Memra 23: On Satan and Pharoah and the Israelites

Memra 23: On Satan and Pharaoh and the Israelites On Pharaoh and the Israelites, that they themselves erred and not the Lord who restrained them. For the Lord does not hinder the life of one who believes in him and does good works; but only to the servants who cease at that time from perfection, that they might become his enemies. As for the rest, however, he does not hinder them from good works, neither at the beginning nor at the end. For the Lord revealed this, that everyone might know how Adam was created. And the Lord himself showed his creation of Adam: and he showed how Adam was like the angels in heaven—without anger, without desire, without thoughts, without passions—like the likeness of that which the Lord himself was born. For in his own likeness the Lord came, that he might show them to the children of men their original nature, how they were created, as the Apostle said: that everything is renewed in Jesus. That is, as it was from the beginning. And that Adam was created in a pure manner, the Lord made known in that parable which his servants brought and said to him: "Lord, you have sown good seed in your field; from where then are the tares in it?" And the Lord said: "The field is the world." That is, "You have created Adam beautifully; from where then did these evils that he committed come to be in him?

And he said to them: “The man, the enemy, did this.” That is, Satan did not lead him astray. For it is written: “Everything that God created is good and beautiful.” Therefore God did not do anything that was contrary; rather, God created this one who is a contrary day, like one of the higher powers, and made him a free-willed being. Just as he set up the Scuriota from his free will, and he by his own will crossed over to the side of the left. So also this wicked ruler, because God gave him authority like the watchers, and he increased him and made him a free-willed being, and he became corrupt in his authority, and desired to be God. The Lord cast him down from heaven to earth, and his glory departed from him, and he became a son of darkness, and his authority was stripped from his glory, and his dwelling became in darkness. And because it is written that God made him to make war, as it is said: “I set up Pharaoh in freedom,” when it was Satan who set him up against the Lord, that he might be his son like himself. For God did not act unjustly, that when he set him up in freedom without being persuaded, he would then turn and kill him. Rather, there is an interpretation for these words, as the Apostle says: that God restrained the children of Israel from being persuaded, when God to this day desires that they be persuaded, and they are not willing. And he sent to Pharaoh his messengers, until there were no more messengers, and he was not persuaded.

And he did not make Satan so that he would not serve with the angels in his wickedness. It was by his own will that he desired to be God and fell. And Pharaoh died by his own will. And the children of Israel, by their own will, were not persuaded and killed the Son, the Messiah. Because of this, Satan is judged wickedly and not unjustly, and the children of Israel are judged wickedly and not unjustly. And if they had not acted unjustly by their own will, they would be judged unjustly, and God would be found to be like one who was not wicked. Woe to wickedness that it should be unjust, that which was good on behalf of the unjust and died on their behalf. Injustice would not have existed with wickedness. Therefore, this is understood: that Pharaoh was wicked and the Lord drowned him, and the children of Israel were wicked and the Lord destroyed them. And whatever the Lord commanded Satan, he did; and as his creator, he stands and judges and brings him to an end; and at all times he calls him enemy and rebel, and he rebukes him; and with an inextinguishable fire he judges him and burns him. If God says to a man that he should do evil, he does not judge him, because he commanded him. But if, without the command of his Lord, a man does evil to another man, he is judged according to his deeds. And if God had said that Satan should be, he would not have judged him. This is not understood by those who have understanding and comprehend, along with the saints, the height, the depth, the length, and the breadth.

This, then, is what the Scripture says: that he feared the evil one because he was created evil. The human being is such that his Creator filled his heart with good things, but he listened to Satan and turned his creation by his evil teaching, and filled his heart with all evils and made it otherly. For this reason the Psalmist said: "Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil human being," and he listened to Satan and became Satan. But in this, the Lord made Satan so that he would wage war: that he would gather his spirit and overthrow him, overthrowing when he desired to be God in heaven—an evil companion in good regions, and division within enmity. And in this he made him so that he would approach: for he knew that these evil things he does on earth, and he did not kill him, and he gave to that evil one a place for repentance. And when he stood before his Creator on the mountain, he said to him in spirit: "You shall serve the Lord your God in good works, and you did not serve him." And also in the book of the Law, Satan did not return to serve the Lord in good deeds, instead of what he did not do. And if you say that, as to the human being, he said to him in the Law: "You shall serve the Lord your God," what then, as you said, Satan rebelled by his own will, and did evil deeds like the evil human being, and did not serve the Lord in righteousness like the good human being? That one, then, in the authority above, had service also in the Law among the high angels, and he was found unjust and not faithful in his authority, like the angels who are faithful.

And the end of the evil one from all: he sought to be a god, and he was overturned and fell, just as Judas Iscariot was not faithful in his service, that which his Lord gave him, but he was a robber, and in the end he rebelled against him with rebellion. What does Satan resemble to his master, and not to Jesus? For he received the teaching of Satan, and not of his Lord. Also his Lord said: “Behold, I have chosen you, and one of you is Satan.” Well, then, Satan and Judas Iscariot are compared to each other. And just as from the beginning Satan was found among the sons of the sea, so in the beginning of the creation of the two of them in Jesus, Satan was found among the sons of the sea. For his Lord knew Judas Iscariot, that he was Satan, and his choosing of him made known, just as Satan rebelled from the side of the sea in the beginning. For everything is renewed and shown by Jesus. By his gentleness, then, the Lord made Satan an adversary, by giving him a place and not killing him. And by his gentleness, he made Judas Iscariot to betray him, by not striking him and destroying him.

And what does it profit you to see how God looked at Satan? And he waited and drew out his spirit and endured, while he was thinking and acting according to his will. He was amazed at this, that he knew what Judas Iscariot was thinking and what he was doing, and yet he did not kill him, but called him and brought him near, and divided honor for him and washed his feet and gave him a kiss of love. He was amazed again at this, that Adam, by the counsel of Satan, wanted to be a god, and the Lord did not kill him because of the love of his goodness, but the Lord increased his love again and had mercy on him, and gave him life and made him live. And see again how the rebellious and the rebels among the people acted against the goodness of God, and he drew out his spirit and did not cut them off, but took them by the hand and gave them repentance. And see that not only did they deny, but they also rose up against the Lord among the people, and he did not hide them nor destroy the memory of them because of his mercy. And if you say: That which is said about him, that Satan wanted to be a god on earth, he wanted to be in the days of wickedness over the earthly creation of flesh, not over those spiritual ones in heaven. Understand what is said: that everything that is seen is a type of that which is not seen. If, then, Satan wanted to do his type on earth, that is what he wanted to do in heaven.

This is because what he did on earth, in that he listened to the sin of the wicked ones, and he deliberated over all the doers of his will, and he was called "God" as it is written: "The God of this world has blinded the minds of the wicked, so that they would not be caught by the Lord of glory." As he said: "So that you may be caught, listen to the sign of your Lord, you servants, whether for sin or for righteousness." And if you say, "Since at the time of his creation there was iniquity in Satan, in that he called him 'the wicked ruler,'" do not say thus: that if God had created iniquity in him, he would not have been angry with him, nor would he have begrudged him in wrath, nor would he have written a book in spirit like this: that everything God created is good and beautiful, and superior in the nature of its creation, everything for its purpose, everything that was created—except that he would say that everything created is beautiful, except for Satan. If God had created iniquity in him, something not beautiful. Also concerning Pharaoh, he said in this that he raised him up in freedom, by means of what he sent upon him—rebellion. He said to Moses: "Pray that he pass by and be caught, and he will let go; he will release you and your people; go in peace." And in this, the Lord hardened him, by means of his hearing all that he called him by means of Moses, and he healed the land of the plagues. The obedience of the Lord, then, and the leading of his spirit, hardened Pharaoh. For when distress reached him, he became humble, and when relief came, he became hard.

In his humility he is humble, and in his severity he is hard. As Isaiah said: "I raised him up in his head, this one who was lowly and I healed him, who was naked and I clothed him, who was poor and I enriched him, and now the day stands before me." Thus the Lord hardened Pharaoh through the good things he did for him and had mercy on him, and through the land he gave him for repentance. And because of this it was written that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not be caught. But he, through mercy and through severity, Pharaoh was hardened. The Lord bound the children of Israel in this through his humility and through his foolishness. For Isaiah said that he was foolish and humble, without form or splendor. And his appearance was foolish and humble and deceitful. It was his foolishness, then, of Jesus and his humility that bound the Lord. But they, because they despised him and were not caught by him, and he said that the Lord bound them so that they would not be caught. And if the reader asks whether he bound them through his humility or through his severity, the intention seems to be that in it there was injustice toward God, since God is not unjust toward all his works. His humility, then, does not bind a man, but rather it is a seeking one; his severity, however, leads with a short rein.

And all that Moses did, the first signs, because of their hardness, and he said to them: "If I do not do the works of the Lord, do not believe me." They said to him: "You are the son of Joseph, and you are a man like us; we do not believe you." Moses said to them: "Also believe the works of the Lord, that he sent me." Did you see that God bound them? But they bound themselves, because they despised him, because he humbled himself and became lowly. For Moses came to show humility to the children of men, and the way and the gate of the spiritual paradise, that from which Adam went out, that which Paul seized above the three heavens. All of him, therefore, came to show humility. And he saw that they were bound because of his humility, and they were not persuaded by their own will. And when he wearied of their iniquity, and he did signs and they did not believe, they said to him: "Come from heaven, give to us; call your evil and rebellious company." Because he showed that he was a judge, he was provoked by this word and by those like it, not that a type was placed in it for his pride, but that he showed that he repays everyone according to their deeds, so that men would not say that he does not pursue evils on the day of judgment, and they would trust in themselves and not fear his judgment, and not keep his commandments and live. It is written: "They despised him in the place and killed him before me.

And he said: "By my sons, leave the evil one," and he said: "Go, you accursed ones, to the mountain," while he was not commanding them not to be troubled by harshness nor by a difficult word. And he said to them: "All these signs I have done, and do you seek a sign for yourselves? Now, just as you were not persuaded by the earlier ones, nor will you be persuaded by the later ones. But I will give you a small and contemptible sign by which you will stumble, because you were not persuaded by the great ones. By this humble staff you will be tripped up, because you desire to be humble and to imitate me and to be my disciples. Again, the staff dies in your hands while I humble myself, and the staff was three days in the heart of the earth, so that those who believe in me will humble themselves unto death, and those who stumble at me will be caught in my humility, and they say with a hard heart: 'God would not humble himself thus, nor would he die at the hands of the weak of his creation.' For they know that there is no one who conquers the Conqueror of All, and it is not fitting that because of their iniquity and the pride of Adam and his sons he humbled himself to teach you, as you learned from their likeness, that first one from which they fell." End of Memra 23: On Satan and Pharaoh and the Children of Israel.