Orang Kristen modern seringkali mengidentikkan nama "Lucifer" dengan pemimpin malaikat yang memberontak melawan Allah dan mengalami kejatuhan sehingga menjadi iblis. Pemahaman umum yang seringkali kita dengar tentang Lucifer adalah sebagai berikut:

Lucifer dalam Alkitab adalah malaikat pemimpin puji-pujian di sorga. Ia diciptakan oleh Allah. Ia terkenal karena keindahannya dan kemegahannya. Hal ini membuatnya sombong dan ingin dipuja, menjadi sama seperti Allah. Karena pemberontakannya ini, ia dilemparkan oleh Allah ke bumi. Ia berhasil merekrut sepertiga dari berlaksa-laksa (laksa: puluhan ribu) malaikat di surga bersamanya. Sejak ia jatuh dalam dosa, ia menjadi tuan dari kegelapan, kekacauan, ketidakteraturan, kerusakan, dsb. Lucifer dalam kitab Kejadian menggunakan seekor ular untuk menjatuhkan Adam dan Hawa ke dalam dosa. Ia adalah pendusta dan bapa (sumber) dari segala dusta dan kebohongan (Yoh 8:44). Kedatangan Yesus ke dunia telah menebus manusia dari dosa dan mengalahkan Lucifer. Ia dilucuti, dan sekarang mengandalkan tipu muslihat dan kelicikannya untuk membinasakan manusia. Pada akhirnya nasibnya akan sangat mengerikan: dilemparkan ke dalam lautan api dan belerang dan disiksa selama-lamanya (Wahyu 20:10).

Darimanakah kita mendapatkan pemahaman semacam ini? Apakah Alkitab secara jelas memberi gambaran tentang seorang malaikat pemberontak yang bernama Lucifer? Pada bagian ini kita akan menelusuri sejarah kemunculan, penggunaan dan perkembangan istilah LUCIFER dalam konteks kekristenan.

Istilah Lucifer

Istilah Lucifer ini memasuki ruang lingkup religi ketika istilah ini diidentikkan dengan Yesaya 14:12. Istilah Ibrani dalam Yesaya 14:12 "heylel ben shakar" (artinya "bright son of the morning/dawn") diterjemahkan dalam Septuaginta dengan istilah "eosphorus" yang dalam bahasa Yunani merujuk pada Venus sebagai bintang fajar  dan dalam Latin Vulgata dipakai istilah "lucifer".

Istilah "Lucifer" berasal dari bahasa Latin, lux, artinya "sinar" dan ferre, yang berarti "membawa’" Menurut Oxford English Dictionary (OED) kata "Lucifer" memiliki sejarah yang menarik. Ada 2 arti penggunaan kata Lucifer ini yang berasal dari periode Old English atau periode Anglo-Saxon (sekitar 1000 M) hingga periode Middle English. Dan arti ini terus dipergunakan hingga abad modern ini. 

Lucifer adalan planet Venus

Lucifer adalah istilah Latin yang merujuk pada planet Venus, sang bintang fajar/pagi. Tetapi astronomi orang Romawi menyebut bintang pagi/fajar dengan istilah Venus. 

Venus termasuk dalam kategori inferior planet, artinya karena garis orbitnya terletak antara bumi dan matahari, maka Venus tidak dapat muncul di langit pada malam hari jika dilihat dari timur. Venus hanya dapat dilihat di sebelah timur pada pagi hari atau sebelum  matahari terbit atau di sebelah barat pada saat matahari terbenam selama sekitar 1 jam. Venus adalah benda ruang angkasa paling terang setelah matahari dan bulan.

Itulah sebabnya istilah ‘Lucifer’ seringkali diidentikkan dengan bintang fajar/pagi.  Salah satu referensi paling jelas sehubungan dengan pengidentikan Lucifer sebagai bintang pagi/fajar ini ditemukan dalam karya Pliny, "Natural History" yang ditulis sekitar tahun 50 M:

"Beneath the Sunne a goodly faire starre there is, called Venus, which goeth her compasse, wandering this way and that, by turnes: and by the very names that it hath, testifieth her emulation of Sunne and Moone. For all the while that shee preventeth the morning, and riseth Orientall before, she taketh the name of Lucifer as a second sun hastening the day..."

Untuk mengetahui ide tentang setan atau malaikat yang jatuh, kita harus melihat dari sumber-sumber lain di luar Alkitab, yaitu sejumlah literatur yang ditulis sekitar 200 SM-150 M, termasuk di dalamnya Apokrifa dan Pseudepigrafa. Literatur-literatur tersebut kebanyakan bersifat apokaliptis, yang menggambarkan perubahan-perubahan besar yang terjadi di dunia serta tentang akhir jaman. Melalui literatur-literatur itulah kita dapat melihat perkembangan gagasan atau ide tentang roh jahat.

Menurut literatur-literatur tersebut, sebenarnya kejahatan bukan merupakan esensi dan asal usul dari setan.  Salah satu literatur terkenal yang membahas tentang hal ini adalah Book of Enoch. Kitab ini menceritakan antara lain tentang ‘kecelakaan’ yang terjadi dalam kelompok para malaikat. Beberapa kelompok malaikat memberontak pada Allah dan akhirnya mereka dicampakkan dari sorga.  Sebuah tulisan orang Yahudi, The Life of Adam and Eve (Vita Adami et Evae) yang diperkirakan berasal dari 200 SM-200 M, memberi dukungan terhadap kisah ini. Menurut tulisan ini, setan bercerita kepada Adam dan Hawa bahwa kejatuhannya dari sorga merupakan akibat penolakannya menyembah Adam sebagai gambaran Allah.

Sebenarnya istilah Lucifer pertama kali muncul dalam tulisan-tulisan Origen (Ezekiel Opera iii.356 dan De Principiis book I chapter V). Dia menyatakan bahwa sebelum kejatuhannya, Lucifer adalah malaikat yang bersinar, tetapi setelah kejatuhannya dia terkenal sebagai setan. Menurut Origen,

... Before the ages, minds were all pure... offering service to God and keeping his commandments. But the devil, who was one of them, since he possessed free will, desired to resist God, and God drove them away. With him revolted all the other powers. Some sinned deeply and became daemons, others less and became angels; others still less and became archangels; and thus each in turn received the reward for his individual sin. But there remained some souls who had not sinned so very greatly as to become daemons, nor on the other hand so very lightly as to become angels. God therefore made the present world and bound the soul to the body as a punishment.

Dia mengembangkan idenya ini melalui penafsirannya terhadap beberapa rujukan ayat Alkitab, misalnya dalam Ayub, Yehezkiel dan Yesaya. Menurut Origen, Lucifer, Raja Tirus dan Leviatan dalam kitab Ayub, sama merujuk pada satu pribadi yang sama,  yaitu setan. Karena kesombongannya dan kecemburuannya pada Allah, setan dicampakkan dari sorga. 2 ayat rujukan yang paling terkenal adalah Yesaya 14:12 dan Yehezkiel 28:12-19.  

Again, we are taught as follows by the prophet Isaiah regarding another opposing power. The prophet says, "How is Lucifer, who used to arise in the morning, fallen from heaven! He who assailed all nations is broken and beaten to the ground. Thou indeed saidst in thy heart, I shall ascend into heaven; above the stars of heaven shall I place my throne; I shall sit upon a lofty mountain, above the lofty mountains which are towards the north; I shall ascend above the clouds; I shall be like the Most High. Now shalt thou be brought down to the lower world, and to the foundations of the earth. They who see thee shall be amazed at thee, and shall say, This is the man who harassed the whole earth, who moved kings, who made the whole world a desert, who destroyed cities, and did not unloose those who were in chains. All the kings of the nations have slept in honour, every one in his own house; but thou shalt be cast forth on the mountains, accursed with the many dead who have been pierced through with swords, and have descended to the lower world. As a garment clotted with blood, and stained, will not be clean; neither shalt thou be clean, because, thou hast destroyed my land and slain my people; thou shalt not remain for ever, most wicked seed. Prepare thy sons for death on account of the sins of thy father, lest they rise again and inherit the earth, and fill the earth with wars. And I shall rise against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and I shall cause their name to perish, and their remains, and their seed." (Isa. 14:12-22)

Most evidently by these words is he shown to have fallen from heaven, who formerly was Lucifer, and who used to arise in the morning. For if, as some think, he was a nature of darkness, how is Lucifer said to have existed before? Or how could he arise in the morning, who had in himself nothing of the light? Nay, even the Saviour himself teaches us, saying of the devil, "Behold, see Satan fallen from heaven like lightning." (Luke 10:18) For at one time he was lightning. Moreover our Lord, who is the truth, compared the power of his own glorious advent to lightning, in the words, "For as the lightning shineth from the light of heaven even to its height again, so will he coming of the Son of man be." (Matt. 24:27) And notwithstanding He compares him to lightning, and says that he fell from heaven, that He might show by this that he had been at one time in heaven, and had had a place among the saints, and had enjoyed a share in that light in which all the saints participate, by which they are made angels of light, and by which the apostles are termed by the Lord "the light of the world." (John 12:31, 16:11) In his manner, then, did that being once exist as light before he went astray, and fell to this place, and had his glory turned into dust, which is peculiarly the mark of the wicked, as the prophet also says; whence, too, he was called the prince of this world, i.e., of an earthly habitation: for he exercised power over those who were obedient to his wickedness, since "the whole of this world "--for I term this place of earth, world--"lieth in the wicked one," (I John 5:19) and in this apostate. That he is an apostate, i.e., a fugitive, even the Lord in the book of Job says, "Thou wilt take with a hook the apostate dragon," i.e., a fugitive. (Job 40:20) Now it is certain that by the dragon is understood the devil himself. If then they are called opposing powers, and are said to have been once without stain, while spot less purity exists in the essential being of none save the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but is an accidental quality in every created thing; and since that which is accidental may also fall away and since those opposite powers once were spotless, and were once among those which still remain unstained, it is evident from all this that one is pure either by essence or nature, and that no one was by nature polluted. And the consequence of this is, that it lies within ourselves and in our own actions to possess either happiness or holiness; or by sloth and negligence to fall from happiness into wickedness and ruin, to such degree that, through too great proficiency, so speak, in wickedness (if a man be guilty of great neglect), he may descend even to the state in which he will be changed into what is called an "opposing power." (De Principiis 1.5)

Agustinus dalam tulisannya City of God 11, menuliskan,

"And since these things are so, those spirits whom we call angels were never at any time or in any way darkness, but, as soon as they were made, were made light; yet they were not so created in order that they might exist and live in any way whatever, but were enlightened that they might live wisely and blessedly. Some of them, having turned away from this light, have not won this wise and blessed life, which is certainly eternal, and accompanied with the sure confidence of its eternity; but they have still the life of reason, though darkened with folly, and this they cannot lose even if they would. But who can determine to what extent they were partakers of that wisdom before they fell? And how shall we say that they participated in it equally with those who through it are truly and fully blessed, resting in a true certainty of eternal felicity? For if they had equally participated in this true knowledge, then the evil angels would have remained eternally blessed equally with the good, because they were equally expectant of it. For, though a life be never so long, it cannot be truly called eternal if it is destined to have an end; for it is called life inasmuch as it is lived, but eternal because it has no end. Wherefore, although everything eternal is not therefore blessed (for hell-fire is eternal), yet if no life can be truly and perfectly blessed except it be eternal, the life of these angels was not blessed, for it was doomed to end, and therefore not eternal, whether they knew it or not. "

In the one case fear, in the other ignorance, prevented them from being blessed. And even if their ignorance was not so great as to breed in them a wholly false expectation, but left them wavering in uncertainty whether their good would be eternal or would some time terminate, this very doubt concerning so grand a destiny was incompatible with the plenitude of blessedness which we believe the holy angels enjoyed. For we do not so narrow and restrict the application of the term blessedness as to apply it to God only, though doubtless He is so truly blessed that greater blessedness cannot be; and, in comparison of His blessedness, what is that of the angels, though, according to their capacity, they be perfectly blessed? And since these things are so, those spirits whom we call angels were never at any time or in any way darkness, but, as soon as they were made, were made light; yet they were not so created in order that they might exist and live in any way whatever, but were enlightened that they might live wisely and blessedly. Some of them, having turned away from this light, have not won this wise and blessed life, which is certainly eternal, and accompanied with the sure confidence of its eternity; but they have still the life of reason, though darkened with folly, and this they cannot lose even if they would. But who can determine to what extent they were partakers of that wisdom before they fell? And how shall we say that they participated in it equally with those who through it are truly and fully blessed, resting in a true certainty of eternal felicity? For if they had equally participated in this true knowledge, then the evil angels would have remained eternally blessed equally with the good, because they were equally expectant of it. For, though a life be never so long, it cannot be truly called eternal if it is destined to have an end; for it is called life inasmuch as it is lived, but eternal because it has no end. Wherefore, although everything eternal is not therefore blessed (for hell-fire is eternal), yet if no life can be truly and perfectly blessed except it be eternal, the life of these angels was not blessed, for it was doomed to end, and therefore not eternal, whether they knew it or not. In the one case fear, in the other ignorance, prevented them from being blessed. And even if their ignorance was not so great as to breed in them a wholly false expectation, but left them wavering in uncertainty whether their good would be eternal or would some time terminate, this very doubt concerning so grand a destiny was incompatible with the plenitude of blessedness which we believe the holy angels enjoyed. For we do not so narrow and restrict the application of the term blessedness as to apply it to God only, though doubtless He is so truly blessed that greater blessedness cannot be; and, in comparison of His blessedness, what is that of the angels, though, according to their capacity, they be perfectly blessed?

Konsep tersebut semakin dikembangkan oleh pendapat Tertulianus dalam tulisannya Against Marcion (Contra Marrionem v.11.17) yang menggambarkan iblis menyombongkan dirinya dengan mengatakan bahwa dia akan bertahta  di kerajaan sorga dan akan menyamai “Yang Maha Tinggi (dengan mengutip Yesaya 14:14).

Pengaruh Latin Vulgata Jerome dan Terjemahan KJV 

Terhadap perkembangan kata "Lucifer" dalam Yesaya 14:12

Dalam Alkitab versi bahasa Indonesia (LAI), kita tidak akan pernah menemukan kata Lusifer/Lucifer sama sekali. Hanya pada saat kita membuka Yesaya 14:12 pada Alkitab berbahasa Inggris King James Version (KJV), kita akan mendapati kata ini. Bandingkan beberapa versi Alkitab bahasa Inggris berikut dalam menerjemahkan Yes. 14:12:

Kemunculan kata Lucifer dalam KJV (dan versi-versi lain yang mengikutinya) menimbulkan polemik yang berhubungan dengan ke-akuratan terjemahan Alkitab kuno (KJV terbit pertama kali tahun 1612).  Dalam bahasa asli Alkitab PL, yaitu bahasa Ibrani, tidak pernah muncul kata Lucifer. Apalagi sebenarnya Yesaya 14:12 tidak sedang berbicara tentang kejatuhan malaikat, tetapi kejatuhan seorang raja Babel yang selama hidupnya telah menganiaya bangsa Israel. Bagian ini sama sekali tidak menyebutkan keterlibatan setan, baik dalam bentuk nama maupun referensinya. Dari konteksnya, Yesaya pasal 13-14 berhubungan dengan Babel (13:1: ucapan Ilahi terhadap Babel yang dinyatakan kepada Yesaya bin Amos) dan khususnya pasal 13 secara keseluruhan berbicara tentang penghukuman terhadap bangsa Babel. Pasal 14:1-3 merupakan kata-kata penghiburan terhadap bangsa Israel; selanjutnya ayat 4 merupakan seruan Tuhan agar bangsa Israel menyanyikan lagu ejekan terhadap bangsa Babel. Bumi dan pohon-pohon bersukacita (ay. 7-8) karena raja Babel yang sombong itu telah mati (9-20).        

Pengidentikan setan dengan Lucifer setidaknya memiliki keterkaitan dengan kemunculan istilah tersebut dalam terjemahan Latin Vulgata milik Jerome. Dalam sejarah diketahui bahwa terjemahan Latin Vulgata merupakan versi Alkitab resmi gereja Barat hampir selama 1 abad (sekitar 500-1500an M). Selama masa Reformasi pula, ketika orang-orang berusaha menerjemahkan Alkitab ke dalam bahasa mereka sendiri, setidaknya Vulgata menjadi sebuah referensi utama saat itu. Begitu pula yang terjadi pada terjemahan-terjemahan Akitab berbahasa Inggris. Menurut Oxford English Dictionary, kemunculan istilah ‘Lucifer’ di semua versi Alkitab berbahasa Inggris, dari masa Wycliffe hingga KJV, merujuk pada sebuah nama diri (proper name).

Jerome mempergunakan istilah Latin lucifer, yang sebenarnya berarti Venus (untuk merujuk pada bintang pagi/fajar) untuk menerjemahkan kata Yunani  e wsfo,roj (heosphorus) "dawn-bearer". Kata Ibrani untuk teks ini adalah  rx;v_-!B, lleäyhe (heilel ben schahar) yang berarti "helel anak shahar’" Helel adalah seorang dewa orang Babel atau Kanaan yang merupakan anak dari dewa Shahar.

Sepertinya saat memakai kata Lucifer dalam terjemahannya, Jerome tidak sedang menciptakan suatu karakter baru yang bernama Lucifer, tetapi dia memunculkan istilah Lucifer ini agar mudah dipahami oleh orang saat itu. Tetapi melalui tulisan-tulisannya yang lain (seperti dikutip Nicene and Post-Nicene Father vol. IV) ada indikasi bahwa dia menafsirkan Yesaya 14:12 sebagai rujukan kejatuhan setan.  

Dengan pemahaman di atas, sebenarnya ada suatu proses dan alasan tersendiri dari para penerjemah KJV yang perlu diketahui sehingga mereka memutuskan memakai kata "Lucifer" daripada "Son of Morning" Ketika para penerjemah KJV melakukan tugasnya, mereka mempergunakan beberapa terjemahan yang sumber awalnya berasal dari terjemahan Latin milik Jerome pada abad ke-4 M. Dengan menggunakan bahasa Latin-nya, Jerome menerjemahkan kata Ibrani lleyhe (heilel) yang secara literal berarti "bersinar" dengan kata "Lucifer". Perhatikan terjamahan Latin Vulgata dari Yesaya 14:12 berikut: quomodo cecidisti de caelo lucifer qui mane oriebaris corruisti in terram qui vulnerabas gentes.

Memang, ketika memakai kata Lucifer dalam Yesaya 14:12, para penerjemah KJV memberikan alternatif rujukan yang lain, yaitu "O day-starre" melalui pengggunaan catatan margin (garis tepi). Namun dengan adanya alternatif tersebut, memang ada semacam bentuk penafsiran lain yang lebih dipegang oleh para penerjemah KJV, yaitu Yesaya 14:12 sebagai rujukan terhadap kejatuhan setan.

Perkembangan Ide "Lucifer adalah malaikat yang jatuh (setan)"

Alkitab tidak memberi gambaran secara jelas tentang kejatuhan para malaikat dan alasan-alasannya. Salah satu tulisan di luar Alkitab yang sangat berpengaruh terhadap perkembangan konsep ini adalah Paradise Lost, karangan John Milton yang terbit tahun 1667.  Karya ini disajikan dalam bentuk puisi kepahlawan. 

Karya ini terdiri dari 12 kitab. Berikut akan digambarkan ringkasan isi masing-masing kitab sehingga kita dapat mengetahui pengaruhnya bagi kekristenan hingga sekarang ini:

Untuk Dipikirkan

Seandainya ada yang kurang setuju dengan pemaparan ini, renungkanlah hal-hal berikut.

Memang tidak dapat dipungkiri keterkaitan antara iblis dengan sinar atau terang (Luk. 10:18; 2 Kor. 11:14). Namun istilah "bintang timur"  juga muncul di bagian Alkitab lainnya (2 Pet. 1:19; Wahyu 2:28; 22:16) dan merujuk pada Sang Mesias.