Black Spirituality Religion : Lucifer is a Man

Aqil said:
Re: Lucifer, the Son of thr Morning

The planet Venus was called “Lucifer” when it was the morning star, rising brilliantly in the Heavens before sunrise. The word “Lucifer” is Latin for “light-bearing.” The Greek word is “phosphorus,” meaning “that which brings the light.”

This word is used only once in the entire Bible. Other than the KJV, I have only found two others - the Living Bible, and the Goodspeed Bible - that use the word "Lucifer." The KJV reads, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" (Isaiah 14:12). This misused word comes from the Hebrew word heylel, which simply means "shining one" (Young's Concordance); "morning star" (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance); and "bright star," or "splendid star" (Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon).

"Lucifer" is the Latin word which was translated from heylel. Heylel is not a proper noun, but is a descriptive word that tells us something about the one spoken of. The Hebrew word does not indicate this is a personal name, not in the remotest sense. It was the Latin-speaking churches in the 2nd century in North Africa that first rendered the word as a personal name in their Latin version of the Bible. Since then, every Latin revision kept that one error intact. It was from the Latin that Martin Luther translated his German Bible, and from there the popularized name of Lucifer made its way into the minds and pens of the King James translators.

The Amplified Bible has this informative note concerning Isaiah 14:12 and the word Lucifer:

"Some students feel that the application of the name Lucifer to Satan is erroneous, even though it is commonly taught to that effect. Lucifer, the Light-Bringer, is the Latin equivalent of the Greek word "phosphoros," which is used as a title of Christ in II Peter 1:19 ('until the day star arises in your hearts.'), and corresponds to the name 'Bright Morning Star' in Revelation 22:16, which Jesus called himself."

The application of the name "Lucifer" has only existed since the 3rd century AD, and is based on the supposition that Luke 10:18 ('I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven...') is an explanation of Isaiah 14:12, which authorities feel is not true.
Brotha Aqil,

I see what you are saying. Now the question remains. Since that which is referred to as Lucifer in Isaiah 14:12 is obviously about to (but has not yet) fall into disgrace and public shame, why would Jesus associate himself with a fallen state to the point of referring to himself by the same moniker?

But Peter speaks of a star that will (but has not yet) rise. Clearly by Peter's time the star has already fallen and is going to rise so he's not talking about the bodily ressurection of Jesus. He's talking about something far deeper that will take place in the hearts and minds of those who give themselves to spiritual development.

Jesus said "The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life." We miss out on the spiritual meaning when we insist on a literal interpretation. We miss out on true spiritual growth when we locate God's power up in the clouds somewhere and wait passively for something to be done for us.
 
Peace my Sister:

As aforementioned, the name "Lucifer" has often been understood to be another name for the devil or satan. This identification has a long history in the church, going back to at least the 4th century. Its origin is from the passage in Isaiah that you cite, and to many it speaks of a being cast out of heaven because of pride. Since there is a reference in the New Testament to the devil being cast out of heaven (Rev. 12:9-12; cf. Luke 10:18), it was assumed that the Isaiah passage referred to the same thing.

In the King James translation, Isaiah 14:12 reads as follows:

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!"

Here is where we find the word, "Lucifer." The word does not come from the Hebrew or the Greek languages, but from the 4th-century Latin translation of this verse:

"quomodo cecidisti de caelo lucifer qui mane oriebaris corruisti in terram qui vulnerabas gentes."

But this is not quite as obvious as it sounds, even in Latin. The term "Lucifer" in 4th-century Latin was a name for the planet Venus, especially as the "morning star," derived from a term meaning "bright light," or the verbal form "to shine brightly." The same word is used in other places in the Latin Vulgate to translate Hebrew terms that mean "bright," especially associated with the sky:

"And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning." (Job 11:17)

"You will do well to pay attention to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts." (2nd Peter 1:19)

It also occurs in the plural ("luciferum") in Job 38:32 to refer to an astral constellation. Other forms of the word are used in similar ways to refer to light or the stars. And this reflects the Greek translation’s use of phosphoros, "morning star" to translate the Hebrew of Isaiah 14:12.

There is some debate about the exact origin of the original Hebrew word heylel in Isaiah 14:12. But the strongest possibility is that it comes from a verbal root that means "to shine brightly," as well as "to offer praise" (where we get the word "halleluyah"). In any case, the noun form is the Hebrew term for the morning star - in most cases the planet Venus. Both the 2nd-century Greek translation in the Septuagint, and the 4th-century Latin translation in the Latin Vulgate understand this to be the meaning of the Hebrew word heylel.

So, how did we get from Venus, the morning star, to Lucifer being associated with the devil, especially since that term is used in positive ways even in the New Testament? Well, if we begin with some New Testament passages as the best way to interpret the Old, and add some of our assumptions, it is not a long trip at all. In 2nd Corinthians 11:14, Paul writes about false apostles:

"And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."

And in Luke 10:18-19, at the return of the 70 as they comment on their success, Jesus says:

"And he said to them, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you.'"

So, without ever stopping to examine either of those passages to see what was being said in them, and what was meant by the references, we could conclude that the devil/satan is somehow associated with light and the sky. If we then add the passage from Revelations 12 about the "devil/satan/red dragon/serpent," the symbols begin to run together, again before we have done any real study on any of these passages separately to see what each of them are saying. In Revelations 12, the red dragon with seven heads appears in the sky, and his tail sweeps down a third of the stars to Earth, and is then later cast down to the Earth along with his angels. Of course, at this point, a great many assumptions are introduced into the reading even of the Revelations passage, even though this is obviously extremely figurative language; we just assume what it means.

By adding these three passages together without regard to context, and read them as if they were all speaking in the same way about the same thing to make the same point, we can conclude that we have here a jigsaw picture of a long-ago historical event described in great detail (but of course we have to put the pieces together from various bits scattered through literature written 800 years apart!). Then, if we take that assumption about the meaning of all these texts, and the assumption that adding texts together is the way to understand them (a drastic perversion of the "scripture-interprets-scripture" principle!), and bring that back to the Isaiah text, then it is very easy to reach the conclusion that the prophet is also describing the same event. There are similar metaphors of light, stars, conflict, and being cast down. Earlier translations mistakenly took the Hebrew term "sheol" in v.15 as "hell" (in Hebrew it is simply the place where the dead go, a metaphor for death, specifically burial), which is another piece of the puzzle. So of course, since there is no mention of the "devil" or "satan" in Isaiah, "Lucifer" must be the name the prophet uses for him! So, Isaiah is talking about the devil being cast out of heaven!

This is the position that prevailed throughout much of the history of the church until the time of the reformation and enlightenment, when we began asking more direct questions of the Biblical text. We also gained more information in new archaeological discoveries of ancient civilizations, including thousands of tablets from Mesopotamia giving us a great deal of information about ancient Mesopotamian and Babylonian religion. We learned that Babylonian religion was an astral religion, closely related to Canaanite practices, although more focused on the Sun, Moon, and stars and their motion than on the immediate cycles of nature as it was in Canaan. The Babylonians worshiped as gods the manifestations of celestial bodies. It is from Babylon that we get the signs of the zodiac representing the constellations. We now know that the two terms used in the Hebrew text of Isaiah, heylel, "morning star," and shahar, "dawn," were Babylonian astral deities (which is reflected in most modern translations).

Now, if we look at the text of Isaiah 14 in context, and without the assumptions we brought to it from the New Testament, the meaning of the passage becomes more obvious...and goes a radically different direction. The first chapters of Isaiah denounce the sins of Israel and its failure to be God’s people. There have also been expectations that God will work in new ways in the life of the nation to help them recover their mission as God’s people. One of those ways would be through a new king to replace the corrupt Ahaz. Because of his pro-Assyrian policies, the nation was teetering upon the brink of catastrophe as Assyria expanded to the West.

Isaiah 13 begins a long section of the book known as "Oracles Against Foreign Nations." This is a standardized format in the prophets for universalizing responsibility to God. Not only Israel, but all nations, were accountable to God and would fall under the same judgment Israel would. As is typical in other prophetic books (Amos, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) not all of these oracles come from the same time period as Isaiah of Jerusalem, but they do follow a similar pattern and serve the same function in the book. Isaiah 13 is part of the oracle directed against Babylon, probably from a time after the Exile. In very flowery, poetic, and highly figurative language, Babylon is denounced for her arrogance and lack of concern for other nations as she built her empire. It is interesting that in v.10 specific mention is made of the failure of the Babylonian gods to help them when God calls then to accountability.

Chapter 14 then begins with the promise of Israel’s return from Babylonian exile, a theme that dominates the middle section of Isaiah (40-55). Part of that return would involve the downfall of the tyrant king of Babylon (v.4, probably Nebuchadnezzer, for the same language used of a later Babylonian ruler, Belshazzar. In that context, verses 12-21 are a poetic picture of that downfall. Heylel, "morning star," and shahar, "dawn," then, are references to the Babylonian gods who could not save the king, and are themselves to be cast down. In fact, there is probably a reference here to the habit of ancient near-eastern kings proclaiming themselves incarnations of the gods; with the fall of the kings, the gods also fell, often physically as the images that represented them were pulled down and destroyed (recall the symbolism of the destruction of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad).

So, the Isaiah passage does not connect, either historically or theologically, with the New Testament passages about the devil or satan. By reading the Old Testament passage on its own terms within its own context, we discover that Lucifer is not an Old Testament name for the devil or satan. The passage in Isaiah 14:12 is directed at the downfall of the arrogant Babylonian rulers who took Israel into exile. By beginning with the New Testament, by making assumptions not supported by a closer examination of scripture itself, and by using external theological categories as a lens through which to read scripture, we may end up badly misreading Isaiah...

Peace.
 
Bother Aqul,
Thanx for your research. This explains a lot.

Something else that might interest you, but that you probably already know in the verse you gave (Job 38:32) the word translated "luciferum" in the Latin vulgate appears in the kjv as "Mazzaroth" which is transliterated from "Mazzarah." Strong #04216 defines this word as
the 12 signs of the Zodiac and their 36 associated constellations
 
You're quite welcome, my sister. Here is another clue:

At the half-full phase Venus is at greatest elongation — east of the Sun when a bright and beautiful evening star, and west of the Sun when a bright and beautiful morning star. Because it rose before the Sun and set after it during this time, the ancients considered Venus (or Lucifer) defiant...
 
Aqil said:
You're quite welcome, my sister. Here is another clue:

At the half-full phase Venus is at greatest elongation — east of the Sun when a bright and beautiful evening star, and west of the Sun when a bright and beautiful morning star. Because it rose before the Sun and set after it during this time, the ancients considered Venus (or Lucifer) defiant...
hmm I would have consedered Venus to be a caretaker or armor bearer for the sun in that case.

Don't miss my previous post #33
 

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