Is The Devil the One Called Lucifer in Isaiah 14:12?
In the King James Version (KJV) of the English Bible, the word Lucifer is found in Isaiah 14:12. There are a few other versions like the New King James Version (NKJV) that also have Lucifer in that verse. But in the majority of English versions we see “morning star,” “shining one,” “day star” variously used by them. The Good News Translation (GNT) has “king of Babylon” while the Aramaic Bible in Plain English (ABPE) has “Wail at dawn!”
The verse in the KJV reads:
“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which first weaken the nations!
The popular teaching in Christianity is that Satan the Devil is the one called Lucifer in this place. The teaching that he was thrown out of heaven as a result of his pride has always been said to be what Prophet Isaiah wrote in verses 12 to 15. And many Christians have been made to believe in this teaching. However, a proper analysis of the Bible has shown this long held belief to be built on a faulty interpretation of Isaiah 14. This article is written to show my readers the genesis of the error. Three rebuttals are brought against this age-long but false teaching.
1. Doubtful Translation of Helel as Lucifer or Shining One or Morning Star
Some Bible scholars have expressed some doubt about the translation of the Hebrew “helel,” (pronounced hay-layle) as “Lucifer,” “shining one,” or “morning star” in Isaiah 14:12. Their doubt is based on the fact that the same word is found in Ezekiel 21:12 and Zechariah 11:2 where it is translated as “wail,” “howl,” or “moan” in various English versions, including the KJV. Moreover, the word in the three places have the same root word yalal (verb) which means “to wail” or “to howl.” The root of the word in Isaiah 14:12 is not halal which means “to shine” or “to praise.” There was therefore no good reason of translating helel in Isaiah 14:12 differently from the other places where the same word is used in the Hebrew Bible, which Christians call the Old Testament. The words helel ben shakhar, used by Isaiah in Isaiah 14:12,ought to have been translated as Howl, son of dawn!
In Ezekiel 21:12 we read “helel ben adam” (wail, son of man), the word “helel” being a verb in that place. In Isaiah 14:12 we read “helel ben shakhar” and the word “helel” here is said to be a noun. It should be noted that the word is rendered exactly the same way in the two places – “helel” is followed by ben (son) and then by a common noun. It is therefore strange for “helel” to be a verb in one place but be a noun in the other. It is therefore an illegitimate or dishonest exegesis to treat the word “helel” as a noun in Isaiah 14:12 but as a verb in Ezekiel 21:12. The truth is that the word is a verb in all the three places cited above. If the right interpretation has been done, Isaiah 14:12 should read something like this:
“How you have fallen from heaven! Wail, son of dawn! You have fallen into the ground, you infamous one, destroyer of the nations!”
The renowned Hebraist, Wilhelm Gesenius (1786-1842) recognized that “helel” in Isaiah 14:12 should be rendered as “howl” or “cry.” Johann Rosenmuller (1771-1820) had the same view.
The word “Lucifer” was imported by the translators of the KJV from Saint Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, a translation of the Hebrew Bible which work he did from 382 to 405AD. Jerome who put the Latin word “lucifer” in Isaiah 14:12 and some other places is not only known for translating the Bible into Latin but also wrote commentaries on the whole Bible. Part of his commentary on Isaiah 14:12 reads:
“Pro eo quod nos interpretati sumus ob facilitatem intelligentiae: Quomodo cecidisti de caelo, lucifer, qui mane oriebari in Hebraico, ut verbum exprimamus ad verbum, legitur: Quomodo cecidisti de caelo, ulula fili diluculi.”
In English this translates as:
“For the fact that we are interpreting to facilitate intelligence [or knowledge]: How you have fallen from heaven, lucifer, son of the morning! In Hebrew, so that we may express it word for word, it is read, How have you fallen from heaven! Howl, son of the dawn!”
It is interesting to note that St. Jerome who wrote ” lucifer” in his Latin Vulgate is the same person who later wrote in his commentary that a word-for-word translation of the Hebrew term “helel ben shakhar” is “ulula fili diluculi” (“howl, son of the dawn”!). The Latin word “ulula” means howl or wail and it is the translation he made of the Hebrew “helel” in Ezekiel 21:12 and Zechariah 11:2.
2. Translational Error by KJV Translators
The word “lucifer” is derived from two Latin words “lucem ferre” which literally means “shining one,” “light-bringer” or “light-bearer.” In the ancient Latin world, it was the name given to the planet Venus. According to Wikipedia, “The morning star is an appearance of the planet Venus, an inferior planet, meaning that its orbit lies between that of the Earth and the Sun. Depending on the orbital locations of both Venus and Earth, it can be seen in the eastern morning sky for an hour or so before the Sun rises and dims it, or (as the evening star) in the western evening sky for an hour or so after the Sun sets, when Venus itself then sets. Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon, outshining the planets Jupiter and Saturn. . .”
Although the ancient Romans may have referred to planet Venus as “lucifer,” that word is nowhere found in the Hebrew Bible. It was KJV translators who interpolated it in Isaiah 14:12, the same way they inserted “Calvary” in Luke 23:33 having ignored the word “Kranion” used by Luke which means Skull. They also ignored the word “Pascha” written by Luke in Acts 12:4 and inserted a totally strange word “Easter” there. Pascha literally means Passover. It should be noted that Pascha is written in 29 places in the Greek New Testament. KJV translators correctly translated it “Passover” in 28 places but inserted “Easter” in Acts 12:4. It interesting to also note that KJV translators literally translated helel as howl in other places except in Isaiah 14:12. Only God knows why they did all that.
It is evident that Prophet Isaiah did not have Satan the Devil or any fallen angel in view when he gave the prophecy in Isaiah 14. His prophecy referred explicitly and metaphorically to a Babylonian King who outshone all the kings of the then world in power and splendour. There is enough evidence that the post-first-century theologians who connected Christ’s words in Luke 10:18 with Isaiah 14:12 to produce the doctrine that Lucifer or the light-bringer is Satan the Devil have made a wrong conclusion. It is juvenile to think that the ruler of the unseen world of darkness should be called a light-bringer and that he and our Lord Jesus Christ have a common title of Morning Star. That is preposterous!
3. Contextual Evidence
The third refutation of the orthodox teaching of Isaiah 14:12-15 is the immediate context in which the passage is found. The context starts in Isaiah 13:1 and ends in 14:23. The summary of the prophecy is the fall of the Babylonian kingdom and its cruel and tyrannical king. In Isaiah 13:1 we read, “This is the divine revelation which Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw about Babylon” (Isaiah 13:1 GW). Verse 19 reads, “Babylon, the most admired of kingdoms, the Chaldeans’ source of honor and pride, will be destroyed by God just as Sodom and Gomorrah were” (Isaiah13:19 NET). In verse 22b, we read, “Her time [of dominion and splendour] is almost up, her days will not be prolonged” (Isaiah 13:22b NET, words in square bracket added by me).
In verses 1 to 3 of chapter 14, Isaiah prophesied the return of the Israelites from their captivity in Babylon. He prophesied, “Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place” (Isaiah 14:2 NET). The Persian kings did exactly that beginning with the proclamation of King Cyrus in 538 BCE, granting the Jews the right to return to Judah to rebuild the Temple and Jerusalem.
In verses 3 and 4, Isaiah declared, “When the LORD gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, and from the hard labor which you were made to perform, you will taunt the king of Babylon with these words: “Look how the oppressor has met his end! Hostility has ceased!” (Isaiah 14:3-4 NET).
The entire verses 4b to 21 were to be used in a song to taunt the powerful and cruel king of Babylon. Verse 12 forms part of the song which Isaiah said should be used to taunt the Babylonian king.
The king is said to have oppressed the nations of the world with monstrous cruelty before his fall. And in the world of the dead, after his death, dead kings will arise, so to speak, to gaze at the fallen king in order to mock him. They will say to him, “You too have become weak like us! You have become just like us! Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol, as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. You lie on a bed of maggots, with a blanket of worms over you” (Isaiah 14:10-11 NET).
The allegory employed by Isaiah of dead kings mocking the Babylonian king in the underworld of the dead (vv. 9-11) and the prophecy that the king will not be given a decent burial (vv. 18-20) makes it impossible to allude the passage to Satan the Devil. We all know from the Scriptures that angels don’t die (Heb. 2:9; Rev. 20:10).
The oppression of the then world by the “son of the dawn” were committed before his supposed fall. This also makes it impossible for Satan the Devil to fit into this prophecy. Why? Because it is absolutely impossible for the Devil to have oppressed the nations of the world before his fall, while he remained one of God’s loyal and uncorrupted angels in heaven. We all know from the Bible that only the will of God is done by His angels in heaven (Psalm 103:20-21; Matt. 6:10).
The referent in Isaiah 14:4-21 is unambiguously identified as the king of Babylon (v. 4). We will be doing eisegesis if we ignore this clear fact and begin to look for what is not written.
Possible Origin of the False Teaching
How did the post-first-century teachers come to the conclusion that Isaiah 14:12 is an allusion to Satan the Devil? Who originated that idea? There is no clear evidence found but some Bible scholars have traced this erroneous teaching to Origen of Alexandria (c. 184 – c. 253AD). He is said to be the one who erroneously connected Christ’s words in Luke 10:18, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven,” with what Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 14:12. As noted by one Bible scholar named simply as David, “The important “find” is that Origen appears to be the prime candidate to connect explicitly Isaiah 14:12 and Luke 10:18.” David quoted the source as De Principiis (On the First Principles), Bk. 1. V. 5. He then quoted an excerpt from the source:
“Most evidently by these words is he shown to have fallen from heaven, who formerly was Lucifer, and who used to arise in the morning. For if, as some think, he was a nature of darkness, how is Lucifer said to have existed before? Or how could he arise in the morning, who had in himself nothing of light? Nay, even the Saviour Himself teaches us, saying of the devil, ‘Behold, I see Satan fallen from heaven like lightning.’”
This supposed connection which some people say exists between Isaiah 14:12 and Luke 10:18 is the cause of the false belief that Lucifer is Satan the Devil and that Isaiah said in Isaiah 14:12-15 that he fell from heaven.
By interpolating the word lucifer in Isaiah 14:12 and capitalizing the first letter “L” thus making “Lucifer” a proper noun, the KJV translators have contributed in no small way in perpetuating this false teaching.
Fall from Heaven in Isaiah 14:12 Explained
Prophet Isaiah, like many Bible writers, used some metaphors which include this “fall from heaven” in Isaiah 14:12. The heaven used by him is metaphorical, not literal. It is a gross error not to recognize it as such. The “heaven” which the king of Babylon fell from is the exalted position he attained in power and splendour, which towered far above those of the kings of other nations whom he conquered and subdued. It was not a literal heaven – the realm where God and the angels dwell. Compare Daniel 4:11-37 where Nebuchadnezzar’s power is said to have grown and reached heaven. It is evident that this “heaven” cannot be rightly interpreted as the literal heaven where God and His angels dwell.
Some Notable Comments
Quite a good number of Bible commentators and scholars have expressed their disgust over the popular interpretation of Isaiah 14:12. Two of then are cited below:
“The exposition of this passage, which some have given, as if it referred to Satan, has arisen from ignorance; for the context plainly shows that these statements must be understood in reference to king of the Babylonians. But when passages of Scripture are taken up at random, and no attention is paid to the context, we need not wonder that mistakes of this kind frequently arise. Yet it was an instance of very gross ignorance, to imagine that Lucifer was the king of devils, and that the Prophet gave him this name. But as these inventions have no probability whatever, let us pass by them as useless fables.” – John Calvin (1509-1564).
“And although the context speak explicitly concerning Nebuchadnezzar, yet this has been, I know not why, applied to the chief of the fallen angels, who is most incongruously denominated Lucifer, (the bringer of light!), an epithet as common to him as those of Satan and Devil. . .But the truth is, the text speaks nothing at all concerning Satan nor his fall, nor the occasion of that fall, which many divines have with great confidence deduced from this text. O how necessary it is to understand the literal meaning of Scripture, that preposterous comments may be prevented!” – Adam Clarke (1762-1832).
Besides these comments, there are some versions of the English Bible that have distanced themselves from this error. They include the GNT, ABPE and NET. The Good News Translation (GNT) renders the verse as: “King of Babylon, bright morning star, you have fallen from heaven! In the past you conquered nations, but now you have been thrown to the ground” (Isaiah 14:12 GNT).
On their part, the translators of the NET Bible comments, “Some Christians have seen an allusion to the fall of Satan here, but this seems contextually unwarranted.”
The Aramaic Bible in Plain English (ABPE) renders the verse this way: “How you have fallen from Heaven! Wail at dawn! You are fallen into the ground, Infamous One of the nations!”
Conclusion
The Prophet Isaiah metaphorically applied the pseudo name “ben shakhar” (son of the dawn) to a king of the Babylonians. The context in which he used it shows most evidently that he did not allude it to Satan, the ruler of the fallen angels.
We have seen that the word helel used in Isaiah 14:12 has the same root word yalal which is also used in Ezekiel 21:12 and Zechariah 11:2. Therefore, to have opted for a Latin word in Isaiah 14:12 and then turn around to translate the same word with the same root differently as “howl” in two other places smacks of dishonest exegesis. This case is very similar to the Greek Pascha (“Passover”) which KJV translators correctly translated in 28 places but, for reasons known to them, opted for a completely strange word “Easter” in Acts 12:4. They did the same thing in Luke 23:33 where they neither translated the word Kranion used by Luke nor transliterated it; they simply inserted the Latin Calvarium (anglicized as Calvary)in that place not minding the fact that they translated this same word Kranion as Skull in Matt. 27:33, Mark 15:22 and John 19:17.
Although the word lucifer is imported from Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, the commentary he later wrote on Isaiah 14:12 where he said a word-for-word interpretation of the text translates the Hebrew helel into Latin as ulula (to howl) is something that should not have been overlooked by any sincere Christian.
The false allusion of Isaiah 14:12 to Satan by ignorant or dishonest teachers is what has led to the ridiculous belief that Satan the Devil and our Lord Jesus Christ have the title of Morning Star in common. This is totally untenable. While Jesus Christ is the bright Morning Star (Rev. 22:16), nowhere in the Bible is that title given to Satan. It is true that Apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 5:8 that Satan prowls about like a roaring lion, but he didn’t say here that Satan is a lion. Apostle Paul also said that Satan do disguise himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). To disguise means to put up a false appearance of what one is not. So Paul didn’t say here that Satan is an angel of light. A Christian does not show sound knowledge if he uses any of these passages and say Satan is called a lion or an angel of light. Neither is Satan called Morning Star anywhere in the Bible. That conclusion is unfounded and untenable.
