The Archangel “Lucifer”
“How art thou fallen
from heaven, O Helel, ben Shahar! how art thou cut down to the ground, which
didst weaken the nations!” Do you recognize the quote? It’s actually Isaiah
14:12, but with the original Hebrew placed back where it has been translated
Lucifer, son of Dawn. In many of the manuscripts I had studied in my previous
state, I came across the definition of Lucifer as being a fallen angel “mistakenly”
associated with Satan. This not only weakens faith in the Bible as the inspired
word of Yah (for it contradicts the statement made above, with Helel being
quite correctly translated into the Latin “Lucifer”), but creates confusion
about the person of the devil.
At the same time, it has
appears that he was also called Azazel, aside from Helel. This name, meaning “Strong
One of El” is translated as “scapegoat” in most modern versions, by breaking it
into the parts eeze (goat) and zel (of wandering). This does indeed fit the
description of the function of the sacrifice in Leviticus, but at the same time
speaks of a duality of meaning commonly found through Scripture.
Both names can easily be
applicable, with no controversy, for while Azazel may well have been his
angelic name, it is quite reasonable to ascribe the title Helel (Shining One)
to him, as per Ezekiel’s description of him as one who fell because of pride in
“thy brightness.” (Eze 28:17).
To claim that Satan and
Helel are separate beings would go against a lot of what Scripture teaches. It
was this first, bright being who led the fallen angels in rebellion, and in
such verses as Luke 10:18 and Rev 12:9 and 20:2, it is stated in no uncertain
terms who the leader of the demons is. Also, while “Helel” translates into “Bright
One,” or “Brightness Bearer,” so does the Latin word “Lucifer” have an
identical meaning.
In my work here, I have
opted for the more familiar Latin term in place of the arguably more correct
Hebrew name for the arch-demon.