06/16/20

How the Serpent Became Satan

© James Steidl | 123rf.com

The third chapter of Genesis begins the story of the Fall by asserting that the serpent was craftier than any other beast that the Lord God had made (Genesis 3:1). The term used for crafty—arum—has a fairly wide lexical sense, that includes “shrewd” or “cunning” and “wise” or “prudent.” Positively, it is in Proverbs 14:15, where the prudent one (arum) gives thought to his steps. Negatively, it is in 1 Samul 23:22, when Saul urged the Ziphites to confirm David was still where they last saw him, for he is very cunning (arum). In his commentary on Genesis, Gordon Wenham said while early Jewish and Christian commentators identified the serpent with Satan, there was no other mention of a personal devil in the early parts of the Old Testament; and modern writers don’t think this was the view of the author of Genesis. So why did he say that a snake tempted the woman?

Some scholars look to the creation myths of the ancient Near East. In the ancient Oriental cultures, serpents were symbolic of life, wisdom as well as chaos and death—which are all themes that connect with the narrative of the Fall. The Babylonian creation myth, the Enuma Elish, describes serpents and dragons participating in a violent battle between Tiamat, a primordial goddess, and Marduk Babylon’s deity. Among the gods fighting alongside Tiamat were “monster-serpents, sharp of tooth, unspring of fang … roaring dragons she clothed with terror.” The Lexham Bible Dictionary said, “In the end, Marduk crushes Tiamat’s skull and splits her body in two, in order to form the cosmos.”

In Egyptian texts, serpents have both benevolent and evil powers. Apophis, the mythical serpent and enemy of the sun-god Re, attacked the ritual sailing ship that transported Re across the heavens each night, while Mehen, another serpent, protected Re. Apophis existed in the waters of primeval chaos before creation. He continued to resurface as chaos was repeatedly confronted. The cobra Wadjet was closely linked with the king, defending him from his enemies with its fiery breath.

The Canaanite combat myth of Baal and Anat suggested that Anat and Baal were victorious over the crooked serpent (Lotan, Litan or Leviathan). The defeat of Litan allowed Baal to continue his dominance in the heavens. This in turn resulted in the on-going welfare of Shapash (the sun) and the daily continuation of the sunrise. “Cosmic order was maintained with both the sun (Shapash) and Baal, god of storm and rain, in balance. On the other hand, Litan and Mot were determined to disrupt the cosmic order.” However, this isn’t a sufficient explanation of the serpent’s presence.

In the New Bible Dictionary, Biblical scholar K.A. Kitchen noted after reviewing specific Biblical references to serpents, none of the passages referred to a creation-struggle of deity and monster. “All the serpent-slaying in them is done within an already created world.” Citing Alexander Heidel in The Babylonian Genesis, Kitchen said Tiamat, who Marduk cut in two, has been wrongly said to be a serpent or dragon and therefore gives no support for assuming a struggle of deity and serpent/dragon at creation.

No conclusive proof has yet been found for the idea that Tiamat was a dragon, or a similar being, while against it can be cited the testimony of Berossus and of Enuma Elish to the effect that Tiamat was a woman, the wife of Apsu, and the mother of the gods. Jensen is therefore unquestionably right in his declaration that the supposed dragon-form of Tiamat is “a pure figment of the imagination.” (The Babylonian Genesis, p. 88)

Heidel went on to say Apsu and Tiamat represented not only ancestors of the gods, they represented living, uncreated world-matter. “Apsu was the primeval sweet-water ocean, and Tiamat the primeval salt-water ocean. They were matter and divine spirit united and coexistent, like body and soul.” They contained all the elements from which the universe was made; and from them all the gods and goddesses of the Babylonian-Assyrian pantheon were descended. “In sharp contrast to this, the Book of Genesis speaks of only one divine principle, existing apart from and independently of all cosmic matter.”

Nevertheless, Wenham suggested The Gilgamesh Epic may have played a role. Towards the end of the epic, Gilgamesh is told of a thorny plant at the bottom of the sea that has wonderous powers. He was told by Utnapishtim that if he ate this plant when he reached old age, he would be rejuvenated and become immortal. Gilgamesh descended to the bottom of the sea and obtained the plant. On his return journey, he stopped at a pool of fresh, cold water to bathe. While he was bathing, a serpent came up out of the water, snatched the plant from him and ate it. Thus the serpent gained the power to shed its old skin, and thereby renew its life.

But the serpent of the Hebrew Bible is not the chaos monster of other Near Eastern myths. Further, the biblical serpent lacks a definitive identification as the adversary and devil that appears in the extrabiblical literature of the first centuries BC and AD. According to the Lexham Bible Dictionary, “When readers confront those terms specifically articulated in the context of the apocalyptic, seven-headed ‘dragon’ of Revelation 12, it is evident that further development has occurred.” In the Apocalypse of Moses (1st century, AD), Eve tells her children how the enemy, the devil, spoke to the serpent and deceived her and Adam. In the Wisdom of Solomon (1st century, BC) it says while God created us for incorruption, “Through the devil’s envy death entered the world.”

“Through the matrix of Old Testament texts and extrabiblical contexts, the serpent gradually came to function as a metaphor or symbol for Satan.” Wenham noted how within the worldview of the Old Testament, a snake was an obvious candidate as an anti-God symbol. “For any Israelite familiar with the symbolic values of different animals, a creature more likely than a serpent to lead man away from his creator could not be imagined.”

Given the above discussion on the serpent, it should not be a surprise that the Old Testament says very little about Satan. The Hebrew noun sāān is often used to describe the character of an action or the role of the person performing it, rather than as a proper name for the character performing the act. “Where it is used to refer to a celestial being, the actions of that being are usually ambiguous and open to interpretation.” In Job, the satanic figure is referred to as “the satan,” with the definite article, indicating the term is understood as a title or office held by the individual, rather than a proper name. According to the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, the satanic figure “clearly works within the parameters established by God.”

The role of the satan is that of an investigator, tester or prosecuting attorney who seeks to probe the character of human beings. In Job the satan describes his activity as “going to and fro on the earth.” When God raises the specter of Job’s blameless character and unblemished devotion to God, the satan responds with doubt about Job’s integrity and the motive for his piety. Then he proposes that Job’s character be tested. An affirmative response from God sets Job’s trial in motion as he is afflicted with a multitude of disasters. When Job maintains his piety after the first onslaught, the satan proposes for him yet another trial, more grievous than the first. After this second trial, which leads into the series of speeches that occupy the center of Job, the satan recedes into the background for the rest of the book.

In Zechariah 3:1-2 the satan is the accuser of the high priest Joshua. Yahweh does rebuke the satan, but it is not clear whether the rebuke is a rejection of the satan himself or of the satan’s accusation of Joshua. As with Job, the character of the satan is ambiguous. But in 1 Chronicles 21:1, Satan (without the definite article) appears as an individual who incites David to conduct a census of Israel. Of the three considered texts, this was the only one where the term satan was used without the definite article to refer to a celestial being. While this may indicate we should understand the term as a proper name, there is not a clear indication the satanic figure is an archrival of God.

To summarize, in the OT there is little indication that early Israel thought in terms of a personalized evil individual, Satan, who stood diametrically opposed to God as an archenemy. What we do find in the OT is an ambiguous figure, a member of the divine council, whose role appears to be that of testing and probing the character of human beings. However, it must be emphasized that this satanic figure works within the parameters established by God.

Within the New Testament there is a distinctly different symbolic world, one where a personal Satan could function. Building on the apocryphal and pseudepigraphical writings of the intertestamental period, early Christianity adopted a dualism that saw the world as a battlefield between God and Satan. Satan became the epitome of evil, working at cross-purposes with God and humanity at every opportunity. “The range of names given to Satan in the NT—the devil, the tempter, the evil one, the prince of demons, the dragon, the ancient serpent, Beelzebul, the accuser, the enemy—is testimony to the richness of the early Christian experience and portrayal of evil.” The ambiguity of the satanic figure in the Old Testament is gone and Satan is let loose to prowl like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).

05/24/16

Why is the Sky Blue?

© Pakhnyuschchyy | stockfresh.com

© Pakhnyuschchyy | stockfresh.com

Some biblical scholars hold that Genesis 1 either used the Babylonian creation myth, the Enuma elish, or was generally dependent upon it and other Mesopotamian traditions. Drawing on the work of Alexander Heidel in Babylonian Genesis, we find both parallels and differences between the Enuma elish and Genesis 1. Ultimately Heidel felt that the differences were far too great and the similarities far too insignificant. “In my estimation, no incontrovertible evidence can for the present be produced for either side.” Poetically, he said: “the resemblances fade away almost like the stars before the sun.” However, some of the similarities are striking.

In the Enuma elish, we find a story of how the earth came to be. In the beginning there was only the divine parents—Apsu and Tiamat—and their son, Mummu (Remember, this was ancient Babylon. Maybe Mummu was a popular name back then). Apsu was the primeval sweet-water ocean and Tiamat was the primeval salt-water ocean. Mummu was the mist rising from the two bodies of water and hovering over them. When Apsu and Tiamat comingled their waters, they gave birth to Lahmu and Lahamu, two silt deposits who eventually formed land. The three types of water were mingled together, forming an undefined mass in which were all the elements from which the universe was later made. But as yet, there was no heaven or earth.

In time, Apsu and Tiamat had more children, Anshar and Kishar. Together they had a son named Anu, who was the sky-god. Anu’s son was Ea, who became the god of the subterranean sweet-waters, the god of magic and eventually the mastermind of all the divinities. “He had no rival among his fellow-gods.” The younger gods were noisy and loud, disturbing the older gods, Apsu and Tiamat. When peaceful attempts to quiet them failed, Apsu determined to destroy them. But Ea through the power of the spoken word of a magic spell put Apsu to sleep. He then took Apsu’s royal tiara and supernatural radiance for himself and killed Apsu, the father of all the gods. Ea then established a spacious place for himself and all the remaining gods to live, calling that place “Apsu.”

So far, there is no real parallel between the two accounts, but we now come to the time of Marduk the son of Ea and “the wisest of the gods.” Tiamat resented the death of her consort, and sought revenge against the other gods for killing Apsu. So she decided to revolt against the other gods, but was defeated in battle by Marduk. He divided her body in two forming the universe, “with one half he formed the sky, with the other he fashioned the earth.”

 Next, he created stations in the sky for the great gods; he organized the calendar, by setting up stellar constellations to determine by their rising and setting the year, the months, and the days; he built gates in the east and in the west for the sun to enter and depart; in the very center of the sky he fixed the zenith; he caused the moon to shine and entrusted the night to her.

The story continues with a discussion of the further creation acts of Marduk. They have some similarity to the biblical account in Genesis as seen in this chart reproduced from the Babylonian Genesis. Note that in both accounts, light is created before the luminaries. But even in what follows, there is not complete correspondence. In fact, “the differences far outweigh the similarities.”

Enuma elish

Genesis

Divine spirit and cosmic matter are coexistent and coeternal

The divine spirit creates cosmic matter and exists independently of it

There is primeval chaos; Tiamat is enveloped in darkness

The earth is a desolate waste, with darkness covering the deep.

Light emanated from the gods

 

Light is created

The creation of the firmament

The firmament is created

The creation of dry land

 

Dry land is created

The creation of the luminaries

The luminaries are created

The creation of humanity

Humanity is created

The gods rest and celebrate

God rests and sanctifies the seventh day

If Genesis 1:1-2:3 really was influenced by Enuma elish, then it is reasonably certain that at least the following elements go back to the Babylonian epic: (1) part of the outline; (2) the conceptions of an immense primeval body of water containing the component parts of the earth; (3) the idea of the primeval waters; and (4) the existence of light before the luminaries.

There were also parallels with other Near Eastern cultures and their own creation stories as well. The Egyptians and the Phoenicians referred to a watery chaos in their cosmologies. There was primeval darkness within the cosmologies of the Greeks and the Phoenicians. However, in his commentary on Genesis 1-15, Gordon Wenham seems to capture the right view. He said the known links of the Hebrew patriarchs with Mesopotamia and the other areas of the Near East make it improbable that the writers of Genesis were completely ignorant of Babylonian and other similar creation stories.

Most likely they were conscious of a number of accounts of creation current in the Near East of their day, and Gen 1 is a deliberate statement of the Hebrew view of creation over against rival views. It is not merely a demythologization of oriental creation myths, whether Babylonian or Egyptian; rather it is a polemical repudiation of such myths.

Drawing on Scripture and Cosmology by Kyle Greenwood, Brad Kramer elaborated on the similarities between Hebrew and other Near Eastern cosmologies. The people of the biblical world assumed that rather than what we think of as “outer space”, there was a universally-wide cosmic ocean. For them this was an entirely rational belief based upon everyday observation and intuition. Why was the sky blue? Where did rain come from? “Ancient people figured that the sky was blue because there was a giant cosmic ocean high above the earth.” And rain came in through the windows and doors of a heavenly dome.

It was a nearly universal belief in biblical times that the sky was a solid structure, serving as a barrier for the upper waters. Aligned with the common experience of finding water deep in the ground, “The ancients conceived of the earth arising out of primordial waters, called the cosmic ocean…the earth was thought to be surrounded by these cosmic waters.” So the ancient Hebrew understanding of the universe looked something like the following:

Hebrew conception of the universe

Biblical evidence for this ancient cosmology exists within Genesis 1 itself. Genesis 1:6 through 9, covering the second day and part of the third day of creation, described how God created an expanse or firmament (rāqîaʿ) in the midst of the waters. This firmament separated the waters above and below. This firmament was thought to be a beaten metal plate or bow; a gigantic heavenly dome. Kramer concluded:

These verses only make sense if the whole universe is filled with water. The picture here is God blowing a bubble of habitable space in the middle of the cosmic sea and placing a barrier to keep the waters from crashing down onto earth. Interestingly, the heavenly bodies (sun, moon, and stars) are “set…in the dome” (1:17), under the “waters above”, rather than above them. So again, the picture is of cosmic waters encircling the entire universe, including stars and planets (which ancients assumed were attached to the solid dome). Greenwood concludes: “As was the case with ancient Israel’s neighbors, the land mass they called earth was thought to be surrounded by water—east and west, above and below.”

Further Biblical evidence that the Hebrews seemed to have a three-tiered cosmology of the universe, with the earth situated in the middle between the heaven above and the deep beneath can be found in passages such as: Genesis 49:25, Deuteronomy 33:13, and Psalm 135:6. This three-tiered cosmology continued even into the early days of the church. To give but one example, in The Literal Meaning of Genesis, which Augustine wrote in 416 AD, he discussed why he thought the “star” Saturn was actually cold and not hot, as others speculated.

Indubitably, therefore, what makes it cold is the nearness of those waters set in places above the heavens, which these people refuse to believe who argue in the way I have summarized about the movement of the sky and the constellations. It is by drawing such inferences that some of our people meet those who refuse to believe there are any waters above the heavens and still insist on the coldness of that star whose circuit is nearest to the highest heaven.

For Christians with a modern scientific worldview such a cosmology is nonsensical. So they tend to import (sometimes unconsciously) the criteria of modern scientific accuracy into their reading of Genesis 1. This adds an “artificial middleman” to its interpretation. Attempting to combine an ancient cosmology with a modern scientific one will ultimately render both incoherent or out of focus at some point. And if we are attempting to convince a modern, science-minded person of the truth and authority of the Bible, “Do we really want an apologetic in which the truth of the Bible depends on the accuracy of scientific beliefs of ancient cultures?”

For more articles on creation in the Bible, see the link “Genesis & Creation.”