The behavior of satan was complex. This OP is about the developmental character of satan [lowercase].
Was evil present in the Garden of Eden?
With hindsight, I think so. Jesus spoke to the antagonistic Jews in John 8:
The devil
lied and killed Adam and Eve's spiritual consciences.
The idea of a tester/tempter was first introduced in Genesis 3:
That was the first sign that there was a creature who questioned the word of God.
This beginning of an evil force was later portrayed by the satan against the upright Job.
God allowed the satan to test him, Job 1:
The satan appeared as a member of God's court, acting as a tester or prosecutor of human faith.
Strong's Hebrew: 7854. שָׂטָן (satan) — 27 Occurrences
The root meaning of שָׂטָן is "adversary," "opponent," or "accuser."
Using a definite article means that
satan was
not a proper personal name. With the definite article, the satan sounds like a job title. Further, the same H7854-satan appears in (ESV) 1 Samuel 29:
Here, satan refers to David. Elsewhere, the concept of satan was tied closely to God himself in the Balaam incident in the Aramaic Bible in Plain English Numbers 22:
Balaam was going the wrong path. God sent an adversary (satan) to correct him.
Later, Satan appeared in 1 Chronicles 21:
There is a parallel account in 2 Samuel 24:
The LORD used satan to accomplish his will against David!
Later still, the good prophet Micaiah saw the Lord permitting a spirit to lie in the mouths of Ahab's bad prophets to deceive Ahab. Micaiah said in 1 Kings 22:
By the time of the exile, something had changed fundamentally in Daniel 10:
This was angel against angel. It was an open rebellion. This satan/adversary opposition force opposed not only humans,
There were angelic forces for and against Daniel. These were two distinct wills but only one was for God.
In the NT, the satan concept became the person Satan, the devil, Matthew 4:
Demons became rampant, Luke 8:
Satan lost his position in heaven, Luke 10:
After Jesus' Cross, Satan, who accused us day and night before our God, was thrown down to the earth (Rev 12:9-11). Jesus now is our Advocate-Paraclete before God (1 John 2:1, Romans 8:34). Satan no longer had access to God.
Satan
lost his access to God when Jesus died on the Cross before Jesus ascended to the right hand of God.
Hebrews 2:
Over time, Satan's character has become increasingly independent of God. Even the concept of
testing/tempting has evolved. In the OT, God tested/tempted Abraham. After Satan went rogue, God tested people, and Satan tempted people. Right now, Satan is the
ruler of this world.
Paul used Satan in 1 Timothy 1:
Satan is the dragon in Revelation 20:
The concept of the satan changed over time. God used the serpent to test Adam and Eve in the Garden. God permits Satan to tempt us today. In the Garden, satan manifested itself as the serpent.
In the end, Revelation 20:
The word שָׂטָן (H7854 satan) appears only 27 times. It could be used as a noun, an adjective, or a verb. There is a more common word צָר (H6862 tsar), often translated as
adversary. H6862 appears 111 times.
In hindsight, Jesus told us that satan was a bad guy right from the beginning when he did the temptation works for God. God created the satan to tempt/test people in God's way. The satan had his own ambition and enjoyed accusing good people before God. He became more and more disobedient and conspired to overthrow God. Some bad angels and demons sided with him.
The Son of God came on earth to die for people's sins. After his resurrection, he ascended to the right hand of God and became our Advocate. The Accuser was kicked out.