Kant, who
speak of a radical evil in nature. No power of evil can exist in
independence of God.(557) As the Psalmist says: "His kingdom ruleth over
all. Bless the Lord, ye angels of His, ye mighty in strength that fulfill
His word, hearkening unto the voice of His word."(558)

This increased the difficulty of the problem of the origin of evil. The
answer given by the general Jewish consciousness, expressed by both
Biblical and rabbinical writers, is that evil comes from the free will of
man, who is endowed with the power of rebelling against the will of God.
This idea is symbolized in the story of the fall of man. The serpent, or
tempter, represents the evil inclination which arises in man with his
first consciousness of freedom. So in Jewish belief Satan, the Adversary,
is only an allegorical figure, representing the evil of the world, both
physical and moral. He was sent by God to test man for his own good, to
develop him morally. He is "the spirit that ever wills evil, but achieves
the good," and therefore in the book of Job he actually comes before God's
throne as one of the angels.(559)

2. In tracing the belief in demons we must draw a sharp distinction
between popular views and systematic doctrine.(560) During the Biblical
era the people believed in goat-like spirits roaming the fields and woods,
the deserts and ravines, whom they called _Seirim_--hairy demons, or
satyrs,--and to whom they sacrificed in fear and trembling.(561) As Ibn
Ezra ingeniously pointed out in his commentary, Azazel was originally a
desert demon dwelling in the ravines near Jerusalem, to whom a scapegoat
was offered at the opening of the year, a rite preserved in the Day of
Atonement cult of the Mosaic Code.(562) In fact, in ancient Babylon,
Syria, and Palestine diseases and accidents were universally ascribed to
evil spirits of the wilderness or the nether world. The Bible occasionally
mentions these evil spirits as punitive angels sent by God. In the more
popular view, which is reflected by apocryphal and rabbinical literature,
and which was influenced by both the Babylonian and Persian religions,
they appear in increasing numbers and with specific names. Each disease
had its peculiar demon. Desolate places, cemeteries, and the darkness of
night were all peopled by superstition with hosts of demons (_Shedim_), at
whose head was _Azazel_, _Samael_; _Beelzebub_, the Philistine god of
flies and of illness;(563) _Belial_, king of the nether w