==== Preface =========================================================

Thanks (in part to each) to Cedar,Dungeon Master and joe Mama, I've been searching into the origin of both Satan (upper case) and Lucifer, and the possibility that they are the same in the Christian mythos. I have limited translations available to myself(especially in the original languages); references, additional interpretations- especially regarding the less prominent sects of Christianity (Mormons,Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists), Judaic, and Islamic - are welcomed (indeed, encouraged!) and will be incorporated ASAP. If you don't normally see me in a WWIV network, email surgicalsteel@mindspring.com

Permission to quote this document in whole or part is granted as long as attribution is given to the author.

Most of the quotes are from my etext KJV, additional references noted in brackets after the information (shortform).

===== A Treatment of Lucifer in Isaiah===============================

The main quote that is used in reference to tie Lucifer and Satan together (and hence, a good starting point for our investigation) is in Isaiah 14, the only direct reference to the name"Lucifer". There are many comments throughout this section which are incidentally relevant to Lucifer/Satan - most notably those dealing with Hell and it's nature.

ISA 14:4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased!the golden city ceased!

Note that the "this" here is referential to what follows, and while the "proverb" refers to that just told [ISA13]. The remainder of ISA 14 appears to be a prediction of future events- perhaps a covenant? - for Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, for we see that the "oppressor" (14:4) has died, and the "golden city" (14:4)(presumably Babylon) ceased.

These next two passages are important,for they make a serious determination as to whether or not we are speaking metaphorically about what may happen to the king of Babylon or simply relating a tale about a fallen angel.

ISA 14:16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

Here we see a reference to the character referred to in ISA 14:12 as "Lucifer" described as "man"....

ISA 14:21 Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

References to "children" and "fathers"reinforce the concept in 14:16 that we speak of a human.

These two passages indicate that we're talking metaphorically, so we may expect some portions of the tale to be different than what we expect from Christianity's version. Speaking of,let's take a quick look at "hell" as treated in Isaiah, as it is necessary to understand this as well.

ISA 14:9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee,even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

ISA 14:10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?

ISA 14:11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee,and the worms cover thee.

We see that the "dead" (14:9) exist- implying, at least, that were this to be a literal description of Satan's fall, that it would be significantly after Eden, which while not bugging hebrew theology of the time too much, would seriously mess with Christian mythology. Given 14:9 alone, one can go with the interpretation of "hell"as a proper noun (as it is commonly interpreted by Christianity), and reinforced by the characters speaking in 14:10; however, 14:11 seems to indicate that the interpretation of "hell" or (what it was most likely translated from)sheol in 14:9 is that of "grave", given the actual translation of "grave"in 14:11, and the reference to "worms" above and below. Yet this renders14:10 non-sensical... unless one is speaking metaphorically. Given the later references we see in 14:17-20, it appears to me that "hell" (14:9)would be better rendered as "grave".

ISA 14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

One wonders if this "hell" is actually translated from "gehenna" (originally Ge bene Hinnom), referring to the valley of Hinnom, a deep, narrow glen to the south of Jerusalem, where the idolatrous Jews offered their children in sacrifice to Molech (2 Chr.28:3; 33:6; Jer. 7:31; 19:2-6). This valley afterward became the common receptacle for all the refuse of the city. Here the dead bodies of animal sand of criminals, and all kinds of filth, were cast and consumed by fire kept always burning [Easton, Stein], which the "pit" may be making reference to, as a place to burn offerings.

ISA 14:18 All the kings of the nations,even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.

ISA 14:19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit;as a carcass trodden under feet.

ISA 14:20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

These passages (esp. 14:19) indicate that "the pit" is different from "the grave" - yet due to the treatment he receives, and especially considering the "stones of the pit" (one would consider it necessary to place stones on a pit where objects are burned to allow air circulation, were this to be the aforementioned gehenna),we see indications that we're NOT talking about the Christian "Hell". Contrast14:18 with 14:9-10.

So we are seeing some significant changes from Christianity as we know it; in fact, we don't even have a clear idea that we have anywhere for our fallen angel to go to! Actually, this is not a surprise, as we will see shortly.

ISA 14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

ISA 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

This is often read as being what makes the king of Babylon similar to Satan (note uppercase). However, in this time period, the concept of fallen or evil angels wasn't known [Davidson];rather, it was (lower case) satan, designating an office rather than a proper noun - the tempter, the adversary, but still in JHVH's good graces, as evidenced in the book of Job, I Chronicles, Psalms, and Zechariah. In Numbers22:22 the angel of the Lord "acts for an adversary" against Baalam. [ibid]Given this different meaning of satan, it's not surprising that we don't see a Christian concept of Hell in this Old Testament work.

As a brief aside - just because we aren't talking about "evil" angels, we may realize they were considered less than perfect - consider Job 4:18, "Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly".

Further, this is not the first story in the Bible of wishing to be like or above God - the garden of Eden maybe read as such (or even an almost successful attempt at such) [Gen 3:5,3:22], and so may the story of the Tower of Babel [Gen 11:1-9], neither of which involves any supernatural evil entity (Gen 3:1 - "And the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.")though the argument may be made that there is a difference between "any beast of the field" and "any OTHER beast of the field" (it is medieval writers like Peter Lombard (c. 1100-1160) who made Satan and the serpent of Eden synonymous).[Davidson]

At any rate, the idea of going over JHVH's head [pun intended] is not original here, making it further unlikely that the original writer was addressing this portion to anyone save th eking of Babylon, or that he was alluding to the story of "Lucifer."

ISA 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground,which didst weaken the nations!

This is the one and only named reference to the character Lucifer in the canonical Bible, and this passage is the primary basis for indicating an angel known as "Lucifer" who was fallen.The interpretation that arrives at this conclusion claims that the writer is speaking metaphorically, that is, comparing this king with a rebellious angel of the name Lucifer - much like Jehovah's Witnesses(JW) today refer to the Roman Catholic Church as "The Whore of Babylon", implying the existance of the character Lucifer for this conceit to work.

If one takes "Lucifer" to denote "brilliant star", as Venus, or the morning star, was often called, it could simply be a title given to the king of Babylon to denote his glory. [Easton]

A psychological case may be made by arguing the Jungian connection between "light-bringer" or "light-giver"(a literal translation of Lucifer) and the Prometheus myth, but while this may hold in a discussion of mythos from outside, it has little to do wit ha discussion to discover what characters are apocryphal and which Scriptural.

Another tie between "Lucifer" (via the "son of the morning") and angelic thought can be (shakily) made with JOB 38:4-7 "Where wast thou...When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" - this passage finds echoes in Revelations- but with the morning star being a possession in REV 2:28, and in REV22:16, it refers to Jesus! Some of the apocryphal books also mention the morning star in reference to the Antichrist (see the Apocryphal Notes at the end of this document)

Yet JOB 38:12-13 gives us the best reinforcement of the Lucifer/Satan connection: "Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?" If we look at JOB 1:6, with the realization that what we see as Satan (uppercase) was actually the satan (office), it presents a different reading (substitution of "the satan" for "satan" in brackets: "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD,and [the satan] came also among them." Here, we clearly have the satan being among "the sons of God", with his job (pun intended) being that ascribed to "the dayspring" in JOB 38:12-13, that is, to shake the wicked out of the world. This reading of Job seems to indicate Easton's reading of 14:12may not be complete.

We here have a shaky, yet plausible,train leading from the office of the "satan", to "the morning" and "the dayspring", to an oblique reference "son of the morning" and "Lucifer".

Yet, this chain seems to conflict with the earlier passages in Isaiah, which seem to indicate that a concept of hell as perdition were not intended, and while such a conflict might be resolved if the passages were removed chronologically (claiming that Satan's fall occurred later), this is impossible due to the proximity of the two passages.

Prophecy of an angel who, while in the office of satan, rebelled, becoming Satan as Christianity knows him?Possible, but then we again have a conflict with the concepts of hell,and further, we'd have to ask "why"? A reference to a tribal deity would be obscure enough, a reference to a functionary of such an office further obscure, and a reference to a rebelled functionary - who hasn't rebelled yet! - would doubtlessly be lost on all who heard it.

===== Apocryphal Notes ===============================================

It should be noted that these books are in no way considered to be central to dogma for any mainstream Christian sect. These are noted for their description of the Antichrist including an eye like the morning star, and a possible further rationale for the common identification between Lucifer/Satan/Morning star.

We find a description of the Antichrist in _The Revelation of St. John the Theologian_ 1:6, thus:

"the hairs of his head are sharp, like darts; his eyebrows like a wild beast's; his right eye like the star which rises in the morning, and the other like a lion's; his mouth about one cubit; his teeth span long; his fingers like scythes; the print of his feet of two spans; and on his face an inscription, Antichrist; he shall be exalted even to heaven, and shall be cast down even to Hades, making false displays."

In _The Word and Revelation of Esdras_3:13 we find the following puzzling quote:

"And they took me down again other five hundred steps, and I there saw the worm that sleeps not, and fire burning up the sinners. And they took me down to the lowest part of destruction,and I saw there the twelve plagues of the abyss. And they took me away to the south, and I saw there a man hanging by the eyelids; and the angels kept scourging him. And I asked: Who is this? and what is his sin? And Michael the commander said to me: This is one who lay with his mother;for having put into practice a small wish, he has been ordered to be hanged.And they took me away to the north, and I saw there a man bound with iron chains. And I asked: Who is this? And he said to me: This is he who said,I am the Son of God, that made stones bread, and water wine. And the prophet said: My lord, let me know what is his form, and I shall tell the race of men, that they may not believe in him. And he said to me: The form of his countenance is like that of a wild beast; his right eye like the star that rises in the morning, and the other without motion; his mouth one cubit; his teeth span long; his fingers like scythes; the track of his feet of two spans; and in his face an inscription, Antichrist. He has been exalted to heaven; he shall go down to Hades."

===== Related Judaic-Based Mythos ====================================

The Book of Mormon, in 2 Nephi 24:12-14,is almost identical to Isa 12:12-14:

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High."

However, the chapter heading for 2Nephi 24 is as follows:

"Israel shall be gathered and shall enjoy millennial rest - Lucifer cast out of heaven for rebellion - Israel shall triumph over Babylon (the world) - Compare Isaiah 14"

indicating that the passage is taken entirely metaphorically, akin to how the Book of Revelations is frequently interpreted by apocalyptic Christians.

===== Bibliography ===================================================

_The Holy Bible, KJV_, etext by the Gutenburg Project

_New American Bible, St. Joseph Medium Size Edition_, [copyright page destroyed]

_Thompson Chain-Reference Bible_, Frank Charles Thompson ed, (c) 1988, B.B. Kirkbride Bible Co.

_The Book of Mormon_, Joseph Smith trans, (c) 1981 The Church of Latter Day Saints

_(Easton's) Illustrated Bible Dictionary,Third Edition_, M.G. Easton, published 1897, PD

_A Dictionary Of Angels: including the fallen angels_, Gustav Davidson, (c) 1967 MacMillan, Inc.

_Random House Collegiate Dictionary:Revised Edition_, Jess Stein ed, (c) 1975 Random House