Ha-Satan
Jewish mythology (rabbinic–kabbalistic) · numen · Jewish mythology (rabbinic–kabbalistic) traditional religion; continuing · numen
THREE FIGURES IN ONE RECORD, ON THE TRADITION'S OWN AUTHORITY. Reish Lakish says Satan, the yetzer hara and the Angel of Death are one, so the Angel of Death is carried here as an alias rather than authored as a separate record — and Azrael, the name usually attached to that office in popular sources, is censused BLOCKED, because the research found he appears in neither the Hebrew Bible nor the Talmud nor the Midrashim.
Domains
- accusation
- temptation
- incitement to sin
- death
- the evil inclination
Relations
- identified with: Samael
Sources
- Reference treatment of Satan in rabbinic Judaism: in the Torah the word satan indicates 'accuser', 'hinderer' or 'tempter'; he is the angel who accused Joshua the High Priest of misdeeds before God (Zechariah 3:1) and who instigated David to sin by taking a census of Israel (1 Chronicles 21:1); in Tractate Bava Batra, Reish Lakish says that Satan, the yetzer hara and the Angel of Death are all one, a position Maimonides endorses in the Guide for the Perplexed; Satan is identified with Samael and his deeds, although Samael is not identified with the angel of death in the Talmud, and in Talmud and midrash Samael's role as an agent of evil is relatively marginal, becoming prominent only from the fifth or sixth century onward.
- Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra (Reish Lakish: Satan, the yetzer hara and the Angel of Death are one)
- Zechariah 3:1
- 1 Chronicles 21:1