Asked • 05/14/19

What is the Difference between Lucifer and Satan?

I was searching the internet when I found this [website](http://www.lizaphoenix.com/demons/month.shtml) and I noticed that it considers Satan and Lucifer to be different entities so I was curious why. If they are the same entity then why are they considered separate here?

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Austin A. answered • 03/31/20

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BA in Religious Studies with an interest in ancient religious practice
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The short answer is: it depends. A longer answer is, well:


Each term enters different religious traditions at different historical moments in different ways. This leads to different constructions of the entity by different communities. That is, various religious traditions have the figures merge or distinguished between them. Often, in contemporary Christian practices, the terms are completely synonymous (along with "the devil").

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Austin A.

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The word "satan" is used in the Hebrew Bible (in the book of Job) to describe a figure who "accuses," that is, a figure who seems to present legal cases to God (by the standards of the contemporary ancient Near East: almost like an advisor to a king). In this context, is a technical term in Hebrew. The term "lucifer" enters English because of the Latin translation of a portion of the the Hebrew Bible. It means light-bearer, that is, the morning star (the first star in the morning, which, in fact, isn't a star at all: it's the planet Venus). There's a passage in the Bible (in the book of Isaiah) that describes a king who falls from power because he imagines himself as essentially divine. Often, divine-kings would describe themselves as the sun, some star, or the incarnation of a particular god. Over time, this passage is interpreted as the way that a bad-guy angel, because of pride, falls from power. Capitalize the L and "morning-star" becomes a proper name. The way that these figures (or, figure) are widely understood in the present also can be understood through two other key texts: the collected works of the New Testament, Dante's Divine Comedy, and John Milton's Paradise Lost. They are all influence by the texts and cultural contexts mentioned above but include aspects of contemporary folk or standardized belief. They, in turn, influenced the next generational understanding of who these figures are (either uniquely understood or collapsed into a single). For example, no where in the Hebrew Bible or New Testament is anyone called or assumed to be the devil or Satan or Lucifer in Hell (with the exception of the potential "serpent-dragon" in the book of Revelation); whereas in the Divine Comedy and Paradise Lost, that the devil is in Hell are key plot points.
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03/31/20

Austin A.

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This is not to mention a whole other history of development and reception of the figure of the devil/satan/etc. in Islam, which relates to, but is distinct from, the notes above.
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03/31/20

Aba H.

is Nammu the son of Yuhya
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03/13/21

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