Author : Keith Sharp
The name “Lucifer” is found only in Isaiah 14:12 in standard English translations of the Bible. According to the Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew to English Lexicon of the Old Testament, it means “light-bearer” or “shining one” or “morning star.” The New American Standard Bible has correctly translated the Hebrew word as “star of the morning” rather than “Lucifer,” and the English Standard Version renders it “Day Star”, which is consistent with the old (1901) American Standard Version.
The common explanation of this passage is to assert that it describes the fall of Satan. However the context is clear that Isaiah is prophesying the fall of the King of Babylon (Isaiah 13:1 – 14:23). This context is “The burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw” (13:1). “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” (13:19).
Both before and after the reference to Lucifer (14:12), Isaiah applies the prophecy to Babylon. “… you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: ‘How the oppressor has ceased, The golden city ceased!'” (14:4) “‘For I will rise up against them,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘And cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, And offspring and posterity,’ says the LORD” (14:22).
Some argue that, since the object of the prophecy aspired to exalt his “throne above the stars of God” (Isaiah 14:13), this couldn’t be just a reference to a human king but has to be about Satan rebelling against God. Yet Daniel prophesied that King Antiochus would “cast down … some of the stars to the ground” (Daniel 8:9-11). This is simply the figurative language of the prophets describing the stupendous arrogance of rulers who would claim divine authority and power and alter the commandments and order God ordained.
“Lucifer” is never used in the Bible as a name for Satan. It is a figurative designation for the king of Babylon.
The Bible reveals nothing about the origin of Satan. Isaiah 13:1 – 14:23 is a remarkable inspired prophecy written several hundred years before its complete fulfillment when Babylon over time became the desolate ruin (in Central Iraq) that it is today. Those who pervert this prophecy to make it a description of the fall of Satan rob us of an important piece of evidence that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.
