Satan is tormented by the image of EDEN, because it reminds him too much of a time when he was innocent and free to enjoy God’s bounty. Only at this moment is EDEN revealed to Satan; it was almost a tolerable image when created in his mind. The physical reality of EDEN’s splendor is more than he can bear. Not only can Satan literally view EDEN, he looks at it now with almost a sense of hope, the faint hope that it will be his after he tricks its inhabitants. EDEN is both a burden on his soul and a beacon of light in the dark depths of his consciousness.

Eden is like a pleasant fantasy. It is yet undisturbed by Satan’s presence. The word LAY recalls someone laying at rest or asleep, unaware of the misfortune that is about to befall him.

Satan’s SADness springs from several things. One is the knowledge of his own suffering, compared to the happiness before him. Another could be a sadness for the evil which he will bring upon this pure world, perhaps not because he wants to, but because it is his nature and he cannot fight it. Satan seems to be grieving for his own lost innocence and the innocence that will be lost that day in the garden, by people whom he envies but can sympathize with, to a degree. This may relate to the fact that Adam and Eve are about to throw their bliss away because of their doubts in God, just as Satan threw Paradise away because he doubted God’s power and intentions. Satan is GRIEVED by the loss of Heaven as his true home. He is mourning for what he used to have, and for a life that is now gone.

Lisa Stanton loyaltotheroyal@hotmail.com