el, "the highest angel that stands before God's
throne, caused the serpent to seduce the woman"; he coalesces with
Satan, and has inferior Satans as his servants. The birth of Cain is
ascribed to a union of Satan with Eve. As accuser affecting man's
standing before God he is greatly feared.

This doctrine, stripped of much of its grossness, is reproduced in the
New Testament. Satan is the [Greek: diabolos] (Matt. xiii. 39; John
xiii. 2; Eph. iv. 27; Heb. ii. 14; Rev. ii. 10), slanderer or accuser,
the [Greek: peirazon] (Matt. iv. 3; 1 Thess. iii. 5), the tempter, the
[Greek: poneros] (Matt. v. 37; John xvii. 15; Eph. vi. 16), the evil
one, and the [Greek: echthros] (Matt. xiii. 39), the enemy. He is
apparently identified with Beelzebub (or Beelzebul) in Matt. xii. 26,
27. Jesus appears to recognize the existence of demons belonging to a
kingdom of evil under the leadership of Satan "the prince of demons"
(Matt. xii. 24, 26, 27), whose works in demonic possessions it is his
function to destroy (Mark i. 34, iii. 11, vi. 7; Luke x. 17-20). But he
himself conquers Satan in resisting his temptations (Matt. iv. 1-11).
Simon is warned against him, and Judas yields to him as tempter (Luke
xxii. 31; John xiii. 27). Jesus's cures are represented as a triumph
over Satan (Luke x. 18). This Jewish doctrine is found in Paul's letters
also. Satan rules over a world of evil, supernatural agencies, whose
dwelling is in the lower heavens (Eph. vi. 12): hence he is the "prince
of the power of the air" (ii. 2). He is the tempter (1 Thess. iii. 5; 1
Cor. vii. 5), the destroyer (x. 10), to whom the offender is to be
handed over for bodily destruction (v. 5), identified with the serpent
(Rom. xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xi. 3), and probably with Beliar or Belial (vi.
15); and the surrender of man to him brought death into the world (Rom.
v. 17). Paul's own "stake in the flesh" is Satan's messenger (2 Cor.
xii. 7). According to Hebrews Satan's power over death Jesus destroys by
dying (ii. 14). Revelation describes the war in heaven between God with
his angels and Satan or the dragon, the "old serpent," the deceiver of
the whole world (xii. 9), with his hosts of darkness. After the
overthrow of the Beast and the kings of the earth, Satan is imprisoned
in the bottomless pit a thousand years (xx. 2). Again loosed to deceive
the nations, he is finally cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (xx.
10; cf. Enoch liv. 5, 6; 2 Peter ii. 4). In John's Gospel and Ep