When was the Fall?
Though why the
son of Dawn fell is clearly mentioned, we are told when.
It is quite reasonable to assume that this took place before the creation
of man. This will enable us to
explain the chaotic nature of the cosmos out of which Elohim began to prepare
the new heavens and the earth in which man a was placed.
This would explain the presence of evil in the serpentine creature in the
Garden of Eden. There are others
who hold that it took place in the Garden of Eden.
Both these views were prevalent in the early Christian period that they
are also reflected in the Islamic thought.
Islam gives a very graphic description of the idea in a more graphic way.
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The Quran clearly states that Satan was an angel, by virtue
of the immense powers and rank bestowed upon him. This is why he is
addressed as an angel (2:34,
7:11,
15:29,
17:61, 18:50, 20:116,
38:71) prior to his fall. It all began a few billion years
ago when one of God's high-ranking creatures, Satan, developed a
supercilious idea that he could run a dominion as an independent god
besides God. This challenge to God's absolute authority was not only
blasphemous, it was also erroneous. Satan was ignorant of the fact that
God alone possesses the ability to be a god, and that there is much more
to godhood than he realized. It was the ego - arrogance augmented by
ignorance - that led Satan to believe that he could take care of a
dominion, as a god, and run it without disease, misery, war, accidents,
and chaos. The vast majority of God's creatures disagreed with Satan. Yet,
the minute egoistic minority that agreed with him in various extents were
in the billions. Thus, a profound dispute erupted within the Heavenly
Community (38:69). The rebels' unjustifiable challenge to God's absolute
authority was met and resolved in the most efficient manner. After giving
the rebels sufficient chances to denounce their crime and submit to Him,
God decided to exile the hard core rebels on a space ship called Earth,
and give them yet another chance to redeem themselves. |
Reading through
the prophecies of Ezekiel and Isaiah we can see that it supports this
interpretation.
There is yet another interpretation
shared by some theologians both in Christianity and Islam, where Satan (Iblis)
led a protest against the creation of Man and objected to serving man.
In the beginning
of creation the Angels were expected to be subservient to Man
and they are now under the rule of Angels until they are redeemed
can be substantiated. This can be seen from the Psalmist’s claim:
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Psa 8:3 When
I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, The moon and the stars,
which thou hast ordained; Psa 8:4 What
is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou
visitest him? Psa 8:5 For
thou hast made him but little lower than God, And crownest him with glory
and honor. Psa 8:6 Thou
makest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; Thou hast put all
things under his feet: |
Yet in Hebrews
it says:
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Heb 2:5 For
not unto angels did he subject the world to come, whereof we speak. Heb 2:6 But
one hath somewhere testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful
of him? Or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Heb 2:7 Thou
madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory
and honor, And didst set him over the works of thy hands: Heb 2:8 Thou
didst put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he
subjected all things unto him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. |
As regards to
the Angels the Writer of the Hebrew says:
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Heb 1:14 Are
they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of
them that shall inherit salvation? |
The implication here is that when God created man in his own image, he
created a little lower than himself and the angels were made to minister unto
them.
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'But when it was revealed to
Lucifer, high and glorious as he was, that he must be a ministering spirit
to the race of mankind which he had seen newly created, which appeared so
feeble, mean, and despicable, of vastly inferior not only to him, the
prince of the angels, and head of the created universe, but also to the
inferior angels, and that he must be subject to one of that race which
should hereafter be born, he could not bear it, This occasioned his fall'
(Tractate on 'The Fall of the Angels,' Works, vol. ii. pp. 608, 609, 610
Prof. W. Scott's vol. 'The Existence of Evil Spirits,'
London, 1843.) |
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According
to the Qur’an (the basic source of Islamic belief), when God created
Adam and directed the assembly of angels to prostrate before Adam, Iblis
–a Jinni – was also present in the court. All the angels
obediently prostrated before Adam. However, Iblis – the Jinn –
arrogantly refused to do so. This, obviously, was a transgression on the
part of Iblis. It was this transgression of Iblis that made
him deserving of the name ‘Al-Shaitaan’ (the Satan). As a
result of this transgression, God turned Iblis out of His court and
sentenced him to punishment. However, Iblis asked God for respite
till the Day of Judgment and declared that because God had turned him out
of his court and had sentenced him to punishment because of man, he would
therefore always be an enemy to man. He, and those who become his agents,
would do all that they can to turn man away from the path of God. |
Thus in all
Semitic traditions the idea of sin entering into the cosmos through the fall of
Angels and the Man in concurring with these fallen angels brought in sin and
along with it decay and death. As
the highest flower of creation Man with the total free will as the image of God
is ultimately responsible for his own fall and the period of probation that it
brought in.
It's
in this context that we see the serpent approach Eve in the Garden of Eden.
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Gen 3:1 Now
the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD God
had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of
any tree of the garden'?" Gen 3:2 And
the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees
of the garden; Gen 3:3 but
God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the
midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" Gen 3:4 But
the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. Gen 3:5 For
God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will
be like God, knowing good and evil." |
The
name Satan is not mentioned here again. But in the book of Revelation John
identifies Satan with the ancient Serpent.
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Rev 12:9 And
the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the
Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world--he was thrown down to
the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Rev 20:2 And
he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan,
and bound him for a thousand years, |
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The Hebrew word translated
"serpent" in the above passage is nachash . In addition
to "serpent," this Hebrew root word has three other possible
meanings. It can be used as a noun to mean (1) "one who practices
divination," or (2) "shining brass." However, nachash
can also be used as a verb to mean (3) "to shine" or "to
glow." In Genesis 3, it is possible that nachash
is used in the verbal form as a noun. If that is the case, the proper
translation of hanachash in Genesis 3 would be "the Shining
one." This understanding of nachash fits in very well with
Paul's description of Satan appearing as an "angel of light" (II
Cor. 11:14). This
also reminds us of the Brazen Serpent which was raised up
in the desert. |
The
function of the
serpent in the fall was only as a tempter who cause doubt on the motives of God.
As a result an enmity was imposed between the two until Man himself is able to
overcome the Evil One.
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Gen 3:14 The
LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are
you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you
shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. Gen 3:15 I
will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed;
he shall bruise your head, and
you shall bruise his heel." |
Henceforth
the Fallen Angel became the Adversary of Man so that
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Rom 16:20 then
the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with you. |
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Answer
attributed to Athanasius of Alexandria Question:
When and on account of what reason did the Devil fall? For certain
mythmakers have said that he received a command to venerate Adam (and
having refused to do so) fell. This
text evinces an argument that will become standard in the West after
Augustine: Satan does not fall due to envy toward Adam but rather due to
envy toward God. And, as such, the fall takes place prior to Adam's
creation. Augustine, of course, locates that fall as close to creation as
possible without sacrificing the goodness of all creation at its
inception. Bartholomew
of Edessa.1claims
that the story is not Christian at all, but rather Islamic in origin.
"For the Muslims say," Bartholomew writes, "that when Adam
had been made, all the angels worshipped him at the command of God. But
Beliar alone did not obey this command to worship Adam and on this account
he fell." |