nbcrusader said:
How does the Old Testament support the notion that all evil comes from God?
In Job, it is Satan who desires to test Job. Job 1:7 and Job 2:2 both describe Satan "roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." Hardly a description of a "member of God's court".
Do you have the reference for this covenant? I know that God established a number of covenants, but I cannot recall of the top of my head the one from Jeremiah.
Well, the simple fact that Satan, no matter how hard you look for him, is *not* mentioned in the Old Testament apart from Job.
Of course, you can argue the snake but understand that this was a belief that came about only in the Intertestamental-New Testament era. The apocryphal Book of Wisdom (if your Catholic or Orthodox, it's in the Bible, but neither the Jews or the Protestants recognize it) is the first to actually mention Satan as the snake, and the concept of original sin. Going strictly off the Hebrew Bible, the snake is just a crafty snake. (There is, of course, a difference between faith and history. My faith says the snake is Satan, but history did not always believe this to be the case.)
The most clear-cut case is, as I mentioned before, the affliction of Saul. "The spirit of the Lord had forsaken Saul, and at times an evil spirt from the Lord would seize him suddenly. His servants said to him 'You see how an evil spirit from God seizes you; sir, why do you not command your servants here to go and find someone who can play on the lyre? Then, when an evil spirit from God comes on you, he can play and you will recover" (1 Samuel 16:15-16) It doesn't say God had forsaken Saul, so Satan sent an evil spirit, as is the case with Job. It says God sent it. This is because, at this time, the Hebrews had not yet incorporated dualistic concepts into their faith.
As for Job, I suppose it's really a draw. The passage states "The day came when the members of the court of heaven took their places in the presence of the Lord, and the Adversary, Satan, was there among them. The Lord asked him where he had been..." You can take it to mean he doesn't have a permanent place in the court, but to me, "ranging over the earth" isn't any more concrete. In fact, God asks him where he's been. That seems to imply, to me, that if he's not a member, he's at least a frequent guest. Hardly the Lucifer, cast out of heaven, that we've come to recognize.
My Biblical footnote states, "Adversary: Hebrew "the satan," accuser, apparently a legal term and yet not the proper name for an evil being that it was to become later. The title and function possibly derive from the Persian secret police, and the duties would compare to those of a district attorney in the United States. The Adversary is the enemy of human beings, not of God."
The covenant of Jeremiah can be found in Jeremiah 31: 31-40.
"The days are coming, says the Lord, when I shall establish a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, a covenant they broke, hough I was patient with them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant I shall establish with the Israelites after those days, says the Lord: I shall set my law within them, writing it on their hearts, I shall be their God and they will be my people. No longer need they teach one another, neighbor or brother, to know the Lord; all of them, high and low alike, will know me, says the Lord, for I shall forgive their wrong doing and their sin I shall call to mind no more"