Gilbert House Fellowship #492: Isaiah 14 (Part 1)

Lucifer is not Satan.

In this week study, we dig into the Hebrew name translated Lucifer in the king James Bible, Helel Ben Shachar. Scholar William Gallagher showed in a peer reviewed paper more than 30 years ago that Helel was the West Semitic (i.e., Hebrew) transliteration of the Akkadian deity Ellil.

This entity was known by many names in the ancient Near East, including Dagon, Assur, El, and Milcom (and thus Molech). All of these entities were connected to the underworld whereas Satan is nowhere in the Bible linked to Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, or the abyss.

The other clue pointing to Ellil et. al is the fact that this polemic is directed at the king of Babylon. In Hebrew, that’s melek bab el, which literally means “King of Babel” or “king of the god-gate.”

We realize this is a unique take on a famous and well studied chapter of the Bible. But it’s consistent with other scriptures, and it’s a good reminder to ask ourselves whether our interpretation of scripture is based on the Bible itself or human traditions.

Here’s the link to the book by David W. Lowe, Deconstructing Lucifer, which shows how our understanding of Satan today is quite different from how the apostles viewed him: https://bit.ly/4cWhW9U

Question of the week: Why do some scholars call Judea in the time of Jesus “Palestine”?

Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, has been battling stage 4 bowel cancer and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.

Derek’s new book War of the Watchers Book One: From Baal to Balfour is now available at Amazon in paperback (https://www.amazon.com/War-Watchers-Book-Baal-Balfour/dp/1948014998?&linkCode=ll2&tag=peeringintoda-20&linkId=a330264a003c55880365ee0b24b7e14c&language=en_US&gaOptInStatus=true&ref_=as_li_ss_tl) and as a Kindle e-book! (https://www.amazon.com/War-Watchers-Book-Baal-Balfour-ebook/dp/B0HBN3VG71?&linkCode=ll2&tag=peeringintoda-20&linkId=e105942b522e45b8ac3082da9d99efdd&language=en_US&gaOptInStatus=true&ref_=as_li_ss_tl) It’s also a part of a special offer at the SkyWatchTV store: Get War of the Watchers, Derek’s previous book The Second Coming of Saturn, and a 13-part teaching DVD based on The Second Coming of Saturn for your donation of just $45! (https://www.skywatchtvstore.com/products/derek-gilbert-war-of-the-watchers-special-offer?variant=43251471122545)

If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources:

• Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821) (www.qbible.com/enoch/1.html)

• Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (https://amzn.to/4dpdZbi) (link to book at Amazon)