"You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God;
every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, saphire, turquoise and beryl.
Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.
You were amointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God;
you walked among the fiery stones.
You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.
Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned.
So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God,
and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from the fiery stones.
Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendour.
So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before Kings.
By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching."
Isaiah 14:12-15
"How you have fallen from heaven,
O morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
You said in your heart,
"I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of the assembly,
on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High."
But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit."
So in summary:
- Satan was originally created as an archangel of God, one of 4 (Michael means 'who is equal to God?', guardian of the faith and commander of armies - Jude 1:9, Revelations 12:7, Raphael means 'God the healer', Gabriel means 'Man or might of God', heralds the mysteries of God - Luke 1:19 and Lucifer - means 'morning star or bringer of light' and guardian of Eden) of the named most powerful angels. There are 7 archangels who have the priveledge of standing before God; Revelations 8:2.
- Satan sinned, created war in heaven among the angels and lost his place in heaven and was thrown to earth.
- Satan's angels became demons or evil spirits (Jude 1:6 "And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home - these he kept in darkness bound with everlasting chains for judgement on the great day.")
The word translated as serpent or snake in Hebrew is nachash (pronounced, nakash). More specifically, the word is ha-nachash. From another blog on discussions.godandscience.org :
["The word nachash is a very elastic term in Hebrew. It can function as a noun, a verb, oreven as an adjective. When nachash functions as a noun it means “snake,” and so thetraditional translation is possible—but it yields the contradiction with Ezekiel 28 andIsaiah 14 noted above.4 When nachash serves as a verb it means “to practice divination.”5 That meaning could also be possible in Genesis 3 due to the deception orgoing on—Lucifer claiming to have the “real” word from God. When a verb receives anarticle attached to it, the action of the verb is then transformed into a person doing the action. Hence the word ha-nachash would then best be translated “the diviner.”The third option—the adjectival meaning of nachash—is the solution to the contradiction problem. When nachash serves as an adjective, it’s meaning is “shining bronze” or“polished” (as in “shiny”). By adding the definite article to the word, ha-nachash wouldthen quite easily mean “the shining one.” Angelic or divine beings are elsewheredescribed in the Bible as “shining” or luminous, at times with this very word, nachash.6We often don’t think about how common this vocabulary of “shining brilliance” is forangels and other divine beings. The Bible abounds with descriptions of such beings as“flashing” or “as lightning,” or uses the brilliance of jewels to describe the blazingappearance of such beings. This has important ramifications for solving the “snake”problem.What’s so significant about translating ha-nachash as “shining one” and not “snake” in Genesis 3? Very simply, “shining one” is the literal meaning of “Lucifer.” The name “Lucifer” is actually Latin and comes from the Latin Vulgate translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. In Isaiah 14:12, the Hebrew name of primeval conspirator against God is “Helel ben-Shachar”—“Shining One, son of the Dawn.” Translating ha-nachash as“Shining One” removes the contradiction of seeing a snake vs. a supernatural being inEden since it provides an explicit parallel between the two passages.
We have words like this in English if you think about it. The very same noun / verb /adjective interplay is evident here:(Noun):
“The cleanup is going to take a long time.”
(Verb): “We must clean up this oil spill.”
(Adjective): “The cleanup procedures need to be followed.”
Personally, I think it quite possible that the choice of the word nachash in Genesis 3 was designed as a double entendre. The enemy of God was a shining divine being that also had a serpentine appearance. No, I’m not contradicting what I said above. Saying that Eve was speaking to a divine being of serpentine appearance is different than saying she was dealing with a snake from the animal kingdom. Ezekiel 28 supports this notion.]
