Where is the devil first mentioned in the bible?

Answer 1

"If you assume that "the serpent" in the book of Genesis is a reference to the devil, it would be in the book of Genesis."

Which would be an incorrect assumption. Historically speaking, when the stories of Genesis were created, pre-cannon, the concept of Satan didn't even exist yet. In Genesis, the description of the serpent is thus: ""Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made" (Genesis 3:1). There is no mention of any devil, or disguise what-so-ever.

I found this explanation which would probably more accurately answer this questions:

"Prior to the Babylonian Exile, Judaism had no heaven or hell - souls of the dead simply went to a place of rest, sheol, regardless of the life that had been led. There was no Satan and no angels. The notion of Satan entered Judaism during the Babylonian Exile, so no biblical Book written before that time contains any reference to Satan. Chronicles was actually written during the Exile, as a revision to the Deuteronomic History, and thus is the first book in The Bible to contain the name Satan. 1 Chronicles 21:1:

"And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel."

Because Kings (part of the Deuteronomic history) was written before the Exile, the corresponding passage contains no mention of Satan.

Another post-exilic reference to Satan is in the Book of Job, which introduces Satan, not yet as the adversary of God portrayed in later Christian belief, but as a 'son of God' or angel, whose role was to prove the righteousness of people by tempting them to do wrong. God twice gave Satan a challenge to have Job curse God, first by destroying his family and his property (1:8,11), then by afflicting him with a terrible disease. If Job cursed God, he would be judged as evil.

Also: in the King James Version, Psalms 109:6 refers to Satan, but the Hebrew Masoretic text (in English translation) for Psalm 109:6 refers to an Adversary, rather than Satan.

Evil is mentioned much earlier - in Genesis"

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What is the first mention of Satan or evil in the Bible#ixzz2S9hVFmG0

AnswerForget what agnostic scholars say: what does God say in the Bible?

Genesis 3

1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden":

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, "Ye shall not surely die:"

13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, "What is this that thou hast done?" And the woman said, "The serpentbeguiled me, and I did eat."

14 And the LORD God said unto theserpent, "Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:"

It is not just someone's assumption that ".... "the serpent" in the book of Genesis is a reference to the devil" because God specifically says it is, not once but twice, just in case someone didn't get it the first time and explained it away as just a coincidence:-

Revelation 12

9 And the great dragon was cast out, that oldserpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Revelation 20

2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that oldserpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

The NET Bible Notes on Genesis 3:1 state that:-

2sn Many theologians identify or associate the serpent with Satan. In this view Satan comes in the disguise of a serpent or speaks through a serpent. This explains the serpent's capacity to speak......

The first reference to the devil in the Bible is in Genesis 3:1.