I have believed for some time now that what we have imprudently called “the wrath of God” is, in reality, the unrecognized and unattributed “works of Satan.”

Even the Bible seems to conflate these two concepts—“the works of Satan” and “the anger of God.” This is easily demonstrated by considering the incident in which King David sinned by numbering Israel. This event is recorded in 2 Samuel 24:1 and, centuries later, in 1 Chronicles 21:1. In the earlier account, David’s sin is attributed to “the anger of God,” while in the later passage, it is caused by “Satan’s provocation.”

“And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.” —2 Samuel 24:1.

“And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.” —1 Chronicles 21:1.

These passages describe the same event where David sinned by numbering Israel. Same event. Same David. Same sin. Same result: 70,000 dead Israelites. Yet the cause of this evil differs between the two accounts. In 2 Samuel, it is attributed to the anger of the Lord, while in 1 Chronicles, it is ascribed to Satan.

Fascinatingly, I recently discovered further support for this perspective. The Jews, both in their Talmudic and post-Talmudic literature, believed that Samael (literally “the wrath or poison of God”) was another name for Satan. They equated “God’s wrath” with “Satan’s oppressions.”

The Talmud states:

“The evil spirit, Satan, and Sama’el the Angel of Death, are the same.” —Bava Batra 16a.

Samael is also made synonymous with the biblical serpent in the story of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

In The Holy Kabbalah (Arthur Edward Waite, p. 255), Samael is described as the “wrath of God.” Samael/Satan is a major archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic lore. He is portrayed as accuser (devil), seducer, and destroyer, regarded at various times as both good and evil.

“Satan/Samael, the prince of demons and/or destructive angels, has had many incarnations in Jewish literature. In several texts, ‘Samael’ seems to be the name of the Angel of Death. At least once in the Zohar, he is declared the ‘shadow of death,’ a kind of consort to Death (I:160b). In other texts, he is regarded as synonymous with Satan, but almost as often he is treated as a separate entity.”
—The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism, Samael entry, Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis.

In the Jewish Talmud, Midrash, and Dead Sea Scrolls, Satan is portrayed as being intimately involved in luring and misleading Old Testament saints into destructive attitudes and situations. Although Satan is not explicitly mentioned in their textual lives, later Jewish writers perceived Satan’s presence throughout the subtext of their Scriptures.

For instance, Satan is the one who:

• Lures Noah into drunkenness (Tanhuma Noah 13).
• Provokes the Golden Calf incident (Shabbat 89a).
• Lures David into a confrontation with Ishbi-benob, the brother of Goliath (Sanhedrin 45a).

These writings often portray Satan as the Death Angel of the Old Testament (Bava Batra 16a), the Angel of Temptation, Prosecution, and Destruction, running “sting operations” to destroy humanity, as seen in the book of Job.

“Samael is called ‘chief of all the satans’ (Deuteronomy Rabbah 11:10; III Enoch). In Midrash Konen, Samael is the prince of the third gate to Gehenna.”

In Jubilees 17:16, concerning Abraham’s offering of Isaac, the text attributes the initiative to kill Isaac to “Prince Mastema,” another name for Satan in Jewish lore.

The Jewish sages even spoke of Satanim in the plural, as if “adversaries” were a class of destructive angels.

Given these traditions, who are we to dismiss Satan’s relevance to the Jewish and Christian understanding of evil, wrath, temptation, and death?

Here is why this matters.

If even the later Jewish scholars and writers of the Talmud, Midrash, and Dead Sea Scrolls believed Satan was embedded within the subtext of Old Testament Scripture, then so should we. While their understanding differentiated the works of God from the works of Satan, they didn’t go far enough. They still considered Satan an obedient servant angel who operated under God’s direct commands—a left hand of wrath.

Jesus corrected this fatal misconception. He never validated Satan as serving His Abba in any capacity. Instead, Jesus identified Satan as the cosmic rebel, the “murderer” and “father of lies” from the beginning, the one to whom sins belong. Jesus revealed Satan as the rebellious “ruler of this world,” operating entirely outside of divine approval.

Thus, Jesus redefined our understanding. Until we reinsert Satan into the Old Testament narrative as a cosmic antagonist, God will wrongfully be blamed for actions unworthy of His nature.

Satan is not God’s angry voice. Jesus is God’s only voice. And that voice contains no cruelty, deception, destruction, oppression, hostility, or hypocrisy.

“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” —Luke 10:18.

Or, to paraphrase: Jesus saw the attributes of Satan drop away from our image of God.

That day, the people saw a love divine without condition, reservation, or limit. They saw God as a rescuing healer, not a cruel afflicter. They saw God as a subject of awe, not terror.

Jesus forever severed Satan’s nature from God’s nature. Wrath, cruelty, and condemnation are not heavenly virtues—they are the attributes of Satan, now discarded and fallen.