Thread by @exC_Esther

Christians that claim that their god YHWH is not author of evil must go back to the basics of their religion.

In the early stages of Jewish theology YHWH & "the satan" were used interchangeably. As their theology evolved Satan became a proper noun & a separate being from YHWH.

https://twitter.com/joedyms9/status/1528324935105404931

Compare an early writing: 2 Sam.24.1 Again the anger of YHWH burned against Israel & HE incited David against them, saying, “Go & take a census of..."

WITH

a later writing: 1 Chr. 21.1- SATAN rose up against Israel & incited David to take a census of..."

Satan = YHWH.

In another early writing, 1 Sam 18.10: an evil spirit from god came powerfully over Saul, so that he fell into a frenzy..

Here YHWH is shown to be the producer of evil.

In Isaiah 45.7 he admits to have created evil. Yet Cs claim he is all good. Only good & incapable of evil.

Satan isn't a proper noun in early writings of the Jewish text, Tanakh. Tanakh was later hijacked by Christians & renamed Old Testament.

Satan was a title & always written with "a" or "the" before it.

It's haSatan in Hebrew. ha = the.

This changed in later Tanakh writings.

In later writings, the/a satan becomes Satan with a capital "S." The article before it gets dropped, indicating that Satan is a proper noun. It is also referred to as an entity independent of YHWH. Earlier, the satan acted at YHWH's command. Later "he" stood in opposition to YWHW

Why was the/a satan, YHWH's agent who at times was recognized as YHWH himself suddenly changed to a person called Satan- the enemy of YHWH that set out to destroy YHWH's favorite creation: man?
What was going on in Jewish history that a whole new character was invented abruptly?

There were other elements missing from early Jewish theology but were visible later. Eg: the idea of afterlife, heaven/ hell, free will, Satan as serpent etc. At what point were they added, why & by whom?

Digging into the history &origins of Judaism will answer these questions.

586 BCE: Babylon conquered Judah; destroyed the temple; forced Jews- Educated, upper-class, royal family- into exile.
539: Persians, under the Zoroastrian king Cyrus conquered Babylon.
538: He let the exiles go home & also supported the rebuilding of their temple in Jerusalem.

This wasn't the 1st time that the Jews were exiled. Before Judah, its twin nation- Israel was conquered & Jews were exiled. No matter who their captor was the Jews continued to write their theological literature, assimilating into it, the elements of the religion of their captors

When Cyrus freed them, not all the exiles wanted to leave.

Many Jews had established themselves in businesses & even politics, while still remaining devoted to their religion.

As the Persian empire consolidated its rule, some Jews even rose to imp positions in the royal court.

During & after the Babylonian exile, the final edits of their theological lit. was undertaken.

New literature, called post-exilic lit. was also produced during this time like Ezra Nehemiah Chronicles etc. Ezra, the scribe-priest came to be the leader of the post-exilic period

It was near the end of the Babylonian exile that Jews made significant contact with Zoroastrians & their theology, assimilating most of it into their own Jewish religion. Thus was born Judaism which was enforced by Ezra in post-exilic Judah, making Ezra the founder of Judaism.

Why did the Jews have to adapt Zo'an theology?
In the exile, Jews didn't have their temple & the altar for animal sacrifice, both of which were at the center of their faith. Several changes had to be made not only to how they worshipped but also to how they perceived their god.

Till then, their concept was that god gave them protection from foreign conquests in exchange for flesh, blood & crop offerings made ONLY at an altar erected in their temple that was built in their nation that he lovingly gave them. That concept now had to be repealed & revised.

The exiled leaders of the Jewish nation saw the need to come up with a way to worship/please their god even when away from their temple, altar & their nation. Then, their attention fell on Zo'anism, with whom they shared theological commonality of monolatry. Diff from monotheism.

Zo'anism was mostly practiced in oral tradition, which included stories about god, free will, creation, cosmic conflict of good & evil, divine judgment, end of the world.. Jews learnt all that thru private dialogues & socio-political & civic interactions with the Persians.

Judaism idea of heaven, hell, afterlife are all Zo'an influences. Before their contact with Zo'anism Jews believed that the souls of all dead went to a dull place called "Sheol." Post exile it was a "karmic" afterlife with heavenly rewards for good & hellish punishment for evil.

And where did Zo'ans get the "karmic" view of the afterlife? From Hindus, given the influence of Hinduism on Zo'anism.
The most significant assimilation of Jews is that of the concept of messiah. The Jewish idea of a savior/messiah coming to save, is a copy from Zo'an messianism

This idea is found in the book of Isaiah-the 2nd part of which was written during the exile. It speaks of a messiah(an anointed human being) who'd come to rescue the Jews. Isa. identifies even Cyrus as messiah. It's this concept that further evolved into the Christian savior idea

Zo'anism talks of a saoshyant: anyone who brings benefit. For Jews too, the messiah isn't a special savior but anyone who benefits the Jewish ppl. Could be a Persian king also. As the savior mythologies evolved, saoshyant & messiah became specific individuals with divine quality.

Jews borrowed many more concepts from Zo'ans. The most significant of which is Satan as a proper noun, an individual with singularly evil nature, an entity separate from YHWH, no more written with "a" & "the". Satan in post-exilic writings was the eternal enemy of YHWH & mankind.

Ezra & the Babylonian Jewish community received reports about religious laxity in Judah. Regard for the religious Law was lost. The greatest immorality for Ezra was the intermarriages of Jews with non-Jewish idolators. He feared loss of Jewish identity &the end of Jewish religion

397 BCE: Ezra returned to Judah with a large group of returnees. He came to Judah as a dual representative:
1. leader of the Babylonian Jewish community who came to teach the Law
&
2. commissioner of Persian govt to implement the Jewish religion without causing internal strife.

Ezra brought with him the new & revised Jewish theology complete with all the Zoroastrian concepts incorporated into it.

He also brought the Persian king's decree to the Jewish ppl that said, "for a Jew to disobey the new Jewish Law was to disobey "the law of the king.""

Ezra & other teachers gathered the ppl of Judah in the city sq. & read & explained to them the new religious theology.

This was the point in history when the ancient primitive Jewish religion was reconstituted on the basis of Zoroastrian theology, into what we know as Judaism.