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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.
Job 2:4-7 sits inside this longer paragraph.
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.”
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.
And Satan answered the LORD, and said, 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 curse thee to thy face.
And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
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.
And Satan answered the LORD, and said: 'Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
But put forth Thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, surely he will blaspheme Thee to Thy face.'
And the LORD said unto Satan: 'Behold, he is in thy hand; only spare his life.'
So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot even unto his crown.
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv4–7 Hereby he meant, that a man’s own skin is…
Hereby he meant, that a man’s own skin is dearer unto him than another man’s.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–7 Job 2:4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said,…
Job 2:4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
Ver. 4. And Satan answered the Lord] This impudent adversary had yet an answer in his mouth, and would not be so set down. Of him and his agents (those false teachers, as the apostle calleth them) it may be truly said,
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- Nihil est audacius illis
Deprensis: iram atque animos ex crimine sumunt (Juvenal).
Nothing is more bold to those caught, they are angry but proud from their crime.
Skin for skin] Any skin for his own; cattle, servants, children may be easily parted with by him, to save himself in a whole skin, to keep himself whole: others read it, skin after skin, or skin upon skin; both the Cutis skin and the Pellis hide shall go so that life may be preserved; as a man will hold up his arm to save his head, or suffer the loss of a limb to save his life. Ut corpus redimas; ferrum patieris et ignes. So that the body mey be redeemed; endure the sword and the fire. Job is still integra cute, skin whole, saith Satan; and so long there is little trial of him: that man is rich enough who is well. I read of one, who being asked how old he was, answered that he was in health; and to another that asked how rich he was, answered that he was not in debt: q.d. he is young enough that is in health, and rich enough that is not in debt. Now all this Job was yet, and therefore Satan ill paid and unsatisfied.
And all that he hath will a man give for his life] Life is sweet, we say; and man is a life loving creature, saith the heathen, ζωον φιλοζωον (Aesop), fond of life, and afraid of death, which is Nature’s slaughterman, and therefore the most terrible of terribles, as Aristotle styleth it, των φοβερων φοβερωτατον. The Gibeonites refused not to be perpetual slaves, so they might but live. Those that are overcome in battle are content to be stripped of all, so they may have quarter for their lives. Mariners in a tempest cast their lading into the sea, though never so precious, in hope of life. If Job may escape with the skin of his teeth, it is some favour; he may not think much to sacrifice all that he hath to the service of his life, his conscience only excepted. Some good people have strained that too for love of life, as when Abraham denied his wife; David changed his behaviour; Peter denied his Master; Queen Elizabeth (though afterwards she could say, When I call to mind things past, behold things present, and expect things to come, I hold them happiest that go hence soonest, yet) in Queen Mary’s time, she sometimes heard divine service after the Romish religion, and was often confessed; yea, at the rigorous solicitation of Cardinal Pole, she professed herself a Romish Catholic; yet did not Queen Mary believe her (saith mine author), remembering that she herself, for fear of death, had by letters written with her own hand to her father, both renounced for ever the bishop of Rome’s authority, and with it acknowledged her father to be supreme head of the Church of England under Christ, and her mother’s marriage to have been incestuous and unjust. Those good souls did better that loved not their lives unto death, Rev 12:11, that by losing their lives saved them, Mat 10:39, that held with that martyr (Julius Palmer), that life is sweet only to such as have their souls linked to their bodies as a thief’s foot is in a pair of fetters.
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 vv4–7 The design of these words is plain, which is…
The design of these words is plain, which is to detract from Job, and to diminish that honour and praise which God gave to Job, by pretending that he had done no more than the meanest men commonly do by the law of self-reservation. And it is as clear that this was a proverbial speech then in use, wherein if there be some difficulty to understand it at this distance of time, it is no more than the common lot of many other proverbs, the sense, and especially the grounds, whereof are frequently unknown to persons of other nations and after-times. Moreover, it is known that in those ancient times, though they had some money, yet the main of their estate lay in cattle, of which the skins were a considerable part, and their chief traffic lay in the exchange of one commodity for another; and, among other things, it cannot be questioned but that they did commonly exchange skins of one kind for skins of another sort, according to their several inclinations or occasions. So the meaning may be this, As men willingly and commonly give one skin in exchange for another skin, and one commodity for another. So (the Hebrew particle vau being oft so used as a note of comparison, as it is Pro 17:3; 25:3,23,25,27)
all that a man hath, his house, cattle, children, will he give, and that most willingly, for his life, i.e. to redeem or save his own life. Or rather thus,
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skin for skin, might then be a proverb, like that of ours, Body for body, when one man is so far obliged for another. And we have some such expressions among us; as when we say of a man who doth some dangerous action, His skin, i.e. his body, will pay for it, i.e. it may cost him his life. And this proverb might be taken,
1. From sacrifices, in which there was skin for skin, i.e. the skin of a beast for, or instead of, the skin or body of the man, which deserved to be used as the beast was, and which was saved or preserved by the suffering of the beast, which was accepted by God instead of the man, and by which the man’s sins were expiated. Or,
2. From hostages or ransoms, wherein one man was given for or instead of another. So now the sense may be this, Any man will give skin for skin, i.e. the skin, or body, or life of another, whether man or beast, to save his own;
yea, all that a man hath, whether goods or persons, such as Job hath lost,
will he give for his life. Job is not much hurt nor concerned so long as his own skin is whole and safe. Others thus, Skin upon (for so the Hebrew particle behad is sometimes used, as 2Ki 4:5; Amo 9:10; as also the Greek particle anti, which answers to it, is understood Joh 1:16, grace for grace, i.e. grace upon grace, or all kinds or degrees of grace) skin, and all that a man hath, (so all these words belong to the price which a man pays; now follows what he hath or expecteth to have for it,) will he give for his life, i.e. in exchange for his life, or to save his life. This also is a plausible interpretation, only it is not very probable that the same Hebrew particle behad should be used in two so differing senses in the same verse, in the former part to signify upon, (which if this sacred writer had meant, he would likely have expressed it rather by that other Hebrew particle al, which is commonly so used, than by this, which is so ambiguous, and seldom so taken, and otherwise used in this very verse,) and in the latter to signify for, or instead of. However the sense is plainly this, This is so far from being an evidence of Job’s sincere and generous piety, that it is only an act of deeper hypocrisy and mere self-love; he is well enough contented with the loss of his estate, and children too, so long as he sleeps in a whole skin; and he is well pleased that thou wilt accept of all these as a sacrifice or ransom in his stead; and it is not true patience and humility which makes him seem to bear his crosses so submissively, as depth of policy, that by his feigned carriage he may appease thy wrath against him, and prevent those further plagues which, for his hypocrisy and other sins, of which he is conscious, he fears thou wilt otherwise bring upon his own carcass; as will plainly appear upon further trial.
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 v7 The devil, having got leave to tear and worry…
The devil, having got leave to tear and worry poor Job, presently fell to work with him, as a tormentor first and then as a tempter. His own children he tempts first, and draws them to sin, and afterwards torments, when thereby he has brought them to ruin; but this child of God he tormented with an affliction, and then tempted to make a bad use of his affliction. That which he aimed at was to make Job curse God; now here we are told what course he took both to move him to it and move it to him, both to give him the provocation, else he would not have thought of it: thus artfully in the temptation managed with all the subtlety of the old serpent, who is here playing the same game against Job that he played against our first parents (Gen. 3), aiming to seduce him from his allegiance to his God and to rob him of his integrity.
I. He provokes him to curse God by smiting him with sore boils, and so making him a burden to himself, Job 2:7, Job 2:8. The former attack was extremely violent, but Job kept his ground, bravely made good the pass and carried the day. Yet he is still but girding on the harness; there is worse behind. The clouds return after the rain. Satan, by the divine permission, follows his blow, and now deep calls unto deep.
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1. The disease with which Job was seized was very grievous: Satan smote him with boils, sore boils, all over him, from head to foot, with an evil inflammation (so some render it), an erysipelas, perhaps, in a higher degree. One boil, when it is gathering, is torment enough, and gives a man abundance of pain and uneasiness. What a condition was Job then in, that had boils all over him, and no part free, and those as of raging a heat as the devil could make them, and, as it were, set on fire of hell! The small-pox is a very grievous and painful disease, and would be much more terrible than it is but that we know the extremity of it ordinarily lasts but a few days; how grievous then was the disease of Job, who was smitten all over with sore boils or grievous ulcers, which made him sick at heart, put him to exquisite torture, and so spread themselves over him that he could lie down no way for any ease. If at any time we be exercised with sore and grievous distempers, let us not think ourselves dealt with any otherwise than as God has sometimes dealt with the best of his saints and servants. We know not how much Satan may have a hand (by divine permission) in the diseases with which the children of men, and especially the children of God, are afflicted, what infections that prince of the air may spread, what inflammations may come from that fiery serpent. We read of one whom Satan had bound many years, Luk 13:16. Should God suffer that roaring lion to have his will against any of us, how miserable would he soon make us!
2. His management of himself, in this distemper, was very strange, Job 2:8.
(1.) Instead of healing salves, he took a potsherd, a piece of a broken pitcher, to scrape himself withal. A very sad pass this poor man had come to. When a man is sick and sore he may bear it the better if he be well tended and carefully looked after. Many rich people have with a soft and tender hand charitably ministered to the poor in such a condition as this; even Lazarus had some ease from the tongues of the dogs that came and licked his sores; but poor Job has no help afforded him. [1.] Nothing is done to his sore but what he does himself, with his own hands. His children and servants are all dead, his wife unkind, Job 19:17. He has not wherewithal to fee a physician or surgeon; and, which is most sad of all, none of those he had formerly been kind to had so much sense of honour and gratitude as to minister to him in his distress, and lend him a hand to dress or wipe his running sores, either because the disease was loathsome and noisome or because they apprehended it to be infectious. Thus it was in the former days, as it will be in the last days, men were lovers of their own selves, unthankful, and without natural affection. [2.] All that he does to his sores is to scrape them; they are not bound up with soft rags, not mollified with ointment, not washed or kept clean, no healing plasters laid on them, no opiates, no anodynes, ministered to the poor patient, to alleviate the pain and compose him to rest, nor any cordials to support his spirits; all the operation is the scraping of the ulcers, which, when they had come to a head and began to die, made his body all over like a scurf, as is usual in the end of the small-pox. It would have been an endless thing to dress his boils one by one; he therefore resolves thus to do it by wholesale - a remedy which one would think as bad as the disease. [3.] He has nothing to do this with but a potsherd, no surgeon's instrument proper for the purpose, but that which would rather rake into his wounds, and add to his pain, than give him any ease. People that are sick and sore have need to be under the discipline and direction of others, for they are often but bad managers of themselves.
(2.) Instead of reposing in a soft and warm bed, he sat down among the ashes. Probably he had a bed left him (for, though his fields were stripped, we do not find that his house was burnt or plundered), but he chose to sit in the ashes, either because he was weary of his bed or because he would put himself into the place and posture of a penitent, who, in token of his self-abhorrence, lay in dust and ashes, Job 42:6; Isa 58:5; Jon 3:6. Thus did he humble himself under the mighty hand of God, and bring his mind to the meanness and poverty of his condition. He complains (Job 7:5) that his flesh was clothed with worms and clods of dust; and therefore dust to dust, ashes to ashes. If God lay him among the ashes, there he will contentedly sit down. A low spirit becomes low circumstances, and will help to reconcile us to them. The Septuagint reads it, He sat down upon a dunghill without the city (which is commonly said, in mentioning this story); but the original says no more than that he sat in the midst of the ashes, which he might do in his own house.
II. He urges him, by the persuasions of his own wife, to curse God, Job 2:9. The Jews (who covet much to be wise above what is written) say that Job's wife was Dinah, Jacob's daughter: so the Chaldee paraphrase. It is not likely that she was; but, whoever it was, she was to him like Michal to David, a scoffer at his piety. She was spared to him, when the rest of his comforts were taken away, for this purpose, to be a troubler and tempter to him. If Satan leaves any thing that he has permission to take away, it is with a design of mischief. It is his policy to send his temptations by the hand of those that are dear to us, as he tempted Adam by Eve and Christ by Peter. We must therefore carefully watch that we be not drawn to say or do a wrong thing by the influence, interest, or entreaty, of any, no, not those for whose opinion and favour we have ever so great a value. Observe how strong this temptation was. 1. She banters Job for his constancy in his religion: "Dost thou still retain thy integrity? Art thou so very obstinate in thy religion that nothing will cure thee of it? so tame and sheepish as thus to truckle to a God who is so far from rewarding thy services with marks of his favour that he seems to take a pleasure in making thee miserable, strips thee, and scourges thee, without any provocation given? Is this a God to be still loved, and blessed, and served?"
Dost thou not see that thy devotion's vain?
What have thy prayers procured but woe and pain?
Hast thou not yet thy int'rest understood?
Perversely righteous, and absurdly good?
Those painful sores, and all thy losses, show
How Heaven regards the foolish saint below.
Incorrigibly pious! Can't thy God
Reform thy stupid virtue with his rod?
- Sir R. Blackmore
Thus Satan still endeavours to draw men from God, as he did our first parents, by suggesting hard thoughts of him, as one that envies the happiness and delights in the misery of his creatures, than which nothing is more false. Another artifice he uses is to drive men from their religion by loading them with scoffs and reproaches for their adherence to it. We have reason to expect it, but we are fools if we heed it. Our Master himself has undergone it, we shall be abundantly recompensed for it, and with much more reason may we retort it upon the scoffers, "Are you such fools as still to retain your impiety, when you might bless God and live?" 2. She urges him to renounce his religion, to blaspheme God, set him at defiance, and dare him to do his worst: "Curse God and die; live no longer in dependence upon God, wait not for relief from him, but be thy own deliverer by being thy own executioner; end thy troubles by ending thy life; better die once than be always dying thus; thou mayest now despair of having any help from thy God, even curse him, and hang thyself." These are two of the blackest and most horrid of all Satan's temptations, and yet such as good men have sometimes been violently assaulted with. Nothing is more contrary to natural conscience than blaspheming God, nor to natural sense than self-murder; therefore the suggestion of either of these may well be suspected to come immediately from Satan. Lord, lead us not into temptation, not into such, not into any temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
III. He bravely resists and overcomes the temptation, Job 2:10. He soon gave her an answer (for Satan spared him the use of his tongue, in hopes he would curse God with it), which showed his constant resolution to cleave to God, to keep his good thoughts of him, and not to let go his integrity. See,
1. How he resented the temptation. He was very indignant at having such a thing mentioned to him: "What! Curse God? I abhor the thought of it. Get thee behind me, Satan." In other cases Job reasoned with his wife with a great deal of mildness, even when she was unkind to him (Job 19:17): I entreated her for the children's sake of my own body. But, when she persuaded him to curse God, he was much displeased: Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. He does not call her a fool and an atheist, nor does he break out into any indecent expressions of his displeasure, as those who ar sick and sore are apt to do, and think they may be excused; but he shows her the evil of what she said, and she spoke the language of the infidels and idolaters, who, when they are hardly bestead, fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, Isa 8:21. We have reason to suppose that in such a pious household as Job had his wife was one that had been well affected to religion, but that now, when all their estate and comfort were gone, she could not bear the loss with that temper of mind that Job had; but that she should go about to infect his mind with her wretched distemper was a great provocation to him, and he could not forbear thus showing his resentment. Note, (1.) Those are angry and sin not who are angry only at sin and take a temptation as the greatest affront, who cannot bear those that are evil, Rev 2:2. When Peter was a Satan to Christ he told him plainly, Thou art an offence to me. (2.) If those whom we think wise and good at any time speak that which is foolish and bad, we ought to reprove them faithfully for it and show them the evil of what they say, that we suffer not sin upon them. (3.) Temptations to curse God ought to be rejected with the greatest abhorrence, and not so much as to be parleyed with. Whoever persuades us to that must be looked upon as our enemy, to whom if we yield it is at our peril Job did not curse God and then think to come off with Adam's excuse: "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me persuaded me to do it" (Gen 3:12), which had in it a tacit reflection on God, his ordinance and providence. No; if thou scornest, if thou cursest, thou alone shalt bear it.
2. How he reasoned against the temptation: Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil also? Those whom we reprove we must endeavour to convince; and it is no hard matter to give a reason why we should still hold fast our integrity even when we are stripped of every thing else. He considers that, though good and evil are contraries, yet they do not come from contrary causes, but both from the hand of God (Isa 45:7, Lam 3:38), and therefore that in both we must have our eye up unto him, with thankfulness for the good he sends and without fretfulness at the evil. Observe the force of his argument.
(1.) What he argues for, not only the bearing, but the receiving of evil: Shall we not receive evil, that is, [1.] "Shall we not expect to receive it? If God give us so many good things, shall we be surprised, or think it strange, if he sometimes afflict us, when he has told us that prosperity and adversity are set the one over against the other?" Pe1 4:12. [2.] "Shall we not set ourselves to receive it aright?" The word signifies to receive as a gift, and denotes a pious affection and disposition of soul under our afflictions, neither despising them nor fainting under them, accounting them gifts (Phi 1:29), accepting them as punishments of our iniquity (Lev 26:41), acquiescing in the will of God in them ("Let him do with me as seemeth him good"), and accommodating ourselves to them, as those that know how to want as well as how to abound, Phi 4:12. When the heart is humbled and weaned, by humbling weaning providence, then we receive correction (Zep 3:2) and take up our cross.
(2.) What he argues from: "Shall we receive so much good as has come to us from the hand of God during all those years of peace and prosperity that we have lived, and shall we not now receive evil, when God thinks fit to lay it on us?" Note, The consideration of the mercies we receive from God, both past and present, should make us receive our afflictions with a suitable disposition of spirit. If we receive our share of the common good in the seven years of plenty, shall we not receive our share of the common evil in the years of famine? Qui sentit commodum, sentire debet et onus - he who feels the privilege, should prepare for the privation. If we have so much that pleases us, why should we not be content with that which pleases God? If we receive so many comforts, shall we not receive some afflictions, which will serve as foils to our comforts, to make them the more valuable (we are taught the worth of mercies by being made to want them sometimes), and as allays to our comforts, to make them the less dangerous, to keep the balance even, and to prevent our being lifted up above measure? Co2 12:7. If we receive so much good for the body, shall we not receive some good for the soul; that is, some afflictions, by which we partake of God's holiness (Heb 12:10), something which, by saddening the countenance, makes the heart better? Let murmuring therefore, as well as boasting, be for ever excluded.
IV. Thus, in a good measure, Job still held fast his integrity, and Satan's design against him was defeated: In all this did not Job sin with his lips; he not only said this well, but all he said at this time was under the government of religion and right reason. In the midst of all these grievances he did not speak a word amiss; and we have no reason to think but that he also preserved a good temper of mind, so that, though there might be some stirrings and risings of corruption in his heart, yet grace got the upper hand and he took care that the root of bitterness might not spring up to trouble him, Heb 12:15. The abundance of his heart was for God, produced good things, and suppressed the evil that was there, which was out-voted by the better side. If he did think any evil, yet he laid his hand upon his mouth (Pro 30:32), stifled the evil thought and let it go no further, by which it appeared, not only that he had true grace, but that it was strong and victorious: in short, that he had not forfeited the character of a perfect and upright man; for so he appears to be who, in the midst of such temptations, offends not in word, Jam 3:2; Psa 17:3.
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 vv4–7 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his…
But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh,.... That is, his body, which consisted of flesh and bones; these are the constituent parts of the body, and which distinguish it from spirit, Luk 24:39; this is the motion made by Satan for a second trial of Job's integrity; he moves that God would take off his hand of providence over him, which secured his health unto him, and stretch his hand of power upon him, and fill his flesh with diseases, and his bones with rottenness; or break them, and touch him to the quick, to the marrow, which gives exquisite pain; or by his bone may be meant him himself (u):
and he will curse thee to thy face; he will fly in thy face, arraign thy providence, and call in question thy wisdom, justice, truth, and faithfulness: or he will "bless thee" (w), and take his farewell of thee (x), and have nothing more to do with thee or religion; if he does not do this, for something is to be understood, the words being an imprecation, let me be in a worse condition than I am at present; let me not have the liberty of ranging about in the earth, to do the mischief I delight in; let me bound, and cast into the bottomless pit before my time, or be thrown into the lake burning with fire and brimstone, where I know I must be forever.
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(u) So Gussetius and Genevenses, in ib. p. 630. (w) "benedicet tibi", Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt. (x) "Te valere jubebit", Schultens.
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 vv4, 6, 7 Skin, &c. - The sense is, this is so…
Skin, &c. - The sense is, this is so far from being an evidence of Job's sincere and generous piety, that it is only an act of mere self- love; he is contented with the loss of his estate, and children too, so long as he sleeps in a whole skin; and he is well pleased, that thou wilt accept of these a ransom in his stead; and it is not true patience which makes him seem to bear his crosses so submissively, but policy, that he may appease thy wrath against him, and prevent those farther plagues, which, for his hypocrisy, he fears thou wilt otherwise bring upon his own carcase.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4–7 Verse 4. Skin for skin] That is, A man…
Verse 4. Skin for skin] That is, A man will part with all he has in the world to save his life; and he will part with all by piecemeal, till he has nothing left on earth, and even be thankful, provided his life be spared. Thou hast only destroyed his property; thou hast left him his life and his health. Thou hast not touched his flesh nor his bone; therefore he is patient and resigned. Man, through the love of life, will go much farther: he will give up one member to save the rest; yea, limb after limb as long as there is hope that, by such sacrifices, life may be spared or prolonged. This is the meaning given to the passage by the Targum; and, I believe, the true one; hence, Job 2:6, the Lord says, Save his life.
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 vv4–7 Job 2:4. Skin for skin, &c. — The design…
Job 2:4. Skin for skin, &c. — The design of these words is plain, which was to detract from Job, and to diminish that honour and praise which God gave him, by pretending that he had done no more than the meanest men commonly do by the law of self-preservation. And it is equally clear that this was a proverbial speech then in use, to denote the great value in which life is held, insomuch that, to preserve it, a man would suffer even his skin to be torn off. It may signify also that a man, in order to save his life, would willingly suffer himself to be stripped of all his property. But the words בעד נפשׁוbegnad naphsho, rendered here, for his life, ought rather to be rendered, for his person. For the question was not about his life, which Satan had not the impudence to desire; nor indeed could the trial be made, by taking away his life, whether he would hold fast his integrity; but rather by smiting him in his bone, and in his flesh. And Satan, in these words, insinuates that severe bodily pain was much more grievous to the human nature, and would be less patiently borne by Job, than any outward calamities which did not affect his own person. It is as if he had said, How dear soever a man’s goods, or servants, or children, may be to him, yet still his own person is dearer; and seeing that Job is still under no pain of body, and in no danger of losing his life, his constancy is not to be boasted of: nor is his holding fast his integrity amidst his losses, nor his patience under them, an evidence of his sincere and generous piety, but these things are rather effects of mere self-love: he is content with the loss of his estate, and even of his children too, so long as he sleeps in a whole skin; and is well pleased that thou wilt accept of these as a ransom in his stead. And it is not true patience which makes him seem to bear his troubles so submissively, but rather policy, that he may in this way appease thy wrath against him, and prevent those further plagues, which, for his hypocrisy, he fears thou wouldst otherwise bring upon his body.
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 vv4–7 Skin for skin - This is a proverbial expression,…
Skin for skin - This is a proverbial expression, whose origin is unknown, nor is its meaning as “a proverb” entirely clear. The general sense of the passage here is plain, for it is immediately explained that a man would give everything which he had to save his life; and the idea here is, that if Job was so afflicted in his body that he was likely to die, he would give up all his religion in order to purchase life. His religion, which had berne the comparatively trifling test before applied to it, would not bear the severer trial if his life was endangered. In regard to the proverb itself, a great variety of explanations has been given. The ancient versions throw no light on it. The Vulgate renders it, “Pellem pro pelle.” The Septuagint Δέρμα ὑπέρ δέρυατος derma huper dermatos - skin for, or instead of, skin. The Chaldee renders it, “member for member,” אברא אמטול אברא - and the author of that paraphrase seems to have supposed that it means that a man would give the members of his body or his limbs to preserve his life. Parkhurst renders it, “skin after skin,” meaning, as he explains it, that a man may bear to part with all that he has, and even to have his skin, as it were, stripped off again and again, provided only that his life is safe. Noyes supposes that it means that any man will give the skin or life of another, whether animal or man, to save his own; and that: Job gave up all, without complaint, from the selfish fear of exposing his own life to danger. Dr. Good remarks on the passage, that the skins or spoils of beasts, in the rude and early ages of man, were the most valuable property he could acquire, and that for which he most frequently combated. Thus, Lucretius says,
Tam igitur “pelles,” nunc aurum et purpura, curis
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Exercent hominum vitam, belloque fatigant.
v. 1422.
“Then man for “skins” contended; purple now,
And gold, forever plunge him into war.”
In various parts of the book of Job, however, Dr. Good remarks, the word skin imports the “person” of a man as well as his “property,” the whole living body which it envelopes, as in Job 18:13; Job 19:26. “It is,” says he, “upon the double meaning of the same term, and the play which is here given to it, by employing the term first in one sense and then in the other, that the gist of the proverb, as of a thousand others similarly constructed, depends. ‘Skin for skin’ is in this view, in plain English, ‘property for person,’ or ‘the skin forming property for the skin forming person.’” See a somewhat similar view presented by Callaway, in Bush’s Illustrations, “in loco.” The editor of the Pictorial Bible coincides mainly with this view, and supposes that the reference is to the time when trade was conducted by barter, and when the skins of animals, being a most frequent and valuable commodity, were used to represent property.
Tributes, ransoms, etc., he observes, were paid in skins. According to this, it means that a man would give “skin upon skin;” that is, would pile one piece of property upon another, and give “all” that he had, in order to save his life. It refers to the necessity of submitting to one great evil rather than incur a greater, answering to the Turkish proverb, “We must give our beards to save our heads.” According to Gesenius, it means “life for life.” Drusius explains it as meaning, that he would give the skin of others, as of his sons, to save his own; that is, that he was unmoved so long as his own skin or life was safe. The same view is given by Ephrem the Syrian. “Skin for skin; the skin not only of flocks, but even of his sons will he give, in order to save his own.” This view also is adopted by Urnbreit. That is, his religion was supremely selfish. The loss of property and even of children he could bear, provided his person was untouched.
His own health, and life; his own skin and body were dearer to him than anything else. Other people would have been afflicted by the loss of children and property. But Job was willing to part with any or all of these, provided he himself was safe. Rosenmuller supposes that the word skin here is used for the whole body; and says that the sense is, that he would give the body of another for his own, as in Exo 21:23. “The meaning of this proverbial formula,” says he, “is, that any one would redeem his own safety by the skin of others; that is, not only by the skins or lives of oxen, camels, servants, but even of his own children.” Schultens supposes it means that a man would submit to any sufferings in order to save his life; that he would be willing to be flayed alive; to be repeatedly excoriated; to have, so to speak. one skin stripped off after another, if he might save his own life.
According to this, the idea is, that the loss of life was the great calamity to be feared, and that a man would give “any” thing in order to save it. Umbreit says, “there is nothing so valuable to a man that he will not exchange it - one thing for another; one outward good for another, ‘skin for skin.’ But life, the inward good, is to him of no value that can be estimated. That he will give for nothing; and much more, he will offer everything for that.” Another solution is offered in the Biblische Untersuchungen ii. Th. s. 88. “Before the use of gold, traffic was conducted chiefly by barter. Men exchanged what was valuable to themselves for what others had which they wanted. Those who hunted wild beasts would bring their skins to market, and would exchange them for bows and arrows. Since these traffickers were exposed to the danger of being robbed, they often took with them those who were armed, who agreed to defend them on condition that they should have a part of the skins which they took, and in this way they purchased their property and life.”
That is, they gave the skins of animals for the safety of their own; all that they had they would surrender, in order that their lives might be saved. See Rosenmuller’s Morgenland, “in loc.” None of these solutions appear to me perfectly satisfactory, and the proverb is involved in perplexity still. It seems to refer to some kind of barter or exchange, and to mean that a man would give up one thing for another; or one piece of property of less value in order to save a greater; and that in like manner he would be willing to surrender “everything,” in order that his life, the most valuable object, might be preserved. But the exact meaning of the proverb, I suspect, has not yet been perceived.
Yea, all that a man hath - This is evidently designed to express the same thing as the proverb, “skin for skin,” or to furnish an illustration of that. The meaning is plain. A man is willing to surrender all that he has, in order to preserve his life. He will part with property and friends, in order that he may be kept alive. if a man therefore is to be reached in the most tender and vital part; if any thing is to be done that shall truly reveal his character, his life must be put in danger, and his true character will then be revealed. The object of Satan is to say, that a test had not been applied to Job of sufficient severity to show what he really was. What he had lost was a mere trifle compared with what would be if he was subjected to severe bodily sufferings, so that his life would be in peril. it is to be remembered that these are the words of Satan, and that they are not necessarily true.
Inspiration is concerned only in securing “the exact record” of what is said, not in affirming that all that is said is true. We shall have frequent occasion to illustrate this sentiment in other portions of the book. In regard to the sentiment here expressed, however, it is in general true. Men will surrender their property, their houses, and lands, and gold, to save their lives. Many, too, would see their friends perish, in order that they might be saved. It is not universally true, however. It is possible to conceive that a man might so love his property as to submit to any torture, even endangering life, rather than surrender it. Many, too, if endangered by shipwreck, would give up a plank in order to save their wives or children, at the risk of their own lives. Many will give their lives rather than surrender their liberty; and many would die rather than abandon their principles. Such were the noble Christian martyrs; and such a man was Job. Satan urged that if his life were made wretched, he would abandon his integrity, and show that his professed piety was selfish, and his religion false and hollow. The Syriac and Arabic add, “that he may be safe.”
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 vv4, 6, 7 Skin: a proverbial expressing, denoting that a man will…
Skin: a proverbial expressing, denoting that a man will part with any thing sooner than his life, (Calmet) or health. (Haydock) --- Satan hints, that if those inestimable blessings should be endangered, (Calmet) Job would shew his real sentiments. (Haydock) --- Skin was formerly used instead of money, at Sparta. (Seneca, Ben. v. 14., &c.) Yet perhaps not in the time of Job.
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 vv4, 6, 7 Skin for skin--a proverb. Supply, "He will give." The…
Skin for skin--a proverb. Supply, "He will give." The "skin" is figurative for any outward good. Nothing outward is so dear that a man will not exchange it for some other outward good; "but" (not "yea") "life," the inward good, cannot be replaced; a man will sacrifice everything else for its sake. Satan sneers bitterly at man's egotism and says that Job bears the loss of property and children because these are mere outward and exchangeable goods, but he will give up all things, even his religion, in order to save his life, if you touch his bones and flesh. "Skin" and "life" are in antithesis [UMBREIT]. The martyrs prove Satan's sneer false. ROSENMULLER explains it not so well. A man willingly gives up another's skin (life) for his own skin (life). So Job might bear the loss of his children, &c., with equanimity, so long as he remained unhurt himself; but when touched in his own person, he would renounce God. Thus the first "skin" means the other's skin, that is, body; the second "skin," one's own, as in Exo 21:28.
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 vv4–7 4. Skin for skin — Among the conflicting interpretations…
4. Skin for skin — Among the conflicting interpretations of this difficult verse are, first, that a man will readily give the skin, that is, the life of others for his own skin or life. Just as by “life for life,” in Exo_21:23, is meant the giving of one life for another, Job would gladly yield up every thing — property, friends, relatives even, (so Satan meant to say,) if so be that his own precious life might be preserved. Such sacrifice, Satan insinuates, is no proof of godly fear; it is no more than what any one else would do under like circumstances. Touch his own life, and we shall see how he will curse thee. The second theory may be called that of mercantile exchange, as if the passage read “like for like,” “an equivalent for an equivalent,” “as one dead thing (=skin) resembles another dead thing.” — Ewald. Thus so long as Job keeps his life, he is only half tried. Hitzig also interprets: One gives skin for skin; that is, every thing has its price, but a man will take nothing, and will give every thing, for his life: as in a storm the most precious freight is cast into the sea that the human freight may be saved. The Jewish expositors take the meaning to be, One gives up skin to preserve skin; that is, parts with a diseased limb for the sake of the rest; “one holds up the arm,” as Raschi suggests, “to avert the fatal blow from the head.” Third. Olshausen makes the saying to hinge upon the idea of person: “As long as thou leavest his person untouched, he will leave thee personally unassailed.” Renan regards it as a proverb, the sense of which is, that man is only moderately sensible to exterior losses, which do not touch his person. Fourth. Carey’s view is, that the proverb contains a sort of reductio ad absurdum argument, thus: Never expect a man to part with his skin unless you supply him with another; an impossible condition, and therefore equivalent to never expect that a man will part with his skin on any conditions whatever; in other words, On no terms will a man part with his life. To save his life, a man will part with every thing else. Fifth. A writer in Jour. of Sac. Literature, (January, 1859, p. 337) discards the idea of a proverb. He would translate בעד, around or about, instead of for, as it is in Job_1:10. The idea then would be, skin around skin, (meaning a succession of skins,) yea, all that a man hath around HIMSELF, will he surrender; but put forth thine hand now, and reach unto his bone and flesh. (Comp. Job_10:11.) The first of these opinions, which is also substantially that of Vaihinger, Dillmann, Heiligstedt, Canon Cook, etc., is unquestionably the most satisfactory. It is in keeping with the malicious aspersion upon human virtue that inaugurated the preceding trials, and is a charge of basal inhumanity upon our whole race. The selfish feelings, it means to say, are ever uppermost in man’s heart. The stoicism that Job has already shown is proof that he cares not if his whole family perish, so long as he can keep a whole skin.
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 vv4, 7 4. The Satan’s reply is that the trial was…
4. The Satan’s reply is that the trial was not sufficiently close, it left the man himself untouched.
Skin for skin, yea, all] Rather, skin for skin, and all that a man hath will he give for himself. The second half of the sentence is an application to the subject in hand of the general truth expressed in the words, Skin for skin. These words seem proverbial, though the origin of the proverb is obscure. The meaning seems to be, Like for like, so all &c. Others take the expression in a less general sense. The Targum translates, Member for member, one member of the body in behalf of, or to cover another member, as the arm the head. The word skin is used in our Book once or twice for the body, Job_18:13, Job_19:26. If this sense could be adopted here the meaning would be, Skin or body of others for one’s own, all that a man has &c., in which case the second clause would merely repeat the first. This is prosaic, though adopted by Jerome, pro corio suo coria obtulit filiorum. The verse would then run: Others for oneself, all that a man hath will he give for himself. See the different interpretations discussed at length in Conant’s Job, p. 8 seq.
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 vv4, 6, 7 (4) Skin for skin.—This is a more extreme form…
(4) Skin for skin.—This is a more extreme form of the insinuation of Job_1:9. He means Job takes care to have his quid pro quo; and if the worst come to the worst, a man will give up everything to save his life. If, therefore, Job can save his life at the price of subservience to God, he will willingly pay that price rather than die; but his service is worth no more than that selfish object implies.
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 vv4–7 And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for…
And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin. No doubt a proverbial expression, resembling "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth; Tit for tat," and the like; but not expressive of retaliation. Satan means that, to keep his own "skin" intact, a man will sacrifice another"s "skin;" even that of his nearest and dearest. Job, he insinuates, submitted to the loss of his children without a murmur, because he feared that otherwise God would stretch forth his hand against his person, and smite it or destroy it. He cannot imagine any motive for submission and apparent resignation but a selfish one. (comp. Job_1:9) Yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life; i.e. "a man will submit to the loss, not only of all his possessions, but even of those whom he loves best, to save his own life he will do anything for that." So the "false accuser." All the numerous acts of self-sacrifice which human history presents, and has presented from the first, are ignored.
The value of life.
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I MORE VALUABLE THAN MATERIAL POSSESSIONS.
1. In origin; being the breath of God"s Spirit, while they are only the work of God"s hand.
2. In nature; being conscious of its own existence, while they are only dead, insensate things.
3. In capacities; being possessed of intellect, reason, conscience, will, while they have only properties and qualities peculiar to matter.
4. In design; being intended for the conscious enjoyment of God, while they can never consciously enjoy, but only obediently and passively glorify, their Maker.
II LESS VALUABLE THAN SPIRITUAL POSSESSIONS.
1. In character; being a natural endowment, while these are essentially gifts of grace.
2. In usefulness; without these being a failure so far as realizing its appropriate end is concerned, whereas these enhance the dignity and capabilities of life.
3. In happiness; life with grace being immensely more enjoyable than mere existence without Job_2:4. In duration; life being doomed to decay and dissolution, while the riches of the soul endure for ever.
LESSONS.
1. Prize life as a gift of God.
2. Adorn life with the grace of God.
3. Use life for the glory of God.
4. Return life (when it is called for) into the hands of God.
Satan"s proverb.
I THE IMPORT OF IT. That a man will part with everything about him to save his life.
II THE FALSEHOOD OF IT.
1. Men will part with all outward things to save life.
2. Some men will even part with a good conscience to save life.
3. But there are those who would rather die than renounce their integrity.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY Ver. 4. "Satan"s old saw
(Browning). Satan was defeated in the first trial, but not convinced. With persistent malignity he proceeded to suggest a more severe test. It was no fault of his that the first test, hard as it was, had not gone to the utmost extremity; for he had been expressly limited by the words, "Only upon himself put not forth thine hand" (ver. 12). He had gone to the full length of his tether, but that had not satisfied him; so he must apply for a larger privilege of mischief-making. He requests permission to touch the parson of Job, either quoting or coining the proverb which Browning has called "Satan"s old saw.
I THE FORCE OF THE PROVERB. Take it how you will that a man will sacrifice a less vital part to save a more vital part, holding up his arm to shelter his head; or that he will give the lives of his cattle, slaves, children, to save his own body"s skin; or that he will sell hide after hide of precious skins from his warehouse, i.e. all his property, for his life the proverb plainly means that a man will make any sacrifice to save his life.
1. There is an instinct of self-preservation. Here we come to an impulse of nature. When in a state of nature all creatures try to save their own lives at any coat. Even the would-be suicide, when once he finds himself drowning, screams for help, and clutches madly at the rope that is flung to him. Accordingly, juries usually bring in a verdict predicating an unsound mind in the case of any one who has succeeded in taking his own life. Now, this instinct of self-preservation is a gift from the Author of nature; it is innocent because Divine, and powerful because primitive.
2. Life is a first condition of all experience and possession. If a man loses his life he loses his all. He may sacrifice many things for the sake of one coveted end selling all he has to buy one pearl of great price; he may risk his life on a great venture; but if he loses his life he can obtain nothing in return. "What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own life?". (Mat_16:26)
3. Life is seen to be supremely valued. Starving men become cannibals. In the siege of Jerusalem women boiled their own children for a last meal, natural affection itself being sacrificed to the instinct of self-preservation. Desperate men sell their lives dearly.
II THE FALSITY OF THE PROVERB. We must be on our guard how we quote texts from Scripture. This is especially important in the Book of Job, where the form is dramatic. The proverb before us is in Scripture; yet it is not from God, but from the devil. This very fact should make us suspicious about it. It looks like truth, but it comes from the "father of lies.
1. It denies the higher life. Satan refers to a natural instinct. But that instinct does not cover the whole of our being. His lie is the more deadly because it is the exaggeration of a truth, or rather because it is the statement of one truth which needs to be qualified with another truth. Bishop Butler has taught us that human nature in its fulness includes conscience. But conscience may go against the lower part of our nature. The higher life may dominate and suppress the instincts of the lower.
2. It ignores the fact of self-sacrifice. Satan uttered his saw as though it were a generalization from wide experience. We may have our fine theories as to how things ought to be; he will tell us how he finds them really existing in the world. The devil only perceives the lower life, only perceives the selfish side of man. He is the "spirit that denies," because he is blind. But self-sacrifice is as much a fact as self-preservation. The cross is its great witness. The good Shepherd giving his life for the sheep is the triumphant refutation of Satan"s old saw. So in a secondary way are Job in his fidelity, and every martyr and hero and Christ-like man. W.F.A.
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 vv4, 6 All that a man hath will he give for…
Job_2:4
All that a man hath will he give for his life.
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Satans proverb
The proverb put into Satans mouth carries a plain enough meaning, and yet is not literally easy to interpret. The sense will be clearer if we translate it, Hide for skin; yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. 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 oneself 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 would. 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. A grim possibility of truth her in the taunt of Satan that, if Jobs flesh and bone be touched, he will renounce God openly. The test of sore disease is more trying than loss of wealth at least. Job was stricken with elephantiasis--one of the most terrible forms of leprosy, a tedious malady, attended with intolerable irritation and loathsome ulcers. (Robert A. Watson, D. D.)
Satans estimate of human nature
The Book of Job is a historical poem, and one of the most ancient. In form it is dramatic. We have to be on our guard as to the degree of authority with which we invest the statements of the different interlocutors. Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz spoke for themselves only. We must not think all their utterances were inspired. So the utterances of Satan are his own, and are not to be treated as inspired. This proverbial sentence means that a man will give up everything to save his life. The insinuation is that Job served God from merely selfish considerations. Satan was only measuring Job and mankind generally by his own bushel. It must be admitted that there is a degree of truth in the saying. If it had not been so, there would have been no plausibility about it, and it could have imposed on no one. A lie, pure, simple, and unadulterated, does little harm in the world. Some one hath pithily said, A lie always needs a truth for a handle to it; else the hand would cut itself which sought to drive it home upon another. The worst lies, therefore, are those whose blade is false, but whose handle is true. There is an instinctive love of life in every human being. Life is sweet, even with all its trials, sorrows, and, in many cases, miseries; and there is a clinging to it in every heart. And this love of life is not only an instinctive principle: within certain limits it may even be a positive duty. But the affirmation of the text is not true--
I. To the history of even unregenerate human nature. Even in the unconverted there are principles, some evil and some good, which, becoming dominant, subordinate to themselves the love of life. Such as the passions of hatred and revenge; the love of adventure; duellings; love of knowledge; science; salvation of the imperilled by water, fire, or disease. So, in the name of humanity, we may repudiate the assertion that, as a universal thing, men will do anything to save their lives.
II. How much less true is the text of the renewed heart. That which is the ruling passion in a man rules over the love of life, as well as other things in him. In the truly godly man the ruling passion is love to God, and love to his neighbour for Gods sake, and that dominates over all things else. The adversary, though he used every advantage, could not succeed in shaking Jobs confidence in God. (Illustrate from cases of three Hebrew youths, Daniel, Paul, etc.) Satan spoke words of calumny, not of truth. Learn--
1. Through our self-love Satans most insidious temptations come to us. With this estimate of human nature in his mind, he has kept continually appealing to mens love of life, and it is astonishing in how many cases he has at least partially succeeded.
2. The truest greatness of humanity lies in falsifying this assertion of Satan. Since we call ourselves by the name of Christ, let us be distinguished by His unselfishness. That only is a heroic life which forgets itself in service. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The value of life
Life is equally distinguished by brevity and calamity. Nevertheless life has always been considered the most valuable treasure, the most enviable prize. The love of it is unquestionably the most vigorous principle of our nature. It is interwoven with our very frame. As we grow up, to this supreme passion every other inclination pays homage. This adherence to life we have undertaken to justify. There is nothing in it unworthy of the philosopher or the Christian, the man of reason, or the man of faith.
I. The importance of human life.
1. Appeal to authority, the authority of the varied scriptural references to life, such as, A living dog is better than a dead lion.
2. Contemplate human life as the work of God. Marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty! But in this lower world the chief is Thy creature, man. All is under the influence of his power or his skill. See the animal world. See the material world. Everything justifies the supremacy he possesses. His very form is peculiar. What majesty is there in his countenance! He is fearfully and wonderfully made. There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Most High giveth him understanding. He is capable of knowing, and serving, and enjoying his Creator; he has reason and conscience; he is susceptible of vice and virtue, of morality and religion.
3. Human life has an intimate, unavoidable, inseparable connection with another world, and affords us the only opportunity of acquiring good. If we confine our attention to the present momentary state of man, he will appear a perplexing trifle. He has powers and capacities far above his situation; he has wants and wishes which nothing within his reach can relieve and satisfy. He is great in vain. But as soon as he is seen in connection with another state of being, he is rescued at once from perplexity and insignificance. As soon as we seize this point of vision, all is intelligible. Immortality, what a prerogative! Eternity, what a destiny! A preparation for it, what a calling! The importance of a thing is not to be judged of by the magnitude of its appearance, or the shortness of its continuance, but by the grandeur and variety and permanence of its effects. Nothing can equal the importance of the present life, as a state of probation, according to which our future and unchangeable happiness or misery will be decided. For, upon this principle, none of your actions can be indifferent. Consider that, as is your way, such will be your end.
4. Consider human life in relation to our fellow creatures, and as affording us the only opportunity of doing good. The means of the temporal and spiritual welfare of mankind are not poured down immediately from heaven. God divides the honour with us. He gives, and we convey; He is the source, and we are the medium. It is by human instrumentality that He maintains the cause of the Gospel, speaks comfort to the afflicted, gives bread to the hungry, and knowledge to the ignorant. But remember, all your usefulness attaches only to life. Here alone you can serve your generation according to the will of God, by promoting the wisdom, the virtue, and the happiness of your fellow creatures. Would you exercise patience? This is your only opportunity. Would you exercise self-denial? This is your only opportunity. Would you exercise Christian courage, or Christian candour and forbearance, or beneficence? This is your only opportunity. Would you discover zeal in the cause of your Lord and Master Here alone can you recommend a Saviour, and tell of His love to sinners. Let us--
II. Specify some of the useful inferences which flow from belief in the importance of human life.
1. We should deplore the destruction of it.
2. We should not expose it to injury and hazard.
3. We should be thankful for the continuance of it.
4. We should not be impatient for death.
5. We may congratulate the pious youth.
6. If life be so valuable, let it not be a price in the hands of fools. Learn to improve it. Do not live an animal, a worldly, or an idle life. (William Jay.)
To love life a Christian duty
The love of life is a principle which evidently belongs to our race. The attachment to life has not been engendered since the fall. It is rather the marred and mutilated relic of one of the features of mans early perfection. This love of life was a fragment of immortality. The love of life survives all that can make life desirable. Take away this principle of the love of life, and the whole fabric of human society would be shaken. The power of the civil magistrate would lose its strong hold on the minds of the rebellious; vice would set no limits to the extent of its profligacy, for no dread would attach to the sternest of penalties. It may be true that the love of life is seldom or never completely lost in the desire for immortality. Life may be lawfully loved--there is not necessarily anything sinful in the love of life. But what are our reasons for loving life? Do we love it because we employ it on worldly pleasures or pursuits, or because it may be consecrated to the glory of God and to the high purposes of eternal salvation? If the latter, then it is an actual duty to desire length Of days. Where the heart is converted by the power of the Holy Spirit, the chief longing is to live to Gods honour. While it is the great end of our being to promote Gods glory, we cannot do this and not at the same time promote our own everlasting happiness. (Henry Melvill, B. D.)
The love of life
Though these words were uttered by the father of lies, they are no lie.
I. The love of life is the simplest and strongest principle of nature. It operates universally on every part of the brute creation, as well as on every individual of the human race, perpetually, under all circumstances, the most distressing as well as the most pleasing, and with a power peculiar to itself; while it arms the feeble with energy, the fearful with courage, whenever an occasion occurs for defending life, whenever the last sanctuary of nature is invaded, and its dearest treasure endangered. It operates with a steady, constant influence, as a law of nature, insensible and yet powerful. It corresponds, in the animated world, with a great principle of gravitation in the material system, or with the centripetal force by which the planets are retained in their proper orbits, and resist their opposite tendency to fly off from the centre. We see men still clinging to life when they have lost all for which they appeared to live. The Scriptures frequently recognise and appeal to this fundamental principle. The only promise, annexed to any of the ten commandments exhibits life as the chief earthly good, and its prolongation as the reward of filial piety.
II. Some reasons for this instinctive attachment to life.
1. The first reason respects the preservation of life itself. That which, of all our possessions, is the most easily lost or injured, is that on the continuance of which all other things depend. The preservation of life requires incessant attention and exertion. The spark of life is perpetually exposed to the danger of extinction. Nothing but the strongest attachment to life could secure it. Life, we cannot forget, in its highest use, is the season of our trial for an eternal state of being. The results of the whole process of redemption, the accomplishment of the greatest designs of the Deity, are involved in the continuance of this probationary state of existence.
2. The promotion of industry and labour. Life must be loved in order that it may be preserved, and preserved in order that it may be employed. In every state of society, the greater part of the community must necessarily be subjected to labour. Under the best possible form of government, some must produce what is to be enjoyed by others. How great a benefit is that necessary condition of labour which acts as a barrier of defence against the wildness of human passions.
3. The protection of life from the hand of violence. Without some strong restraining sentiment, the life of individuals would be exposed to continual danger from the disordered passions of others. The love of life, so strongly felt in every bosom, inspires it with a proportionate horror of any act that would invade the life of another. The magistrate and the law owe their whole protective efficacy to that sentiment of attachment to existence which is a law written in every heart.
III. Improve the subject.
1. Infer the fall of man: the universal apostasy of our nature from the state in which it originally proceeded from the Divine Author. Created with this inextinguishable desire of existence, we are destined to dissolution. Our nature includes two contradictory principles--the certainty of death, and the attachment to life. This fact affords the clearest evidence that we are now placed in an unnatural, disordered, disjointed condition; that a great and awful change has passed upon our race since our first father came from the hand of God. This change must be owing to ourselves.
2. The subject reminds us of the salvation which provided us the antidote to our ruined condition.
3. It may serve to remind of the medium by which this Divine life is imparted and received. The connecting medium is faith.
4. The duty and obligation under which we lie: to impart the knowledge and enjoyment of these vital, eternal blessings to our suffering fellow sinners. (R. Hall, M. A.)
Satans proverb
If he did not make, he used it, and so made it his own. It finds expression for an universal truth; it is true to history, and true to experience. Matthew Henry says of this account of Satan, It does not at all derogate from the credibility of Jobs story in general, to allow that this discourse between God and Satan, in these verses, is parabolical, and an allegory designed to represent the malice of the devil against good men, and the Divine restraint which that malice is under. That is not the view which is now taken of the Book of Job by reverent students, but it is interesting, as showing that the parabolic feature in it has always been recognised.
I. How true this proverb is concerning mans care for his bodily life! In that pastoral age, when property mainly consisted in flocks and herds, skins became one of the principal articles of exchange; they were, in fact, what our coined money is, the medium of purchase and sale. Before the invention of money, trade used to be carried on by barter--that is, by exchanging one commodity for another. The men who had been hunting in the woods for wild beasts, would carry their skins to market, and exchange them with the armourer for bows and arrows. Translated into our modern language, the proverb would read, Thing after thing, everything that a man possesses, he would give to preserve his life. There is no intenser passion than the desire to retain life. The tiniest insect, the gentlest animal, holds life as most dear, and battles for it to the very last. The foe that man most dreads, all earthly creatures dread. The impress of sacredness lies on the life even of the meanest and most worthless. Man can calmly lose everything but his life. Poor men cling to life as truly as rich men. Wise men hold life as tightly as ignorant men. Young men regard life no more anxiously than do old men. Do what you will, you cannot make the fact of your own death real to you. All men think all men mortal but themselves. The love of life and fear of death is the same in the Christian as in the ordinary man. Conversion to God neither changes the natural instincts of man as a creature, nor the particular elements of a mans character. Good John Angel James used to say, I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of dying. All our life long we may be in bondage through fear of death. We are only sharing the common instinct of the creature. Skin after skin, all that we have we will give for our life. Why has God made life thus sacred?
1. To accomplish His purpose, the time of each mans life must be in His hands. Life is a probation for us all, and one man requires a longer probation than another. God must hold in His hands both the incomings and outgoings of life. And yet man can easily reach and spill his own life. How then shall he be guarded from taking his own life? God has done it by making the love of life the one master instinct in every man.
2. The order and arrangement of society could not be maintained if men had unlimited control over their own lives, and felt no check from this instinct. Think how the reasons which now induce men to take their own lives would then gain aggravated force. For the smallest things--a trifling anxiety, a passing trouble, a commonplace vexation, slighted love, unsuccessful effort--men would be destroying themselves. What would be the uncertainties, the whirl of change, the wretchedness of this worlds story, if men were unchecked by this instinct of life? Widows moan, and orphans weep, and homes are desolated now; but then, what would it be then, if life were lightly esteemed and could be flung away for trifles?
3. But for this instinct of life, man would have no impulse to toil. Through work moral character is cultivated. We must work if we would eat. We must work if we would be happy. We must work if we would be meetened for the inheritance of the saints in the light. And yet who would work if there were not this instinct of life? What motive would be left to urge us to make earnest endeavours, and to overcome difficulties? The one thing that really inspires our mills, and Shops, and warehouses, and studies, is this instinct of life, this passion for life that dwells in all our breasts.
4. This instinct is the secret of our safety from the lawless and violent, Suppose that our life was of no greater value than our property, then we should be at the mercy of every lawless man, who would not hesitate to kill us for the sake of our purse. As it is, even in the soul of the burglar, there is this impress of the sacredness of life, and only at the utmost extremity will he take our life, and so imperil his own.
II. What a satire the proverb is when applied to mans care of his soul-life! Yet that soul-life is the mans real and abiding life. His body-life is but a passing, transient thing. The soul-life is Divine and immortal. The body-life is akin to the life of the creatures; the soul-life is kin with God. I live. That is not the same as saying, My heart pulsates, my lungs breathe, my blood courses, my nerves thrill, my senses bring me into relation with outward things. It is equal to saying, An I dwells within me. That I is a spark struck off from the eternal fire of God. I am a spiritual being, an immortal being. Let the word life mean spiritual life, then how much will men lose rather than lose their souls? How do men reckon sacrifices when their souls are imperilled? What strange delusion can possess men that they can be careless of their priceless treasure? Why do men, who are souls, barter their heavenly birthright for a pottage of worldly pleasure? God Himself seems to wonder over so painful and so surprising a fact. He exclaims, Why will ye die? O house of Israel, why will ye die? It is said that within the caterpillar there is a distinct butterfly, only it is undeveloped. The caterpillar has its own organs of respiration and digestion, quite distinct from and independent of that future butterfly which it encloses. There are some insects called Ichneumon flies, which, with a long, sharp sting, pierce the body of the caterpillar, and deposit their eggs in its inside. These soon turn into grubs, which feed within the caterpillar. It is remarkable that the caterpillar seems uninjured, and grows on and changes to the cocoon, or chrysalis, and spins its silken grave, as usual. But the fact is, that these grubs do not injure the worm; they only feed on the future butterfly that lies within the caterpillar. And then when the period for the fluttering of the butterfly comes, there is only a shell--the hidden butterfly has been secretly consumed. Need the lesson be pointed out? May not a man have a secret enemy within his own bosom, destroying his soul, though not interfering with his apparent well-being during the present state of existence; and whose mischievous work may never be detected until the time comes when the soul should burst forth from the earthly cerements, and spread its wings, and fly free in the heavenlies? Souls are lost now. Souls are won now. To win souls now may cost us sacrifice. Skin after skin a man should be willing to give in order to save his souls life. (Robert Tuck, B. A.)
The fear of death
Man is, as the Greek poet speaks, a life-loving creature. He is ever, whilst sound and sane, averse to death. We may have very little to live for, yet we cling to the thorn which pierces us. The last messenger is unwelcome to royalty in purple, to beggars in rags; to the thoughtless multitude, to the thoughtful few.
I. The aversion of the sceptic. The unbeliever can approach death only with feelings of intense distress. Death disinherits him of all things, and leaves him poor indeed. Let a shallow scepticism trumpet as it may the supreme attractions of the gulf of nothingness, human nature can only leap into that gulf with a shriek. Alas! that since Christ has lived, death should ever again have become such a king of terrors.
II. The aversion of the secularist. The man who believes in another world, but who has not lived for it. How reluctant are such to die! It is not difficult to understand this aversion. The Lord has come to demand an account of the stewardship, and the faithless servant trembles. They have lived in sense and sin, and are unprepared for the judgment. The sting of death is sin.
III. The aversion of the saint. It is a fact that good men have an aversion to dying. We see this in the prayer of David, O spare me that I may recover strength, etc. Hezekiahs prayer also. The Perfect Man reveals this hesitancy. Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto Him that was able to save Him from death. Paul also, Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon. We should like to draw the coronation raiment of purple and gold over this frayed, coarse garb of pilgrimage. And it is ever thus with all the disciples of Jesus. We recoil from dying. On what is this aversion based?
1. There is a natural love of the world we must leave. A person realises a fortune, and on a given day exchanges the old cottage for a mansion. Glad of the aggrandisement, he yet bids adieu to his old home with a regretful sigh. It is something thus with a man leaving this world for a grander destiny. This world may be the battered cottage, poor by the side of the high palace which awaits us, yet is this life and world dear to us. Here we sprang into being, and received our ideas of all glorious things. Our joys and sorrows have made the scenes of life sacred to us, and it is strange how the fibres strike from us, and unite us to the earth on which we live. Thus, when the time comes to part with earth and its ties, there is a struggle in the bosom of the saint.
2. There is a natural distaste for death as considered in itself. We cannot be reconciled to death however we may be assured of its harmlessness. Life is such a magnificent dowry that it makes us nervous to see it placed, even for a moment, on the brink of peril. To a Christian there is but the shadow of death, yet the shadow of such a disaster is abhorrent to our deepest nature. Christianity has taken the sting out of death, and yet one dislikes a serpent even when it has lost its sting.
3. There is a natural shrinking from the mysterious glories of the future. Man always shrinks when on the eve of realising some great ambition. The saint is impelled by desire, and repelled by trembling anticipation. He falters on the verge of the great universe of mysterious glory. Let us seek so to live that our aversion to death may have in it no dark or ignoble elements, and Christ will, perchance, make death light to us--lighter than we sometimes think. (The Pulpit.)
The love of life
The love of life is a powerful instinct. God has implanted it in the bosom wisely. And during the natural years of life, this instinct holds us to it, as the stem holds an apple to the bough. (H. W. Beecher.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v7 Job_2:7. “Smote Job with sore boils.” The Septuagint and…
Notes
Job_2:7. “Smote Job with sore boils.” The Septuagint and Vulgate, followed by MARTIN and DIODATI in their French and Italian versions, render the words which describe Job’s disease, “a bad or malignant ulcer.” The word שְׁחִין (shekheen) which we render “boils,” derived from a root not used in Hebrew, but appearing in the Arabic ׃َ־َה (sakhana) to be hot, inflamed, fevered. Job’s disease, according to GESENIUS, NOYES, and others, a kind of black leprosy, formerly prevailing in Egypt (Deu_28:27); called Elephantiasis, from the skin being covered with black scales, and from the mouth, feet, and legs swelling enormously, while the body becomes emaciated. The disease not attended with great pain, but with much debility of the system, uneasiness, and mental depression. Both Pliny and Lucretius speak of it as a disease peculiar to Egypt; the former calling it, “Ægypti peculiare malum.” PISCATOR and CASTALIO render the singular noun collectively “ulcers;” as our English version, “boils.” MORUS renders it: An inflammation. VATABLUS: Pustules,—boils from heat, such as were inflicted on Egypt (Exo_9:10), and threatened to Israel (Deu_28:27). GRYNŒUS, after SCHULCENS: An inflammation, of which the ulcers were the effect. ADAM CLARKE queries whether it was not the small-pox. GOOD makes it: Burning ulcerations,—the baras of the Arabs. WEMYSS: Foul ulcers. LEE: A burning disease. FRY: A sore ulcer. CAREY: A malignant ulceration,—the disease nearly proving fatal in the case of Hezekiah (Isa_38:1-21); in Job’s case, of a very virulent form. The Homilist: One universal inflammation. FAUSSET: A burning sore. CONANT, after EWALD, observes that the singular here has the effect of a collective. So HEILIGSTEDT: Malignant ulcers. ZÖCKLER, in Lange, regarding it as the Elephantiasis, speaks of it as the Arabian, or worst kind of leprosy; called also lepra nodosa, or tuberculosa, from the greatly swollen lumps, or boils, which give to the extremities the appearance of an elephant’s legs, whence its name. BARNES, after GOOD, calls it a universal ulcer, attended with violent pain and constant restlessness; named by the Arabs, gudham, and said to produce a grim, distorted, lion-like set of features, hence called Leoutiasis. CHRYSOSTOM observes that it made Job like Lazarus, but in a far worse condition. The Jewish doctors say that the disease, in Job’s case, lasted a whole year; while SUIDAS—we know not on what grounds—makes it to have continued seven.
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SEVENTH PART OF INTRODUCTION; JOB’S FURTHER TRIAL
I. Satan’s use of God’s permission (Job_2:7).
“So went Satan forth.” Glad in obtaining his wish, like Saul on his way to Damascus. Resolved to use his liberty to the utmost. Gets his will, but with limitation (Luk_22:31-32).—“From the presence of the Lord.” Like Cain (Genesis 4-16). His object not to serve God, but torture man.—“Smote Job.” Implies suddenness and vehemence. The hand heavy, though unseen. So Herod smitten by the angel (Act_12:23). Such smiting often ascribed to God, whoever the instrument (Deu_28:35). Satanic ingenuity in smiting the body yet preserving life and mental faculties. Piety and patience under one trial, no security against another and a heavier. Heavy burdens laid on strong shoulders. God knows the metal He gives Satan to ring [Trapp]. Our comfort is, that He lays no trial on His children beyond what He enables them to bear (1Co_10:13).
II. Job’s Disease
“Sore boils.” Heb., a bad, malignant ulcer, or inflammatory ulceration. Worst kind of leprosy. Inflicted on the Egyptians and threatened to the Israelites (Deu_28:27). Prevalent both in Arabia and Egypt. Made the sufferer loathsome to himself and his nearest relations (ch. Job_19:13; Job_19:19). Appeared to make him out as an object of the Divine displeasure; as Miriam, Gehazi, and King Azariah. In an advanced stage, fingers, toes, and hands, gradually fall off (ch. Job_30:17; Job_30:30). Attended with great attenuation and debility of body (Job_16:8; Job_19:20; Job_30:18). Restless nights and terrifying dreams (Job_30:17; Job_7:13-14). Anxiety of mind and loathing of life (Job_7:15). Foul breath and difficult respiration (Job_7:4; Job_13:15; Job_30:17). The skin itchy, of great tenseness, full of cracks and rents, and covered with hard or festering ulcers, and with black scales (Job_2:8; Job_19:20; Job_30:18; Job_7:5; Job_30:30). The feet and legs swollen to an enormous size; hence the disease also called Elephantiasis. The mouth swollen and the countenance distorted, giving the patient a lion-like appearance; hence another name to the disease, Leontiasis. Contagious through the mere breath. Often hereditary. As a rule, incurable. In any case, one of the most protracted as well as dreadful diseases.—“From the crown,” &c. So in Deu_28:35. The body one continued sore. Job escaped with the skin of his teeth—sores everywhere else (Job_19:20). The tongue left free for an obvious reason. Satan’s mercies cruel. Rare spectacle for angels; the holiest man on earth the most afflicted. Astounding sight for men; the richest and greatest man in the land made at once the most loathsome and miserable. Impossible to say to what extent God may allow his dearest children to be afflicted. After Job, no saint need be staggered at his suffering. Yet all Job’s sufferings under Divine inspection and admeasurement (Isa_27:8).—A circumstance marking the extremity of Job’s affliction (Job_2:8). “And he took him a potsherd.” As near at hand. Arab jars thin and frail, and easily broken—sometimes by merely putting them down on-the floor. Hence fragments of broken jars found everywhere (Isa_30:14). A potsherd used by Job instead of a napkin. Possibly, however, an instrument still used in the East for similar purposes. Required to remove the purulent matter from his sores, and perhaps to allay their irritation. His hands and fingers themselves affected, or the foulness of his sores forbidding the touch. Without friend, physician, or relative to attend to his disease. In the case of Lazarus, dogs supplied the place of the potsherd (Luk_16:20-21). God’s dearest saints often reduced to the greatest extremities.—“Sat down among the ashes.” In token of mourning (Job_42:6; Jon_3:6; Mat_11:21); and of abasement (Jer_6:26; Isa_47:3; Isa_58:5; Eze_27:30). The ash-heap probably outside the city. Dung-hills still similarly used in the East. One part of the leper’s affliction, that he was to be removed from society (Lev_13:46; Num_12:14-15; 2Ki_15:5).
1. Increased affliction calls for increased humiliation.
2. Self-abasement the certain way to Divine exaltation (Jas_4:9-10).
III. Job’s trial from his wife (Job_2:9).
“Then said his wife.” Amazed at her husband’s sufferings and piety. Herself already tempted and overcome. Spared by Satan to and him in his attempts upon her husband. Another of his cruel mercies. She who should have been a comforter now becomes a tormentor. Her former piety now staggered at her husband’s trials. Weak professors readily offended. The case of Adam and Eve expected to be repeated. Satan wise in selecting his instruments.
1. Those who full themselves usually employed in tempting others.
2. Strongest temptations and keenest triais often from nearest friends.
“Dost thou still retain thine integrity?” Already affirmed by God (Job_2:3). What is highly esteemed by God often reproached by man, and vice versa (Luk_16:15). Job, in his wife’s eyes, “perversely righteous and absurdly good” [Sir R. Blackmore]. Perseverance in piety under heavy crosses a mystery to the world.—“Curse God and die.” Three horrid temptations—infidelity, blasphemy, and despair. Same word used as in Job_1:11; but properly denoting “to bless.” Perhaps a bitter taunt, referring to Job_1:21—“Go on with your fine religion!” Probably—“Renounce God, who treats you so vilely.” Includes the idea of uttered reproach and blasphemy (1Ki_21:10). Job urged by his wife to fulfil Satan’s grand desire.
1. Satan’s great work to set men against their Maker and His service.
2. His fiercest temptations often reserved for the time of greatest affliction.
3. Satan tempts men to put the worst construction on God’s dealings, and prompts to the worst means of relief. Points Job to the gulf of Atheism as the only refuge [Davidson].
4. The holiest saints liable to the most horrid and blasphemous temptations.
5. The flesh in ourselves and others always an antagonist to faith and holiness (Mat_16:22-23).
“And die.” As the end of all your trouble. So Satan tempted Saul, Ahithopel, and Judas Iscariot. No suggestion so horrid but Satan may inject it into a believing mind. Job afterwards still pressed with the same temptation to suicide (Job_7:15). One of Satan’s lies, that death ends all. His object to make men die in an act of sin, without time or opportunity for repentance. His friendliest proposals tend to damnation and destruction. Would make men imitators of his blasphemy and partakers of his despair.
IV. Job’s continued patience and piety (Job_2:10). “But he said unto her.” Did not curse God, and then use Adam’s excuse (Gen_3:12.—“Thou speakest,” &c. Reproves with mingled gentleness and firmness. So Christ reproved Peter (Mat_16:23). Dishonour done to God to be at once discountenanced and reproved (Lev_19:17; Pro_27:5; Pro_29:15).—“As one.” A gentle form of reproof. Husbands to love their wives, and not be bitter against them (Col_3:19). No fierce or furious language here. Her present speech not like her usual self. Speaks out of her ordinary character.
1. Believers liable to be drawn into sin.
2. Love to be mingled with, and to moderate, reproof (Eph_4:15).
3. Reproof to be respectful, especially when addressed to relatives and seniors (1Ti_5:1).
“As one of the foolish women speaketh.” “Foolish,” in the Old Testament, used for “sinful or ungodly.” The language of Job’s wife, that of foolish, profane, wicked women.
1. The part of a fool to deny God and reproach His Providence (Psa_14:1).
2. Folly to judge of a man’s condition from God’s outward dealings with him.
3. Unworthy thoughts of God the mark of a carnal, foolish spirit.
4. Sin not only vile but foolish,—as truly opposed to man’s interests as to God’s honour.
5. Impatience and passion under trouble the greatest foolishness. Hard, and therefore senseless, to kick against the pricks (Act_9:5). Idolaters wont to reproach their gods in misfortune.
“What! shall we receive,” &c.? What is sinful is to be put down, not with rage but with reason. Satan’s horrid and blasphemous temptations not to be listened to for a moment. Sharp reproof consistent with love and sometimes required by it (Tit_1:13). He who knows not how to be angry knows not how to love [Augustine.]—“Shall we receive good at the hand of God?” Present miseries not to obliterate past mercies. The greatest sufferer already the recipient of unnumbered benefits. God’s mercies “new every morning.” To sinners all is mercy on this side of hell. Mercy written on every sunbeam that gilds and gladdens the earth.—“And shall we not receive evil also?” “Evil” put for affliction and adversity. All comforts and no crosses, unreasonable to expect and undesirable to receive. Evil as well as good to be not only expected, but thankfully accepted. The question points to the manner of receiving, as well as the matter received. Both equally dispensed by God, therefore both to be reverentially accepted by us. Both worthy of God to dispense, and beneficial for us to receive. The part of faith and love, to accept troubles as from a Father’s hand. The true spirit of adoption, to kiss the rod and the hand that holds it. Thankfully to accept of good is merely human, thankfully to accept of evil is Divine. In every thing to give thanks, God’s will in Christ concerning us (1Th_5:13). Job here greater than his miseries. More than a conqueror. One of heaven’s as well as earth’s heroes.—“In all this,” his increased calamities as well as his wife’s taunts and temptations. Job now lying under a quaternion of troubles—adversity, bereavement, disease, and reproach. More, however, yet remained for Satan to inflict and for Job to suffer. Continuance of suffering often much more trying than suffering itself. Inward affliction to be added to the outward. Much more trying. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear? (Pro_18:14). A hint, perhaps, here given of further trial, with a less gratifying result.—“Sinned not with his lips.” Vented no reflection on God’s character and procedure. The greatest temptation in such circumstances to sin with the lips. The thing Satan desired, endeavoured after, and waited for. The temptation to murmur present, but resisted and repressed. Job still by grace a conqueror over corrupt nature. Not always thus walking on the swelling waters of innate corruption. Man’s weakness to be exhibited, even in a state of grace. Hitherto Job shown to be the “perfect man” God declared him to be (Jas_3:2). The Old Testament ideal of a perfect man and a suffering saint. An illustrious type of Christ in His suffering and patience (Isa_53:7; 1Pe_2:23). The type afterwards fails, that in all things Christ may have the pre-eminence (Col_1:18).
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 7 Skin for skin, indeed
Skin for skin, indeed
"Skin" here is a metonym for Job's life. AT: "A person will do anything to save his own life, even accept the loss of possessions and loved ones" (See: Metonymy)
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But stretch out your hand now and touch his bones and his flesh, and see if he does not curse you to your face
Satan means that if God attacks Job, he will see how Job responds. AT: "But now, if you stretch out your hand and touch his bones and his flesh, you will see that he will curse you to your face"
stretch out your hand
Here "hand" refers to God's power to act. "But now use your power." See how you translated this in Job 01:11. (See: Metonymy)
touch
Here "touch" represents the action of harming. AT: "attack" (See: Metonymy)
his bones and his flesh
This expression represents Job's body. (See: Synecdoche)
curse you to your face
See how you translated this in Job 01:11.
to your face
This refers to a time when God is paying attention. AT: "in your hearing" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
Satan
Yahweh
life
hand
body
curse
face
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 vv5–7 2:5 take away his health (literally strike his flesh…
2:5 take away his health (literally strike his flesh and bones): Bones were thought to be the seat of health.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.