The Economist (US), March 16th, 1996
SATAN was a late developer. In the earliest books of the Bible little is heard of him and he is an obedient fellow. In Hebrew the satan is merely a servant of God who performs his service by obstructing human mischief. He acts as an adversary, but on God's behalf. It was, for instance, Satan who stood in the path of Balaam's ass in order to prevent Balaam going where God did not want him to go--though new translations of this episode refer to an "angel of the Lord", thus erasing the traces of the devil's honest youth.
This original Satan did admittedly have a tricky side to him, which is pe...
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