Jehovah and Satan
A reader points out that it is not clear who is the good guy in the story of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were in a condition where they did not understand good and evil and dwelt in blissful ignorance.
Who among us would want that for ourselves?
On the other hand, the serpent provided enlightenment so they became self-aware, realized they were naked and began to understand good and evil. To many this seems more desirable than blissful ignorance.
There are three interpretations concerning this conundrum.
First is the standard Christian one that all would have been bliss if not for the old serpent getting in the way. The fact that we would have missed the opportunity to have free will and know good and evil does not seem to bother them.
Joseph Smith presents a second view, which is this. Jehovah is the true God and the one who truly supports free agency whereas the serpent wants to control our minds and take it away.
The whole situation was created by God to force humans into a fall where they would discover free will, good and evil and thus have an opportunity to progress. To learn this they had to experience sinning or violating what is perceived as the will of God. He thus gave them a commandment that He knew they would disobey and the serpent was a key element in the plan.
Joseph said that “the serpent knew not the mind of God” and actually cooperated in the plan by tempting them to disobey God, thus introducing sin into the world.
He taught that the serpent was not interested in expanding free will but felt that a fall would give him an opportunity to establish a kingdom where he could set himself up as the ultimate authority. He thought if humans were given knowledge of good and evil that they could not rise above a certain level and thus always be under his dominion.
The ace in the hole for God was Christ who was sent to turn the tide from material focus to the spiritual.
He taught that the difference in the two sides is being played out on earth today with part of humanity fighting for free will and freedom and the other supporting the things that take away free will. Some of these things are big government, too many laws and regulations, centralized authority with power over us, and high taxes.
A third view is embraced by H. P. Blavatsky other esoterists and some modern unorthodox Christians, such as Israel Anderson. Blavatsky maintains that the story has the good guys and bad guys mixed up. She thinks that Jehovah is really Satan and the serpent is the benevolent God.
Her reasoning is sound, for the serpent seems to support free choice and Jehovah seems to want to keep us in ignorance.
She referenced Jesus’ encounter with the Jewish authorities who claimed to worship the true god. To them Jesus said:
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44
She pointed out that the father they worshipped was Jehovah and Jesus identified him as the devil or Satan.
It is interesting that the scriptures tell us that Jehovah was not the most high, but the God designated for the Jews for it is written:
“Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee. When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the LORD’S (Jehovah in the Hebrew) portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.” Deut 32:7-10
Here we are clearly told that in the days of old the “most High” divided the nations and the portion given to Jehovah was Israel, making Jehovah the God of Israel but not of all the nations.
Blavatsky tells us that Jesus thought Jehavah wasn’t that good of a God, calling him a murderer because of all the slaughter that he commanded.
It is interesting that the Old Testament specifically links Jehovah with Satan. First we are told this:
“And again the anger of the LORD (Jehovah) was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.” II Sam 24:1-2
So who commanded David to number the tribes of Israel?
It clearly says Jehovah.
But astonishingly we are told this:
“And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it. And Joab answered, The LORD make his people an hundred times so many more as they be: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? why then doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?” I Chronicles21:1-3
So who then caused David to number the tribes?
Satan.
Since both Satan and Jehovah are said to have commanded David to number the tribes it only stands to reason that Satan and Jehovah are one and the same.
Here is another interesting one. This scripture identifies the beast as the agent of Satan:
“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Rev 13:2
Notice that the Beast is identified with the leopard, the bear and the lion – and note that Jehovah associates himself with the same animals:
“Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them: I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.” Hosea 13:7-8
It is also interesting that Paul identified Satan as “the god of this world.” II Cor 4:3-4 and Isaiah calls Jehovah “The God of the whole earth.” Isa 54:5
Finally, we are told that Satan tempted Jesus by offering him the kingdoms of the world. This was an offer that could have only been made by Jehovah according to Jewish belief.
If one doesn’t know for sure which version, if any, is correct then all one need to do is concentrate on the understanding of true principles. When one understands the principle of freedom and supports whoever is on its side, he will automatically find himself on the side of the good guys high or low.
Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have. – Harry Emerson Fosdick
May 30, 2013 with some additions made Aug 7, 2026
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