I just started reading the book last night, and only read the first two pages (You're all ahead of me, I know :P)

Bloom says that Lucifer was an idea invented around 200AD. Is this true? Does that, then, make the serpent in the Garden just that, a serpent?

Zach:

Good question. I'm sure Cheryl will be interested in helping with that one. She knows the Bible very well.

And you being behind in the book doesn't worry me. You were ahead of us in Jared Diamond's book the whole time, so we are all trying to pay you back.

Chris

Edited by: Chris OConnor  at: 10/30/05 4:03 pm

Before Cheryl gets a chance to answer let me throw my two cents in. I'm working off of memory and am very lazy at the moment, so some details about my response might be wrong.

Actually, the name Lucifer is not mentioned as a charachter in the Bible at all. People attributed the name Lucifer to the charachter of Satan in post-Biblical times.

Of course, the charachter of Satan underwent a progressive evolution in the Bible itself. He is not mentioned at all in the Penteteuch and receives only scant mention in all of the Old Testament except the book of Job where he is not really thought of as the Devil but as a roving, mischeivous angel "spy" in the court of Yahweh. Only in the New Testament (and intertestimal literature) did the grand personification of Satan as the Devil, Evil one and Temptor become solidified. But the name Lucifer is never applied to him in canonical scripture.

J.

Jesus never mentions Satan either....which leads me to believe its another corruption of Christianity. Jesus mentions Gehenna, but not Hell.

Silly Christians, using their religious views to reflect political desires and agendas.....

Good observation Bradley, to that I'll add that while never an actual character, the term "Lucifer" was used to describe the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14:12-14. I think that places it somewhere near 700 BC.

Babylon is the nation which conquered the (southern?) kingdom of Isreal, Judah, and held them in captivity for 70 years, I think. They have consequently symbolized the antithesis of God's people, and the pinnacle of utter rebellion against God. The fact that it is observable in New Testament themes is not that remarkable.

However, Satan and the Devil are mentioned regularly throughout both the old and new testament and by Jesus and the prophets alike. The following link is a good reference if any of you are interested in further reading. It presents the argument that Satan/Devil are merely personifications of some activity. Satan is translated accuser, and devil is synonymous with sinful nature. There is no actual malicious spirit hunting our souls, according to this interpretation (which is theistic interestingly enough).

www.bbie.org/english/Stud...Satan.html