Who or what is Lucifer?

Your goal in this lesson: to separate three names that are usually blurred together, and to see the map of the course.

A word for a star

Historical Lucifer is a Latin word built from lux, “light”, and ferre, “to carry”. It means “light-bearer”. In Roman usage it was the ordinary poetic name for the Morning Star, the planet Venus when it rises in the east before the Sun. The orator Cicero explains it in On the Nature of the Gods (2.53): the star of Venus is called Phosphoros in Greek and Lucifer in Latin when it goes before the Sun, and Hesperos when it follows. In the fourth century a Christian bishop, Lucifer of Cagliari, carried the name without any embarrassment. It was simply a word for dawn.

Satan: the accuser

Historical In the Hebrew Bible, satan is a common noun meaning “adversary” or “accuser”. In Numbers 22:22 an angel of the Lord stands in Balaam’s road “for an adversary against him”. In Job 1 and 2 and Zechariah 3, ha-satan, “the accuser”, appears among the heavenly beings. He tests and accuses, but he serves within God’s court. This is how many Jewish readers still understand the figure. Later Jewish writers of the Second Temple period developed ideas of rebel angels, and Elaine Pagels’ The Origin of Satan traces how Satan grew into the great enemy.

The Devil: the slanderer

Historical The ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible often rendered satan as diabolos, “slanderer”. The New Testament uses both Satanas and diabolos for the opponent of God, and Revelation 12:9 gathers the images together: “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan”. The English word “devil” comes from diabolos.

How the three became one

Later tradition The name Lucifer joined the other two through one verse, Isaiah 14:12, which in Latin addresses a fallen “lucifer”. Early Christian readers took the verse as a picture of Satan’s fall, and over the centuries Lucifer became Satan’s name before his fall. We will read that verse closely in lesson 3.

The map of this course

1. The Morning Star in Greek and Roman sky lore.
2. Isaiah 14 and how a king became an angel.
3. Dante, the witch trials, Milton and Blake.
4. Blavatsky, Crowley and modern Luciferianism.
5. Ethics, safety and mental health.
6. Lucifer as a symbol, and a stargazing practice.

Try this

Today’s exercise: write the three names Lucifer, Satan and Devil at the top of a page. Under each, write what you were taught or have assumed about it. Do not judge it. Keep the page; in lesson 7 you will look at it again.

Quick recap

• Lucifer is Latin for “light-bearer”, the Roman name of the Morning Star.
• Satan means “adversary” or “accuser” in the Hebrew Bible.
• Devil comes from Greek diabolos, “slanderer”.
• The three names merged later, through readings of Isaiah 14.

Keep going

Press “Mark as done” and continue with The Morning Star.

Need a refresher? See the whole course or read my Lucifer guide.

Sources

• Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods 2.53.
• Numbers 22:22; Job 1 and 2; Revelation 12:9, King James Version (1611).
• Elaine Pagels, The Origin of Satan (New York: Random House, 1995).

Go deeper: the Lucifer pages on this site

Mark as done