Week 3 Story
The Fall of Satan Remastered.
Story source:
The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909).
When Satan saw all God had created, he was ecstatic. It was so wonderful and good! The day was joyous and filled with excitement. It was then that God demanded Satan and all of his compatriots to bow to this creation. Satan became confused “LORD LORD” he cried, “how could tho demand we pay tribute to such a thing? For it is you and you alone we praise!”.
The LORD looked down with pity. How was it that his most precious angel could understand so little? Adam was not something created apart from God, Adam was God. Made from God, and thus an extension of God. Therefore, in Satan’s defiance to worship Adam he was defying to worship God himself.
God turned to Satan filled with rage. He demanded Satna fall and praise, only to be refused once more. God was a forgiving God, but this was unacceptable. He challenged Satan to a duel. A battle of divinity. He challenged Satan to create something as he had. Satan scoffed and picked up a handful of dirt and created the first demon. God looked down on him shaking his head. “no, my son, you must first create your own dirt”.
At that moment Satan understood. God created the dirt from within himself. The dirt was God himself and so, therefore, was Adam. He fell to his knees and sobbed. Begging forgiveness, he kissed at the feet of God. As he looked up with tears in his eyes, he saw something he had never seen before. A single tear fell from the face of God for his fallen angel.
As the tear fell to the ground the ground below Satan began to fall away. Suddenly the face of God was getting farther and farther. He was falling, falling below the earth to his new home of fire and brimstone. There he would serve as a reminder to all creation, of its divinity and reliance on a loving God.
Authors Note:
I loved the original piece but I feel it missed an important point. Satan was not better than Adam but they were the same. Angels and humans were all created from God, therefore they are all worthy of praise. To be made like God is a blessing, and to be created at all is a blessing. Both Satan and Adam are forever in debt to God for their creation. Their loves both belong to God. Therefore any act of defiance leads to expulsion from God's presence. This happened with Adam in the garden and Satan, as described above.
I am glad you got a chance to write a Satan story: he is one of the most fascinating figures in religious tradition! And I like how with this story you moved back and forth with both points of view, putting us inside Satan's perspective, and inside that of the Lord, along with the narrator's commentary: that was a great way to bring out all the different themes and messages in this story. And since this is the kind of story that will intrigue your readers for sure, for the source link, instead of linking to the whole book, it helps to link to the specific story and that way if people are curious, they can read your source too with just a click: The Fall of Satan.
ReplyDeleteI told you about the Sufi project I am working on I think...? There are some Iblis stories in there, and there is a lot of shared legend among Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions when it comes to this character: Iblis at Wikipedia ... and also, I have to paste in this modern joke which presents a scientist in place of your Satan, but with the dirt being the punchline of the joke! :-)
God is sitting in Heaven when a scientist flies up in a rocket. The scientist gets out of the rocket and says, "Hello, God!" And God says, "Hello, scientist! I wasn't expecting you here quite yet. What can I do for you?" "Well, God," says the scientist, "I've got bad news for you. We scientists have reached the point where we don't need you any more, It's amazing really! Science has figured out a way to create life out of nothing. We can now do what you did in the beginning." "Is that so?” replies God. “Tell me how this works.” The scientist smiles proudly. “We can take dirt and bring it to life, just like you did. In our own image.” “That’s something I’d like to see,” says God. “Why don’t you show me?” So the scientist bends down and starts to mold the dirt into the shape of a man. God grabs his arm and pulls him back. “Hey. Not so fast,” says God. “Go get your own dirt.”
Kev, as someone who didn't know the original telling of Satan's fall, this was definitely an interesting read! That said, the only feedback I have for this retelling is possibly adding a little more detail and emotion, if that makes sense, to why Satan didn't want to bow for one of God's creations. I know it, technically, already makes sense why Satan didn't want to bow, but I know I would enjoy seeing more in depth emotion, as this is an emotional interaction between them two. I feel like being able to see more of Satan's rage, realization and then remorse would add more tragedy to his becoming a fallen angel. I hope this made some sense, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your retellings!
ReplyDeleteThe fall of Lucifer has so many versions and you made this your own. I love how you humbled such a proud creature by making him see that God's creations are an extension of himself. As someone unfamiliar with this story -- I wasn't sure why God didn't forgive Satan when he knelt and acknowledged his mistake, begging his creator for forgiveness. I know you state later that he's to be set as an example, but I think writing why God chose not to forgive Satan despite acknowledging his mistake and humbling himself as well would be a nice bit to include. I enjoyed reading this. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThis retelling was handled so well, I especially like that you put in the part about Satan realizing there wasn't a difference in between the man and the angel. Yes there are differences about them but the overall ideal that they are created of the same was done so well. I can see exactly where you took the inspiration from and liked all of the differences that you included to make it your own.
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