Subject: description of lucifer |
Bible Note: Strictly of course the name Lucifer does not appear in Scripture. It is the Latin name for Venus, arising long after Isaiah's day. Isaiah used the term heylel, meaning 'shining one', a term which indicated a star. As the King of Babylon had claimed that he would 'exalt his throne above the stars of God' it is a reasonable assumption that he saw himself as a special star, a 'shining one', especially as the Babylonians worshipped 'the host of Heaven'. Certainly God would not give him this name. He was hardly a genuine shining one. Nor would Isaiah except in sarcasm. Thus we must choose between the king of Babylon and his people as the originators of the name which Isaiah took up in order to mock him. Certainly the Old Testament never gives any hint that Satan is to be seen as a shining one. Thus the clear assumption is that it was the exalted title applied to the particular king of Babylon by his people, exalting him to a place among the stars of heaven, the 'host of heaven', a title taken up by Isaiah in mockery. As D J Wiseman puts it, 'it is applied tauntingly as a title for the king of Babylon who in his glory and pomp had set himself among the gods'. |