SATAN AND EVIL IN THE HEBREW BIBLE AND SOME DEPTH PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS Ah, what’s puzzling you Is the nature of my game, oh yeah… ~ Mick Jagger, lyrics from Sympathy for the Devil This paper will explore the Hebrew word shatan as found in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), especially the ways in which the ideas about satan relate to God, evil and suffering in the Hebrew world. I will then conclude with a few observations about these satanic images from the perspective of depth psychology. The Hebrew word shatan ( ןָ טָ) appears fewer than a dozen times in the Hebrew Bible, whereas the word LORD (Yahweh) appears 6,828 times, and the word God (elohim) appears 2,602 times. These numbers surprise most Americans who believe the character of Satan to be God's ever present archrival throughout the biblical narrative. However, an examination of the use of the word shatan, often occurring as satan, in the Hebrew Bible reveals a very different story--a story of scant appearances and developmental significance. We must first emphasize that the word shatan is a verb which means adversary or opponent, typically designating someone who impedes the path of progress. The verb shatan is used of human actions. For example in I Samuel David, before he became the king of Israel, sided with the Philistines who were about to go into battle against the Hebrews. The Philistine generals, knowing that David was a Hebrew, were afraid that he might turn against them in the clash: "But the Philistine commanders...said, 'Send the man [David] back, that he may return to the place you assigned him. He must not go with us into battle, or he will turn against (shatan) us during the fighting'" (29:4). In another place the word shatan is used by David when telling a soldier to mind his own business: "David replied, 'What does this have to do with you?...What right do you have to interfere (shatan)?'" (2 Sam. 19:22). So we see that the verb shatan can refer to human adversarial actions. However, it is important for this paper to see that the first use of the verb shatan is employed to refer to an act of Israel's LORD God. This occurs in Numbers as the Hebrew prophet Balaam rides his donkey along a narrow path while on an assignment to prophesy against his own people, Israel. The story tells us that the Angel of the LORD came to block (shatan) the path of Balaam: Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him (shatan). Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD