Morning Star; Day Star
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Isa. 14:12)—the brilliant “shining one, son of dawn” in Isaiah’s taunt against the king of Babylon, whose proud ascent ends in humiliation. The Latin rendering lucifer means “light-bearer” or “morning star” and originally described the planet Venus at dawn. Christian writers later applied the passage typologically to Satan’s fall, but in its immediate literary setting Isaiah addresses an arrogant earthly ruler. This use should also be distinguished from Christ’s positive title “the bright morning star” in Revelation 22:16.