I know Lucifer is a reference to a Babylonian king so what was the name of Satan before being cast down from heaven?

Answer 1

A:You are correct that the reference to 'Lucifer' in the Book of Isaiah is a reference to a Babylonian king. However, the concept of Satan being cast down from heaven is a purely Christian one, which uses a misrepresentation of this passage not only to give him the alternative name, Lucifer, but also to justify the belief that he was cast down from heaven. Another purely Christian name for Satan is Beezlebub, but this is only a pejorative for the Semitic god, Baal Zebub, and as such should be disregarded.

Modern Jewish belief, as seen in the Book of Job, is that Satan is the loyal assistant of God, tasked with testing the righteousness of the faithful. Since Christianity is supposed to rely on the Jewish scriptures for pre-Christian knowledge, there is no biblical reference to any other name for Satan.

If we recognise that Lucifer is a different reference altogether, and that names such as Beezlebub are of late, Christian origin, then we have no other name for Satan.

Additional thoughts:

The Bible does not reveal his original name.

The terms 'satan' and 'devil' are titles, given to this creature after he betrayed God, describing his characteristics ('satan' meaning 'resister'//and 'devil' meaning 'slanderer(Revelation 12:9/John 8:44/Genesis 3:1-5)

'Beelzebub', originally, was one of the Baal's worshiped by the Philistines at Ekron(2 Kings 1:2-8). The name means "Lord of the Flies" or "owner of the dung". The religious leaders of Jesus' day symbolically applied this name to satan as the 'ruler of the demons' when denouncing Jesus(Matthew 10:25/Matthew 12:24-29/Luke 11:15-19/Mark 3:22-27). Names are important to God(Ephesians 3:14+15)(Psalm 147:4), and, indeed, many feel that this rebellious creature's original name will never be known, because he is unworthy of being remembered.