Book of Moses Evidence: Satan, Father of the Wicked

Concerning the wicked, the Lord explained to Enoch, “Their sins shall be upon the heads of their fathers; Satan shall be their father, and misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands” (Moses 7:37).1 Satan’s status as a father or figurehead is manifested in two primary ways throughout the text: (1) Satan is the father of wicked humans who enter into a covenant with him, and (2) he is the leader of fallen angels.

Several biblical passages also evoke the notion of Satan being a father to the wicked, so the idea itself wouldn’t have been unavailable or particularly unusual to Joseph Smith.2 However, the manner in which the Book of Moses evokes this theme has subtle roots in the ancient world as well as parallels with other ancient traditions that many readers might miss.

The Wicked Make Covenants with Satan

In the Book of Moses, Adam and Eve taught their children concerning the gospel. However, “Satan came among them, saying: I am also a son of God; and he commanded them, saying: Believe it not; and they believed it not, and they loved Satan more than God. And men began from that time forth to be carnal, sensual, and devilish” (Moses 5:13). Cain, in particular, was one of those children who “loved Satan more than God” (Moses 5:18). After Cain was married, the narrator again repeats the fact that he and his family “loved Satan more than God” (Moses 5:28).

It is notable that in the case of Cain and his descendants, their love for Satan is described in the context of Cain’s covenantal collaboration with Satan. Immediately after the final mention of this love, the narrator immediately reports that “Satan said unto Cain: Swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and swear thy brethren by their heads, and by the living God …. And Satan sware unto Cain that he would do according to his commands” (Moses 5:29–30).

It is crucial to recognize that the language of love in these verses corresponds to biblical patterns of thought, as well as to covenant language found throughout the ancient Near East.3 As such, the love expressed in covenantal contexts for Satan—who identified himself as a divine being or “son of God” worthy of their praise—may be of deeper significance than most readers realize.4

The children of Adam and Eve forsaking covenants they made with God so that they could instead make covenants with Satan is also apparent in Enoch’s day.5 The Lord told Enoch, “They have foresworn themselves, and, by their oaths, they have brought upon themselves death; and a hell I have prepared for them, if they repent not” (Moses 6:29). As Aaron P. Schade and Matthew L. Bowen have observed, the language of “foreswearing” appears to refer to “deeds perhaps to be viewed in terms of breaking oaths and covenants with the Lord in favor of oaths and covenants with Satan, following the precedent that Cain established in Moses 5.”6 Thus, this issue began with Satan coming to Adam and Eve’s children, and continued even until Enoch’s time.

Hugh Nibley has noted that forsaking covenants with God and instead making covenants with Satan is a theme typical not only of the Book of Moses but also of pseudepigraphal literature relating to Adam and Enoch. In these texts, it is not uncommon for the wicked to be described as worshiping the devil after they have rejected God.

For example, a Gnostic Christian text called the Apocalypse of Adam relates the final words that Adam delivered to his son Seth. After describing how three angels of God came to him and showed him what would happen to his children, Adam told Seth how he saw the three angels who guard over the ordinance of baptism decry those who would defile this ordinance. To these offenders who served the devil, the angels declared, “Why were you crying out against the living god with lawless voices, unlawful tongues, and souls full of blood and foul deeds? You are full of deeds that do not belong to truth; instead, your ways are full of revelry and fun. Having defiled the water of life, you have drawn it unto the will of the [evil] powers, into whose clutches you have been given, so as to serve them.”7

The Cave of Treasures similarly reports that Adam and Eve’s descendants followed Satan: “In these years there appeared those craftsmen of sin and disciples of Satan, for it was he who was their teacher.”8 Many of these sinful individuals tempted the children of Seth to forsake their covenants with God and descend from his holy mountain, which caused Satan great joy.9 Among the children of Cain, who had completely rejected God, it was reported, “Fathers and sons committed abominations with their mothers and sisters, and neither did the sons know their fathers nor could the fathers distinguish their sons, for Satan had been made chief and guide of their camp.”10

Similar accounts are found in Enochic literature. In 1 Enoch, for instance, several woes are given regarding those who have corrupted eternal laws for their own gain: “Woe unto you who cause wickedness! Who glorify and honor false words, you are lost, and you have no life of good things; woe unto you who alter the words of truth and pervert the eternal law! They reckon themselves not guilty of sin, they shall be trampled on upon the earth.”11 The individuals responsible for this sin are further linked to idolatry and those who worship the devil: “Again I swear to you, you sinners, for sin has been prepared for the day of unceasing blood. (And those) who worship stones, and those who carve images of gold and of silver and of wood and of clay, and those who worship evil spirits and demons, and all kinds of idols not according to knowledge, they shall get no manner of help in them.”12

The book of 2 Enoch likewise notes how some people in Enoch’s day worshiped the devil, specifically stating that in so doing, they renounced covenants they had made with God: “For I know the wickedness of mankind, how they have rejected my commandments and they will not carry the yoke which I have placed on them. But they will cast off my yoke, and they will accept a different yoke. And they will sow worthless seed, not fearing God and not worshiping me, but they began to worship vain gods, and they renounced my uniqueness. And all the world will be reduced to confusion by iniquities and wickednesses and abominable fornications . . . and the worship of (the) evil (one).13

The Testament of Dan also observes that some individuals will accept Satan as their ruler: “Anger and falsehood together are a double-edged evil, and work together to perturb the reason. And when the soul is continually perturbed, the Lord withdraws from it and Beliar [Satan] rules it.”14 Later, a similar claim is repeated, which Dan specifically links to a prophecy found in a book of Enoch: “To the extent that you abandon the Lord, you will live by every evil deed, committing the revolting acts of the gentiles, chasing after wives of lawless men, and you are motivated to all wickedness by the spirits of deceit among you. For I read in the Book of Enoch the Righteous that your prince is Satan and that all the spirits of sexual promiscuity and of arrogance devote attention to the sons of Levi in the attempt to observe them closely and cause them to commit sin before the Lord.”15

A text from the Dead Sea Scrolls may also be added to this list, which curses Satan (called Belial) and those who follow him: “Cursed be the Wicke[d One in all the ages] of his dominions, and may all the sons of Belial be damned in all the works of their service.”16 This provides a neat parallel with Moses 7:37, in which the Lord declared of the wicked, “Satan shall be their father, and misery shall be their doom.” The ritual designation of being called a “son” is also prominent throughout the Book of Moses, as the righteous may become God’s sons through making covenants with God (Moses 6:68).17 In this case, the inverse is implied: wicked individuals became the sons of Satan by electing to follow him, rather than God.

According to Nibley, these texts describe “a deliberate exploitation of the heavenly order as a franchise for sordid earthly ambitions. . . . This was no open revolt against God but a clever misuse of his name; no renunciation of religion but a perverse piety. . . . This vicious order was secured down by solemn oaths and covenants.”18 In short, “they have claimed the ordinances without keeping the law of God—that they would observe them his way; while still employing the forms and knowledge brought from on high, they have set up a counter religion and way of life.”19

This same imagery is found in the Book of Moses, where some of the children of Adam abandoned their covenants with God and shifted their covenantal allegiance to Satan, whom they ultimately came to love more than God. That several of these texts involve the prophet Enoch is noteworthy, since these ideas also turn up in the Enoch material in the Book of Moses.

Satan Leads the Fallen Angels

A second aspect of Satan’s leadership over the wicked is mentioned briefly in Moses 4, where it is noted that Satan “had drawn away many after him,” thus causing other angels to fall (Moses 4:6). Although the Book of Moses is silent on the full relationship between these fallen angels and Satan, it is clear that Satan remains at their head, as he takes on the most prominent role in deceiving the world after having gotten these angels to follow him.

Ancient traditions also note that, when Satan fell, he was able to get other angels to follow him, and Satan became their leader. Among the Dead Sea Scrolls, for instance, a text known as the Testament of Amram was found. While this text does not explicitly state that Satan is the leader of fallen angels, it does state that Satan is a ruler over some supernatural forces. In a vision, Amram sees an angel fighting a dark being. Afterwards, Amram asks the angel regarding the dark being’s identity and is told, “His three names are Belial, Prince of Darkness and Melkiresha,” the last name being Hebrew for “My king is wickedness.”20 Furthermore, “All his paths are darkness, and all his work is darkness. … And he rules over all darkness.”21

The theme of Satan ruling over fallen angels is clearer in other texts. Another scroll found at Qumran, for instance, includes a curse against Satan (called Belial), which also curses the spirits who followed him: “Cursed be Belial in his hostile design, and damned in his guilty dominion. Cursed be all the spirits of his [lo]t in their wicked design . . . for they are the lot of darkness and their visitation is for eternal destruction. Amen, amen.”22

In 1 Enoch, when the Watchers fall from heaven, one of the fallen angels, Semyaz, was identified as their leader, and he instructed all of the fallen angels, “‘Let us all swear an oath and bind everyone among us by a curse not to abandon this suggestion but to do the deed.’ Then they all swore together and bound one another by (the curse).”23 Thus, the fallen angels specifically made a covenant with their leader, before likewise instituting secret oaths and combinations among the children of Adam and Eve (much like Satan’s covenantal activities in the Book of Moses).24 This theme is again repeated in 2 Enoch, this time identifying Semyaz as Satanail: “What is the explanation that these ones are so very dejected, and their faces miserable, and their mouths silent? . . . And those men answered me, ‘These are the Grigori [Watchers], who turned aside from the LORD, 200 myriads, together with their prince Satanail.’”25

This is again mentioned in a Christian text known as the Investiture of Abbaton. In this text, the resurrected Christ instructs his apostles regarding the Creation of the world, and notes the following account regarding Satan’s fall using ritual imagery:

Since he was the greatest of them all, being chief over them like a king that orders an army of soldiers and like a general, their names were written on his hand. Thus is this deceiver. The (names of the) angels being written on his hand, all the angels surrounded him but could not take the roll from him. My Father ordered to bring a sharp knife and to cut him this side and that. (However,) what he had in the palm of his hand could not be taken away from him. Immediately, my Father ordered a great Cherub and he struck him and threw him down from heaven to earth because of his pride. He broke his wings and his rib and weakened him. He and those that he took with him became devils.26

According to this text, Satan was one of the chief angels who led a certain host of them. When he refused to obey God’s commands, he was cast out of heaven. However, he maintained possession of the names of other angels who followed him, closely held in the palm of his hand. Considering that hands and hand gestures were connected with sealing in the ancient world, this palm imagery recalls a passage from the Book of Mormon: “ye have become  subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked” (Alma 34:35).

Satan Will Be Punished for the Sins of His Followers

A final detail regarding Satan’s fathership of the wicked is present in Moses 7:37: “Their sins shall be upon the heads of their fathers; Satan shall be their father, and misery shall be their doom” (Moses 7:37). Thus, ultimately, Satan will be held at least partly accountable for all of humankind’s sins, as he is the one who tempted them to commit these acts in the first place.

This same theme is also found in Enochic literature. In 1 Enoch, after the fallen angels have corrupted mankind, the decree goes forth: “And the whole earth has been corrupted by Azaz’el’s teaching of his (own) actions; and write upon him all sin” (1 Enoch 10:8).27 Then, when Enoch had the opportunity, “he proceeded and said to Azaz’el, ‘There will not be peace unto you; a grave judgment has come upon you. They will put you in bonds, and you will not have (an opportunity for) rest and supplication because you have taught injustice and because you have shown to the people deeds of shame, injustice, and sin.’ Then I went and spoke to all of them together; and they were all frightened, and fear and trembling seized them” (1 Enoch 13:1–3).28

Conclusion

Several details in the Book of Moses regarding Satan’s rule over both wicked individuals and fallen angels line up well with ancient traditions. Although Satan’s status as the father of the wicked could have been derived from the Bible (Matthew 13:38; John 8:44; Acts 13:10; 1 John 3:8–10), the nuances in the Book of Moses often better match up with extrabiblical sources. Moreover, it is doubtful that Joseph Smith knew any of these details lined up so well with ancient traditions related to Enoch.29 Thus, these parallels help establish the antiquity of the Book of Moses and Joseph Smith’s prophetic calling.