Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them.
Parallel Translations
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Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them.
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Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
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Now it fell upon a day, that the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Job 1:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 2:1 Again, on the day when the God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan came also among them to present himself before Yahweh.
- Job 38:7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
- Zechariah 3:1 He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.
- Revelation 12:9-10 The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ has come; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.
- 1 Kings 22:19 Micaiah said, “Therefore hear Yahweh’s word. I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
- Genesis 6:4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
- 1 Chronicles 21:1 Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to take a census of Israel.
- Matthew 18:10 See that you don’t despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
- John 6:70 Jesus answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”
- Genesis 6:2 God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.
- Psalms 103:20 Praise Yahweh, you angels of his, who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word, obeying the voice of his word.
- Luke 3:38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
- Daniel 3:25 He answered, “Look, I see four men loose, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are unharmed. The appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, the Angels, which are called the sons of…
Meaning, the Angels, which are called the sons of God, because they are willing to execute his will.
Because our infirmity cannot comprehend God in his majesty, he is set forth unto us as a King, that our capacity may be able to understand that which is spoken of him.
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This declareth, that although Satan be adversary to God, yet he is compelled to obey him, and do him all homage, without whose permission and appointment he can do nothing.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the…
Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Ver. 6. Now there was a day] Haply that day wherein Job’s children were feasting their last. The Rabbis say the first day of the year, and some say the Sabbath day; but who told them so? This is to intrude into things which they have not seen, Col 2:18, and whereof there is neither proof nor profit. Certain it is, that as God hath before all beginnings decreed all things, so he hath set and assigned the times or seasons which he hath put in his own power, Act 1:7, when everything shall come to pass as himself hath appointed. Now then, saith Beza, the time being come which he prefixed for the actual accomplishing of that he had decreed concerning Job, he revealed the same to Satan (being before altogether ignorant thereof), as whom he had appointed to be the chief instrument in executing his will and purpose.
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The sons of God] i.e. The elect angels, called the sons of God here and elsewhere; not because they are so by eternal generation, as Christ alone; nor by adoption and regeneration, as the saints, Joh 1:12; but by creation (as Adam is called the son of God, Luk 3:38) and resemblance: for they are made in God’s image, and are like him as his children, both in their substance, which is incorporeal, and in their excellent properties, which are life and immortality, blessedness and glory; wherein we shall one day be their equals, Luk 20:36.
Came to present themselves] This is spoken in a low language, for our better apprehension, by allusion to the custom of earthly princes, and their attendants and officers coming to give an account, or receive directions. The angels are never absent from God, Luk 1:19, but yet employed by him in governing the world, Eze 1:1-28., and guarding the saints, Heb 1:14. This the heathens hammered at, for both Plutarch and Proculus, the Platonist, say, that the angels do πορθμευειν, travel between heaven and earth, carrying the commands of God to men, and the desires of men to God, Iussa divina ferentes ad homines, et hominum vota ad deos.
And Satan came also among them] That old man slayer (envying Job’s holiness and happiness, as much as the good angels rejoiced in it and promoted it; for he was seen of angels of both sorts) would needs make one among those sons of God, not without God’s overruling power; although he regarded not so much God’s authority as wanted an opportunity and licence to do mischief. In reference to this history, George Marsh, martyr, in a certain letter of his, writeth thus to his friend: The servants of God cannot at any time come and stand before God, that is, lead a godly life, and walk innocently, but Satan comes also among them; that is, he daily accuseth, findeth fault, vexeth, persecuteth, and troubleth the godly, &c. Yet unless God do permit him, he can do nothing at all, not so much as enter into a filthy hog. But we are more of price than many hogs before God (Acts and Mon. fol. 1423).
Before the Lord] Or by, or near, the Lord. But can Satan come into the presence of God? Surely no otherwise (saith Mr Caryl, a grave divine) than a blind man can come into the sun: he cometh into the sun, and the sun shineth upon him, but he sees not the sun. Satan comes so into the presence of God, that he is always seen of God; he is never so in the presence of God as to see God.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain There was a day, i.e. a certain time appointed…
There was a day, i.e. a certain time appointed by God.
The sons of God, i.e. the holy angels, so called Job 38:7; Dan 3:25,28, because of their creation by God, as Adam also was, Luk 3:38, and for their great resemblance of him in power, and dignity, and holiness, and for their filial affection and obedience to him.
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Before the Lord, i.e. before his throne, to receive his commands, and to give him an account of their negotiations. Compare 1Ki 22:19; Zec 4:14; Luk 1:19. But you must not think that these things were really done, and that Satan was mixed with the holy angels, or admitted into the presence of God in heaven, to maintain such discourses as this with the blessed God, or that he had formal commission and leave to do what follows; but it is only a parabolical representation of that great truth, that God by his wise and holy providence doth govern all the actions of men and devils to his own ends; it being usual with the great God to condescend to our shallow capacities, and to express himself, as the Jews phrase it, in the language of the sons of men, i.e. in such manner as men use to speak and may understand.
Satan came also among them; being forced to come, and give up his account.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Job was not only so rich and great, but…
Job was not only so rich and great, but withal so wise and good, and had such an interest both in heaven and earth, that one would think the mountain of his prosperity stood so strong that it could not be moved; but here we have a thick cloud gathering over his head, pregnant with a horrible tempest. We must never think ourselves secure from storms while we are in this lower region. Before we are told how his troubles surprised and seized him here in this visible world, we are here told how they were concerted in the world of spirits, that the devil, having a great enmity to Job for his eminent piety, begged and obtained leave to torment him. It does not at all derogate from the credibility of Job's story in general to allow that this discourse between God and Satan, in these verses, is parabolical, like that of Micaiah (Kg1 22:19, etc.), and an allegory designed to represent the malice of the devil against good men and the divine check and restraint which that malice is under; only thus much further is intimated, that the affairs of this earth are very much the subject of the counsels of the unseen world. That world is dark to us, but we lie very open to it. Now here we have,
I. Satan among the sons of God (Job 1:6), an adversary (so Satan signifies) to God, to men, to all good: he thrust himself into an assembly of the sons of God that came to present themselves before the Lord. This means either, 1. A meeting of the saints on earth. Professors of religion, in the patriarchal age, were called sons of God (Gen 6:2); they had then religious assemblies and stated times for them. The King came in to see his guests; the eye of God was on all present. But there was a serpent in paradise, a Satan among the sons of God; when they come together he is among them, to distract and disturb them, stands at their right hand to resist them. The Lord rebuke thee, Satan! Or, 2. A meeting of the angels in heaven. They are the sons of God, Job 38:7. They came to give an account of their negotiations on earth and to receive new instructions. Satan was one of them originally; but how hast thou fallen, O Lucifer! He shall no more stand in that congregation, yet he is here represented, as coming among them, either summoned to appear as a criminal or connived at, for the present, though an intruder.
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II. His examination, how he came thither (Job 1:7): The Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? He knew very well whence he came, and with what design he came thither, that as the good angels came to do good he came for a permission to do hurt; but he would, by calling him to an account, show him that he was under check and control. Whence comest thou? He asks this, 1. As wondering what brought him thither. Is Saul among the prophets? Satan among the sons of God? Yes, for he transforms himself into an angel of light (Co2 11:13, Co2 11:14), and would seem one of them. Note, It is possible that a man may be a child of the devil and yet be found in the assemblies of the sons of God in this world, and there may pass undiscovered by men, and yet be challenged by the all-seeing God. Friend, how camest thou in hither? Or, 2. As enquiring what he had been doing before he came thither. The same question was perhaps put to the rest of those that presented themselves before the Lord, "Whence came you?" We are accountable to God for all our haunts and all the ways we traverse.
III. The account he gives of himself and of the tour he had made. I come (says he) from going to and fro on the earth. 1. He could not pretend he had been doing any good, could give no such account of himself as the sons of God could, who presented themselves before the Lord, who came from executing his orders, serving the interest of his kingdom, and ministering to the heirs of salvation. 2. He would not own he had been doing any hurt, that he had been drawing men from the allegiance to God, deceiving and destroying souls; no. I have done no wickedness, Pro 30:20. Thy servant went nowhere. In saying that he had walked to and fro through the earth, he intimates that he had kept himself within the bounds allotted him, and had not transgressed his bounds; for the dragon is cast out into the earth (Rev 12:9) and not yet confined to his place of torment. While we are on this earth we are within his reach, and with so much subtlety, swiftness, and industry, does he penetrate into all the corners of it, that we cannot be in any place secure from his temptations. 3. He yet seems to give some representation of his own character. (1.) Perhaps it is spoken proudly, and with an air of haughtiness, as if he were indeed the prince of this world, as if the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them were his (Luk 4:6), and he had now been walking in circuit through his own territories. (2.) Perhaps it is spoken fretfully, and with discontent. He had been walking to and fro, and could find no rest, but was as much a fugitive and a vagabond as Cain in the land of Nod. (3.) Perhaps it is spoken carefully: "I have been hard at work, going to and fro," or (as some read it) "searching about in the earth," really in quest of an opportunity to do mischief. He walks abut seeking whom he may devour. It concerns us therefore to be sober and vigilant.
IV. The question God puts to him concerning Job (Job 1:8): Hast thou considered my servant Job? As when we meet with one that has been in a distant place, where we have a friend we dearly love, we are ready to ask, "You have been in such a place; pray did you see my friend there?" Observe, 1. How honourably God speaks of Job: He is my servant. Good men are God's servants, and he is pleased to reckon himself honoured in their services, and they are to him for a name and a praise (Jer 13:11) and a crown of glory, Isa 62:3. "Yonder is my servant Job; there is none like him, none I value like him, of all the princes and potentates of the earth; one such saint as he is worth them all: none like him for uprightness and serious piety; many do well, but he excelleth them all; there is not to be found such great faith, no, not in Israel." Thus Christ, long after, commended the centurion and the woman of Canaan, who were both of them, like Job, strangers to that commonwealth. The saints glory in God - Who is like thee among the gods? and he is pleased to glory in them - Who is like Israel among the people? So here, none like Job, none in earth, that state of imperfection. Those in heaven do indeed far outshine him; those who are least in that kingdom are greater than he; but on earth there is not his like. There is none like him in that land; so some good men are the glory of their country. 2. How closely he gives to Satan this good character of Job: Hast thou set thy heart to my servant Job? designing hereby, (1.) To aggravate the apostasy and misery of that wicked spirit: "How unlike him are thou!" Note, The holiness and happiness of the saints are the shame and torment of the devil and the devil's children. (2.) To answer the devil's seeming boast of the interest he had in this earth. "I have been walking to and fro in it," says he, "and it is all my own; all flesh have corrupted their way; they all sit still, and are at rest in their sins," Zac 1:10, Zac 1:11. "Nay, hold," saith God, "Job is my faithful servant." Satan may boast, but he shall not triumph. (3.) To anticipate his accusations, as if he had said, "Satan, I know thy errand; thou hast come to inform against Job; but hast thou considered him? Does not his unquestionable character give thee the lie?" Note, God knows all the malice of the devil and his instruments against his servants; and we have an advocate ready to appear for us, even before we are accused.
V. The devil's base insinuation against Job, in answer to God's encomium of him. He could not deny but that Job feared God, but suggested that he was a mercenary in his religion, and therefore a hypocrite (Job 1:9): Doth Job fear God for nought? Observe, 1. How impatient the devil was of hearing Job praised, though it was God himself that praised him. Those are like the devil who cannot endure that any body should be praised but themselves, but grudge the just share of reputation others have, as Saul (Sa1 18:5, etc.) and the Pharisees, Mat 21:15. 2. How much at a loss he was for something to object against him; he could not accuse him of any thing that was bad, and therefore charged him with by-ends in doing good. Had the one half of that been true which his angry friends, in the heat of dispute, charged him with (Job 15:4, Job 22:5), Satan would no doubt have brought against him now; but no such thing could be alleged, and therefore, 3. See how slyly he censured him as a hypocrite, not asserting that he was so, but only asking, "Is he not so?" This is the common way of slanderers, whisperers, backbiters, to suggest that by way of query which yet they have no reason to think is true. Note, It is not strange if those that are approved and accepted of God be unjustly censured by the devil and his instruments; if they are otherwise unexceptionable, it is easy to charge them with hypocrisy, as Satan charged Job, and they have no way to clear themselves, but patiently to wait for the judgment of God. As there is nothing we should dread more than being hypocrites, so there is nothing we need dread less that being called and counted so without cause. 4. How unjustly he accused him as mercenary, to prove him a hypocrite. It was a great truth that Job did not fear God for nought; he got much by it, for godliness is great gain: but it was a falsehood that he would not have feared God if he had not got this by it, as the event proved. Job's friends charged him with hypocrisy because he was greatly afflicted, Satan because he greatly prospered. It is no hard matter for those to calumniate that seek an occasion. It is not mercenary to look at the eternal recompence in our obedience; but to aim at temporal advantages in our religion, and to make it subservient to them, is spiritual idolatry, worshipping the creature more than the Creator, and is likely to end in a fatal apostasy. Men cannot long serve God and mammon.
VI. The complaint Satan made of Job's prosperity, Job 1:10. Observe, 1. What God had done for Job. He had protected him, made a hedge about him, for the defence of his person, his family, and all his possessions. Note, God's peculiar people are taken under his special protection, they and all that belong to them; divine grace makes a hedge about their spiritual life, and divine providence about their natural life, so they are safe and easy. He had prospered him, not in idleness or injustice (the devil could not accuse him of them), but in the way of honest diligence: Thou hast blessed the work of his hands. Without that blessing, be the hands ever so strong, ever so skilful, the work will not prosper; but, with that, his substance has wonderfully increased in the land. The blessing of the Lord makes rich: Satan himself owns it. 2. What notice the devil took of it, and how he improved it against him. The devil speaks of it with vexation. "I see thou hast made a hedge about him, round about;" as if he had walked it round, to see if he could spy a single gap in it, for him to enter in at, to do him a mischief; but he was disappointed: it was a complete hedge. The wicked one saw it and was grieved, and argued against Job that the only reason why he served God was because God prospered him. "No thanks to him to be true to the government that prefers him, and to serve a Master that pays him so well."
VII. The proof Satan undertakes to give of the hypocrisy and mercenariness of Job's religion, if he might but have leave to strip him of his wealth. "Let it be put to this issue," says he (Job 1:11); "make him poor, frown upon him, turn thy hand against him, and then see where his religion will be; touch what he has and it will appear what he is. If he curse thee not to thy face, let me never be believed, but posted for a liar and false accuser. Let me perish if he curse thee not;" so some supply the imprecation, which the devil himself modestly concealed, but the profane swearers of our age impudently and daringly speak out. Observe, 1. How slightly he speaks of the affliction he desired that Job might be tried with: "Do but touch all that he has, do but begin with him, do but threaten to make him poor; a little cross will change his tone." 2. How spitefully he speaks of the impression it would make upon Job: "He will not only let fall his devotion, but turn it into an open defiance - not only think hardly of thee, but even curse thee to thy face." The word translated curse is barac, the same that ordinarily, and originally, signifies to bless; but cursing God is so impious a thing that the holy language would not admit the name: but that where the sense requires it it must be so understood is plain form Kg1 21:10-13, where the word is used concerning the crime charged on Naboth, that he did blaspheme God and the king. Now, (1.) It is likely that Satan did think that Job, if impoverished, would renounce his religion and so disprove his profession, and if so (as a learned gentleman has observed in his Mount of Spirits) Satan would have made out his own universal empire among the children of men. God declared Job the best man then living: now, if Satan can prove him a hypocrite, it will follow that God had not one faithful servant among men and that there was no such thing as true and sincere piety in the world, but religion was all a sham, and Satan was king de facto - in fact, over all mankind. But it appeared that the Lord knows those that are his and is not deceived in any. (2.) However, if Job should retain his religion, Satan would have the satisfaction to see him sorely afflicted. He hates good men, and delights in their griefs, as God has pleasure in their prosperity.
VIII. The permission God gave to Satan to afflict Job for the trial of his sincerity. Satan desired God to do it: Put forth thy hand now. God allowed him to do it (Job 1:12): "All that he has is in thy hand; make the trial as sharp as thou canst; do thy worst at him." Now, 1. It is a matter of wonder that God should give Satan such a permission as this, should deliver the soul of his turtle-dove into the hand of the adversary, such a lamb to such a lion; but he did it for his own glory, the honour of Job, the explanation of Providence, and the encouragement of his afflicted people in all ages, to make a case which, being adjudged, might be a useful precedent. He suffered Job to be tried, as he suffered Peter to be sifted, but took care that his faith should not fail (Luk 22:32) and then the trial of it was found unto praise, and honour, and glory, Pe1 1:7. But, 2. It is a matter of comfort that God has the devil in a chain, in a great chain, Rev 20:1. He could not afflict Job without leave from God first asked and obtained, and then no further than he had leave: "Only upon himself put not forth thy hand; meddle not with his body, but only with his estate." It is a limited power that the devil has; he has no power to debauch men but what they give him themselves, nor power to afflict men but what is given him from above.
IX. Satan's departure from this meeting of the sons of God. Before they broke up, Satan went forth (as Cain, Gen 4:16) from the presence of the Lord; no longer detained before him (as Doeg was, Sa1 21:7) than till he had accomplished his malicious purpose. He went forth, 1. Glad that he had gained his point, proud of the permission he had to do mischief to a good man; and, 2. Resolved to lose no time, but speedily to put his project in execution. He went forth now, not to go to and fro, rambling through the earth, but with a direct course, to fall upon poor Job, who is carefully going on in the way of his duty, and knows nothing of the matter. What passes between good and bad spirits concerning us we are not aware of.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Now there was a day when the sons of…
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord,.... This is generally understood of the angels, as in Job 38:7 who may be thought to be so called, because of their creation by the father of spirits, and their likeness to God in holiness, knowledge, and wisdom, and being affectionate and obedient to him; as also on account of the grace of election, and confirmation in Christ bestowed upon them, as well as because, in their embassies and messages to men, they represent God, and so may be called gods, and children of the Most High, for a like reason the civil magistrates are, Psa 82:6 to which may be added, their constituting with the saints the family of God in heaven and earth: these, as they stand before God, and at his right hand and left, as the host of heaven, in which posture Micaiah saw them in vision, Kg1 22:19, so they may be said to go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth into the several parts of all the world, to do the will and work of God assigned them, Zac 6:5 and then, having done their work, return again, and present themselves before the Lord, to give an account of what they have done, and to receive fresh orders from him, being ready to do his pleasure in everything he shall command them, which is what is here supposed; though some think these were only the company or band of angels which were set as a guard about Job, his person, family, and substance, who now appeared before the Lord, to give an account of him, his affairs, and circumstances, as required of them:
and Satan came also among them; which word signifies an "adversary", as in Kg1 11:14 but does not design here a man adversary, as there, or one that envied Job's prosperity, as Saadiah Gaon thinks, but an evil spirit, the old serpent, the devil, as in Rev 12:9 who is an implacable and bitter enemy to men, especially to Christ and his people; and so has this name from his hatred of them, and opposition to them: Origen (k) observes, that this word, translated into the Greek language, is an "adversary"; but R. Levi (l) derives it from "to decline" or "turn aside"; and so Suidas says (m), Satan, in the Hebrew language, is an apostate; and Theodoret (n) mentions both, that it signifies either an adversary or an apostate; the first derivation is best: knowing the end of the above meeting, that it was with respect to Job, and therefore he came with an intent to contradict what they should say of him, and to accuse him before God; he came among them as one of them, transforming himself into an angel of light, as he sometimes does; or he came, being sent for, and obliged to come to give an account of himself, and of what he had been doing in the world, in order to be reproved and punished: but though the stream of interpreters run this way, I cannot say I am satisfied with it; for, setting aside the passages in this book in question, angels are nowhere called "the sons of God"; for besides, this being denied of them in the sense that Christ is, they are represented as servants, yea, as servants to the sons of God, ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation; they call themselves the fellow servants of the saints, and of their brethren, but do not say that they are sons of the same family, or fellow heirs, or their brethren, Heb 1:5, moreover, they always stand in the presence of God, and behold his face, be they where they will, Mat 18:10 nor is there any particular day assigned them for the service of God; for though they are under the moral law, so far as it is suitable to their nature, yet not under the ceremonial law, to which the observance of days belonged; and besides, they have no rest night nor day, but continually serve God, and glorify him, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty: and if this presentation of themselves to God is supposed to be in heaven, as where else should it be? it is not possible that Satan could come among them; he is fallen from heaven, being cast down from thence, nor can he, nor ever will he, be able to find a place any more there, see Luk 10:18 it seems better therefore to understand this of the people of God, of professors of religion, who, earlier than the times of Job, were distinguished from the men of the world by this character, "the sons of God", Gen 6:2, such that were truly godly being so by adopting grace, and which was made manifest by their regeneration by the Spirit of God, and by their faith in Christ, and all were so by profession: now these assembled themselves together, to present themselves, their bodies and souls, before the Lord, which was but their reasonable service; as to pray unto him, and praise him, to offer sacrifice, and perform every religious exercise enjoined in those times; the apostle uses the like phrase of the saints' social worship, Rom 12:1 now for this there was a "day"; though I very much question whether any sabbath, or much less a seventh day sabbath, was as yet instituted; but inasmuch as men agreed together to call on the name of the Lord, or to worship him in a social way, Gen 4:26 as it was necessary that a place should be appointed to meet at, so a time fixed by consent and agreement; even as now, the seventh day sabbath being abrogated, Christians agree to meet on the first day of the week, called the Lord's day, in imitation of the apostles of Christ; and on one of these days thus fixed and agreed on was the above meeting, at which Satan came among them, as he frequently does in the assembly of the saints, to do what mischief he can; by snatching away the word from inattentive hearers, and by directing the eye to such objects, and putting such things into the mind, as divert from the service of God; or by suggesting to the saints themselves, that what is attended to does not belong to them, with many other things of the like kind: the Targum interprets this day of the day of judgment, at the beginning of the year, and the sons of God of angels, as do other Jewish writers.
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(k) Contr. Cels. l. 6. (l) In Ioc. (m) In voce (n) In 2 Reg. Quaest. 37.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A day - A certain time appointed by God.…
A day - A certain time appointed by God. The sons - The holy angels, so called, chap. xxxviii, 7 Dan. iii, 25, 28, because of their creation by God, for their resemblance of him in power, and dignity, and holiness, and for their filial affection and obedience, to him. Before - Before his throne, to receive his commands, and to give him an account of their negotiations. But you must not think that these things are to be understood literally; it is only a parabolical representation of that great truth, that God by his wise and holy providence governs all the actions of men and devils: It being usual with the great God to condescend to our shallow capacities, and to express himself, as the Jews phrase it, in the language of the sons of men. And it is likewise intimated, that the affairs of earth are much the subject of the counsels of the unseen world. That world is dark to us: but we lie open to it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. There was a day when the sons…
Verse 6. There was a day when the sons of God] All the versions, and indeed all the critics, are puzzled with the phrase sons of God ; בני האלהים beney haelohim, literally, sons of the God, or sons of the gods. The Vulgate has simply filii dei, sons of God. The Septuagint, οἱ αγγελοι του θεου, the angels of God. The Chaldee, כתי מלאכיא kittey malachaiya, troops of angels. The Syriac retains the Hebrew words and letters, only leaving out the demonstrative ה he in the word האלהים haelohim, thus, [Syriac] baney Elohim. The Arabic nearly copies the Hebrew also, [Arabic] banoa Iloheem; to which, if we give not the literal translation of the Hebrew, we may give what translation we please. Coverdale (1535) translates it, servauntes of God. The Targum supposes that this assembly took place on the day of the great atonement, which occurred once each year. And there was a day of judgment in the beginning of the year; and the troops of angels came, that they might stand in judgment before the Lord. But what are we to make of this whole account? Expositions are endless. That of Mr. Peters appears to me to be at once the most simple and the most judicious: "The Scripture speaks of God after the manner of men, for there is a necessity of condescending to our capacities, and of suiting the revelation to our apprehension. As kings, therefore, transact their most important affairs in a solemn council or assembly, so God is pleased to represent himself as having his council likewise; and as passing the decrees of his providence in an assembly of his holy angels. We have here, in the case of Job, the same grand assembly held, as was before in that of Ahab, 1Kg 22:6-23; the same host of heaven, called here the sons of God, presenting themselves before Jehovah, as in the vision of Micaiah they are said to stand on his right hand and on his left. A wicked spirit appearing among them, here called Satan or the adversary, and there a lying spirit; both bent on mischief, and ready to do all the hurt they were permitted to do; for both were under the control of his power. The imagery is just the same; and the only difference is in the manner of the relation. That mentioned above, Micaiah, as a prophet, and in the actual exercise of his prophetic office, delivers, as he received it, in a vision. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the HOST of HEAVEN standing by him, on his right hand and on his left, and there came forth a LYING SPIRIT, and stood BEFORE the Lord, and said, 1Kg 22:19-22. The other, as a historian, interweaves it with his history; and tells us, in his plain narrative style, There was a day when the sons of God came to PRESENT themselves BEFORE the Lord, and SATAN came also among them. And this he delivers in the same manner as he does, There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job.
"The things delivered to us by these two inspired writers are the same in substance, equally high, and above the reach of human sight and knowledge; but the manner of delivering them is different, each as suited best to his particular purpose. This, then is the prophetical way of representing things, as to the manner of doing them, which, whether done exactly in the same manner, concerns us not to know; but which are really done: and God would have them described as done in this manner, to make the more lively and lasting impression on us. At the same time, it must not be forgotten that representations of this kind are founded in a well-known and established truth, viz., the doctrine of good and bad angels, a point revealed from the beginning, and without a previous knowledge of which, the visions of the prophets could scarcely be intelligible." See Ge 28:10-15.
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And Satan came also] This word also is emphatic in the original, השטן hassatan, the Satan, or the adversary; translated by the Septuagint ὁ Διαβολος. The original word is preserved by the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic; indeed, in each of them the word signifies an adversary. St. Peter, 1Pe 5:8, plainly refers to this place; and fully proves that השטן hassatan, which he literally translates ὁ αντιδικος, the ADVERSARY, is no other than ὁ Διαβολος, the DEVIL, or chief of bad demons, which he adds to others by way of explanation. There are many διαμονες, demons, mentioned in Scripture, but the word Satan or devil is never found in the originals of the Old and New Testaments in the plural number. Hence we reasonably infer, that all evil spirits are under the government of ONE chief, the DEVIL, who is more powerful and more wicked than the rest. From the GREEK Διαβολος comes the LATIN Diabolus, the SPANISH Diablo, the FRENCH Diable, the ITALIAN Diavolo, the German Teuffel, the DUTCH Duivel, the ANGLO-SAXON [A.S.], and the ENGLISH Devil, which some would derive from the compound THE-EVIL; ὁ πονηρος, the evil one, or wicked one.
It is now fashionable to deny the existence of this evil spirit; and this is one of what St. John (Re 2:24) calls ταβαθητου σατανα, the depths of Satan; as he well knows that they who deny his being will not be afraid of his power and influence; will not watch against his wiles and devices; will not pray to God for deliverance from the evil one; will not expect him to be trampled down under their feet, who has no existence; and, consequently, they will become an easy and unopposing prey to the enemy of their souls. By leading men to disbelieve and deny his existence, he throws them off their guard; and is then their complete master, and they are led captive by him at his will. It is well known that, among all those who make any profession of religion, those who deny the existence of the devil are they who pray little or none at all; and are, apparently, as careless about the existence of God as they are about the being of a devil. Piety to God is with them out of the question; for those who do not pray, especially in private, (and I never met with a devil-denier who did,) have no religion of any kind, whatsoever pretensions they may choose to make.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 1:6. Now there was a day — A…
Job 1:6. Now there was a day — A certain time appointed by God; when the sons of God came — The Targum says, Troops of angels, the LXX., Angels of God; the holy angels are called sons of God, (Job 38:7, and Dan 3:25; Dan 3:28,) because of their creation by God, their resemblance of him in power, dignity, and holiness, and their filial affection and obedience to him. To present themselves before the Lord — Before his throne, to receive his commands, and to give him an account of their ministrations. The verb להתיצב, lehithjatseb, here rendered to present themselves, expresses the attendance and assiduity of ministers appearing before their king to receive his instructions, or give an account of their negotiations. This must be understood as a parabolical representation, similar to that in 1Ki 22:19. The Scripture speaks of God after the manner of men, condescending to our capacities, and suiting the revelation to our apprehensions. As kings, therefore, transact their most important affairs in a solemn council or assembly, so God is pleased to represent himself as having his council likewise and as passing the decrees of his providence in an assembly of his holy angels. We have here, in the case of Job, the same grand assembly held as was before in that of Ahab, 1 Kings 22 : the same host of heaven, called here the sons of God, presenting themselves before Jehovah, as in the vision of Micaiah they are said to stand on his right hand and on his left: a wicked spirit appearing among them, here called Satan, or the adversary, and there a lying spirit, both bent on mischief, and ready to do all the hurt that they were able, as far as God would give them leave; but, nevertheless, both under the control of his power, and suffered to go as far as might best serve the wise ends of his justice and his providence, and no further. The imagery, in short, is just the same; and the only difference is in the manner of the relation. Micaiah, as a prophet, and in the actual exercise of his prophetic office, delivers it as he received it, that is, in a vision: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, &c. The other, as an historian, interweaves it with the history, and tells us, in the plain narrative style, There was a day, &c. And this parabolical or prophetical way of representing what is a great and most important truth, namely, that God, by his wise and holy providence, governs all the actions of men and devils, is used that it may make a more lively and lasting impression on our minds. At the same time it must not be forgotten that representations of this kind are founded in a well-known and established truth, namely, that there are angels, both good and bad, that they are interested in the affairs of men; a point revealed, no doubt, from the beginning. And that the affairs of earth are much the subject of the counsels of the unseen world, to which we lie open, though that world is in a great measure concealed from us. And such representations may also be intended to discover to us, in part, at least, the causes of many of those things which happen on earth, and which appear to us unaccountable, namely, that they arise from our having some connection with, or relation to, other orders of beings through the universe, on whose account, and through whose ministry, many things may happen to us, which otherwise would not. Thus the dreadful calamities and afflictions which befell Job, in such quick succession, are utterly unaccountable according to the ordinary course of human things, and seem almost without reason, if he were considered merely as a human being, having no connection with, relation to, or influence upon, any world but this, or any order of beings but those among whom he lived; but are easily accounted for if brought on him by invisible agents, through divine permission, and certainly answered a most wise and grand purpose, if intended to show to superior beings, whether good or evil, to what a degree of steady and invincible piety and fidelity to God his grace can raise creatures formed out of the clay, and dwelling in flesh. It is but just to observe here, that some commentators adopt a different interpretation of this verse, understanding by the sons of God presenting themselves before the Lord, the people of God meeting together for religious worship on earth. Dr. Lightfoot’s comment is, “On a sabbath day, when the professors of the true religion were met together, in the public assembly, Satan was invisibly there among them;” namely, to distract and disturb them in their worship, and observe their infirmities and defects, that he might have matter of accusation against them. But what we have stated above seems to be the most probable sense of the passage.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Now there was a day - Dr. Good renders…
Now there was a day - Dr. Good renders this, “And the day came.” Tindal.” Now upon a time.” The Chaldee paraphrasist has presumed to specify the time, and renders it, “Now it happened in the day of judgment (or scrutiny, דדינא ביומא), “in the beginning of the year,” that hosts of angels came to stand in judgment before yahweh, and Satan came.” According to this, the judgment occurred once a year, and a solemn investigation was had of the conduct even of the angels. In the Hebrew there is no intimation of the frequency with which this occurred, nor of the time of the year when it happened. The only idea is, that “the sons of God” on a set or appointed day came to stand before God to give an account of what they had done, and to receive further orders in regard to what they were to do. - This is evidently designed to introduce the subsequent events relating to Job. It is language taken from the proceedings of a monarch who had sent forth messengers or ambassadors on important errands through the different provinces of his empire, who now returned to give an account of what they had observed, and of the general state of the kingdom. Such a return would, of course, be made on a fixed day when, in the language of the law, their report would be “returnable,” and when they would be required to give in an account of the state of the kingdom. If it be said that it is inconsistent with the supposition that this book was inspired to suppose such a poetic fiction, I reply,
(1) That it is no more so than the parables of the Savior, who often supposes cases, and states them as real occurrences, in order to illustrate some important truth. Yet no one was ever led into error by this.
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(2) It is in accordance with the language in the Scripture everywhere to describe God as a monarch seated on his throne, surrounded by his ministers, and sending them forth to accomplish important purposes in different parts of his vast empire.
It is not absolutely necessary, therefore, to regard this as designed to represent an actual occurrence. It is one of the admissible ornaments of poetry; - as admissible as any other poetic ornament. To represent God as a king is not improper; and if so, it is not improper to represent him with the usual accompaniments of royalty, - surrounded by ministers, and employing angels and messengers for important purposes in his kingdom. This supposition being admitted, all that follows is merely in “keeping,” and is designed to preserve the verisimilitude of the conception. - This idea, however, by no means militates against the supposition that angels are in fact really employed by God in important purposes in the government of his kingdom, nor that Satan has a real existence, and is permitted by God to employ an important agency in the accomplishment of his purposes toward his people. On this verse, however, see the Introduction, Section 1, (4).
The sons of God - Angels; compare Job 38:7. The whole narrative supposes that they were celestial beings.
Came to present themselves - As having returned from their embassy, and to give an account of what they had observed and done.
Before the Lord - Before יהוה yehovâh. On the meaning of this word, see the notes at Isa 1:2. A scene remarkably similar to this is described in 1Ki 22:19-23. Yahweh is there represented as “sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.” He inquires who would go and persuade Ahab that he might go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? “And there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him.” This he promised to do by being “a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.”
And Satan came also among them - Margin, “The adversary” came “in the midst of them.” On the general meaning of this passage, and the reasons why Satan is introduced here, and the argument thence derived respecting the age and authorship of the book of Job, see the Introduction, Section 4, (4). The Vulgate renders this by the name “Satan.” The Septuagint: ὁ διάβολος ho diabolos - the devil, or the accuser. The Chaldee, סטנא saṭenā', “Satan.” So the Syriac. Theodotion, ὁ ἀντικείμενος ho antikeimenos - “the adversary.” The word rendered “Satan” שׂטן śâṭân is derived from שׂטן śâṭan “Satan,” to lie in wait, to be an adversary, and hence, it means properly an adversary, an accuser. It is used to denote one who “opposes,” as in war 1Ki 11:14, 1Ki 11:23, 1Ki 11:25; 1Sa 29:4; onc who is an adversary or an accuser in a court of justice Psa 109:6, and one who stands in the way of another; Num 22:22, “And the angel of yahweh stood in the way for an adversary against him” לה לשׂטן leśâṭân lôh, “to oppose him.”
It is then used by way of eminence, to denote the “adversary,” and assumes the form of a proper name, and is applied to the great foe of God and man - the malignant spirit who seduces people to evil, and who accuses them before God. Thus, in Zec 3:1-2, “And he showed me Joshua the priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Loan said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan;” compare Rev 12:10, “Now is come salvation - for the accuser ὁ κατηγορῶν ho katēgorōn - that is, Satan, see Rev 12:9) of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” - The word does not often occur in the Old Testament. It is found in the various forms of a verb and a noun in only the following places. As a verb, in the sense of being an adversary, Psa 71:13; Psa 109:4, Psa 109:20, Psa 109:29; Zec 3:1; Psa 38:20; as a noun, rendered “adversary” and “adversaries,” 1Ki 5:4; 1Ki 11:14, 1Ki 11:23, 1Ki 11:25; Num 22:22, Num 22:32; 1Sa 29:4; 2Sa 19:22; rendered “Satan,” 1Ch 21:1; Psa 109:6; Job 1:6-9, Job 1:12; Job 2:1-4, Job 2:6-7; Zec 3:2; and once rendered “an accusation,” Ezr 4:6.
It was a word, therefore, early used in the sense of an adversary or accuser, and was applied to anyone who sustained this character, until it finally came to be used as a proper name, to denote, by way of eminence, the prince of evil spirits, as the adversary or accuser of people. An opinion has been adopted in modern times by Herder, Eichhorn, Dathe, Ilgen, and some others, that the being here referred to by the name of Satan is not the malignant spirit, the enemy of God, the Devil, but is one of the sons of God, “a faithful, but too suspicious servant of yahweh.” According to this, God is represented as holding a council to determine the state of his dominions. In this council, Satan, a zealous servant of yahweh, to whom had been assigned the honorable office of visiting different parts of the earth, for the purpose of observing the conduct of the subjects of yahweh, makes his appearance on his return with others.
Such was the piety of Job, that it had attracted the special attention of yahweh, and he puts the question to Satan, whether in his journey be had remarked this illustrious example of virtue. Satan, who, from what he has observed on earth, is supposed to have lost all confidence in the reality and genuineness of the virtue which man may exhibit, suggests that he doubts whether even Job serves God from a disinterested motive; that God had encompassed him with blessings, and that his virtue is the mere result of circumstances; and that if his comforts were removed he would be found as destitute of principle as any other man. Satan, according to this, is a suspicious minister of yahweh, not a malignant spirit; he inflicts on Job only what he is ordered to by God, and nothing because he is himself malignant. Of this opinion Gesenius remarks (Lexicon), that it “is now universally exploded.”
An insuperable objection to this view is, that it does not accord with the character usually ascribed to Satan in the Bible, and especially that the disposition attributed to him in the narrative before us is wholly inconsistent with this view. He is a malignant being; an accuser; one delighting in the opportunity of charging a holy man with hypocrisy, and in the permission to inflict tortures on him, and who goes as far in producing misery as he is allowed - restrained from destroying him only by the express command of God. - In Arabic the word Satan is often applied to a serpent. Thus, Gjauhari, as quoted by Schultens, says, “The Arabs call a serpent Satan, especially one that is conspicuous by its crest, head, and odious appearance.” It is applied also to any object or being that is evil. Thus, the Scholiast on Hariri, as quoted by Schultens also, says, “Everything that is obstinately rebellious, opposed, and removed from good, of genii, human beings, and beasts, is called Satan.” - The general notion of an adversary and an opponent is found everywhere in the meaning of the word. - Dr. Good remarks on this verse, “We have here another proof that, in the system of patriarchal theology, the evil spirits, as well as the good, were equally amenable to the Almighty, and were equally cited, at definite periods, to answer for their conduct at his bar.”
Rosenmuller remarks well on this verse, “It is to be observed, that Satan, no less than the other celestial spirits, is subject to the government of God, and dependent on his commands (compare Job 2:1) where Satan equally with the sons of God (אלהים בן bên 'ĕlohı̂ym) is said to present himself before God (לחהיצב lehı̂tyatsēb; that is, λειτουργεῖν leitourgein), to minister. Yahweh uses the ministry of this demon (hujus daemonis) to execute punishment, or when from any other cause it seemed good to him to send evil upon men. But he, although incensed against the race of mortals, and desirous of injuring, is yet described as bound with a chain, and never dares to touch the pious unless God relaxes the reins. Satan, in walking round the earth, could certainly attentively consider Job, but to injure him he could not, unless permission had been given him.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain The sons of God. The angels, (Challoner) as the…
The sons of God. The angels, (Challoner) as the Septuagint express it. (Calmet) --- Satan also, &c. This passage represents to us in a figure, accommodated to the ways and understandings of men, 1. The restless endeavours of satan against the servants of God. 2. That he can do nothing without God’s permission. 3. That God doth not permit him to tempt them above their strength: but assists them by his divine grace in such manner, that the vain efforts of the enemy only serve to illustrate their virtue and increase their merit. (Challoner) --- A similar prosopopeia occurs, 3 Kings xxii. 19., and Zacharias i. 10. (Calmet) --- Devils appear not in God’s sight, but sometimes in presence of angels, who represent God. (St. Athanasius, q. 8. ad Antioc, (Worthington) or some ancient author.) --- The good angels can make known their orders to them, Zacharias iii. 1., and Jude 9. Both good and bad spirits may be considered as the ministers of God. (Calmet) --- They appear in judgment; though the latter could not see the Lord.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain SATAN, APPEARING BEFORE GOD, FALSELY ACCUSES JOB. (Job 1:6-12)
SATAN, APPEARING BEFORE GOD, FALSELY ACCUSES JOB. (Job 1:6-12)
sons of God--angels (Job 38:7; Kg1 22:19). They present themselves to render account of their "ministry" in other parts of the universe (Heb 1:14).
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the Lord--Hebrew, JEHOVAH, the self-existing God, faithful to His promises. God says (Exo 6:3) that He was not known to the patriarchs by this name. But, as the name occurs previously in Gen 2:7-9, &c., what must be meant is, not until the time of delivering Israel by Moses was He known peculiarly and publicly in the character which the name means; namely, "making things to be," fulfilling the promises made to their forefathers. This name, therefore, here, is no objection against the antiquity of the Book of Job.
Satan--The tradition was widely spread that he had been the agent in Adam's temptation. Hence his name is given without comment. The feeling with which he looks on Job is similar to that with which he looked on Adam in Paradise: emboldened by his success in the case of one not yet fallen, he is confident that the piety of Job, one of a fallen race, will not stand the test. He had fallen himself (Job 4:19; Job 15:15; Jde 1:6). In the Book of Job, Satan is first designated by name: "Satan," Hebrew, "one who lies in wait"; an "adversary" in a court of justice (Ch1 21:1; Psa 109:6; Zac 3:1); "accuser" (Rev 12:10). He has the law of God on his side by man's sin, and against man. But Jesus Christ has fulfilled the law for us; justice is once more on man's side against Satan (Isa 42:21); and so Jesus Christ can plead as our Advocate against the adversary. "Devil" is the Greek name--the "slanderer," or "accuser." He is subject to God, who uses his ministry for chastising man. In Arabic, Satan is often applied to a serpent (Gen 3:1). He is called prince of this world (Joh 12:31); the god of this world (Co2 4:4); prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2). God here questions him, in order to vindicate His own ways before angels.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain JEHOVAH’S DETERMINATION TO TRY JOB, Job_1:6-12.
JEHOVAH’S DETERMINATION TO TRY JOB, Job_1:6-12.
“It was a correct feeling which influenced the poet to indicate at the outset to the reader the divine grounds of the decree, and thus to provide for him a polestar which would guide him through all the entanglement of the succeeding conflicts. This he does by disclosing to us those events occurring in heaven which led to the divine decree concerning Job, the execution of which thereupon follows.” — Dillmann.
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6. Now there was a day — Rather, Now it came to pass on the day, perhaps some fixed time when the sons of God came together; “a sabbath day,” says Lightfoot, 2:110. Greswell (Fasti Catholici, Job_1:18) adduces Psa_89:29, and Deu_11:21, in illustration of his speculation, that it may be not merely in the language of analogy, or of accommodation to human ideas, that inspiration itself speaks of the days of heaven, or gives us reason to conclude that even in heaven, as well as on earth, the lapse of time is measured and numbered by days of some kind or other. In keeping with this, the Chaldee paraphrast has presumed to specify the day: “Now it happened in the day of judgment, (or scrutiny,) in the beginning of the year, that hosts of angels came to stand in judgment before Jehovah, and Satan came.”
The sons of God — Septuagint, “angels of God.” Targum, “crowds of angels.” (See Job_38:7.) The sons of God are unquestionably angels, beings of some one of the several gradations of the intelligent and holy universe. Eph_1:21. The sons of God, bene Elohim, were in existence when “the foundations of the earth were laid,” and united in celebrating the laying of its corner-stone with “shouts of joy.” The peculiar designation of sons of God may point to a close relationship or a similarity of nature with Him, somewhat like that existing between child and parent among us. These sons of Deity may differ more from angels, who bear other titles, than from our own race, who, under the ennobling influences of grace, are called sons of God. (Gen_6:2; Hos_1:10; Rom_8:14.) Satan, though ruined by sin, was still in essential nature a son of God, and may have had at that time certain primordial rights (not then withdrawn, Luk_10:18; Joh_12:31; Rev_12:9) to appear with these sons before God. Christ, par excellence, is called “Son of God,” the only-begotten of the Father, because he alone of all beings has oneness of nature with God. (See note on Gen_6:2.) At a period not far from the time of Job the doctrine of angelic ministry had been plainly revealed. The ascent and descent of the angels upon Jacob’s ladder emblemed forth their tireless activity. They “rest not day and night.” Rev_4:8. Before the Lord — Elohim — in the next verse Jehovah. (See note on Job_1:21 and on Gen_2:4.) They “take their stand” (Carey) before Jehovah, probably to engage in praise and adoration, and perhaps at the same time, to render account for their actions, and receive new commissions and behests. That these “sons of God” should be called upon at stated times to give account of their deeds is not an unreasonable thought for us — a race upon whom the sense of responsibility is stamped; and who will be summoned to undergo our ordeal at the close of life.
And Satan — See Excursus I, p. 33.
Came also among them — The expression, “in the midst of them,” does not imply constraint or obligation to appear with the sons of God, nor friendliness of association, but savours rather of intrusion and unexpectedness of appearance. The form of the question, “Whence art thou [just now] coming?” (the imperfect expressing the immediate present; thus Zockler and Davidson) favours such a view, inasmuch as the question seemingly arrests Satan in the act of making his approach. Whatever may have been the privileges of Satan at that time, (Job_1:6,) the scene smacks of effrontery, and makes clear the distinction of the evil from the good, and their irreconcilable antagonism. See Excursus II, p. 34.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. Now there was a day when] lit. now…
6. Now there was a day when] lit. now it fell on a day that the sons of God presented themselves … and Satan came. The meaning is not that there was a set time for the sons of God presenting themselves, but that they did on a certain day convene and Satan came among them. He came because one of them—not, although not one of them. The phrase is the same in Job_1:13; Job_2:1; 2Ki_4:18.
the sons of God] Rather perhaps, sons of the Elohîm, i. e. angels. The word Elohîm usually means God, but this is scarcely its meaning here. The angels are not called “sons of God” as if they had actually derived their nature from Him as a child from its father; nor in a less exact way, because though created they have received a nature similar to God’s, being spirits; nor yet as if on account of their stedfast holiness they had been adopted by grace into the family of God. These ideas are not found here. The name Elohim or sons (i. e. members of the race) of the Elohim is a name given directly to angels in contrast with men. The word means probably “powers,” “mights,” and the name is given to God and angels in common; He is the Elohim preeminently, they are Elohim in an inferior sense. The name describes their nature or standing in contrast to what is human; the name angels, that is, messengers, is descriptive of the duties which they fulfil. The same Beings are called “sons of Elîm,” Psa_89:6 (“sons of the mighty”), and Psa_29:1 (“ye mighty”), and there as here they stand in the temple or palace of the Lord, Psa_29:9; Psa_89:6-8. Angels are referred to several times in the Book of Job. In Job_5:1 the supposition is put that men might appeal to them for sympathy or a hearing amidst sufferings judged to be undeserved. In Job_33:23 they fulfil the office of interpreter between God and men. They form the Council of God, Job_15:8. They are not said to have been created, but were present when the earth was formed, Job_38:7. They are called the “holy ones,” Job_5:1; Job_15:15, where, however, “holy” is not a moral term, but means attending on God. Though pure like the heavens and all contained in its sphere, in contrast with God they are impure and unwise, Job_4:18; Job_15:15; Job_25:5.
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For a scene in heaven similar to that presented in this verse see 1Ki_22:19 seq.; Comp. Isaiah 6; Psa_89:6 seq., also Zechariah 3.
and Satan came also] Or, and the Adversary, or Opposer, as in the margin. The Heb. is the Satan, where the presence of the article shews that the word has not yet become a proper name. The word Satan means one who opposes another in his purpose, Num_22:22; Num_22:32, or pretensions and claims, Zec_3:1; 1Ki_11:14; 1Ki_11:23; 1Ki_11:25, or generally. The Satan is that one of God’s ministers whose part it is to oppose men in their pretensions to a right standing before God, Zec_3:1, and here; that is, who represents God’s trying, sifting providence. He is one of God’s messengers and presents himself before God to report, or to receive commissions, parts of God’s will which he is to execute.
God’s providence is over all; He doeth whatsoever is done in heaven or on earth. But He makes use of agents in His operations. Hence the same act, such as instigating David to number the people, may be in one place ascribed to God directly, 2Sa_24:1, and in another to Satan, 1Ch_21:1. God’s purposes are usually beneficent and gracious, hence the angels are comprehensively designated as “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for the sake of them who shall be heirs of salvation,” Heb_1:14. But He has also purposes of judgment and chastisement, which are executed by those called the “destroyers,” Job_33:22; Exo_12:23. In all these operations, whether of mercy or of judgment, the angels are simply servants. They do God’s behests. Their own moral character does not come into question. They are neither good nor bad angels. The spirit from the Lord that troubled Saul is called “evil,” 1Sa_16:14 seq., not in reference to its own character, but to the effect produced on Saul’s mind. In like manner the spirit that came forth and undertook to delude Ahab to his destruction, was not a false spirit in himself, he merely became a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab’s prophets, 1Ki_22:19 seq. In all such cases the spirit is characterized according to the influence which he exerts. Neither is the Satan represented here as a fallen or evil spirit. Yet undoubtedly a step towards this is taken. He shews an assiduity slightly too keen in the exercise of his somewhat invidious function. He rather usurps the initiative in marking out Job for trial, even though he might feel sheltered under his general commission. The Author lets us know that this is his view of him when he puts into God’s mouth the words: Thou didst set me on against him, Job_2:3. And in the parallel passage Zechariah 3 his cold-blooded cruelty in the exercise of his office against the miserable and in a moral sense the somewhat ragged Church of the Restoration stands rebuked before the spirit of Divine compassion: “The Lord rebuke thee Satan, is not this a brand plucked from the burning?” Subsequent revelation made advances on the doctrine of Satan, the discussion of which, however, does not belong here.
6–12. The disinterestedness of Job’s piety brought under suspicion by the Adversary in the Council of Heaven
After the scene of happiness and piety presented by Job’s home on earth, the Poet draws the veil aside and shews us a scene in heaven. The Council of the Most High convenes. Around the throne of the King, whose subject and servant Job is, stand “his ministers that do his pleasure,” Psa_103:21. Their offices are various. The office of one of them is to try the sincerity of men, and put their religion to the proof. Job’s piety is commended on the part of God, but suspicions regarding its disinterestedness are insinuated on the part of this angel. He receives permission to try Job, with the reservation that he must not afflict him in his person.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) Sons of God.—Comp. Job_38:7, Gen_6:2; Gen_6:4; and for…
(6) Sons of God.—Comp. Job_38:7, Gen_6:2; Gen_6:4; and for the sense comp. 1Ki_22:19. The phrase probably means the angels; or at all events an incident in the unseen spiritual world is referred to simultaneous with a corresponding one on earth. (Comp. 1Co_11:10.) In the latter sense, a solemn thought is suggested by it to those who join in the public worship of God.
Satan.—The word appears in the Old Testament as the name of a specific person only here and in Zec_3:2, and possibly in 1Ch_21:1 and Psa_109:6. If this psalm is David’s, according to the inscription, no reliance can be placed on speculations as to the late introduction of a belief in Satan among the Jews, nor, therefore, on any as to the lateness of these early chapters of Job. Precisely the same word is used, apparently as a common name, in the history of Balaam (Num_22:22; Num_22:32), also in 1Sa_29:4, and 1Ki_5:4; 1Ki_11:14; 1Ki_11:23; 1Ki_11:25, where it can hardly be otherwise. Here only and in Zechariah it is found with the definite article “the adversary.” The theory of the personality of the evil one must largely depend upon the view we take of these and other passages of Scripture as containing an authoritative revelation.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Now there was a day when the sons of…
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. By "the sons of God" it is generally admitted that, in this place, the angels are meant. (so again in Job_38:7) The meaning of the phrase is probably different in Gen_6:2. Angels and men are alike "sons of God," as created by him, in his image, to obey and serve him. Christ, the "Only Begotten," is his Son in quite a different sense. We may gather, perhaps, from this place and Job_2:1 that there are fixed times at which the angelic host, often sent out by the Almighty on distant errands, has to gather together, one and all, before the great white throne, to pay homage to their Lord, and probably to give an account of their doings. And Satan came also among them. The word "Satan" has the article prefixed to it tch here and elsewhere in Job, as in Zec_3:1, 2 and in Luk_22:31 Rev_12:9. Thus accompanied, it is less a proper name than an appellative adversary". (comp. 1Pe_5:8; o antidikov) In 1Ch_21:1, without the article, it is undoubtedly a proper name, as in the New Testament, passim. Accusation of men before God is one of the special offices of the evil spirit, (see Zec_3:1, Zec_3:2) who is "the accuser of the brethren, he that accuses them before God day and night". (Rev_12:10) The accusations that he makes may be either true or false, but they are so often false that his ordinary New Testament name is oo diabolov , "the Slanderer." The existence of an evil spirit must have been known to all who read or heard the story of the fall of man, (Ge 3) and the descriptive epithet, "the Adversary," is likely to have been in use from a very early date. The notion that the Satan of the Old Testament is a reflex of the Persian Ahriman, and that the Jews derived their belief upon the subject from the Persians, is quite untenable. The character and position of Satan in the Hebrew system are quite unlike those of Ahriman (Angro-mainyus) in the religion of the Zoroastrians (see "Ancient Monarchies," vol. 3. pp. 104-113).
Vers. 6-12. The fundamental controversy of the poem.
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I THE OCCASION OF THE CONTROVERSY. The presence of Satan among the sons of God.
1. The celestial assembly.
(1) The beings composing it. Sons of God, i.e. angels, (vide Job_38:7 and of Psa_29:1) here styled "sons of Elohim," to indicate their nature, as deriving their existence from God; (cf. Luk_3:38) their dignity, as enjoying an exalted rank in the scale of being; (cf. Dan_3:25) and their office, as serving in the capacity of ministers to the Supreme. (cf. Psa_82:6)
(2) The purpose of their gathering. "To present themselves before the Lord;" not to assist in the deliberations of the Infinite Mind, (Isa_40:13, 14 Rom_11:34) but as ambassadors returning from their respective circuits to render account of their ministrations and to receive commissions for future execution. Even so must all God"s intelligent creatures upon earth appear before the dread tribunal of the skies, (2Co_5:10) and every one give an account of himself to God. (Rom_14:12)
2. The unexpected visitor.
(1) The import of his name. Satan;" the adversary, the calumniator, the accuser; not the evil genius of the later theology of the Jews, but the dark, sullen spirit of Divine revelation, who headed the revolt in heaven against the authority of God, (Rev_12:7-9) seduced our first parents into, (Gen_3:1-6 Gen_11:3) tempted Jesus Christ, (Mat_4:1) warred against him throughout his entire career on, (Mat_13:39 Luk_10:18 Joh_12:31) now ruleth in the children of disobedience, (Eph_2:2) and fights against the children of light. (Eph_6:11-16)
(2) The nature of his occupation. "Going to and fro through the earth, and walking up and down in it;" which points out his dominion this lower world, i.e. conceived as alienated from God, and involved in moral and spiritual darkness; (Eph_2:2 1Jn_5:19 Rev_16:10) his activity, though at present, in some cases, reserved in chains, (Jud_1:6) he is still permitted a large amount of liberty; (1Pe_5:8) his diligence, he never intermits his business, but ever prosecutes his infernal errands, going to and fro, and walking up anti down; his unrest, having, as afterwards Gain, fallen under a ban of wandering, which has doomed him to be always seeking rest, but finding none, (Mat_12:45) as ever since his children have been like the troubled sea which cannot rest. (Isa_57:20, Isa_57:21)
(3) The object of his coming. If to present himself before the Lord with the other sons of God, (Job_2:1) i.e. to report concerning his wicked machinations, his appearance, we may rest assured, was wholly involuntary and compulsory, which may remind us that Satan, no less than other creatures, is subject to Divine authority; that Satan"s proceedings in the world are under the perpetual surveillance of the Almighty; and that Satan can neither travel further nor work longer than he receives express commission front Jehovah to do. But it is probable that the underlying motive of Satan"s intruding upon Heaven"s assembly was not to render an account of any mission with which he had been entrusted, but to prosecute his diabolic work of calumniating God"s children who were yet on earth. (Rev_12:10 Zec_3:1)
II THE PARTIES TO THE CONTROVERSY. Jehovah and Satan.
1. Jehovah.
a. The self-existent and all-sufficient Deity. (Exo_3:14)
b. The Lord of angels. (Job_4:18)
c. The Fear of saints. (Gen_31:42Jo Gen_1:1)
d. The Governor of the universe. (Job_9:12 Job_34:13 Job_36:23 Job_41:11)
2. Satan.
a. The creature of God.
b. The impersonation of evil.
c. The adversary of Christ.
d. The accuser of the brethren.
III THE SUBJECT OF THE CONTROVERSY. The disinterested character of piety or religion.
1. The Divine challenge. "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth?" The language of:
(1) Divine condescension, is not only noticing a creature, but stooping to converse with an adversary, yea, with a devil. (Psa_113:6)
(2) Divine observation, in particularizing Job by name, and dilating on his character, which demonstrates that God"s knowledge of his people extends to such minute details as the names they bear, the professions they make, the characters they possess. (Exo_33:12 Isa 49:1Jo Isa_10:3)
(3) Divine admiration, in so commending Job"s piety as to show that he took a holy pride in his servant"s worth, as he ever does. (Zep_3:17)
(4) Divine affection, in so speaking of the patriarch as to evince that he was a special object of Divine regard, calling him "my servant," as Christ afterwards styled his followers "my friends". (Joh_15:14)
(5) And Divine protection, the question instinctively suggesting Jehovah"s jealous care of his servant. (Zec_2:8)
2. The Satanic answer. "Doth Job fear God for nought?" etc. Containing:
(1) A reluctant admission that Job did fear God, and that, in respect of outward appearance at least of religion, he had attained to incomparable eminence. Saints should aim to possess a piety so conspicuous that, however aspersed, it cannot be contradicted, even by the devil.
(2) A base insinuation that the piety of the patriarch proceeded from purely mercenary motives. See the malignity of Satan in attempting to depreciate what he finds it impossible to deny an art in which Satan"s servants are generally adepts.
(3) A momentous implication the higher question of the efficacy of the plan of redemption and the sufficiency of Divine grace being practically involved in the standing or falling of Job, whose sincerity was impeached. In the devil"s sermons there is always more than meets the ear. (cf. Gen_3:5)
(4) An audacious proposition that God should bring the question in debate to an issue by experiments on the patriarch, as if God had doubts concerning the integrity of his servant, or as if, although he had, he was likely to subject that servant to the ordeal of suffering in order to please the devil! Verily there are no limits to the impudence of Satan!
(5) A rash prediction that Job would forthwith, on the application of the touchstone of adversity, rebound to the opposite extreme and "curse God to his face," which he did not, showing that Satan"s prophecies, like his promises, generally turn out lies.
IV THE DETERMINATION OF THE CONTROVERSY. By the trial of the patriarch.
1. The Divine permission. "Behold, all that he hath is in thy power." A permission
(1) truly amazing when we consider by whom, to whom, and concerning whom it was given, how far it reached, and for what purpose it was designed; yet
(2) perfectly justifiable, since Job"s possessions were more Jehovah"s than the patriarch"s, (Psa_24:1 Psa_50:10-12 Exo_19:5 Eze_18:4) as the patriarch afterwards recognized, (Job_1:21) and might be disposed of as God pleased without the charge being incurred of doing wrong to his creature; and
(3) absolutely necessary, if the trial was to be so conducted that no loophole should remain for the least suspicion of its thoroughness and impartiality; though at the same time
(4) mercifully limited, only the patriarch"s possessions being put into the adversary"s power, and not his person as in the second trial, (Job_2:7) God never suffering his people to be tried above that which they are able to, (1Co_10:13) or more than is necessary.
2. The Divine limitation. "Only upon himself put not forth thine hand;" which reminds us
(1) that Satan has no power against a saint further than God permits; (Joh_19:11)
(2) that God can set a bar to the malignity of Satan, as well as to the waves of the sea (Job_38:11) and the rage of man; (Psa_76:10)
(3) that God can east a shield around the persons of his people in the day of their calamity; (Job_22:25 Psa_91:1-7) and
(4) that God frequently protects his people against Satan"s assaults when they are not aware.
Learn:
1. That if Satan can find his way into the assemblies of God"s sons in heaven, it need hardly surprise one to detect him amongst the congregations of God"s children on earth.
2. That if so eminent a saint as Job did not escape impeachment by the devil, it will not be wonderful if lesser saints should be accused.
3. That if God permitted a Job to be put into the devil"s power, as Christ allowed a Peter to be cast into Satan"s sieve, it may almost be expected that ordinary Christians will also be subjected to trial.
4. That if God set a limit to Satan"s power in dealing with his servant Job, he will not accord unlimited authority to the adversary when he comes to try those who are less able to withstand his assaults.
5. And that if Job was sustained when passing through the fiery ordeal, so will all who like Job are sincere in heart be upheld in the day of their calamity.
Vers. 6-12. Counsels in heaven concerning man"s life on earth.
I EVERY MAN"S LIFE IS AN OBJECT OF INTEREST IN HEAVEN. This is a sublime thought, powerfully suggested by the present passage, and full of comfort for every man who trusts in the goodness of God. "Every man"s life a plan of God"s" (see the powerful sermon of Dr. Bushnell on this subject). Even of men who do not consciously know God or own his providence, this is true. Their career is controlled by a mysterious direction; their mistakes or misdeeds overruled for good. Of Cyrus, for example, it is said, "I have called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me". (Isa_45:4)
II BUT IN HOW PECULIARLY HAPPY A SENSE IS THIS TRUE OF EVERY GOOD MAN"S LIFE! His way is often entangled, perplexed, darkened to himself; but never so to God. From the bright scene of heavenly light and contemplation, where the map of every life is spread open to view, we are soon to plunge into gloom and sorrow by the side of the afflicted servant of God. But let us carry the memory of this glimpse of heaven through all the windings of the maze of grief which soon we are to tread in fancy, and may no day follow in actual experience. Already let us take the lesson home that the way of God"s children is not hidden, their cause not passed over, by the Most High. Their steps are ordered by him. In their blindness they will be led by paths they have not known. They may seem to themselves exiled from joy, banished from light and love; but he will yet make darkness light before them, and crooked ways straight, and will never forsake them. For in the life of flower and bird even, much more in the life of man, there is a plan of God.
III EVERY MAN"S LIFE THE OBJECT OF OPPOSING INFLUENCES: of good and evil, pleasure and pain, happiness and misery, heaven and hell. Nowhere is this grand secret of the mechanism of our being more distinctly disclosed than in this book. The presence of an evil influence, ever curious and busy about our life, is distinctly acknowledged; its origin left in mystery. We must recognize this dualism of influence on man"s life without attempting to solve it. After all that has been thought and said on the subject, we can only acknowledge that it is a fundamental condition of our earthly existence. To ignore it, and try to live in some fool"s paradise of extreme optimism, is to expose ourselves to disappointment and to danger; or to fall into the other extreme of a gloomy, desponding pessimism is to be unfaithful to that instinctive sense of God"s goodness which is deep-seated in the heart. Scripture guides us in a middle course between these extremes places before us, in equal distinctness, the two poles of thought, the opposing currents of influence; and this makes the practical duty manifest, to abhor the evil and cleave to the good, to fill the heart with reverence and trust for God, and to depart from evil in all its forms.
IV THE SPIRIT OF ACCUSATION CONCERNED WITH GOOD MEN"S LIVES, This is the great characteristic of the evil spirit spoken of in various parts of Scripture. He is "Satan," that is, "the Adversary," one whose delight is in laying snares for men, seducing them from rectitude, and then slandering and accusing them before God. "The accuser of our brethren, who accuses them before our God day and night". (Rev_12:10) Here, in the court of heaven, the radiant scene of Divine glory which is brought before our view, while the rest of the retinue of angels, "sons of God," are present to discharge their functions of praise and of service, the evil genius of men comes to enjoy the dark pleasure of detraction and spite. While those bright spirits habitually look on the bright side of things, upon the creation lit up by the smile of God, reflecting everywhere his wisdom and his power, Satan dwells upon the dark side of things upon that frailty and corruptibility of man, which appears to be the only blemish in the fine picture of God"s world. Note the restlessness of this spirit of accusation. To and fro he roams in the earth, seeking rest, but finding none. How true a picture is this of every human heart which has given way to evil, and has thus become a mirror of the dark spirit! How restless are all men who are ill at ease in themselves, because devoid of peace with their God! The hunger for mischief is the counterpart of the hunger for righteousness. They roam about, discontented, maddened at the sight of goodness and purity which they have lost; barking, snapping, biting, devouring, like beasts of prey fastening upon noble reputations and dragging them to the ground, as the panther springs upon the noble stag of the forest. What need have we to be warned against the misery of allowing ourselves to become the servants of so dark a spirit, the agents of such malice! Whenever we find the rust of slander and backbiting gathering too easily on our tongues, whenever we find that the sight of good men"s failures affords us more pleasure than that of their success and honour, we have need to look closely into the heart. We must be ill before we can enjoy these diseased pleasures. A soul in health towards God delights to see the reflection of that health in the faces and the lives of others. It is the misery of conscious sin which seeks relief in the sin of others. Whether in good or in evil, we cannot endure to be alone. The fulness of the heart"s joy must have expression, and so must the burden of its unpardoned guilt the one in words of charity to men and praise to God; the other in those of bitterness and blasphemy. But this scene sets before us a man who is to become the object, rather than the subject, of this malignant influence. Job is the victim, not the agent, of Satanic slanders. And it is well to consider here what there is in the constitution of our nature which lays us open to these diabolical attempts.
1. There is a weak side in the nature of every one. The sensuous side of nature presents a constant opening to attack. We can be easily bribed by bodily pleasures and frightened by bodily pains. Our affections too often expose us. We may be fortified on all sides; yet there is some postern door or secret entrance to the seat of will, which our wife, or little child, or besom friend is well acquainted with and has the key of, and can readily, at any hour of day or night, pass through. Our tastes, pursuits, circumstances, variously constitute sources of weakness. Some men appear richer toward God amidst poverty and struggle; with many comfort and competence seem to foster and beautify their piety. In the case of Job, an attack is suddenly made all along the line; he is assailed in all the weak points of humanity. And in this completeness of his trial, with the result, lies a main point of instruction in the book.
2. In the best of men there is a mixture of motives. A man chooses the right from principle from the fear of God in his heart. But he has promises beforehand to stimulate and encourage his choice, and successes afterwards to confirm it. None long travels on the narrow way without discovering that it is not only the right path, but the wise one; not only the right and the wise path, but the path of happiness, honour, and peace. Therefore, at any given point in a man"s course, it may be difficult to determine what is the ruling motive of good within him. Did he begin to be good because he believed beforehand that it would turn out well with him in this world? Does he persevere because he has discovered by experience that godliness is profitable for this life? or is the fear and love of the Eternal and his righteousness the greatest, deepest, secret of his career? Who can answer these questions? Can any observer from outside? Can the man himself answer these questions? No. Trial, judgment, the sifting by the winnowing-fan, the cleansing of the refiner"s fire, can alone declare what sort of man he is to himself and to others. By trial the inferior and the superior motives are separated. "Experience worketh knowledge;" and all new knowledge is new power. Blessed, then, the man that endureth affliction. The fine old Greek proverb, in his case, payhmata mayhmata , comes true suffer is to learn." Thus the very malignancy of his adversary, by the overruling of supreme wisdom and goodness, turns to his advantage; the calumnious foe becomes the unwilling friend. As the general feels grateful for an assault which has been severe, but in resisting which he has been taught a new lesson in war, so the faithful heart thanks God in the end for the permission of those trials which have called forth to the utmost and corroborated the holy energies within.
3. Every outwardly good deed, every outwardly good life, admits of a twofold explanation, until the real facts be known. This follows from the theory of motives. The most disinterested action, in semblance, may conceivably be referred, by a subtle analysis of motives, to some egotistic and more or less faulty motive. Here we have, in the theory of Satan concerning the piety of Job, an illustration of these laws. And the evil spirit, we may say, is within his right in insisting upon it, until the facts of experience shall refute him. It is trial alone which can, by its clear manifestation, refute the dark insinuations of our spiritual foes. Every man has two sides to his life an outward and an inward. Does the inward correspond to the outward? Who can judge without proof? What all-silencing proof can there be but facts, stamped by suffering, written in blood and in fire? The Greeks had a saying that the character of a man was not to be known until he was placed in authority (Sophocles, "Antigone"). Certainly that is one form of trial, through which Job had passed, gaining noble instruction. But it is a form of temptation far more severe to be cast down suddenly from previous influence and wealth, than to be suddenly raised to it. Our instinctive sympathy and pity towards those who have thus suffered teach us that it is so. And yet this is the trial for the chosen of God, for the selected specimens of his grace, the vessels of his holy fashioning. He will rebut and discomfit the slanders of the adversary and of all his followers, who love to scoff at the reality of goodness, to discount and depreciate and deny every human excellence, by subjecting his faithful ones to the last intensity of the furnace, that the truth and eternal reality of his work in the soul may be manifest to the eyes of all, both of the good and the evil.
V LIFE, THEN, IS DIVINELY DELIVERED TO TRIAL. This is the teaching of this passage; it is the teaching of all Scripture. There is a precise permission from the sovereign will for evil to wreak its malice upon the good man. There is a distinction between the way in which good and evil respectively come upon us from the Divine hand. Good comes immediately, directly, fresh from the heart and love of him who is all goodness. But evil comes indirectly, through the dark and devious channels of evil and hostile wills. In blessing, in joy, God visits us in Person, his sunshine pierces through the windows of the soul unsought. But evil is only a licensed visitor to our dwelling, to our heart. And it is difficult to recognize behind the gloomy shape a controlling hand, a solicitous and loving eye. But it is one of the deep lessons of piety that we have all to learn to say in affliction, "God permits this," as well as in joy, "God sends this." It may be learnt. In the low-stooping thunderous cloud, in the bursting rain and hail over our heads, we may feel the nearness of God, know his hand to be laid upon our conscience, his voice to be appealing to the inmost sense of our relation to him, which had perhaps slumbered beneath the bright and cloudless blue.
VI GOD DOES NOT DELIVER LIFE TO DESTRUCTION, THOUGH HE MAY DELIVER IT FOE A TIME TO THE POWER OF EVIL. "He hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation." Jehovah says to Satan, "All that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand." Let us fix our attention on this antithesis: what a man has and what a man is. The stoic Epictetus dwelt, in his noble exhortations, on this contrast. There are things he says which are "within.us," within our power, within the scope of our choice and control; other things which are "not within our power," over which our will has little or no control. The important matter, then, in self-government, is to be master of this inward sphere of thought, feeling) purpose. Then outward changes can work us no real harm. One who had duly imbibed these lessons said of his persecutors, "They may kill me, but they cannot hurt me." But the aspect of this truth in the light of the Christian revelation is more winning than the cold and haughty self-reliance of stoicism. He who has given himself up to the love and guidance of a heavenly Father knows that his soul is safe, whatever the disease of his body or the sufferings of his mind. Cast down he may be, destroyed he cannot be, so long as he is held by the hand that sustains the world. "Wherefore let them that suffer in well-doing commit their souls unto him, as unto a faithful Creator.
VII This passage shows us that THERE IS LIGHT IN HEAVEN WHILE THERE IS DARKNESS UPON EARTH. There is the silver lining behind the cloud of every earthly affliction; for the presence of eternal wisdom and love is there. All was soon to he darkness, dismay, and doubt for the mind of Job; but to him who sees the end from the beginning all was clear and full of meaning. The machinations of the devil will only serve to bring out the fidelity and patience of his chosen servant, who will live to see the "end of the Lord," that he is very pitiful and of tender mercy. Let us lift up our thoughts, in every season of personal or national depression) in every time of discouragement, when wickedness abounds, when the devil seems to be advancing his kingdom and the light of faith is waning, to that eternal, unquenchable light of the wisdom that cannot err, the will that evil never can defeat. Let us never forget that "Blessing, not cursing, rules above, And that in it we live and move. J.
Vers. 6-19. The trial of the righteous man.
The central subject of this book is the trial of the righteous man. Job is acknowledged of God to be "a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil." Yet he is tried, and tried sorely, and by permission of God. The difficulty to be solved by the history of Job is How can it come to pass that the righteous suffer? To what end is this permitted? The trial of Job is divided into two parts the first is briefly recounted, it contains the main facts; the second part is extended. The discussion of the book relates to the whole.
I ATTENTION IS INSTANTLY DIRECTED TO THE AGENT OF THE TRIAL. Satan the adversary. All our knowledge of the spirit-world is derived from Holy Scripture. The teaching of Scripture concerning evil spirits is full, minute, consistent. No valid objection to the existence of evil spirits can be raised on the ground of our ignorance, or our unfamiliarity with the phenomena attending the action of evil spirits. It is impossible to remove the teaching concerning Satan from Scripture without doing so great violence to it as to derange the whole. To a revelation we come to be taught, not to cavil. But the story is pictorially and dramatically represented. Satan is throughout "the agent of probation" Satanic action is not prevented, but controlled by God. The spirit of Satan is revealed by the malignant accusation made against Job. He charges Job with selfishness; his motive to obedience is a false one; his integrity will not stand a severe test. Very significant is the representation of the allowed Satanic testing," All that he hath is in thy power.
II ATTENTION IS DIRECTED TO THE NATURE OF THE TRIAL. It embraces the loss to Job of his substance, his servants, and his children. Wave after wave of sorrowful intelligence reaches him. Yet it is sudden. While one was "yet speaking, there came also another." It robbed the man of property, of his possessions; the man of honour, authority, and influence, of his servants; the tender father, of his family. How sad the change in his circumstances! How poignant his grief from the loss of his children How desolate the home! How suddenly the brightness of noon changed for the darkness of midnight! It would be difficult to conceive a picture of more severe trial. It was intense, widespread, irreparable.
III ATTENTION IS DIRECTED TO THE TEACHING OF THE TRIAL.
1. The folly of depending too confidently on earthly happiness. Every condition of happiness present; every ground of hope for its continuance; yet how speedily destroyed!
2. The demand for other resources of blessedness than those found in the changeful conditions of the present life. The hand must not grasp earthly riches too firmly. All that is of earth fadeth: how needful to seek "durable riches"!
3. The whole surroundings and possessions of life may be made the occasions of the testing of virtue.
4. The necessity for such a view of one"s life, and such a habit of obedience, as to be able to bow to the Divine will in the midst of our heaviest trials. R.G.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Now there was a day.
Job_1:6-12
Now there was a day.
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A fatal day
1. That Satan observeth and watcheth his time to fasten his temptations most strongly upon the soul. He watcheth a day, there was a day, and there was not a day in the whole year upon which he could have done it with greater advantage than upon that day. As the mercies of God are exceedingly endeared to us by the season in which they come to us: When they come to us in our special need, how sweet is a mercy then! And as our sins are exceedingly aggravated, by the session and time wherein they are committed: What, sin upon this day? A day of trouble, a day of humiliation? So likewise the temptations of Satan and the afflictions which he brings upon the servants of God, are exceedingly embittered by the season; and he knows well enough what seasons will make them most bitter. And what can more imbitter a cup of sorrow than to have it brought us upon a day of rejoicing? If joy be troublesome in our sorrows, how troublesome is sorrow in the midst of our joys (Pro_25:20). Then Satan could never have found out such a time as this. Must he needs be afflicting the father when the children were a feasting? Could he find out no other time but this? blast his tears be mingled with their wine? Must the childrens rejoicing day be the fathers mourning day? Must Satan needs show his malice against the father, when the children were shewing their love one to another? Let us observe, then, this mixture of malice and cunning in Satan, in choosing his time. To carry a man from one extremity to another, puts him upon the greatest extremity: To make the day of a mans greatest rejoicing to be the day of his deepest sorrows, this is cutting, if not killing sorrow. It were well if we could be wise in this respect to imitate Satan, to choose out our day to do good when there is greatest probability of success, as he chose out his day to do mischief.
2. That the fairest and clearest day of our onward comfort may be clouded and overcast before the evening. (J. Caryl.)
And Satan came also among them.--
The Satan
In contrast to the Almighty we have the figure of the adversary, or Satan, depicted with sufficient clearness, notably coherent, representing a phase of being not imaginary but actual. He is not, as the Satan of later times came to be, the head of a kingdom peopled with evil spirits, a nether world separated from the abode of the heavenly angels by a broad, impassable gulf. He has no distinctive hideousness, nor is he painted as in any sense independent, although the evil bent of his nature is made plain, and he ventures to dispute the judgment of the Most High. This conception of the adversary need not be set in opposition to those which afterwards appear in Scripture as if truth must be entirely there or here. But we cannot help contrasting the Satan of the Book of Job with the grotesque, gigantic, awful, and despicable fallen angels of the worlds poetry. Not that the mark of genius is wanting in these; but they reflect the powers of this world, and the accompaniments of malignant human despotism. The author of Job, on the contrary, moved little by earthly state or grandeur, whether good or evil, solely occupied with the Divine sovereignty, never dreams of one who could maintain the slightest shadow of authority in opposition to God. He cannot trifle with his idea of the Almighty in the way of representing a rival to Him; nor can he degrade a subject so serious as that of human faith and well-being by painting with any touch of levity a superhuman adversary of men . . . Evidently we have here a personification Of the doubting, misbelieving, misreading spirit which, in our day, we limit to men, and call pessimism. (Robert A. Watson, D. D.)
Satan among the angels
This scene is not less perplexing than startling. Satan is beheld in some way among the angels of God. There is another parallel striking illustration of the dominion God holds, and of His mode of administration over the world of moral causes and evil consequences, in 1Ki_22:19-22.
I. Can we in any way realise the scene? We may conceive the bright beings--Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, Uriel circling the throne, rejoicing each with his hymn of praise, reporting his work of love. These are the chariots of the Lord; these are they which do His commandments; they have each performed his own work, for the Bible beholds all the work of creation and providence carried on, not by dead laws, not eves by operating living principles--life stands behind all matter, using it as a veil or as a vehicle. I, might Raphael say, directed the rolling planets, I stood by the axis of the young firmament, I heard the stars sing together, and I stand in Thy presence to report my obedience, and to bless Thee. And I, might Uriel say, have confirmed the doubting, I have steadied the steps of the straying; I passed by the couch of the dying, and I consoled. And I, might Gabriel have said, have prepared the earth for Thy approach; I have winnowed the winds and have diffused the light; and I have put thoughts into the hearts of men; and at Thy command I have broken up solitudes; I have set the solitary in families, and where I have gathered them into companies I have heard their songs to Thee; and I have come into Thy presence to report my obedience and to bless Thee. And then there was seen a shadow, and it fell across the gold of the throne, and while it dropped from the seraphs wing, it spread itself out even over the pavement of light; and when the voice from the central blessedness piercingly inquired, Whence comest thou? it was in a tone altogether unlike that of the other angels, the shadow rejoined, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And all this transaction, so suggestively given, I conceive still; I drop the more lofty conceptions of the book--I conceive the sons of God, each with his hymn and his work. I see the merchant who, the balances of trade in his hands, feels how much selfishness has still been, if not the main intention, still present--yet he goes and presents himself before the Lord. Thou, he says, hast given all; behold my obedience; behold my contrition; behold me, and bless me. Or the schoolmaster, or the minister, I also am an angel or a messenger of Thine; my strength is from Thee, the light I bear is a candle kindled by Thee; I bring Thee my obedience, I have wrought for Thee, behold me, and bless me. And then you can conceive one to whom all this is only a fitting subject for caricature, as you see all reality is, all enthusiasm is. Do you not see that which exposes itself most always as the weak side, is ever the strongest side of a character? So the jaunty sneerer comes; some cynical Horace Walpole or sardonic Voltaire, and, Ah, says he, I have been looking at all these things, mocking--that is my way, not mending--I have been going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it.
II. Here, then, we have next the scriptural idea of Satan. Of course you will often have heard the passage I have read, spoken of as conveying a poetic description, that it is merely a highly sublime personification. Be that as it may, the doctrine of the text affirms the personality of Satan. The Holy Scriptures sketch the character of the Evil One; but they never permit us to hesitate as to the fact of his personality. He exists, not as an abstract idea, not as a blind force, not either as a mere quality, or the absence or negation of qualities in bodies or in persons. Elevate your conceptions to what is the ground of personality, what constitutes its difference from a mere thing. Personality is consciousness; it consciously works out its own character, and its powers are all collected and resolved in will. Now Scripture teaches us that such a being there is, immediately evil, and living only in and for evil. He is not merely a necessity in things; at any rate this is not the account of his origin; and it would be impossible to believe this without impeaching the infinite character, the unity, and goodness of God. Satan is positive, personal, although not absolute, evil. The response of the Evil One to his Almighty Questioner distinctly expresses--
1. Indifference. Indeed, the attributes of his personality are riveted and closely interlocked together; the one emanates from the other, going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it. This is the end, the passionless end of Ms character--indifference, the absence of all reality, contempt for all enthusiasm, contempt for all sentiment, studious repression of all that might be divine instinct, or delight in the works of the great God--such is Satan. What Satan is, you may detect in many a character, in many an essay, in which you are reminded how Satan comes among people still, going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it. See a man who has lost his sense of wonder, who boasts that nothing can take him by surprise, who has been living so fast you cannot overtake him by any sentiments or ideas that are noble--not the delicacy of a flower, not the calm, upheaving grandeur of the mountain, no holy life, no noble book, no spectacle of a stirring and absorbing passion; he goes to and fro in the earth, and sees nothing; his eyeglass sees us much as he sees. Look at that hard man who prides himself on seeing what men are, and using them; priding himself, too, that nobody ever did know him, that nobody ever did read him--he is going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it. Or the selfish manufacturer or merchant, who simply wrought for his own gains, like a buccaneer or Choctaw, who has prowled over society to find among men cogs for his machine, bricks for his mill, and to whom men anywhere are only as so many stones in the wall. And just as all these are manifestations of personality, so I conceive a vast and extended personality in that amazing conscienceless being, who seems to wrap this world round like a cold and dreadful mist, or withering blight and shade--Satan.
2. There is another attribute, although, certainly, the first is very greatly the result of this second--it is Unbelief. In the instance before us it assumes a shape we often notice now, manifests itself in disbelief in man. Doth Job serve God for nought? This, then, is a marked attribute of Satan--disbelief in God too; for to believe in God is not merely to apprehend His being and His absolute power.
3. Another characteristic is brought out as an attribute of Satan in this singular and ancient scene--Cruelty. I cannot but notice how most assuredly there is involved in it the immediate connection of Satan with, and his influence over, material interests and things; lightning and storm, disease and death, are shown here to be certainly related to him. It seems to me eminently reasonable, that in Scripture the universe is represented as governed by life. I know I shall be told of forces and laws, and I reply, I have looked at these things, and attempted a little to apprehend these things, and I believe in them. In any case, as we cannot account for the benevolent and general scheme of nature without one blessed and infinite over-ruling Presence, so it seems impossible to conceive the strangely ruptured condition of things without referring them back to some central agency of evil and sin.
4. Another characteristic feature brought out in the text is Limitation. While evil and Satan exist, they are conditioned by the sovereignty of God; God rules over evil in all its personalities and forms. Satan and the angels alike come into the presence of God. The faith of our fathers, indeed, was, that the devil was on the earth, having great power. It would provoke a smile on some lips to think of the real way in which they were wont to wrestle with the devil. I hear of nobody who places much faith in his power to injure us; we never pray as if he were by us in terrible might. Coldly our prayers ascend to God, as if He were not; and for the great Adversary, it is as if he were really dead. How different was Luther and his great foe, Duke George, for instance. All the Duke Georges in the universe, said he, are not equal to a single devil, and I do not fear the devil. The mighty-hearted Luther kept the battle heating in a constant tempest. You have read and know well his Table Talk, his life--that invisible world, how present to him! With Luther it was, then, evidently no sham fight, but a fearful hand-to-hand conflict; and all his praying and speaking most evidently went upon the principle, not only of a real belief in the power of darkness, but of his power also, by hearty prayer and faith in Christ, to rout and scatter it. And I, why do I venture to set before you this doctrine, as I believe it is, of Holy Scripture? Very greatly because I feel that we live in an age which is dangerously loosening its hold of great spiritual personalities. I cannot, indeed, form a very clear conception of attributes, excepting as they are embodied in persons. I can speak of theft, and I can define theft, but I cannot separate it from the action of a person; and I can speak of holiness, and define holiness, but it is nothing to me unless it is embodied in a person. We are in great danger of using fine-sounding epithets about God, and even about man, and losing the sense of personal relation. So to many who even profess and call themselves Christians, God is the sum total of the forces of the universe, the soul is a mode of matter, and Satan is a term for the empirical, partial, and evil drift of things, which in the course of ages may possibly sink into the tidal force of good, and so cease to be the necessity it looks at present. Manifestly the whole consequence of such negations is to annihilate responsibility, and to destroy the cheerful radiant freedom of the human soul everywhere. The personality of Satan stands over against the personality of God; limited, indeed, only permitted, and doomed by His sovereignty. Strangely, indeed, must Scripture have surrendered its intention, if its purpose is not to produce in us hatred and fear towards some tremendous ubiquitous person constantly seeking to have power over us--a malignant will, a power and an element in the universe, in the world, in the human heart--a power not of God, not good, adverse and hateful to God and goodness. (E. P. Hood.)
Satan
We have here a highly figurative representation of the Eternal and His spiritual kingdom. And a remarkable meeting of the great God and some of His intelligent creatures. The passage teaches concerning Satan--
I. That he has a personal existence. Acting as a person, he goes to and fro in the earth.
1. The personality of his existence is suggested by reason.
(1) As there are existences gradually sinking beneath man down to nothing, so there may be intelligent beings existing above man, up to the highest point of creatureship.
(2) As men have fallen and become rebels against God, there is nothing improbable in the supposition that there are beings above man who have done the same.
(3) As the fallen amongst men become the tempters of others, and this in proportion to their depravity and power, it is very probable that amongst the fallen ones above us there are leaders in wickedness. Because of this natural probability, almost all peoples in all lands have believed in an arch-fiend, a malignant god of this world.
2. The personality of his existence is confirmed by human history. It is almost impossible to account for the absurdities which men entertain, and the enormities which they perpetrate, without going up to some foul spirit who blinds the eyes and flames the passions of men.
3. The personality of his existence is declared in the Bible (Mat_4:3; Joh_8:44; Act_26:18; Eph_6:12; 1Th_3:5; 2Pe_2:4; Jud_1:6; Rev_12:10, etc.). He is called by different names, Satan, Devil, Old Serpent, Prince of the Power of the Air, Beelzebub, Dragon, etc.
II. He is an intruder into the sacred (1Ki_22:19-23; Mat_4:3). Wherever the sons of the Almighty assemble, Satan is amongst them; he is there to bias the intellect, and to pollute the feelings.
III. He is amenable to the eternal. Jehovah asks him concerning his movements, and concerning his opinions.
IV. He is a vagrant in the universe. Going to and fro implies--
1. Homelessness.
2. Zealousness.
V. He is a slanderer of the good. He slanders man to God, and he slanders God to man. He is diabolus, breaking the harmony of Gods moral universe by slander.
VI. He is a slave of the infinite. He can only act by permission. God uses him as His instrument. (Homilist.)
Temptation
Temptation is the precursor of sin. There is a great tendency to forget the real nature of Satan; that he is a distinct being, governed by the same laws of motion and influence over matter by which other spiritual bodies are governed. Every strong impulse of evil is a direct assault, and indicates a personal appearance of the tempter, as decidedly as would the approach of any earthly assailant be marked by visible signs. Satan has a distinct personality and individuality, veiled only from us by the mist of our bodily being. There is a floating impression in mens minds that evil is simply a principle inherent in themselves, of no very definite shape, and scarcely forming itself into a clear principle at all. We ought to be able to separate in our minds between the distinct and violent assaults of the tempter, and those slighter suggestions of evil which are the frequent movements of our own corrupt heart. A clear distinction between external assault and internal suggestion will go far to chase those doubts and apprehensions away, and tend to give health and vigour to the soul and conscience. Another benefit will arise from the ideas and pictures this idea of the personality of Satan will raise to the mind in the contest with evil. It reduces the conflict to a definite period, and a number of definite acts. The more real we make our struggle with evil the better. In our bodily condition it is easier to resist a person than an abstraction. We can more easily kindle within ourselves feelings of indignation, desire of superiority, and the like, when we realise personality in our foe. (E. Monte.)
Satanic temptation
1. That there is no place in the world that can secure a man from temptation, or be a sanctuary from Satans assaults. Cloisters are as open to Satan as the open field.
2. We may note here the wonderful diligence of Satan.
3. That Satan is confined in his business to the earth. (J. Caryl.)
Satan deserves his name
Many have their names for nought, because they do nothing for them; like Labans images, which were called gods, though they were but blocks; but the devil deserves his names. He is not called a tempter, a liar, a slanderer, and an accuser, and a deceiver, and a murderer, and a compasser in vain; like St. George, which is always on horseback, and never rides; but he would do more than by his office he is bound to. Others are called officers because they have an office; but he is called an enemy because he shows his envy. Others are called justicers because they should do justice; but he is called a tempter because he practiseth temptation. Others are called pastors because they should feed; but he is called a devourer because he doth devour; and we call him a compasser because he doth compass. (Henry Smith.)
Satanic excursions
Another route that Satan on his active travels is exceedingly apt to take is for the despoiling of souls. It does not pay him merely to destroy the bodies of men and women. Those bodies would soon be gone anyhow; but great treasures are involved in this Satanic excursion. On this route he meets a man who is aroused by something he has seen in the Bible, and Satan says, Now I can settle that for you: the Bible is an imposition; it has been deluding the world for centuries; do not let it delude you. It has no more authority than the Koran of the Mohammedan, or the Shaster of the Hindoo, or the Zend-Avesta of the Parsee. He meets another man who is hastening towards the Kingdom of God, and says: Why all this precipitation? Religion is right, but any time within the next ten years will be soon enough for you. A man with a stout chest like yours, and such muscular development, must not be bothering himself about the next world. Satan meets another man who has gone through a long course of profligacy, and is beginning to pray for forgiveness, and Satan says to the man: You are too late; the Lord will not help such a wretch as you; you might as well brace up and fight your own way through. And so with a spite and an acuteness and a velocity that have been gaining for six thousand yours, he ranges up and down, baffling, disappointing, defeating, afflicting, destroying the human race. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Satan compassing the earth
Compassing here doth signify tempting, and the earth doth signify all the people of the earth; as if he should say, I come from tempting all men. As Satan is here called a compasser, so he will compass your eyes with shows, and your ears with sounds, and your senses with sleep, and your thoughts with fancies, and all to hinder you from hearing while the articles are against him; and after I have spoken, he will compass you again with business, and cares, and pleasures, and quarrels, to make you forget that which you have heard. Therefore take heed how ye hear. Satan is an adversary compassing the earth; and therefore let the earth beware, like a city which is besieged with the adversaries. Three things I note wherefore the devil may be said to compass the earth.
1. Because he tempteth all men.
2. Because he tempteth all to sin; and
3. Because he tempteth by all means.
What doth he compass? The earth. This is the devils pilgrimage, from one end of the earth to the other, and then back again; like a wandering merchant which seeketh his traffic where he can speed cheapest. First of all creatures, Satan compasseth men; he compasseth all men, and he compasseth good men. If then the devil be such a busy-body, which meddleth in every mans matter, let us remember what the wise man saith, A busy-body is hated; the devil is to be hated because he is a busy-body. As the serpent compasseth, so doth his seed; and therefore Solomon calls the ways of the wicked crooked ways. (H. Smith.)
My servant Job (verses 8, 11; and Job_40:4).
A three-fold estimate of a good mans character
I. Jobs character as estimated by God. God regarded the character of Job. He estimated Job as perfect. Every part of his character contained the germ of completeness. He estimated Job as upright. His life was parallel with the commandments of heaven, and the precepts of truth. Job recognised carefully his domestic responsibilities. This perfection is alleged of human nature, an upright man. Note the blessedness of this character.
(1) Divine protection. A hedge about him.
(2) Business prosperity. Substance increased in the land.
II. Jobs character estimated by Satan. The Satanic test of character must he viewed in a two-fold aspect.
(1) As a subtle scheme to secure Jobs ruin.
(2) As a merciful messenger permitted by God to enhance the worth of Jobs life. The test was severe, but limited. He estimates that Jobs character was superficial, that underneath his garb of goodness there was a smouldering impiety, which only required outward circumstances to develop it into obstinate rebellion.
III. Jobs character estimated by himself.
1. He designates himself vile. True, his sorrows may have had a depressing effect upon him, and continued suffering have brought him under the influence of gloomy views. Perhaps he had circumstances as an index of his heart life, thinking that his trials were the infliction of wrath, rather than the chidings of love. However, it is evident that reverent humility was a great element in his piety. He had such lofty conceptions of God, His purity and justice, that, in remembrance of such an ideal of life, his own paled into absolute imperfection.
2. Job calls attention to his vileness.--Behold! This is somewhat unusual, as people try to conceal the miserable rottenness of their lives, either by a mock modesty or daring pretension.
3. Job takes the blame of his vileness--I am vile. He does not make his assumed pollution the result of original depravity; he does not attribute it to the despotism of circumstances, to the evil tendency of education, and the impurity of society. No; without palliation or excuse, he renders himself culpable. Ought we not to be shamed into honesty by the plain, bold confession of this good man? Job could afford to consider himself vile, when God thought him perfect. (Joseph S. Exell, M. A.)
Gods servant
1. That Satans main temptations, his strongest batteries are planted against the most eminent godly persons. Here God calleth Job His servant. And He calleth him so--
(1) By way of distinction or difference; My servant, that is, Mine, not his own. Many are their own servants, they serve their own lusts and pleasures; many are Satans servants. Some are the servants of men.
(2) My servant, by way of special right and property. So Job and all godly persons are called Gods servants.
(a) By election.
(b) They are Gods servants by the right of purchase.
(3) My servant, by way of covenant. Then again, we may further understand this, and all suchlike expressions: When God saith My servant, He doth as it were glory in His servant. God speaks of him as of His treasure; as a man doth of that which he glorieth in.
2. It is a mans honour to be Gods servant, and God thinks Himself honoured by the service of man. When God speaks of His people by name, it noteth two things in Scripture.
(1) A special care that God hath over them.
(2) A special love that God hath to them (Joh_10:3).
3. That God doth take care of His elect children and servants in a special manner above all other men in the world. (J. Caryl.)
Gods testimony to the good
I. That God hath servants of all statures and degrees. All His servants come not to the like pitch, to the like height; here is one that is beyond them all, My servant Job--not a man like him upon the earth.
II. We ought not to set up our rest in low degrees of grace; or content ourselves to be like others in grace. Then see the character that God giveth of Job, A perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil.
1. God hath a perfect character of every soul. He knoweth fully and clearly what the tempers of your hearts and spirits are.
2. God will give to every man a testimony according to his utmost worth. God will not conceal any of your graces, or obscure your goodness, He will make it known to the world to the full, what you are. It is good for us to have our letters testimonial from God, to have our letters commendatory from heaven. It is not what a man saith in his own heart, what he flattereth himself: it is not what your neighbours or others flatter you, and say of you, but what God saith of you, what testimony He giveth of you. (J. Caryl.)
Sin eschewed
If I say to a person, I will not receive you into my house when you come dressed in such a coat; and I open the door to him when he has on another suit which is more respectable, it is evident that my objection was not to the person, but to his clothes. If a man will not cheat when the transaction is open to the world, but will do so in a more secret way, or in a kind of adulteration which is winked at in the trade, the man does not hate cheating, he only hates that kind of it which is sure to be found out; he likes the thing itself very well. Some sinners, they say, hate sin. Not at all, sin in its essence is pleasing enough; it is only the glaring shape of it which they dislike. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Satan considering the saints
How very uncertain are all terrestrial things! How foolish would that believer be who should lay up his treasure anywhere, except in heaven! Jobs prosperity promised as much stability as anything can do beneath the moon. He had accumulated wealth of a kind which does not suddenly depreciate in value. Up there, beyond the clouds, where no human eye could see, there was a scene enacted which augured no good to Jobs prosperity. The spirit of evil stood face to face with the infinite Spirit of all good. An extraordinary conversation took place between these two beings.
I. In what sense may Satan be said to consider the people of God? Certainly not in the usual Biblical meaning of the term consider. O Lord, consider my trouble. Consider my meditation. Blessed is he that considereth the poor. Such consideration implies goodwill and a careful inspection of the object of benevolence with regard to a wise distribution of favour. In that sense Satan never considers any. If he has any benevolence, it must be towards himself; but all his considerations of other creatures are of the most malevolent kind. No meteoric flash of good flits across the black midnight of his soul. Nor does he consider us as we are told to consider the works of God, that is, in order to derive instruction as to Gods wisdom and love and kindness. He does not honour God by what he sees in His works, or in His people.
1. The consideration which Satan pays to Gods saints is upon this wise. He regards them with wonder, when he considers the difference between them and himself. A traitor, when he knows the thorough villainy and the blackness of his own heart, cannot help being astounded when he is forced to believe another man to be faithful. What grace is it which keeps these? I was a vessel of gold, and yet I was broken; these are earthen vessels, but I cannot break them! It may be that he also wonders at their happiness. He feels within himself a seething sea of misery. He admires and hates the peace which reigns in the believers soul.
2. Do you not think that he considers them to detect, if possible, any flaw and fault in them, by way of solace to himself? He considers our sinful flesh, and makes it one of the books in which he diligently reads. One of the fairest prospects, I doubt not, which the devils eye ever rests upon is the inconsistency and the impurity which he can discover in the true child of God. In this respect he had very little to consider in Gods true servant, Job.
3. We doubt not that he views the Lords people, and especially the more eminent and excellent among them, as the great barriers to the progress of his kingdom; and just as the engineer, endeavouring to make a railway, keeps his eye very much fixed upon the hills and rivers, and especially upon the great mountain through which it will take years laboriously to bore a tunnel, so Satan, in looking upon his various plans to carry on his dominion in the world, considers most such men as Job. He is sure to consider Gods servant, if there be none like him, if he stand out distinct and separate from his fellows. Those of us who are called to the work of the ministry must expect from our position to be the special objects of his consideration. If you are more generous than other saints, if you live nearer to God than others, as the birds peck most at the ripest fruit, so may you expect Satan to be most busy against you. Who cares to contend for a province covered with stones and barren rocks, and ice bound by frozen seas? But in all times there is sure to be a contention after the fat valleys where the wheat-sheaves are plenteous, and where the husbandmans toil is well requited, and thus, for you who honour God most, Satan will struggle very sternly. He wants to pluck Gods jewels from His crown, if he can, and take the Redeemers precious stones even from the breastplate itself.
4. It needs not much wisdom to discern that the great object of Satan in considering Gods people is to do them injury. Where he cannot destroy, there is no doubt that Satans object is to worry. He does not like to see Gods people happy.
5. Moreover, if Satan cannot destroy a Christian, how often has he spoilt his usefulness! How is it that God permits this constant and malevolent consideration of His people by the evil one? One answer, doubtless, is, that God knows what is for His own glory, and that He giveth no account of His matters; that, having permitted free agency, and having allowed, for some mysterious reason, the existence of evil, it does not seem agreeable with His having done so to destroy Satan; but He gives him power, that it may be a fair hand-to-hand fight between sin and holiness, between grace and craftiness. Besides, be it remembered, that incidentally the temptations of Satan are of service to the people of God. An experimental divine remarks, that there is no temptation in the world which is so bad as not being tempted at all; for to be tempted will tend to keep us awake--whereas, being without temptation, flesh and blood are weak: and though the spirit may be willing, yet we may be found falling into slumber. Children do not run away from their fathers side when big dogs bark at them.
II. What is it that Satan considers with a view to the injury of Gods people? It cannot be said of him as of God, that he knoweth us altogether; but since he has been now nearly six thousand years dealing with poor fallen humanity, he must have acquired a very vast experience in that time, and having been all over the earth, and having tempted the highest and the lowest, he must know exceedingly well what the springs of human action are, and how to play upon them.
1. Satan watches and considers, first of all, our peculiar infirmities. He looks us up and down, just as I have seen a horse dealer do with a horse; and soon finds out wherein we are faulty. Satan knows how to look at us and reckon us up from heel to head, so that he will say of this man, His infirmity is lust, or of that other, He hath a quick temper, or of this other, He is proud, or of that other, He is slothful.
2. He takes care also to consider our frames and states of mind. If the devil would attack us when our minds are in certain moods, we should be more than a match for him: he knows this, and shuns the encounter. Some men are more ready for temptation when they are distressed and desponding; the fiend will then assail them. Others will be more liable to take fire when they are jubilant and full of joy; then will he strike his spark into the tinder. As the worker in metals knows that one metal is to be worked at such a heat, and another at a different temperature; as those who have to deal with chemicals know that at a certain heat one fluid will boil, while another reaches the boiling point much earlier, so Satan knows exactly the temperature at which to work us to his purpose. Small pots boil directly they are put on the fire, and so little men of quick temper are soon in a passion; larger vessels require more time and coal before they will boil, but when they do boil, it is a boil indeed, not soon forgotten or abated.
3. He also takes care to consider our position among men. There are a few persons who are most easily tempted when they are alone--they are the subjects then of great heaviness of mind, and they may be driven to most awful crimes; perhaps the most of us are more liable to sin when we are in company. In some company I never should be led into sin; into another society I could scarcely venture.
4. How, too, will he consider our condition in the world! He looks at one man, and says, That man has property--it is of no use my trying such-and-such arts with him; but here is another man who is very poor, I will catch him in that net.
5. Satan, when he makes his investigations, notices all the objects of our affection. I doubt not, when he went round Jobs house, he observed it as carefully as thieves do a jewellers premises when they mean to break into them. So, when the devil went round, jotting down in his mind all Jobs position, he thought to himself, There are the camels and the oxen, the asses and the servants,--yes, I can use all these very admirably. Then, he thought, there are the three daughters! There are the ten sons, and they go feasting--I shall know where to catch them, and if I can just blow the house down when they are feasting, that will afflict the fathers mind the more severely, for he will say, Oh, that they had died when they had been praying, rather than when they had been feasting and drinking wine. I will put down, too, in the inventory, says the devil, his wife--I dare say I shall want her, and accordingly it came to that. You have a child, and Satan knows that you idolise it. Ah, says he, there is a place for my wounding him.
III. Satan considered, but there was a higher consideration which overrode. His consideration. In times of war, the sappers and miners of one party will make a mine, and it is a very common counteractive for the sappers and miners of the other party to countermine by undermining the first mine. This is just what God does with Satan. Satan is mining, and he thinks to light the fusee and to blow up Gods building, but all the while God is undermining him, and tie blows up Satans mine before he can do any mischief. Subtlety is not wisdom. All the while that Satan was tempting Job he little knew that he was answering Gods purpose, for God was looking on and considering the whole of it, and holding the enemy as a man holds a horse by its bridle.
1. The Lord had considered exactly how far He would let Satan go.
2. Did not the Lord also consider how He should sustain His servant under the trial? You do not know how blessedly our God poured the secret oil upon Jacobs fire of grace, while the devil was throwing buckets of water on it.
3. In the next place, the Lord considered how to sanctify Job by this trial. Job was a much better man at the end of the story than he was at the beginning. Foolish devil! he is piling up a pedestal on which God will set His servant Job, that he may be looked upon with wonder by all ages.
4. Jobs afflictions and Jobs patience have been a lasting blessing to the Church of God, and they have inflicted incredible disgrace upon Satan. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain
III.
THE OPENING SCENE IN HEAVEN
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Job_1:6-12
WITH the presentation of the scene in heaven, the genius, the pious daring, and fine moral insight of the writer at once appear-in one word, his inspiration. From the first we feel a sure yet deeply reverent touch, a spirit composed in its high resolve. The thinking is keen, but entirely without strain. In no mere flash did the overworld disclose itself and those decrees that shape mans destiny. There is constructive imagination. Wherever the idea of the heavenly council was found, whether in the vision Micaiah narrated to Jehoshaphat and Ahab, or in the great vision of Isaiah, it certainly was not unsought. Through the authors own study and art the inspiration came that made the picture what it is. The calm sovereignty of God, not tyrannical but most sympathetic, is presented with simple felicity. It was the distinction of Hebrew prophets to speak of the Almighty with a confidence which bordered on familiarity yet never lost the grace of profound reverence; and here we find that trait of serious naivete. The writer ventures on the scene he paints with no consciousness of daring nor the least air of difficult endeavour, but quietly, as one who has the thought of the Divine government of human affairs constantly before his mind and glories in the majestic wisdom of God and His friendliness to men. In a single touch the King is shown, and before Him the hierarchies and powers of the invisible world in their responsibility to His rule. Centuries of religious culture are behind the words, and also many years of private meditation and philosophic thought. To this man, because he gave himself to the highest discipline, revelations came, uplifting, broad, and deep.
In contrast to the Almighty we have the figure of the Adversary, or Satan, depicted with sufficient clearness, notably coherent, representing a phase of being not imaginary but actual. He is not, as the Satan of later time came to be, the head of a kingdom peopled with evil spirits, a nether world separated from the abode of the heavenly angels by a broad, impassable gulf. He has no distinctive hideousness, nor is he painted as in any sense independent, although the evil bent of his nature is made plain, and he ventures to dispute the judgment of the Most High. This conception of the Adversary need not be set in opposition to those which afterwards appear in Scripture as if truth must lie entirely there or here. But we cannot help contrasting the Satan of the Book of Job with the grotesque, gigantic, awful, or despicable fallen angels of the worlds poetry. Not that the mark of genius is wanting in these; but they reflect the powers of this world and the accompaniments of malignant human despotism. The author of Job, on the contrary, moved little by earthly state and grandeur, whether good or evil, solely occupied with the Divine sovereignty, never dreams of one who could maintain the slightest shadow of authority in opposition to God. He cannot trifle with his idea of the Almighty in the way of representing a rival to Him; nor can he degrade a subject so serious as that of human faith and well being by painting with any touch of levity a superhuman adversary of men.
Dante in his "Inferno" attempts, the portraiture of the monarch of hell:-
That emperor who sways
The realm of sorrow, at mid-breast from the ice
Stood forth; and I in stature, am more like
A giant than the giants are to his arms
If he were beautiful
As he is hideous now, and yet did dare
To scowl upon his Maker, well from him
May all our misery flow.
The enormous size of this figure is matched by its hideousness; the misery of the arch fiend, for all Its horror, is grotesque:-
"At six eyes he wept; the tears
Adown three faces rolled in bloody foam."
Passing to Milton, we find sublimity in his pictures of the fallen legions, and it culminates in the vision of their king:-
Above them all the archangel; but his face
Deep scars of thunder had intrenched, and care
Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows
Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride
Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast
Signs of remorse and passion, to behold
The fellows of his crime
Millions of spirits for his fault amerced
Of heaven, and from eternal splendours flung
For his revolt.
The picture is magnificent. It has, however, little justification from Scripture. Even in the Book of Revelation we see a kind of contempt of the Adversary, where an angel from heaven with a great chain in his hand lays hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil, and Satan, and binds him a thousand years. Milton has painted his Satan largely, as not altogether unfit to take arms against the Omnipotent, grown gigantic, even sublime, in the course of much theological speculation that had its source far back in Chaldaean and Iranian myths. Perhaps, too, the sympathies of the poet, playing about the fortunes of fallen royalty, may have unconsciously coloured the vision which he saw and drew with such marvellous power, dipping his pencil "in the hues of earthquake and eclipse."
This splendid regal archfiend has no kinship with the Satan of the Book of Job; and, on the other hand, the Mephistopheles of the "Faust," although bearing an outward resemblance to him, is, for a quite different reason, essentially unlike. Obviously Goethes picture of a cynical devil gaily perverting and damning a human mind is based on the Book of Job. The "Prologue in Heaven," in which he first appears, is an imitation of the passage before us. But while the vulgarity and insolence of Mephistopheles are in contrast to the demeanour of the Adversary in presence of Jehovah, the real distinction lies in the kind of power ascribed to the one and the other. Mephistopheles is a cunning tempter. He receives permission to mislead if he can, and not only places his victim in circumstances fitted to ruin his virtue, but plies him with arguments intended to prove that evil is good, that to be pure is to be a fool. No such power of evil suggestion is given to the Adversary of Job. His action extends only to the outward events by which the trial of faith is brought about. Cynical he is and bent on working evil, but not by low cunning and sophistry. He has no access to the mind. While it cannot be said that Goethe has descended beneath the level of possibility, since a contemporary and friend of his own, Schopenhauer, might almost have sat for the portrait of Mephistopheles, the realism in Job befits the age of the writer and the serious purpose he had in view. "Faust" is a work of genius and art, and succeeds in its degree. The author of Job succeeds in a far higher sense, by the charm of simple sincerity and the strength of Divine inspiration, keeping the play of supernatural agency beyond human vision, making the Satan a mere instrument of the Divine purpose, in no sense free or intellectually powerful.
The scene opens with a gathering of the "sons of the Elohim" in presence of their King. Professor Cheyne thinks that these are "supernatural Titanic" beings who had once been at strife with Jehovah, but who now at stated times paid him their enforced homage; and this he illustrates by reference Job_21:22 and Job_25:2. But the question in the one passage, "Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing He judgeth those that are high" [µymir, the heights of heaven, highnesses], and the affirmation in the other, "He maketh peace in His high places," can scarcely be held to prove the supposition. The ordinary view that they are heavenly powers or angels, willing servants, not unwilling vassals of Jehovah, is probably correct. They have come together at an appointed time to give account of their doings and to receive commands, and among them the Satan or Adversary presents himself, one distinguished from all the rest by the name he bears and the character and function it implies. There is no hint that he is out of place, that he has impudently forced his way into the audience chamber. Rather does it appear that he, like the rest, has to give his account. The question "Whence comest thou?" expresses no rebuke. It is addressed to the Satan as to the others. We see, therefore, that this "Adversary," to whomsoever he is opposed, is not a being excluded from communication with God, engaged in a princely revolt. When the reply is put into his mouth that he has been "going to and fro in the earth, and pacing up and down in it," the impression conveyed is that a certain task of observing men, perhaps watching for their misdeeds, has been assumed by him. He appears a spirit of restless and acute inquiry into mens lives and motives, with a keen eye for the weaknesses of humanity and a fancy quick to imagine evil.
Evidently we have here a personification of the doubting, misbelieving, misreading spirit which, in our day, we limit to men and call pessimism. Now Koheleth gives so finished an expression to this temper that we can hardly be wrong in going back some distance of time for its growth; and the state of Israel before the northern captivity was a soil in which every kind of bitter seed might spring up. The author of Job may well have drawn from more than one cynic of his day when he set his mocking figure in the blaze of the celestial court. Satan is the pessimist. He exists, so far as his intent goes, to find cause against man, and therefore, in effect, against God, as mans Creator. A shrewd thinker is this Adversary, but narrowed to one line and that singularly like some modern criticism of religion, the resemblance holding in this that neither shows any feeling of responsibility. The Satan sneers away faith and virtue; the modern countenances both, and so has an excellent reason for pronouncing them hollow; or he avoids both, and is sure there is nothing but emptiness where he has not sought. Either way, all is habel habalim-vanity of vanities. And yet Satan is so held and governed by the Almighty that he can only strike where permission is given. Evil, as represented by him, is under the control of Divine wisdom and goodness. He appears as one to whom the words of Christ, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve," would bring home a sense neither of duty nor privilege, but of a sheer necessity, to be contested to the last. Nevertheless he is a vassal of the Almighty. Here the touch of the author is firm and true.
So of pessimistic research and philosophy now. We have writers who follow humanity in all its base movements and know nothing of its highest. The research of Schopenhauer and even the psychology of certain modern novelists are mischievous, depraving, for this reason, if no other, that they evaporate the ideal. They promote generally that diseased egotism to which judgment and aspiration are alike unknown. Yet this spirit too serves where it has no dream of serving. It provokes a healthy opposition, shows a hell from which men recoil, and creates so deadly ennui that the least gleam of faith becomes acceptable, and even Theosophy, because it speaks of life, secures the craving mind. Moreover, the pessimist keeps the church a little humble, somewhat awake to the error that may underlie its own glory and the meanness that mingles too often with its piety. A result of the freedom of the human mind to question and deny, pessimism has its place in the scheme of things. Hostile and often railing, it is detestable enough, but needs not alarm those who know that God takes care of His world.
The challenge which begins the action of the drama-by whom is it thrown out? By the Almighty God sets before the Satan a good life: "Hast thou considered My servant Job? that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil." The source of the whole movement, then, is a defiance of unbelief by the Divine Friend of men and Lord of all. There is such a thing as human virtue, and it is the glory of God to be served by it, to have His power and divinity reflected in mans spiritual vigour and holiness.
Why does the Almighty throw out the challenge and not wait for Satans charge? Simply because the trial of virtue must begin with God. This is the first step in a series of providential dealings fraught with the most important results, and there is singular wisdom in attributing it to God. Divine grace is to be seen thrusting back the chaotic falsehoods that darken the world of thought. They exist; they are known to Him who rules; and He does not leave humanity to contend with them unaided. In their keenest trials the faithful are supported by His hand, assured of victory while they fight His battles. Ignorant pride, like that of the Adversary, is not slow to enter into debate even with the All-wise. Satan has the question ready which implies a lie, for his is the voice of that scepticism which knows no reverence. But the entire action of the book is in the line of establishing faith and hope. The Adversary is challenged to do his worst; and man, as Gods champion, will have to do his best, -the world and angels looking on.
And this thought of a Divine purpose to confound the falsehoods of scepticism answers another inquiry which may readily occur. From the first the Almighty knows and asserts the virtue of His servant, -that he is one who fears God and eschews evil. But why, then, does He condescend to ask of Satan, "Hast thou considered My servant Job?" Since He has already searched the heart of Job and found it faithful, He does not need for His own satisfaction to hear Satans opinion. Nor are we to suppose that the expression of this Adversarys doubt can have any real importance. But if we take the Satan as representing all those who depreciate faith and undermine virtue, the challenge is explained. Satan is of no account in himself. He will go on cavilling and suspecting. But for the sake of the race of men, its emancipation from the miserable suspicions that prey on the heart, the question is proposed. The drama has its prophetical design; it embodies a revelation; and in this lies the value of all that is represented. Satan, we shall find, disappears, and thereafter the human reason is alone addressed, solely considered. We pass from scene to scene, from controversy to controversy, and the great problem of mans virtue, which also involves the honour of God Himself, is wrought out that our despondency and fear may be cured; that we may never say with Koheleth, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."
To the question of the Almighty, Satan replies by another: "Doth Job fear God for nought?" With a certain air of fairness he points to the extraordinary felicity enjoyed by the man. "Hast Thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land." It is a thought naturally arising in the mind that very prosperous people have all on the side of their virtue, and may be less pure and faithful than they seem. Satan adopts this thought, which is not only blameless, but suggested by what we see of Gods government. He is base and captious in using it, and turns it with a sneer. Yet on the surface he only hints that God should employ His own test, and so vindicate His action in making this man so prosperous. For why should Job show anything but gratitude towards God when all is done for him that heart can desire? The favourites of kings, indeed, who are loaded with titles and wealth, sometimes despise their benefactors, and, being raised to high places, grow ambitious of one still higher, that of royalty itself. The pampered servant becomes an arrogant rival, a leader of revolt. Thus too great bounty is often met with ingratitude. It does not, however, suit the Adversary to suggest that pride and rebellion of this kind have begun to show themselves in Job, or will show themselves. He has no ground for such an accusation, no hope of proving it true. He confines himself, therefore, to a simpler charge, and in making it implies that he is only judging this man on general principles and pointing to what is sure to happen in the case. Yes; he knows men. They are selfish at bottom. Their religion is selfishness. The blameless human fear is that much may be due to favourable position. The Satan is sure that all is due to it.
Now, the singular thing here is the fact that the Adversarys accusation turns on Jobs enjoyment of that outward felicity which the Hebrews were constantly desiring and hoping for as a reward of obedience to God. The writer comes thus at once to show the peril of the belief which had corrupted the popular religion of his time, which may even have been his own error once, that abundant harvests, safety from enemies, freedom from pestilence, such material prosperity as many in Israel had before the great disasters, were to be regarded as the evidence of accepted piety. Now that the crash has fallen and the tribes are scattered, those left in Palestine and those carried into exile alike sunk in poverty and trouble, the author is pointing out what he himself has come to see, that Israels conception of religion had hitherto admitted and may even have gendered a terrible mistake. Piety might be largely selfishness-was often mingled with it. The message of the author to his countrymen and to the world is that a nobler mind must replace the old desire for happiness and plenty, a better faith the old trust that God would fill the hands that served Him well. He teaches that, whatever may come, though trouble after trouble may fall, the great true Friend is to be adored for what He is, obeyed and loved though the way lies through storm and gloom.
Striking is the thought that, while the prophets Amos and Hosea were fiercely or plaintively assailing the luxury of Israel and the lives of the nobles, among those very men who excited their holy wrath may have been the author of the Book of Job. Dr. Robertson Smith has shown that from the "gala days" of Jeroboam II to the fall of Samaria there were only some thirty years. One who wrote after the Captivity as an old man may therefore have been in the flush of youth when Amos prophesied, may have been one of the rich Israelites who lay upon beds of ivory and stretched themselves upon their couches, and ate lambs out of the flock and calves out of the midst of the stall, for whose gain the peasant and the slave were oppressed by stewards and officers. He may have been one of those on whom the blindness of prosperity had fallen so that the storm cloud from the east with its vivid lightning was not seen, who held it their safety to bring sacrifices every morning and tithes every three days, to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which was leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings and publish them. {Amo_4:4-5} The mere possibility that the author of Job may have had this very time of prosperity and religious security in his own past and heard Hoseas trumpet blast of doom is very suggestive, for if so he has learned how grandly right the prophets were as messengers of God. By the way of personal sorrow and disaster he has passed to the better faith he urges on the world. He sees what even the prophets did not fully comprehend, that desolation might be gain, that in the most sterile wilderness of life the purest light of religion might shine on the soul, while the tongue was parched with fatal thirst and the eye glazed with the film of death. The prophets looked always beyond the shadows of disaster to a new and better day when the return of a penitent people to Jehovah should be followed by a restoration of the blessings they had forfeited-fruitful fields and vineyards, busy and populous cities, a general distribution of comfort if not of wealth. Even Amos and Hosea had no clear vision of the prophetic hope the first exile was to yield out of its darkness to Israel and the world.
The question, then, "Doth Job fear God for nought?" sending a flash of penetrating light back on Israels history, and especially on the glowing pictures of prosperity in Solomons time, compelling all to look to the foundation and motives of their faith, marks a most important era in Hebrew thought. It is, we may say, the first note of a piercing strain which thrills on to the present time. Taking rise here, the spirit of inquiry and self-examination has already sifted religious belief and separated much of the chaff from the wheat. Yet not all. The comfort and hope of believers are not yet lifted above the reach of Satans javelin. While salvation is thought of mainly as self-enjoyment, can we say that the purity of religion is assured? When happiness is promised as the result of faith, whether happiness now, or hereafter in heavenly glory, the whole fabric of religion is built on a foundation insecure, because it may be apart from truth, holiness, and virtue. It does not avail to say that holiness is happiness, and so introduce personal craving under cover of the finest spiritual idea. To grant that happiness is in any sense the distinctive issue of faith and faithfulness, to keep happiness in view in submitting to the restraints and bearing the burdens of religion, is to build the highest and best on the shifting sand of personal taste and craving. Make happiness that for which the believer is to endure and strive, allow the sense of personal comfort and immunity from change to enter into his picture of the reward he may expect, and the question returns, Doth this man serve God for nought? Life is not happiness, and the gift of God is everlasting life. Only when we keep to this supreme word in the teaching of Christ, and seek the fulness and liberty and purity of life, apart from that happiness which is at bottom the satisfaction of predominant desires, shall we escape from the constantly recurring doubt that threatens to undermine and destroy our faith.
If we look further, we find that the very error which has so long impoverished religion prevails in philanthropy and politics, prevails there at the present time to an alarming extent. The favourite aim of social meliorists is to secure happiness for all. While life is the main thing, everywhere and always, strength and breadth and nobleness of life, their dream is to make the warfare and service of man upon the earth so easy that he shall have no need for earnest personal endeavour. He is to serve for happiness, and have no service to do that may even in the time of his probation interfere with happiness. The pity bestowed on those who toil and endure in great cities and on bleak hillsides is that they fail of happiness. Persons who have no conception that vigour and endurance are spiritually profitable, and others who once knew but have forgotten the benefits of vigour and the gains of endurance, would undo the very order and discipline of God. Are human beings to be encouraged to seek happiness, taught to doubt God because they have little pleasure, given to understand that those who enjoy have the best of the universe, and that they must be lifted up to this level or lose all? Then the sweeping condemnation will hang over the world that it is following a new god and has said farewell to the stern Lord of Providence.
Much may be justly said in condemnation of the jealous, critical spirit of the Adversary. Yet it remains true that his criticism expresses what would be a fair charge against men who passed this stage of existence without full trial. And the Almighty is represented as confirming this when He puts Job into the hands of Satan. He has challenged the Adversary, opening the question of mans fidelity and sincerity. He knows what will result. It is not the will of some eternal Satan that is the motive, but the will of God. The Adversarys scornful question is woven into Gods wise ordinance, and made to subserve a purpose which completely transcends the base hope involved in it. The life of Job has not yet had the difficult and strenuous probation necessary to assured faith, or rather to the consciousness of a faith immovably rooted in God: It would be utterly inconsistent with the Divine wisdom to suppose God led on and beguiled by the sneer of His own creature to do what was needless or unfair, or indeed in any sense opposed to His own plan for His creation. And we shall find that throughout the book it is assumed by Job, implied by the author, that what is done is really the doing of God Himself. The Satan of this Divine poem remains altogether subsidiary as an agent. He may propose, but God disposes. He may pride himself on the keenness of his intellect; but wisdom, compared to which his subtlety is mere blundering, orders the movement of events for good and holy ends.
The Adversary makes his proposal: "Put forth now Thine hand, and touch all that he hath, and he will bid Thee farewell." He does not propose to make use of sensual temptation. The only method of trial he ventures to suggest is deprivation of the prosperity for which he believes Job has served God. He takes on him to indicate what the Almighty may do, acknowledging that the Divine power, and not his, must bring into Jobs life those losses and troubles that are to test his faith.
After all some may ask, Is not Satan endeavouring to tempt the Almighty? And if it were true that the prosperous condition of Job, or any man, implies Gods entire satisfaction with his faith and dutifulness and with his character as a man, if, further, it must be taken as true that sorrow and loss are evil, then this proposal of the Satan is a temptation. It is not so in reality, for "God cannot be tempted to evil." No creature could approach His holiness with a temptation. But Satans intention is to move God. He considers success and happiness to be intrinsically good, and poverty, and bereavement to be intrinsically evil. That is to say, we have here the spirit of unfaith endeavouring to destroy God as well as man. For the sake of truth professedly, for his own pride of will really, he would arrest the righteousness and grace of the Divine. He would unmake God and orphan man. The scheme is futile of course. God can allow his proposal, and be no less the Infinitely generous, wise, and true. The Satan shall have his desire; but not a shadow shall fall on the ineffable glory.
At this point, however, we must pause. The question that has just arisen can only be answered after a survey of human life in its relation to God, and especially after an examination of the meaning of the term evil as applied to our experiences. We have certain clear principles to begin with: that "God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempteth no man"; that all God does must show not less beneficence, not less love, but more as the days go by. These principles will have to be vindicated when we proceed to consider the losses, what may be called the disasters that follow each other in quick succession and threaten to crush the life they try.
Meanwhile, casting a glance at those happy dwellings in the land of Uz, we see all going on as before, no mind darkened by the shadow that is gathering, or in the least aware of the controversy in heaven so full of moment to the family circle. The pathetic ignorance, the blessed ignorance in which a man may live hangs upon the picture. The cheerful bustle of the homestead goes on, the feasts and sacrifices, diligent labour rewarded with the produce of fields, the wine and oil of vineyards and olive gardens, fleeces of the flock and milk of the kine.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Job_1:11. “And he will curse thee to thy face.”…
Notes
Job_1:11. “And he will curse thee to thy face.” (Margin: “If he curse thee not.”) The clause susceptible of a variety of interpretations. The two particles at the commencement אִם לֹא (im lo) “if not,” variously rendered and understood. By most they are regarded as expressive of an oath; with the rest of the form of imprecation understood; as, “may I perish,” or such like; i.e., “if he will not curse thee,” &c. So VATABLUS, PISCATOR, HUFNAGEL, and ZOCKLER, who makes the expression equivalent to “verily.” DATHE supplies, “Let me be accounted a liar,” i.e., “if he do not curse thee,” &c. SCHULTENS thus views the words as expressive of Satan’s impudence and contumacy. Others supply “see;” i.e., “if he will not,” &c. So CAREY. Some who retain the sense of “blessing” in the verb, render the particles, “if not;” i.e., “if thou do no smite him, then, no doubt, he will bless thee to thy face, or in thy presense.” So Dr. LEE, COLEMAN, YOUNG, &c. SANCTIUS, following the Vulgate, renders the verb in the past tense, as expressive of habit,—“[See] if he hath not [mercly] blessed thee to thy face.” i.e., hypocritically. ADAM CLARKE: “He will bless thee (or be pious) according to thy appearances for him.” GOOD and BOOTHROYD interrogatively: “Will he still bless thee?” TOWNSEND: “Then he will bless thee in thy presence,” as he has hitherto done. Job thus to be proved a mercenary worshipper according to either sense of the verb: If thou smite him he will curse thee to thy face; if not, he will still bless thee, but only to thy face. The same meaning of “renouncing,” however, probably attached to בֵּרֵךְ (bçrçch) here as in Job_1:5; only, as has been remarked by NOYES and others, the phrase is stronger here, as importing an utter and public renunciation of religion as a vain thing. So SCHULTENS, DATHE, UMBREIT, ROSENMÜLLER, STICKEL, &c. BARTH, in his “Bible Manual,” has: “He will renounce or even blaspheme thee to thy face.” MERCER: “He will curse thee,” i.e., deny thy providence, and say it is vain to serve thee. Similarly POOLE: “He will reproach thy providence.” It is well known that the heathen frequently reproach their gods in misfortune: “Deos atque astra crudelia vocat.”
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THIRD PART OF PROSE INTRODUCTION
I. The celestial council (Job_1:6). “There was a day.” What God decrees in eternity has its day of accomplishment in time. “Everything has its hour” [Hebrew Proverb].
“The sons of God came.” Representation of God’s court and administration. So 1Ki_22:19. The veil separating the visible from the invisible drawn aside. Reveals an assembly of God’s angelic ministers and Himself among them. All Job’s trials the result of transactions in heaven. The same true of the sufferings and death of Job’s great Antitype (Act_2:23; Act_4:27-28); and of the trials of the least of His suffering members (Rom_8:28-30).
Angels
“Sons of God,” i.e., angels, celestial spirits. So Job_38:7. All ministering spirits employed in Jehovah’s service (Psa_103:21; Heb_1:14) Perhaps including the spirits of departed believers (Rev_7:13; Rev_22:8-9; Act_12:14-15). “Sons of God,” from their nature; “angels,” or messengers, from their office. “Sons of God,” by creation; “angels,” by Divine appointment. “Sons of God,” as resembling God,—
(1) in spirituality of substance;
(2) in intellectual, moral, and physical qualities (Psa_103:20). Of various ranks and orders, and invested with various powers and charges (Rom_8:38; Eph_1:21; Col_1:16; 2Pe_2:11; Rev_14:18; Rev_16:5; Rev_19:17).—“Present themselves before the Lord,” as His ministers or attendants (Pro_22:29; Zec_6:5; Luk_1:19). Ready to receive and execute His orders and to render their account. “Thousands at His bidding speed, and post o’er land and ocean.” As supreme Governor, God takes cognizance of all that is done in this and other worlds. Mighty spirits, the ministers and executioners of His behests. Such employed in the destruction of the cities of the plain (Gen_19:1; Gen_19:12-13); in the promulgation of the law on Mount Sinai (Gal_3:19; Act_7:53; Psa_68:17); in the destruction of the Assyrian army and deliverance of Jerusalem (Isa_37:36); in the restoration of the Jewish church and state after the captivity (Dan_2:20-21; Zec_1:10-11; Zec_1:20-21; Zec_6:1-3); in the establishment and spread of the Gospel (Luk_2:9-12; Joh_1:51); in the destruction of the kingdom of Antichrist (Rev_19:14); in the transactions of the last day (Mat_13:41; Mat_13:49-50); in the service of individual believers (Heb_1:14; Act_12:7); preeminently in that of their incarnate Head (Psa_91:11-12; Mat_4:11).
“The LORD.” Heb., “Jehovah.” Always with this meaning when printed in capitals. Indicates
(1) The self-existing, eternal, unchangeable Being (Exo_3:14);
(2) The faithful fulfiller of covenant relations and engagements. Not practically known to the patriarchs before Moses by this name (Exo_6:3). Appeared only at the Burning Bush as the promise-fulfilling God. The name applied to and appropriated by Jesus (Rom_13:10-12; Rev_1:8). Given specifically to the One True God who adopted the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for His people, when the world was apostatizing into idolatry. The name never applied to a false God or to any mere creature. Given however to an angel who is called “the angel of the Lord” or the “angel Jehovah,” being the second person in the Godhead; the Messenger of the Covenant and Mediator between God and men, who afterwards became incarnate.
II. Satan’s Presence
“And Satan came also among them.”
Satan
Here first introduced under this name.
Observe—
1. His name. Denotes “the adversary.” The devil so called (1Pe_5:8). The name without the article applied to an adversary in a court of justice (Psa_109:6). Other names—the Devil or Slanderer; the Old Serpent; the Great Dragon; the Tempter; the Wicked One; Beelzebub; Apollyon; the Prince and god of this world.
2. His personality. His personal existence is
(1.) In accordance with reason. (i) Existences may be above as well as below man. (ii.) These existences may fall and become unholy as truly as man. (iii.) Fallen intelligent beings usually the tempters of others.
(2) Testified by the whole of Scripture. The truth regarding him gradually developed in the Old Testament. Marked out as a serpent in the temptation of our first parents. Probably the lying spirit in the mouth of the false prophets (1Ki_22:21). The name itself given, 1Ch_21:1; Zec_3:1. His personality pre-eminently taught by the Lord Jesus Himself in the Gospels.
(3) Confirmed by universal belief. The belief in the existence of such a spirit common to all nations.
3. His nature and character. A created spirit; probably one of the highest. A son of God by creation, like the other angels, and originally holy; but fell, apparently through pride (1Ti_3:6; Jud_1:6). Has become the tempter and accuser of men, especially of the good (Rev_12:10). The most finished specimen of unsanctified intelligence. His nature,—great intellect employed for selfish and wicked purposes. Designated by Christ a liar and a murderer (Joh_8:44). Christ’s whole life a conflict with him, according to the promise (Gen_3:15). The life of every believer a similar conflict (Eph_6:11-17; 1Pe_5:8), Believers made the theatre of Christ’s continued victory over him. Already overcome by Christ on their behalf (Col_2:15). To be bruised under their feet shortly (Rom_16:20). Meantime to be steadfastly resisted (1Pe_5:9). Times of signal victory over him indicated in Luk_10:18; Rev_12:10. Seeks every advantage over us (2Co_2:11). Transforms himself into an angel of light (2Co_11:14). Is overcome by the word of God and faith in the blood of Christ (Rev_12:11). Law and justice, through sin, on Satan’s side against man; (Heb_2:14); but through Christ’s death, once more on man’s side against Satan (Isa_42:21; Isa_51:8; Rom_8:32-34). Believers to reckon on his repeated and sometimes sudden assaults. The more faithful and walking in the light, the more exposed to them.
4. His works. The agent in Adam’s fall (2Co_2:3)—a wide-spread tradition. Sought to overthrow Christ and to draw Him into sin (Matthew 4). He blinds men’s minds against the light of the Gospel (2Co_4:4). Seeks to catch away the seed of the word from the hearts of the hearers (Mat_13:19). Aims at beguiling men’s minds from the simplicity of Christ’s doctrine (2Co_2:3). Affects men’s bodies with diseases and infirmities (Luk_13:16). Endeavours to thwart the preachers of the Gospel (1Th_2:18). Employs his messengers to buffet Christ’s servants (2Co_12:7). Probably much of the unsteadfastness and discomfort of believers due to his agency [Homilist]. In regard to Satan, the book of Job in close analogy with the whole Bible. Job’s happiness the object of his envy, like that of Adam in Eden. Lying spirits, as well as ministering angels, sent forth from God’s presence (also in 1Ki_22:19). The thorn in the flesh from Satan, alike in the case of Job and Paul.—“Came also.” Satan not less than other spirits subject to God’s authority. Like them also employed in executing the divine purposes. An intruder into all sacred places (1Ki_22:19, &c.; Luk_4:31). His punishment only gradually inflicted. Still allowed to move at large.—“Among them.” As Judas among the Apostles. Still found in the assemblies of God’s children. No place on earth too holy for his intrusion. Public ordinances special occasions for the exertion of his power. Present to distract the thoughts, defile the imagination, and harden the heart.
III. Jehovah’s challenge regarding Job (Job_1:7).
“The Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou?” The highest fallen spirit amenable to Jehovah. No creature able to outgrow his responsibility. That responsibility not diminished by a course of sin. God’s questions not for information to the questioner but conviction to the questioned. Similar questions to Adam (Gen_3:2); and to Cain (Gen_4:9). The question intended to open the way to Job’s desired trial. At the same time lays bare Satan’s character and doings. The most secret malice open to the eye of Omniscience.
“From going to and fro.” Marks
(1) Satan’s present circumstances. Allowed still to roam at large, though ever in chains. Only reserved to the judgment of eternal fire (Jud_1:6; Mat_25:31).
(2) His terrible activity. Satan no laggard. Ever on the wing. In constant quest of opportunities of mischief (1Pe_5:8). A true Apollyon; assiduous in his endeavours to destroy.
(8) His homelessness and unrest. Like Cain, a vagabond in the earth. Seeks rest and finds none (Mat_12:45). No rest for a depraved spirit (Isa_57:20-21).
(4) His constant increase of knowledge. Same word implies “Search” (Num_11:8; 2Sa_24:2). Satan ever prying into the ways and circumstances of men. Constantly increasing his knowledge with a view to destroy.—“In the earth.” This earth now the permitted sphere of his activity. No place therefore secure from his attacks. Good to remember we are in a world where Satan is, and is ever active.—“Going up and down in it.” Intensifies his activity and restlessness. Satan’s name among the Arabs, El Harith, “The Active,” or “The Zealous.” Seems to glory in his work. Knows he has but a short time (Rev_12:12). Goes up and down in the earth but finds no home in it. Satan and all his children homeless wanderers in the universe. His answer in keeping with his character. Tells only part of the truth. Says nothing of the evil he does and seeks to do. Unable to report any good deed, and unwilling to own to any evil one. His work had been to draw men away from their allegiance to God and to destroy their souls.—“Hast thou considered?” &c. Satan questioned as no unconcerned spectator. Allusion to his character as a spy, enemy, and accuser of good men.—“My servant Job.” God never ashamed to own his faithful servants. An interested spectator of a good man’s ways and actions. A faithful servant of God the most considerable object in the world to God and angels. “A servant of God” the most honourable and distinguishing title. May be mean and contemptible without, but all glorious within (Psa_45:13). Job God’s servant consciously and by choice; Nabuchadnezzar God’s servant unconsciously and by constraint (Jer_25:9). God’s people proved by living as His servants, not as their own masters. “My servant Job,” a stinging word to Satan. A true saint is Satan’s eye-sore. A good man the special object of his attention and malice. Job mentioned by name. Implies intimate knowledge and special regard (Exo_33:12; Isa_49:1; Jer_13:11; Joh_10:3).—“That there is,” &c. God dwells on Job’s character. Delights in contemplating his saints (Zep_3:17.—“None like him,” in the degree of his piety and fidelity. Degrees of excellence. Job not only the greatest but the holiest. Eminence in goodness to be aimed at. Paul gloried in being “not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles” (2Co_11:5). His motto, “Forward” (Php_3:11-14). “On to perfection” (Heb_6:1). God notices not only a man’s piety but the degree of it. Gives to each his just meed of praise.—“A perfect and an upright man.” Job’s good character endorsed by God. Good to have man’s testimony in our favour,—better still to have God’s. God more observant of the good than the evil in his people (Num_23:21).
IV. Satan’s accusation and proposal (Job_1:9).
“Doth Job serve God for nought?” Satan true to his name, the Devil, or Slanderer. Accuser of the brethren (Rev_12:10). A good man’s praise the reproach and torment of the bad. Satan exalts a man’s piety to make him proud, denies it to make him sad. Cannot deny Job’s religion, but challenges the ground and reality of it. A mark of Satan’s children to be a detractor of true godliness. Satan’s method to begin by questioning. Insinuates, then directly charges. Always a liar. In Eden, called evil good, now calls good evil. Satan’s insinuation the immediate occasion of Job’s trial.—“For nought.” Either
(1) Without sufficient cause (Joh_15:25); or,
(2) Without regard to his own interest (Gen_20:15). Job’s religion charged with mercenary motives—his piety mere selfishness. Bad men judge of others by themselves. With carnal men piety is policy. A truth at the bottom of Satan’s insinuation, though false in regard to Job. Everything lies in the motive. A selfish piety no piety. Common with Satan’s children to call God’s saints hypocrites. An evil conscience makes men suspicious of others’ sincerity. Satan’s charge against Job implicitly one against God himself and the plan of Redemption. If Job’s religion is hollow, all religion is, and Redemption is a failure.—Satan’s words true as a fact, though false as motive. No man serves God for nought. Godliness profitable unto all things (1Ti_4:8; 1Ti_6:6). In keeping God’s commandments is great reward (Psa_19:11). God himself the exceeding great reward of His servants (Gen_15:1). True godliness consistent with “respect to the recompense of the reward” (Heb_11:26). Past and present mercies also not excluded from the motives to godliness (Rom_12:1). Yet true religion more than gratitude for past or regard to future good (Psa_119:129; Psa_119:140). Satan well acquainted with mankind, but ignorant of the nature of true grace. Not only a deceiver but, like all unregenerate men, deceived (Tit_3:3)—“Hast thou not made a hedge about him” (Job_1:10). Satan speaks truth when it serves his purpose. The saint’s happiness and enjoyment of the divine favour the object of his hatred and envy. God’s protection of his servants a blessed truth. (Psalms 91; Psalms 121). His angels and still more Himself the hedge of His people (Psa_34:7; Psa_121:3; Zach. Job_2:5). Either is Himself the hedge or makes one. Satan would leap the hedge, but dare not, and cannot without permission.—“And about His house.” Not only the godly but their belongings the object of divine care. Horses and chariots of fire around Elisha’s residence (2Ki_6:17).—“On every side.” Satan a wolf prowling round the fold and vexed to find no means of entrance.—“Hast blessed the work of His hands.” Satan well aware of the source of Job’s prosperity (Pro_10:22). Satan no atheist. Practical atheism makes men deny what Satan admits. “The work of his hands,”—his undertakings and engagements, as a man, a master, and a magistrate. Job diligent in business as well as fervent in spirit (Rom_12:11. God’s blesssing not with the idle but with the industrious. All toil bootless which is unblest by God (Psa_126:1-2). Peter toils all night but catches nothing till Christ enters the boat (Luk_5:5-6).—“But put forth thine hand now” (Job_1:11). Satan’s impudence equal to his malice. Gives God the lie and challenges Him to a trial. Asserts Job’s hypocrisy and offers to prove it. Adopts the language of a suppliant. Satan prays, but in malice. Eager to see Job a sufferer and proved to be a hypocrite. Unable to put forth his own hand without permission.—“Touch all that he hath,”—children and possessions. The touch intended to be a destructive one (Psa_105:15). Satan’s mercies cruel. Earthly possessions subject to God’s disposal. Prosperity vanishes at his touch, (Psa_104:32).—“He will curse thee,”—reproach or renounce thee, as in Job_1:5. The natural result, on the principle of selfishness. Common with unrenewed nature. Heathens in misfortune vilify their gods. Pompey, after a defeat, said there had been a mist on the eyes of Providence. Margin, “If he curse thee not.” Probably an oath or imprecation, but partly suppressed. Profanity the devil’s language; yet in God’s presence keeps back from fear what men fear not to utter.—“To thy face,”—boldly and openly. Job’s fear for his sons that they might have done it in their hearts. Boldness and openness an aggravation of sin. Charity thinketh no evil; malice thinks all evil.
V. The Permission (Job_1:12).
“Behold.” Marks
(1) the strangeness of the thing;
(2) the impudence of the demand;
(3) the purpose of God to make the whole conspicuous. God’s thoughts and ways above man’s. His judgments a great deep. Makes the wrath of man and devil to praise Him. Glory to God and blessing to man by the permission now given to Satan.—“All that be bath is in thy power.” Satan’s prayer granted, and himself to be the instrument. A double gratification, but to issue in his own confusion. Not always a mercy for a man to have his prayer answered (Psa_106:15; Hos_13:10-11). Job now, like the disciples, to be for a time in Satan’s sieve (Luk_22:31). To be cast into the furnace, not to be consumed, but proved and purified. Not understood at the time, though sometimes for a moment apprehended (Job_23:10). His ignorance of the fact the cause of his disquietude and perplexity. Believers often ignorant of the cause and object of their trials (Joh_13:7). God’s heart always towards his people even when his hand seems against them. His dearest saints sometimes apparently for a time abandoned by Him (Psa_22:1; 2Ch_32:31). The most crushing trials neither inconsistent with His grace in us nor His love to us. The cup drunk by the Head often tasted by the members, though for a different object (Mat_20:23; Mat_26:39). Satan God’s scullion for scouring the vessels of His household [Trapp].—“On himself put not forth thine hand.” Satan a chained lion, and the chain in our Father’s hand. Believers tried no farther than is necessary.—“So Satan went forth.” Gladly and eagerly as a wolf with permission to enter the fold. Thought every hour two till he had sped his commission [Trapp]. His diligence in doing evil to be emulated by us in doing good.—“From the Presence of the Lord,”—having been, like Doeg, detained against his will (1Sa_21:7). God’s presence no place for an unholy nature. To “see God,” the happiness only of the “pure in heart” (Mat_5:8; 1Jn_3:1; 1Jn_3:3; Rev_22:4).
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain sons of God
sons of God
This scene is in heaven. Cf. Job 2:1-7.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 1. A scene in heaven, Jehovah’s challenge and Satan’s,…
II. THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN JEHOVAH AND SATAN AND THE RESULTS
CHAPTER 1:6-22
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1. A scene in heaven, Jehovah’s challenge and Satan’s, accusation (Job 1:6-12)
2. Satan’s power manifested (Job 1:13-19)
3. Job’s great grief and great victory (Job 1:20-22)
Job 1:6-12. Suddenly the scene changeth. We are no longer on earth but heaven is opened and we read what is going on before the throne of God. While Job on earth with his loved ones is enjoying himself something takes place in heaven in which he is prominently concerned and yet he is ignorant of all.
The whole scene is intensely interesting. It is not fiction but revelation, and what is here recorded actually took place, and something like it still goes on in heaven. A parallel passage is found in 1Ki 22:19. The prophet Micaiah saw the Lord sitting on His throne and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left. And then the Lord permitted as a judgment upon Ahab, that a lying spirit should enter Ahab’s prophets to deceive Ahab.
Heaven as a place is not fiction. There is an uncreated heaven where God’s throne and dwelling place have always been. From the passage here we may gather that there are certain times when all heavenly tenants, good and evil, have to assemble before the Lord. The sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. The expression “sons of God” does not mean believers on earth (the sonship of a believer is a New Testament truth), but supernatural beings, the angels. According to this book these sons of God shouted for joy in the hour of creation (38:7). Other Scriptures speak of such heavenly gatherings. (See Psa 89:5-7; Zec 4:1-14, etc.) And Satan came also among them. He likewise must appear before the Lord. Satan means “adversary.” In this character, as the accuser of the brethren he is seen in the last book of the Bible and according to Rev 12:1-17 he is still active in the same capacity as in the days of Job, and has still access to the throne of God, till the hour comes when his doom begins with being cast out of heaven. Destructive criticism pronounceth Satan a Babylonian or Persian myth, a reproduction in Hebrew literature of the Persian fable of Ahriman. But even the French infidel Renan said of the Satan of the Scriptures, “This is quite a different person from the Ahriman of the Zend-Avesta. It is not the spirit of evil existing and acting for himself.” He is not independent of God; as one has correctly stated it, “Satan can go only to the end of his chain.” The critical assertion that the belief in a Satan originated after the exile is historically incorrect. The serpent in Gen 3:1-24 is Satan. Originally he was Lucifer, the son of the morning (Isa 14:1-32), the cherub that covereth (Eze 28:1-26) and this great creature of God fell by pride. (See “The History of Satan” in Studies in Prophecy Our Hope Press, and the larger work on Satan, His Person, Work Place and Destiny, by F.C. Jennings.)
He is forced to give an account to Jehovah. He walked to and fro in the earth and walked up and down in it. He therefore is not in hell. The New Testament tells us that he is “the god of this age” and that his throne is here on earth. He still walks up and down and to and fro. Then God calls his attention to Job and approves his character that there is none like Job. Satan knew Job and hated Job, as he still knows and hates every child of God and is moved with malice towards God’s people. And so at once he sneers into the face of the Lord the challenge, “Doth Job fear God for nought?”--”Hast not Thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath and he will renounce thee to thy face.” Then the Lord delivers Job to Satan; gives him the permission to take all that he hath, only upon the person of Job he was not permitted to lay his vile hands. But let us notice that the accusation of Satan is the result of Jehovah’s challenge. We quote another.
“It is carefully to be remarked here, that the spring and source of all these dealings is not Satan’s accusations, but God Himself. God knew what His servant Job needed, and Himself brings forward his case and sets all in movement. If He demands of Satan if he had considered His servant Job, it is because He Himself had. Satan is but an instrument, and an ignorant though subtle instrument, to bring about God’s purposes of grace. His accusations result really in nothing as against Job, save to disprove their truth by what he is allowed to do; but, for Job’s good, he is left to his will up to a certain point, for the purpose of bringing Job to a knowledge of his own heart, and thus to a deeper ground of practical relationship with God. How blessed and perfect are God’s ways! How vain in result the efforts of Satan’s against those that are His!” (Synopsis of the Bible)
The controversy then is not between Satan and Job, but between Jehovah and Satan. Job is not so much on trial as the Lord Himself. Is God able to keep His servants loyal when the greatest afflictions pass over them? Has the Lord the power to sustain them? To manifest this power, to show forth His own glory, He permits the suffering of the saint. There are many blessed and comforting truths connected with all this. The best is that we learn that the Lord lovingly watches His people, as He watched Job and spoke well of him and that it is an honor not chastisement when He permits afflictions and sorrow to come.
Satan could not attack the righteousness of Job, but he impeacheth his motives in serving God. In this he only revealed his own character. He attributes the godliness of Job to the selfishness in Job. Then comes his challenge. The conflict is on and it is to be seen if one who is the Lord’s, who trusts in Him, can be made by adversities to turn his back upon God and forsake Him; or is God able to keep?
Job 1:13-19. “So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.” The accuser now acts the roaring lion. And now his work against Job begins. But caution is needed here lest powers be ascribed to Satan which he in reality does not possess. Satan is only a creature and does not share the attributes of God. He is not omnipotent; nor is he omniscient, nor omnipresent. If he displays powers it is with divine permission only. Of course here are secrets which we cannot fathom nor fully understand. Questions upon questions might be asked on this subject which the finite mind cannot answer, problems are here which no human can solve. But we know that all God’s ways are perfect, yet past finding out.
And so here he is permitted to use powers to carry out his purposes. If God had not said, “Behold all that he hath is in thy power,” he would have had no power.
Four calamities overtake Job’s possessions and household. Satan stirred up the Sabeans (Hebrew: Sheba), a nomadic people, probably robber tribes and under his direction they plunder Job of his most valuable cattle and murdered the servants. No sooner had this happened than another messenger announced that the fire of God, probably not lightning, had fallen from heaven and the sheep and servants who were there had been completely destroyed. Then came the third calamity. The Chaldeans robbed Job of his camels and killed his servants who had charge of them. And then the last affliction which is the greatest of them all. A hurricane tore down the house and his loved ones were killed. His wife is not mentioned. Satan did not touch her for he intended to use her as a tool and as his mouthpiece. Thus suddenly, without any warning whatever, in the midst of earthly happiness, yea, real piety, Job, the great and prosperous Job had been stripped of all he had. Satan had done his work well. He knew how to be cruel and reserve the worst blow to the last. And all this happened not only under the all-seeing eye of God, but with His own permission.
Job 1:20-22. And Job? Not a murmur escapes his lips. He arose; he expressed his great grief by renting his robe, shaving his head. But then he fell as a worshipper upon the ground and uttered the never to be forgotten words, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither; the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” It was a great victory. Satan had failed completely. The Lord remained the refuge of Job and underneath the everlasting arms.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Satan given Permission to Afflict Job
Satan given Permission to Afflict Job
v. 6. Now, there was a day when the sons of God, God’s own holy spirits, the angels ministering unto Him, came to present themselves before the Lord, the picture being that of a great monarch who daily assembles his ministers and servants about him, and Satan, the great adversary of God and men, came also among them. Although condemned to the chains of hell, the devil, as the prince of this world, has as much freedom as the Lord permits him to have, not only in governing his own subjects, but also in afflicting the children of God and in leading them into temptation, 1Co 10:13.
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v. 7. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? The object of the question was to find out whence the devil was just then coming, what he had most recently been trying to accomplish. Then Satan, who is bound in obedience to the almighty Ruler of the universe, although most unwillingly, answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it. The words refer to the peculiar characteristic of Satan, for it is his custom to roam about, seeking whom he might devour, 1Pe 5:8; he is a being without stability, malicious, intent upon evil.
v. 8. And the Lord said unto Satan, in His omniscience familiar with the evil intent of Satan, Hast thou considered My servant Job, literally, "set thy heart upon him," that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, standing out among men both for the piety of his heart and for the righteousness of his life, one that feareth God and escheweth evil?
v. 9. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? That is, Dost Thou suppose he is pious and God-fearing without good reason, without reward or profit? Satan’s sneering implication was, of course, that Job feared God only because he had been so abundantly blessed with wealth and honor, that it was only this fact which caused him to feign a piety which he did not really feel.
v. 10. Hast not Thou made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side? Under such conditions, Satan implies, it would be an easy matter for any person to make a show of piety. Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance, his wealth, especially that in cattle, is increased in the land; it has become so numerous that it can no longer be confined to a small area. Genuine piety loves God for His own sake, regardless of special earthly blessings, without specific stipulation and claim. Satan denied that Job’s piety was of this kind.
v. 11. But put forth Thine hand now and touch all that he hath, namely, to smite, to injure, and destroy it, and he will curse Thee to Thy face, the form of the Hebrew sentence showing that Satan affirmed his statement as in the case of an oath: Verily, most surely.
v. 12. And the Lord said unto Satan, accepting the challenge contained in his words, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. Satan thereby received permission to deprive Job of all his property, of all his immense wealth; but he was not allowed to touch the person of Job. The obvious intention of the Lord, in granting this permission to Satan, was to test the integrity and the piety of Job, to prove his sincerity over against the devil’s sneering insinuations. It was a phase of the battle of light with darkness. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, ready to begin his work of destruction, for he is a murderer from the beginning; plunder and destruction are his delight. The thought that the Lord, in permitting misfortune to come upon His children in this world through the hatred of Satan, has the purpose of proving the sincerity of the believers should stimulate the latter to meet the attacks of the devil with the spirit of true loyalty to their Father in heaven.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Then it was the day when
Then it was the day when
"At the time when" or "One day when." This is not a specific day but apparently the gathering happened often.
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sons of God
This refers to angels, heavenly beings.
to present themselves before Yahweh
"to stand together before Yahweh as he commanded them to do."
Yahweh
This is the name of God that he revealed to his people in the Old Testament. See the translationWord page about Yahweh concerning how to translate this.
From wandering on the earth, from going back and forth on it
The phrases "wandering" and "going back and forth" refer to the activity of traveling all over the earth in order to emphasize its completeness. AT: "From going everywhere on the earth" (See: Parallelism and Merism)
Have you considered my servant Job?
"Have you thought about my servant Job?" Here God is beginning to talk with Satan about Job. AT: "Consider my servant Job" (See: Rhetorical Question)
a blameless and upright man
The words "blameless" and "upright" share similar meanings and emphasize that Job was a righteous man. See how you translated this in Job 1:1. AT: "one who did what was right before God" (See: Doublet)
one who fears God
"one who honors God." See how you translated this in Job 1:1.
translationWords
sons of God
Yahweh
Satan
earth
servant
righteous
fear
turn
evil
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:1–2:13 God and Satan agree to a test that…
1:1–2:13 God and Satan agree to a test that would bring about Job’s troubles and confirm his integrity (1:20-21; 2:10). None of the book’s characters ever learn of this heavenly council.
1:6-7 The members of the heavenly court are heavenly beings; they may be either holy angels or rebellious demons (Gen 6:2, 4). They join God in his deliberations, including at creation (Gen 1:26) and in his rule over creation (Job 1:6; Gen 3:22; 2:1; 1 Kgs 22:19-22; Pss 82:1; 89:5, 7-8; Dan 3:13, 17, 23, 25; 7:9-14). • The account remains unclear as to whether Satan usually came with other members of the heavenly court to make a report or whether he was intruding as Job’s adversary. • Where have you come from? The question was God’s sovereign demand for a report from a subordinate (see Gen 3:9). • Satan was not patrolling to implement God’s judgments (cp. 1 Chr 21:1-14; 2 Kgs 19:35 // Isa 37:36; Ezek 1:5-9) but to oppose God’s purposes (2 Tim 2:26; 1 Pet 5:8).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.