Article by Cody Ray George
Samael
Unique in the angelic pantheon, Samael is described as having twelve wings instead of six. So much information about this once-deified entity has been collected over the course of written history, enough to solidify Samael as a figure that strays away from what one would traditionally consider an angel.
Known under several names such as The Venom of God, The Blind God, and The Left Hand of God, Samael — ever the busy-body — is an entity that pervades many texts such as the Talmud, the Bible, Kabbalah, and even non-canonical biblical texts such as The Hypostasis of the Archons. Each of his given titles are as powerful as the last, and each carries an unmistakable energy that holistically establishes the powerful entity known as Samael.
The Venom of God
In Talmudic mythology, Samael is referred to as being rebellious and spiteful. While he maintains service to God, this doesn’t mean he presents himself as a pleasant entity. Among his many names, he is also referred to as the main angel of death. While Samael could be compared to Satan, this would be an unfair judgment as he does not act in concordance of pure evil. In fact, a widely accepted consignment regarding Samael is his role in perpetuating God’s will as a tempter of man — one who encourages sin as a test employed by God.
Samael is likened to the serpent in the story of Adam and Eve. According to 3 Baruch 9:7, “And at the transgression of the first Adam, it was near to Samael when he took the serpent as a garment.” This implies that Samael engineered the fall of Adam and the temptation of Eve by taking a serpent as a mount or as an extension of himself.
Interestingly enough, the Talmud also describes Samael as the entity that successfully tempted Eve into a sexual encounter, therefore becoming the true father of Cain.
If we move the clock back, Adam’s first wife, Lilith, is known as the Queen of the Demons in early Jewish text prior to the creation of Eve. It is said that each demon Lilith begets comes from a sexual encounter with Samael. In the Zohar, Samael is said to have mated with entities such as The Princess of Evil, The Demon Who Seduced Adam, and The Demon That Haunts Air Itself.
The Blind God
In the Gnostic traditions, Sophia begets an entity later known as Yaldabaoth, a creature described to have the body of a serpent and the head of a lion. He exists in the clouds and believes himself to be above all others — above even that of God. The Apocryphon of John states, “Now the archon who is weak has three names. The first name is Yaldabaoth, the second is Saklas, and the third is Samael. And he is impious in his arrogance which is in him. For he said, ‘I am God and there is no other God apart from me,’ for he is ignorant of his strength, the place from which he had come.”
This paints Samael, also translated as The Blind God, as the very first sinner, having believed himself to supersede God.
The Left Hand of God
In the Ascension of Moses, the titular Moses is accompanied through the levels of Heaven by Archangel Metatron. During their foray into the final layer, Moses comes across an entity described as “so tall, it would take 500 years to cover a distance equal to his height” and that his body was covered in “glaring eyes”.
When asking Metatron what this creature was, Moses was wholly encumbered, knowing that this entity was indeed Samael, and his role is to take souls away from man. After hearing this, Moses dropped to his knees and prayed that such a terrifying creature never come close to any human’s soul.
Samael’s role is the accuser of the Heavenly Court and brings wrath to those who deserve it — honoring his title as The Left Hand of God.
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