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. Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause.”
Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face.”
Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.”
So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head. He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.”
But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.
Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him. When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky. So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 That is, the Angels, as Job 1:6.
That is, the Angels, as Job 1:6.
Read Job 1:6.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–13 Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the…
Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.
Ver. 1. Again there was a day] Whether the next day, or the next sabbath day, or the next first, day of the year (which is God’s day of general audit, as the Rabbis will have it), we have not to say. God, as he hath in his eternal counsel fore appointed everything that is done; so he hath set the times wherein, Ecc 3:1, such as the creature can neither alter nor order. This is a comfortable consideration.
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When the sons of God, &c.] See Job 1:6.
And Satan came also among them] Whether summoned to give an account, or of his own accord to sue out a new commission against Job, it skilleth not. Restless he is; and it behoveth us to be vigilant; not ignorant of his wiles, nor unmindful of his inveterate envy and enmity.
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 On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Again there was a day; another set time some…
Again there was a day; another set time some convenient space after the former calamities. Of this and the two next verses See Poole "Job 1:6", See Poole "Job 1:7", See Poole "Job 1:8".
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 On vv1, 7, 11 Satan, that sworn enemy to God and all good…
Satan, that sworn enemy to God and all good men, is here pushing forward his malicious prosecution of Job, whom he hated because God loved him, and did all he could to separate between him and his God, to sow discord and make mischief between them, urging God to afflict him and then urging him to blaspheme God. One would have thought that he had enough of his former attempt upon Job, in which he was so shamefully baffled and disappointed; but malice is restless: the devil and his instruments are so. Those that calumniate good people, and accuse them falsely, will have their saying, though the evidence to the contrary be ever so plain and full and they have been cast in the issue which they themselves have put it upon. Satan will have Job's cause called over again. The malicious, unreasonable, importunity of that great persecutor of the saints is represented (Rev 12:10) by his accusing them before our God day and night, still repeating and urging that against them which has been many a time answered: so did Satan here accuse Job day after day. Here is,
I. The court set, and the prosecutor, or accuser, making his appearance (Job 2:1, Job 2:2), as before, Job 1:6, Job 1:7. The angels attended God's throne and Satan among them. One would have expected him to come and confess his malice against Job and his mistake concerning him, to cry, Peccavi - I have done wrong, for belying one whom God spoke well of, and to beg pardon; but, instead of that, he comes with a further design against Job. He is asked the same question as before, Whence comest thou? and answers as before, From going to and fro in the earth; as if he had been doing no harm, though he had been abusing that good man.
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II. The judge himself of counsel for the accused, and pleading for him (Job 2:3): "Hast thou considered my servant Job better than thou didst, and art thou now at length convinced that he is a faithful servant of mine, a perfect and an upright man; for thou seest he still holds fast his integrity?" This is now added to his character, as a further achievement; instead of letting go his religion, and cursing God, he holds it faster than ever, as that which he has now more than ordinary occasion for. He is the same in adversity that he was in prosperity, and rather better, and more hearty and lively in blessing God than ever he was, and takes root the faster for being thus shaken. See, 1. How Satan is condemned for his allegations against Job: "Thou movedst me against him, as an accuser, to destroy him without cause." Or, "Thou in vain movedst me to destroy him, for I will never do that." Good men, when they are cast down, are not destroyed, Co2 4:9. How well is it for us that neither men nor devils are to be our judges, for perhaps they would destroy us, right or wrong; but our judgment proceeds from the Lord, whose judgment never errs nor is biassed. 2. How Job is commended for his constancy notwithstanding the attacks made upon him: "Still he holds fast his integrity, as his weapon, and thou canst not disarm him - as his treasure, and thou canst not rob him of that; nay, thy endeavours to do it make him hold it the faster; instead of losing ground by the temptation, he gets ground." God speaks of it with wonder, and pleasure, and something of triumph in the power of his own grace; Still he holds fast his integrity. Thus the trial of Job's faith was found to his praise and honour, Pe1 1:7. Constancy crowns integrity.
III. The accusation further prosecuted, Job 2:4. What excuse can Satan make for the failure of his former attempt? What can he say to palliate it, when he had been so very confident that he should gain his point? Why, truly, he has this to say, Skin for skin, and all that a man has, will he give for his life. Something of truth there is in this, that self-love and self-preservation are very powerful commanding principles in the hearts of men. Men love themselves better than their nearest relations, even their children, that are parts of themselves, will not only venture, but give, their estates to save their lives. All account life sweet and precious, and, while they are themselves in health and at ease, they can keep trouble from their hearts, whatever they lose. We ought to make a good use of this consideration, and, while God continues to us our life and health and the use of our limbs and senses, we should the more patiently bear the loss of other comforts. See Mat 6:25. But Satan grounds upon this an accusation of Job, slyly representing him, 1. As unnatural to those about him, and one that laid not to heart the death of his children and servants, nor cared how many of them had their skins (as I may say) stripped over their ears, so long as he slept in a whole skin himself; as if he that was so tender of his children's souls could be careless of their bodies, and, like the ostrich, hardened against his young ones, as though they were not his. 2. As wholly selfish, and minding nothing but his own ease and safety; as if his religion made him sour, and morose, and ill-natured. Thus are the ways and people of God often misrepresented by the devil and his agents.
IV. A challenge given to make a further trial of Job's integrity (Job 2:5): "Put forth thy hand now (for I find my hand too short to reach him, and too weak to hurt him) and touch his bone and his flesh (that is with him the only tender part, make him sick with smiting him, Mic 6:13), and then, I dare say, he will curse thee to thy face, and let go his integrity." Satan knew it, and we find it by experience, that nothing is more likely to ruffle the thoughts and put the mind into disorder than acute pain and distemper of body. There is no disputing against sense. St. Paul himself had much ado to bear a thorn in the flesh, nor could he have borne it without special grace from Christ, Co2 12:7, Co2 12:9.
V. A permission granted to Satan to make this trial, Job 2:6. Satan would have had God put forth his hand and do it; but he afflicts not willingly, nor takes any pleasure in grieving the children of men, much less his own children (Lam 3:33), and therefore, if it must be done, let Satan do it, who delights in such work: "He is in thy hand, do thy worst with him; but with a proviso and limitation, only save his life, or his soul. Afflict him, but not to death." Satan hunted for the precious life, would have taken that if he might, in hopes that dying agonies would force Job to curse his God; but God had mercy in store for Job after this trial, and therefore he must survive it, and, however he is afflicted, must have his life given him for a prey. If God did not chain up the roaring lion, how soon would he devour us! As far as he permits the wrath of Satan and wicked men to proceed against his people he will make it turn to his praise and theirs, and the remainder thereof he will restrain, Psa 76:10. "Save his soul," that is, "his reason" (so some), "preserve to him the use of that, for otherwise it will be no fair trial; if, in his delirium, he should curse God, that will be no disproof of his integrity. It would be the language not of his heart, but of his distemper." Job, in being thus maligned by Satan, was a type of Christ, the first prophecy of whom was that Satan should bruise his heel (Gen 3:15), and so he was foiled, as in Job's case. Satan tempted him to let go his integrity, his adoption (Mat 4:6): If thou be the Son of God. He entered into the heart of Judas who betrayed Christ, and (some think) with his terrors put Christ into his agony in the garden. He had permission to touch his bone and his flesh without exception of his life, because by dying he was to do that which Job could not do - destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.
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 On vv1–12 Again, there was a day, when the sons of…
Again, there was a day, when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord,.... When good men, professors of religion, met together by agreement to worship the Lord; the Targum calls them companies of angels, interpreting the words of them, and of their standing before the Lord, as most interpreters do; how long this time of their meeting was from the former cannot be said, probably but a few days, a week or fortnight at most; the Targum says, it was on the day of the great judgment, and which, as in Job 1:6; was at the beginning of the year; so that according to this, and other Jewish writers, there was a whole year between this and the former meeting, and so between the first and second trial of Job; but this is not likely, since Satan would never give him so much breathing time; nor can it be thought that Job's friends should stay so long before they paid him a visit, which was not till after this day:
and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord; being either obliged to it upon a summons to appear before God, and give an account of what he had been doing on the earth, and especially to Job; or rather he came willingly, seeking an opportunity to continue his charge against Job, and to accuse him afresh, and get his commission enlarged to do him more mischief, which he could not do without a fresh grant.
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 On vv1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13 Satan moves for another trial of Job, which God…
Satan moves for another trial of Job, which God permits, ver. 1- 6. Satan smites him with boils from head to foot, ver. 7, 8. He is tempted by his wife, but resists the temptation, ver. 9, 10 His friends come to comfort him, ver. 11-13.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 The sons of God once more present themselves before…
CHAPTER II
The sons of God once more present themselves before him; and
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Satan comes also, accusing Job as a person whose steadfastness
would be soon shaken, provided his body were to be subjected
to sore afflictions, 1-5.
He receives permission to afflict Job, and smites him with sore
boils, 6-8.
His wife reviles him, 9.
His pious reproof, 10.
His three friends come to visit and mourn with him, 11-13.
NOTES ON CHAP. II
Verse 1. Again there was a day] How long this was after the former trial, we know not: probably one whole year, when, as the Targum intimates, it was the time of the annual atonement; which, if so, must have been at least one whole year after the former; and during which period the patience and resignation of Job had sufficient scope to show themselves. This appearance of the sons of God and Satan is to be understood metaphorically - there could be nothing real in it - but it is intended to instruct us in the doctrine of the existence of good and evil spirits; that Satan pursues man with implacable enmity, and that he can do no man hurt, either in his person or property, but by the especial permission of God; and that God gives him permission only when he purposes to overrule it for the greater manifestation of his own glory, and the greater good of his tempted followers.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Job 2:1. Again there was a day — Another…
Job 2:1. Again there was a day — Another appointed season, some convenient time after the former calamities. Heath translates ויהי הוים, vajehi hajom, Again it was the day. Of this and the two next verses, see notes on Job 1:6-8.
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 On vv1–13 Again there was a day ... - See the…
Again there was a day ... - See the notes at Job 1:6. These seasons are represented as periodical, when the angels came, as it were, to make report to God of what they had observed and done. The Chaldee renders this, “And there was a day of the great judgment (רבא דינא יום yôm dı̂ynā' rābā'), a day of the remission of sins (שבוק יום סרחניא) and there came bands (כתי) of angels.”
To present himself before the Lord - This does not occur in the former statement in Job 1:6. It here means that he came before the Lord after he had had permission to afflict; Job. The Chaldee renders it “that he might stand in judgment דין dı̂yn before the Lord.”
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 On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 Day. Job had been under trial for some time,…
Day. Job had been under trial for some time, perhaps a year. (Calmet)
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 On vv3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 integrity--literally, "completeness"; so "perfect," another form of the same…
integrity--literally, "completeness"; so "perfect," another form of the same Hebrew word, Job 11:7.
movedst . . . against--So Sa1 26:19; compare Ch1 21:1 with Sa2 24:1.
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 On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 THE FIFTH AND SIXTH TEMPTATION, Job_2:1-10.
THE FIFTH AND SIXTH TEMPTATION, Job_2:1-10.
Job_2:1-2. See note on Job_1:6-7.
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 On vv1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Ch. Job_2:1-10. Job’s second trial and its issue: he…
Ch. Job_2:1-10. Job’s second trial and its issue: he sinned not with his lips
How long time intervened between Job’s first trial and the second is not stated. The Targum seems to conjecture a year. The new trial is introduced like the first by a scene in heaven. The Council of God convenes. His ministers stand before Him, and among them the one whose office is, as the Targum says, to scrutinize the deeds of men. The Lord speaks of His servant Job with approval and with compassion, reproaching the Satan with instigating Him to bring undeserved affliction upon him. Satan’s answer is ready: the trial did not touch Job near enough; safe himself, his children may perish; if the hand of God would touch him in his own bone and flesh, he would renounce Him to his face. Satan receives permission to afflict Job himself, with the reservation that he shall spare his life. Straightway Satan goes forth and smites Job with sore boils, the leprosy called Elephantiasis or botch of Egypt, Deu_28:27; Deu_28:35. The deeper affliction only opens or reveals greater deeps in Job’s reverent piety. In his former trial he blessed God who took away the good He had added to naked man; this was strictly no evil: now he bows beneath His hand when He inflicts positive evil, “We receive good at the hand of God and shall we not also receive evil?” And again the Writer sums up the issue of the trial with the words, “In all this Job sinned not.”
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 On vv1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 (1) And Satan came also.—See Job_1:7. St. Peter applies…
II.
(1) And Satan came also.—See Job_1:7. St. Peter applies to Satan the verb from which we have peripatetic.
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 On vv1–13 Vers. 1-13. This chapter concludes the "Introductory section." It…
Vers. 1-13. This chapter concludes the "Introductory section." It consists of three parts. Vers. 1-6 contain an account of Satan"s second appearance in the courts of heaven, and of a second colloquy between him and the Almighty. Vers. 7-10 contain the sequel to this colloquy, viz. Satan"s further affliction of Job, and his conduct under it. Vers. 11-13 contain an account of the arrival of Job"s three special friends to mourn with him and to comfort him; and of their behavior during the first seven days after their arrival.
Again there was a day when the sons of God same to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. There is no "again" in the original. The words used are an exact repetition of those contained in ver. 6 of ch. 1. But they mark, no doubt, a second occasion on which the angelic host came to present themselves before the throne of God, and Satan came with them. To present himself before the Lord. These words are additional to those used in the former passage. We may gather from them, that, whereas on the former occasion Satan came only to observe, and with no intention of drawing God"s special attention to himself, he now had such intention, and looked forward to a colloquy. He anticipated, doubtless, that the circumstances of Job"s probation would be referred to, and he had prepared himself to make answer.
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Vers. 1-6. A new trial moved for.
I THE OLD OCCASION RETURNED.
1. The gathering of the sons of God. The recurrence of this celestial scene reminds us of:
(1) the immutable sovereignty of Jehovah, who, on this second occasion as on the first, still appears enthroned amidst the principalities and powers of heaven the devils also being subject to him; (cf. 1Pe_3:22)
(2) the permanence of moral obligation in the heavenly world and amongst angels as well as on the earth, neither lapse of time nor change of circumstances having the slightest effect in releasing God"s intelligent creatures from the bonds of responsibility; and
(3) the constancy and cheerfulness with which the inhabitants of the upper world delight to do God"s holy will an example of obedience proposed for the study and imitation of believers. (Mat_6:10)
2. The reappearance of the adversary. If, on the former occasion, the entrance of Satan amongst God"s celestial sons might permissibly be regarded as an impertinent intrusion, in the present instance his return must be held as having taken place in accordance with a tacit understanding that, in due course, he should appear to report the result of his experiment with the patriarch, which, perhaps, may explain the introduction of the words, "to present himself before the Lord," omitted from the account of the first assembly.
II THE OLD CONTROVERSY RESUMED.
1. The patriarch"s enemy interrogated. "From whence comest thou?" Note
(1) God"s universal cognizance of things that transpire on earth; (Job_28:10, 24 34:22)
(2) God"s perpetual surveillance of the devil in his movements; and
(3) God"s constant watchfulness against his attacks. (Rev_3:10)
2. The patriarch"s piety commended. "Hast thou considered my servant Job?" (see homiletics on Job_1:1, Job_1:8) Whether or not containing "a covert sneer at the baffled adversary," the question reminds us of:
(1) God"s faithfulness towards his people. Not withstanding all that had occurred, Job was still God"s servant, and God as ready to own him for his servant as when the patriarch was rejoicing in the fulness of prosperity. (Isa_44:21 Isa_54:10)
(2) God"s judgment concerning his people. God can always distinguish between a man and his surroundings. The Omniscient judges no one by his material environment, but by the character of his heart. (1Sa_16:7 2Sa_7:20 Psa_7:9)
(3) God"s affection for his people. As Job"s afflictions had not destroyed his piety, so neither had they alienated God"s love. Never.in the day of calamity does Jehovah renounce his saints, but rather, because of tribulation, clings to them with fonder affection. (1Sa_12:22 Psa_91:15 Rom_11:2 2Ti_2:19 Rev_2:9)
3. The patriarch"s sincerity attested.
(1) The Divine satisfaction with the patriarch. "He still holdeth fast his integrity." Constancy in piety is a rare jewel in the saint"s casket, lends a special lustre to his other virtues, is ever highly prized by its possessor, and never fails to elicit Heaven"s commendation. The Divine approbation also, besides being an ample recompense for all the saint"s trials, (Rom_8:18) is the only sure test of genuine religion, (2Co_10:18) the greatest honour a saint can receive, (Mat_10:32) and the final portion of those who hold fast their integrity to the end. (Mal_3:17 Rev_3:5)
(2) The Divine indignation against Satan. "Although thou movedst me to destroy him." See the widely differing estimates of trouble taken by God and Satan. What the devil called a touch God calls a swallowing up: that marks the tenderness or God"s heart. Note the different relations in which God and Satan stood to Job"s affliction God acting, and the devil tempting; marking God"s sovereignty, but Satan"s responsibility. "God"s afflicting of his people is (so to say) a blowing of the bellows to kindle his displeasure against wicked instruments" (Isa_47:5, 6 Zec_1:15) (Hutcheson).
(3) The Divine sorrow about himself. "Thou movedst me... without cause." Indicating the reluctance with which God in any case proceeds against a saint, (Lam_3:33) and the regret which he felt in this case, since he knew so well there was no sufficient reason for entertaining a suspicion against the patriarch"s piety. Let it teach us that "though all men have sins enough to be the meritorious cause, yet oftentimes sin is not the moving cause of their afflictions" (Caryl).
III THE OLD CALUMNY REVIVED. Job"s victory in the previous conflict is by the devil:
1. Tacitly admitted. Satan finds it impossible to repel the statements advanced by Jehovah concerning his servant. Saints should study to live so that their piety cannot be contradicted, however much it may be aspersed by Satan and wicked men, and that God, when he speaks in commendation of their integrity, may be justified.
2. Reasonably explained. On the ground that the trial was not severe enough. "Skin for skin," etc. a proverb, which, however explained (see Exposition), practically charges the patriarch with unnatural barbarity in disregarding the loss of his children since his own skin was saved, as well as with intense and revolting selfishness in making the supreme consideration, in all his thoughts and calculations, the preservation of his own life.
3. Wholly undervalued. As in his (the devil"s) estimation, proving nothing and contributing nothing to the solution of the grand problem in debate. Hence he does not hesitate to suggest that the matter should a second time be submitted to the ordeal of trial.
IV THE OLD PROPOSITION REPEATED. "But put forth thine hand now;" which demand was certainly:
1. Presumptuous; considering by whom it was made, Satan, and to whom it was addressed, Jehovah; thus showing the illimitable pride of the devil. (Isa_14:12, Isa_14:13, Isa_14:14)
2. Unnecessary; remembering the person against whom it was directed, and the issue of the preceding trial to which he had been subjected.
3. Gruel; seeing that Job had already been afflicted by the double stroke of bankruptcy and bereavement, and this was a request that God would aggravate his misery by laying his hand upon his person. But who would ever look for humane and tender feelings in a devil?
4. Malignant; when regard is had to its object and motive the latter being hostility to God and hatred of piety; the former the overthrow of Job"s religion and the damnation of Job"s person.
V THE OLD PERMISSION RENEWED. "Behold, he is in thine hand." The patriarch was again delivered up into the power of the adversary.
1. Sovereignly; God having a perfect right to dispose of the persons of his people, no less than their properties.
2. Really; to be tried in whatever manner his Satanic ingenuity might devise, always, of course, within the prescribed limits.
3. Immediately; from this time forward being rendered accessible to the hostile assaults of the adversary. Yet:
4. Reservedly; with certain restrictions as to his life, which was not to be taken from him. And also, one cannot help thinking:
5. Confidently; without the slightest apprehension of an unfavourable issue to the trial, so high was the estimation in which God held his servant.
Learn:
1. Concerning the devil. That he is seldom satisfied with only one attempt against the virtue of a saint; that he is exceedingly unwilling to admit himself defeated on the field of spiritual conflict; and that he ever plants his fiercest batteries against the citadel of a saint"s integrity.
2. Concerning the saint. That he need hardly anticipate a long period of exemption from either trials or temptations; that whatever calamities befall him, he should labour to discern God"s providential hand in their occurrence; and that he, may confidently trust God will not give him over completely to the devil.
3. Concerning God. That though he may suffer his saints to be tried, he does not cease to love them; that though he may lengthen Satan"s chain, he doesn"t loosen it; and that, though he may sometimes listen to Satan"s charges against the saints, he never believes them.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON Vers. 1-10. Renewed assaults and temptations of the adversary.
The first scene in this drama of affliction has closed, and a fresh one opens, bringing, however, no happy change, no alleviation, but rather an aggravation of the hero"s woe. A second time the adversary of mankind appears in the heavenly court to launch his malicious shafts of accusation against the servant of God. His purpose is now more intent, his aim more deadly, than ever. But we, as spectators, can see a bright light still steadily shining above the cloud in that unsmiling favour and kindness of the Eternal, who cannot, will not, desert his own. Looking more closely to the particulars, we see
I THE PITY OF GOD FOR HIS SUFFERING SERVANTS. (Vers. 1-3) Jehovah looks down and beholds "his servant Job," as he stands unshaken amidst a very hurricane of calamity, holding to his integrity as something dearer than life; and he condescends to expostulate with the accuser. Has not the trial gone far enough? Is not the test that Job has already undergone sufficient to satisfy the most skeptical observer of his truth? Must the furnace be heated still another degree? But the adversary is not content; and it would appear that, if further trial is demanded, the demand is not to be resisted, according to the laws of heaven. The moral government of the world may require this. Thus, while the pity of God would relieve from further suffering, his righteousness-which is his adherence to fixed law may require its continuance, until every doubt concerning a particular character be solved. But the language ascribed to the heavenly Father is, meanwhile, full of the tenderest compassion. There is individualizing regard. There is recognition of integrity and innocence. There is profound sympathy. We are reminded of the touching words of Psalm 103, "He knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
II In opposition to this, we observe THE MALIGNANT PERSEVERANCE OF THE DEVIL.
1. His specious plea against Job. (Vers. 4, 5) In the form of a proverb he launches a keen insinuation: "Skin for skin;" like after like; one thing after another will a man give for dear life. Job has only made a barter after all He loses all his property; but then he has that left which outweighs all the rest. The loss of goods teaches him to prize the health which is left. He feels the greatness of this blessing as he never felt it before. Any circumstance which teaches us the worth of a common blessing is so far an advantage to us. An eminent living man has said that, given health, we have no right to complain of anything in the world. Job, then, has only been half tempted after all; and the trial will only run its full course when it has assailed this last great, chief blessing his health of body and of mind. Such is the "case" of the devilish prosecutor against Job.
2. The final test permitted. (Vers. 6-8) The All-disposer grants the permission: "He is in thy power; but spare his life!" And then a sudden poison strikes through the sufferer"s blood; he becomes from head to foot a mass of disease and loathsomeness, sits in ashes, scraping himself with a potsherd, to allay the fearful irritation of his malady. His mind is, of course, deeply affected by the illness of his body. Natural hope is extinct. It is a life in ruins. Yet that Divine and immortal principle we call the soul is still intact, still glimmers like a bright spark amidst the embers of a dying fire.
III TEMPTATION IN THE GUISE OF AFFECTION. (Vers. 9, 10) And now what remains of conscious life is to know one further shock; and the hand of woman, the voice of a wife, is employed to urge the tottering sufferer over the brink on which he sits, into despair and total renunciation of faith and God. Then his wife said to him," Dost thou still hold fast to thine innocence? Say farewell to God, and die!
1. This is a second signal instance in which, in the Old Testament, woman plays the part of the tempter. There is instruction in this pointed fact. Woman is the weaker vessel, in mind as in body. She has less firmness of intellectual texture. Her weakness as well as her strength lies in feeling. She is quick in impulses, both of good and of evil. She represents passion, and man represents strength. On the whole, she is less capable of strong, profound, patient convictions, less able to take a large view of questions, to look beyond the present and immediate aspects of things. Here is the picture of a lively temper, quick to feel resentment at pain or gratitude for good; but a shallow understanding, unused to meditation and reflection on the deeper meanings of life. Her language is that of haste and passion. But this serves to bring out by contrast the calm, reflective piety, the convictions established by lifelong thought and experience of her husband.
2. The rebuke of Job to his wife.
(1) "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women;" that is, thy language is like that of a heathen, not of one who has been trained in the knowledge and worship of the true God. The heathen turn fickly from one god to another as pleasure and pain or the caprice of fancy may suggest. For their gods are but idols, creatures of their own imagination, which they take up and cast down as children with their toys. But there is only one God for me! And that God, the eternally Wise and Good in all that he gives, in all that he withholds!
(2) There are two sides of life"and the one must be taken along with the other. Here, too, the language of manly reasonableness and of intelligent piety speaks out Life is a garment woven of both pleasure and pain, of seeming good and evil. The one conditions the other. All experience teaches that constant happiness is the lot of none. Why, then, should I expect to be an exception? Surely we are but crude scholars in life"s great school, so long as we think we are entitled to immunity from any particular form of suffering. We are still children who think they have a right to their own way, and are astonished to find themselves withstood. "Who told thee thou hadst a right to be happy? Art thou a vulture screaming for thy food?" "Couldst thou, Pausanias, learn How deep a fault is this! Couldst thou but once discern Thou hast no right to bliss!
Here, then, the weakness of distrust and the folly of despair in the human heart, represented by Job"s wife, stand opposed to the nobleness and grandeur of a fathomless confidence in the Eternal. God is the Author at last of all we suffer. Is that a reason for forsaking God? No, replies faith; it is a reason for reposing more entirely upon his everlasting arms. "If my bark sinks, "tis to another sea. J.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN Vers. 1-10. The severer tests of faith.
Job has triumphed in the severe ordeal. His possessions, his servants, his family, have been torn from him. In the bitterness of his sorrow he has "rent his mantle," and shown the signs of his humiliation by cutting off the hair of his head. But in the paroxysms of his grief he has "held fast his integrity;" he "sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." So far he has passed through the fire unscathed, and belied the false accusations of the adversary. But further trials are at hand. It is in accordance with the spirit and purpose of the book to represent the lowest condition of human sorrows. Besides loss of possessions and loss of his beloved children, Job must needs be subjected to the loss of health to a dire and painful and loathsome disease. All this is aggravated by the unwise taunts and advice of his wile, and the prolonged and irritating accusations and false views of his friends. It is a condition of extreme suffering unrelieved by any human consolations. Job is alone in his sufferings, unsustained, his pain even increased by the very voices that should have brought comfort to him. Up to the time of his friends" visit Job has remained unmoved in his uncomplaining integrity. "In all this did not Job sin with his lips." The test to which he was subjected by the severe and reproachful and unhelpful words of his friends is presented in its detailed relation throughout the book. We learn
I THAT IT IS POSSIBLE FOR EVEN THE RIGHTEOUS MAN TO SUFFER IN THE EXTREMEST DEGREE. It is one part of the purpose of the book to illustrate this truth for sufferers in all time, to make known that "many" may be "the afflictions of the righteous.
II THAT THE PURPOSE OF THESE EXTREME AFFLICTIONS IS THE TESTING AND PERFECTING OF VIRTUE, which, even in the ease of the righteous, is necessarily imperfect. Reading through this book, it would appear that the work of Satan is to test virtue. Satan is called "the agent of probation." He displays a malignant and antagonistic spirit. But whatever may seem to be the motives on the one side, it is obviously the Divine purpose to make the testing an occasion of blessing to him who is tested. "When he is tried he shall receive a crown of life." Satan must be considered as a servant of the most high God, whose agency is employed in the spiritual discipline of the righteous. The conditions of temptation to evil are so intimately identified with all those of the human life, that we can only think of them as a necessary part of the present constitution under which human life is held. By it virtue is exposed to injury; but in its fires virtue is purified and perfected.
III THAT THE TRIUMPH OF VIRTUE IN RESISTING TEMPTATION TO EVIL AND TO IMPATIENCE UNDER THE OPPRESSION OF PAIN, IS THE UTMOST TRIUMPH OF THE HUMAN SOUL, AND ENSURES THE HIGHEST REWARD. He who subjects the delicate life to the fierce blast of evil will not so expose it as needlessly to endanger its highest interests. Temptation does not appeal to the virtue of the heart, but to its remaining faultiness, which it exposes for destruction, and so proves its own beneficent action.
IV In the history of Job we further learn that EVEN LOFTY VIRTUE MAY RE BOWED DOWN, AND SHOW SIGNS OF WEAKNESS BEFORE FINALLY TRIUMPHING.
V We also learn THE WISDOM OF PATIENTLY SUBMITTING TO THE TRIALS OF LIFE, HOWEVER SEVERE. Rebelliousness brings no ease to the troubled spirit. The only alternative offered to Job was, "Curse God, and die." The better course is to retain integrity, to sin not, nor charge God foolishly. 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 On vv1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13 And Satan came also among them.
Job_2:1-10
And Satan came also among them.
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Spiritual agencies, good and evil, in sickness
This is one of those mysterious chapters of Holy Scripture wherein God hath graciously vouchsafed, for the strengthening of our faith and loving trust in Him, a brief glimpse of that which is continually going on, day by day, in regions mysterious to mortal vision, and in which, could we but at all times feel it, we are so greatly concerned. Scripture is consistent in its testimony throughout--that there is a prince of darkness, a fallen angel, whose constant aim it is to effect our eternal ruin. In this case the evil messenger is permitted by the Most High to afflict one of His own righteous servants with grievous losses and poverty and sore disease, for the trial and purification of his faith.
I. Satan is from time to time allowed to move the Lord to afflict even his most faithful people in various ways. The Lords ways toward His people, and indeed toward all men, are most mysterious, but from the analogy of His dealings with the patriarch Job we may safely conclude that they are full of secret love and mercy towards them, and designed to promote their everlasting happiness.
II. The Lord gives Satan only a limited power over His own people. As the Lord said, He is in thine hand, but save his life, so in your case He may have given him liberty to proceed just so far, and no further, with you.
III. Faith untried is faith not proved acceptable. Many a man deceives himself with the empty counterfeit of faith. Hence an ordeal is requisite in which numbers fall away, whilst the faith of others is brought out as pure gold refined from the furnace of affliction. God graciously keep you from falling away in this your season of trial.
IV. Satan is most frequently the Lords agent in the infliction of disease and other trials. But Satan defeats his own purposes in afflicting Gods people, because their faith, through Gods grace, is thereby strengthened. In order the better to strengthen his position in attacking believers faith, Satan will often incite his nearest and dearest relatives to seek to withdraw his hearts allegiance from God. He did this in the case of Job. In the moments of his fancied triumph Satan moved Jobs wife to assist him in the deadly warfare. But God had not forsaken him. (J. C. Boyce, M. A.)
The afflictions of Job
In language of the most stately and beautiful kind there is set before us the mystery of Providence. This passage is but one step in the development of a sublime moral lesson, but it has nevertheless a certain completeness of its own.
I. The character of temptation.
1. God is not the author of it. In temptation there are three parts.
(1) The external conditions which tend to bring it about. God may be the author of these conditions.
(2) The state of heart which makes temptation tempting to us. God is not the author of this.
(3) There is the special thought in the mind, the suggestion to do the deed, which is the focusing of the pre-existing and undeveloped feelings of the heart. Satan is the author of this.
2. But God permits us to be tempted. He allows natural laws to work about us, and historical events to shape themselves, and persons and things to come into contact with us, in such ways that temptation arises. Whatever is, is by His permission.
3. God permits temptation for our good. In our lesson we see that it was permitted in Jobs case in order to bring out clearly the stability of his faith in God. God is not careless or thoughtless in His permission of our trial.
4. Our friends sometimes unwittingly make temptation harder to us. Jobs wife spoke to him in sympathy. Renounce God and die is not a fling of sarcasm, but a weak and honest attempt to give comfort.
5. Temptation is never necessarily successful. It was not so in Jobs case.
II. Bearing temptation. Jobs example gives some practical lessons.
1. See the solitude of the tempted soul. The barriers of the soul cannot be passed. There alone we each must confront temptation and have our fight with it.
2. Job rightly says to his wife that to renounce God would be foolish. If Job had renounced God he would have been irrational, because he would have given up the only source of help possible.
3. Job shows us that faith is the only reasonable attitude of man towards God. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)
The afflictions of Job
The trial of Job, as it is portrayed, suggests three truths.
I. Satan is a personal being. That this is the old doctrine no one denies; but it is asked by many, whether such belief has not been outgrown with all our progress in theological thought. Over against all speculative opinion we have to set the plain teaching of Gods Word. The language here is figurative, but it must mean something. Satan is not an abstraction. Observe that Satan here is called the accuser. Miltons story of the fallen angels is only a human invention. The interpretation which makes him a mere personification of evil would make Jesus Christ a mere personification of goodness.
II. God permits Satan to tempt believers. The great enemy of the soul in its race toward heaven is Satan.
III. God sets a limit to the power of Satan. Behold, he is in thine hand; only spare his life. The tempter could go no further than he was permitted to. But the mystery to Job was that such permission was given at all. If his troubles had come from an enemy, or even from his miserable comforters, he could have borne them more easily; but that they should have fallen from his Fathers hand, that puzzled him. That is the puzzle of human life. Our best relief is that Satans power has a limit; it cannot go beyond Gods permission. No soul needs to be under the control of temptation--it cannot hold the human will; it is not the supreme force in the world. One thing is stronger: the power of God in Jesus Christ, and that power is pledged to every soul in its fight with sin. (T. J. Holmes.)
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 On v1 Job 2
V.
THE DILEMMA OF FAITH
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Job 2
As the drama proceeds to unfold the conflict between Divine grace in the human soul and those chaotic influences which hold the mind in doubt or drag it back into denial, Job becomes a type of the righteous sufferer, the servant of God in the hot furnace of affliction. All true poetry runs thus into the typical. The interest of the movement depends on the representative character of the life, passionate in jealousy, indignation, grief, or ambition, pressing on exultantly to unheard of success, borne down into the deepest circles of woe. Here it is not simply a mans constancy that has to be established, but Gods truth against the Adversarys lie; the "everlasting yea" against the negations that make all life and virtue seem the mere blossoming of dust. Job has to pass through profoundest trouble, that the drama may exhaust the possibilities of doubt, and lead the faith of man towards liberty.
Yet the typical is based on the real; and the conflict here described has gone on first in the experience of the author. Not from the outside, but from his own life has he painted the sorrows and struggles of a soul urged to the brink of that precipice beyond which lies the blank darkness of the abyss. There are men in whom the sorrows of a whole people and of a whole age seem to concentrate. They suffer with their fellow men that all may find a way of hope. Not unconsciously, but with the most vivid sense of duty, a Divine necessity brought to their door, they must undergo all the anguish and hew a track through the dense forest to the light beyond. Such a man in his age was the writer of this book. And when he now proceeds to the second stage of Jobs affliction every touch appears to show that, not merely in imagination, but substantially he endured the trials which he paints. It is his passion that strives and cries, his sorrowful soul that longs for death. Imaginary, is this work of his? Nothing so true, vehement, earnest, can be imaginary. "Sublime sorrow," says Carlyle, "sublime reconciliation; oldest choral melody as of the heart of mankind." But it shows more than "the seeing eye and the mildly understanding heart." It reveals the spirit battling with terrible enemies, doubts that spring out of the darkness of error, brood of the primaeval chaos. The man was one who "in this wild element of a life had to struggle onwards; now fallen, deep abased; and ever with tears, repentance, with bleeding heart, rise again, struggle again, still onwards." Not to this writer, any more than to the author of "Sartor Resartus," did anything come in his dreams.
A second scene in heaven is presented to our view. The Satan appears as before with the "sons of the Elohim," is asked by the Most High whence he has come, and replies in the language previously used. Again he has been abroad amongst men in his restless search for evil. The challenge of God to the Adversary regarding Job is also repeated; but now it has an addition: "Still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause." The expression "although thou movedst me against him" is startling. Is it an admission after all that the Almighty can be moved by any consideration less than pure right, or to act in any way to the disadvantage or hurt of His servant? Such an interpretation would exclude the idea of supreme power, wisdom, and righteousness which unquestionably governs the book from first to last. The words really imply a charge against the Adversary of malicious untruth. The saying of the Almighty is ironical, as Schultens points out: "Although thou, forsooth, didst incite Me against him." He who flings sharp javelins of detraction is pierced with a sharper javelin of judgment. Yet he goes on with his attempt to ruin Job, and prove his own penetration the keenest in the universe.
And now he pleads that it is the way of men to care more for themselves, their own health and comfort, than for anything else. Bereavement and poverty may be like arrows that glance off from polished armour. Let disease and bodily pain attack himself, and a man will show what is really in his heart. "Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for himself. But put forth Thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce Thee openly."
The proverb put into Satans mouth carries a plain enough meaning, and yet is not literally easy to interpret. The sense will be clear if we translate it "Hide for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for himself." The hide of an animal, lion or sheep, which a man wears for clothing will be given up to save his own body. A valued article of property often, it will be promptly renounced when life is in danger; the man will flee away naked. In like manner all possessions will be abandoned to keep ones self unharmed. True enough in a sense, true enough to be used as a proverb, for proverbs often express a generalisation of the earthly prudence not, of the higher ideal, the saying, nevertheless, is in Satans use of it a lie-that is, if he includes the children when he says, "all that a man hath will he give for himself." Job would have died for his children. Many a father and mother, with far less pride in their children than Job had in his, would die for them. Possessions indeed, mere worldly gear, find their real value or worthlessness when weighed against life, and human love has Divine depths which a sneering devil cannot see. The portraiture of soulless human beings is one of the recent experiments in fictitious literature, and it may have some justification; when the design is to show the dreadful issue of unmitigated selfishness, a distinctly moral purpose. If, on the other hand, "art for arts sake" is the plea, and the writers skill in painting the vacant ribs of death is used with a sinister reflection on human nature as a whole, the approach to Satans temper marks the degradation of literature. Christian faith clings to the hope that Divine grace may create a soul in the ghastly skeleton. The Adversary gloats over the lifeless picture of his own imagining and affirms that man can never be animated by the love of God. The problem which the Satan of Job long ago presented haunts the mind of our age. It is one of those ominous symptoms that point to times of trial in which the experience of humanity may resemble the typical affliction and desperate struggle of the man of Uz.
A grim possibility of truth lies in the taunt of Satan that, if Jobs flesh and bone are touched, he will renounce God openly. The test of sore disease is more trying than loss of wealth at least. And, besides, bodily affliction, added to the rest, will carry Job into yet another region of vital experience. Therefore it is the will of God to send it. Again Satan is the instrument, and the permission is given, "Behold, he is in thine hand: only save his life-imperil not his life." Here, as before, when causes are to be brought into operation that are obscure and may appear to involve harshness, the Adversary is the intermediary agent. On the face of the drama a certain formal deference is paid to the opinion that God cannot inflict pain on those whom He loves. But for a short time only is the responsibility, so to speak, of afflicting Job partly removed from the Almighty to Satan. At this point the Adversary disappears; and henceforth God is acknowledged to have sent the disease as well as all the other afflictions to His servant. It is only in a poetic sense that Satan is represented as wielding natural forces and sowing the seeds of disease; the writer has no theory and needs no theory of malignant activity. He knows that "all is of God."
Time has passed sufficient for the realisation by Job of his poverty and bereavement. The sense of desolation has settled on his soul as morning after morning dawned, week after week went by, emptied of the loving voices he used to hear, and the delightful and honourable tasks that used to engage him. In sympathy with the exhausted mind, the body has become languid, and the change from sufficiency of the best food to something like starvation gives the germs of disease an easy hold. He is stricken with elephantiasis, one of the most terrible forms of leprosy, a tedious malady attended with intolerable irritation and loathsome ulcers. The disfigured face, the blackened body, soon reveal the nature of the infection; and he is forthwith carried out according to the invariable custom and laid on the heap of refuse, chiefly burnt litter, which has accumulated near his dwelling. In Arab villages this mezbele is often a mound of considerable size, where, if any breath of wind is blowing, the full benefit of its coolness can be enjoyed. It is the common playground of the children, "and there the outcast, who has been stricken with some loathsome malady, and is not allowed to enter the dwellings of men, lays himself down, begging alms of the passers by, by day, and by night sheltering himself among the ashes which the heat of the sun has warmed." At the beginning Job was seen in the full stateliness of Oriental life: now the contrasting misery of it appears, the abjectness into which it may rapidly fall. Without proper medical skill or appliances, the houses no way adapted for a case of disease like Jobs, the wealthiest pass like the poorest into what appears the nadir of existence. Now at length the trial of faithfulness is in the way of being perfected. If the helplessness, the torment of disease, the misery of this abject state do not move his mind from its trust in God, he will indeed be a bulwark of religion against the atheism of the world.
But in what form does the question of Jobs continued fidelity present itself now to the mind of the writer? Singularly, as a question regarding his integrity. From the general wreck one life has been spared, that of Jobs wife. To her it appears that the wrath of the Almighty has been launched against her husband, and all that prevents him from finding refuge in death from the horrors of lingering disease is his integrity. If he maintains the pious resignation he showed under the first afflictions and during the early stages of his malady, he will have to suffer on. But it will be better to die at once. "Why," she asks, "dost thou still hold fast thine integrity? Renounce God, and die." It is a different note from that which runs through the controversy between Job and his friends. Always on his integrity he takes his stand; against his right to affirm it they direct their arguments. They do not insist on the duty of a man under all circumstances to believe in God and submit to His will. Their sole concern is to prove that Job has not been sincere and faithful and deserving of acceptance before God. But his wife knows him to have been righteous and pious; and that, she thinks, will serve him no longer. Let him abandon his integrity; renounce God. On two sides the sufferer is plied. But he does not waver. Between the two he stands, a man who has integrity and will keep it till he die.
The accusations of Satan, turning on the question whether Job was sincere in religion or one who served God for what he got, prepare us to understand why his integrity is made the hinge of the debate. To Job his upright obedience was the heart of his life, and it alone made his indefeasible claim on God. But faith, not obedience, is the only real claim a man can advance. And the connection is to be found in this way. As a man perfect and upright, who feared God and eschewed evil, Job enjoyed the approval of his conscience and the sense of Divine favour. His life had been rooted in the steady assurance that the Almighty was his friend. He had walked in freedom and joy, cared for by the providence of the Eternal, guarded by His love, his soul at peace with that Divine Lawgiver whose will he did. His faith rested like an arch on two piers-one, his own righteousness which God had inspired; the other, the righteousness of God which his own reflected. If it were proved that he had not been righteous, his belief that God had been guarding him, teaching him, filling his soul with light, would break under him like a withered branch. If he had not been righteous indeed, he could not know what righteousness is, he could not know whether God is righteous or not, he could not know God nor trust in Him. The experience of the past was, in this case, a delusion. He had nothing to rest upon, no faith. On the other hand, if those afflictions, coming why he could not tell, proved God to be capricious, unjust, all would equally be lost. The dilemma was that holding to the belief in his own integrity, he seemed to be driven to doubt God; but if he believed God to be righteous he seemed to be driven to doubt his own integrity. Either was fatal. He was in a narrow strait between two rocks, on one or other of which faith was like to be shattered.
But his integrity was clear to him. That stood within the region of his own consciousness. He knew that God had made him of dutiful heart and given him a constant will to be obedient. Only while he believed this could he keep hold of his life. As the one treasure saved out of the wreck, when possessions, children, health were gone, to cherish his integrity was the last duty. Renounce his conscience of goodwill and faithfulness? It was the one fact bridging the gulf of disaster, the safeguard against despair. And is this not a true presentation of the ultimate inquiry regarding faith? If the justice we know is not an adumbration of Divine justice, if the righteousness we do is not taught us by God, of the same kind as His, if loving justice and doing righteousness we are not showing faith in God, if renouncing all for the right, clinging to it though the heavens should fall, we are not in touch with the Highest, then there is no basis for faith, no link between our human life and the Eternal. All must go if these deep principles of morality and religion are not to be trusted. What a man knows of the just and good by clinging to it, suffering for it, rejoicing in it, is indeed the anchor that keeps him from being swept into the waste of waters.
The womans part in the controversy is still to be considered; and it is but faintly indicated. Upon the Arab soul there lay no sense of womans life. Her view of providence or of religion was never asked. The writer probably means here that Jobs wife would naturally, as a woman, complicate the sum of his troubles. She expresses ill-considered resentment against his piety. To her he is "righteous over much," and her counsel is that of despair. "Was this all that the Great God whom he trusted could do for him?" Better bid farewell to such a God. She can do nothing to relieve the dreadful torment and can see but the one possible end. But it is God who is keeping her husband alive, and one word would be enough to set him free. Her language is strangely illogical, meant indeed to be so, -a womans desperate talk. She does not see that, though Job renounced God, he might yet live on, in greater misery than ever, just because he would then have no spiritual stay.
Well, some have spoken very strongly about Jobs wife. She has been called a helper of the Devil, an organ of Satan, an infernal fury. Chrysostom thinks that the Enemy left her alive because he deemed her a fit scourge to Job by which to plague him more acutely than by any other. Ewald, with more point, says: "Nothing can be more scornful than her words which mean, Thou, who under all the undeserved sufferings which have been inflicted on thee by thy God, hast been faithful to Him even in fatal sickness, as if He would help or desired to help thee who art beyond help, - to thee, fool, I say, Bid God farewell, and die!" There can be no doubt that she appears as the temptress of her husband, putting into speech the atheistic doubt which the Adversary could not directly suggest. And the case is all the worse for Job that affection and sympathy are beneath her words. Brave and true life appears to her to profit nothing if it has to be spent in pain and desolation. She does not seem to speak so much in scorn as in the bitterness of her soul. She is no infernal fury, but one whose love, genuine enough, does not enter into the fellowship of his sufferings. It was necessary to Jobs trial that the temptation should be presented, and the ignorant affection of the woman serves the needful purpose. She speaks not knowing what she says, not knowing that her words pierce like sharp arrows into his very soul. As a figure in the drama she has her place, helping to complete the round of trial.
The answer of Job is one of the fine touches of the book. He does not denounce her as an instrument of Satan nor dismiss her from his presence. In the midst of his pain he is the great chief of Uz and the generous husband. "Thou speakest," he mildly says, "as one of the foolish, that is, godless, women speaketh." It is not like thee to say such things as these. And then he adds the question born of sublime faith, "Shall we receive gladness at the hand of God, and shall we not receive affliction?"
One might declare this affirmation of faith so clear and decisive that the trial of Job as a servant of God might well close with it. Earthly good, temporal joy, abundance of possessions, children, health, -these he had received. Now in poverty and desolation, his body wrecked by disease, he lies tormented and helpless. Suffering of mind and physical affliction are his in almost unexampled keenness, acute in themselves and by contrast with previous felicity. His wife, too, instead of helping him to endure, urges him to dishonour and death. Still he does not doubt that all is wisely ordered by God. He puts aside, if indeed with a strenuous effort of the soul, that cruel suggestion of despair, and affirms anew the faith which is supposed to bind him to a life of torment. Should not this repel the accusations brought against the religion of Job and of humanity? The author does not think so. He has only prepared the way for his great discussion. But the stages of trial already passed show how deep and vital is the problem that lies beyond. The faith which has emerged so triumphantly is to be shaken as by the ruin of the world.
Strangely and erroneously has a distinction been drawn between the previous afflictions and the disease which, it is said, "opens or reveals greater depths in Jobs reverent piety." One says: "In his former trial he blessed God who took away the good He had added to naked man; this was strictly no evil: now Job bows beneath Gods hand when he inflicts positive evil." Such literalism in reading the words "shall we not receive evil?" implies a gross slander on Job. If he had meant that the loss of health was "evil" as contrasted with the loss of children, that from his point of view bereavement was no "evil," then indeed he would have sinned against love, and therefore against God. It is the whole course of his trial he is reviewing. Shall we receive "good"-joy, prosperity, the love of children, years of physical vigour, and shall we not receive pain-this burden of loss, desolation, bodily torment? Herein Job sinned not with his lips. Again, had he meant moral evil, something involving cruelty and unrighteousness, he would have sinned indeed, his faith would have been destroyed by his own false judgment of God. The words here must be interpreted in harmony with the distinction already drawn between physical and mental suffering, which, as God appoints them, have a good design, and moral evil, which can in no way have its source in Him.
And now the narrative passes into a new phase. As a chief of Uz, the greatest of the Bene-Kedem, Job was known beyond the desert. As a man of wisdom and generosity he had many friends. The tidings of his disasters and finally of his sore malady are carried abroad; and after months, perhaps (for a journey across the sandy waste needs preparation and time), three of those who know him best and admire him most, "Jobs three friends," appear upon the scene. To sympathise with him, to cheer and comfort him, they come with one accord, each on his camel, not unattended, for the way is beset with dangers.
They are men of mark all of them. The emeer of Uz has chiefs, no doubt, as his peculiar friends, although the Septuagint colours too much in calling them kings. It is, however, their piety, their likeness to himself, as men who fear and serve the True God, that binds them to Jobs heart. They will contribute what they can of counsel and wise suggestion to throw light on his trials and lift him into hope. No arguments of unbelief or cowardice will be used by them, nor will they propose that a stricken man should renounce God and die. Eliphaz is from Teman, that centre of thought and culture where men worshipped the Most High and meditated upon His providence. Shuach, the city of Bildad, can scarcely be identified with the modern Shuwak, about two hundred and fifty miles southwest from the Jauf near the, Red Sea, nor with the land of the Tsukhi of the Assyrian inscriptions, lying on the Chaldaean frontier. It was probably a city, now forgotten, in the Idumaean region. Maan, also near Petra, may be the Naamah of Zophar. It is at least tempting to regard all the three as neighbours who might without great difficulty communicate with each other and arrange a visit to their common friend. From their meeting place at Teman or at Maan they would, in that case, have to make a journey of some two hundred miles across one of the most barren and dangerous deserts of Arabia, clear enough proof of their esteem for Job and their deep sympathy. The fine idealism of the poem is maintained in this new act. Men of knowledge and standing are these. They may fail; they may take a false view of their friend and his state; but their sincerity must not be doubted nor their rank as thinkers. Whether the three represent ancient culture, or rather the conceptions of the writers own time, is a question that may be variously answered. The book, however, is so full of life, the life of earnest thought and keen thirst for truth, that the type of religious belief found in all the three must have been familiar to the author. These men are not, any more than Job himself, contemporaries of Ephron the Hittite or the Balaam of Numbers. They stand out as religious thinkers of a far later age, and represent the current Rabbinism of the post-Solomonic era. The characters are filled in from a profound knowledge of man and mans life. Yet each of them, Temanite, Shuchite, Naamathite, is at bottom a Hebrew believer striving to make his creed apply to a case not yet brought into his system, and finally, when every suggestion is repelled, taking refuge in that hardness of temper which is peculiarly Jewish. They are not men of straw, as some imagine, but types of the culture and thought which led to Pharisaism. The writer argues not so much with Edom as with his own people.
Approaching Jobs dwelling the three friends look eagerly from their camels, and at length perceive one prostrate, disfigured, lying on the mezbele, a miserable wreck of manhood. "That is not our friend," they say to each other. Again and yet again, "This is not he; this surely cannot be he." Yet nowhere else than in the place of the forsaken do they find their noble friend. The brave, bright chief they knew, so stately in his bearing, so abundant and honourable, how has he fallen! They lift up their voices and weep; then, struck into amazed silence, each with torn mantle and dust-sprinkled head, for seven days and nights they sit beside him in grief unspeakable.
Real is their sympathy; deep too, as deep as their character and sentiments admit. As comforters they are proverbial in a bad sense. Yet one says truly, perhaps out of bitter experience, "Who that knows what most modern consolation is can prevent a prayer that Jobs comforters may be his? They do not call upon him for an hour and invent excuses for the departure which they so anxiously await; they do not write notes to him, and go about their business as if nothing had happened; they do not inflict upon him meaningless commonplaces." It was their misfortune, not altogether their fault, that they had mistaken notions which they deemed it their duty to urge upon him. Job, disappointed by and by, did not spare them, and we feel so much for him that we are apt to deny them their due: Yet are we not bound to ask, What friend has had equal proof of our sympathy? Depth of nature; sincerity of friendship; the will to console: let those mock at Jobs comforters as wanting here who have travelled two hundred miles over the burning sand to visit a man sunk in disaster, brought to poverty and the gate of death, and sat with him seven days and nights in generous silence.
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 On vv1, 7, 11 Job_2:4. “Skin for skin; yea, all that a man…
Notes
Job_2:4. “Skin for skin; yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.” The expression “skin for skin” acknowledged to be a proverbial one. Its precise meaning not so obvious, though its general drift, as used by the Evil One, is sufficiently apparent. The Septuagint and Vulgate translate as we do; the one rendering the preposition by ὑπερ, and the other by pro. The Chaldaic has: “Member for member.” So BERNARD, who renders the words: “Limb for limb.” Martin’s French Version has: “Every one will give skin for skin.” Some, as PARKHURST and WEMYSS, render the phrase: “Skin after skin.” Others, as PINEDA and TIRINUS: “Skin upon skin,” i.e., all skins; or, according to POOLE, all outward things. YOUNG translates: “A skin for a skin.” The meanings thus reducible to four:—
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1. The skin of another for one’s own skin. So VATABLUS, TIRINUS, SEB. SCHMIDT, MAIER. “Skin,” in this view, is regarded by some as equivalent to “body,” as in chap. Job_16:15; Job_18:13; Job_19:26; like Horace’s “Pelliculam curare jubet.” So ROSENMOLLER and HUFNAGEL. By others it is viewed as equivalent to “life:” what a man holds as dear to him as his skin, i.e., his life, he will give to save his life. So GESENIUS and HUPFELDT, after ORIGEN who says: “A man will give a skin, which is sold for money, to save his own skin, i.e., his life.” Others: Job will give the skin of his cattle, even that of his children, to save his own. So GREGORY, EPHREM SYRUS, MERCER, PISCATOR, DRUSIUS, NOYES, &C. Like that of Terence: “Proximus sum egomet mihi.” In this view, the proverb is explained by what follows.
2. Like for like; i.e., any one gives that; men part with anything for a full equivalent. So CODURCUS, HIRZEL, CONANT: Equivalent for equivalent. MAURER: Job may well give up the rest to keep his life. FAUSSET: One thing for another. EWALD: All is subject to barter. UMBREIT: One article is given for another; but life is dearest to all: Job is satisfied so long as he is not obliged to give up that. CODURCUS: The origin of the proverb in the general practice of barter, or in the use of animals instead of men in sacrifice. POOLE: Skins or spoils of beasts in early ages the most valuable property men could acquire; hence became the chief representative of property. GOOD and BOOTHROYD: “Skin” an equivalent for riches, furniture, &c. PINEDA and SCHULTENS: In the expression “skin for skin,” GOOD thinks the word issued in two different senses,—property is given for life. COBBIN remarks that probably ransoms used also to be paid in skins. CAREY sees in the proverb a sort of reductio ad absurdum: a man will not part with his skin unless you supply him with another; on no terms will he part with his life: hence Job, to save his life, will part with his religion.
3. Limb for limb; or, one thing parted with to save the rest: a less noble member will be given up for a nobler one, as an arm for a head. So MENOCHIUS, MUNSTER, A. CLARKE, &C. The view of some of the fathers: a man will put up his hand to ward off a blow from his eye. So GREGORY, OLYMPIODORUS. Dr. LEE: Men willingly give up a worse thing for a better: hence, much more will a man give up all he has for his life. COCCEIUS: Job can easily afford to part with all while he keeps his life,—his possessions being as it were a skin or covering to his person to protect and warm him: the one of them—the less valuable—he easily lets go to keep the other. So SCHLOTTMANN, DELITZSCH, and ZÖCKLER in Lange, who regards the life to be preserved as not so much the animal or life-function, as the soul which causes and conditions it.
4. Skin upon skin. So Dr. THOMASS, in The Homilist: “like—sovereign after sovereign; all the sovereigns a man has,” &c.; “skin,” equivalent to property; life dearer than all. Job willing to have skin upon skin taken from him to save his life. SCHULTENS remarks that the Arabs call possessions the outer skin—friends and relations the inner one. According to OLSHAUSEN, the meaning is: So long as thou dost sot touch his person, he will not attack thee. COLEMAN thinks an allusion is made to the terrific skin-disease with which Satan purposed to afflict Job. CONANT regards the rendering of the copula vaw before “all” by “yea,” as embarrassing the sense, by anticipating the reader’s judgment of the relation of the two clauses, and proposes to read it as usual: “And all that a man hath,” &c. UMBREIT, and after him FAUSSET, would put “skin” and “life” in the two clauses in antithesis to each other, and render the copula “but.” So DE WETTE: People give up other things; but they take care of their life—the highest value put upon that. According to BARNES, the idea is: If Job was so afflicted as to have his life endangered, he would give up his religion to save it.
SIXTH PART OF INTRODUCTION.—PREPARATION FOR JOB’S FURTHER TRIAL
I. Second Celestial Council (Job_2:1). “Again there was a day,” some time after the events already related. Not said how long. Heavenly things represented under the figure of earthly ones, in condescension to our capacity. In heaven no succession of day and night (Rev_21:25).—“The sons of God came,” &c. Same scene represented as before. God’s providence continually exercised, and extending to all times and events. His angelic ministers continually serving Him in their respective spheres (Rev_22:3). “His state is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed,” &c. Good to remember—“They also serve who only stand and wait.” Angels intensely interested in the salvation of men, and employed in helping to promote it (Act_8:26; Act_10:3).—“Satan also came.” Summoned, or expecting a fresh permission. Like Saul of Tarsus, “breathing out threatening and slaughter,” and eager to get out a fresh commission of destruction (Act_9:1).—“To present himself before the Lord,” having previously received a commission. This, therefore, omitted in the former account. Men, angels, and devils, amenable to God.
II. God’s testimony to Job’s steadfastness (Job_2:2). “From whence comest thou?” Happy for us that God’s eye is continually on Satan’s movements (Luk_22:31-32).—“From going to and fro.” Active and restless as ever. Says nothing of the harm he has done. An evil doer seldom has the courage to speak the whole truth (2Ki_5:25).—“Walking up and down in it.” God says the same thing of him, but tells us how (1Pe_5:8). As Job still retained his integrity, so Satan his assiduity. Believers neither to be ignorant of his devices, nor forgetful of his zeal.—(Job_2:3). “Hast thou considered my servant Job?” Job still God’s servant. God’s estimate of His people not diminished by their sufferings. Precious testimony to the poor persecuted church at Smyrna (Rev_2:9)—. “Still holdeth fast his integrity.” Perfect and upright as before. “Still,” notwithstanding these severe and accumulated trials. “Holdeth fast,” implying exertion. Hard to hold out in such a storm. Satan’s efforts to rob Job of his integrity, Job’s to retain it. Whatever a godly man loses he will keep his integrity. “If you love my soul away with it,” said a martyr at the stake, when tempted with a pardon to recant. Two things never to be let go—Christ’s righteousness, and a good conscience. The Epistle to the Hebrews written to strengthen tried believers to hold fast their profession (Heb_3:14; Heb_4:14; Heb_10:23; Heb_10:35; Heb_10:39). God a concerned and compassionate observer of his people’s conduct under trials (Jer_31:18; Hos_14:8). Commends their conduct in them, without at once delivering them from them. What is well done is sure, sooner or later, to receive His approving testimony. God neither conceals our graces nor our improvement of them. To continue good while suffering evil, the crown of goodness. A good man persevering in evil times an object of Divine admiration [Seneca].—God’s further commendation of Job now enlarged. Grace grows in conflict. “Although thou movedst me against him.” Implies successful urgency (So 1Ki_21:25). Spoken after the manner of men. Satan an excellent orator if he but have an audience [Trapp].—“Thou movedst me.” God “afflicteth not willingly” (Lam_3:33). Satan an earnest pleader against the saints: Christ as earnest for them (Joh_17:11; Joh_17:15; Joh_17:17). Satan’s malice and calumny the occasion of Job’s sufferings, and so of his subsequent glory. God’s secret purpose to exhibit the reality and preciousness of His servant’s faith. All questioning of the efficacy of Christ’s redemption and the power of Divine grace, to be for ever silenced. Not only events themselves purposed by God, but the way and occasion of their occurrence.—“To destroy him,” Marg., “to swallow him up.” Satan’s cruel intention. Satan’s object in trial is to destroy; God’s, to prove and purify. God’s sympathy with His suffering people. What Satan called a touch, God calls destruction. Awful judgment to be left in the hands of the roaring lion (1Pe_5:8).—“Without cause.”
(1.) Without any special sin of his to merit it. This testimony to be remembered throughout the book. Believed and maintained by Job; denied by his three friends. The cause of his perplexity and distraction aggravated by their opposition. Tried believers often ignorant of God’s thoughts concerning them, and of the cause and object of their trial.—
(2.) Without ground or necessity for it. Satan’s charge proved by the result to be unfounded.
III. Satan’s farther accusation (Job_2:4). “Satan answered the Lord.” Satanic impudence. Though defeated, he has still an answer for God. Boldness acquired by a course of iniquity. A whore’s forehead (Jer_3:3).—“Skin for skin.” A proverbial expression. A mere question of barter. Job has yet a whole skin. He will part with anything to save his life. Will give up what he has, to save himself. “We must give up our beards to save our heads” [Turkish Proverb].—“All that a man bath he will give for his life.” Not only his property and children, but probably his religion too. The test not yet sufficiently severe. The screw needs only to be driven a little farther. Satan argues still on the principles of man’s selfishness. His words too often verified in fallen humanity. Peruvians sacrificed their firstborn to redeem their own life when the priest pronounced them mortally sick. Cranmer, in a moment of weakness, at first recanted in order to escape martyrdom. Abraham, when left to himself to save his life, gave up Sarah, and instigated her to tell a lie (Gen_12:12-13). Yet the statement a libel upon the race. Satan true to his character. Self-preservation a powerful instinct, but not supreme. With a good man, subordinate to the principles of morality and religion. Yields to faith, hope, and charity. Paul counted not his life dear to him that he might finish his course and ministry with joy (Act_20:24). Daniel, Stephen, and all “the noble army of martyrs” give Satan the lie. Men and women have died, “refusing to accept deliverance, to obtain a better resurrection” (Heb_11:35). “Welcome, death!” said Hugh M‘Kail, on the martyr’s scaffold. “Welcome, if need be, the axe or the gibbet; but evil befall the tongue that dares to make me so infamous a proposal,” said Kossuth, in reply to the Sultan’s proposal to save his life by renouncing Christianity.—“Touch his bone and his flesh” (Job_2:5). Strike home at his person. Person nearer than property or children. Intensest pain and suffering intended. The iron to enter the soul. Satan’s cruelty. A merciless tormentor (Mat_18:34). Unwearied in his efforts to destroy Always needful to prepare for new assaults. Satan acquainted with the tendency of great bodily suffering. Pain, a powerful means of disquieting and weakening the mind. Without disordering its faculties, able to exhaust its energies and sink it into despondency. A piercing shaft in Satan’s quiver. A thorn in the flesh Paul’s great temptation (2Co_12:7; 2Co_12:9). Men “blasphemed God because of the pain” (Rev_16:9). This Satan’s expectation in regard to Job.—“He will curse thee,” &c. Same assertion as before. Satan unwilling to yield. Men, lost to all right principle themselves, have no faith in the virtue of others.
IV. The renewed permission (Job_2:6). “He is in thine hand.” Before, only his property and children; now, himself. Saints, for trial, mysteriously given for a time into Satan’s hand. The persecuted church at Smyrna (Rev_2:10). Unknown to us how far bodily affliction may be from Satan’s hand (Luk_13:16). Though God lengthens Satan’s chain, he never loosens it. The saints never in Satan’s hand without Christ being with them (Dan_3:25; Psa_23:4; Psa_91:15; Isa_43:2).—“But save his life.” Satan’s permission in regard to the saints always limited. He might scratch with his paw, but not fasten his fang [Trapp]. Job’s life to be endangered, but not destroyed. Life and death in God’s hand, not Satan’s. A mercy to have life spared (Jer_39:18). Precious blessings still for Job to experience, and important work still for him to do. A man immortal till his work is done. The limit set in Job’s case, not prescribed in Christ’s. Christ, as the Shepherd, smitten to death in the room of the sheep (Zec_13:7; Joh_10:11).
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.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 The book of Job is not a poem for…
Job 2:6
The book of Job is not a poem for the solitary Jew, but a message for man as man all the world over and through all the ages of time.
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I. This is palpable and unquestionable as soon as the special motive for Job’s fierce trial is seen. The perfect man, who hates evil and loves right, is left in the hands of Satan by God; and Satan is told that he may do what he pleases with him, only he must spare his life. The permission has no other limit, and the fierce malignity of the devil may be trusted to go as close to the boundary as he can get. But wherefore this permission at all? For what reason does God part with His servant out of His power?
II. Satan challenges the ability of God to attract the confidence and inspire the reverent and hearty devotion of men. The case is crucial. The test is faultless. The experiment is carried to the maximum of severity. No element of evil is omitted. It is the pattern man of the world delivered over to the lord of misrule and wrong. Three times Job is victorious.
The pay goes, and still he serves. Life itself is one agony, but still that agony is a cry to God, "My God, my God!" He loses everything, and would like to lose life itself, but not even death and the grave prevent his exclaiming, "Yet from my flesh shall I see God, my Redeemer and Vindicator."
III. Thus the false and diabolical conception of God is beaten off the field, and the idea remains triumphant that God is lovable in Himself and for Himself, and irrespective of the plenty of His providence and the bounty of His reign. Yea more, He is lovable notwithstanding fearful evils in our lot and in the world. Disinterested love of the Eternal is its own reward. Love of the All-pure and All-perfect is a sufficient heaven for the soul God has made for Himself and fills with Himself.
J. Clifford, Daily Strength for Daily Living, p. 285.
References: Job 2:9.—G. Sexton, "Homilist," Excelsior Series, vol. vii., p. 145. Job 2:10.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 24. Job 2:11.—G. Dawson, Sermons on Daily Life and Duty, p. 225. Job 2:13.—R. Glover, Homiletic Magazine, vol. x., p. 106.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Prologue (continued)
The Prologue (continued)
Job's second trial. He refuses to renounce God when afflicted with an excruciating disease. Three friends come to comfort him.
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3. Although thou movedst, etc.] or, 'so that it was in vain thou movedst me against him to destroy him.'
4, 5. Skin for skin, etc.] The precise meaning of the proverb is uncertain, but the general meaning seems to be that as long as a man does not suffer in his own person he will gladly bear the sacrifice of everything else ('skin for skin'). But it is a different matter when his life is endangered. Let Job suffer this last and greatest trial, then his integrity will fail him (so the Adversary insinuates) and he will renounce God. His life the Satan is not permitted to touch, short of that he has full liberty, and uses it.
7. Sore boils] lit. 'an evil inflammation.' The disease with which Job was afflicted is commonly taken to be elephantiasis, a terrible form of leprosy. It has also been identified with the 'Oriental sore,' also with ecthyma, for which a plausible case has been made out.
8. A potsherd] A piece of earthenware to remove the scurf skin. He sat down among the ashes] Perhaps those of his camp fires. This was a sign of mourning. Tradition places him on a dunghill, like the 'Mizbeleh' or mound of refuse found outside an Eastern town or village where lepers and other outcasts sit, and men sometimes meet to talk.
9. Job's wife would have had him act as the Adversary expected him to do. 'You may as well renounce God's service since you benefit so little by it, and meet your fate at once instead of lingering in intolerable pain.'
10. Both good and evil are from God's hand, and must be taken in the same spirit. The words of Job are in notable contrast to those of his wife. With his lips] The reader must not be misled into thinking that the author means to suggest that Job nursed in his heart a rebellion he would not utter with his lips.
11. The three friends of Job now come upon the scene. They are represented as persons of importance like himself. Temanite] connected with Edom (Jer_49:7). Shuhite] Shuah was a son of Abraham by Keturah, who was sent 'to the East' (Gen_25:2, Gen_25:6). Naamathite] unknown. The friends, like Job, were probably descendants of Abraham, but not of Israel (Jacob).
12. Knew him not] so disfigured was he by his sickness and misery.
Sprinkled dust upon their heads] This was generally done when lying prostrate on the ground (cp. Lam_2:10), but the words 'toward heaven' suggest that they were standing. They throw dust in the air, which falls on their heads.
13. Seven days] the time of mourning for the dead: cp. 1Sa_31:13; Eze_3:15.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 See Job 2:2; Job 2:3; Job 2:6; Job 2:7;…
Satan
See Job 2:2; Job 2:3; Job 2:6; Job 2:7; Psa 109:6; Gen 3:1; Rev 20:10.
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 On vv1, 11 1. Jehovah’s second challenge and Satan’s answer (Job 2:1-6)
CHAPTER 2:1-10
1. Jehovah’s second challenge and Satan’s answer (Job 2:1-6)
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2. Job stricken (Job 2:7-8)
3. Job’s wife, Job’s answer and victory (Job 2:9-10)
Job 2:1-6. Once more the sons of God, and Satan among them, present themselves before the Lord. It must have been immediately after Job’s afflictions had come upon him. Probably the Lord called the assembly. The victory is on the Lord’s side. Satan is defeated and his defeat is known to the heavenly hosts, who undoubtedly watched the tragedies which had been enacted on earth and who, with joy, had listened to Job’s marvellous words. Triumphantly the Lord said to Satan, “And still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.” Then comes Satan’s sneer. He has not given up hope. “Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth Thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce thee to thy face.” This is bold and horrible language; it shows Satan’s knowledge of human nature. And God tells Satan, “Behold, he is in thine hands.” What an evidence that Satan can do nothing against the saints of God without His permission. What a comfort this is! Satan is absolutely under the control of God. And if God permits him to do his evil work, he judiciously designs, God’s own love and power are on the side of His afflicted people; His own gracious faithfulness will be demonstrated in the trial. The suffering saints still learn the lesson which Job had to learn, his own nothingness, and that God is all in all. But there is a gracious restriction. The Lord said, “Only spare his life.” Satan might sift Job; his life he could not touch, for the lives of God’s people are in the hand of the Lord.
Job 2:6-8. Satan does not delay long. He carries out his commission and useth his power to the utmost. “He smote him with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.” What was the disease? It may have been the disease known as Elephantiasis, a disease of a horrible nature. Other diseases are mentioned also which correspond with the symptoms given in the brief description. “The symptoms given agree better with those of the Biskra sores, an oriental disease, endemic along the southern shores of the Mediterranean and in Mesopotamia. It begins in the form of papular spots, which ulcerate and become covered with crusts, which are itchy and burning sores” (Professor Macalister). It must have been the most loathsome disease Satan could think of.
“And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself; and he sat among the ashes.” What a sad transformation! The great eastern emir, who erstwhile was so rich and influential, stripped of all his possessions, reduced to the most abject poverty, afflicted with a vile and extremely painful disease, takes his place upon the dunghill, amidst the ashes of the burnt refuse. He considers himself an outcast, unfit for a human dwelling.
Job 2:9-10. Then his wife makes her only appearing in this drama. She is seen but once and only once she speaks. She must have followed him with weeping and wailing outside to the ash-heap. And now she speaks, but not of herself. Satan uses her as his instrument. He speaks through her. “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Renounce God and die.” That is exactly what Satan had spoken in God’s presence, that Job would do this very thing. And now he uses the woman to suggest suicide to Job.
But noble is the answer of the afflicted saint of God. He detects in her language impiety--”thou speaketh as one of the impious (this is the meaning of foolish) women speaketh.” Only those who do not know God can speak as you have spoken, is the meaning of his rebuke. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? The power of God it was which produced such wonderful submission. His grace enabled him to pass through it all without sinning. What a record! “in all this did not Job sin with his lips!” Satan’s defeat is complete. His mouth is stopped. If he appears again before Jehovah he must stand in silence; the last word does not belong to him, but to God. And so is coming the day when Satan’s defeat is complete, when he will be completely bruised under the feet of God’s people.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 9 Job Stricken with a Severe Disease
Job Stricken with a Severe Disease
v. 1. Again there was a day, some time after Satan had exhausted his efforts to shake the piety of Job by the destruction of his property and the slaughter of his children, when the sons of God, the angels, as ministers of Jehovah, came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord, as on the previous occasion, 1:13.
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v. 2. And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord and said, just as he had done before, From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it, in his restless, ceaseless endeavor to harm the works of the Lord and to lead men into sin.
v. 3. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered My servant Job, namely, by concentrating his attention upon him, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil? Cf 1:1. And still, in spite of the severe affliction which had come upon him, he holdeth fast his integrity, to his piety and to the perfection of his righteousness before men, although thou movedst Me against him to destroy him without cause, namely, by giving Satan permission to send such great misfortunes upon him, part of which included the use of the forces of nature, which God; in a manner of speaking, placed at his disposal. Note the divine irony in the language of Jehovah, especially as contrasted with the baffled sneering of Satan.
v. 4. And Satan answered the Lord and said, in the rage due to his failure, Skin for skin; yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. The meaning of this proverbial saying is that nothing outward is so dear to a man but that he will gladly give it for something similar; the life of a man, however, cannot be replaced, and therefore a man will sacrifice everything else for the sake of his life.
v. 5. But put forth Thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, striking at him even from a distance in making a pass for his life, and he will curse, renounce and reject, Thee to Thy face.
v. 6. And the Lord, willing to permit even this test of Job’s integrity, of the sincerity of his righteousness and piety, said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand, namely, to afflict with severe diseases; but save his life, the latter could be imperiled in the proposed test, but he must not be deprived of it.
v. 7. So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown, the disease being the worst form of leprosy, with horrible ulcers or boils and a swollen condition of the joints, which rendered the afflicted person almost helpless.
v. 8. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal, evidently to relieve the intolerable itching of the festering sores; and he sat down among the ashes, to indicate that he was submerged in grief and mourning. The few words paint a picture of such utter degradation and misery after the great happiness which Job had enjoyed, that the contrast is extremely shocking. It is but seldom that a believer is so severely tried as was Job, and therefore his example serves to encourage and inspire the children of God for all times.
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 On vv1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12 General Information:
General Information:
These verses are exactly the same as Job 1:6-7 and can probably be translated in the same way.
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Then it was the day
See how you translated this in Job 1:6.
the day when
This is not a specific day. The gathering happened often. AT: "at the time when" or "one day when"
sons of God
See how you translated this in Job 1:6.
present themselves before Yahweh
See how you translated this in Job 1:6.
From wandering on the earth, from going back and forth on it
See how you translated this in Job 1:7.
translationWords
sons of God
Yahweh
Satan
earth
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 On vv1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 2:1-3 This scene is an exact repetition of the…
2:1-3 This scene is an exact repetition of the scene presented in 1:6-8.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.