adversary

In the OT, anyone (or anything) standing in the way of the completion of God’s will or opposing God’s people, either collectively or individually (2Sam 19:22; 1Kgs 5:4; 1Kgs 11:25; Ezra 4:1). “Adversary” is the literal meaning of the Hebrew word satan, and the idea eventually developed that Satan was the adversary (Job 1:6-2:7). In certain NT passages, the term is also used with this connotation (1Pet 5:8; 1Tim 5:14-15).