n his heart. He moves about on the earth for the purpose of
finding materials for his accusations, and grounds on which he may
raise suspicions. It is a characteristic [Pg 22] feature, that he whose
darkness does not comprehend the light, knows of no other piety but
that which has its origin in the hope of reward. It is quite evident
that it is the desire of his heart to destroy Job by sufferings. The
only circumstance which seems to give any countenance to the
supposition is, that he appears in the midst of the angels, before the
throne of God. But this circumstance is deprived of all its
significancy, if the fact be kept in view--which, indeed, is most
evident--that the book is, from beginning to end, of a purely poetical
character. The form of it is easily accounted for by the intention to
impress this most important thought: that Satan stands in absolute
dependence upon God; that, with all his hatred to the children of God,
he can do nothing against them, but must, on the contrary, rather
subserve the accomplishment of the thoughts of God's love regarding
them.--Isaiah likewise points to evil spirits in chap. xiii. 21, xxxiv.
14. (Compare my Comment. on Rev. xviii. 2.)--But even in some passages
of the Pentateuch itself, the doctrine regarding Satan is brought
before us. It is true that it has been erroneously supposed to be
contained in Deut. xxxii. 17 (compare on this opinion, my Comment. on
Ps. cvi. 37); but only bigotry and prejudice can refuse to admit that,
under the _Asael_, to whom, according to Lev. xvi., a goat was sent
into the wilderness, Satan is to be understood. (The arguments in
support of this view will be found in the author's "_Egypt and the
Books of Moses_," p. 168 ff.)[2]

But we must advert to two additional considerations. _First_,--To every
one who is in the least familiar with the territory [Pg 23] of divine
revelation, and who has any conception of the relation in which the
Books of Moses stand to the whole succeeding revelation, it will, _a
priori_, be inconceivable, that a doctrine which afterwards occupies so
prominent a position in the revealed books should not have already
existed, in the germ at least, in the Books of Moses. _Secondly_,--We
should altogether lose the origin and foundation of the doctrine
concerning Satan, if he be removed from, or explained away in, the
history of the fall. That the first indication of this doctrine cannot
by any means be found in the Book of Job, has