Lucifer

Mercury above, Venus (light) and down the Moon.

Lucifer (from the Latin lux 'light' and ferre 'to carry': 'bearer of light') is a poetic way of calling to the star, referring to the brightness of the planet Venus at dawn, in addition to giving names to various folklore figures.

It arose in antiquity due to the absence of mechanisms to distinguish the planet Venus from the stars with the naked eye, since it is among the most luminous in the sky, but unlike the stars, it wanders aimlessly without ever reaching the cusp. The traditions gave answers to the questions; Venus was a celestial body competing between stars, or rather, an expelled star.

This concept was maintained in the astrology of ancient Rome in the notion of the stella matutina (the 'morning star') as opposed to the stella vespertina or the véspere (the 'evening star') or “vespero”.

In the Christian tradition, Lucifer represents the fallen angel, an example of beauty and intelligence who, due to pride, lost his position in heaven, becoming Satan (Isaiah 14). This is due to the translation of הֵילֵל בֶּן-שָׁחַר (Helel ben Shachar "the shining one, son of the morning") in Isaiah 14:12. For the Greek Septuagint version it was Heōsphoros, son of the morning, similarly, in the Vulgate it was, Lucifer, son of the morning, in other languages Lucifer was used for "Helel", however, later translations abandoned Lucifer and Lucero began to be used, for example, the Jerusalem Bible translates "Lucero, son of the Dawn", while the Reina-Valera translates &# 34;oh star, son of the morning".

Greece and Rome

Lucifer or Phosphorus, represented as an allied child who pours light from a jar. G. H. Frezza engraving, 1704

In Roman mythology, the name Lucifer is used as an equivalent to the Greek god Phosphorus, Eosphorus (Έωσφόρος, morning star), brother of Hesperus (Ἓσπερος, evening star).

Lucifer was personified as a male figure carrying a torch and was said to be the son of Aurora and Cefalus (Κέφαλος), father of Ceyx". He was often portrayed in poetry as the harbinger of the dawn.

2nd century Roman mythographer II Pseudo-Hyginus wrote of the planet:

"The fourth star is that of Venus, Lucifer by his name. Some say it's from Juno. In many stories it is recorded that it is also called Hesperus. It seems to be the greatest of all stars. Some have said it represents the son of Aurora and Céfalo, who overcame many in beauty, so that he even competed with Venus, and, as Eratosthenes says, that is why the star of Venus is called. It is visible both at dawn and at sunset, and so properly it has been called Luciferus and Hesperus. "

In the classical Roman period, Lucifer was not typically considered a deity and had few if any myths, though the planet was associated with various deities and often poetically personified.

The Greek myth of Phaethon, a personification of the planet Jupiter, follows a similar pattern.

In the Levant

The Sumerian goddess Inanna (Inanna Babylonia) is associated with the planet Venus, and Inanna's actions in several of her myths, including Inanna and Shukaletuda and Inanna's Descent into the Underworld, appear to parallel Venus's movement as that progresses through its synodic cycle.

A similar theme is present in the Babylonian myth of Etana. The Jewish Encyclopedia comments:

The brightness of the morning star, which eclipses all the other stars, but which is not seen during the night, may have easily led to a myth like the one that was told of Ethana and Zu: his pride led him to fight for the highest seat. among the star gods on the northern mountain of the gods... but was shot down by the supreme ruler of the Babylonian Olympics."

The motif of falling from heaven also has a parallel in Canaanite mythology. In ancient Canaanite religion, the morning star is personified as the god Attar, who tried to take the throne of Baal and, finding that he could not, descended and ruled the underworld.

The original myth may have been about the lesser god Helel trying to dethrone the Canaanite high god Ēl, who lived on top of a mountain. According to Hermann Gunkel, a German Old Testament scholar, the myth goes like this: A mighty warrior named Hêlal had ambitions to reach the top of the sky, above the other divinities, but first he had to start from the depths; thus he portrayed as a battle the process by which the bright morning star does not reach its highest point before being vanished by the rising sun.

According to William B. Eerdmans, a writer of Christian and theological books, he believes that no evidence has been found for any Canaanite myth or image of a god hurled from heaven, and the Book of Isaiah reflects traditional ideas of the people Jewish later that echo the Biblical account of Adam and Eve expelled from paradise and the image of the psalms.

Elohim is at the meeting of the gods; in the midst of the gods he judges.......You are gods and are the sons of the Most High, however, as men shall die, and as any prince or tyrant shall fall.

Psalm 82

Use of the term in the Bible

The Latin word lucifer, corresponding to the Greek φωσφόρος, was used as a name for the morning star and thus appeared in the Vulgate translation of the Hebrew word הֵילֵל (helel), meaning Venus, as "he who is bright or luminous," in Isaiah 14 (Isaiah 14:12), where the Greek Septuagint version uses, not φωσφόρος, but ἑωσἑωόρος. As a translation of the same Hebrew word, the King James Bible gave 'Lucifer', a name that is often misinterpreted as a reference to Satan. Modern translations of the same passage render the Hebrew word as "morning star," "day star," or "star". In Revelation 22 (Revelation 22:16), Jesus is referred to as the morning star, but not as lucifer in Latin, nor as φωσφόρος in the original Greek text, which instead has ὁ ἀστὴρ ὁ λαμπρὸς ὁ πρωϊ (hoνός astēr ho lampros ho prōinos), literally: the star, the shining one, the dawn. In the Latin Vulgate text of 2 Peter 1 (2 Peter 1:19), the word " lucifer" is used of the morning star in the phrase "until the morning dawns and the morning star rises in his hearts", the corresponding Greek word being φωσφόρος.

In Christianity

The fall of Lucifer, illustration of Gustave Doré for The Lost Paradise John Milton.

The Luciferines, by Pierre Méjanel (1886)

The first time the name Lucifer is mentioned is in a text from the prophet Isaiah (Is 14.12-14) from the Vulgate of Saint Jerome (V), translation that he makes of the Bible, from Greek (New Testament) and Hebrew (Old Testament) into Latin, to designate the word Lucero. This text glimpses the ancient story of the fallen angel:

Spanish: "How have you fallen from heaven, LuceroSon of the Aurora!

You have been beaten to the dominating land of nations!

You said in your heart, "I will climb the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mountain of the divine assembly, in the trust of the septhrone I will climb the tops of the clouds, I will be like the Most High."

Latin: "Quomodo cecidisti de caelo, luciferFili aurorae?

Deiectus is in terram, qui deiciebas gentes!,you said in corde tuo:'In caelum conscendam,super astra Dei exaltabo solium meum,headquarters in monte conventusin lateribus aquilonis;ascendam super elevationinem nubium,

similis ero Altissimo'".

However, in addition to the Greco-Latin sense of the term, Lucifer was already identified by the Old Testament tradition with a fallen star, since in biblical language the stars represent angels.

Another text from the prophet Ezekiel could also be illustrative:

"Son of man, tune a choice over the king of Tyre. You will tell him: Thus says the Lord YHVH: You were the seal of a masterpiece, full of wisdom, finished in beauty. In Eden you were in the garden of God. All kinds of precious stones formed your mantle: ruby, topace, diamond, chrysolit, onyx stone, jasper, sapphire, malaquita, emerald; in gold were the earrings and pinjantes that you carried, straightened from the day of your creation. Querubín protector of unfolded wings had I made you, you were on the holy mountain of God, walking between stones of fire. You were perfect in your conduct from the day of your creation, until the day in which iniquity was found in you. The breadth of your trade has filled your inner violence, and you have sinned. And I have degraded thee from the mount of God, and have eliminated thee, the shield cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart has been paid for your beauty, you have corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. I have precipitated you on earth, I have exposed you as a spectacle to kings. By the multitude of your guilt for the immorality of your trade, you have defiled your sanctuaries. And I have brought forth from thee the fire that hath devoured thee: I have reduced thee to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all that looked upon thee. All the peoples who knew you are suffering from you. You're a scary object, and you've disappeared forever. "

Ez. 28.12-19

It can be seen that in the same message it has a double addressee: it is addressed to Satan but also to a conceited human king. Although the message goes to the king of Tyre, it is said that he was ' protective cherub ', who was in Eden , but was then “ thrown to the ground ”... The arrogance was what characterized the entire process of rebellion. Satan and his people claimed to be like God. Precisely pride is considered the most serious sin (Proverbs 6:16-17 "haughty eyes" tops the list). From it all kinds of perdition were derived (Tobias 4:14). “Surely pride will create strife…” (Proverbs 13:10; Habakkuk 2:5).

It can be summed up that Lucifer was a very beautiful angel who '''out of pride''' After trying to make his father proud and prove that he can give more than him, he decided to elevate his throne next to God's, wanting to be like Him, and he was denigrated as punishment, along with the army of rebellious angels that he dragged with him, being from that moment on recognized as a fallen angel. Since his rebellion, he has been called an "adversary"; (Hebrew Satan -Satan-).

• This fall is what is reported in Genesis, when Satan is symbolized as "the serpent."

• During ancient times - Old Testament- Satan was in the terrestrial sphere (he had lost his condition of heavenly cherub), but could return to heaven. The account of Job allows this deduction:

“And the Lord said to Satan, “Where do you come from?” Satan answered, “I have turned around the earth.”

Job 1:7; 2:2

Centuries later, in the time of Jesus, he was being judged (Jn 16:11), but the essential had not yet happened. Jesus explains that the Kingdom of God is to counteract "the authority and power of Satan." To confine him on earth (with no return to heaven) the sacrifice of Christ was indispensable. That was the determining factor.

• “... the blood of the Lamb” determined that “there is no more room in heaven.” (Revelation 12 expresses it in verses 11 and 8). Then, the action of throwing it on the ground is made by the archangel Michael with his angels. The consequences of that fact are described in Revelation 12 verses 7 to 11.

For the devil, the tragedy is that if before he could ascend to heaven (Zac 3:1), since the triumph of Christ he has lost that privilege, that is, he cannot return to that level as an "accuser" (Ap 12:8). Hence heavenly joy:

“Bless you, O heavens, and you dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! for the devil has come down to you, having great anger....”

Ap. 12:12

Similarly, Gnosticism considers Satan and Lucifer to be two different characters, the first being a terrible undetermined demon and the second the shadow of the logos, the divine tempter, the psychological trainer, the one who tests the adept to achieve initiation. ^{[citation needed]} All beliefs that are based on Gnosticism, such as New Age, esotericism or theosophy, are characterized by following the example of Lucifer's rebellion and his fall because through initiation by degrees or gnosis they make the adept believe that he can become a superior being, reaching an almost divine state, without any need for God.

In Christianity both concepts are identified with the Devil (Apocalypse 12,9). The differentiation is that Lucifer is the name of the "Prince of demons" as an angel before his fall; and the name "Satan" or Satan, the one he later adopts. (Since "Lucifer" is Latin for "bearer of light", while "Satan" is "adversary" in Hebrew).

However, the original meaning of the Latin word lucifer (equivalent to the Greek phosphors) is "he who bears the light". This was the name of the morning star (the planet Venus). The Catholic liturgy of the resurrection (Holy Saturday), in the Easter proclamation (Exultet), compares the risen Christ himself who ascends to the Father at dawn on Easter Sunday, with that star (in Latin lucifer):

Flammas eius lucifer matutinus inveniat:
Ille, inquam, lucifer, qui nescit occasum:
Christus Filius tuus,
qui, regressus ab inferis,
human generi serenus illuxit,
et tecum vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum.

TRANSLATION:

That the morning lighter finds him burning,
He, I mean, Lucero, who knows no occasion,
Christ your risen Son,
returning from the abyss,
shines serene for the human lineage,
and lives and reigns for the centuries.

Other interpretations

Rudolf Steiner, founder of anthroposophy, describes the power of Lucifer as something that incites humans to all exaltations, false mysticism, the pride of rising without borders, and that of his opposite Ahriman (the equivalent of Satan) as something that incites the human to materialistic superstitions.

For the rest, Lucifer is also part of the pantheon of voodoo deities, a fact that makes evident, once again, the syncretic nature of this cult.

In satanic cults, it is considered one of the main demons that makes up the false demonic trinity along with Beelzebub and Leviathan, or by Lucifer along with Semyazza and Samael. However, in other traditions this trinity would be made up of Lucifer together with the antichrist and the false prophet as a counterpart to the Holy Trinity.