Obedient Lucifer
Study of Miltons Paradise Lost and other relevant literature. Painting by Alexandre Cabanel, “The Fallen Angel”
“How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!“ (Isaiah 14:12, NIV)
What are the causes of the fall of Lucifer and what would happen if he choose obedience instead?
If we understand the origin of Lucifer’s rebellion, can we understand why is it not possible for him to be redeemed? Even without believing in God, is there anything mankind can learn from this story?
Lucifer is in original text in Isaiah called “Helel ben schachar”, which literally means the shining one, son of the dawn. First it is worthwhile to define when did the rebellion occur. Biblical canon does not explicitly say when did it happen, rather that first sign was in the garden of Eden. In Milton’s Paradise Lost, rebellion happens because of the pride, and is occurring before creation of Man. Then the shining one hears that God will create mankind and decides to corrupt God’s creation to prove that life is impossible without disobedience. However that raises the conclusion that God created mankind as an answer to the rebellion and not as part of His original plan, and consequently that in case son of the dawn did not rebel, mankind would have not been created at all.
On other hand, apocryphal christian sources (Book of Adam and Eve, chapter 7&8) and Qur’an (Surah Al -Baqarah 2:34) suggest the shining one (Iblis in the text) was asked to bow down to Adam, and he refused, saying he was superior :
”I am better than him: You created me from the fire and him from clay.”
It seems that pride turns to rebellion only after there is a request of God to ordain the authority of man over the Creation. In the first day of creation, when God created the light, He also created a host of angels and among them Lucifer, son of the dawn, the supreme being gifted with amazing intelligence, leadership and creative abilities. This assembly of beings in turn co-created the universe in the remaining days. Angels got the dominion over all parts of the Creation, so that they were responsible for the planets and the stars, and everything within them. This distribution of creative process is seen in the following days, where God first creates oceans and land, and then invites them to bring forth plants and creatures.
God has from the very beginning set up democratic, participatory relationship with His creatures, and has established a divine council or heavenly assembly. This is corroborated in Genesis 1:26 where He suggests to the divine council, after creating the whole earth, to create a man, which was accepted.
However, in breaking with the existing order of the dominion, where angels had authority over created matter, God appoints man to have dominion over the planet. This seem to greatly displease son of the dawn, because he expected this newly created planet to be a gift to him, and not that he should serve a creature made out of clay. Then comes the second insult, where last act and the pinnacle of creation is the woman, a perfect gift to the man, as a companion. Son of the dawn was jealous because man became a center point of God’s attention, but also because man gets to enjoy procreation with his companion, while he could not.
Milton describes it very vividly:
“Sight hateful, sight tormenting! Thus these two,
Imparadised in one another’s arms,
The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill
Of bliss on bliss, while I to Hell am thrust,
Where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,
Among our other torments not the least,
Still unfulfilled with pain of longing pines.”
Paradise Lost, Book IV
The proper way to deal with such issues would be to approach God and discuss the matter, but in his heart, son of a dawn despised man and resented God. If we take the “what if” route and imagine that son of the dawn did address this problem with God and accepted God’s foresight and His plan, we can assume that the rebellion would not occur as God had a plan for obedient Lucifer too. It is important to note that through this ordainment of hierarchy, God is teaching the creatures one crucial aspect of God’s character: Selflessness. It is an act where a creature which is more powerful or capable, bends his will to the less powerful and capable creature, an exercise that all humans practice with their children, or less fortunate members of our society. This is the basis of the request to be merciful to strangers, widows and orphans which echoes throughout the most religious texts. There is no special place that any group of humans have above any other group, and even more, if anyone is gifted with superior abilities, those should be used to serve the less capable ones.
In the next letter, lets explore is Lucifer, morning star, the name or the function?
What would happen with son of the dawn if he chose to be obedient and retained his original function?