"The Angel of the Lord waiteth with his sword that he may cut thee in two." Thus we see, that the term Satan is in the Old Testament applied to any Angel of the Lord sent upon an errand of punishment.

And the term itself is so far from being reproachful (for David is said, 1 Samuel xxix.

4, to have been "a Satan to the Philistines,") that I am not sure, that if I had by me a Hebrew concordance, but I could point out places, where God himself is represented as saying, that he would be an adversary or a Satan to bad men and wicked nations.

And though there is in the Old Testament a particular angel styled, by way of eminence, "The Satan," it is so far from being evident that he is an evil being, that I would undertake to give good reasons to prove that this distinguished angel is the real prototype, from whence the impostor Mahomet took the idea of his "Azrael," the "Angel of Death;" who, in the Koran, is certainly represented as being as much the faithful servant of God, as any of the Angelic Hosts.
In fine, the doctrine of the Old Testament upon this matter may be thus expressed:--"These be spirits created for vengeance, which in their fury lay on sore strokes; in the time of destruction, they pour out their force, sad appease the wrath of him that made them.
They shall rejoice in his (God's) commandment, and they shall be ready upon earth, when need is: and when their time is come, they shall not transgress his word." Ecclesiasticus xxxix.

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