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Because The Satan in the Jewish tradition still is a courtier in the Divine Court, and the Adversary of Man (not of God), and basically was more of a title than an actual name, and since there was a spiritual need for a boogey man, the angel Samael came to fulfil that role in Judaism. Samael is the "chief of Satans", he is the destroying Angel of Exodus (mashḥit), and some times even considered a fallen angel. Many sources claim his first appearance in the literary tradition (as Samael) is 1st Enoch, but I have read 1st Enoch, and he is not in it. Though Azazel who sometimes is conflated with Samael does appear in the Book of Enoch, Azazel is the one who teach humans how to make weapons, and is one of the Fallen Angels who follows Semyaza to, you know, force themselves on human women and siring the Nephilim. But the name Samael does not appear in 1st Enoch.
Now to be perfectly clear, in mainstream Jewish theology as it is today, there are no evil Angels, all angels including the Satan are servants of God. Samael is thus considered a for humanity problematic being, but still a servant of God. But especially in late antiquity and the Middle Ages Samael came to play the role Christianity had given Satan in Jewish lore, as the evil one. In the Apocalypse of Baruch (6th century Syraic translation of a Hebrew text written probably not to far after the destruction of Jerusalem, maybe around 100 ACE), a text ascribed to Baruch, the secretary of the Propher Jeremiah, Samael is associated with the Garden of Eden and the planting of the Tree of Knowledge, a sin for which he is banished from Heaven, he thus takes the shape of a snake, tempts Eve to eat a fruit from the tree, basically the role Christian have given Satan is here given to Samael.
In the Ascension of Isaiah, a text we have in fragments, though the 5th century Ethiopic edition is near complete, the text was possibly written in Hebrew or Aramaic in the 1st century, but every fragment surviving are based on a edition by a Christian editior in the 2nd century, and are thought to actually be a compilation of three different works, well here the names Samael, Satan and Belial are used as synonyms for the Devil character. During the Middle Ages Samael became seen as the leader of the rebellious angels in Jewish mysticism. In the Treatise of The Left Emanation a text considered kabbalistic, written by Rabbi Isaac ha-Kohen, written in the 1200s, Samael and Lilith are considered an evil alternative to Adam and Eve. This is I think the first reference to Samael and Lilith as a couple, but I might be wrong. Samael and Lilith at least became associated with each other moving forward. In this text Samael and Lilith are described as rulers of the left side, while God and the Shekhina (the female aspect of God in Kabbalah) as the rulers of the right side. Samael and Lilith are thus not only the anti- Adam and Eve, as in anti- humanity, but they are the anti- Gods too. Asmodeus is also mentioned as Samael's most important henchman, and married to Lilith's sister, because of course Lilith has a sister. In the Zohar (sigh, the Zohar, I am so glad other people understand this text, because I don't) Samael is described being a part of the Qlippoth (destructive evil forces ) where he is desribed as the "serpent's rider", and having mated with three "evil angels of sacred prostitution" (whatever that means): Eisheth Zenunim, Na'amah, and Agrat bat Mahlat.
In Gnostic traditions as seen in works such as the Apocryphon of John, On the origin of the Worlds and Hypostasis of the Archons (all from the Nag Hammadi library) Samael seem to be conflated with the Demiurge, Yaldabaoth.
Samael lore is fascinating, it seems to come from a need to copy the Christian Satan figure into a Jewish context, with often just giving him the attributes of Satan, and then it spun further into pairing him up with Lilith and into the mystical ideas of the Kabbalistic traditions.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Samael
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samael
Now to be perfectly clear, in mainstream Jewish theology as it is today, there are no evil Angels, all angels including the Satan are servants of God. Samael is thus considered a for humanity problematic being, but still a servant of God. But especially in late antiquity and the Middle Ages Samael came to play the role Christianity had given Satan in Jewish lore, as the evil one. In the Apocalypse of Baruch (6th century Syraic translation of a Hebrew text written probably not to far after the destruction of Jerusalem, maybe around 100 ACE), a text ascribed to Baruch, the secretary of the Propher Jeremiah, Samael is associated with the Garden of Eden and the planting of the Tree of Knowledge, a sin for which he is banished from Heaven, he thus takes the shape of a snake, tempts Eve to eat a fruit from the tree, basically the role Christian have given Satan is here given to Samael.
In the Ascension of Isaiah, a text we have in fragments, though the 5th century Ethiopic edition is near complete, the text was possibly written in Hebrew or Aramaic in the 1st century, but every fragment surviving are based on a edition by a Christian editior in the 2nd century, and are thought to actually be a compilation of three different works, well here the names Samael, Satan and Belial are used as synonyms for the Devil character. During the Middle Ages Samael became seen as the leader of the rebellious angels in Jewish mysticism. In the Treatise of The Left Emanation a text considered kabbalistic, written by Rabbi Isaac ha-Kohen, written in the 1200s, Samael and Lilith are considered an evil alternative to Adam and Eve. This is I think the first reference to Samael and Lilith as a couple, but I might be wrong. Samael and Lilith at least became associated with each other moving forward. In this text Samael and Lilith are described as rulers of the left side, while God and the Shekhina (the female aspect of God in Kabbalah) as the rulers of the right side. Samael and Lilith are thus not only the anti- Adam and Eve, as in anti- humanity, but they are the anti- Gods too. Asmodeus is also mentioned as Samael's most important henchman, and married to Lilith's sister, because of course Lilith has a sister. In the Zohar (sigh, the Zohar, I am so glad other people understand this text, because I don't) Samael is described being a part of the Qlippoth (destructive evil forces ) where he is desribed as the "serpent's rider", and having mated with three "evil angels of sacred prostitution" (whatever that means): Eisheth Zenunim, Na'amah, and Agrat bat Mahlat.
In Gnostic traditions as seen in works such as the Apocryphon of John, On the origin of the Worlds and Hypostasis of the Archons (all from the Nag Hammadi library) Samael seem to be conflated with the Demiurge, Yaldabaoth.
Samael lore is fascinating, it seems to come from a need to copy the Christian Satan figure into a Jewish context, with often just giving him the attributes of Satan, and then it spun further into pairing him up with Lilith and into the mystical ideas of the Kabbalistic traditions.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Samael
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samael
