In our last meditations, we discovered that Satan disguises himself in many ways and in many forms. The two most common ways we discovered in the Bible are when he disguises himself as a serpent or as a dragon. But unfortunately, those are not his only masks. He hides behind other names and other creatures. Some other names that have been related to the devil are: Leviathan, Beelzebul, Lucifer, Moloch Hamashhit and Asmodai.
Leviathan is the name of a mythical beast capable of swallowing the ocean. He is mentioned various times in the Bible. We find him in the book of Job: “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down its tongue with a cord?" (Job 41:1). He is described as an unconquerable sea monster, totally immune to any assault from human beings. He is also mentioned in Isaiah, "the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea" (Is 27:1), and in Psalms, "You crushed the heads of Leviathan" (Ps 74:14). The great sea monster in the Book of Jonah is another image of Leviathan. The figure of Leviathan is the personification of that "twisting-away" from the divine love. When we sin, we twist away from God's love and towards evil. "If we do not live in the world of love, we live in the world of death" (5-Lesson 6). Leviathan is "king over all that are proud" (Job 41:34). This means that his defeat comes in a great act of self-offering, humility, and love. When Jesus chose to become Incarnate, joining himself with humanity, he beat Leviathan because Leviathan is helpless in the face of humility and love.
The name "Beelzebul" means literally "Lord of the flies." By the time of Christ, the name "Beelzebul" had become a derogatory name for the devil. In Jesus' world, it was believed that the lepers suffered because they were dominated by some external tormenter-the demons. The demons, not the lepers themselves, were unclean and alienated from God. This is the context in which we find Beelzebul in the New Testament. “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons” (Mk 3:22). The same reference is mentioned in Luke 11 and Matthew 12. Jesus was being accused of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul when in reality, what Jesus was doing was exercising His power over evil. He was demonstrating that His power is greater than the power of darkness and death. In calling the devil, "Lord of the flies," we are reminded that we live in a world of decay, destruction and dissolution. The world without God is a garbage dump swarmed about with flies and infested with the stench of death. If we allow Beelzebul to be our lord, he will make a mess of our lives. It is our choice to turn away from evil and turn in faith to God. If we allow God to live within us, our world is swept clean and organized, thus life and love become triumphant.
The name "Lucifer" was not applied to the devil until the Middle Ages. Fallen angels were thought of as "lucifers," which means "light-bearers," so eventually they began to refer to the devil as Lucifer. The reason being is that prior to their fall from grace, these evil angels would have existed in the most splendid glory any creature had yet enjoyed. They were, after all, heavenly hosts, who basked in the presence of God. "The demons were seen to know the truth of things divine and so to be most culpable for their sin and to be most radically evil among creatures as a consequence of it. Chief among these fallen angels stood one in particular who led the others into sin by his side. Because that figure was seen to be the ancient Satan, the prince of darkness was understood to have been, at a time before time began, a glorious cherub in the courts of God, who shined with the light of the divine power and whose proper and fitting name was Lucifer" (5-Lesson 9). Be careful of the evil one who disguises himself as the angel of light.
The figure of Moloch Hamashhit appears symbolically in the Book of Exodus as the angel of death when God strikes down the first-born son in every household in Egypt. This was a Canaanite god who was associated with child sacrifice. I always wondered why God would do something so extreme for the Egyptians. After all, the children were innocent. But after digging deeper into the story, I learned that the Egyptian Pharaoh ordered that the Jewish population be culled through the murdering of all male children under the age of two (a pre-figurement of the slaughtering of the Holy Innocents during the reign of Herod in Jesus' time). That is why God allows Hamashhit, the "Destroyer," to consume the lives of the first-born Egyptian sons. The punishment fit the crime. Moloch continues to influence our culture today through practices such as abortion, child abuse, child rape and other horrific acts against the innocent. God loves children and will condemn anyone that hurts those little ones. Anyone who embraces a culture of death will be destroyed, just like God destroyed the evil Moloch Hamashhit.
The book of Tobit introduces us to a demon by the name of Asmodai which means "wrath." He appears as "the worst of demons" and may be seen as an image of the devil himself. He is a jealous "lover" of the young Sarah, who finds herself tormented by the demon's ruthless and murderous presence in her life (Tobit 3:7-17). Sarah has been married seven times to a series of unfortunate men who never again see the light of day because Asmodai kills them. The eighth husband is Tobias, Tobit's son. Asmodai represents the demon of lust or sexual impurity. Such is the story of Sarah and her first seven husbands. Each man marries her simply because she's a beautiful woman and therefore they walk headlong into Asmodai's trap. They are driven by their opportunistic impulses in the face of their sexual desires. Tobias' experience is different. He does not fall victim to Asmodai because he does not pursue Sarah out of lust. He pursues her in purity of heart. This reminds us that our own impurity is the devil's greatest weapon. Our protection is found in a world defined by love which is ruled under the counsel of good angels and saints.
Even though the devil is quite a scary creature that hides himself behind many masks and many names, we do not need to be afraid as long as we remain with God. We have an army of good angels protecting us, starting with our guardian angels. The fearsome powers of the underworld cannot defeat us in the end because Jesus already won the battle for us. He has unmasked the evil one. Jesus is the King of kings.
Sources:
1-The Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible
2-Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)
3-"Entertaining Angels" by Mike Aquilina (Catholic Scripture Study International 2013)
4-"Angels and Saints" by Scott Hahn 2014
5-"Angels Throughout the Ages" by Dr. Richard Bulzacchelli (Catholic Scripture Study International 2013)
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