nediction and likewise in the liturgy and the theology of the
Church.(572)

On the other hand the belief in evil spirits and in Satan, the Evil One,
remained rather a matter of popular credulity and never became a positive
doctrine of the Synagogue. True, the liturgy contained morning prayers
which asked God for protection against the Evil One, and formulas invoking
the angels to shield one during the night from evil spirits.(573) But the
arch-fiend was never invested with power over the soul, depriving man of
his perfect freedom and divine sovereignty, as in the Christian Church.

4. In the formation of the idea of the arch-fiend, Satan, we can observe
the interworking of several elements. The name Satan in no way indicates a
demon. It denotes simply the adversary, the one who offers hindrances. The
name was thus applied to the accuser at court.(574) In Zechariah and in
Job(575) Satan appears at the throne of God as the prosecutor, roaming
about the earth to espy the transgressions of men, seeking to lure them to
their destruction. In the Books of Chronicles(576) Satan has become a
proper name, meaning the Seducer.

The Serpent in the Paradise story is more completely a demon, although the
legend intends rather to account for man's morality, his distinction
between good and evil. Satan was then identified with the serpent, who was
called by the rabbis _Nahash ha Kadmoni_, "the primeval Serpent," after
the analogy of the serpent-like form of Ahriman. Thus Satan in the person
of the serpent became the embodiment of evil, the prime cause of sin and
death.(577) Possibly a part in this process was played by the Babylonian
figure of _Tihamat_, the dragon of _chaos_ (_Tehom_ in the Hebrew), with
whom the god Marduk wrestled for dominion over the world, and who has
parallels in the Biblical Rahab and similar mythological figures.

We must not overlook such rabbinical legends as the one about how the
poisonous breath of the serpent infected the whole human race, except
Israel who has been saved by the law at Sinai.(578) Occasionally we hear
that the Evil Spirit (_Yezer ha Ra_) will be slain by God(579) or by the
Messiah.(580) These Haggadic sayings, however, were never accepted as
normative for religious belief. On the contrary, they were always in
dispute, and many a Talmudic teacher minimized the fiendish character of
Satan, who became a stimulus to moral betterment through the trials he
imposes.(581) Philo, allegorizing th