User talk:Fonda666

Suggested edits for "Satan"

1. In the headnote and in the body, it is stated that during the intertestamental period the figure fo Satan became an popnent to God and purely evil, but there is nothing to back this up in the material that follows. The figure of Mastema in the "Book of Jubilees"acts similarly to the satan of Job. in getting permission from God. Here is the language at present:

During the intertestamental period, possibly due to influence from the Zoroastrian figure of Angra Mainyu, the satan developed into a malevolent entity with abhorrent qualities in dualistic opposition to God. In the apocryphal Book of Jubilees, Yahweh grants the satan (referred to as Mastema) authority over a group of fallen angels, or their offspring, to tempt humans to sin and punish them.

During the Second Temple Period, when Jews were living in the Achaemenid Empire, Judaism was heavily influenced by Zoroastrianism, the religion of the Achaemenids.[29][10][30] Jewish conceptions of Satan were impacted by Angra Mainyu,[10][31] the Zoroastrian god of evil, darkness, and ignorance.[10] In the Septuagint, the Hebrew ha-Satan in Job and Zechariah is translated by the Greek word diabolos (slanderer), the same word in the Greek New Testament from which the English word "devil" is derived.[32] Where satan is used to refer to human enemies in the Hebrew Bible, such as Hadad the Edomite and Rezon the Syrian, the word is left untranslated but transliterated in the Greek as satan, a neologism in Greek.[32] The idea of Satan as an opponent of God and a purely evil figure seems to have taken root in Jewish pseudepigrapha during the Second Temple Period,[33] particularly in the apocalypses.[34] The Book of Enoch, which the Dead Sea Scrolls have revealed to have been nearly as popular as the Torah,[35] describes a group of 200 angels known as the "Watchers", who are assigned to supervise the earth, but instead abandon their duties and have sexual intercourse with human women.[36] The leader of the Watchers is Semjâzâ[37] and another member of the group, known as Azazel, spreads sin and corruption among humankind.[37] The Watchers are ultimately sequestered in isolated caves across the earth[37] and are condemned to face judgement at the end of time.[37] The Book of Jubilees, written in around 150 BC,[38] retells the story of the Watchers' defeat,[39] but, in deviation from the Book of Enoch, Mastema, the "Chief of Spirits", intervenes before all of their demon offspring are sealed away, requesting for Yahweh to let him keep some of them to become his workers.[40] Yahweh acquiesces this request[40] and Mastema uses them to tempt humans into committing more sins, so that he may punish them for their wickedness.[41] Later, Mastema induces Yahweh to test Abraham by ordering him to sacrifice Isaac.[41][42]

I suggest removing the references to Zoroastrianism, or adding something like: An alternative analysis is that the satan does not oppose God but simply continues his adversarial endeavors against humans, thereby darkening his reputation. Kelly 2006, p. 2 and Kelly 2017, pp. xi-xii, can be cited.

2. The following passage is mistaken:

In 2 Samuel 24, Yahweh sends the "Angel of Yahweh" to inflict a plague against Israel for three days, killing 70,000 people as punishment for David having taken a census without his approval.[19] 1 Chronicles 21:1 repeats this story,[19] but replaces the "Angel of Yahweh" with an entity referred to as "a satan".[19]

It should read:

In 2 Samuel 24, "the anger of Yahweh" induces David to sin by taking a census of his people, but 1 Chronicles 21:1 replaces Yahweh's anger with an entity referred to as "a satan" or "Satan." The citation of Kelly 2006, p. 20, is correct