hele ben shachar Part I

The rendering "Lucifer" (AV,Da) is derived from the Latin Vulgate. Lucifer comes from a root meaning "to shine" and is a descriptive designation applied to the king of Babylon." Isa. 14:4,12

This shining one is represented as saying in his heart: "Above the stars of God I shall lift up my throne, and I shall sit down upon the mountain of meeting." (Isa. 14:13)

Biblical evidence points to Mount Zion as the mountain of meeting." Since stars can refer to kings (Numbers 24:17; Rev. 22:16), the stars of God must be the kings of the Davidic line who ruled from Mount Zion.

In fact the metaphor of a star is specifically used in referring prophetically to the Davidic kings of Judah and Bible history shows that the Babylonian dynasty for a time did rise above these Judean kings by the conquest of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. They did therefore, shine brightly in the ancient world and could be termed "shining one" (Lucifer)

The king of Babylon (or, the dynasty of Babylonian kings) indicated his ambition to lift up his throne above the stars of God by desiring to make the kings of the line of David mere vassals and then finally dethroning them.

Stars are used in the Bible in a figurative sense and in metaphors or similes to represent persons, as in Joseph's dream in which his parents were represented by the sun and moon, and his eleven brothers by eleven stars.(Gen. 37:9,10)

Job 38:7 parallels the morning stars that joyfully cried out at earth's founding with the angelic sons of God.

The resurrected and exalted Jesus spoke of himself as the bright morning star and promised to give the morning star to his conquering followers, this evidently indicating a sharing with him in his heavenly position and glory. (Rev. 22:16; 2:26,28; compare 2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 20:6)

The seven angels of the congregations, to whom written messages are delivered, are symbolized by seven stars in the right hand of Christ. (Rev. 1:16,20; 2:1; 3:1)

The angel of the abyss called Abaddon is also represented by a star. Rev. 9:1,11

Literally, Isaiah uses the term Helel Ben Shachar (הילל בן־שׁחר), light bearer (or shining one), son of the dawn, to refer to the fall of the Babylonian king.
Strong, Briggs, Robinson, and others tell us that the term, הילל, helel, can be translated "shining one".

The King James Version renders vs. 12 as follows: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art though cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations."

In spite of this rendering, the proper name "Lucifer" is NOT in the original Hebrew text. In Hebrew "Lucifer, son of the morning" is helel ben shachar. It could be translated "Shining one, son of the dawn." It is NOT a proper name, but an epithet for the king of Babylon.

In the fourth century C.E., Jerome (340 AD – 419 AD) had risen to prominence within the Roman Catholic Church and began work on a Latin translation of the Bible. After 20 years the translation known as the Vulgate was completed (405 C.E.)

Church historian Schaff says of the Vulgate: "From the present stage of biblical philology and exegesis the Vulgate can be charged, indeed, with innumerable faults, inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and arbitrary dealing, in particulars…"

When he (Jerome) translated Isaiah 14:12, he did not strictly translate the Hebrew helel ben shachar, neither did he use the Greek (LXX) Heosphoros. He instead translated as though the original word had been lukophos. Lukophos, which by Jerome's time, had become an epithet for the gods Apollo and Pan.

Many think that Jerome's selection of words may have been influenced by the theology of the earlier Catholic theologians Tertullian and Origen, who had begun to read Satan into the story of the King of Babylon.

Dr. Roy Blizzard, a well-known Hebrew roots scholar, offers some insightful background, "The history of the origin of a being called Lucifer is interesting. The word Lucifer comes from the Latin verb, luceo, lucere, luxi, which means to shine, to glow, glitter, to be clear. It is light, day dawning. The adjective, lucidus-a-um, means shining, bright, clear, lucid. The noun, lucifer-eri, means the morning star, the planet Venus, or a day. It comes from the adjective lucifer-era-erum, shiny."

The Bible includes no character named Lucifer. Isaiah had never heard of such a being. Nor had the apostles of Jesus' day. Lucifer, as a manifestation of the devil, is a later invention. We find no association between helel ben shachar of Isaiah 14:12 and Satan until the time of Tertullian (c. 160-230 C.E.) and Origen (c. 185-254 C.E.). The proper name "Lucifer" does not find its way into a translation until Jerome's time, some 150 years later.

Dr. Watts summarizes, "The apparent reflection of a 'Lucifer myth' in v. 12 is just that. It is a simile to picture the fall and disgrace of the tyrant." We learn nothing of the origins of Satan from this story.