Calling the Devil "Lucifer" Is Not Biblical

Christian doctrine often departs from the Bible in big and small ways. This is one of the small ways. I was recently surprised to discover that Satan's name is not Lucifer, and that this idea stemmed from a bad reading of a single Bible verse.

During the Babylonian Exile, the Prophet Isaiah wrote of how the exile will end and the Jews will return to their homeland. This is the start of Isaiah 14:

The Lord will have compassion. .. Once again he will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. .. On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon.

What follows is 24 verses of mockery directed toward the King of Babylon. The King had invaded Judea, exiled the Jews from their homeland, and was now going to pay the price. The style is joyful, boastful, almost like a poem. Here are a few lines that are consistent with the tone of the whole thing:

How the oppressor has come to an end!
How his fury has ended!
All the lands are at rest and at peace; they break into singing.
Now that you have been laid low, no one comes to cut us down.
You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn!
“I will wipe out Babylon’s name and survivors, her offspring and descendants,” declares the Lord.

I highlighted a reference to the "morning star" in the above. It's what they called the planet Venus, which really does look like a bright star in the morning. Let's see that line again, this time the King James translation:

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Most modern translations render the word in question as "morning star", but for some reason King James felt the need to use a Latin term where an English one would have been more appropriate. That Latin term for "morning star" was "Lucifer", and somehow that caught on. This is the only place where that term appears in the Bible.

If you read the Isaiah 14 poem as a whole, it's filled with imagery about the high being brought low. That one line is consistent with that– one can hardly imagine a better example than a star falling out of the sky. It would be a stretch to claim that this one line, apart from the context of the poem, was talking about Satan. Taken as a whole, the intent of the poem is clear. The poem is not about Satan, and Satan's name is not Lucifer.

Upon Further Reflection...

Upon further reflection, however, I have one thing to add: Lucifer could be a demeaning name designed to emphasize the devil's ultimate end. Maybe it's not about how brightly he shines, but rather the height from which he will fall. Maybe it's a name we gave him to remind him that he will be torn down from on high, much like the King of Babylon was.

It makes sense, I guess.

However, I'm convinced that all of this would have been news to Isaiah. He was talking about the King of Babylon and no one else.