The Prince of Darkness Radical Evil and the Power of Good in History Jeffrey Burton RussellCopy © 1988 by Cornell Universiey hts reserved, Except for bref quotations in a review this ok, OF pars thereof must ot be replied without permission in wstng om the p infoemaion,addeess Cornell Univesity Pres Sage Howe, 12 Bast State Stree, ies, New Vork 1850 Firs published 1988 ty Corll University Press Firs printing, Cornell Paperbaci, tops Printed in the United State of metic, Library of Congress Cataloging Pablaton Date Roseletrey Bacon, sand materials othe ules extent lishing ofits books. Such meters NVOC inks and acid fee pers that are also ether reyced, tally chlornece, or parti composed of nonwow bes Coch printing 109 8 7 6 5 4 ya Paperback printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4Lord and the Dell 29 fesh," and Isiah 45.7 says, “T make light and dark: wing hee ae pen cere in amhclee of e 3 The Good Lord and the Devi] Stites poo melas of the Tebow San that sade Pas benevolence a ree ue she Gees. iS ote oral (of ison on pu o death ‘nothing that drew breath, and Hazor itself they “The Israelites plundered all these cities and kept ther spoil they took; destroyed every one: they did not “anaanites petished offering resistance t0 the ‘own fault. More, their fault was par “and that thas they sho * Gosh. + lder. When one of the Canaanites. When replied that Joshua was ro discover the culprit by ‘upon Achan. Achan confessed, and the Israel hin todeath, whereupor down to the last man a ‘rin the wilderness to which they “wo A‘and men and women, 625 0 Gosh, 7-8). The logic was people Israel: any Gent Israel pursued ther,” and rere ki é nko the Apocrypha “Texamen Ga wa repansble or iene of inne opposites rele alight anurans, construct tha cesigate the cos shas ‘b cosmos, and since, unlike the abstract ality and will, no deed could be done wr ‘when anyone transgressed morality 4 was responsible for the transden “The harsh ature of God inp segs mores ofthe wandering. comps became more seed he each sith plague ter plague ch ine Pharash begin a Tuner ano bing fone da “The Good Lord and te Del nt writers did noc make eis as rabbinic and Chi he theme of human perversity time of Noah, Socom and Gomorrah, and Tsraclites to obey their covenant with Ge = fy was alicnated from God was already fn the Lord saw th Genesis 6.5~6: “When the Grech and cae his though {edhaving made mano” seemed insufficient t0 the world ignty did not vent of axon tot, God oe proceeded along 10 rst faultline was the “sons of {ebrews may have per 1a of lesser gods. As the the idea of pantheon faded, and defined figures. Yeethey played spect of the divine nature off from Hebrews developed the bene ha-lohim became shadow an essential part in separating or the good, Bf Genesis relates that early in the history ofthe human a‘Th Prince of Darkness now called because oftheir ‘Watcher angels—as they were te vomen—the fst importants the better, principal ost closely linked. ‘The spstruct,” oF in this simple mes inthe Old ee The bane dentin “ect moe appests ne eens han oP sgh have one fete OM ese ps a2 each Ba seston He erat bei or ian eee ‘ovo Sa 22228 Sa aca sing deep scsi sowed fear mangas ag ee The Lord rebuke you, Satan, th ore than God dain and greater than ¥ are yo patural being whose nature isto obstruct ce eae retain and eat yh tocmerge superar iing whe ritual force. The Apocalyptic writers studied the Old Testament and and to accuse. Sa as confirm the Septuz found ahine of such aforee to develop these hints into full, colorful accounts, as in the Book of Enoch, Enoch is taken on an inspection tour of Sheol, the shadowy underworld place of the dead, “the land of destruction, forgetfulness, and silence.” During sees the sons of God in their fallen the author is here affirming the ‘Apocalyptic and tion of tat 5, “slandere ers a we reproaches him for his activites. Sti God's tool far in its duties and failed to under ‘That God permits Saran ‘he heavenly court indicates the origin of ng pos ition to Ge signers, a to! that stand chat God Stand and speak beforPbS. be PINS U pep. aw Lb (ote bb6 The Prince of Darts: alyptic Life of Adam (14.1 indicate that the conneetion between the bright son of the Devil was being made atthe time Yet another view of Satan’s fall appears in the Books of Adam and Eve, hie refuses God's command to baw down to Adam, Thus Apocalyptic iter five hitherto separate ideas (athe leas prince of demons. great faultine upon which the concept ofthe God divided ‘Yahweh. The maak isthe emissary orm God!” in one i Yak roams the wor Old Testament literature, the God, the God himself. When thornbush in Exodus 3.2 by the m himself the identity ofthe imaf'ae was meant to represent humans, or the aspect of of God ‘in his relationship w Yak as angeles, “messenger, sre clearest in the Book of Job, The and the maak were seen as distinct from God, the easier it was to thrust upon them the fy with the good. In J God and Satan are Sets his face against ro ean tobe ‘The Gond Lord andthe Devil Loa sito Sata Inost a toch, snd possessions are destroyed, and in the day came when the members ofthe court of heaven sence of the Lord, and Satan was there among them, The Lord Recht ten the cath,” he sai, from en nce asi ited him aehere he had been. "Rang oa piece ‘ead 0 foot, so that he Job. God agrees having tempted the destructive power Sand The unter a ss fonction othe sha arm cowards and sii totherd ond the Devil BP The Prine of Dares The Good Lard and the Desi the sons of Noah them.” Where the maPak of God or God himself hay tment slain the firstborn of Egypt, thatearnage was k from the godhead is sharper in the 19-23. Michaiah of heaven ia 7 is Exodus the Lord _g0.0ut, he reph orders that Israel and Judah sh tha census a sin, but now he command ‘unresolved paradox: and subject to God God mus ‘One approach to punish the people of God's original ambivalence, But he write of work derived from Samuel and Kin y. The I could not have been the Lord ‘ak. So the writer revised the passage to read: ire. The mafak was now the he destroying spirit ‘Qumran, whose ideas the diseove Tbe Prince of Darkness allah, whose “dominion na hast ereated Satan, the Ang Eenant wl be punished Scot Suan comes toanen Meee age ofthe Lord das “Pe esscnes had much in common with its fan. In both Apocalyptic sof light and nore cosmological; the Jewish writers ta God, Sill, the Apocal 4 Christ and the Power of Evil“# The Prine of Darkness ro.08—" saw Satan the earliest Christians 218) sd with flesh, the death, and this wo ‘ion, used by Paul lr meanings, and the Des with the new age, the kingdom of Go Aihough te ening of he ing scant by * Society because of its tendency Society thatthe terms forms Testament emphasizes the problem of moral sin. Its in the sense of sinful ature is ereated by the good Lord for good purposes. wed Satan temporary power over the world, As & 1 John s.t9). The struggle Chris and te Peer of Bil power” the ol age of the world ruled by Satan and the new age ofthe Hg of God is sometimes expressed asthe opposition berween spit AM body, sometimes as chat between light and slarkness ‘cofahost of evil spits, The origins of the Des ofthe demons are quite distinet. The demons derived from the m pints of the Near East, whereas the Devil derives from the Hebrew woft sist principle of esi. self. The of spirits ‘were good, others amp Satan with the of The second source fallen angels. The Hebrew between God blending of mal translation of a wide varies the Greek daimonia. Fi perecive adopted that tradition fo fallen He had to be the prince (or principal) of evil without bei of evil ‘The essential function of Satan in the New ‘Testament is wo obstruct wadom of Ged as long ancl as thoroughly as he can. One of his ‘session. Ordinarily the demons, Satan’ servants, 1, though in the Johannine literanare Saran does it ing the demons and by curing diseases sent by them. “s” The Prise of Darkness redeeming act, but that he will be endtime appreacl ‘The New Testament itself ad ) At the begit he world there was war in ichael cast out the Devil and his angels. They wi tothe underworld, from which, however, the mngafter Adam, when they h rey were east down from heaven into the underworld but issued forth again to do us harm. (3) The kingdo God arrived on earth with the advent of Chri demons is proof ofhis power over Satan down, (5) The s | or at least cast ieates che shifting faith ‘Christian community after the first century, when it had that Christ’ fist coming had not removed evil from the world. As his reappearance delayed, the ruin of Satan was further postponed. the second coming, Christ will bind Satan fora thousand years, and at the end of the thousand years he will issue forth once more and then finally be destroyed, ‘The inconsistency of these ac last chronology Apocalyptic m. It permitted wide scope in subsequent Christian views, par- arly among those in which is thatthe new age brought by Christ is at war with the by Satan. Other eschatological adversaries of the kingdh #6 dl were linked Chr ad the Parser of Ee Devil the Antichrist, the beasts, and the dragon (Rev. 11—19) y of the beasts had only: a Satan, Both the dragon and the Js; these da not mate eh jon 13.41 assigns the beast from the land ‘has more than one head, though ie her, two horns of power are suminous figures, Demons in othe fav done The principle ro God. Hei ord res spiritual and fesse coming ofthe Kingdom Sit opp he prince of oppo (Christ, the Son of the good Lo light, Satan commands th flesh. Bur thes belief hat the oThe Prince of Dorks ‘han Satan, is igh angel who firm grace asesthe serpent to emp ‘Adio and Eve, and acts as femprer, aeuper; destroyer, and angel of death. Many Christian eget aout demons hae th origin the segadsh, But eveninthe agpidah, Satan fas no exsence indepen the Lond who useshim as ateterof ert an agent trejot oss hgh and an ofc charge of prmshing the The abba he erature of the Jewish a ren that reached its hehe ane fd rerssned popula it the eighteenth, pa the Devi mich more scertion than the abi, Infloenced by Greek philosophy, Cis Gis. and Christian. he kaa ching ome forth and mystical from the divine being in a series of emanations, each inferior to the one preceding. Originally God was both good and evi: his right hand was Jove and mercy and his left hand wrath and destruction. The destructive aspect of the Go's personality broke away fom the god 9 henceforth was known as Sat 7 “a that Gad contacted (Cri and the Pre of vil ture when the canon was finally set atthe end of the ifs was being formed fourth among the Christian writers who we known as Epistle ‘ao, Pa 95. perecived Gheistian community by sow split the Saint Ign 1g temptation and dissen tis bishop of Antioch, sho was o be martyred in 107, saw the Devil as s "whose power has recently been shaken by the Incar ly be shartered by the second ‘Christ. The pew age will be charseverized by a radical transformation of the very world and its inhabitants. In this new kingdom evil will Tn the meantime, said Ignatius, the world is ruled by the evil archon, whose design is to thwart Christ's work of salvation by diverting the Christian people from pursuing the goal of the kingdom of God. The ly against each Christian. Ignatius felt the evil 7 avay from his steadfast faith and sm wothy indone.” “The Roman persecution ofthe Chea the v ¥ the old age, the kingdon But the Devil's most dange ‘the pagans, but Chris-The Prine of Darks light and Israel from among the nations and elected from among those who are faithful to Torah. Christianity broads choice of God jon has shifted from Torah to Christ, Barnabas angued, the church, the community of people faithful ro Jesus, replaces the saving remnant of Israel faithful to Torah For Barnabus, the kingdom of this world under Satan's rule is at wae with the kingdom of heaven ‘age until the impending return of he angels and humans on the side locked ina terrible struggle agains the angels and darkness. ‘The powers of darkness could attack a darkness. darkness ‘Christians’ souls to temp them to deny apostates were linked with Satan. “Anyone who does nat believe that Chri tbe Pace of Esl drthodox and the hereties—those Christian cor —was nota simple difference: Christian book of pastral cae, added to the image of the to roads ‘of the ewo cities, one the community of those serving the Lond, the other ‘Satan, Corresponding tothe two ways, es, are two angels that struggle against cach other in the human heart. Papias conflated the ancient story ofthe nother Jewish Apocalyptic tradition that held that rth and its nations. Each wed their power and. ‘circumstance that As yet. Christian by Apocalyptic speculatos