The Role of the Deity in the Hebrew Bible or the development of Satan Essay

The Role of the Deity in the Hebrew Bible or the development of Satan in the Hebrew Bible - Essay Example This is far from the beastly and prophetic visions of Satan that come later in the additional Christian texts, for example in Revelations, in which Satan is effectively demonized or polarized, to represent the extreme side of evil, versus the extreme side of good. Satan in the Old Testament is more simple and straightforward, and also has a more direct relationship with God. There are cues about Satan in Genesis and other Old Testament books. â€Å"In Genesis, God not only promises consequences for disobedience but that a battle will be fought-at great cost to God-to set all free from the destructive power of evil and human sin† (Weissenmuler, 2002). However, in terms of explicit mention of Satan by name, to represent an alternate side of God, the book of Job is the book of focus. In the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible, there is not really much explicit mention of Satan before the book of Job. As mentioned above, of course, in Genesis, there is the portrayal of evil, and the representation of evil through the snake which tempts Eve with the apple, but even here the snake is not explicitly identified as Satan. It is a more symbolic meaning. And, although there are occasional uses of â€Å"satan† as a verb or noun to mean terrorize or enemy, respectively in the Old Testament before the book of Job, Job is the first book in which the reader is introduced to Satan as a personage with a direct relationship to God. The reader sees that Job is a man who â€Å"feared God, and eschewed evil† (KJV,Job,1,1), who has been given a bountiful and prosperous life by his God. Satan is introduced early in the book through a series of tests by which God is to measure Job’s faith by taking away the abundance that he has given him; Satan acts as an agent of God in carrying out the disruption of Job’s plenty and the corruption of his body. In this way, the reader can see that, rightfully so in a book