Samael

Question

I heard the angel samael and lucifer are the chief of satan.The serpent told eve to eat the fruit which was prohibited by god.who was he/she?(I mean someone of fallen angels or samael or lucifer)?

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Answers

  1. The Just Ask! - AskTheRabbi.org Team

    Jewish tradition teaches that there is a power of evil. This is called, the Yetzer Hara, evil inclination, or the Satan, meaning opponent, or the Malach Hamavet, angel of death. They are all symbols of evil. We believe that evil or the possibility of evil was created by God as a challenge, in order to provide us with free will. Hence the Satan is not an independent force, but rather a servant of the Creator. The serpent, therefore, symbolizes evil. Before the sin, evil had not yet been internalized by humans, and hence is represented by something outside of the human, a snake. After the sin, evil became internalized and good and evil became mixed and confused inside the human being.

    Likewise Judaism does not believe that anything in this world exists without the will of God. Since God wants people to be good and righteous as a result of their own decision He gave them free will. Free will requires choice and therefore God had to create the opportunity to good and to do evil. Therefore although evil is done by humans out of their own free will, the fact that such a possibility exist is the creation of God.

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team