A brief history of the origin/meaning of the name of Satan. |
There is an interesting history behind the origins of the name commonly associated with Satan. In the first place, the true definition of the name Lucifer is Light Bearer, or Morning Star. If you refer to Revelations 22:16 Jesus Christ is quoted, "I am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." Some interesting associations can be made by the student of esotericism if one were to couple this statement with the allegory to be presented in an upcomming post, "He Who Guards The Tree." However, I will leave those conclusions to be drawn by the reader. Until the translation of the Vulgate (the Latin version of the bible), Lucifer was a Latin common word, never used as a proper name or title. Sometimes fact is indeed stranger than fiction. Here's the true history, but don't take my word for it, do your own research: There was a Bishop at one time named Lucifer, Bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia. He was the antagonist of a schism that caused a division within the Roman Catholic Church in about 354 AD. Later, St. Jerome (who was in seminary at the time of said schism) translated the Hebrew and Greek scriptures into Latin between the years 382-405 AD. It would appear that he intentionally took a reference in the scriptures to an ancient Babylonian King; and he, being a rhetorician, framed the translation as "Lucifer" to equate the evil king with both Satan and the Bishop. Jerome was evidently on the other side of the schism perpetuated by Bishop Lucifer as is demonstrated in his work entitled, "A dialogue against the Luciferians," A sect named after their founder... the Bishop. Originally the name Lucifer was used in connection with the planet Venus, emphasizing its brilliance. The Vulgate employs the word also for "the light of the morning" (Job 11:17), "the signs of the zodiac" (Job 38:32), and "the aurora" (Psalm 109:3). Metaphorically, the word was applied to the King of Babylon (Isaiah 14:12) as he was preeminent in status among the princes of his time; also to the high priest Simon son, of Onias (Ecclesiasticus 50:6), for his surpassing virtue, to the glory of heaven (Apocalypse 2:28), by reason of its excellency; finally to Jesus Christ himself (2 Peter 1:19; and as I said, Revelations 22:16). The entire history goes beyond the scope of this paper, but today the Bishop is known as "Saint Lucifer" despite the negative associations that have stuck with his name throughout the ages. |