Lucifer’s First Sin: The Need to Make a Buck!

Is money really needed to make society work?

We take for granted in today’s world the need to make money to survive. Our whole culture is wrapped up in the paradigm of working at some job, or producing some good or service, in order to provide for oneself and one’s family through the crucible of a job to make money. In the more modern states, this system has moved even further towards governments of new stealing some of that money via taxation and licenses form workmen and primary producers to fund programs that regulate these workers and producers. They take it from you to rule you.

We need to understand how this system originated, for it is not a system that originated with our Creator. That reality will be discussed in just a bit, but first of all lets examine a history of the use of money in the operation of the economies of men. That search will begin — you guessed it– with Satan the devil.

Where Money Began

We need to begin this search of the history of money with Ezekiel 28. Verse 12 states that this “King of Tyre” (a personification of Lucifer) was perfect and sinless, a fact that is repeated in verse 15.

“You were the real of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and Dimond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and piped was prepared for you on the day you were created [bara, “created or selected”]. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and fourth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created [bara, “selected”], till iniquity was found in you” (Ezekiel 28:12-15. 1

Note in verse 15 that the King of Tyre [Lucifer] was perfect [taniym, “entire, without blemish or spot”] (2), but then iniquity [evel, “perverseness, wickedness”] was found in him. What was this iniquity? The source of this wickedness is mentioned three times in Ezekiel 28.

Verse 16. “By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violate within, and you sinned.”

Verse 17. “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your slender ….”

Verse 18. “You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading ….”

trading [merchandise (verse 16) and traffic (verse 18) in the KJV] = rkullah, “trade (as peddled)”; from racal, “to travel for trading.”

violence = chamac, “violence, wrong, unjust gain”; from chamac (pronounced differently that the first Hebrew word), “to be violent, maltreat, take away violently.”

corrupted = shachath, “to decay, ruin, cast off.”

sanctuaries = miqdash, “a consecrated thing, palace, sanctuary.”

iniquities (verse 18) = avon, “perversity, moral evil.”

iniquity (verse 18) = even, “perverseness, wickedness.”

It is clear here that something major changed in the thinking of Lucifer to bring about even and perversity within his formerly flawless character. He defiles the perfection and sanctity of Eden, the throne or garden of Elohim, resulting in his being cast out as a profane thing from the government (mountain) of God (Ezekiel 28:16). He was the almighty Father, cast to the ground, and he would ultimately be burned up and millennium is described in Revelation 20:9-10. Apparently Satan, the devil, will not relish the idea of having to be a cast into the bottomless pit for eternity, about this 1,000 year experience of such frustration (Revelation 20:1-3), and will chose to be destroyed. Spirits can apparently be destroyed by remaining physical while being “burned ip”, likely in a spontaneous combustion event (…” I brought fire form your midst…”; Ezekiel 28;18).

What was Lucifer’s – Satan – error in merchandizing? The error was apparently buying and selling for personal profit, and actively that was standard in the ancient world of the Canaanites, for the word Canaanite [Knaaiy] literally means “peddler”, one who buys and sells goods. Would it not make sense that these notoriously evil people – idol worshipers, sexual deviates, and less people – would walk in the footsteps of the arch-enemy of mankind, and traffic in merchandise as he did? Would it also not make sense that all of society since Adam would develop an economic system patterned after the devil?

Notice that at the very end of the age, when Babylon falls, it is the shipping magnates who ply the oceans that are the “… great men of the earth …” (Revelation 18:23), for they traded in just about everything one could imagine: gold, silver, precious stones, silk, scarlet, wood, ivory, metals, spices, perfumes, wine, oil, grain, flour, cattle, sheep, horses, vehicles, and slaves (Revelation 18:12-13). These are the things that are produced on one country with cheep labor, shipped by containers and in ship holds, and then sold in another country for a profit. In the process, the workmen who produce the items are usually shortchanged, such as in sweat shops in China, Pakistan, or Mexico, and the price of the items is elevated so the shippers and middle men can recap the vast majority of the profit. This process is described in James 5:1-6.

“Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped in treasure in the last days. Indeed, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and he cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth. You have lived on the earth in please and luxury; and you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he dose not resist you.”

The Error of Merchandising

It is then fair to say that merchandising, defined as “that part of marketing involved with promoting sales of merchandise,” is inherently wrong … at least in an Edenic, perfect sense? We read that “The laborer is worthy of his hire” (Luke 10:7), but this is referring to people working for a living, not those who are taking goods they produce and reselling the for profit. One could argue that there is nothing wrong with paying a farmer for his grain, transporting it to a terminal, and selling it to a shipper ho then transports it to China and sells it for profit The Chinese need the grain, and will buy it and use it … so what is the problem?

The problem is that the grain markets determine the prices paid to the farmer, and they are very low in terms what he ought to be paid; the big markups in price go to the financiers and shippers, who recap millions of dollars while generating nothing productive. The same can be said for the makers of breakfast cereals, for example. In the supermarket, and 18-oz box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes may cost $2.20 (see above).(3) The farmer reaps about 10-cents of this total. Here is a breakdown of costs for this box of breakfast cereal. The farmer’s share of other food items is also very small, as the table above shows.4

Similar pictures could be drawn for clothing, automobiles, machinery, and any number of items. The raw materials – grains, iron, ore, petroleum, etc. – used to produce an item are but a small fraction of the final cost to the user, and by the time the items reaches the user its price has skyrocketed. This is a display of the merchandising which Satan the devil, the price of he power of the air (II Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2), has authored within society. This system could not be possible without the prevalence of cities – authored this side of the Flood by Nimrod, an agent of Satan (Genesis 10: 10-12) – and the concurrent ride of a money system which is essential fo these “great men” of the earth to rob the fruits of the land and its workers, and amass their wealth.

A Very Brief History of Money

It is impossible to review a history of money in such a short paper — whole treatises have been written on the subject — but a short review is possible and will be attempted here. Money is defined as “standard pieces of gold, silver, copper, or other metals, stamped by the governemnt authority, and used as a medium of exchange and measure of value.”(5) However, precious metals have been removed from paper money as a standard for exchange in the Western world, and other items have been used throughout history to represent goods and services. The definition of money could better be termed, “any substance or article that can be exchanged for goods or services, such as cowry shells, metals coins, sticks, credit cards, or even virtual digits.”

The history discussed below will cover the period from the Flood up to the present time …. from about 2347 BC. to today.6 Surely money systems and credit existed before the Flood, but were have no record of them.

Early Babylon and Mesopotamia (about 2300 B.C. to about 500 B.C.). While there are no definitive records of coins during the early part of this period — and barter was used, especially among the poor — there is plenty of evidence that credit money was a big issue, situated around the temple. A trading intermediary would connect trading partners and realize profits form the transaction. Temples were not just religious centers, but economic and legal centers, officiated by temple scribes; religious and commercial spheres were integrated. Some ancient loan documents have pagan gods as creditors, and other documents formulate vows to the gods in legal loan terminology. With the temple as the center for organization loans, its profit-making potential was huge. Several authorities show that credit was pervasive in Babylon, so we can reliably say that money and banking had their origins there.

During this time the Old Testament books like point out the use of money, as when wealthy Abraham was given 1,000 pieces of silver Abimelech for Sarah’s use (Genesis 13:2; 20:16). Abraham bought the cave of Machpelah form Ephron for 400 shekels of silver (Genesis 23:14-16), Jacob paid 100 kesitahs for a field at Shalem (Genesis 33:19), and Achan stole 200 shekels of silver and a tongue of gold weighing 50 shekels (Joshua 7:21).

In the East, jewels have been recognized for their value, and precious metals were weighted to ascertain their relative value, as with the presents to Rebekah (Genesis 24:22). Egyptian money was made into rings, during the time that the sons of Jacob carried bundles of money of a certain weight to Egypt to but grain (Genesis 13:35; 14:21). Other instances of coinage as a representation of wealth can be found in II Kings 12:9 (Jehoiada making a chest of money), Exodus 30:13-15 (Saul’s servants having only a fourth part of a shekel to give the prophet), and the widespread use of coins for the temple and ceremonies of ancient Israel. Credit for making the first coins is given to Lydians of Asia Minor by Herodotus, which were of gold … about 860 B.C.

500 B.C. to 100 B.C. More modern coins were fast out of lumps of silver and stamped with the images of different gods and emperors, varying with their location. Some of the earliest coins were forged in Turkey, but the Greek, Persioan, Macedonian, and Roman Empires followed suit with the rise of their kingdoms. Credit was a major item of income for temples and wealthy leaders.
100 B.C. tp 1800 A.D. Along with the use of coins during this time, other items were also used for money, such as leather (white deer skin being popular in China), potlatch (the exchanging of gifts), and wampum (strings of beads made from clam shells). During this period the first paper money came into being. In 806 A.D., in China, paper banknotes appeared and were used in the 1400s. These banknotes grew rapidly to the point that their value depreciated rapidly, so by 1455 they disappeared for several hundred years. By 1500, paper banknotes had appeared in Europe, but not until about 1800 were they common.
1792 A.D. to 1816 A.D. During this period the United States began typing its currency to gold and silver due to the 1792 Mont and Coinage Act. In 1816, England officially ties its currency to gold so that a fixed number of banknotes was linked to a specific amount of gold, thus controlling inflation.
1930s A.D. to the early 1970s A.D. With the Great Depression, the gold standard was phased out and personal gold holdings were confiscated, and its price was increased, devaluing the value of paper currency representing the gold. From 1945 to 1971 A.D. the Bretton Woods system was in operation.
1970s A.D. to the present. In the most countries only paper currency is used, whose value is regulated by central banks and government regulations. Beginning in 2009 A.D., cryptocurrencies, or digital money, made their appearance, so alongside credit cards and debit cards money has taken on many forms.

Conditions in Eden

Let us now divert from present world influenced by Satan and his economic system and consider the conditions in the Garden of Eden … which according to Ezekiel 28:13 and 18 was — and is — the very seat of the Eternal’s government on earth. Lucifer was in Eden, the “garden of God,” and it was out of this “mountain of God” that he was cast.

This Eden is described in Genesis 2:8 and 9 as a most beautiful place, the epitome of an environment suited for the ultimate enjoyment of living and coming with Elohim and all of the creation.

“The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Yahweh Elohim then “… took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend [abad, “serve or work”] and keep [shamar, “hedge about, protect, keep”] it” (Genesis 2:15), instructing him to eat the fruit of any tree except that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (verses 16 and17). This Eden is derived from the Hebrew word eden, and means “pleasure,” and is translated in different places as “delicate, delight, and pleasure”. It was the most perfect environment possible for a human being to live, delighting the senses, without worries or cares or pain. The work Adam was given was not difficult, but highly rewarding, for we read a bit later in Genesis 3:19, after Adam an Eve’s expulsion from the Garden, that in order to procure food they would have to sweat … meaning hard labor would be required. This requirement is in opposition to the bucolic conditions in which they were to obtain food from fruit trees and other plants in the Garden. Here is what Josephus has to say.(7)

“He [Cain] also introduced a change in that way of simplicity wherein man lived before; and was the author of measures and weights, and whereas they lived innocently and generously while they knew nothing of such cares, he changed the world into cunning craftiness. He first of al set boundaries about lands; he built a city, and fortified it with walls, and he compelled his family to come together to is; and called that city Enoch, after the name of his eldest son Enoch.”

Here we see the enemy of the Creator — Cain — changing the joyous, prosperous ways of living, without weights and measures, and without define property lines, to one of control and oppression … the control of people by other people, not encouraging direct contact with the Creator. What Josephus emphases in his writing is that there were no weights and measures before Cain introduced them, reinforcing the fact that in the Garden of Eden there was no commerce — no need for scales and vessels to quantify things, especially food items — and people could recap of the fruit and other food items that grew up naturally and abundantly across the landscape. Apparently the Edenic style of economy continued for some time after Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden. The condition apparently continued until Cain introduced control mechanisms: barter of items of equal value, and perhaps coinage as well.

Fast forward to the post-Flood period, when Nimrod repeated in almost identical fashion efforts to control his fellow citizens on the Plains of Shinar. Not only did he and his evil compatriots build cities such as Nineveh, Rehboth, Ir, Calah, and Resen (Genesis 10:11-12), but they went on to build a tower a Babel (Genesis 11:1-4), to further unify the tribes of that area under his control, for “He was a mighty hunter [of men] before [in place of] the Lord” (Genesis 10:9). Nimrod and his government certainly repeated the commercial system of weights and measures that Cain had adopted, so we can truthfully say that a money system was developed shortly after the Flood, perhaps as early as 2250 B.C. Since Nimrod was the grandson of Ham, then Nimrod would be contemporaneous with Salah, the grandson of Shem, who was about 2311 B.C.

A Contrast of God’s Economy to That of Satan’s

With a bit of background on the no-money and no-debt economy of Eden, and the money-debt economy of Satan that affects the entire world, let us compare the two systems in a bit more detail. We see affects the entire world, let us compare the two systems in a bit more detail. We see the system of the Almighty, as revealed through Scripture, giving freedom and liberty to individuals. This liberty is based upon the spirit of God dwelling in people (II Corinthians 3:17; Romans 8:21; Galatians 5:1, 13; James 1:25; 2:12)’ and along with that freedom comes a system of economics that grants freedom of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. It is a system based on love and selflessness, the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), free of debt except the debt of love owed to others (Romans 13:8), and requiring no money and standardization of prices and exchange rates. Notice what Isaiah says.

“Ho! everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come by and eat. Yes, come, by wine and milk without money [kecept, “silver”] and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what dose not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance” (Isaiah 55:1-2).

Is this not an allusion to the perfect economy that requires no money? We are admonished to give freely to those that ask of us for some need (Luke 6:30; Matthew 5:24; Proverbs 21:26; Deuteronomy 15:7-10), to supply the needs of others freely if we are able by working at a job with our hands (Ephesians 4:28) … to visit the poor and needy and assist them in their affiiation (Matthew 25:3-40; James 1:27). We know also that the borrower is the servant of the lender Proverbs 22:7).

“The rich rule [mashal, “to rule, have domination over”] over the poor, and the borrower is the servant of the lender.”

Such a relationship between men — the rich and the poor, and the borrower and lender — is the antithesis of Godly government. Our Creator has ordered His government as a brotherhood among the eclesia, as brothers of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29), not with men ruling over men as in today’s world. James castigated the rich for giving preference to the rich at meetings (James 2:1-5). We can see that money and debt play a huge role in creating and maintaining this erroneous hierarchy of mankind, a hierarchy that has brought on wars, poverty, and suffering beyond our imagination!

The Consequences of Merchandising

We have seen that the Adversary’s first sin, the one that resulted in his being cast out of the heavenly Zion, was merchandizing. We are not aware of exactly how that sin occurred, but I have a theory. In the pre-Adamic civilization — I believe there was a society on earth before the renewed Eden in Adam’s time described in Genesis 1 — it is possible that Lucifer was the ruler of that society. During that time he had access to the throne of Elohim, as described in Ezekiel 28:13-16, but for some reason he decided to heap up wealth for himself through buying and selling — merchandising — and made himself wealthy in physical goods, which was a consequence of pride and self-aggrandizement. Isaiah 14:13-14 states,

“For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation [moed, “foxed place”] on the farthest sides on the north; I will ascend above the heights of clouds, I will be like the Most High.”

Clearly Lucifer was on a mission to glorify himself and become equal with our heavenly Father. His merchandizing efforts are tied to this effort, to enrich himself and strive to elevate himself above the other spirits in the spirit realm. Yet, our Father has a plan for him, as He dose for each of us, and each mansion so reserved (John 14:2) is a responsibility based upon love and service to others, grounded in great humility (Isaiah 66:2; John 13:1-16). Unless one humbles as a little child be cannot become a giant in righteousness (Matthew 18:2).

Let us not be like the world and put our trust in material things like the Adversary did, which cut him off from God. Money and material wealth can be a great driving force to draw a person away form the Creator, for the love of it is the root of all evil (I Timothy 6:10). Better it is to not have it available at all then to be tempted by it and fall into sin. Though Abraham was a very wealthy man and yet is the father of the faithful (Genesis 13:2; Galatians 3:9, 29), our Savior said that “… a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven;” it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for him to enter God’s kingdom (Matthew 19:23-24). Having little physical wealth brings humility … a most precious and essential trait for God’s people. Money tends to drive a wedge between people and God!

Of course we know that in today’s world money is a reality. We do indeed it to survive. However, by knowing the history of its introduction into society after Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden of Eden, we can appreciate what is has done to further Satan’s goal of government dominations over people everywhere through money, credit, and banking. This fact gives insight the fact that Yahweh prohibited usury charged against fellow Israelites (Deuteronomy 23:19), and helps us paint a vision of the next world — the wonderful world of tomorrow in which love will replace covetousness, and the eight-to-five job needed to make dollar to survive will be replaced by free service to one’s follow man.

Our Savior made it plain tat we should not be anxious over where the funds needed to sustain ourselves and our families will come form. He stated,

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on .Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall I eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear/’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these this shall be added to you” Matthew 6:25-33.

What an incredibly beautiful future we have to look forward to, one provided for by our tending and keeping the worldwide Garden of Eden that is prophesied to come (Acts 3:19-21). It will be a time in which Babylon and all of its trappings will be utterly destroyed, and a new Edenic world will be ushered in, one where money will not trouble us and control us as it dose in this percent day. Poverty will be annihilated, as will the accumulates of billions by the few. God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34-35; James 2:9), and he will uplift all of mankind to the pinnacle if fulfilment and joy when their lust for power and position is made of no effect … when sin and death no longer hold sway in a renewed world!

Bibliography

All Biblical quotations are form the New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated; Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982.
Hebrew and Greek word definitions have been obtained from the New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Cordordance of the Bible, by James Strong, with dictionaries and contributations by J. Kohlenberger, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee, 2001.
C. Mayer, Numbering-crunching a bown of flakes, The Washington Post, September 5, 1991.
Anonymous, The farmer’s share, National Farmer’s Union, Washington, D.C., https://nfu.org/farmers-share/.
M. Agnes and D. Guralnk (editors), Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, 2004.
Extracted from Anonymous, The history of money — a walk through time, Provident Metals, https://nfu.org/farmers-share/; Anonymous, from barter to bits: history of money, https://www.mybloggertricks.com/2018/06/barter-to-bits.html; R. Baker, The implausibilty of the barter narritive and credit money in ancient Babylon, The Developing Economy, Volume 1, Number 1, 2014.
F. Josephus, Josephus: Complete Works, The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1, Chapter 2, Section 2, Translated by W. Whiston, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1960.