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"Satan Made Me Do It!" The Development of a Satan Figure as Social-Theological Diagnostic Strategy from the late Persian Imperial Era to Early Christianity
Open accessAbstract
The purpose of this article is, first of all, to provide a short overview of the socio-religious development to personalise evil into a Satan figure alongside God.Thereafter, I will provide one biblical example which stands at the beginning of this development, namely 1 Chr 21.This text analysis will merely serve as one example to illustrate the relationship between the socio-religious developments in the Second Temple period and biblical textual formation through the reinterpretation of earlier traditions.In a last section, I will reflect on how our awareness of this relationship between socio-religious development and reinterpretation affects how Christian theology participates in social-theological diagnostics today.
Overview
CoChat Summary
TL;DR
This article traces how the personalisation of evil into a Satan figure developed from vague dualism in the late Persian (Achaemenid) period to fully developed demonology in early Christianity, using 1 Chr 21:1 as a case study. It argues this development functioned as a social-theological diagnostic strategy shaped by, and then shaping, the religious-political circumstances of its producers.
Key findings
- The Chronicler deliberately changed the instigation of David's census from "Yahweh's wrath flared up against Israel" (2 Sam 24:1) to "Satan stood up against Israel" (1 Chr 21:1), resolving the theological dilemma of Yahweh ordering an act he then punishes.
- Jonker argues 1 Chr 21:1 is likely not a fully personified Satan but an indeterminate noun ("an adversary"), possibly a heavenly intermediary; he rejects the "worldly/military enemy" reading (Japhet, McKenzie) as implausible in the Chronicler's late Achaemenid context, where it could read as criticism of Persian military presence.
- Following Chad Pierce, belief in a personified evil power only developed from the second century BCE onward, driven by (1) exposure to Zoroastrian cosmic dualism and (2) oppression by brutal enemies, especially Antiochus IV; Satan is never given equal status with God.
- Pierce notes "Satan" as a proper name for God's enemy appears thirty-five times in the New Testament, with "the Devil" (ho diabolos) used thirty-two times.
- The article concludes that early Christian models of social-theological diagnostics ("evil," "sin," "the fall") are products of long pre-Christian trajectories and should not be treated as absolute ontological starting points for modern diagnostics.
Methods
- A historical-religious and exegetical study: a short socio-religious history of Satan from the late Achaemenid era (Persian domination from 539 BCE) to early Christianity, drawing on secondary scholarship (Pierce, Barr, Hanson, Kuhrt, Brosius, Waters) and Persian royal inscriptions (the Daiva inscription XPh, 480 BCE).
- A single biblical case study, 1 Chr 21:1, read against its Vorlage in 2 Sam 24:1 and against the Chronicler's late Achaemenid context (Chronicles dated approximately mid-fourth century BCE), weighing three interpretive options for śāṭān.
- A concluding theological reflection on the reciprocal relationship between socio-historical environment and social-theological diagnostics, engaging Ernst Conradie's STIAS project on the contingency of sin.
Limitations
- The author repeatedly flags the speculative nature of the Persian-influence argument: citing Paul Evans, he states "we may never be absolutely certain whether the Persian imperial context influenced this specific instance of the Chronicler's change to his Vorlage. Our views remain speculative."
- The article explicitly cautions against over-interpreting Persian imperial influence and against reading later understandings back into Achaemenid-era texts.
- Evident from the text: the argument rests on a single biblical example (1 Chr 21:1) offered as illustration rather than proof, and the conclusion is a programmatic plea for systematic theology rather than a demonstrated causal claim.
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In the paper
“From the time of Xerxes it seems that religious conditions in the Persian Empire started hardening.”
§ "Satan Made Me Do It!" The Development of a Satan Figure as Social-Theological Diagnostic Strategy from the late Persian Imperial Era to Early Christianity > 7
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites [11]
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In the paper
“Thus, Satan may have partly evolved from those attributes earlier assigned to God that appeared questionable to both Jews and Christians in the Second Temple period.”
§ "Satan Made Me Do It!" The Development of a Satan Figure as Social-Theological Diagnostic Strategy from the late Persian Imperial Era to Early Christianity > 7
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Pierce, 'Satan,' 1198
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hedgedstates a possible cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Satan was a late-comer in the religious developments from monotheistic Yahwism of OT times to the early Christian understanding as witnessed in the NT writings that originated during the Roman era.”
§ "Satan Made Me Do It!" The Development of a Satan Figure as Social-Theological Diagnostic Strategy from the late Persian Imperial Era to Early Christianity > A INTRODUCTION
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Israel's battles against foreign enemies (especially Antiochus IV) eventually became cosmically represented in a heavenly war between God and his angels against Satan and his minions.”
§ "Satan Made Me Do It!" The Development of a Satan Figure as Social-Theological Diagnostic Strategy from the late Persian Imperial Era to Early Christianity > 7
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Pierce, 'Satan,' 1198
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plainstates a cause- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
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In the paper
“Belief in a personified evil power only developed from the second century BCE onward.”
§ "Satan Made Me Do It!" The Development of a Satan Figure as Social-Theological Diagnostic Strategy from the late Persian Imperial Era to Early Christianity > 7
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Pierce, 'Satan,' 1198
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
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Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ "Satan Made Me Do It!" The Development of a Satan Figure as Social-Theological Diagnostic Strategy from the late Persian Imperial Era to Early Christianity > 7
“By the NT period, as we have mentioned in the introduction, Satan, or the diabolos (as he is more commonly called) is a well-established figure.”
§ "Satan Made Me Do It!" The Development of a Satan Figure as Social-Theological Diagnostic Strategy from the late Persian Imperial Era to Early Christianity > A INTRODUCTION
“In addition to Satan, the name for God's enemy most often used in the New Testament is 'the Devil' (ho diabolos, 32 times).”
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ "Satan Made Me Do It!" The Development of a Satan Figure as Social-Theological Diagnostic Strategy from the late Persian Imperial Era to Early Christianity > C "SATAN STOOD UP AGAINST ISRAEL" (1 CHR 21:1)
“John Day is of the opinion that this adversary is a heavenly being, while Sara Japhet and Steven McKenzie interpret the term as reference to a worldly enemy.”
§ "Satan Made Me Do It!" The Development of a Satan Figure as Social-Theological Diagnostic Strategy from the late Persian Imperial Era to Early Christianity > E CONCLUSION
“24 See, e.g., Peggy L. Day, An Adversary in Heaven: Śātān in the Hebrew Bible (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988); Hugh G. M. Williamson, 1 and 2 Chronicles (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 143-44; Sarah Japhet, I & II Chronicles: A Commentary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1993), 374-75;”
Citations
Cites
THE QUESTION OF RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE: THE CASE OF ZOROASTRIANISM, JUDAISM, AND CHRISTIANITY
Barr, J. (1985) · Journal of the American Academy of Religion · doi:10.1093/jaarel/liii.2.201 · Cited by 64
The Old Persian inscriptions of Naqsh-i Rustam and Persepolis
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Ancient Persia: a concise history of the Achaemenid Empire, 550-330 BCE
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The Persians : an introduction
Brosius, M. (2006) · Cited by 49
I Chronicles : a new translation with introduction and commentary
Knoppers, G. N. (2003) · Cited by 25
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Stokes (2009) · Journal of Biblical Literature · doi:10.2307/25610168 · Cited by 17
A brief history of the belief in the Devil (950 BCE - 70 CE)
Spangenberg, I. J. J. (2013) · Unisa Institutional Repository (University of South Africa) · Cited by 16
Evil in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity
Dennert, B. C. (2017) · Bulletin for Biblical Research · doi:10.5325/bullbiblrese.27.2.0271 · Cited by 15
Breaking Down Unity: An Analysis of 1 Chronicles 21.1–22.1
Ristau, K. A. (2005) · Journal for the Study of the Old Testament · doi:10.1177/0309089205060615 · Cited by 9
Evil in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity
Keith, C. (2019) · Mohr Siebeck eBooks · doi:10.1628/978-3-16-157507-5 · Cited by 4
Enochic literature and the persistence of evil: Giants and demons, Satan and Azazel
Goff, M. (2016) · Cited by 3
The Demonic World of the Dead Sea Scrolls
(2014) · Bloomsbury T&T Clark eBooks · doi:10.5040/9781472550408.ch-003 · Cited by 2
Satan and Demons in the Apostolic Fathers : A Minority Report
Burke, J. L. (2016) · Uppsala University Publications (Uppsala University) · Cited by 2
Schreiber, S. (2020) · Bloomsbury Publishing Plc eBooks · doi:10.5040/9780567694836.0487 · Cited by 1
The devil as (convicted) prosecutor: Some ideas on the devil in 1 Peter and Hebrews
Fuhrmann, S. (2016) · In die Skriflig/In Luce Verbi · doi:10.4102/ids.v50i2.2028
3. Persia through the Jewish Looking-Glass
Gruen, E. (2008) · Jewish Perspectives on Hellenistic Rulers · doi:10.1525/9780520933668-006
Jonker, L. (2013) · Chronicling the Chronicler · doi:10.1515/9781575068725-008
Self-citation
Research works printed but not linked: 19
- Brand, Miryam T. "Belial, Free Will, and Identity-Building in the Community Rule." Pages 77-91 in Das Böse, der Teufel und Dämonen: Evil, the Devil, and Demons. Edited by Jan Dochhorn, Susanne Rudnig-Zelt, and Benjamin G. Wold. WUNT 2/412. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016.
- Breytenbach, Cilliers and Peggy L. Day. "Satan." Pages 726-732 in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Edited by Karel Van der Toorn, Bob Becking and Pieter W. Van der Horst. Leiden: Brill, 1999.
- Day, Peggy L. An Adversary in Heaven: Śātān in the Hebrew Bible. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988.
- Evans, Paul. "Divine Intermediaries in 1 Chronicles 21: An Overlooked Aspect of the Chronicler's Theology." Bib 85/4 (2004): 545-58.
- _______. "Let the Crime Fit the Punishment: The Chronicler's Explication of David's 'Sin' in 1 Chronicles 21." Pages 65-80 in Chronicling the Chronicler: The Book of Chronicles and Early Second Temple Historiography. Edited by Paul Evans and Tyler Williams. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2013.
- Goff, Matthew. "A Seductive Demoness at Qumran? Lilith, Female Demons and 4Q184." Pages 59-76 in Das Böse, der Teufel und Dämonen: Evil, the Devil, and Demons. Edited by Jan Dochhorn, Susanne Rudnig-Zelt, and Benjamin G. Wold. WUNT 2/412. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016.
- _______. "Enochic Literature and the Persistence of Evil Giants and Demons, Satan and Azazel." Pages 43-58 in Das Böse, der Teufel und Dämonen: Evil, the Devil, and Demons. Edited by Jan Dochhorn, Susanne Rudnig-Zelt, and Benjamin G. Wold. WUNT 2/412. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016.
- Herrenschmidt, Clarisse and Jean Kellens. "Daiva." EIr 6/6 (1993): 599-602. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/daiva-old-iranian-noun.
- Hultgård, Anders. "Persian Religion." Pages 1048-1050 in The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism. Edited by John J. Collins and Daniel C. Harlow. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010.
- Japhet, Sarah. I & II Chronicles: A Commentary. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1993.
- _______. "Manasseh in Paradise, or Not? The Influence of ANE Palace Garden Imagery in LXX 2 Chronicles 33:20." Pages 339-58 in Thinking of Water in the Early Second Temple Period. Edited by Christoph Levin and Ehud Ben Zvi. BZAW 461. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014.
- Klein, Ralph W. 1 Chronicles: A Commentary. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006.
- Kuhrt, Amélie. "Reassessing the Reign of Xerxes in the Light of New Evidence." Pages 163-69 in Extraction & Control: Studies in Honor of Matthew W. Stolper. Edited by Michael Kozuh, Wouter F. M. Henkelman, Charles. E. Jones, and Christopher Woods. SAOC 68. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2014.
- Kuhrt, Amélie and Susan Sherwin-White. "'Xerxes' Destruction of Babylonian Temples." Pages 67-78 in Achaemenid History 2. Edited by Heleen Sancisi- Weerdenburg and Amélie Kuhrt. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 1987.
- Pagels, Elaine. The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics. London: Penguin Vintage, 2011.
- Rudnig-Zelt, Susanne. "Der Teufel und der alttestamentliche Monotheismus." Pages 1-20 in Das Böse, der Teufel und Dämonen: Evil, the Devil, and Demons. Edited by Jan Dochhorn, Susanne Rudnig-Zelt, and Benjamin G. Wold. WUNT 2/412. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016.
- Stuckenbruck, Loren T. "The Demonic World of the Dead Sea Scrolls." Pages 51-70 in Evil and the Devil. Edited by Ida Fröhlich and Erkki Koskenniemi. London: T & T Clark, 2013.
- Watson, Duane F. "Devil." Pages 183-184 in vol 2 of The Anchor Bible Dictionary.
- Wold, Benjamin. "Demonizing Sin? The Evil Inclination in 4QInstruction." Pages 34-48 in Evil in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity. Edited by Chris Keith and Loren T. Stuckenbruck. WUNT 2/417. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016.
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Coetsee, A. J., Magezi, C., Rand, J. A. D., Vorster, N., Vorster, J. M., Kaemingk, M., Seminary, F. T., Nel, M., Eurich, J., & Ferreira, I. W. (2021) · Reformed theology in Africa series · doi:10.4102/aosis.2020.bk219 · Cited by 2
Rumbay, C. A., & Parengkuan, R. (2021) · Diligentia Journal of Theology and Christian Education · doi:10.19166/dil.v3i2.3468 · Cited by 2
Kotzé, M., & Rheeder, R. A. L. (2021) · Reformed theology in Africa series · doi:10.4102/aosis.2020.bk219.00
Vorster, J., Kotzé, M., Rheeder, R. A. L., Coetsee, A. J., Rand, J. A. D., Eurich, J., Ferreira, I. (., Kaemingk, M., Magezi, C., Nel, M., et al. (2020) · Directory of Open access Books (OAPEN Foundation)
Dietrich, P. (2026) · RCMOS - Revista Científica Multidisciplinar O Saber · doi:10.51473/rcmos.v1i2.2026.2896
Metadata
- Authors
- Jonker, L. C.
- Affiliations
- Stellenbosch University (ZA)
- Corresponding author
- Jonker, Louis C.
- ORCID
- Jonker, Louis C.
- Venue
- Old Testament Essays
- Publisher
- Academy of Science of South Africa
- Published
- 2017
- ISSN
- 1010-9919 (ISSN-L)
- 2312-3621
- OpenAlex
- W2762450661
- Semantic Scholar
- dbe09f92ed350059106f367d7834c6c113f775d3
- Cited by
- 6
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 3.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Old Testament Essays (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- SUNScholar (Stellenbosch University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- University of the Western Cape
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Biblical Studies and Interpretation
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Theology and Philosophy of Evil
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies
- Keywords
- personification of evil, Second Temple period, biblical reinterpretation, Christian theology, textual formation
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