Morning Star

One of the questions I get with some frequency concerns the phrase “(bright) morning star.” The gist of the question usually concerns some presumed relationship between Jesus and Lucifer (the question, as we will see, is something of a misnomer all on its own). I’ll have to unpack all that a bit before I get to the “morning star” question.

In Isa 14:12 we read about one ḥêlel ben shaḥar (“shining one, son of the dawn”). The phrase “son of the dawn” refers to the (astronomical) “morning star” – the small light first visible above the horizon when the new day dawns. This was, in ancient terms, a way to refer to Venus, as it was that first light in terms of real naked eye astronomy. The ancients knew Venus was a planet, but often referred to it as the largest star (see Pliny, Hist. nat. 2.37). Venus appears just before the sun, heralding a new day — thus it was termed “morning star.”

At issue first is the terminology and character in Isaiah 14. In the phrase  ḥêlel ben shaḥar, ḥêlel (“shining one”) is rendered as ἐωσφόρος (“morning star”), derivative of Φωσφόρος (the wrod used for Venus). In Latin, this word is translated “Lucifer.” The ḥêlel figure in Isaiah is some sort of tyrant, described in terms of some tale about a divine being who wanted to be like the Most High, snubbing his authority. Combine that backdrop tale, a story about a divine being who over-stepped the highest divine authority, with the Latin Vulgate’s “Lucifer,” and you get the presumed picture of Satan’s rebellion.

This identification is not so simple as it sounds for a number of reasons; namely, the term “satan” is never used of the serpent (naḥash) of Genesis 3. The identification of that figure with God’s arch rival, the Devil, came along in the second temple period. It isn’t until the last book of the Bible (in Rev 12:9) that you actually see the words serpent, devil, and Satan actually connected. Granted, the ideas are all interconnected much earlier, but as far as the use of the terms, it’s pretty late. Readers of my Myth book know that I believe (a minority view) that there are good textual connections besides these terms between Isaiah 14 and Genesis 3, along with Ezekiel 28. I think they all draw on the belief / theology of the rebellion of a non-human divine figure against the Most High, who is Yahweh in the Hebrew Bible.¹

So, the question about the use of “morning star” terminology in Jesus usually brings this backdrop with it. Some people like to rant about Jesus being Satan here, or about the nasty Jewish writers who satanize Jesus, or how Satan and Jesus are brothers (Mormons, though their argument usually comes from a different flawed trajectory). All of these notions are nonsense. They are good illustrations of ignoring context and producing non sequiturs.

The point of the terminology isn’t hard to figure out. It has to do with (drum roll, please): brightness. Stars were bright. Brightness is a common description of divine beings throughout the ancient world. They are often described as luminous or fiery (biblical examples include Ezek 1:13; Psa 104:4). Divine beings were therefore associated with, or identified with, objects in the sky — stars or planets. This idea is all over the ancient Near East. In terms of the Old Testament, Job 38:6-7 is the best example (and note that it pluralizes “morning star”):

On what were its [the earth’s] bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Why the plural? Because there were more than one (I know, I’m on a profundity roll now). Why the metaphor? Because it’s the dawn of a new day — the first day, as it were; the day of earth’s creation. Now back to Isaiah 14 …

While the focus in Isaiah 14 is a human king, the king of Babylon, the description of that king’s arrogance is drawn from a story of a divine being’s rebellion. Like all divine beings, that being was shining / luminous / bright — like the morning star.

To my mind, that’s pretty simple. Now here’s where we need to think a little — with respect to the use of the “morning star” terminology of the New Testament, linked as it is with Jesus. On the surface, it would be easy to just say “well, the resurrected Christ is certainly divine, so the description fits.” (Note: all the morning star occurrences with respect to Jesus are about the risen Christ or his re-appearing). We even get discussion about the manifestation of Jesus’ glory before the resurrection, connected of course with the very presence of God (John 1:14 2:11; Acts 7:55; Titus 2:13). That’s true, but there’s more to it — and it concerns not the shining appearance of the morning star, what it visually looked like to the eye — but what it denoted: the dawn of a new day, the new kingdom come to earth.

Let’s take a look now at how that theme — the coming again of Jesus to earth to consummate the new kingdom of God, the new Eden — is always part of the context of the “morning star” references when used of Jesus.

There are three morning star references in the New Testament. Here they are with a little verse-context:

2 Peter 1:17-19

17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts …

Rev 2:26-28

26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Rev 22:16

16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

Let’s start with the last one first. It’s clear that the reference to the morning star has something to do with kingship — why else link it to “I am the root and descendant of David”? (Recall that David was from Bethlehem of Judah). Coming where it does — the unveiling of the new Jerusalem and new Eden — the context couldn’t be clearer. This is why basically all NT scholars since the description here as hearkening back to Num 24:17: “a star shall rise out of Jacob” (“Jacob,” of course is another term used for Israel throughout the Bible, the last portion of which left after the exile and return was Judah). Numbers 24:17 was interpreted messianically in Judaism apart from the New Testament writers (T. Levi 18:3; T. Jud. 24:1; 1QM 11:6–7; 4QTestim 9–13; CD 7:18–20). In other words, everyone would have known this morning star reference was not about brightness; it was about the dawning of the returned kingdom of God.

That’s also the point of Rev 2:26-28, working backward through our references. But this passage is even cooler. You divine council worldview junkies should like this one. Notice how in this case Jesus isn’t the morning star — he gives the morning star. Look at it again:

26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Who are the ones that overcome in Revelation? Believers. What do they get? Authority. Over whom? The nations — you know, the nations that are at present under the authority of the corrupted sons of God (Deut 32:8-9, with LXX and DSS; cp. Deut 4:19-20; Psalm 82). That’s right. Believers share in the kingdom (see Daniel 7:27-28, another divine council passage). They will “ruler over angels” (1 Cor 6:3) because they displace them in God’s hierarchy in the last day. Verse 27 has Jesus ruling (“he”) with a rod of iron (Psa 2), but it is Jesus who gives to mere believers — the overcomers — the morning star. What is the morning star? The divine authority to rule in the new kingdom.

The last reference is not difficult to parse in light of all this. Again:

2 Peter 1:17-19

17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts …

You believers — the ones who need to overcome (and 2 Peter has something to say about persecution and false teachers) — you need to follow the truth, that shines like a lamp in a dark place — until the morning star rises in your hearts. Sound odd? Try this paraphrase: “until the new day dawns in you hearts.” What new day? the one that happens after Jesus returns and you’re all resurrected to rule and reign with him, because you are in him and he is you, and you receive the new body promised through the earnest money of the Spirit (borrowing some Pauline terms there). The “in the hearts” idea is communicating something like “until this hope rises in you” — until you see the blessed hope dawning.

So, no . . . the morning star references don’t identify Jesus with or as Satan, and the two aren’t brothers. Lucifer isn’t sharing any of this.