only iniquity; for he persists in his evil opinion of Job even after the man of Uz has passed successfully through his first trial by surrendering to the will of God, whereupon Satan demands another test through physical suffering.[10]
"Yet it is also evident from the prologue that Satan has no power of independent action, but requires the permission of God, which he may not transgress. He cannot be regarded, therefore, as an opponent of the Deity; and the doctrine of monotheism is disturbed by his existence no more than by the presence of other beings before the face of God. This view is also retained in Zech. 3:1-2, where Satan is described as the adversary of the high priest Joshua, and of the people of God whose representative the hierarch is; and he there opposes the "angel of the Lord" who bids him be silent in the name of God.
"In both of these passages Satan is a mere accuser who acts only according to the permission of the Deity; but in 1 Chronicles 21:1 he appears as one who is able to provoke David to destroy Israel. The Chronicler (third century B.C.) regards Satan as an independent agent, a view which is the more striking since the source whence he drew his account[11] speaks of God Himself as the one who moved David against the children of Israel. Since the older conception refers all events, whether good or bad, to God alone,[12] it is possible that the Chronicler, and perhaps even Zechariah, were influenced by Zoroastrianism, even though in the case of the prophet Jewish monism strongly opposed Iranian dualism.[13] An immediate influence of the Babylonian concept of the "accuser, persecutor, and oppressor"[14] is impossible, since traces of such an influence, if it had existed, would have appeared in the earlier portions of the Bible."[15]
With regard to the 1 Chronicles 21:1 passage, it is known that, at times, Yahweh gives Satan the authority to carry out wicked deeds, as in the book of Job. It has similarly been argued that Satan entered Judas so that the Son of Man could be delivered over to the officials. (Luke 22:3)
