Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained.
In today’s video, we’re going to discuss Samael, also known as Satan, Samil, Seir,
Salmael, and Satanil, an enigmatic and ambiguous figure in that, depending on the source, he’s
portrayed as a either a champion of the light or as an entity of profound evil, comprising
two diametrically opposed aspects.
Samael is the angel of the planet Mars and of one of the days of the week, Tuesday.
He’s the angel of death, for which he is known to stand near the heads of those for
whom the end draws near, holding up a sword from which a single drop of poison falls into
their mouths, ending life.
He’s described as the angel of Rome, an epithet with negative connotations given Rome’s
invasion of Israel; he’s described as a great 12 winged serpent, and he’s described
as the serpent who tempts Eve, tempting her to sin, seducing her, and siring Cain, the
world’s first murderer.
Alright, let’s get into it.
In some Jewish astrological works, Samael was thought to be the angel who presided over
mars.
Samael is said to either be the chief of the fifth heaven or to reside in the seventh.
In the Talmud, He’s presented as Esau’s, the twin brother of Jacob’s, guardian angel.
Samael is described as the angelic prince guardian of Edom, an ancient name for the
land - what is now southwestern Jordan - that borders Israel.
In the Holy Kabbalah, he’s designated as “the severity of God '' and features as
the 5th archangel in Beri’ah: the world of creation, an angelological realm that exists
next to Atzilut, the plane of divine emanation.
In his capacity as the angel of death, which is expanded upon in rabbinic literature, he
is a servant of God, despite this title conjuring up a dark and disturbing image.
He was dispatched by God to retrieve Moses’ soul after the prophet’s time on earth had
drawn to an end.
However, this particular assignment wasn’t without its challenges.
As the story goes, Moses did not go gently into that good night and did indeed rage,
rage, rage.
He fought tooth and nail, unleashing an onslaught of blows with his staff and inflicting such
a savage beating that Samael was said to have gone blind from the flurry of impacts.
Moses’ incredible resistance forced God to intervene and compel him to relinquish
his soul.
(In Islamic exegesis, it is Azrael, one of the four Islamic archangels, who confronts
and is subsequently repelled by Moses.)
Some accounts of Samael carrying out his duties as the reaper of souls describe him as standing
at the head of each dying person with a drawn sword.
A single drop of poison beads on the tip of the blade and then falls into the mouth of
the soon to be deceased, hammering in the final proverbial nail into the coffin.
The looks of frozen horror that sometimes twist the faces of the dead have been attributed
to Samael becoming visible to people a brief moment before the final separation when the
soul is severed from the body, striking people with fear just before death.
Samael’s methods tie into the etymology of his name: ‘Sam' means poison, so his
name is thought to mean something like ‘poison of God’.
The four angels of prostitution, Naamah, Eisheth Zenunim, Agrat bat Mahlat, and Lilith were
all described as being the mates of Samael.
Naamah, as claimed by Rabbi hiya, is the great seducer, but not just of men, also including
spirits and demons, and that, in addition to Lilith, was the fell force that afflicted
children with epilepsy.
Eisheth Zenunim is a princess of the Qliphoth, the malignant and impure aspects of reality.
Agrat bat Mahlat is “the dancing roof-demon.
She haunts the air, and her retinue includes 18 myriads of destruction demons, each of
them perilous.
And Lilith is the bane of infants, seducer of men, mother of demons, and the first wife
of Adam.
In rabbinic literature, Samael is presented as the highest - perhaps to say lowest would
be more appropriate - of the Satans (Satans, in this context, meaning accuser or adversary),
and in Enoch II, he’s depicted as a magician and as the prince of demons.
One description calls him “the great serpent with 12 wings that draws after him, in his
fall, the solar system”.
Another source, the Sayings of Rabbi Eliezer, claims that Samael was the one who garbed
himself in scales and coils, taking the form of serpent, in which guise he slithered into
the Garden of Eden to tempt Eve, seducing her and siring Cain, the world’s first murderer;
and given that Cain is suffused with sin, disposed to both jealousy and violence as
he was, that a fallen angel was his father, as opposed to Adam, the first man, actually
seems rather fitting.
The Zohar equates Samael with the dark angel who wrestles Jacob; however, many angels are
purported to be this dark angel, including: Uriel, Metatron, and even Michael.
Cornelius Agrippa, a man of many pursuits, including occult writing and theology, compared
Samael to Typhon in one of his works, Three Books of Occult Philosophy.
(Typhon was born to Gaia, the personification of the earth, and Tartarus, the personification
of the great chasm beneath the earth, and was the most powerful monster in Greek mythology
- a fact attested to by some of the accounts of his story, which include him cutting out
Zeus’ sinews and keeping the king of the gods prisoner in a cave.
In the Book of Enoch, Samael is dubbed the prince of accusers, which signifies him as
one of the malevolent entities in the court of heaven who slung accusations at Israel.
By the same token, it was also said that Samael was the angel of Rome - his presence and influence
helping to found the empire, a precursor to the hardships that would befall Jewish people
under its imperialistic yoke, such as: the conquest of Israel, the Great Temple of Jerusalem
being destroyed in 70 AD, and the Diaspora, which was the scattering of Jewish people,
forcing them into lands outside of Israel.
In Aggadah, which is a genre of rabbinic literature that includes narratives, legends, and parables,
there is a concept that Samael, as a figure associated with evil, lacks access to the
path leading to the tree of life.
This notion is rooted in symbolic and metaphorical interpretations rather than literal descriptions.
The tree of life is a significant symbol in Jewish mysticism and represents divine wisdom,
spiritual nourishment, and eternal life.
It is believed to be located in the heavenly realms and is associated with the presence
of God.
Conversely, Samael is often depicted as a fallen angel or a demonic figure who opposes
the divine order.
Despite Samael's abilities, such as flying through the air, he is unable to attain the
higher spiritual realms and the blessings associated with the tree of life.
This signifies that even though he may possess certain powers or dominion in the earthly
realm, he is ultimately restricted from accessing the highest spiritual truths and divine blessings.
And that’s it for this video!
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