It may be surprising, given how long ago Zoaraster created his religion and related the original tale of War in Heaven to his followers, that it was only(!) written down in Jewish belief from about 200 BC. The Book of Enoch, one of the Jewish Apocryphal books, tells us of the disobedience of the angel Lucifer, whose followers, like him, descended to Earth and lay with mortal women, and who, when berated by God for such actions, rebelled against him, culminating in the great War of Heaven. I personally have never read, nor had nor have any urge to read the Bible, but I am somewhat surprised to find that (according to O’Grady in
The Prince of Darkness) the story of the Fall is not there. It’s in the Jewish Apocryphal Books, as I said above, but not considered religious orthodoxy and so not in the Bible. I have, however, read
Paradise Lost, and so I know the gist of the story, though I expect Milton took a few liberties and exercised artistic licence with his version.
The story though of the rebellion, though it ended in defeat for Satan and his allies, does show how the Devil immediately became a figure for revolt and resistance, the archetypal teenager shouting at his constricting parent “I hate this place!” and being summarily kicked out. Yes, that’s very simplistic, but you can see how kids chafing under what they would see as their parents’ unfair restrictions on them would identify with the original rebel and seek to emulate him, and conversely, why any God-fearing parent at that time would warn their rebelling child that they were imperilling their soul by going against the commandment given by God, thou shalt honour thy father and thy mother. So the Devil becomes both a rallying-call and role model for rebellious, restless youth and a shadowy, dangerous influence over their children for parents, the very thing that if they’re not careful will corrupt their sons and daughters and condemn them to Hell. Indeed.
In the Book of the Secrets of Enoch, God makes no bones about how rebels are to be dealt with, when he says of Satan (who is here named Satanel)
'One of these in the ranks of Archangels ... entertained the impossible idea ... that he should be equal in rank i~ my power. And I hurled him from the heights.' So much for a merciful God then. In another of the Apocryphal Books, The Book of the Twelve Patriarchs, the Fallen Angel is called Belial. He offers mankind a choice, choose your side:
'Do you choose light or darkness, the Law of the Lord or the works of Belial?' In yet another one, the Book of the Jubilees, he is called Sammael, but eventually from the name Satanel Hebrew theologians decide on the name Satan, which means the Adversary, and though he holds and answers to many other names, it is to this one we will return most when we think, write or speak of him.
The Fall of Satan, or Lucifer, is of course mirrored in the Fall of Man, when the dark one tempts them in the Garden of Eden, and persuades Eve to taste of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge. God, possibly thinking “does nobody listen to a word I say? Not this again! What is it with kids?” or possibly not, loses it in fine Old Testament fury and exiles the first man and the first woman from Paradise. Satan, in the form of the serpent, exults: his plan has begun to work. Evil has come into the world, and he will be able to capitalise on and expand its influence through his workings. As God has given man free will, he cannot command his creation not to listen to Satan; that is his choice, and many will opt to do so, as the blandishments whispered in their ears will be better received and promise finer things than the slavish obedience to and worship of God can possibly provide.
Another thing that had come into the world, as we all know from being taught it in school and at mass, was death. While in Eden, Adam and Eve were, it seems, basically immortal, as was everything around them - animals, trees, grass, and so on. Only when they were exiled from the Garden was death allowed to have sway over them, as a power of Satan, and as he had been responsible for their hasty exit through the gates of Eden, it was within his gift to shorten and threaten the lives of men and beasts with the power of death. Man had given up his right to immortality along with his innocence by disobeying God, and if he died now, well, he just had better not come crying to Heaven. Assuming that was where he was bound.
The story of Christ’s being tempted in the desert by Satan is taken, at least in part, from the story of the Buddha, who, sitting under the Bo tree, waiting to attain enlightenment, is approached by the evil spirit Mara, also known as Varsavati (“he who fulfils desire”), who attempts to persuade him to give up the search and embrace the pleasures of the world. As in the later Bible, the Buddha tells Mara to get bent, and achieves Nirvana. But from these texts, written about the sixth century BC, we see Satan (Mara) portrayed as a tempter, a persuader, one who will try to sway the course of holy men and turn them to the path of sin. In the fourth or fifth century BC collection of Buddhist ethical verse, the
Dhammapada, Mara is described as
'He who is looking for pleasure only, his senses uncontrolled . . . Mara will certainly overthrow, as the wind throws down a feeble tree.'
This idea that man must always struggle to overcome his base desires, turn his back on the pleasures of the flesh, of the pursuit of wealth or glory, is central to both Buddhist teachings and those of the Christian and Jewish faith. All imply humility, subservience and abstinence as the way to go if you want to attain enlightenment or be welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven. So it’s easy to see why Satan is so successful in tempting mortals from this path of righteousness: few people like to deny themselves the pleasures of this world and all it can offer, and Satan winks and says hey, you don’t have to. This naturally makes him a more attractive prospect than God, who demands you toe the line and be a good boy or girl, or else. If there’s a carrot and stick thing going on here, it’s probably not too far from the truth to say that God holds the stick while his Adversary waves the carrot in our direction.
As Zoroastrian teachings influenced the captive Jews, so did Buddhism make its impact on Zoroaster, who imported and included the idea of Mara the Tempter into his religion, thus giving the Jews, and later the Christians, a Devil who was both an Enemy of God and a tempter of man. Now, men and women who sinned could be, not excused but their behaviour explained by saying they had literally been tempted by the Devil. To a large degree, though there were terrible punishments for breaking commandments, people weren’t so much held responsible for these acts as was Satan, leading of course later to the idea of demonic possession, where the Devil physically manifested his presence through the control of mortals who either did his will or spouted obscenities and showed how God’s wonderful creation, man, could be twisted and warped into purposes for which it had not been made.
Not much point in being the Tempter, though, if you don’t have anything to tempt with, and the Devil has everything. All the material comforts of the world, all the women, or men, or both, all the riches, all the power, all the glory. Whatever you want, if it can be gained in life the Devil can get it for you. Of course, he won’t do that for free, therefore this would lead, much later, to the idea in literature of the bargain or deal with the devil, wherein one’s heart’s desire could be had for the low, low price of one’s soul. The Devil’s interest in human souls, Hell and damnation, are all part of his desire to thwart and oppose God, and we’ll look at those in greater detail later. Right now what it would be prudent to remember is that epithet I spoke of earlier, remember? Satan is the Father of Lies; nothing he says can be trusted or taken on face value, so if you make a pact with him, the chances are, like the djinn of the later
Arabian Nights and other tales, you will find yourself cheated some way. One thing the Devil does not do is play fair, and the dice are always loaded in his favour.