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Samael Carries the Poison and Serves the Throne

Adam put on sackcloth after Abel died. A voice spoke from inside his chest. Samael still stood in the room, and God would not send him away.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Drop Above the Mouth
  2. Abel Would Not Leave the Heart
  3. God Named the Remedy
  4. The Accuser at the Sea
  5. The Hip That Never Straightened

The sword hangs above the mouth of every dying person. On the blade there is a single drop of poison. When the mouth opens for the last breath, the drop falls. Samael holds the sword. He holds it for God.

Samael Carries the Poison and Serves the Throne Click for full size

He is not a rebel. He holds a post.

The Drop Above the Mouth

One telling says the drop falls into the open mouth. Another says it falls into the heart. Either way the death is real, and the hand on the hilt is the same. His name is read as sam El, the venom of God, because the killing agent is not a stranger to holiness. It is administered by a minister.

In the throne room the hayyot, the living creatures, have six wings. The ofanim, the wheels, have six. Samael has twelve. He stands higher than the creatures who bear the chariot. He is also called the chief of accusers, the seducer, the destroyer, and the great prince in heaven. He serves one master. The titles do not cancel each other.

He is the heavenly patron of Esau, of Edom, of Rome. The empire that leveled the Second Temple has a sponsor with twelve wings and a sword. When Rome prospers, his hand is in it. When Israel suffers under Rome, a voice in heaven argues for that suffering with legal standing (Genesis 25:23). The voice is his. He was placed there.

Abel Would Not Leave the Heart

After Cain killed his brother, something moved through the world that had not moved before. Adam and Eve sat in sackcloth. They fasted. Adam wept for days without eating. In the silence of that grief a voice spoke, not from outside, from inside the chest.

The voice was Abel's.

It said to Samael, "Go hence. I have penetrated to the heart of Adam and to the heart of Eve. I will not quit their hearts, nor the hearts of their children, nor their children's children, unto the end of all generations."

Samael did not leave. The death-drop was already there, not hanging on a sword above a mouth, living now in the chest of every parent who would bury a child. Adam put on sackcloth. He fasted. He could not move the thing that had taken root inside him. No ritual displaced it. No fasting burned it out.

God Named the Remedy

God appeared to him. "My son," God said, "have no fear of Samael. I will give you a remedy that will help against him."

Adam asked what the remedy was. God said the Torah. Adam asked where the Torah was. God gave him the book of the angel Raziel, and Adam studied it day and night. The promise was not that Samael would be expelled. The promise was that he could be endured (Genesis 4:10). "It was at My instance that he went to you," God said. The accuser had not broken in. He had been sent.

The Accuser at the Sea

When Moses and Israel stood at the edge of the water with Pharaoh's army behind them, the threat was not only military. In heaven a case was being made. Samael took his place as accuser. He argued that Israel had worshipped idols in Egypt and had no more standing than the Egyptians chasing them. One nation fleeing, one nation chasing. His argument was that heaven should let both drown.

Moses cried out. God's answer, in the reading of (Exodus 14:15), was to stop calling and move. The sea would split. The accuser's case would fail. The case had been made formally, with the full authority of the chief of accusers, and it very nearly held. The sea opened not because Israel had nothing to answer for, but because God chose to override the accusation.

Samael lost that argument. He argued it anyway. That is his office.

The Hip That Never Straightened

Esau's angel wrestled Jacob through the night (Genesis 32:25). The old telling names that wrestler Samael. Jacob walked away with a limp and a new name. Samael walked away having touched the sinew of Jacob's thigh and changed the gait of Israel's patriarch for every morning after. This is contact. It is what happens when the accuser and the blessed person meet in the dark before dawn.

The empire of Rome is real. The body that limps into morning light is real. The drop of poison on the sword is real. Samael administers all of it, appointed and ranked and winged, and he does not work against the Holy One. He works as an instrument of the Holy One.

Adam fasted in sackcloth. God promised a remedy. The poison was already in the heart.

SamaelAngelsDemonsDeathAdamJudgment
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The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Jewish Encyclopedia, "Samael" (1906)Jewish Encyclopedia (1901-1906)

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906 · Public Domain

Prince of the demons, and an important figure both in Talmudic and in post-Talmudic literature, where he appears as accuser, seducer, and destroyer. His name is etymologized as = "the venom of God," since he is identical with the angel of death (Targ. Yer. to Gen. iii. 6; see also Death, Angel of), who slays men with a drop of poison ('Ab. Zarah 20b; Kohut, "Angelologie und Dämonologie," pp. 69, 71). It is possible, however, that the name is derived from that of the Syrian god Shemal (Bousset, "Religion," p. 242).

Samael (the angel of death) is the "chief of Satans" (Deut. R. xi. 9; Jellinek, "B. H." i. 125), quite in the sense of "the prince of the demons" mentioned in Matt. ix. 34; but, on the other hand, he is "the great prince in heaven." (Pirḳe R. El. xiii., beginning), who rules over angels and powers (ib.; Martyrdom of Isaiah, ii. 2). As the incarnation of evil he is the celestial patron of the sinful empire of Rome, with which Edom and Esau are identified (Tan. on Gen. xxxii. 35; Jellinek, l.c. vi. 31, 109, etc.). He flies through the air like a bird (Targ. to Job xxviii. 7), and, while the ḥayyot and ofannim have only six wings, he has twelve, and commands a whole army of demons (Pirḳe R. El. xiii.). In so far as he is identified with the serpent ("J. Q. R." vi. 12), with carnal desire (Yeẓer ha-Ra'), and with the angel of death, all legends associated with Satan refer equally to him, while as a miscreant he is compared to Belial ( = "worthless"; see collection of material in Bousset, "Antichrist," pp. 99-101).

All these descriptions of Samael show that he was regarded simply as the principle of evil that brought upon Israel and Judah every misfortune that befell them. Even at the creation of the world he was the Watcher, who ever sought evil and who began his malignant activity with Adam. His opponent is Michael, who represents the beneficent principle, and who frequently comes into conflict with him (comp. Jew. Encyc. viii. 536 et seq.; Lucken, "Michael," pp. 22 et seq.).

The evil nature of Samael may be illustrated by a number of examples. He and his demonic host descended from heaven to seduce the first human pair (Pirḳe R. El. xiii., beginning; Yalḳ. Gen. i. 25), and for this purpose he planted the vine, the forbidden tree of paradise (Greek Apocalypse of Baruch, iv.). He was himself the serpent, whose form he merely assumed (ib. ix.; "J. Q. R." vi. 328), and was one of the leaders of the angels who married the daughters of men (Gen. vi. 1-4), thus being partially responsible for the fall of the angels (Enoch vi., in Kautzsch, "Apokryphen," ii. 238 et seq.; Lucken, l.c. p. 29). His former wife was Lilith (Jellinek, l.c. vi. 109). He endeavored to persuade Abraham not to offer up Isaac, and, failing in his purpose, he caused the death of Sarah by carrying the news of the sacrifice to her (Gen. R. lvi. 4; Sanh. 89a et passim; Pirḳe R. El. xxxii.). He wrestled with Jacob (Gen. R. lxxvii. and parallels), and also took part in the affair of Tamar (Soṭah 10b). He brought accusations against the Israelites when God was about to lead them out of Egypt (Ex. R. xxi. 7; Bacher, "Ag. Pal. Amor." i. 25, 473), and was jubilant at the death of Moses because the latter had brought the Torah (Deut. R. xi. 9; Jellinek, l.c. i. 12 et passim). Entering into King Manasseh, Samael caused the martyrdom of the prophet Isaiah (Martyrdom of Isaiah, i., in Kautzsch, l.c. ii. 124); and he considered himself victorious over Michael when God decided that the ten pious scholars during the reign of Hadrian must suffer death (Jellinek, l.c. ii. 66, iii. 87, vi. 31). On the Day of Atonement, however, Israel has no fear of him (Lev. R. xxi. 4).

In the quotations from the Slavonic Book of Enoch (vi.) Samael is represented as a prince of the demons and a magician. He is, therefore, frequently mentioned in the cabalistic writings of the Middle Ages, from which Eisenmenger compiled a rich collection of passages ("Entdecktes Judenthum," i. 826 et seq.), to which must be added those in Schwab's "Vocabulaire de l'Angélologie" (p. 199). As lord of the demons, Samael is regarded as a magic being, and must be considered in the preparation of amulets, although there is no agreement as to his power and activity. He presides over the second "teḳufah" (solstice) and the west wind of the fourth teḳufah, as well as the third day of the week ("Sefer Raziel," 6a, 40b, 41b; see also Schwab, l.c.). In Hebrew amulets Samael is represented as the angel of death ("Revue de Numismatique," 1892, pp. 246, 251). Eve is supposed to have become pregnant by him (Targ. Yer. to Gen. iv. 1); and the cabalists add many details to this legend (Eisenmenger, l.c. i. 832 et seq.). The spot in the moon is supposed to have been caused by the filth of Samael (Menahem of Recanati, p. 140, c. 2).

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Shemot Rabbah 21:7Shemot Rabbah

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022 · CC-BY

In Shemot Rabbah, a compilation of rabbinic commentary on the Book of Exodus, they offer a powerful, if somewhat unsettling, answer.

The verse in question is God's instruction to Moses at the Red Sea: "Why are you crying out to Me?" (Exodus 14:15). But the rabbis at play here see something deeper. They ask, as the text puts it: “Have you composed your prayer [shuakha] with no trouble?” Now, most translations interpret shuakha as "your wealth." But this midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary), this interpretive story, understands it to mean "your prayer" or "your cry."

So, what does it mean to "compose your prayer"? Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat uses a proverb to explain: "Honor your doctor before you need him." In other words, prepare yourself spiritually before crisis strikes. Rabbi Shimon adds to this, saying: "Compose your prayers before your Creator, so you will not have enemies on high." It’s a preventative measure, a spiritual inoculation against the forces that might come against you.

Who are these "enemies on high?" This is where the story gets really interesting.

Rabbi Ḥama bar Rabbi Ḥanina introduces the angel Samael (the angel of death), often seen as an accuser, an adversary. He says that when Israel was leaving Egypt, Samael rose up to prosecute them. Rabbi Ḥama explains this with a parable: Imagine a shepherd crossing a river with his flock. A wolf appears, threatening the sheep. The clever shepherd throws the wolf a large ram, a distraction. "Let him scuffle with it," he thinks, "until we cross the river, then I will retrieve it."

Similarly, when Israel left Egypt, Samael accused them before God: "Until now, these people were worshipping idols, and you're splitting the sea for them?" So, what did God do? According to this midrash, He gave Samael Job.

Yes, that Job, the one who suffered so much. That Job was one of Pharaoh’s advisors, “a wholehearted upright man” (Job 1:1). God essentially says to Samael: "Here he is, in your control." The idea is that while Samael is preoccupied with Job, Israel can safely cross the sea.

Job, of course, doesn't understand this divine chess game. He cries out: "I was at peace and He crushed me" (Job 16:12). The midrash interprets this as: "I was at peace in the world and He crushed me…in order to render me as protection [matara] for His people." Job becomes a "target [matara]" so that Israel can be saved.

He laments: "He has handed me over to an evil angel" (Job 16:11), handed me into the hand of the accuser so that Israel would not emerge guilty at trial." That is why He cast me into his hands; that is: “He hast cast me into the hands of the wicked” (Job 16:11).

At that moment, God tells Moses: "I handed Job to the accuser. What should you do? 'Speak to the children of Israel and have them set forth.'" In other words, stop praying and start moving.

The notion that one person might suffer to protect others, that even suffering can have a divine purpose. This midrash from Shemot Rabbah forces us to confront the uncomfortable question of why bad things happen to good people, and how even in the face of immense suffering, there might be a larger, unseen plan unfolding.

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Legends of the Jews 4:32Legends of the Jews

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909) · Public Domain

The stories tell us it wasn't just a simple "get out!" It was a complex struggle, a cosmic battle, and a search for redemption.

Samael (the angel of death), often identified as the embodiment of evil, is gloating, perhaps, or still lingering around Adam and Eve. But then, a voice rings out – the voice of the slain Abel himself! According to Legends of the Jews, the voice emanates directly from the hearts of Adam and Eve, declaring to Samael, "Go hence! I have penetrated to the heart of Adam and the heart of Eve, and never again shall I quit their hearts, nor the hearts of their children, or their children's children, unto the end of all generations."

The story doesn't end there. Adam is overcome with grief. He’s heartbroken. He puts on sackcloth and ashes, a sign of mourning, and fasts for days on end. Finally, God appears to him. "My son," God says, "have no fear of Samael. I will give thee a remedy that will help thee against him, for it was at My instance that he went to thee."

Can you imagine Adam's relief? He asks, naturally, "And what is this remedy?"

And God answers, simply: "The Torah."

But wait... the Torah wasn't given yet. So, what does that mean? God then gives him the book of the angel Raziel. This book, filled with divine wisdom and secrets, becomes Adam's lifeline. He studies it day and night.

Now, here’s where things get even more interesting. The angels, seeing Adam's newfound wisdom, become jealous. According to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, they try to trick him, to cunningly destroy him, by calling him a god and prostrating themselves before him. Adam, of course, refuses. "Do not prostrate yourselves before me, but magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His Name together," he pleads.

But their envy is too strong. They steal the book of Raziel and throw it into the sea. Adam is devastated. He searches everywhere, but it's gone. He fasts again, grief-stricken.

Once more, God appears. "Fear not!" He says. "I will give the book back to thee."

Then, in a beautiful detail, God calls upon Rahab, the Angel of the Sea. Yes, there's an angel in charge of the sea! God orders Rahab to recover the book and return it to Adam. And Rahab, obedient to the divine will, does just that.

So, what does this story tell us? It's more than just a simple narrative. It's about the struggle against evil, the power of divine wisdom (the Torah), and the importance of humility. It suggests that even after the fall, there is a path to redemption, a way to reconnect with the divine. And sometimes, even angels need a little nudge in the right direction. What does this story mean to you?

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