To keep this in GQ, I am asking for answer in accordance of Christian and or Jewish teachings.
Lucifer was ‘assigned’ the duties of “Light Bearer” by God, and was and angel - Correct?
After the fall, Lucifer is known as Satan?
How did this name change happen?
Did God reassign Lucifer’s/Satan’s duties?
Does Lucifer/Satan still retain ‘powers’ of ‘Light Bearer’?
Is Satan still technically a Angel (and retain ‘angel like powers’)?
Lucifer is indeed the Latin name for him, being derived from Lux, Latin for light, and Ferrere, Latin for ‘to bear’. Satan is derived from the Greek / Hebrew word for adversary.
So it isn’t that the name changed from Lucifer to Satan, it is instead easier, or better, to think of it as a comparison between the name John and the name Ivan. Different cultures, different names. Another name for the devil is Beelzebub, which is derived from Hebrew Ba’al zebhubh, a Philistine god, or literally, Lord of the Flies. Oh, and the word ‘Devil’ has a very interesting etymology. Devil passed through the ages from Greek to Latin to Old English and Middle English to its current form, but its Greek origin was from ‘diabolos’ which was literally ‘slanderer.’
So that’s at least a partial answer as relates to the naming of him.
The name “Lucifer” appears only once in the KJV, in Isaiah 14, in the KJV and would appear to be referring more to the ruler of Babylon, although I’m sure if you were being oppressed under him, you’d probably think him demonic, too.
I didn’t know that.
So, in its original form, a devil was a liar?
BTW, I also don’t think there’s anything in the KJV about a renegade angel being cast out for being evil. In Revelation, the Devil is cast out [from where?] into the Lake of Fire, but that has not yet happened.
Satan means adversary and in original Hebrew thought/myth, satan was not considered a fallen angel or any of that stuff but an individual who worked under God.
There are two explaintions for Baalzebub or Beelzebub.
The first is that the orignal name was Baalzebul which means ‘Lord of the House/Temple’ and the Hebrews changed a letter to make it ‘Lord of the Flies’ as a stab.
The second is that it really did mean ‘Lord of the Flies’ and refered to a god who had control over insects and other pestilants.
As for Lucifer, the word translated is ‘helel’ which means ‘shining one’ and is thought to refer to Venus. The Greeks thought that Venus was composed of two stars and the Romans took that idea and named one Vesper (west) and the other Lucifer (light-bringer).
In later times, Jews took the idea of Satan being the leader of the fallen angels from the Zoroastrian and Greek myths.
The Greek word for Slanderer is diabolos (where we get devil) and it literally ment “to throw across” since a person who slandered was though to throw down obstacles across another person’s path.
So where then do most of the “christian” mainstream ideas about Satan come from? They sure don’t seem to resemble biblican depictions of “the devil”.
You’re right, they don’t. Most of the fire and brimstone type stuff comes from other religions that were absorbed into the church as Christianity spread across the world. The physical image of Satan comes mostly from the Greek god Pan (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990604a.html). Purgatory is another Greek concept absorbed into the Christian church. I’m not sure exactly where the fallen angel story comes from, but there are many religions with things that are basically good guys and bad guys that fit very well with the description of angels.
The Jewish encounter of the Zoroastrian religion was where the idea of Satan and God being in a battle, Satan having an army of demons and God’s army of angels, the idea of a final battle with good eventually winning along with some other things had become part of the Jewish faith. Jesus and his disciples believed that mental illness and physical deformities were caused by demons. And Satan, by the new testament, had become a fallen angel who corrupted humanity and battled against God.
The pictures of Satan being like a goat came from the Greek god Pan. Even more ideas came from Milton’s Paradise Lost and church leaders who developed many of the ideas that we have today.
Here is a website with more details inlcuding passages from Apocryphal Writings.
And Religious Tolerance has an interesting section on Satan.
[Nitpick]Although the Greeks had separate names for the morning star (Eosphorus) and evening star (Hesperus), they did indeed know that they were two aspects of the same planet.
Yes, that should have read ‘the early greeks’. Was it Pythagoras who proved that they were the same one?
“Eat this apple, Eve, it will give you eternal life!”
Yeah, I’d say he’s a liar.
That wasn’t the devil, that was a serpent!
And that’s exactly what I mean about how mainstream christians seem to assume there’s a lot about Satan in the bible, when there’s not.
Actually, the story goes like this:
Seems to me like he told the truth.
And, yeah, as QtM says, it was the serpent.
Absolutely. Verse three says, "`You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ " or the King James version, “Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”
Which is slightly less accurate than the serpent’s pronouncement. According to Joseph Campbell, the serpent was worshipped in the Levant for thousands of years and represented the “other” religions that the Jewish people were separating themselves from. A modern day equivalent would be a creation story where Jesus tempts the young couple and is cast down by the new God(s). Pretty shocking stuff, at the time.
Just remeber Satan, or Ha-satan, is a title, not a name, meaning ‘the adversary.’