The Devil in Judaism

HISTORY OF TRADITION: Do Jews Believe in the Devil? Satan didn’t arise from Hell fully formed. The concept of an ultimate Evil One was apparently borrowed from the Persians and continued to evolve throughout antiquity (Elon Gilad, Haaretz premium). This is a good overview of the evidence for the development of the idea of Satan or the Devil in Judaism from antiquity into the Middle Ages. I would be a little cautious about assigning specific dates to the texts in the Hebrew Bible, but most specialists would more or less agree with the flow of thought proposed in the article.

A few small points.

The reference to "Samyaza" in the "Book of Enoch" is more accurately to "Shemihazah," the fallen watcher in 1 Enoch who led the watchers down from heaven to mate with mortal women. His name has something to do with seeing and "My name." "Samyaza" is a later form of the name, I think(?) the form in the Ethiopic translation of 1 Enoch.

There is no reference to Mastema in the Book of Watchers (which is the first section of 1 Enoch). He does appear in Jubilees and in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The words Satan and Mastema come from two different, but very similar, Hebrew roots (√śṭn and √śṭm, respectively). The roots have different, but very similar meanings ("to be an adversary to" and "to be hostile to," respectively).

For many past PaleoJudaica posts on the Devil/Satan (a.k.a. Azazel, Belial, and Beelzeboul) start here and follow the links.

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