Commentaries:
The first recorded sin in all of God's creation involved pride. Not only was what Lucifer thought about himself the overall cause of his downfall, it also corrupted the wisdom that should have kept him from falling. Pride blinded him to its own existence and to the impossibility of what he was trying to do! It set in motion a reaction to God that continues to today.
Beauty should not be confined to how Lucifer judged his outward appearance, because it is later expanded to splendor. God says of him, "You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty" (verse 12). He "had it all"—good looks, brains, skill, and power! And it got to him. His very gifts, his strengths, deceived him into misjudging his value in comparison to others, particularly God Himself.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Pride, Contention and Unity
Here we see the very beginning of pride. The marginal reference reads, "your heart was made proud." In Job 41:34, as part of the description of Leviathan, Satan is called "king over all the children of pride." God describes no mere animal but rather uses an animal as a type of the Devil.
Satan's pride led him into war with God (Isaiah 14:12-14). He has passed this proclivity on to his "children," and their pride in turn leads them to divide from each other and enter into wars against each other as their father does. Pride is a vine that produces a multitude of evil fruits—so many that some call it "the father of all sin." As long as the seed of pride is alive, it has a very good chance of springing forth in ugly conduct.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Pride, Humility and the Day of Atonement
His own splendor blinded him to what was real and true. What was real and true is that God will always be supreme. He will always be the chief authority in the universe, and no created thing can supplant its Creator. It was total hubris—overwhelming pride—that caused him to do this, because he was discontent with his position, and he presumptuously thought he could overthrow God. He even tried to stage a coup, and God slammed him right back down to earth.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Countering Presumptuousness
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God had made him perfect in wisdom, had He not? But Lucifer, or Hillel, corrupted that wisdom. In biblical terms, wisdom is the actual doing of righteousness. What happened in this situation was that Lucifer's doings, actions, behaviors, became corrupted. He should have known better because God had given him that wisdom. Early on, he had acted in wisdom, but his competitive attitude, his discontent, his pride, caused him to pervert his way of life.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Countering Presumptuousness
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God had created Lucifer a perfect spirit being, but He also gave him free moral agency, that is, the ability to choose to follow good or evil. Lucifer chose to become Satan the Devil, the Adversary, by allowing sin to mold his character. His rebellion against God sealed and hardened his evil nature, and now he opposes all that is good, right, and godly (Matthew 13:38-39; I Peter 5:8; Revelation 9:11; 12:9-10).
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Basic Doctrines: Satan's Origin and Destiny
Lucifer is not a snake, a serpent, or a crocodile. He is not what men like to picture him as being. He was a powerful, supremely intelligent, beautiful free-moral agent—an angelic one. But because he could not control his thoughts in making comparisons and evaluations, his intellect, authority, and his beauty led him to feel superior to others, to misuse them and circumstances solely for his benefit.
Perhaps even his knowledge of God's plan affected him. Perhaps he knew God was eventually going to create man and give him the potential to enter into the God-Family. Knowing how he was, with thoughts beginning to arise about how beautiful, intelligent, and powerful he was, and what an important position he had—and he would have to serve these clay things made in God's image, and prepare them to become greater than he? What a put-down! It is certainly possible that he thought such things, and maybe his pride motivated him to thwart that plan. His pride began plowing the way, to move him in another direction, one against God. He felt that he had a better way, which began with knocking God from his throne.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Faith (Part 6)
"Lucifer" means "Light-Bringer" or "Day Star." Ezekiel calls him "the anointed cherub who covers," which means he was one of the chief angels whose wings covered God's throne in heaven. He is specifically shown to be a created being, possibly the most beautiful, wise, and perfect of God's creations.
But this mighty angel grew proud and vain in his beauty. He began to become envious of God's authority over the universe, and over maybe millions of years, he schemed to induce other angels to support him in an attempt to overthrow God. When he finally led one third of the angels (Revelation 12:4) to war against God in heaven, God cast him and his angelic troops back to the earth (Luke 10:18).
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Basic Doctrines: Satan's Origin and Destiny
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Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Genesis 3:14
Numbers 16:3
Numbers 16:8-11
1 Peter 3:18-20
1 Peter 5:8
Library resources that contain this verse:
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