And Satan
stood up against Israel, and provoked
David to number Israel. (1 Chronicles 21:1 KJV)
In
your mind, visualize what took place in the above verse between Satan and
David. We will probably all agree on who David is; but who or what is “Satan”? Let’s look up the word
“Satan” in the dictionary and
see what it means:
The devil, adversary of God, and tempter
of mankind: sometimes identified with Lucifer.[i]
Are
the devil, Lucifer and Satan all the same being? Is this what you had in mind when you
read the verse above:
And the
devil, the adversary of God and tempter of mankind, stood up against
Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
If
this was the only reference we had to this event, then the above interpretation
would be a good possibility, but there is another reference. A great tool for
Bible study is the book A
Synoptic Harmony of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles: With Related Passages from
Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezra (see Bible
Study Aides).
When we look up the above verse in it, we
discover that the same event is recorded in 2 Samuel 24:1 –
And again the anger of YAHWEH was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them
to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” (KJV)
In
2 Samuel, “YAHWEH moved
David,” but in 1 Chronicles, “Satan
provoked David.” Who did it -- YAHWEH or
Satan?
In
the second blog in this series -- Bible Study 101: BHC’s Basic Guidelines for Bible
Study
– I pointed out that two of the options translators have when working with
ancient biblical manuscripts are:
(1) Translate -- transport the
meaning of a word from one language to the other.
(2) Transliterate -- reproduce
the symbols (letters) of a word by their equivalent symbols in the language of
their translation.
Now.
let’s examine the Hebrew text of 1 Chronicles 21:1 --
Hebrew is read from right to left. The first letter
is on the right and the vowel sign is below it.
! ! ! ! !
|
5
|
4 & 3
|
2 &1
|
|
ן
|
טָ
|
שָׂ
|
|
N
|
A+T
|
A+S
|
S+A+T+A+N
You
can now clearly see that the translators chose
to transliterate the Hebrew word. When we look up the Hebrew word in A
Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (page 350
column “b”) (see Bible Study Aides), we find there
are two options:
(1) accuser,
adversary
(2) the
Satan (HASATAN)
In
Hebrew, the prefix for the definite article (“the”) is HA. HASATAN would be
translated “the accuser” or “the adversary.” However, the Hebrew word in 1
Chronicles is SATAN, not HASATAN. Therefore, we have two options for translating
it:
(1) And an accuser stood up against Israel, and provoked David to
number Israel.
(2) And an adversary stood up against Israel, and provoked David to
number Israel.
Why
did the author(s) of 1 Chronicles decide to use the Hebrew word SATAN, meaning “accuser”
or “adversary,” instead of “the anger of YAHWEH”? One possibility may be that the beliefs had
changed. We find examples of later scribes being concerned about “profaning the
name YAHWEH” and choosing to not place a word next to it that might profane it.
So, rather than risk profaning the name “YAHWEH” by placing “anger” next to it,
presenting an image that takes away from the majesty of the name, they used
SATAN (accuser) instead. Of course, Hebrew readers would have understood SATAN
to simply mean an “accuser” or “adversary” when they read it. The
real problem begins when the later English translators chose to transliterate
it Satan” instead of translating it.
Why
wouldn’t the Hebrew readers have viewed SATAN as being “a reference to “the devil,
adversary of God, and tempter of mankind”? In the Hebrew Scriptures, there is
no belief about a rebellious fallen angel at war with YAHWEH. Instead, YAHWEH
is in complete charge. Any of the heavenly beings, including “the Satan” in the
book of Job (one of the sons of ELOHIYM [God]), acts only in accordance with
YAHWEH’s will. Dualism was not part of the Hebrew culture or belief system.
Two
good online tools to use when you are studying the Bible – and they are FREE –
are:
When
we look up a verse, the parallel Bibles show the Hebrew or Greek text, along
with several different English translations. When we look up 1 Chronicles 21:1
in The Parallel Old Testament,
we find that only one translation chose to translate “SATAN” instead of translate
it -- Young’s Literal Translation:
And there standeth up an adversary against Israel, and persuadeth David to number
Israel.
Young’s
Literal Translation gets the award
for the best translation of this verse!
Check
out all of BHC Study Tools on our website by clicking here.
Learn to incorporate them in your Bible Studies.
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