Devil serves God

[Rev. Rye]

Since nobody pointed it out, I should mention that in Judaism (at least as far as the Torah goes), Satan isn't quite the sort of figure that he is in Christianity. In Hebrew, it means "accuser" or "adversary." In the case of The Book of Job, Satan seems to be treated more as a prosecutor for God. If this isn't clear enough, Satan also appears in the book of Zechariah 3:1-7 (the only other time Satan is treated as an entity in the OT) as a parable for the cleansing of the sins of Israel, and he is specifically labeled a prosecutor:

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan[a] standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”

Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”

5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.

6 The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua: 7 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.

It's the New Testament that really solidifies the role of Satan as we understand it. It's just poor reading to project the Christian views of Satan onto Satan, the accuser of the Old Testament, because they're just two different characters who happen to have the same title.