WORD STUDY – THE SHINING ONE
Isaiah 14:12: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son
of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which
didst weaken the nations!”
Most of us grow up being taught either through Sunday School
or secular literature and entertainment that Lucifer is the
name of the enemy. It was my first year at Moody Bible
Institute that I was enlightened to the fact that to apply
this passage in Isaiah14:12 to the enemy of God was to take it
out of context as the context is clearly speaking of a human
king of Babylon, although this king is not really identified.
In fact in the Hebrew the word for Lucifer is not even a
proper name. It is the word helel llyh which comes from the
root word halal llh. You may notice I am braking from my
tradition of not showing a Hebrew word in the Hebrew script.
The reason I never show a Hebrew word in the Hebrew script is
because most people who happen to read my little studies would
not pay attention to the script anyway and it is usually a
waste of time to show it. However, in this case I think anyone
with no background in Hebrew will see the close association of
the word helel to halal and notice the missing Yod ( ‫)י‬, that
second letter that tends to float in the air. Halal in its
root form means to shine. The is followed by ben shachar
which means son of dawn or morning. It comes from a Semitic
root word SK which means to fall down and came into Hebrew
with the idea of the dawn where light falls down upon the
earth.
Thus there is a play on the idea of this person
falling down or a person of light or light bearer falling
down.
The King James Version is really the only version to render
this word helel as Lucifer, and making it a proper name. In
fact every modern translation will render it as either the
morning star, day star, shining one, or shining star. Since
the JPS Tanakh (Jewish Publication Society) uses the rendering
of shining one I will go that rending as I would like to look
at this from a Jewish standpoint.
The King James Version
really referenced the Latin Vulgate which simply
transliterated the Latin word that it used which is lucifer.
In Latin the word means the morning star or is a reference to
the planet Venus or as an adjective it is the light bringer.
This closely parallels the Semitic root as it was brought into
the Hebrew. It also matches the Greek word used in the
Septuagint heosphoros which means bringer of the dawn. This
is used in Greek literature for the son of the goddess of the
dawn, Eros, whose was named, Phosphorous. Of course that word
came into the English language to represent an element that
glows in the dark. So the KJV is really not wrong to use the
Latin word here.
In fact the Latin word is probably the
closest to the idea of helel, all which in some way reference
a bearer of light.
The question arises as to just how a passage where the context
is obviously speaking of a human king of Babylon managed to
finagle its way to become a reference to the spiritual enemy
of God with a name, Lucifer, that has attached itself so
deeply into our thinking as the proper name for this enemy?
We do have our own literature to blame for much of this
association.
Also, even though the context speaks of a
Babylonian king, it is a perfect portrayal of the enemy
himself and his fall from heaven. Yet, oddly enough the basis
for saying that there is a secondary reference to the fallen
angel from heaven comes from Judaism which today denies the
existence of a devil and speaks of a Yetzer Hara or evil
inclination, that tempts us to do evil. The concept of the
devil or a personification of the evil was very strong among
Jews during the second temple period after the return to
Israel after captivity. This was due to the strong acceptance
of the first and second Book of Enoch as being inspired and
gave the enemy of God a very expanded and prominent role. It
was the early Jews who could easily see secondary and esoteric
meanings in Scripture who applied Isaiah 14:12 to be a picture
of a fallen angel as well as its contextual application. This
carried on into the middle ages until the Jews rejected the
Books of Enoch as canonical and thus moved evil from a
personification to an abstract Yetzer Hara. However, in the
eleventh century Rabbi Eliezer brought the ancient teachings
of fallen angels back into mainstream Rabbinical teaching so
that today there is a belief of a devil among some very
orthodox rabbis, however, the general belief among Jews today
is the abstract Yetzer Hara and Jewish commentators identify
this helel as Nebuchadnezzar II mentioned in the Book of
Daniel.
I personally do not believe the Books of Enoch are inspired,
however, the reference to the Books of Enoch in the canonical
book of Jude suggest that they hold historical value. So I
would go with the ancient Jewish thought of a secondary
meaning behind Isaiah 14:12 as a reference to the fallen
angel. In fact I believe there is a third reference here.
Helel has the idea of dawn, dawning being a reference to the
bearer of light. As I indicated there is a close association
of Helel (‫ )הילל‬to Halal (‫ )הלל‬its root. Sure Halal means
to shine, but it also means to praise. It is where we get the
word Hallelujah, praise the lord. The word Jah (God) is left
off of Helel. The enemy was the bearer of light, the light of
God but he left the Jah off and began to receive the praise
to himself.
When that happened he fell.
When King
Nebuchadnezzar looked over his kingdom and declared, “Look at
what I have done,” he lost his mind and wandered among
animals.
A third reference is when a pastor, teacher, or Christian
leader looks out over his congregation, his beautiful church
building, or his many teachings, his books, his TV and radio
ministry, his worldwide influence and his following and says
to himself, “Look at what I have done. Lo, but I am really a
fancy pants.” How art thou fallen from heaven, O Helel bearer
of the light of God, [how] art thou cut down to the ground,
which didst weaken the nations!