Who is Satan?

Reading the commentary on Job of Rabbi Sa’adia ben Joseph who lived in the 10^th century AD, I got an interesting perspective.

Most people are unaware that the Hebrew word ‘satan’ means adversary and is so translated in I Samuel 29:4 (refers to David), I Kings 5:4 (refers to enemy), I Kings 11:14 (refers to Hadad the Edomite), I Kings 11:23 (refers to Rezon an enemy of Solomon), I Kings 11:25 (refers to Hadadezer king of Syria).

Because for us the term always refers to the devil, we have a very negative understanding of the word. However in Numbers 22 the term ‘satan’ is used for the angel of the Lord who confronted Balaam when he was going to meet Barak! The angel’s action of obstructing Balaam is also called ‘satan’.

The term is translated as Satan (the devil) in Job and I Chron 21:1, Psalm 109:6 and Zechariah 3:2.

This is the total occurrence of the word in the Old Testament.

So why is it translated as Satan in Job instead of adversary? Because of the tragedies which fell on Job seem to have a supernatural hand. The Rabbi agrees that it is supernatural, but ascribes it to God and not to the devil. He says that the devil cannot harm a man of God and these tragedies were inflicted by God to show Job’s faith!

So the adversary to the Rabbi was a member of the house of faith, a human, who was jealous of Job. This is a much better interpretation for Zechariah 3:2 where the adversary is better understood as opposition within Jerusalem from leaders who were jealous of Zerubabbel. So also in Psalm 109:6.

If this be so, every occurrence of the word ‘satan’ can be taken to mean adversary and not the devil, who is powerless over us. However this interpretation does not fit Job well.

Job 1:6-12 the ‘sons of God’ had gathered before God. This is taken as the Sabbath worship of the Jews. One of the worshippers is an adversary to Job. He is probably a travelling merchant and so says that he has come from travelling over earth. God shows him Job and he says that Job is righteous because of God’s protection.

But what then does vs 12 mean? Does it mean that God had given the adversary means to harm Job? But the kind of harm does not appear to be inflicted by the adversary but rather God with this interpretation.

Job 2:1-10. A similar conversation takes place here, but verse 7 specifically says that the attack on Job’s health was brought about the adversary and not God.

So while I would prefer to translate ‘satan’ as the devil in Job, but  in Zechariah 3 and Psalm 109 and all other occurrences I would prefer to go with a human adversary.