The Trial of Jesus and Job

The temptation of Jesus is usually cited in opposition to these conclusions. The great feature of the narrative relied upon, is the application of the word "devil" to the tempter, but this proves nothing. If Judas could be a devil, and yet be a man (John 6:70), why may the tempter of Jesus not have been a man? His being called "devil " proves nothing.

It merely proves that it was one who busied himself to subvert Jesus from the path of obedience. Who he was it is impossible to say, because we are not informed. We have nothing but the word devil to go by; and this is no guide to the form of the diabolism. In this respect it is something like the case of the Satan who afflicted Job. We are not told who the adversary was that proved such a terror to Job, but his title would show that he was inimical to the interest of Job, and probably the sons of God in general-a wicked overbearing lord, whose envy and malice were only equal to the dominion he seems to have exercised. He was not the popular Satan, for he did not come from "hell" to attend the assembly of the sons of God, but from "going to and fro in the earth". He was not the "devil" of popular superstition, who is so coy of spiritual influence that he flies when the Bible is presented, or the godly fall on their knees, for he came boldly into the blaze of the divine presence, among a crowd of worshippers. He was not the arch fiend on the alert to catch immortal souls; for he had his eye on Job's estate and effects, and ultimately got his envious malice to take effect on Job's body. But, you say, what about the calamities of tempest and disease that befel Job? Was it in the power of mortal man to control these ? The answer is, these were God's doings, and not the adversary's. "Thou movest ME against him to destroy him without cause " (2:3). This is the language in which God describes Satan's action in the matter. It was God who inflicted the calamities at the adversary's instigation. This is Job's view of the case: "Have pity upon me, O ye my friends", says he, "the hand of God hath touched me" (19:21). And the narrator, in concluding the book, says, "Then came there unto him all his brethren . . . and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him" (42:11). Even if the adversary had actually wielded the power that affected Job, that would no more prove him a supernatural agent than do the miracles achieved by Moses prove him to have been no man. God can delegate miraculous power to mortal man.

There is no real countenance to the popular theory of the devil in any part of the Bible. The countenance is only apparent; and would not even be that, if there were no personal-devil theory extant, taught from the days of infancy. With such a theory in existence, a plausible case can be made out. Bible words and pagan theories are put together and made to fit; and superficially considered, the result is striking and impressive, and highly demonstrative of a personal devil. It is, however, a mere logical juggle.

"Devils"

A few words on "devils" are necessary to complete the case. As to the Old Testament, the word is only found four times, viz. in Lev. 17:7; Deut. 32:17; 2 Chron. 11:15; and Psalm 106:37. These passages only require to be read for the reader to see that so far as the Old Testament is concerned, the word "devils" in Bible use is applied very differently from that which popular views of the subject would indicate. For instance:

They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not (Deut. 32:17).

Here the "devils" sacrificed to by Israel were the idols of the heathen. This is still more apparent from Psalm 106:35, 37:-

They were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works; and they served their idols, which were a snare unto them. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan.

It is needless to say that the idols of Canaan were "lifeless blocks of wood and stone", and that, therefore, their designation as "devils" shows that the Old Testament use of the word gives no countenance to the idea that "devils" are personal beings of a malignant order, aiding and abetting and serving the great devil in all his works of mischief and damnation.

The New Testament appears more evidently to favour the popular creed: but examination will show that no real support is furnished. In the first place Paul uses the word in the same way as it is used in the Old Testament. He says, "The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils; ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils, ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils" (1 Cor. 10:20, 21). Now, that "devils" here applies to the idols of Pagan worship is manifest; first, from the fact that the sacrifices of the Gentiles were offered at the shrines of the idol-gods of their own superstition; and second, from the following words of Paul in the same chapter: "What say I then? that the idol is anything or that which is offered in sacrifice to the idols is anything?" (verse 19). This is conclusive. Paul applies the word "devils" to idols, of which he says, "We know that an idol is NOTHING in the world" (1 Cor. 8:4). Therefore, the word "devils" as used by Paul lends no countenance to the popular view.

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"Demons"
"Casting Out Demons"
"God And 'The World'"