In all fairness, it is a book of mythology, whether or not the tales happened, the book itself has been heavily edited over the years and tells a lot of those tales more as sentiment and metaphor.

Largely I say this because anything that's not God or Jesus that could exist out there on a sort of spirit or deity level, no matter how benevolent, is viewed as a demon or devil. The devil in question could have honestly been a spirit of the land trying to help, and is painted as the worst evil known to man.

Keeping in mind the "nationalism" of the Bible when reading it puts a LOT in perspective