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Satyrs in the Bible
Satyrs appear only twice in the King James
translation of the Old Testament (both in the book of Isaiah).
.
We get the name of this creature from the Hebrew
word saiyr (Strong's Concordance #H8163).
Saiyr, other than rendered as satyr, is also translated - as 'hairy' (Genesis
27:11, 23, etc.),
- 'goat' (Leviticus 4:24, 9:15, etc.),
- a 'kid' of the goats (Genesis 37:31, Leviticus
4:23, etc.) and even
- 'devils' (Leviticus 17:7) in other places
in Scripture.
“But wild beasts of the
desert shall lie there . . . and satyrs shall dance there . . . The wild beasts
of the desert shall also meet . . . and the satyr shall cry to his fellow . . .” (Isaiah 13:21, KJV, 34:14)
The only
characteristics of Satyrs mentioned in Scripture is their ability to dance (Isaiah 13:21) and cry out (Isaiah 34:14).
Some Biblical
commentaries, based on the use of saiyr in other
parts of God's word, believe these two verses refer either to mythological
beasts or to wild or shaggy goats.
Some
translations of the twenty-first verse of Isaiah 13 do support the supposition
that saiyr is better translated as a type of goat.
“But desert creatures will
lie there . . . and there the WILD GOATS (satyrs) will leap about)” (Isaiah 13:21, NIV).
In mythology,
satyrs were half-human and half animal.
They possessed
the head of a man (with horns) and torso of a human but had the legs and feet
of a goat.
Devils and
Babylon
Evidence suggests that saiyr, used in
chapters 13 and 34 of Isaiah, has a deeper meaning than merely referencing
goats or even mythical satyrs.
The Living Bible
translation of the verses in question hints at this meaning.
“The wild animals of the
desert will make it (ancient Babylon) their home. The houses will be haunted by
howling creatures. Ostriches will live there, and the DEMONS (saiyr) will come there to dance” (Isaiah 13:21, TLB).
“The wild animals of the
desert will mingle there with wolves and hyenas . . There the NIGHT-MONSTERS
will scream at each other, and the DEMONS will come . . .” (34:14, TLB).
The immediate
context of Isaiah 13:21 is God's destruction of Babylon at the hand of the
Medes and his promise to make the city desolate (see 13:1
and verses 17-22).
This chapter
also presents a type or shadow of God's end time judgment to come upon on earth
because of the Babylon-like system that will govern all humans (compare Isaiah 13:6 - 13 to Revelation 6, 8, 9, 16, 17:5, etc.).
Isaiah 34
discusses God's future judgment on the entire world because of Babylon the
Great (Revelation 14:8, 18:10, etc.).
God promised in
Isaiah 13:20-22 to destroy the ancient city of Babylon to such an extent that
not only would no human every live there again, it would become a place where
only wild animals and demons (saiyr) reside.
The fourteenth
verse of Isaiah 34 alludes to the time, in the near future, where 'Babylon'
will again be judged and be fit for only beasts and demons.
In Revelation 18 an angel comes down from heaven to cry out to the
entire earth that Babylon the great has fallen "and is become the habitation of DEVILS" (Revelation 18:2, KJV) and of every unclean (unfit
to eat) bird.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible explains Revelation 18:2 as
'Babylon the Great' becoming "the
habitation of devils; as old Babylon was of satyrs, Isaiah 13:21 demons, which
appeared in a hairy form, like goats."
Albert Barnes Notes on the Bible states that this verse in Revelation is
"in allusion to the common opinion
that the demons inhabited abandoned cities, old ruins, and deserts . . . The
language here is taken from the description of Babylon in Isaiah 13:20-22."
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