Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 1:6
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
6. Now there was a day when ] lit. now it fell on a day that the sons of God presented themselves and Satan came. The meaning is not that there was a set time for the sons of God presenting themselves, but that they did on a certain day convene and Satan came among them. He came because one of them not, although not one of them. The phrase is the same in Job 1:13; Job 2:1; 2Ki 4:18.
the sons of God ] Rather perhaps, sons of the Elohm, i. e. angels. The word Elohm usually means God, but this is scarcely its meaning here. The angels are not called “sons of God” as if they had actually derived their nature from Him as a child from its father; nor in a less exact way, because though created they have received a nature similar to God’s, being spirits; nor yet as if on account of their stedfast holiness they had been adopted by grace into the family of God. These ideas are not found here. The name Elohim or sons (i. e. members of the race) of the Elohim is a name given directly to angels in contrast with men. The word means probably “powers,” “mights,” and the name is given to God and angels in common; He is the Elohim preeminently, they are Elohim in an inferior sense. The name describes their nature or standing in contrast to what is human; the name angels, that is, messengers, is descriptive of the duties which they fulfil. The same Beings are called “sons of Elm,” Psa 89:6 (“sons of the mighty”), and Psa 29:1 (“ye mighty”), and there as here they stand in the temple or palace of the Lord, Psa 29:9; Psa 89:6-8. Angels are referred to several times in the Book of Job. In Job 5:1 the supposition is put that men might appeal to them for sympathy or a hearing amidst sufferings judged to be undeserved. In Job 33:23 they fulfil the office of interpreter between God and men. They form the Council of God, Job 15:8. They are not said to have been created, but were present when the earth was formed, Job 38:7. They are called the “holy ones,” Job 5:1; Job 15:15, where, however, “holy” is not a moral term, but means attending on God. Though pure like the heavens and all contained in its sphere, in contrast with God they are impure and unwise, Job 4:18; Job 15:15; Job 25:5.
For a scene in heaven similar to that presented in this verse see 1Ki 22:19 seq.; Comp. Isaiah 6; Psa 89:6 seq., also Zechariah 3.
and Satan came also ] Or, and the Adversary, or Opposer, as in the margin. The Heb. is the Satan, where the presence of the article shews that the word has not yet become a proper name. The word Satan means one who opposes another in his purpose, Num 22:22; Num 22:32, or pretensions and claims, Zec 3:1 ; 1Ki 11:14; 1Ki 11:23; 1Ki 11:25, or generally. The Satan is that one of God’s ministers whose part it is to oppose men in their pretensions to a right standing before God, Zec 3:1, and here; that is, who represents God’s trying, sifting providence. He is one of God’s messengers and presents himself before God to report, or to receive commissions, parts of God’s will which he is to execute.
God’s providence is over all; He doeth whatsoever is done in heaven or on earth. But He makes use of agents in His operations. Hence the same act, such as instigating David to number the people, may be in one place ascribed to God directly, 2Sa 24:1, and in another to Satan, 1Ch 21:1. God’s purposes are usually beneficent and gracious, hence the angels are comprehensively designated as “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for the sake of them who shall be heirs of salvation,” Heb 1:14. But He has also purposes of judgment and chastisement, which are executed by those called the “destroyers,” Job 33:22; Exo 12:23. In all these operations, whether of mercy or of judgment, the angels are simply servants. They do God’s behests. Their own moral character does not come into question. They are neither good nor bad angels. The spirit from the Lord that troubled Saul is called “evil,” 1Sa 16:14 seq., not in reference to its own character, but to the effect produced on Saul’s mind. In like manner the spirit that came forth and undertook to delude Ahab to his destruction, was not a false spirit in himself, he merely became a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab’s prophets, 1Ki 22:19 seq. In all such cases the spirit is characterized according to the influence which he exerts. Neither is the Satan represented here as a fallen or evil spirit. Yet undoubtedly a step towards this is taken. He shews an assiduity slightly too keen in the exercise of his somewhat invidious function. He rather usurps the initiative in marking out Job for trial, even though he might feel sheltered under his general commission. The Author lets us know that this is his view of him when he puts into God’s mouth the words: Thou didst set me on against him, Job 2:3. And in the parallel passage Zechariah 3 his cold-blooded cruelty in the exercise of his office against the miserable and in a moral sense the somewhat ragged Church of the Restoration stands rebuked before the spirit of Divine compassion: “The Lord rebuke thee Satan, is not this a brand plucked from the burning?” Subsequent revelation made advances on the doctrine of Satan, the discussion of which, however, does not belong here.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
6 12. The disinterestedness of Job’s piety brought under suspicion by the Adversary in the Council of Heaven
After the scene of happiness and piety presented by Job’s home on earth, the Poet draws the veil aside and shews us a scene in heaven. The Council of the Most High convenes. Around the throne of the King, whose subject and servant Job is, stand “his ministers that do his pleasure,” Psa 103:21. Their offices are various. The office of one of them is to try the sincerity of men, and put their religion to the proof. Job’s piety is commended on the part of God, but suspicions regarding its disinterestedness are insinuated on the part of this angel. He receives permission to try Job, with the reservation that he must not afflict him in his person.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Now there was a day – Dr. Good renders this, And the day came. Tindal. Now upon a time. The Chaldee paraphrasist has presumed to specify the time, and renders it, Now it happened in the day of judgment (or scrutiny, ), in the beginning of the year, that hosts of angels came to stand in judgment before yahweh, and Satan came. According to this, the judgment occurred once a year, and a solemn investigation was had of the conduct even of the angels. In the Hebrew there is no intimation of the frequency with which this occurred, nor of the time of the year when it happened. The only idea is, that the sons of God on a set or appointed day came to stand before God to give an account of what they had done, and to receive further orders in regard to what they were to do. – This is evidently designed to introduce the subsequent events relating to Job. It is language taken from the proceedings of a monarch who had sent forth messengers or ambassadors on important errands through the different provinces of his empire, who now returned to give an account of what they had observed, and of the general state of the kingdom. Such a return would, of course, be made on a fixed day when, in the language of the law, their report would be returnable, and when they would be required to give in an account of the state of the kingdom. If it be said that it is inconsistent with the supposition that this book was inspired to suppose such a poetic fiction, I reply,
(1) That it is no more so than the parables of the Savior, who often supposes cases, and states them as real occurrences, in order to illustrate some important truth. Yet no one was ever led into error by this.
(2) It is in accordance with the language in the Scripture everywhere to describe God as a monarch seated on his throne, surrounded by his ministers, and sending them forth to accomplish important purposes in different parts of his vast empire.
It is not absolutely necessary, therefore, to regard this as designed to represent an actual occurrence. It is one of the admissible ornaments of poetry; – as admissible as any other poetic ornament. To represent God as a king is not improper; and if so, it is not improper to represent him with the usual accompaniments of royalty, – surrounded by ministers, and employing angels and messengers for important purposes in his kingdom. This supposition being admitted, all that follows is merely in keeping, and is designed to preserve the verisimilitude of the conception. – This idea, however, by no means militates against the supposition that angels are in fact really employed by God in important purposes in the government of his kingdom, nor that Satan has a real existence, and is permitted by God to employ an important agency in the accomplishment of his purposes toward his people. On this verse, however, see the Introduction, Section 1, (4).
The sons of God – Angels; compare Job 38:7. The whole narrative supposes that they were celestial beings.
Came to present themselves – As having returned from their embassy, and to give an account of what they had observed and done.
Before the Lord – Before yehovah. On the meaning of this word, see the notes at Isa 1:2. A scene remarkably similar to this is described in 1Ki 22:19-23. Yahweh is there represented as sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. He inquires who would go and persuade Ahab that he might go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. This he promised to do by being a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.
And Satan came also among them – Margin, The adversary came in the midst of them. On the general meaning of this passage, and the reasons why Satan is introduced here, and the argument thence derived respecting the age and authorship of the book of Job, see the Introduction, Section 4, (4). The Vulgate renders this by the name Satan. The Septuagint: ho diabolos – the devil, or the accuser. The Chaldee, satena’, Satan. So the Syriac. Theodotion, ho antikeimenos – the adversary. The word rendered Satan satan is derived from satan Satan, to lie in wait, to be an adversary, and hence, it means properly an adversary, an accuser. It is used to denote one who opposes, as in war 1Ki 11:14, 1Ki 11:23, 1Ki 11:25; 1Sa 29:4; onc who is an adversary or an accuser in a court of justice Psa 109:6, and one who stands in the way of another; Num 22:22, And the angel of yahweh stood in the way for an adversary against him lesatan loh, to oppose him.
It is then used by way of eminence, to denote the adversary, and assumes the form of a proper name, and is applied to the great foe of God and man – the malignant spirit who seduces people to evil, and who accuses them before God. Thus, in Zec 3:1-2, And he showed me Joshua the priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Loan said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; compare Rev 12:10, Now is come salvation – for the accuser ho kategoron – that is, Satan, see Rev 12:9) of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. – The word does not often occur in the Old Testament. It is found in the various forms of a verb and a noun in only the following places. As a verb, in the sense of being an adversary, Psa 71:13; Psa 109:4, Psa 109:20, Psa 109:29; Zec 3:1; Psa 38:20; as a noun, rendered adversary and adversaries, 1Ki 5:4; 1Ki 11:14, 1Ki 11:23, 1Ki 11:25; Num 22:22, Num 22:32; 1Sa 29:4; 2Sa 19:22; rendered Satan, 1Ch 21:1; Psa 109:6; Job 1:6-9, Job 1:12; Job 2:1-4, Job 2:6-7; Zec 3:2; and once rendered an accusation, Ezr 4:6.
It was a word, therefore, early used in the sense of an adversary or accuser, and was applied to anyone who sustained this character, until it finally came to be used as a proper name, to denote, by way of eminence, the prince of evil spirits, as the adversary or accuser of people. An opinion has been adopted in modern times by Herder, Eichhorn, Dathe, Ilgen, and some others, that the being here referred to by the name of Satan is not the malignant spirit, the enemy of God, the Devil, but is one of the sons of God, a faithful, but too suspicious servant of yahweh. According to this, God is represented as holding a council to determine the state of his dominions. In this council, Satan, a zealous servant of yahweh, to whom had been assigned the honorable office of visiting different parts of the earth, for the purpose of observing the conduct of the subjects of yahweh, makes his appearance on his return with others.
Such was the piety of Job, that it had attracted the special attention of yahweh, and he puts the question to Satan, whether in his journey be had remarked this illustrious example of virtue. Satan, who, from what he has observed on earth, is supposed to have lost all confidence in the reality and genuineness of the virtue which man may exhibit, suggests that he doubts whether even Job serves God from a disinterested motive; that God had encompassed him with blessings, and that his virtue is the mere result of circumstances; and that if his comforts were removed he would be found as destitute of principle as any other man. Satan, according to this, is a suspicious minister of yahweh, not a malignant spirit; he inflicts on Job only what he is ordered to by God, and nothing because he is himself malignant. Of this opinion Gesenius remarks (Lexicon), that it is now universally exploded.
An insuperable objection to this view is, that it does not accord with the character usually ascribed to Satan in the Bible, and especially that the disposition attributed to him in the narrative before us is wholly inconsistent with this view. He is a malignant being; an accuser; one delighting in the opportunity of charging a holy man with hypocrisy, and in the permission to inflict tortures on him, and who goes as far in producing misery as he is allowed – restrained from destroying him only by the express command of God. – In Arabic the word Satan is often applied to a serpent. Thus, Gjauhari, as quoted by Schultens, says, The Arabs call a serpent Satan, especially one that is conspicuous by its crest, head, and odious appearance. It is applied also to any object or being that is evil. Thus, the Scholiast on Hariri, as quoted by Schultens also, says, Everything that is obstinately rebellious, opposed, and removed from good, of genii, human beings, and beasts, is called Satan. – The general notion of an adversary and an opponent is found everywhere in the meaning of the word. – Dr. Good remarks on this verse, We have here another proof that, in the system of patriarchal theology, the evil spirits, as well as the good, were equally amenable to the Almighty, and were equally cited, at definite periods, to answer for their conduct at his bar.
Rosenmuller remarks well on this verse, It is to be observed, that Satan, no less than the other celestial spirits, is subject to the government of God, and dependent on his commands (compare Job 2:1) where Satan equally with the sons of God ( ben ‘elohym) is said to present himself before God ( lehtyatseb; that is, leitourgein), to minister. Yahweh uses the ministry of this demon (hujus daemonis) to execute punishment, or when from any other cause it seemed good to him to send evil upon men. But he, although incensed against the race of mortals, and desirous of injuring, is yet described as bound with a chain, and never dares to touch the pious unless God relaxes the reins. Satan, in walking round the earth, could certainly attentively consider Job, but to injure him he could not, unless permission had been given him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 1:6-12
Now there was a day.
A fatal day
1. That Satan observeth and watcheth his time to fasten his temptations most strongly upon the soul. He watcheth a day, there was a day, and there was not a day in the whole year upon which he could have done it with greater advantage than upon that day. As the mercies of God are exceedingly endeared to us by the season in which they come to us: When they come to us in our special need, how sweet is a mercy then! And as our sins are exceedingly aggravated, by the session and time wherein they are committed: What, sin upon this day? A day of trouble, a day of humiliation? So likewise the temptations of Satan and the afflictions which he brings upon the servants of God, are exceedingly embittered by the season; and he knows well enough what seasons will make them most bitter. And what can more imbitter a cup of sorrow than to have it brought us upon a day of rejoicing? If joy be troublesome in our sorrows, how troublesome is sorrow in the midst of our joys (Pro 25:20). Then Satan could never have found out such a time as this. Must he needs be afflicting the father when the children were a feasting? Could he find out no other time but this? blast his tears be mingled with their wine? Must the childrens rejoicing day be the fathers mourning day? Must Satan needs show his malice against the father, when the children were shewing their love one to another? Let us observe, then, this mixture of malice and cunning in Satan, in choosing his time. To carry a man from one extremity to another, puts him upon the greatest extremity: To make the day of a mans greatest rejoicing to be the day of his deepest sorrows, this is cutting, if not killing sorrow. It were well if we could be wise in this respect to imitate Satan, to choose out our day to do good when there is greatest probability of success, as he chose out his day to do mischief.
2. That the fairest and clearest day of our onward comfort may be clouded and overcast before the evening. (J. Caryl.)
And Satan came also among them.—
The Satan
In contrast to the Almighty we have the figure of the adversary, or Satan, depicted with sufficient clearness, notably coherent, representing a phase of being not imaginary but actual. He is not, as the Satan of later times came to be, the head of a kingdom peopled with evil spirits, a nether world separated from the abode of the heavenly angels by a broad, impassable gulf. He has no distinctive hideousness, nor is he painted as in any sense independent, although the evil bent of his nature is made plain, and he ventures to dispute the judgment of the Most High. This conception of the adversary need not be set in opposition to those which afterwards appear in Scripture as if truth must be entirely there or here. But we cannot help contrasting the Satan of the Book of Job with the grotesque, gigantic, awful, and despicable fallen angels of the worlds poetry. Not that the mark of genius is wanting in these; but they reflect the powers of this world, and the accompaniments of malignant human despotism. The author of Job, on the contrary, moved little by earthly state or grandeur, whether good or evil, solely occupied with the Divine sovereignty, never dreams of one who could maintain the slightest shadow of authority in opposition to God. He cannot trifle with his idea of the Almighty in the way of representing a rival to Him; nor can he degrade a subject so serious as that of human faith and well-being by painting with any touch of levity a superhuman adversary of men . . . Evidently we have here a personification Of the doubting, misbelieving, misreading spirit which, in our day, we limit to men, and call pessimism. (Robert A. Watson, D. D.)
Satan among the angels
This scene is not less perplexing than startling. Satan is beheld in some way among the angels of God. There is another parallel striking illustration of the dominion God holds, and of His mode of administration over the world of moral causes and evil consequences, in 1Ki 22:19-22.
I. Can we in any way realise the scene? We may conceive the bright beings–Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, Uriel circling the throne, rejoicing each with his hymn of praise, reporting his work of love. These are the chariots of the Lord; these are they which do His commandments; they have each performed his own work, for the Bible beholds all the work of creation and providence carried on, not by dead laws, not eves by operating living principles–life stands behind all matter, using it as a veil or as a vehicle. I, might Raphael say, directed the rolling planets, I stood by the axis of the young firmament, I heard the stars sing together, and I stand in Thy presence to report my obedience, and to bless Thee. And I, might Uriel say, have confirmed the doubting, I have steadied the steps of the straying; I passed by the couch of the dying, and I consoled. And I, might Gabriel have said, have prepared the earth for Thy approach; I have winnowed the winds and have diffused the light; and I have put thoughts into the hearts of men; and at Thy command I have broken up solitudes; I have set the solitary in families, and where I have gathered them into companies I have heard their songs to Thee; and I have come into Thy presence to report my obedience and to bless Thee. And then there was seen a shadow, and it fell across the gold of the throne, and while it dropped from the seraphs wing, it spread itself out even over the pavement of light; and when the voice from the central blessedness piercingly inquired, Whence comest thou? it was in a tone altogether unlike that of the other angels, the shadow rejoined, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And all this transaction, so suggestively given, I conceive still; I drop the more lofty conceptions of the book–I conceive the sons of God, each with his hymn and his work. I see the merchant who, the balances of trade in his hands, feels how much selfishness has still been, if not the main intention, still present–yet he goes and presents himself before the Lord. Thou, he says, hast given all; behold my obedience; behold my contrition; behold me, and bless me. Or the schoolmaster, or the minister, I also am an angel or a messenger of Thine; my strength is from Thee, the light I bear is a candle kindled by Thee; I bring Thee my obedience, I have wrought for Thee, behold me, and bless me. And then you can conceive one to whom all this is only a fitting subject for caricature, as you see all reality is, all enthusiasm is. Do you not see that which exposes itself most always as the weak side, is ever the strongest side of a character? So the jaunty sneerer comes; some cynical Horace Walpole or sardonic Voltaire, and, Ah, says he, I have been looking at all these things, mocking–that is my way, not mending–I have been going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it.
II. Here, then, we have next the scriptural idea of Satan. Of course you will often have heard the passage I have read, spoken of as conveying a poetic description, that it is merely a highly sublime personification. Be that as it may, the doctrine of the text affirms the personality of Satan. The Holy Scriptures sketch the character of the Evil One; but they never permit us to hesitate as to the fact of his personality. He exists, not as an abstract idea, not as a blind force, not either as a mere quality, or the absence or negation of qualities in bodies or in persons. Elevate your conceptions to what is the ground of personality, what constitutes its difference from a mere thing. Personality is consciousness; it consciously works out its own character, and its powers are all collected and resolved in will. Now Scripture teaches us that such a being there is, immediately evil, and living only in and for evil. He is not merely a necessity in things; at any rate this is not the account of his origin; and it would be impossible to believe this without impeaching the infinite character, the unity, and goodness of God. Satan is positive, personal, although not absolute, evil. The response of the Evil One to his Almighty Questioner distinctly expresses–
1. Indifference. Indeed, the attributes of his personality are riveted and closely interlocked together; the one emanates from the other, going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it. This is the end, the passionless end of Ms character–indifference, the absence of all reality, contempt for all enthusiasm, contempt for all sentiment, studious repression of all that might be divine instinct, or delight in the works of the great God–such is Satan. What Satan is, you may detect in many a character, in many an essay, in which you are reminded how Satan comes among people still, going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it. See a man who has lost his sense of wonder, who boasts that nothing can take him by surprise, who has been living so fast you cannot overtake him by any sentiments or ideas that are noble–not the delicacy of a flower, not the calm, upheaving grandeur of the mountain, no holy life, no noble book, no spectacle of a stirring and absorbing passion; he goes to and fro in the earth, and sees nothing; his eyeglass sees us much as he sees. Look at that hard man who prides himself on seeing what men are, and using them; priding himself, too, that nobody ever did know him, that nobody ever did read him–he is going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it. Or the selfish manufacturer or merchant, who simply wrought for his own gains, like a buccaneer or Choctaw, who has prowled over society to find among men cogs for his machine, bricks for his mill, and to whom men anywhere are only as so many stones in the wall. And just as all these are manifestations of personality, so I conceive a vast and extended personality in that amazing conscienceless being, who seems to wrap this world round like a cold and dreadful mist, or withering blight and shade–Satan.
2. There is another attribute, although, certainly, the first is very greatly the result of this second–it is Unbelief. In the instance before us it assumes a shape we often notice now, manifests itself in disbelief in man. Doth Job serve God for nought? This, then, is a marked attribute of Satan–disbelief in God too; for to believe in God is not merely to apprehend His being and His absolute power.
3. Another characteristic is brought out as an attribute of Satan in this singular and ancient scene–Cruelty. I cannot but notice how most assuredly there is involved in it the immediate connection of Satan with, and his influence over, material interests and things; lightning and storm, disease and death, are shown here to be certainly related to him. It seems to me eminently reasonable, that in Scripture the universe is represented as governed by life. I know I shall be told of forces and laws, and I reply, I have looked at these things, and attempted a little to apprehend these things, and I believe in them. In any case, as we cannot account for the benevolent and general scheme of nature without one blessed and infinite over-ruling Presence, so it seems impossible to conceive the strangely ruptured condition of things without referring them back to some central agency of evil and sin.
4. Another characteristic feature brought out in the text is Limitation. While evil and Satan exist, they are conditioned by the sovereignty of God; God rules over evil in all its personalities and forms. Satan and the angels alike come into the presence of God. The faith of our fathers, indeed, was, that the devil was on the earth, having great power. It would provoke a smile on some lips to think of the real way in which they were wont to wrestle with the devil. I hear of nobody who places much faith in his power to injure us; we never pray as if he were by us in terrible might. Coldly our prayers ascend to God, as if He were not; and for the great Adversary, it is as if he were really dead. How different was Luther and his great foe, Duke George, for instance. All the Duke Georges in the universe, said he, are not equal to a single devil, and I do not fear the devil. The mighty-hearted Luther kept the battle heating in a constant tempest. You have read and know well his Table Talk, his life–that invisible world, how present to him! With Luther it was, then, evidently no sham fight, but a fearful hand-to-hand conflict; and all his praying and speaking most evidently went upon the principle, not only of a real belief in the power of darkness, but of his power also, by hearty prayer and faith in Christ, to rout and scatter it. And I, why do I venture to set before you this doctrine, as I believe it is, of Holy Scripture? Very greatly because I feel that we live in an age which is dangerously loosening its hold of great spiritual personalities. I cannot, indeed, form a very clear conception of attributes, excepting as they are embodied in persons. I can speak of theft, and I can define theft, but I cannot separate it from the action of a person; and I can speak of holiness, and define holiness, but it is nothing to me unless it is embodied in a person. We are in great danger of using fine-sounding epithets about God, and even about man, and losing the sense of personal relation. So to many who even profess and call themselves Christians, God is the sum total of the forces of the universe, the soul is a mode of matter, and Satan is a term for the empirical, partial, and evil drift of things, which in the course of ages may possibly sink into the tidal force of good, and so cease to be the necessity it looks at present. Manifestly the whole consequence of such negations is to annihilate responsibility, and to destroy the cheerful radiant freedom of the human soul everywhere. The personality of Satan stands over against the personality of God; limited, indeed, only permitted, and doomed by His sovereignty. Strangely, indeed, must Scripture have surrendered its intention, if its purpose is not to produce in us hatred and fear towards some tremendous ubiquitous person constantly seeking to have power over us–a malignant will, a power and an element in the universe, in the world, in the human heart–a power not of God, not good, adverse and hateful to God and goodness. (E. P. Hood.)
Satan
We have here a highly figurative representation of the Eternal and His spiritual kingdom. And a remarkable meeting of the great God and some of His intelligent creatures. The passage teaches concerning Satan–
I. That he has a personal existence. Acting as a person, he goes to and fro in the earth.
1. The personality of his existence is suggested by reason.
(1) As there are existences gradually sinking beneath man down to nothing, so there may be intelligent beings existing above man, up to the highest point of creatureship.
(2) As men have fallen and become rebels against God, there is nothing improbable in the supposition that there are beings above man who have done the same.
(3) As the fallen amongst men become the tempters of others, and this in proportion to their depravity and power, it is very probable that amongst the fallen ones above us there are leaders in wickedness. Because of this natural probability, almost all peoples in all lands have believed in an arch-fiend, a malignant god of this world.
2. The personality of his existence is confirmed by human history. It is almost impossible to account for the absurdities which men entertain, and the enormities which they perpetrate, without going up to some foul spirit who blinds the eyes and flames the passions of men.
3. The personality of his existence is declared in the Bible (Mat 4:3; Joh 8:44; Act 26:18; Eph 6:12; 1Th 3:5; 2Pe 2:4; Jud 1:6; Rev 12:10, etc.). He is called by different names, Satan, Devil, Old Serpent, Prince of the Power of the Air, Beelzebub, Dragon, etc.
II. He is an intruder into the sacred (1Ki 22:19-23; Mat 4:3). Wherever the sons of the Almighty assemble, Satan is amongst them; he is there to bias the intellect, and to pollute the feelings.
III. He is amenable to the eternal. Jehovah asks him concerning his movements, and concerning his opinions.
IV. He is a vagrant in the universe. Going to and fro implies–
1. Homelessness.
2. Zealousness.
V. He is a slanderer of the good. He slanders man to God, and he slanders God to man. He is diabolus, breaking the harmony of Gods moral universe by slander.
VI. He is a slave of the infinite. He can only act by permission. God uses him as His instrument. (Homilist.)
Temptation
Temptation is the precursor of sin. There is a great tendency to forget the real nature of Satan; that he is a distinct being, governed by the same laws of motion and influence over matter by which other spiritual bodies are governed. Every strong impulse of evil is a direct assault, and indicates a personal appearance of the tempter, as decidedly as would the approach of any earthly assailant be marked by visible signs. Satan has a distinct personality and individuality, veiled only from us by the mist of our bodily being. There is a floating impression in mens minds that evil is simply a principle inherent in themselves, of no very definite shape, and scarcely forming itself into a clear principle at all. We ought to be able to separate in our minds between the distinct and violent assaults of the tempter, and those slighter suggestions of evil which are the frequent movements of our own corrupt heart. A clear distinction between external assault and internal suggestion will go far to chase those doubts and apprehensions away, and tend to give health and vigour to the soul and conscience. Another benefit will arise from the ideas and pictures this idea of the personality of Satan will raise to the mind in the contest with evil. It reduces the conflict to a definite period, and a number of definite acts. The more real we make our struggle with evil the better. In our bodily condition it is easier to resist a person than an abstraction. We can more easily kindle within ourselves feelings of indignation, desire of superiority, and the like, when we realise personality in our foe. (E. Monte.)
Satanic temptation
1. That there is no place in the world that can secure a man from temptation, or be a sanctuary from Satans assaults. Cloisters are as open to Satan as the open field.
2. We may note here the wonderful diligence of Satan.
3. That Satan is confined in his business to the earth. (J. Caryl.)
Satan deserves his name
Many have their names for nought, because they do nothing for them; like Labans images, which were called gods, though they were but blocks; but the devil deserves his names. He is not called a tempter, a liar, a slanderer, and an accuser, and a deceiver, and a murderer, and a compasser in vain; like St. George, which is always on horseback, and never rides; but he would do more than by his office he is bound to. Others are called officers because they have an office; but he is called an enemy because he shows his envy. Others are called justicers because they should do justice; but he is called a tempter because he practiseth temptation. Others are called pastors because they should feed; but he is called a devourer because he doth devour; and we call him a compasser because he doth compass. (Henry Smith.)
Satanic excursions
Another route that Satan on his active travels is exceedingly apt to take is for the despoiling of souls. It does not pay him merely to destroy the bodies of men and women. Those bodies would soon be gone anyhow; but great treasures are involved in this Satanic excursion. On this route he meets a man who is aroused by something he has seen in the Bible, and Satan says, Now I can settle that for you: the Bible is an imposition; it has been deluding the world for centuries; do not let it delude you. It has no more authority than the Koran of the Mohammedan, or the Shaster of the Hindoo, or the Zend-Avesta of the Parsee. He meets another man who is hastening towards the Kingdom of God, and says: Why all this precipitation? Religion is right, but any time within the next ten years will be soon enough for you. A man with a stout chest like yours, and such muscular development, must not be bothering himself about the next world. Satan meets another man who has gone through a long course of profligacy, and is beginning to pray for forgiveness, and Satan says to the man: You are too late; the Lord will not help such a wretch as you; you might as well brace up and fight your own way through. And so with a spite and an acuteness and a velocity that have been gaining for six thousand yours, he ranges up and down, baffling, disappointing, defeating, afflicting, destroying the human race. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Satan compassing the earth
Compassing here doth signify tempting, and the earth doth signify all the people of the earth; as if he should say, I come from tempting all men. As Satan is here called a compasser, so he will compass your eyes with shows, and your ears with sounds, and your senses with sleep, and your thoughts with fancies, and all to hinder you from hearing while the articles are against him; and after I have spoken, he will compass you again with business, and cares, and pleasures, and quarrels, to make you forget that which you have heard. Therefore take heed how ye hear. Satan is an adversary compassing the earth; and therefore let the earth beware, like a city which is besieged with the adversaries. Three things I note wherefore the devil may be said to compass the earth.
1. Because he tempteth all men.
2. Because he tempteth all to sin; and
3. Because he tempteth by all means.
What doth he compass? The earth. This is the devils pilgrimage, from one end of the earth to the other, and then back again; like a wandering merchant which seeketh his traffic where he can speed cheapest. First of all creatures, Satan compasseth men; he compasseth all men, and he compasseth good men. If then the devil be such a busy-body, which meddleth in every mans matter, let us remember what the wise man saith, A busy-body is hated; the devil is to be hated because he is a busy-body. As the serpent compasseth, so doth his seed; and therefore Solomon calls the ways of the wicked crooked ways. (H. Smith.)
My servant Job (verses 8, 11; and Job 40:4).
A three-fold estimate of a good mans character
I. Jobs character as estimated by God. God regarded the character of Job. He estimated Job as perfect. Every part of his character contained the germ of completeness. He estimated Job as upright. His life was parallel with the commandments of heaven, and the precepts of truth. Job recognised carefully his domestic responsibilities. This perfection is alleged of human nature, an upright man. Note the blessedness of this character.
(1) Divine protection. A hedge about him.
(2) Business prosperity. Substance increased in the land.
II. Jobs character estimated by Satan. The Satanic test of character must he viewed in a two-fold aspect.
(1) As a subtle scheme to secure Jobs ruin.
(2) As a merciful messenger permitted by God to enhance the worth of Jobs life. The test was severe, but limited. He estimates that Jobs character was superficial, that underneath his garb of goodness there was a smouldering impiety, which only required outward circumstances to develop it into obstinate rebellion.
III. Jobs character estimated by himself.
1. He designates himself vile. True, his sorrows may have had a depressing effect upon him, and continued suffering have brought him under the influence of gloomy views. Perhaps he had circumstances as an index of his heart life, thinking that his trials were the infliction of wrath, rather than the chidings of love. However, it is evident that reverent humility was a great element in his piety. He had such lofty conceptions of God, His purity and justice, that, in remembrance of such an ideal of life, his own paled into absolute imperfection.
2. Job calls attention to his vileness.–Behold! This is somewhat unusual, as people try to conceal the miserable rottenness of their lives, either by a mock modesty or daring pretension.
3. Job takes the blame of his vileness–I am vile. He does not make his assumed pollution the result of original depravity; he does not attribute it to the despotism of circumstances, to the evil tendency of education, and the impurity of society. No; without palliation or excuse, he renders himself culpable. Ought we not to be shamed into honesty by the plain, bold confession of this good man? Job could afford to consider himself vile, when God thought him perfect. (Joseph S. Exell, M. A.)
Gods servant
1. That Satans main temptations, his strongest batteries are planted against the most eminent godly persons. Here God calleth Job His servant. And He calleth him so–
(1) By way of distinction or difference; My servant, that is, Mine, not his own. Many are their own servants, they serve their own lusts and pleasures; many are Satans servants. Some are the servants of men.
(2) My servant, by way of special right and property. So Job and all godly persons are called Gods servants.
(a) By election.
(b) They are Gods servants by the right of purchase.
(3) My servant, by way of covenant. Then again, we may further understand this, and all suchlike expressions: When God saith My servant, He doth as it were glory in His servant. God speaks of him as of His treasure; as a man doth of that which he glorieth in.
2. It is a mans honour to be Gods servant, and God thinks Himself honoured by the service of man. When God speaks of His people by name, it noteth two things in Scripture.
(1) A special care that God hath over them.
(2) A special love that God hath to them (Joh 10:3).
3. That God doth take care of His elect children and servants in a special manner above all other men in the world. (J. Caryl.)
Gods testimony to the good
I. That God hath servants of all statures and degrees. All His servants come not to the like pitch, to the like height; here is one that is beyond them all, My servant Job–not a man like him upon the earth.
II. We ought not to set up our rest in low degrees of grace; or content ourselves to be like others in grace. Then see the character that God giveth of Job, A perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil.
1. God hath a perfect character of every soul. He knoweth fully and clearly what the tempers of your hearts and spirits are.
2. God will give to every man a testimony according to his utmost worth. God will not conceal any of your graces, or obscure your goodness, He will make it known to the world to the full, what you are. It is good for us to have our letters testimonial from God, to have our letters commendatory from heaven. It is not what a man saith in his own heart, what he flattereth himself: it is not what your neighbours or others flatter you, and say of you, but what God saith of you, what testimony He giveth of you. (J. Caryl.)
Sin eschewed
If I say to a person, I will not receive you into my house when you come dressed in such a coat; and I open the door to him when he has on another suit which is more respectable, it is evident that my objection was not to the person, but to his clothes. If a man will not cheat when the transaction is open to the world, but will do so in a more secret way, or in a kind of adulteration which is winked at in the trade, the man does not hate cheating, he only hates that kind of it which is sure to be found out; he likes the thing itself very well. Some sinners, they say, hate sin. Not at all, sin in its essence is pleasing enough; it is only the glaring shape of it which they dislike. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Satan considering the saints
How very uncertain are all terrestrial things! How foolish would that believer be who should lay up his treasure anywhere, except in heaven! Jobs prosperity promised as much stability as anything can do beneath the moon. He had accumulated wealth of a kind which does not suddenly depreciate in value. Up there, beyond the clouds, where no human eye could see, there was a scene enacted which augured no good to Jobs prosperity. The spirit of evil stood face to face with the infinite Spirit of all good. An extraordinary conversation took place between these two beings.
I. In what sense may Satan be said to consider the people of God? Certainly not in the usual Biblical meaning of the term consider. O Lord, consider my trouble. Consider my meditation. Blessed is he that considereth the poor. Such consideration implies goodwill and a careful inspection of the object of benevolence with regard to a wise distribution of favour. In that sense Satan never considers any. If he has any benevolence, it must be towards himself; but all his considerations of other creatures are of the most malevolent kind. No meteoric flash of good flits across the black midnight of his soul. Nor does he consider us as we are told to consider the works of God, that is, in order to derive instruction as to Gods wisdom and love and kindness. He does not honour God by what he sees in His works, or in His people.
1. The consideration which Satan pays to Gods saints is upon this wise. He regards them with wonder, when he considers the difference between them and himself. A traitor, when he knows the thorough villainy and the blackness of his own heart, cannot help being astounded when he is forced to believe another man to be faithful. What grace is it which keeps these? I was a vessel of gold, and yet I was broken; these are earthen vessels, but I cannot break them! It may be that he also wonders at their happiness. He feels within himself a seething sea of misery. He admires and hates the peace which reigns in the believers soul.
2. Do you not think that he considers them to detect, if possible, any flaw and fault in them, by way of solace to himself? He considers our sinful flesh, and makes it one of the books in which he diligently reads. One of the fairest prospects, I doubt not, which the devils eye ever rests upon is the inconsistency and the impurity which he can discover in the true child of God. In this respect he had very little to consider in Gods true servant, Job.
3. We doubt not that he views the Lords people, and especially the more eminent and excellent among them, as the great barriers to the progress of his kingdom; and just as the engineer, endeavouring to make a railway, keeps his eye very much fixed upon the hills and rivers, and especially upon the great mountain through which it will take years laboriously to bore a tunnel, so Satan, in looking upon his various plans to carry on his dominion in the world, considers most such men as Job. He is sure to consider Gods servant, if there be none like him, if he stand out distinct and separate from his fellows. Those of us who are called to the work of the ministry must expect from our position to be the special objects of his consideration. If you are more generous than other saints, if you live nearer to God than others, as the birds peck most at the ripest fruit, so may you expect Satan to be most busy against you. Who cares to contend for a province covered with stones and barren rocks, and ice bound by frozen seas? But in all times there is sure to be a contention after the fat valleys where the wheat-sheaves are plenteous, and where the husbandmans toil is well requited, and thus, for you who honour God most, Satan will struggle very sternly. He wants to pluck Gods jewels from His crown, if he can, and take the Redeemers precious stones even from the breastplate itself.
4. It needs not much wisdom to discern that the great object of Satan in considering Gods people is to do them injury. Where he cannot destroy, there is no doubt that Satans object is to worry. He does not like to see Gods people happy.
5. Moreover, if Satan cannot destroy a Christian, how often has he spoilt his usefulness! How is it that God permits this constant and malevolent consideration of His people by the evil one? One answer, doubtless, is, that God knows what is for His own glory, and that He giveth no account of His matters; that, having permitted free agency, and having allowed, for some mysterious reason, the existence of evil, it does not seem agreeable with His having done so to destroy Satan; but He gives him power, that it may be a fair hand-to-hand fight between sin and holiness, between grace and craftiness. Besides, be it remembered, that incidentally the temptations of Satan are of service to the people of God. An experimental divine remarks, that there is no temptation in the world which is so bad as not being tempted at all; for to be tempted will tend to keep us awake–whereas, being without temptation, flesh and blood are weak: and though the spirit may be willing, yet we may be found falling into slumber. Children do not run away from their fathers side when big dogs bark at them.
II. What is it that Satan considers with a view to the injury of Gods people? It cannot be said of him as of God, that he knoweth us altogether; but since he has been now nearly six thousand years dealing with poor fallen humanity, he must have acquired a very vast experience in that time, and having been all over the earth, and having tempted the highest and the lowest, he must know exceedingly well what the springs of human action are, and how to play upon them.
1. Satan watches and considers, first of all, our peculiar infirmities. He looks us up and down, just as I have seen a horse dealer do with a horse; and soon finds out wherein we are faulty. Satan knows how to look at us and reckon us up from heel to head, so that he will say of this man, His infirmity is lust, or of that other, He hath a quick temper, or of this other, He is proud, or of that other, He is slothful.
2. He takes care also to consider our frames and states of mind. If the devil would attack us when our minds are in certain moods, we should be more than a match for him: he knows this, and shuns the encounter. Some men are more ready for temptation when they are distressed and desponding; the fiend will then assail them. Others will be more liable to take fire when they are jubilant and full of joy; then will he strike his spark into the tinder. As the worker in metals knows that one metal is to be worked at such a heat, and another at a different temperature; as those who have to deal with chemicals know that at a certain heat one fluid will boil, while another reaches the boiling point much earlier, so Satan knows exactly the temperature at which to work us to his purpose. Small pots boil directly they are put on the fire, and so little men of quick temper are soon in a passion; larger vessels require more time and coal before they will boil, but when they do boil, it is a boil indeed, not soon forgotten or abated.
3. He also takes care to consider our position among men. There are a few persons who are most easily tempted when they are alone–they are the subjects then of great heaviness of mind, and they may be driven to most awful crimes; perhaps the most of us are more liable to sin when we are in company. In some company I never should be led into sin; into another society I could scarcely venture.
4. How, too, will he consider our condition in the world! He looks at one man, and says, That man has property–it is of no use my trying such-and-such arts with him; but here is another man who is very poor, I will catch him in that net.
5. Satan, when he makes his investigations, notices all the objects of our affection. I doubt not, when he went round Jobs house, he observed it as carefully as thieves do a jewellers premises when they mean to break into them. So, when the devil went round, jotting down in his mind all Jobs position, he thought to himself, There are the camels and the oxen, the asses and the servants,–yes, I can use all these very admirably. Then, he thought, there are the three daughters! There are the ten sons, and they go feasting–I shall know where to catch them, and if I can just blow the house down when they are feasting, that will afflict the fathers mind the more severely, for he will say, Oh, that they had died when they had been praying, rather than when they had been feasting and drinking wine. I will put down, too, in the inventory, says the devil, his wife–I dare say I shall want her, and accordingly it came to that. You have a child, and Satan knows that you idolise it. Ah, says he, there is a place for my wounding him.
III. Satan considered, but there was a higher consideration which overrode. His consideration. In times of war, the sappers and miners of one party will make a mine, and it is a very common counteractive for the sappers and miners of the other party to countermine by undermining the first mine. This is just what God does with Satan. Satan is mining, and he thinks to light the fusee and to blow up Gods building, but all the while God is undermining him, and tie blows up Satans mine before he can do any mischief. Subtlety is not wisdom. All the while that Satan was tempting Job he little knew that he was answering Gods purpose, for God was looking on and considering the whole of it, and holding the enemy as a man holds a horse by its bridle.
1. The Lord had considered exactly how far He would let Satan go.
2. Did not the Lord also consider how He should sustain His servant under the trial? You do not know how blessedly our God poured the secret oil upon Jacobs fire of grace, while the devil was throwing buckets of water on it.
3. In the next place, the Lord considered how to sanctify Job by this trial. Job was a much better man at the end of the story than he was at the beginning. Foolish devil! he is piling up a pedestal on which God will set His servant Job, that he may be looked upon with wonder by all ages.
4. Jobs afflictions and Jobs patience have been a lasting blessing to the Church of God, and they have inflicted incredible disgrace upon Satan. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. There was a day when the sons of God] All the versions, and indeed all the critics, are puzzled with the phrase sons of God ; beney haelohim, literally, sons of the God, or sons of the gods. The Vulgate has simply filii dei, sons of God. The Septuagint, , the angels of God. The Chaldee, kittey malachaiya, troops of angels. The Syriac retains the Hebrew words and letters, only leaving out the demonstrative he in the word haelohim, thus, [Syriac] baney Elohim. The Arabic nearly copies the Hebrew also, [Arabic] banoa Iloheem; to which, if we give not the literal translation of the Hebrew, we may give what translation we please. Coverdale (1535) translates it, servauntes of God. The Targum supposes that this assembly took place on the day of the great atonement, which occurred once each year. And there was a day of judgment in the beginning of the year; and the troops of angels came, that they might stand in judgment before the Lord. But what are we to make of this whole account? Expositions are endless. That of Mr. Peters appears to me to be at once the most simple and the most judicious: “The Scripture speaks of God after the manner of men, for there is a necessity of condescending to our capacities, and of suiting the revelation to our apprehension. As kings, therefore, transact their most important affairs in a solemn council or assembly, so God is pleased to represent himself as having his council likewise; and as passing the decrees of his providence in an assembly of his holy angels. We have here, in the case of Job, the same grand assembly held, as was before in that of Ahab, 1Kg 22:6-23; the same host of heaven, called here the sons of God, presenting themselves before Jehovah, as in the vision of Micaiah they are said to stand on his right hand and on his left. A wicked spirit appearing among them, here called Satan or the adversary, and there a lying spirit; both bent on mischief, and ready to do all the hurt they were permitted to do; for both were under the control of his power. The imagery is just the same; and the only difference is in the manner of the relation. That mentioned above, Micaiah, as a prophet, and in the actual exercise of his prophetic office, delivers, as he received it, in a vision. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the HOST of HEAVEN standing by him, on his right hand and on his left, and there came forth a LYING SPIRIT, and stood BEFORE the Lord, and said, 1Kg 22:19-22. The other, as a historian, interweaves it with his history; and tells us, in his plain narrative style, There was a day when the sons of God came to PRESENT themselves BEFORE the Lord, and SATAN came also among them. And this he delivers in the same manner as he does, There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job.
“The things delivered to us by these two inspired writers are the same in substance, equally high, and above the reach of human sight and knowledge; but the manner of delivering them is different, each as suited best to his particular purpose. This, then is the prophetical way of representing things, as to the manner of doing them, which, whether done exactly in the same manner, concerns us not to know; but which are really done: and God would have them described as done in this manner, to make the more lively and lasting impression on us. At the same time, it must not be forgotten that representations of this kind are founded in a well-known and established truth, viz., the doctrine of good and bad angels, a point revealed from the beginning, and without a previous knowledge of which, the visions of the prophets could scarcely be intelligible.” See Ge 28:10-15.
And Satan came also] This word also is emphatic in the original, hassatan, the Satan, or the adversary; translated by the Septuagint . The original word is preserved by the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic; indeed, in each of them the word signifies an adversary. St. Peter, 1Pe 5:8, plainly refers to this place; and fully proves that hassatan, which he literally translates , the ADVERSARY, is no other than , the DEVIL, or chief of bad demons, which he adds to others by way of explanation. There are many , demons, mentioned in Scripture, but the word Satan or devil is never found in the originals of the Old and New Testaments in the plural number. Hence we reasonably infer, that all evil spirits are under the government of ONE chief, the DEVIL, who is more powerful and more wicked than the rest. From the GREEK comes the LATIN Diabolus, the SPANISH Diablo, the FRENCH Diable, the ITALIAN Diavolo, the German Teuffel, the DUTCH Duivel, the ANGLO-SAXON [A.S.], and the ENGLISH Devil, which some would derive from the compound THE-EVIL; , the evil one, or wicked one.
It is now fashionable to deny the existence of this evil spirit; and this is one of what St. John (Re 2:24) calls , the depths of Satan; as he well knows that they who deny his being will not be afraid of his power and influence; will not watch against his wiles and devices; will not pray to God for deliverance from the evil one; will not expect him to be trampled down under their feet, who has no existence; and, consequently, they will become an easy and unopposing prey to the enemy of their souls. By leading men to disbelieve and deny his existence, he throws them off their guard; and is then their complete master, and they are led captive by him at his will. It is well known that, among all those who make any profession of religion, those who deny the existence of the devil are they who pray little or none at all; and are, apparently, as careless about the existence of God as they are about the being of a devil. Piety to God is with them out of the question; for those who do not pray, especially in private, (and I never met with a devil-denier who did,) have no religion of any kind, whatsoever pretensions they may choose to make.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
There was a day, i.e. a certain time appointed by God.
The sons of God, i.e. the holy angels, so called Job 38:7; Dan 3:25,28, because of their creation by God, as Adam also was, Luk 3:38, and for their great resemblance of him in power, and dignity, and holiness, and for their filial affection and obedience to him.
Before the Lord, i.e. before his throne, to receive his commands, and to give him an account of their negotiations. Compare 1Ki 22:19; Zec 4:14; Luk 1:19. But you must not think that these things were really done, and that Satan was mixed with the holy angels, or admitted into the presence of God in heaven, to maintain such discourses as this with the blessed God, or that he had formal commission and leave to do what follows; but it is only a parabolical representation of that great truth, that God by his wise and holy providence doth govern all the actions of men and devils to his own ends; it being usual with the great God to condescend to our shallow capacities, and to express himself, as the Jews phrase it, in the language of the sons of men, i.e. in such manner as men use to speak and may understand.
Satan came also among them; being forced to come, and give up his account.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. sons of Godangels (Job 38:7;1Ki 22:19). They presentthemselves to render account of their “ministry” in otherparts of the universe (Heb 1:14).
the LordHebrew,JEHOVAH, the self-existingGod, faithful to His promises. God says (Ex6:3) that He was not known to the patriarchs by this name. But,as the name occurs previously in Ge2:7-9, c., what must be meant is, not until the time ofdelivering Israel by Moses was He known peculiarly and publicly inthe character which the name means namely, “making thingsto be,” fulfilling the promises made to their forefathers. Thisname, therefore, here, is no objection against the antiquity of theBook of Job.
SatanThe tradition waswidely spread that he had been the agent in Adam’s temptation.Hence his name is given without comment. The feeling with which helooks on Job is similar to that with which he looked on Adam inParadise: emboldened by his success in the case of one not yetfallen, he is confident that the piety of Job, one of a fallen race,will not stand the test. He had fallen himself (Job 4:19;Job 15:15; Jdg 1:6).In the Book of Job, Satan is first designated by name:“Satan,” Hebrew, “one who lies in wait”;an “adversary” in a court of justice (1Ch 21:1;Psa 109:6; Zec 3:1);”accuser” (Re 12:10).He has the law of God on his side by man’s sin, and against man. ButJesus Christ has fulfilled the law for us; justice is once more onman’s side against Satan (Isa42:21); and so Jesus Christ can plead as our Advocate against theadversary. “Devil” is the Greek namethe”slanderer,” or “accuser.” He is subject to God,who uses his ministry for chastising man. In Arabic, Satan isoften applied to a serpent (Ge 3:1).He is called prince of this world (Joh12:31); the god of this world (2Co4:4); prince of the power of the air (Eph2:2). God here questions him, in order to vindicate His own waysbefore angels.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord,…. This is generally understood of the angels, as in Job 38:7 who may be thought to be so called, because of their creation by the father of spirits, and their likeness to God in holiness, knowledge, and wisdom, and being affectionate and obedient to him; as also on account of the grace of election, and confirmation in Christ bestowed upon them, as well as because, in their embassies and messages to men, they represent God, and so may be called gods, and children of the Most High, for a like reason the civil magistrates are,
Ps 82:6 to which may be added, their constituting with the saints the family of God in heaven and earth: these, as they stand before God, and at his right hand and left, as the host of heaven, in which posture Micaiah saw them in vision, 1Ki 22:19, so they may be said to go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth into the several parts of all the world, to do the will and work of God assigned them, Zec 6:5 and then, having done their work, return again, and present themselves before the Lord, to give an account of what they have done, and to receive fresh orders from him, being ready to do his pleasure in everything he shall command them, which is what is here supposed; though some think these were only the company or band of angels which were set as a guard about Job, his person, family, and substance, who now appeared before the Lord, to give an account of him, his affairs, and circumstances, as required of them:
and Satan came also among them; which word signifies an “adversary”, as in 1Ki 11:14 but does not design here a man adversary, as there, or one that envied Job’s prosperity, as Saadiah Gaon thinks, but an evil spirit, the old serpent, the devil, as in Re 12:9 who is an implacable and bitter enemy to men, especially to Christ and his people; and so has this name from his hatred of them, and opposition to them: Origen k observes, that this word, translated into the Greek language, is
, an “adversary”; but R. Levi l derives it from , “to decline” or “turn aside”; and so Suidas says m, Satan, in the Hebrew language, is an apostate; and Theodoret n mentions both, that it signifies either an adversary or an apostate; the first derivation is best: knowing the end of the above meeting, that it was with respect to Job, and therefore he came with an intent to contradict what they should say of him, and to accuse him before God; he came among them as one of them, transforming himself into an angel of light, as he sometimes does; or he came, being sent for, and obliged to come to give an account of himself, and of what he had been doing in the world, in order to be reproved and punished: but though the stream of interpreters run this way, I cannot say I am satisfied with it; for, setting aside the passages in this book in question, angels are nowhere called “the sons of God”; for besides, this being denied of them in the sense that Christ is, they are represented as servants, yea, as servants to the sons of God, ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation; they call themselves the fellow servants of the saints, and of their brethren, but do not say that they are sons of the same family, or fellow heirs, or their brethren, Heb 1:5, moreover, they always stand in the presence of God, and behold his face, be they where they will, Mt 18:10 nor is there any particular day assigned them for the service of God; for though they are under the moral law, so far as it is suitable to their nature, yet not under the ceremonial law, to which the observance of days belonged; and besides, they have no rest night nor day, but continually serve God, and glorify him, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty: and if this presentation of themselves to God is supposed to be in heaven, as where else should it be? it is not possible that Satan could come among them; he is fallen from heaven, being cast down from thence, nor can he, nor ever will he, be able to find a place any more there, see
Lu 10:18 it seems better therefore to understand this of the people of God, of professors of religion, who, earlier than the times of Job, were distinguished from the men of the world by this character, “the sons of God”, Ge 6:2, such that were truly godly being so by adopting grace, and which was made manifest by their regeneration by the Spirit of God, and by their faith in Christ, and all were so by profession: now these assembled themselves together, to present themselves, their bodies and souls, before the Lord, which was but their reasonable service; as to pray unto him, and praise him, to offer sacrifice, and perform every religious exercise enjoined in those times; the apostle uses the like phrase of the saints’ social worship,
Ro 12:1 now for this there was a “day”; though I very much question whether any sabbath, or much less a seventh day sabbath, was as yet instituted; but inasmuch as men agreed together to call on the name of the Lord, or to worship him in a social way, Ge 4:26 as it was necessary that a place should be appointed to meet at, so a time fixed by consent and agreement; even as now, the seventh day sabbath being abrogated, Christians agree to meet on the first day of the week, called the Lord’s day, in imitation of the apostles of Christ; and on one of these days thus fixed and agreed on was the above meeting, at which Satan came among them, as he frequently does in the assembly of the saints, to do what mischief he can; by snatching away the word from inattentive hearers, and by directing the eye to such objects, and putting such things into the mind, as divert from the service of God; or by suggesting to the saints themselves, that what is attended to does not belong to them, with many other things of the like kind: the Targum interprets this day of the day of judgment, at the beginning of the year, and the sons of God of angels, as do other Jewish writers.
k Contr. Cels. l. 6. l In Ioc. m In voce . n In 2 Reg. Quaest. 37.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah; and Satan came also in the midst of them.
The translation “it happened on a day” is rejected in Ges. 109, rem. 1, c.
(Note: The references to Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar have been carefully verified according to the English edition published by Bagster and Sons, London. – Tr.)
The article, it is there said, refers to what precedes – the day, at the time; but this favourite mode of expression is found at the beginning of a narrative, even when it cannot be considered to have any reference to what has preceded, e.g., 2Ki 4:18. The article is used in the opposite manner here, because the narrator in thought connects the day with the following occurrence; and this frees it from absolute indefiniteness: the western mode of expression is different. From the writer assigning the earthly measure of time to the place of God and spirits, we see that celestial things are represented by him parabolically. But the assumptions on which he proceeds are everywhere recognised in Scripture; for (1.) , as the name of the celestial spirits, is also found out of the book of Job (Gen 6:2; cf. Psa 29:1; Psa 59:7; Dan 3:25). They are so called, as beings in the likeness of God, which came forth from God in the earliest beginning of creation, before this material world and man came into existence (Job 28:4-7): the designation points to the particular manner of their creation. (2.) Further, it is the teaching of Scripture, that these are the nearest attendants upon God, the nearest created glory, with which He has surrounded himself in His eternal glory, and that He uses them as the immediate instruments of His cosmical rule. This representation underlies Gen 1:26, which Philo correctly explains, ; and in Psa 59:6-8, a psalm which is closely allied to the book of Job, and , of the holy ones, is just the assembly of the heavenly spirits, from which, as of God, they go forth into the universe and among men. (3.) It is also further the teaching of Scripture, that one of these spirits has withdrawn himself from the love of God, has reversed the truth of his bright existence, and in sullen ardent self-love is become the enemy of God, and everything godlike in the creature. This spirit is called, in reference to God and the creature, ,er , from the verb , to come in the way, oppose, treat with enmity, – a name which occurs first here, and except here occurs only in Zec 3:1-10 and 1Ch 21:1. Since the Chokma turned, with a decided preference, to the earliest records of the world and mankind before the rise of nationalities, it must have known the existence of this God-opposing spirit from Gen. 2f. The frequent occurrence of the tree of life and the way of life in the Salomonic Proverbs, shows how earnestly the research of that time was engaged with the history of Paradise: so that it cannot be surprising that it coined the name for that evil spirit. (4.) Finally, it agrees with 1Ki 22:19-22; Zec 3:1, on the one hand, and Rev. 12 on the other, that Satan here appears still among the good spirits, resembling Judas Iscariot among the disciples until his treachery was revealed. The work of redemption, about which his enmity to God overdid itself, and by which his damnation is perfected, is during the whole course of the Old Testament history incomplete.
Herder, Eichhorn, Lutz, Ewald, and Umbreit, see in this distinct placing of Satan in relation to the Deity and good spirits nothing but a change of representations arising from foreign influences; but if Jesus Christ is really the vanquisher of Satan, as He himself says, the realm of spirits must have a history, which is divided into two eras by this triumph. Moreover, both the Old and New Testaments agree herein, that Satan is God’s adversary, and consequently altogether evil, and must notwithstanding serve God, since He makes even evil minister to His purpose of salvation, and the working out of His plan in the government of the world. This is the chief thought which underlies the further progress of the scene. The earthly elements of time, space, and dialogue, belong to the poetic drapery.
Instead of , is used elsewhere (Pro 22:29): is a usage of language derived from the optical illusion to the one who is in the foreground seeming to surpass the one in the background. It is an assembly day in heaven. All the spirits present themselves to render their account, and expecting to receive commands; and the following dialogue ensues between Jehovah and Satan: –
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Satan before God; Satan Permitted to Afflict Job. | B. C. 1520. |
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. 7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? 9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? 10 Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. 12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
Job was not only so rich and great, but withal so wise and good, and had such an interest both in heaven and earth, that one would think the mountain of his prosperity stood so strong that it could not be moved; but here we have a thick cloud gathering over his head, pregnant with a horrible tempest. We must never think ourselves secure from storms while we are in this lower region. Before we are told how his troubles surprised and seized him here in this visible world, we are here told how they were concerted in the world of spirits, that the devil, having a great enmity to Job for his eminent piety, begged and obtained leave to torment him. It does not at all derogate from the credibility of Job’s story in general to allow that this discourse between God and Satan, in these verses, is parabolical, like that of Micaiah (1 Kings xxii. 19, c.), and an allegory designed to represent the malice of the devil against good men and the divine check and restraint which that malice is under only thus much further is intimated, that the affairs of this earth are very much the subject of the counsels of the unseen world. That world is dark to us, but we lie very open to it. Now here we have,
I. Satan among the sons of God (v. 6), an adversary (so Satan signifies) to God, to men, to all good: he thrust himself into an assembly of the sons of God that came to present themselves before the Lord. This means either, 1. A meeting of the saints on earth. Professors of religion, in the patriarchal age, were called sons of God (Gen. vi. 2); they had then religious assemblies and stated times for them. The King came in to see his guests; the eye of God was on all present. But there was a serpent in paradise, a Satan among the sons of God; when they come together he is among them, to distract and disturb them, stands at their right hand to resist them. The Lord rebuke thee, Satan! Or, 2. A meeting of the angels in heaven. They are the sons of God, ch. xxxviii. 7. They came to give an account of their negotiations on earth and to receive new instructions. Satan was one of them originally; but how hast thou fallen, O Lucifer! He shall no more stand in that congregation, yet he is here represented, as coming among them, either summoned to appear as a criminal or connived at, for the present, though an intruder.
II. His examination, how he came thither (v. 7): The Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? He knew very well whence he came, and with what design he came thither, that as the good angels came to do good he came for a permission to do hurt; but he would, by calling him to an account, show him that he was under check and control. Whence comest thou? He asks this, 1. As wondering what brought him thither. Is Saul among the prophets? Satan among the sons of God? Yes, for he transforms himself into an angel of light (2Co 11:13; 2Co 11:14), and would seem one of them. Note, It is possible that a man may be a child of the devil and yet be found in the assemblies of the sons of God in this world, and there may pass undiscovered by men, and yet be challenged by the all-seeing God. Friend, how camest thou in hither? Or, 2. As enquiring what he had been doing before he came thither. The same question was perhaps put to the rest of those that presented themselves before the Lord, “Whence came you?” We are accountable to God for all our haunts and all the ways we traverse.
III. The account he gives of himself and of the tour he had made. I come (says he) from going to and fro on the earth. 1. He could not pretend he had been doing any good, could give no such account of himself as the sons of God could, who presented themselves before the Lord, who came from executing his orders, serving the interest of his kingdom, and ministering to the heirs of salvation. 2. He would not own he had been doing any hurt, that he had been drawing men from the allegiance to God, deceiving and destroying souls; no. I have done no wickedness, Prov. xxx. 20. Thy servant went nowhere. In saying that he had walked to and fro through the earth, he intimates that he had kept himself within the bounds allotted him, and had not transgressed his bounds; for the dragon is cast out into the earth (Rev. xii. 9) and not yet confined to his place of torment. While we are on this earth we are within his reach, and with so much subtlety, swiftness, and industry, does he penetrate into all the corners of it, that we cannot be in any place secure from his temptations. 3. He yet seems to give some representation of his own character. (1.) Perhaps it is spoken proudly, and with an air of haughtiness, as if he were indeed the prince of this world, as if the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them were his (Luke iv. 6), and he had now been walking in circuit through his own territories. (2.) Perhaps it is spoken fretfully, and with discontent. He had been walking to and fro, and could find no rest, but was as much a fugitive and a vagabond as Cain in the land of Nod. (3.) Perhaps it is spoken carefully: “I have been hard at work, going to and fro,” or (as some read it) “searching about in the earth,” really in quest of an opportunity to do mischief. He walks abut seeking whom he may devour. It concerns us therefore to be sober and vigilant.
IV. The question God puts to him concerning Job (v. 8): Hast thou considered my servant Job? As when we meet with one that has been in a distant place, where we have a friend we dearly love, we are ready to ask, “You have been in such a place; pray did you see my friend there?” Observe, 1. How honourably God speaks of Job: He is my servant. Good men are God’s servants, and he is pleased to reckon himself honoured in their services, and they are to him for a name and a praise (Jer. xiii. 11) and a crown of glory, Isa. lxii. 3. “Yonder is my servant Job; there is none like him, none I value like him, of all the princes and potentates of the earth; one such saint as he is worth them all: none like him for uprightness and serious piety; many do well, but he excelleth them all; there is not to be found such great faith, no, not in Israel.” Thus Christ, long after, commended the centurion and the woman of Canaan, who were both of them, like Job, strangers to that commonwealth. The saints glory in God–Who is like thee among the gods? and he is pleased to glory in them–Who is like Israel among the people? So here, none like Job, none in earth, that state of imperfection. Those in heaven do indeed far outshine him; those who are least in that kingdom are greater than he; but on earth there is not his like. There is none like him in that land; so some good men are the glory of their country. 2. How closely he gives to Satan this good character of Job: Hast thou set thy heart to my servant Job? designing hereby, (1.) To aggravate the apostasy and misery of that wicked spirit: “How unlike him are thou!” Note, The holiness and happiness of the saints are the shame and torment of the devil and the devil’s children. (2.) To answer the devil’s seeming boast of the interest he had in this earth. “I have been walking to and fro in it,” says he, “and it is all my own; all flesh have corrupted their way; they all sit still, and are at rest in their sins,” Zec 1:10; Zec 1:11. “Nay, hold,” saith God, “Job is my faithful servant.” Satan may boast, but he shall not triumph. (3.) To anticipate his accusations, as if he had said, “Satan, I know thy errand; thou hast come to inform against Job; but hast thou considered him? Does not his unquestionable character give thee the lie?” Note, God knows all the malice of the devil and his instruments against his servants; and we have an advocate ready to appear for us, even before we are accused.
V. The devil’s base insinuation against Job, in answer to God’s encomium of him. He could not deny but that Job feared God, but suggested that he was a mercenary in his religion, and therefore a hypocrite (v. 9): Doth Job fear God for nought? Observe, 1. How impatient the devil was of hearing Job praised, though it was God himself that praised him. Those are like the devil who cannot endure that any body should be praised but themselves, but grudge the just share of reputation others have, as Saul (1 Sam. xviii. 5, c.) and the Pharisees, Matt. xxi. 15. 2. How much at a loss he was for something to object against him he could not accuse him of any thing that was bad, and therefore charged him with by-ends in doing good. Had the one half of that been true which his angry friends, in the heat of dispute, charged him with (Job 15:4; Job 22:5), Satan would no doubt have brought against him now; but no such thing could be alleged, and therefore, 3. See how slyly he censured him as a hypocrite, not asserting that he was so, but only asking, “Is he not so?” This is the common way of slanderers, whisperers, backbiters, to suggest that by way of query which yet they have no reason to think is true. Note, It is not strange if those that are approved and accepted of God be unjustly censured by the devil and his instruments; if they are otherwise unexceptionable, it is easy to charge them with hypocrisy, as Satan charged Job, and they have no way to clear themselves, but patiently to wait for the judgment of God. As there is nothing we should dread more than being hypocrites, so there is nothing we need dread less that being called and counted so without cause. 4. How unjustly he accused him as mercenary, to prove him a hypocrite. It was a great truth that Job did not fear God for nought; he got much by it, for godliness is great gain: but it was a falsehood that he would not have feared God if he had not got this by it, as the event proved. Job’s friends charged him with hypocrisy because he was greatly afflicted, Satan because he greatly prospered. It is no hard matter for those to calumniate that seek an occasion. It is not mercenary to look at the eternal recompence in our obedience; but to aim at temporal advantages in our religion, and to make it subservient to them, is spiritual idolatry, worshipping the creature more than the Creator, and is likely to end in a fatal apostasy. Men cannot long serve God and mammon.
VI. The complaint Satan made of Job’s prosperity, v. 10. Observe, 1. What God had done for Job. He had protected him, made a hedge about him, for the defence of his person, his family, and all his possessions. Note, God’s peculiar people are taken under his special protection, they and all that belong to them; divine grace makes a hedge about their spiritual life, and divine providence about their natural life, so they are safe and easy. He had prospered him, not in idleness or injustice (the devil could not accuse him of them), but in the way of honest diligence: Thou hast blessed the work of his hands. Without that blessing, be the hands ever so strong, ever so skilful, the work will not prosper; but, with that, his substance has wonderfully increased in the land. The blessing of the Lord makes rich: Satan himself owns it. 2. What notice the devil took of it, and how he improved it against him. The devil speaks of it with vexation. “I see thou hast made a hedge about him, round about;” as if he had walked it round, to see if he could spy a single gap in it, for him to enter in at, to do him a mischief; but he was disappointed: it was a complete hedge. The wicked one saw it and was grieved, and argued against Job that the only reason why he served God was because God prospered him. “No thanks to him to be true to the government that prefers him, and to serve a Master that pays him so well.”
VII. The proof Satan undertakes to give of the hypocrisy and mercenariness of Job’s religion, if he might but have leave to strip him of his wealth. “Let it be put to this issue,” says he (v. 11); “make him poor, frown upon him, turn thy hand against him, and then see where his religion will be; touch what he has and it will appear what he is. If he curse thee not to thy face, let me never be believed, but posted for a liar and false accuser. Let me perish if he curse thee not;” so some supply the imprecation, which the devil himself modestly concealed, but the profane swearers of our age impudently and daringly speak out. Observe, 1. How slightly he speaks of the affliction he desired that Job might be tried with: “Do but touch all that he has, do but begin with him, do but threaten to make him poor; a little cross will change his tone.” 2. How spitefully he speaks of the impression it would make upon Job: “He will not only let fall his devotion, but turn it into an open defiance–not only think hardly of thee, but even curse thee to thy face.” The word translated curse is barac, the same that ordinarily, and originally, signifies to bless; but cursing God is so impious a thing that the holy language would not admit the name: but that where the sense requires it it must be so understood is plain form 1 Kings xxi. 10-13, where the word is used concerning the crime charged on Naboth, that he did blaspheme God and the king. Now, (1.) It is likely that Satan did think that Job, if impoverished, would renounce his religion and so disprove his profession, and if so (as a learned gentleman has observed in his Mount of Spirits) Satan would have made out his own universal empire among the children of men. God declared Job the best man then living: now, if Satan can prove him a hypocrite, it will follow that God had not one faithful servant among men and that there was no such thing as true and sincere piety in the world, but religion was all a sham, and Satan was king de facto–in fact, over all mankind. But it appeared that the Lord knows those that are his and is not deceived in any. (2.) However, if Job should retain his religion, Satan would have the satisfaction to see him sorely afflicted. He hates good men, and delights in their griefs, as God has pleasure in their prosperity.
VIII. The permission God gave to Satan to afflict Job for the trial of his sincerity. Satan desired God to do it: Put forth thy hand now. God allowed him to do it (v. 12): “All that he has is in thy hand; make the trial as sharp as thou canst; do thy worst at him.” Now, 1. It is a matter of wonder that God should give Satan such a permission as this, should deliver the soul of his turtle-dove into the hand of the adversary, such a lamb to such a lion; but he did it for his own glory, the honour of Job, the explanation of Providence, and the encouragement of his afflicted people in all ages, to make a case which, being adjudged, might be a useful precedent. He suffered Job to be tried, as he suffered Peter to be sifted, but took care that his faith should not fail (Luke xxii. 32) and then the trial of it was found unto praise, and honour, and glory, 1 Pet. i. 7. But, 2. It is a matter of comfort that God has the devil in a chain, in a great chain, Rev. xx. 1. He could not afflict Job without leave from God first asked and obtained, and then no further than he had leave: “Only upon himself put not forth thy hand; meddle not with his body, but only with his estate.” It is a limited power that the devil has; he has no power to debauch men but what they give him themselves, nor power to afflict men but what is given him from above.
IX. Satan’s departure from this meeting of the sons of God. Before they broke up, Satan went forth (as Cain, Gen. iv. 16) from the presence of the Lord; no longer detained before him (as Doeg was, 1 Sam. xxi. 7) than till he had accomplished his malicious purpose. He went forth, 1. Glad that he had gained his point, proud of the permission he had to do mischief to a good man; and, 2. Resolved to lose no time, but speedily to put his project in execution. He went forth now, not to go to and fro, rambling through the earth, but with a direct course, to fall upon poor Job, who is carefully going on in the way of his duty, and knows nothing of the matter. What passes between good and bad spirits concerning us we are not aware of.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Satan’s Charge Against Job
Verses 6-12:
Verse 6 relates that soon after the time of Job’s conclusion of sanctifying his sons a day came when the “saints,” wholly dedicated and enlisted angelic servants of God, came to appear before the Lord, to recount their activities, to their master, Job 2:1; Job 5:1; Heb 1:14. It is noted that Satan, the adversary of God, His angels, and all men, also appeared to stand before the throne of the self-existing God, for dilatory, accusatory, and obstructive purposes, reflecting his nature, purpose, and deeds, v. 7-9, 12; 2:1-3, 6, 7; Gen 3:11; Rev 12:7-16; Rev 20:10.
Satan, meaning accuser in the Hebrew, is called the Devil or accuser in the Greek, Rev 12:10. While he has the holy law of God on his side in accusing men of sin, he ignores the fact that Jesus has paid the penalty of sin for believers, thus justifying or acquitting them of the eternal consequences of their sins; Thus Jesus advocates for, represents, or defends the believer before God, Isa 42:21; Rom 8:33; 1Jn 2:1-2. Jesus Christ, the Son (heir of) man, is at the right hand of the throne, ever-living to make intercession for every believer, Heb 7:25.
Verse 7 states that the Lord inquired of Satan, the accuser or adversary, from whence he came, 1Ch 21:1; Rev 12:9-10. He did not ask for information for himself, but to put the testimony of Satan on record! Satan replied that he had returned from going to and fro and walking up and down in the earth, his present domain. Heatedly he dashes about, seeking whom he may devour, 1Pe 5:8; Mat 12:43. When man forfeited dominion of the earth, by sin, Satan took over, Gen 1:26; Psa 8:6; He is now prince of this world and of the power of the air, Joh 12:31; Eph 2:2, and god of this world, 2Co 4:4. The Son of man, Jesus Christ, came to regain and restore the inheritance that man had forfeited through sin, Psa 8:4; Luk 19:10; Rev 11:15; See also Act 3:21; 1Co 15:24-28; Rev 5:10.
Verse 8 adds that the Lord asked the old “accuser,” “hast thou considered or “set your heart on my servant Job?” like whom there was none other so righteous in all the earth, Job 2:3. The Lord reminded Satan that Job was: a) perfect in character, b) upright in deportment, c) who feared the Living God, and d) eschewed or avoided evil, shunned its appearance. The Lord made the inquiry to put Satan “on record” again, not that He did not know where Satan was, on his radar screen of omniscience, at all times, see? 1Kg 8:61; Psa 19:9; Psa 11:4; Psa 139:1-4; Pro 15:3 states that “the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good,” keeping His eyes on all men, Satan, demons, and good angels.
Verse 9 recounts that Satan replied to the Lord that Job didn’t really serve the Lord “for nothing.” Such was the truth, for the Lord does bless and reward those who serve Him, 1Co 3:8. But Satan insinuated that Job’s piety was superficial, hypocritical, or insincere. It is a mark of Satan that mocks and sneers at holy things, holy people, and holy service. But God is the sure hope and reward of His people who trust in Him, though the world charges that the believer serves God for selfish motives, Gen 15:1; Heb 6:19-20; Tit 2:13.
Verse 10 is an honest testimony of Satan that the living God had put an hedge or “security shield” of prosperity about Job’s house, and all that He had, so that Divine blessings had spread upon His possessions like a covering flood; So it was and is, Psa 1:1-6; Psa 34:7; Psa 128:1-3.
Verse 11 offers a challenge from Satan for the Lord to reach out and take away, remove or destroy all that Job had. Then Satan added “he will curse thee (renounce you) to thy face.” It is often too true of religion that when ones prosperity is gone his religion is gone because he does religious deeds for selfish, ulterior purposes, not for gratitude for salvation, Mal 3:14; Eph 2:10.
Verse 12 relates that the Lord released to Satan the power to destroy all earthly possessions that Job had accumulated, as a God-fearing man. Only the Lord restricted Satan from placing his hand of death on Job, Gen 16:6; Heb 2:14. Let it be noted that Satan has no power against man, until God gives it. God would not put forth His hand to destroy Job’s substance, v. 11, but He did permit Satan to do it, for His glory and our instruction, 1Co 10:11; 1Co 10:13. Having endured Satan’s darts faithfully Job was richly rewarded, Job 42:12.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
JOBOR DOGGED BY THE DEVIL
Job 1:6 to Job 2:10
OUR theme this evening is Jobor Dogged by the Devil. There are people who discuss the question as to whether there be any devil, and some openly deny his personality and power. But the average well-balanced, thorough-going thinker has no more doubt of the existence of an Evil Spirit than he does of the personality of God; but rather, would agree with the author of The Christ that is to Be: Far from the belief in a kingdom of evil being foolish, it is an inference consistent with our knowledge of self and our belief in God; and the belief in bad spirits is a fair inference from the belief in human immortality. If we get rid of the ancient belief in the Evil One, as since the Reformation, certain parts of the world have got rid of the belief in demons, there is some evidence that we shall find that out of our universities, out of the very heart of the latest and most serious attempts to reconstruct intelligent belief upon what some thinkers conceive to be the ruin of Christian orthodoxy, the devil will issue again. Until Christ shall descend from Heaven, lay hands upon this Deceiver, and shut him in the pit, his personality and his power will be alike indisputable.
This Book of Job is the inspired record of a saints experience in contending against Satan; and that part of it to which we call attention involves Satans Access, Satans Accusation, and Satans Accomplishments.
SATANS ACCESS
He has access to the company of the saints. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. You say it is a strange place for the devil; and that you would expect him to put as great distance between himself and saints as possible. Then you mistake alike his personality and his plan.
A few years since, in the state of Texas, I looked upon a large flock of sheep, and saw, standing only a little distance from them, a hungry wolf. The only thing that kept him from snatching one at once was the presence of the faithful shepherd. The wolf lives to destroy, and consequently loves to find access to the flock. AEsop pictures the wolf in sheeps clothing. This is biblical enough. You remember in the Book of Revelation (Rev 13:11) John says, I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. The Devil often takes on the mien of a lamb; but the moment his mouth is open, if men are wise, they find out that he is from the pit, for he speaks as a dragon. People sometimes say, with reference to the beautiful conduct, the smiling faces, and the general good nature of those who have gone after some of the modern fads of faith, Is not this proof that their religion is from God? By no means! Wait till the mouth is opened, and listen to what is said, and then you can determine instantly whether it be from God. Peters speech revealed the fact that he was a follower of Jesus Christ; and the speech of those who have departed from the Word of God, and from loyalty to His Son, will betray the fact that they are followers of the Adversary. Listen to Paul when he writes his Second Epistle to the Corinthians,
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works (2Co 11:13-15).
Sir Robert Anderson declared, It is irrelevant to plead that the English exponents of the so-called Higher Criticism are men of earnest piety and devotion to truth, for what concerns us is the character, not of the men, but of the system. * * * * Already there are quasi Christian pulpits occupied by ministers of religion whose theology knows no Eden Fall, no Redemption by the Blood, no Atonement, no New Birth, no Eternal Scriptures, no Hell for the impenitent, no Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus, but in His place a Jesus who is the ideal of almost perfect manhood. It is one thing to profess to be Apostles of Sweetness and Light; but it is another thing to prove by speech that we are not apostles of Falsehood and Darkness. If there was ever a time when the Devil walked among the saints in the guise of a man of New Thought, and Advanced Opinion, and veneered morals, that time is now on. He would rather deceive a saint any day than to destroy a sinner.
He has access also to the presence of God. There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. Poor Job! At a later time in his experience, he cries out in his anguish, Oh, that I knew where I might find Him! That I might come even to His seat! I would order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments (Job 23:3-4).
The devil has that knowledge. While he fears God, he knows that the time of his destruction is not yet; but not knowing how soon it may come, he is industrious in his deviltry. His approach to the Divine Presence is never in prayer. From the day when he fell from Heaven there is not a record of a solitary petition for mercy or grace. As Absalom rebelled against the King, even his own father, until the time when judgment fell upon him and death sealed his doom, so Satan has never exhibited a moment of repentance, a desire of reformation, or voiced a cry for help. When he goes into the presence of God he goes there for the purpose of mischief against the saints. Far back in First Chronicles (Job 21:1) we find it written, And Satan stood up against Israel. And you will remember that when the Prophet Zechariah saw Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, that Satan was standing at his right hand to resist him (Job 3:1). And when you come to the Book of the Revelation, where his evil character is more fully elaborated, John writes, And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceive the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Job 12:9).
When Esther found access to the presence of the king she appeared for the good of the people; but when Haman entered that same mighty presence, he was there to secure their hurt.
If we have an Intercessor before the throneand we havewe have also an Adversary there. Hence our second suggestion:
SATANS ACCUSATION
Did you ever stop to ask what are the accusations Satan brought against Job, and what are the accusations he is bringing against you and against me?
First of all, he charged Job with being an un-regenerate. His language practically implies that Job is playing a part, that he has discovered that a form of godliness has promise of the life that now is; and he has the form while denying the power thereof (1Ti 4:8; 2Ti 3:5). It is doubtful if any Christian ever escapes that accusation.
There are some things Satan has never been able to make me doubt. In my entire life, I have never seriously doubted the inspiration of the Word of God. The content of its pages is to me over-whelming proof of its supernatural origin; while its fruits, as seen in its effect upon the lives of men, are nothing short of a scientific demonstration of its Divine inspiration. I have never doubted my call to the ministry for one solitary moment. Too long did I resist that demand of the Spirit; and too ardently did I argue with God against my fitness for the office; and through too many nights did I wrestle with the angel of the Lord in my indisposition, to doubt either His call or His conquest. I can never forget that time when, in the Southern field, He touched my thigh and it was out of joint, and I knew that I could never walk the path of the just in spiritual health until I said, Yes, to His command and His commission.
Alas, how often the devil has successfully accused me of unregeneracy. He has made every evil desire I have ever found in my heart a new occasion for this charge. I am confident that he himself has first of all whispered his temptations into my soul, and then turned upon me, saying, Consider your thoughts and know that you are not a child of God, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies; these are the things which defile a man (Mat 15:19-20). Satan knows how to quote Scripture. What a consolation to remember that when he tried to compel Jesus to question whether He be the Son of God, he enforced his argument by an appeal to what was written.
Again, he charged Job with selfishness in service. He maintained that he was only righteous in the interest of riches and honor.
Doth Job fear God for nought?
Hast not Thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
But put forth Thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse Thee to Thy face.
Truly, as Joseph Parker suggests, the Devil takes vantage ground here, He could have substantiated this declaration by countless instances; he could have said, I have overthrown kings before today; I have seen the effect of poverty, loss, pain, distress, exile, upon some men who had quite as good an appearance as Job has; their piety Has gone after their property; they no sooner were thrown down socially than they were unclothed religiously, and were proved to be, practically, at least, hypocrites.
Have we not known men after this manner? Have we not seen the best pew-holder, when once his riches were parted from him, quit the house of God altogether, repudiate his former profession, and incriminate the character of the preacher? Have we not known the woman, who so long as she held office that gratified her vanity, was active beyond her sisters, but the moment a new vote was taken resulting in the election of another, she had no further use for the church and no further fellowship with Christians? Have we not seen people, who while all their children were about them, praise God with their lips, but when death broke into the little brood, become discouraged and disbelieving?
But this charge goes deeper still. Why are men honest? Why do church-members pay their debts? Why do professed Christians lead clean lives, abstaining from dishonesty, from drink, from adultery? If the time came when honesty was not profitable would they be honest then? If circumstances existed under which the seventh commandment could be violated and not a mortal in all the earth ever know about it, would they join with Joseph in saying, How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? If the tempting cup were at hand and no eye upon them, would the men who so love its taste, turn from it for Christs sake?
But deeper still, if there were no hands to applaud our course, would men still go in search of their fellows to win them from sin? If there were no praise to be spoken for the missionary to the foreign clime would the Spirit of Christ be strong enough to impel the undertaking? If there could be no knowledge by the Pastor, or any officer in the church, as to the contribution you make to the cause of Christ would you give as much or more than under past conditions? Undoubtedly Paul was striking at this very subject when he penned the thirteenth of First Corinthians,
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing (1Co 13:1-3).
The third accusation against Job was that he would fail at the point of perseverance. When the loss of property, the loss of servants, and finally the loss of children and home had left the great man of God still worshipping devoutly, and calling out, with mistaken judgment, but loyal spirit, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord, the Devil said, The end is not yet. 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 (Job 2:4-5).
There are some men, and some women, who can endure much; but beyond a certain point they break. But these are not the best men; these are not the noblest women. When Jesus was in Gethsemane He still said, Father, not My will but Thine be done. And when He was ready to give up the ghost, instead of surrendering His faith, He cried in triumph, It is finished and added Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit. And the men and women in whom Christ has found a fresh incarnation, will, Job-like, endure to the end. I know not when Mr. Moody ever employed a more effective biblical illustration, or became more eloquent in its utterance, than when, speaking of that peerless Apostle of the faith, he said, There was Paul. He won his crown. He had many a hard fight; he met Satan on many a battle-field, and he overcame him. When I read the life of that Apostle I blush for the Christianity of the nineteenth century. Five times he was scourged. If we should get one stripe upon our backs, what a whining! There would be forty publishers after us ere the sun went down and they would want to write up our lives and make capital out of them. But Paul says, Five times have I received forty stripes, save one. Take your place by his side. Paul, you have been beaten by these Jews four times, and they are going to give you thirty-nine stripes more; what are you going to do about it? Do, said he, I will do this one thing, I will press toward the mark for the prize of my high calling. Thrice beaten with rods. Take your stand again beside him. Now Paul, they have beaten you twice, and they are going to beat you again. What are you going to do? Press toward the mark for the prize of my high calling. Take your stand with him again; they begin to stone him. It seems he is going to be paid back in his own coin, for when Stephen was stoned to death, Paul cheered on the crowd. Now, Paul, this is getting serious. Dont you think you had better take back some of the things you said about Jesus? What are you going to do? But he said, If they take my life I will only get the crown the sooner. Three times was he shipwrecked, a day and a night in the deep, deserted by every friend, and yet forever going on. When he wrote that Letter back to Corinth he said,
In journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold in nakedness.
Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches 2Co 11:26-28).
Doubtless some people would say to the Apostle, You are meeting with too much opposition, you are suffering too greatly in this cause, but he only answers, Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Referring to it all, he said, None of these things move me. But finally at Rome, Nero signs his death warrant. Take your stand by him again and look at the little man. In the sight of the world he is contemptible; they say he is fanatic, he has gone mad. Put your question, Paul, are you not sorry you have been so zealous for Christ? It is going to cost you your life. If you had it to live over again would you live it for Jesus? See his eyes light up, and hear him saying, If I had ten thousand lives I should give every one of those lives to Christ, and the only regret I have is that I did not serve Him better; that I ever lifted my voice against Jesus of Nazareth. But they are going to behead you/ Well, they may take my head, but the Lord has my heart, and when my head is taken off I shall depart and be with Christ, which is far better. And they led him out. He is now on the way to execution. Take your stand by his side and hear him talk, Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. Ah, that was his coronation hour! Look once more, he is entering the Eternal City and Herald Angels now are shouting, He is coming! he is coming! And he goes sweeping through the pearly gates to the very throne of God, and Christ stands there and says, Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
Ah, beloved, before such an instance of perseverance, do not our sensitive natures, our cringing customs, our shrinking, shirking spirits stand ashamed? And are we not compelled to admit that the devil has occasion for some of his accusations?
But a few words concerning
SATANS ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Three things he did in dealing with Job.
He made evil men to be the ministrants of his will. When the Sabeans fell upon the oxen and asses and carried them away, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword, those Sabeans were Satans agents. When the Chaldeans made three bands, and fell upon the camels, and took them away, they also were Satans agents. People wonder why men murder their fellows? Because they are servants of him who delights to send them upon such hellish missions. People wonder why men despoil innocence and laugh at the wreck? Because they are servants of him who delights to destroy virtue! People wonder why jealousy and envy and strife are always venting themselves against superiors? Because Satan employs evil men to be ministrants of his will. Many of the hard problems of Scripture find their explanation in a solitary nameSatan! Why did Adam and Eve fall? Satan!
Why did the Antediluvians corrupt themselves? Satan!
Why did the Egyptians oppress the Israelites and slay their innocent children? Satan!
Why were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego cast into the fiery furnace? Satan!
Why was Christ nailed to the Cross? Satan!
He makes evil men to be the ministrants of his will. Study the criminal columns of todays papers and you have a fresh and up-to-date illustration of the truth that Satan makes evil men to be the ministrants of his will. The explanation of Judas Iscariots conduct in betraying the Christ, is the explanation of every evil deed from the day of the FallHe hath a devil from the beginning.
He compels natural forces to produce unnatural effects. Fire has been one of the good fortunes of mankind, but in Satans hand, it is one of the most destructive forces of all the earth. He employed it against Job. Ah, he hath employed it many a time since. We do well to speak of the fire fiend for such it is. I do not care if God did over-rule the burning of Chicago for its material good, I have no doubt that the devil had much to do with starting and spreading the flames. The vicious kick of a cow, the slothful custom of the milk-woman in carrying her lantern in the midst of combustibles, even the high winds that sent the flames from building to building, sweeping the whole city-side, these are all hints, not of Heavenly but of hellish forces. Have you never had your attention called to the fact that when Satans time is finally limited to a few short days, and his wrath is great, that among the great signs and wonders that will be wrought will be that of making fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men? (Rev 13:13). I do not wonder that the Ancients believed that lightning, in its destructive work, was the expression of anger upon the part of an evil god. That with which men are themselves destroyed is constantly the very thing by which they destroy others; and Satan, who is one day to have his followers devoured by a fire out of Heaven, and to find his own doom in the lake of fire and brimstone, is now often using this natural force for unnatural and evil effects.
But, further, There came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead?. Let Paul pen the character of this great Adversary and he puts it into this language, The prince of the power of the air as well as, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. James Whitcomb B rougher has a story he tells of a man who was picked up in Missouri by a cyclone and landed in the middle of Ohio, after a few seconds of traveling. A farmer, going out into the yard and seeing him alighting, asked, How did you get here? Carried by a cyclone. Where did you come from? From Missouri. How long have you been coming? A few seconds! I declare, the Lord must have been with you. Then, answered the man, He must have been going some!
My candid opinion is that the Lord was with him when he alighted; but the devil was there when he was picked up and hurled through the heavens, for such a performance is not like our God. He is the Prince of the heavens, and the devil is the prince of the power of the air. No wonder then that the lightning dart deals death, or that the cyclone sweeps mercilessly homes, men. women and little children. There are a great many people in the world discussing the problem how God can be so destructive if He be a loving, Heavenly Father, forgetting that Satan is the great Destroyer, and that as the god of this world, he is using its natural forces to produce some evil and unnatural effects.
But, after all, Satans accomplishments are quite limited. When he has struck his last blow he has only succeeded in sending the Christian to his knees. We read, Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped.
And even when his wife called upon him to renounce God and die, he declared, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
When the devil sent his persecutors to stone Stephen to death they only succeeded in giving him a new revelation of the Christ and putting upon his lips a tender and loving petition, and in hastening his departure to be with the Lord.
Some one has called our attention to the fact that in the Dore gallery, in London, there is a remarkable series of paintings by Tissot, illustrating the life of our Lord. Among them is one representing the Ministry of the Angels in the Garden. At first, nothing could have appeared more grotesque. But, said the writer, I sat down before the picture and strove to find the artists thought. The body of Christ, exhausted after the fearful strain, lay prostrate and faint upon the ground. Scores of angel hands, so painted as to suggest that they were invisible to the physical eye, touched every portion of the Saviours body. Neither angel face nor form was visible, only the hands. It was not long before the tears came streaming down my cheeks. I saw the blessed thought and its lesson. He shall give His angels charge over Thee, to keep Thee in all Thy ways?
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
Notes
Job. 1:11. And he will curse thee to thy face. (Margin: If he curse thee not.) The clause susceptible of a variety of interpretations. The two particles at the commencement (im lo) if not, variously rendered and understood. By most they are regarded as expressive of an oath; with the rest of the form of imprecation understood; as, may I perish, or such like; i.e., if he will not curse thee, &c. So VATABLUS, PISCATOR, HUFNAGEL, and ZOCKLER, who makes the expression equivalent to verily. DATHE supplies, Let me be accounted a liar, i.e., if he do not curse thee, &c. SCHULTENS thus views the words as expressive of Satans impudence and contumacy. Others supply see; i.e., if he will not, &c. So CAREY. Some who retain the sense of blessing in the verb, render the particles, if not; i.e., if thou do no smite him, then, no doubt, he will bless thee to thy face, or in thy presense. So Dr. LEE, COLEMAN, YOUNG, &c. SANCTIUS, following the Vulgate, renders the verb in the past tense, as expressive of habit,[See] if he hath not [mercly] blessed thee to thy face. i.e., hypocritically. ADAM CLARKE: He will bless thee (or be pious) according to thy appearances for him. GOOD and BOOTHROYD interrogatively: Will he still bless thee? TOWNSEND: Then he will bless thee in thy presence, as he has hitherto done. Job thus to be proved a mercenary worshipper according to either sense of the verb: If thou smite him he will curse thee to thy face; if not, he will still bless thee, but only to thy face. The same meaning of renouncing, however, probably attached to (brch) here as in Job. 1:5; only, as has been remarked by NOYES and others, the phrase is stronger here, as importing an utter and public renunciation of religion as a vain thing. So SCHULTENS, DATHE, UMBREIT, ROSENMLLER, STICKEL, &c. BARTH, in his Bible Manual, has: He will renounce or even blaspheme thee to thy face. MERCER: He will curse thee, i.e., deny thy providence, and say it is vain to serve thee. Similarly POOLE: He will reproach thy providence. It is well known that the heathen frequently reproach their gods in misfortune: Deos atque astra crudelia vocat.
THIRD PART OF PROSE INTRODUCTION
I. The celestial council (Job. 1:6). There was a day. What God decrees in eternity has its day of accomplishment in time. Everything has its hour [Hebrew Proverb].
The sons of God came. Representation of Gods court and administration. So 1Ki. 22:19. The veil separating the visible from the invisible drawn aside. Reveals an assembly of Gods angelic ministers and Himself among them. All Jobs trials the result of transactions in heaven. The same true of the sufferings and death of Jobs great Antitype (Act. 2:23; Act. 4:27-28); and of the trials of the least of His suffering members (Rom. 8:28-30).
Angels
Sons of God, i.e., angels, celestial spirits. So Job. 38:7. All ministering spirits employed in Jehovahs service (Psa. 103:21; Heb. 1:14) Perhaps including the spirits of departed believers (Rev. 7:13; Rev. 22:8-9; Act. 12:14-15). Sons of God, from their nature; angels, or messengers, from their office. Sons of God, by creation; angels, by Divine appointment. Sons of God, as resembling God,
(1) in spirituality of substance;
(2) in intellectual, moral, and physical qualities (Psa. 103:20). Of various ranks and orders, and invested with various powers and charges (Rom. 8:38; Eph. 1:21; Col. 1:16; 2Pe. 2:11; Rev. 14:18; Rev. 16:5; Rev. 19:17).Present themselves before the Lord, as His ministers or attendants (Pro. 22:29; Zec. 6:5; Luk. 1:19). Ready to receive and execute His orders and to render their account. Thousands at His bidding speed, and post oer land and ocean. As supreme Governor, God takes cognizance of all that is done in this and other worlds. Mighty spirits, the ministers and executioners of His behests. Such employed in the destruction of the cities of the plain (Gen. 19:1; Gen. 19:12-13); in the promulgation of the law on Mount Sinai (Gal. 3:19; Act. 7:53; Psa. 68:17); in the destruction of the Assyrian army and deliverance of Jerusalem (Isa. 37:36); in the restoration of the Jewish church and state after the captivity (Dan. 2:20-21; Zec. 1:10-11; Zec. 1:20-21; Zec. 6:1-3); in the establishment and spread of the Gospel (Luk. 2:9-12; Joh. 1:51); in the destruction of the kingdom of Antichrist (Rev. 19:14); in the transactions of the last day (Mat. 13:41; Mat. 13:49-50); in the service of individual believers (Heb. 1:14; Act. 12:7); preeminently in that of their incarnate Head (Psa. 91:11-12; Mat. 4:11).
The LORD. Heb., Jehovah. Always with this meaning when printed in capitals. Indicates
(1) The self-existing, eternal, unchangeable Being (Exo. 3:14);
(2) The faithful fulfiller of covenant relations and engagements. Not practically known to the patriarchs before Moses by this name (Exo. 6:3). Appeared only at the Burning Bush as the promise-fulfilling God. The name applied to and appropriated by Jesus (Rom. 13:10-12; Rev. 1:8). Given specifically to the One True God who adopted the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for His people, when the world was apostatizing into idolatry. The name never applied to a false God or to any mere creature. Given however to an angel who is called the angel of the Lord or the angel Jehovah, being the second person in the Godhead; the Messenger of the Covenant and Mediator between God and men, who afterwards became incarnate.
II. Satans Presence
And Satan came also among them.
Satan
Here first introduced under this name.
Observe
1. His name. Denotes the adversary. The devil so called (1Pe. 5:8). The name without the article applied to an adversary in a court of justice (Psa. 109:6). Other namesthe Devil or Slanderer; the Old Serpent; the Great Dragon; the Tempter; the Wicked One; Beelzebub; Apollyon; the Prince and god of this world.
2. His personality. His personal existence is
(1.) In accordance with reason. (i) Existences may be above as well as below man. (ii.) These existences may fall and become unholy as truly as man. (iii.) Fallen intelligent beings usually the tempters of others.
(2) Testified by the whole of Scripture. The truth regarding him gradually developed in the Old Testament. Marked out as a serpent in the temptation of our first parents. Probably the lying spirit in the mouth of the false prophets (1Ki. 22:21). The name itself given, 1Ch. 21:1; Zec. 3:1. His personality pre-eminently taught by the Lord Jesus Himself in the Gospels.
(3) Confirmed by universal belief. The belief in the existence of such a spirit common to all nations.
3. His nature and character. A created spirit; probably one of the highest. A son of God by creation, like the other angels, and originally holy; but fell, apparently through pride (1Ti. 3:6; Jud. 1:6). Has become the tempter and accuser of men, especially of the good (Rev. 12:10). The most finished specimen of unsanctified intelligence. His nature,great intellect employed for selfish and wicked purposes. Designated by Christ a liar and a murderer (Joh. 8:44). Christs whole life a conflict with him, according to the promise (Gen. 3:15). The life of every believer a similar conflict (Eph. 6:11-17; 1Pe. 5:8), Believers made the theatre of Christs continued victory over him. Already overcome by Christ on their behalf (Col. 2:15). To be bruised under their feet shortly (Rom. 16:20). Meantime to be steadfastly resisted (1Pe. 5:9). Times of signal victory over him indicated in Luk. 10:18; Rev. 12:10. Seeks every advantage over us (2Co. 2:11). Transforms himself into an angel of light (2Co. 11:14). Is overcome by the word of God and faith in the blood of Christ (Rev. 12:11). Law and justice, through sin, on Satans side against man; (Heb. 2:14); but through Christs death, once more on mans side against Satan (Isa. 42:21; Isa. 51:8; Rom. 8:32-34). Believers to reckon on his repeated and sometimes sudden assaults. The more faithful and walking in the light, the more exposed to them.
4. His works. The agent in Adams fall (2Co. 2:3)a wide-spread tradition. Sought to overthrow Christ and to draw Him into sin (Matthew 4). He blinds mens minds against the light of the Gospel (2Co. 4:4). Seeks to catch away the seed of the word from the hearts of the hearers (Mat. 13:19). Aims at beguiling mens minds from the simplicity of Christs doctrine (2Co. 2:3). Affects mens bodies with diseases and infirmities (Luk. 13:16). Endeavours to thwart the preachers of the Gospel (1Th. 2:18). Employs his messengers to buffet Christs servants (2Co. 12:7). Probably much of the unsteadfastness and discomfort of believers due to his agency [Homilist]. In regard to Satan, the book of Job in close analogy with the whole Bible. Jobs happiness the object of his envy, like that of Adam in Eden. Lying spirits, as well as ministering angels, sent forth from Gods presence (also in 1Ki. 22:19). The thorn in the flesh from Satan, alike in the case of Job and Paul.Came also. Satan not less than other spirits subject to Gods authority. Like them also employed in executing the divine purposes. An intruder into all sacred places (1Ki. 22:19, &c.; Luk. 4:31). His punishment only gradually inflicted. Still allowed to move at large.Among them. As Judas among the Apostles. Still found in the assemblies of Gods children. No place on earth too holy for his intrusion. Public ordinances special occasions for the exertion of his power. Present to distract the thoughts, defile the imagination, and harden the heart.
III. Jehovahs challenge regarding Job (Job. 1:7).
The Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou? The highest fallen spirit amenable to Jehovah. No creature able to outgrow his responsibility. That responsibility not diminished by a course of sin. Gods questions not for information to the questioner but conviction to the questioned. Similar questions to Adam (Gen. 3:2); and to Cain (Gen. 4:9). The question intended to open the way to Jobs desired trial. At the same time lays bare Satans character and doings. The most secret malice open to the eye of Omniscience.
From going to and fro. Marks
(1) Satans present circumstances. Allowed still to roam at large, though ever in chains. Only reserved to the judgment of eternal fire (Jud. 1:6; Mat. 25:31).
(2) His terrible activity. Satan no laggard. Ever on the wing. In constant quest of opportunities of mischief (1Pe. 5:8). A true Apollyon; assiduous in his endeavours to destroy.
(8) His homelessness and unrest. Like Cain, a vagabond in the earth. Seeks rest and finds none (Mat. 12:45). No rest for a depraved spirit (Isa. 57:20-21).
(4) His constant increase of knowledge. Same word implies Search (Num. 11:8; 2Sa. 24:2). Satan ever prying into the ways and circumstances of men. Constantly increasing his knowledge with a view to destroy.In the earth. This earth now the permitted sphere of his activity. No place therefore secure from his attacks. Good to remember we are in a world where Satan is, and is ever active.Going up and down in it. Intensifies his activity and restlessness. Satans name among the Arabs, El Harith, The Active, or The Zealous. Seems to glory in his work. Knows he has but a short time (Rev. 12:12). Goes up and down in the earth but finds no home in it. Satan and all his children homeless wanderers in the universe. His answer in keeping with his character. Tells only part of the truth. Says nothing of the evil he does and seeks to do. Unable to report any good deed, and unwilling to own to any evil one. His work had been to draw men away from their allegiance to God and to destroy their souls.Hast thou considered? &c. Satan questioned as no unconcerned spectator. Allusion to his character as a spy, enemy, and accuser of good men.My servant Job. God never ashamed to own his faithful servants. An interested spectator of a good mans ways and actions. A faithful servant of God the most considerable object in the world to God and angels. A servant of God the most honourable and distinguishing title. May be mean and contemptible without, but all glorious within (Psa. 45:13). Job Gods servant consciously and by choice; Nabuchadnezzar Gods servant unconsciously and by constraint (Jer. 25:9). Gods people proved by living as His servants, not as their own masters. My servant Job, a stinging word to Satan. A true saint is Satans eye-sore. A good man the special object of his attention and malice. Job mentioned by name. Implies intimate knowledge and special regard (Exo. 33:12; Isa. 49:1; Jer. 13:11; Joh. 10:3).That there is, &c. God dwells on Jobs character. Delights in contemplating his saints (Zep. 3:17.None like him, in the degree of his piety and fidelity. Degrees of excellence. Job not only the greatest but the holiest. Eminence in goodness to be aimed at. Paul gloried in being not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles (2Co. 11:5). His motto, Forward (Php. 3:11-14). On to perfection (Heb. 6:1). God notices not only a mans piety but the degree of it. Gives to each his just meed of praise.A perfect and an upright man. Jobs good character endorsed by God. Good to have mans testimony in our favour,better still to have Gods. God more observant of the good than the evil in his people (Num. 23:21).
IV. Satans accusation and proposal (Job. 1:9).
Doth Job serve God for nought? Satan true to his name, the Devil, or Slanderer. Accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10). A good mans praise the reproach and torment of the bad. Satan exalts a mans piety to make him proud, denies it to make him sad. Cannot deny Jobs religion, but challenges the ground and reality of it. A mark of Satans children to be a detractor of true godliness. Satans method to begin by questioning. Insinuates, then directly charges. Always a liar. In Eden, called evil good, now calls good evil. Satans insinuation the immediate occasion of Jobs trial.For nought. Either
(1) Without sufficient cause (Joh. 15:25); or,
(2) Without regard to his own interest (Gen. 20:15). Jobs religion charged with mercenary motiveshis piety mere selfishness. Bad men judge of others by themselves. With carnal men piety is policy. A truth at the bottom of Satans insinuation, though false in regard to Job. Everything lies in the motive. A selfish piety no piety. Common with Satans children to call Gods saints hypocrites. An evil conscience makes men suspicious of others sincerity. Satans charge against Job implicitly one against God himself and the plan of Redemption. If Jobs religion is hollow, all religion is, and Redemption is a failure.Satans words true as a fact, though false as motive. No man serves God for nought. Godliness profitable unto all things (1Ti. 4:8; 1Ti. 6:6). In keeping Gods commandments is great reward (Psa. 19:11). God himself the exceeding great reward of His servants (Gen. 15:1). True godliness consistent with respect to the recompense of the reward (Heb. 11:26). Past and present mercies also not excluded from the motives to godliness (Rom. 12:1). Yet true religion more than gratitude for past or regard to future good (Psa. 119:129; Psa. 119:140). Satan well acquainted with mankind, but ignorant of the nature of true grace. Not only a deceiver but, like all unregenerate men, deceived (Tit. 3:3)Hast thou not made a hedge about him (Job. 1:10). Satan speaks truth when it serves his purpose. The saints happiness and enjoyment of the divine favour the object of his hatred and envy. Gods protection of his servants a blessed truth. (Psalms 91; Psalms 121). His angels and still more Himself the hedge of His people (Psa. 34:7; Psa. 121:3; Zach. Job. 2:5). Either is Himself the hedge or makes one. Satan would leap the hedge, but dare not, and cannot without permission.And about His house. Not only the godly but their belongings the object of divine care. Horses and chariots of fire around Elishas residence (2Ki. 6:17).On every side. Satan a wolf prowling round the fold and vexed to find no means of entrance.Hast blessed the work of His hands. Satan well aware of the source of Jobs prosperity (Pro. 10:22). Satan no atheist. Practical atheism makes men deny what Satan admits. The work of his hands,his undertakings and engagements, as a man, a master, and a magistrate. Job diligent in business as well as fervent in spirit (Rom. 12:11. Gods blesssing not with the idle but with the industrious. All toil bootless which is unblest by God (Psa. 126:1-2). Peter toils all night but catches nothing till Christ enters the boat (Luk. 5:5-6).But put forth thine hand now (Job. 1:11). Satans impudence equal to his malice. Gives God the lie and challenges Him to a trial. Asserts Jobs hypocrisy and offers to prove it. Adopts the language of a suppliant. Satan prays, but in malice. Eager to see Job a sufferer and proved to be a hypocrite. Unable to put forth his own hand without permission.Touch all that he hath,children and possessions. The touch intended to be a destructive one (Psa. 105:15). Satans mercies cruel. Earthly possessions subject to Gods disposal. Prosperity vanishes at his touch, (Psa. 104:32).He will curse thee,reproach or renounce thee, as in Job. 1:5. The natural result, on the principle of selfishness. Common with unrenewed nature. Heathens in misfortune vilify their gods. Pompey, after a defeat, said there had been a mist on the eyes of Providence. Margin, If he curse thee not. Probably an oath or imprecation, but partly suppressed. Profanity the devils language; yet in Gods presence keeps back from fear what men fear not to utter.To thy face,boldly and openly. Jobs fear for his sons that they might have done it in their hearts. Boldness and openness an aggravation of sin. Charity thinketh no evil; malice thinks all evil.
V. The Permission (Job. 1:12).
Behold. Marks
(1) the strangeness of the thing;
(2) the impudence of the demand;
(3) the purpose of God to make the whole conspicuous. Gods thoughts and ways above mans. His judgments a great deep. Makes the wrath of man and devil to praise Him. Glory to God and blessing to man by the permission now given to Satan.All that be bath is in thy power. Satans prayer granted, and himself to be the instrument. A double gratification, but to issue in his own confusion. Not always a mercy for a man to have his prayer answered (Psa. 106:15; Hos. 13:10-11). Job now, like the disciples, to be for a time in Satans sieve (Luk. 22:31). To be cast into the furnace, not to be consumed, but proved and purified. Not understood at the time, though sometimes for a moment apprehended (Job. 23:10). His ignorance of the fact the cause of his disquietude and perplexity. Believers often ignorant of the cause and object of their trials (Joh. 13:7). Gods heart always towards his people even when his hand seems against them. His dearest saints sometimes apparently for a time abandoned by Him (Psa. 22:1; 2Ch. 32:31). The most crushing trials neither inconsistent with His grace in us nor His love to us. The cup drunk by the Head often tasted by the members, though for a different object (Mat. 20:23; Mat. 26:39). Satan Gods scullion for scouring the vessels of His household [Trapp].On himself put not forth thine hand. Satan a chained lion, and the chain in our Fathers hand. Believers tried no farther than is necessary.So Satan went forth. Gladly and eagerly as a wolf with permission to enter the fold. Thought every hour two till he had sped his commission [Trapp]. His diligence in doing evil to be emulated by us in doing good.From the Presence of the Lord,having been, like Doeg, detained against his will (1Sa. 21:7). Gods presence no place for an unholy nature. To see God, the happiness only of the pure in heart (Mat. 5:8; 1Jn. 3:1; 1Jn. 3:3; Rev. 22:4).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
2. Satans insinuation (Job. 1:6-10)
TEXT 1:610
(6) Now it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, that Satan also came among them. (7) And Jehovah said onto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it my servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and turneth away from evil. (9) Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? (10) Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath, on every side: thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
COMMENT 1:610
Job. 1:6Here we encounter the first scene in heavenJob. 1:6-12 : Yahweh is represented as an oriental king seated on His throne. Here Satan is challenged to find a single flaw in Jobs character. Satan first responds by impugning the motives of Job. The name of the game is that every man has his price! The Hebrew text means there came a day when with the succeeding phrase introduced by waw consecutive and the imperfect verb form.[32] The sons of Elohim are identified in the LXX as angels or messengers (compare Gen. 6:1-4; Gen. 11:5 ff; Job. 38:7; and 1Ki. 22:19 ff). The phrase to station themselves (Heb. lehityasseb) implies the attitude of the servant before his master (see also Zec. 6:5). The same term describes how David stood before Saul in 1Sa. 16:21 and Jer. 52:12. The definite article stands before the word Satan, i.e., The Satan. Satan is the adversary at law, the accuser (see Psa. 109:6; and compare 1Ch. 21:1 with its parallel passage 2Sa. 24:1). The character of Satan is clearly defined: He will challenge the uprightness of Job, and inflict calamities on Job.[33]
[32] For the evidence regarding the specific day which the text might have in mind, see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel (New York: McGraw Hill, 1961), pp. 5024. The day clearly depicts two councils in which Jobs fate is at stake. Compare Jobs vindication with Kafkas The Trial in which cosmic justice is unavailable.
[33] The origin and nature of most technical discussions of Satan contain naturalistic comparative religion assumptions. In our age when people have difficulty believing in God, surely we should not be surprised regarding their hesitancy to accept the ontological existence of Satan. See appropriate Kittel articles and especially R. S. Kluger, Satan in the Old Testament (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1967); H. Torczyner suggests the idea that the origin of Satan is to be found in the concept of Persian secret police. See his commentary on Job.
Job. 1:7Yahweh asks Satan to give an account of his doings. Gods question does not imply ignorance, rather it becomes a point of encounter (see Exo. 4:2). Satan responds that he has been roaming throughout the earth (see 1Pe. 5:8). The Hebrew is the common verbto walk or stroll (Num. 11:8; 2Sa. 24:2; and Zec. 1:10-11). The image does not suggest that of vigilantes but rather of prosecutors. We are now at the boundary of the action of the drama.
Job. 1:8Job is Gods paradigm of a righteous man. Yahweh asks Satan, Have you turned your attention to my servant Job? The Hebrew grammar presents a marvelous imageto give ones heart or focus strong attention on an object of vital concern. The locution of my servant Job[34] is a characteristic of both the Prologue (Job. 2:3) and Epilogue (Job. 42:7-8). But why all the concern for Jobs integrity? Yahweh sets forth Job as an example of perfect human loyalty to Himself. Satan skeptically interprets Jobs characteristics as mere self-interest. Satan vows Job is a kind of Machiavellian prince. At the heart of this confrontation between Yahweh and Satan iswho is the organizing center for life and all realityman or God? The issue is a central factor in our twentieth century malaise. What is the value of such a victorythat is of locating a single righteous man in all the earth? (Eze. 14:14; Eze. 14:20 appeals to the examples of Noah, Daniel, and Job; see also Jer. 31:29; Job. 22:27-30; Isa. 52:13Isa. 53:12).
[34] See C. Lindhagens exhaustive study, The Servant Motif in the Old Testament, 1950; also Jeremias excellent study.
Job. 1:9Is it for nothing (Heb. Hinnamwithout justification, irrationally, or arbitrarily) that Job fears Elohim? Satans irony is expressed in this rhetorical question. Here we meet Job our contemporary. The question is addressed to every man. Do Gods good gifts come to those whose motives are self-interest? If we do good, good fortune follows as a reward; if we do evil, punishment follows. The American Dream syndrome runs dangerously parallel to the assumption that success implies the blessings of God; and failure entails Gods disfavor. What is the relationship of piety to prosperity? Are there no poor righteous? (Note the poor in America and the Third and Fourth Worlds). The Bible consistently warns about the snares of riches (Deu. 32:15; Pro. 30:8 ff; Psa. 73:3-9; Mar. 10:23).
Job. 1:10Satan now declaresNo wonder Job is loyal. You (Hebrew is emphatic) have built a protective hedge (Hebrewsurround with thorns for purposes of protection) about him. The thorn hedge is Jobs prosperity! Everything Job does, he prospers. Little wonder that he is Gods man. Jobs possessions are literally breaking out (Hebrew verb means to overflowGen. 38:29; Mic. 2:13) in uncontrolled prosperity. While his prosperity is a barrier against attack, it is without barrier against its own increase (Rowley, Job, p. 32).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(6) Sons of God.Comp. Job. 38:7, Gen. 6:2; Gen. 6:4; and for the sense comp. 1Ki. 22:19. The phrase probably means the angels; or at all events an incident in the unseen spiritual world is referred to simultaneous with a corresponding one on earth. (Comp. 1Co. 11:10.) In the latter sense, a solemn thought is suggested by it to those who join in the public worship of God.
Satan.The word appears in the Old Testament as the name of a specific person only here and in Zec. 3:2, and possibly in 1Ch. 21:1 and Psa. 109:6. If this psalm is Davids, according to the inscription, no reliance can be placed on speculations as to the late introduction of a belief in Satan among the Jews, nor, therefore, on any as to the lateness of these early chapters of Job. Precisely the same word is used, apparently as a common name, in the history of Balaam (Num. 22:22; Num. 22:32), also in 1Sa. 29:4, and 1Ki. 5:4; 1Ki. 11:14; 1Ki. 11:23; 1Ki. 11:25, where it can hardly be otherwise. Here only and in Zechariah it is found with the definite article the adversary. The theory of the personality of the evil one must largely depend upon the view we take of these and other passages of Scripture as containing an authoritative revelation.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
JEHOVAH’S DETERMINATION TO TRY JOB, Job 1:6-12.
“It was a correct feeling which influenced the poet to indicate at the outset to the reader the divine grounds of the decree, and thus to provide for him a polestar which would guide him through all the entanglement of the succeeding conflicts. This he does by disclosing to us those events occurring in heaven which led to the divine decree concerning Job, the execution of which thereupon follows.” Dillmann.
6. Now there was a day Rather, Now it came to pass on the day, perhaps some fixed time when the sons of God came together; “a sabbath day,” says Lightfoot, 2:110. Greswell ( Fasti Catholici, Job 1:18) adduces Psa 89:29, and Deu 11:21, in illustration of his speculation, that it may be not merely in the language of analogy, or of accommodation to human ideas, that inspiration itself speaks of the days of heaven, or gives us reason to conclude that even in heaven, as well as on earth, the lapse of time is measured and numbered by days of some kind or other. In keeping with this, the Chaldee paraphrast has presumed to specify the day: “Now it happened in the day of judgment, (or scrutiny,) in the beginning of the year, that hosts of angels came to stand in judgment before Jehovah, and Satan came.”
The sons of God Septuagint, “angels of God.” Targum, “crowds of angels.” (See Job 38:7.) The sons of God are unquestionably angels, beings of some one of the several gradations of the intelligent and holy universe. Eph 1:21. The sons of God, bene Elohim, were in existence when “the foundations of the earth were laid,” and united in celebrating the laying of its corner-stone with “shouts of joy.” The peculiar designation of sons of God may point to a close relationship or a similarity of nature with Him, somewhat like that existing between child and parent among us. These sons of Deity may differ more from angels, who bear other titles, than from our own race, who, under the ennobling influences of grace, are called sons of God. (Gen 6:2; Hos 1:10; Rom 8:14.) Satan, though ruined by sin, was still in essential nature a son of God, and may have had at that time certain primordial rights (not then withdrawn, Luk 10:18; Joh 12:31; Rev 12:9) to appear with these sons before God. Christ, par excellence, is called “Son of God,” the only-begotten of the Father, because he alone of all beings has oneness of nature with God. (See note on Gen 6:2.) At a period not far from the time of Job the doctrine of angelic ministry had been plainly revealed. The ascent and descent of the angels upon Jacob’s ladder emblemed forth their tireless activity. They “rest not day and night.” Rev 4:8. Before the Lord Elohim in the next verse Jehovah. (See note on Job 1:21 and on Gen 2:4.) They “take their stand” (Carey) before Jehovah, probably to engage in praise and adoration, and perhaps at the same time, to render account for their actions, and receive new commissions and behests. That these “sons of God” should be called upon at stated times to give account of their deeds is not an unreasonable thought for us a race upon whom the sense of responsibility is stamped; and who will be summoned to undergo our ordeal at the close of life.
And Satan See Excursus I, p. 33.
Came also among them The expression, “in the midst of them,” does not imply constraint or obligation to appear with the sons of God, nor friendliness of association, but savours rather of intrusion and unexpectedness of appearance. The form of the question, “Whence art thou [just now] coming?” (the imperfect expressing the immediate present; thus Zockler and Davidson) favours such a view, inasmuch as the question seemingly arrests Satan in the act of making his approach. Whatever may have been the privileges of Satan at that time, (Job 1:6,) the scene smacks of effrontery, and makes clear the distinction of the evil from the good, and their irreconcilable antagonism. See Excursus II, p. 34.
Satan given Permission to Afflict Job
v. 6. Now, there was a day when the sons of God, v. 7. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? v. 8. And the Lord said unto Satan, v. 9. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? v. 10. Hast not Thou made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side? v. 11. But put forth Thine hand now and touch all that he hath, v. 12. And the Lord said unto Satan, Job 1:6. Now there was a day It came to pass on the day when, &c. Heath. Thus denoting some determinate time, when the sons of God, i.e. the angels, (called the sons of God, because they were like unto God, in being immortal, see Luk 20:36.) came to present themselves. The verb lehithiatseb, rendered present themselves, expresses the attendance and assiduity of ministers appearing before their king to receive his commands. This account of the angels and Satan’s appearing before God, must be understood as a prophetical representation, similar to that in 1Ki 22:19. The scripture speaks of God after the manner of men; for there is a necessity of condescending to our capacities, and of suiting the revelation to our apprehensions. As kings, therefore, transact their most important affairs in a solemn council or assembly, so God is pleased to represent himself as having his council likewise, and as passing the decrees of his providence in an assembly of his holy angels. We have here, in the case of Job, the same grand assembly held, as was before in that of Ahab, 1 Kings 22 the same host of heaven, called here the sons of God, presenting themselves before Jehovah; as in the vision of Micaiah, they are said to stand on his right hand, and on his left. A wicked spirit appeared among them, here called Satan, or the adversary, and there a lying spirit; bent on mischief both, and ready to do all the hurt that they were able, or as far as God would give them leave; but, nevertheless, both under the control of his power, and suffered to go thus far and no farther, as might best serve the wise ends of his justice and his providence. The imagery, in short, is just the same; similis , as Grotius observes: and the only difference is in the manner of the relation. Micaiah, as a prophet, and in the actual exercise of his prophetic office, delivers it as he received it, that is, as in vision. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, &c. The other, as an historian, interweaves it with the history, and tells us, in the same plain narrative stile, There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, as he does, There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. The things delivered to us by these two sacred writers are in substance the same, equally high, and above the reach of mere human sight and knowledge: but the manner of delivering them is different; by each as suited best their several purposes, and both, no doubt, by inspiration and direction of Almighty God. This, then, is the prophetical way of representing things, as to the manner of doing them; which, whether done exactly in the same manner or not, concerns not us to know, but which are really done; and God would have them described as done in this manner, to make the more lively and more lasting impression on us. At the same time it must not be forgotten, that representations of this kind are founded in a well-known and established truth, I mean the doctrine of angels good and bad: a point revealed, no doubt, from the beginning; and without a previous knowledge whereof, the visions of the prophets could scarcely be intelligible: see Genesis 28. We would just observe, that from the prophetical stile being used by the writer of this book, we have reason to conclude, that he must have been a prophet, i.e. an inspired person; for, otherwise, a man of that sense and piety which the book shews him to be, would never presume to counterfeit the prophetic stile, or usurp a privilege or character which did not belong to him. See Peters, p. 121 who, in his 89th and following pages, has largely endeavoured to disprove what Bishop Warburton observes respecting the word Satan. See 1Ki 22:21 and the note on the next chapter of this book, Job 1:7.
(6) Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
I cannot detain the Reader of this humble Commentary with a large and circumstantial account of what the scripture relates concerning the great enemy of souls, neither of the work and agency of the devil, as there set forth in his devices for the destruction of men. I take for granted that my Reader is too well established by grace, in the perfect conviction both of the reality of his person, and of the malice of his designs, to need any observation on these points. That he hath, from the first seduction of Adam in the garden to the present hour, had access to the hearts of men, is a truth too sad to be thought on, but with sorrow; and too true, but to be lamented with tears. It is his devilish work and delight to seduce sinners to their ruin. He filled the heart of Judas to betray Christ, and of Ananias to lie unto the Holy Ghost; and to lead poor sinners captive at his will. 2Ti 2:26 ; Act 5:3 . No doubt as he is a vanquished foe, all that he is permitted to exercise upon the minds of God’s people, as the case of Job, is only to afford thereby a larger opportunity for the manifestation of God’s sovereign grace, Jesus’s victory, and his peoples happiness.
Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Ver. 6. Now there was a day ] Haply that day wherein Job’s children were feasting their last. The Rabbis say the first day of the year, and some say the Sabbath day; but who told them so? This is to intrude into things which they have not seen, Col 2:18 , and whereof there is neither proof nor profit. Certain it is, that as God hath before all beginnings decreed all things, so he hath set and assigned the times or seasons which he hath put in his own power, Act 1:7 , when everything shall come to pass as himself hath appointed. Now then, saith Beza, the time being come which he prefixed for the actual accomplishing of that he had decreed concerning Job, he revealed the same to Satan (being before altogether ignorant thereof), as whom he had appointed to be the chief instrument in executing his will and purpose.
The sons of God
Came to present themselves
And Satan came also among them
Before the Lord sons of God = the angels. Compare Job 38:7, and see App-23.
present themselves = take their stations.
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
Satan = the Adversary.
Job 1:6. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Angels and all kinds of intelligent spirits had, as it were, a special, solemn, general assembly, a great field-day, or levee. Perhaps, in stars far remote, in various parts of the universe, there was celebrated that day a high festival of honour unto Jehovah, but since sin has come into the world, since even amongst the twelve apostles there was a Judas, so in every assembly, even though it be an assembly of the sons of God, there is sure to be a devil: Satan came also among them. If he is not anywhere else, he is sure to be where the sons of God are gathered together. Yet what impudence this is on his part, that he dares to come even into the assemblies of the saints! And what hardness of heart he must have, for he comes in as a devil, and he goes out as a devil! The sons of God offer their spiritual prayers inspired by the Holy Ghost, but the devil offers diabolical petitions suggested by his own malice.
Job 1:7. And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?
He is obliged to give an account of himself, he cannot go a yard from his door without divine permission.
Job 1:7. Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Satan is always busy, never quiet; he cannot be still.
Job 1:8. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job,
You see, Job is a man whom God calls his servant even in speaking to the devil, Hast thou considered my servant Job?
Job 1:8. That there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
God himself gives Job that high character. He is a non-such, he stands alone amongst mankind: There is none like him in the earth. Hast thou reckoned him up? Hast thou taken his measure, O thou accuser of the brethren?
Job 1:9. Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Even the devil could not bring a charge against Jobs conduct; so he insinuated that his motives were not pure.
Job 1:10. Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?
He finds that it pays, it answers his purpose to be devout.
Job 1:10-11. Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
See, the devil measures Jobs cow in his own bushel; but, happily, it was the measurement of a liar, so he measured amiss. There are still some who say, Yes, it is a fine thing to be good when you are rich; it is a very easy thing to behave yourself aright when all goes smoothly with you. Would the man, who is such a devout servant of God now, be like that if he were in poverty, or if he were cruelly slandered, or if he were tested with contempt? Would the grace of God carry him over those rough bridges? His religion is a fine thing, no doubt; but if he were tried and tested we should see what he would do. Now, the Lord delights in proving the graces of his people, for it brings great glory to his name when experiments are made upon them, to test them and try them, and to let even their greatest adversary know how true they are, and what a divine work it is which God has wrought upon them.
Job 1:12. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand.
Satan could go so far, but no farther, there is an only in the permission granted to him: Only upon himself put not forth thine hand.
Job 1:12-13. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brothers house:
That was a bad day for trouble to come. Satan selected that day because it was a joyful day, and therefore it would make the trials of Job the more startling. Moreover if Job could have had his choice, he would have preferred that his trouble should come when his sons and his daughters were praying, not when they were feasting.
Job 1:14-15. And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
The bad news comes to him all of a sudden, just when he is thinking of something very different. There is only one servant left to tell the tale, he was spared that Job might know that the news was true. If that one other servant had been killed, the tidings could only have reached Job as a rumor, that might or might not be true, but now, one of his own servants tells him the sad story, so there is no mistake about it. Ah! the devil knows how and where to strike when he does strike; yet this was only the first blow for poor Job, and there were heavier ones to follow.
Job 1:16. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Now, if that lightning had fallen on the Sabeans while they were robbing and plundering, one might not have wondered; but to fall on the flocks of a man of God who had clothed the naked with the fleeces of his sheep, and had presented many of the fat of the flock unto God in sacrifice, that did seem strange. This trial, too, comes right upon the back of the other, and this one would appear to be more severe than the former one because it seemed to come distinctly from God. The fire of God the lightning, is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep.
Job 1:17. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the word; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Three such heavy blows will surely be enough to test the patriarch, but a fourth messenger came with the direst news of all.
Job 1:18-19. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brothers house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Did any other man ever have to endure such a complication of trouble, such agonies piled one upon another with no respite? Job must have felt well-nigh stunned and choked by these consecutive griefs.
Job 1:20-22. Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mothers womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
Oh, the triumphs of almighty grace! May God grant us such patience, if he sends us such trials, and unto him shall be the glory evermore!
Job 1:6-12
Job 1:6-12
THAT CONVERSATION BETWEEN GOD AND SATAN
“Now it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, that Satan also came among them. And Jehovah said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And Jehovah said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and turneth away from evil. Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath, on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will renounce thee to thy face. And Jehovah said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power: only upon himself put not forth thy hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah.”
See our chapter introduction for the location of this scene, not in heaven, but upon earth when God’s people were assembled for worship.
“Jehovah … Jehovah … Jehovah … Jehovah … Jehovah … Jehovah … Jehovah” (Job 1:6-12). Seven times in six verses, the covenant name of God appears in this passage, thundering the message that the “sons of God” here are those in covenant relationship with the Eternal. Note that [~’Elohiym] (God) is used twice in the preceding paragraph. Are the holy angels within any such covenant relationship? Absolutely, NO! How blind the critics are to this passage! Dummelow noted that the use of the Tetragrammaton here is thought by some, “To be a slip on the part of the author! How could anybody make “a slip” seven times in six verses? Our own opinion is that we have proof here, as Dummelow wrote, that, “The Tetragrammaton (Jehovah) may have been much older than Moses.” This writer fully believes that the name Jehovah is indeed much older than Moses. (See my excursus on the Tetragrammaton (Y-H-W-H), beginning on p. 32 of my commentary on Exodus.)
“Satan here has ready access to heaven.” See chapter introduction for many reasons why such a comment is erroneous.
“The sons of God … are divine beings who shared in the nature of divinity.” Rowley enunciated the same error, “Sons of God means superhuman, or celestial beings.” “To interpret these words thus is to suppose that the very same words in Gen 6:1-3 teach that angels intermarried with men producing a race of giants, despite the fact that the Christ himself declared that angels “Neither marry nor are given in marriage” (Mat 22:30). The true meaning of Sons of God is found in Rom 8:14. How are they sons of God? “They are born of God, born of water and the Spirit”. In short, they are followers and worshippers of God; and so were those mentioned in Gen 6:1-3, and in this passage before us. To suppose that the Holy Spirit in this passage was speaking of angels is ridiculous. Did He not know the word angels? If that is what he meant, why did not the Holy Spirit write angels? This student of God’s Word has had his fill, and more, of the speculations of commentators who presume to tell us what the Holy Spirit meant, instead of what he said.
Rawlinson, usually quite accurate, misses it here, stating that, ” Job 1:7 teaches that Satan, therefore, is not, like most of his fallen angels, “reserved in chains under darkness to the judgment of the last day (Jud 1:1-6).” However, this very passage teaches that Satan is chained. (See more on the chaining of Satan under Job 1:12). He could not even touch Job, without God’s permission; and, even after the Lord gave him permission to destroy Job’s possessions, he was not allowed to touch the person of Job (Job 1:12).
“Doth Job fear God for naught?” (Job 1:9). Satan’s implication here is that Job’s motive for serving God was purely selfish. Atkinson raises the question, “Why do we serve God? Is it merely for what we can get out of it”? Some of the comments on this are quite inadequate. It is true that genuine faith does not serve God merely for the temporal blessings that most certainly do accompany it, and which Satan himself freely admitted in the next verse. But in spite of this, it is a profound fact that the ultimate reward in heaven, after the present life is ended, is a valid motive for serving God. Christ himself admonished righteousness, saying, “For great is your reward in heaven” (Mat 5:12). Yet, even the hope of heaven is not the highest motive. The Lord revealed that there are three basic motives for serving God, namely, (1) The love of God, (2) the hope of heaven, and (3) the fear of hell. Quite understandably, Satan was careful not to mention the other two motives! But we wonder why so many writers do not mention them.
“Hast thou not made a hedge about him?” (Job 1:10). Oh yes, even the devil admitted in this instance that serving God is certainly rewarded in this life also, at least, in the vast majority of instances; and it would doubtless be true invariably, if mankind had not chosen to become servants of the devil. In this verse, for once, the devil was speaking the truth. How mighty is God’s protection and blessing of the faithful, even in this life; and even though Satan’s interference brought great calamity and grief upon Job, read the rest of the story! “Job did not serve God for something he could gain by it.” This is typical of the comments on Job which appear to us as totally inadequate. This comment would have been true if the author of it had said that, “Job did not serve God merely for what he can gain by it in this life.” Job had the eye of faith upon the eternal world, confident in the resurrection of the dead and the appearance of the blessed Redeemer (Job 19:25). To leave this consideration out of the Book of Job is to miss the point of it completely.
“In Eden, Satan disparaged God to man; but here he disparages man to God.”
“All that he hath is in thy power” (Job 1:12). Some scholars have even taken the position that it was really a very mean and inconsiderate old God who would thus have turned Job over to the devil. Such an attitude is merely the blindness of unbelief. It was not God who gave Satan dominion over Adam and his posterity, making him, in fact, “The god of this world” (2Co 4:4); but it was Adam himself. The human family in the person of their great progenitors rejected the benign and glorious government of heaven and willfully became the servants of Satan. Thus Satan’s implied request for power to afflict Job was, in a sense, within his prerogative as mankind’s chosen ruler.
Could not God have prevented it? Indeed, he could have. Why then, did he allow it? “God allowed it; because Job’s sufferings, unknown to him, would stand forever before men and angels, as a trophy of the saving might of God, and an exhibition of that divine wisdom (and faithfulness) which is the archetype and foundation of human wisdom.”
“Against himself put forth not thy hand” (Job 1:12). Note also that Satan could not even touch Job’s property without God’s permission. Yes, indeed, Satan is bound. That does not mean that Satan is inactive, but merely that his activity is limited to the earth, where he awaits the judgment; and, even upon earth, he is by no means free to act without God’s permission.
REGARDING THE BINDING OF SATAN
(1) The proof that Satan is bound is resident in the fact of each and every person who is saved by obeying the gospel. “How can one enter into the house (the earth) of the strong man (Satan) and spoil his goods (save a sinner from hell), except he first bind the strong man (Satan)? and then he will spoil his goods” (Mat 12:29). No person whomsoever would ever be saved if Satan were not bound.
(2) Satan cannot tempt even the weakest child of God beyond that which he is able to bear (1Co 10:12). This reveals a definite limitation (or binding) of Satan’s activity.
(3) In this passage, Satan was definitely chained (a) to the extent that he had been unable to touch Job in all the days of his prosperity, (b) in the fact that he could never have destroyed Job’s wealth without God’s permission, (c) to the extent that in this first test, he was not permitted to touch the person of Job, and (d) to the extent that, even after God allowed him to afflict Job’s body, in the second test, Satan was, even then, forbidden to take Job’s life. The same limitation of Satan’s hatred of any and all of God’s children is indicated by the fact that Satan was not allowed to sift (test) the apostle Peter without Jesus’ specific permission (Luk 22:31). What is the chain that restrains Satan? It is the Word of God.
(4) It is revealed in Rev 20:1-3 that Satan is bound “for a thousand years,” the same being only another designation of the current dispensation of the love of Christ.
E.M. Zerr:
Job 1:6. Sons of God are the same beings meant in Job 38:7. They were not sons of God as that term is used in the New Testament, or even in the Old Testament as pertaining to God’s earthly servants. The next verse will show that the gathering referred to was not on earth, hence these were not human beings. Moffatt’s version gives us “angels.” We do not know what was the purpose of the meeting, other than to give the angels opportunity to present themselves in humble adoration before their Lord and Creator. It would appear that God at various times permitted special gatherings in the celestial region. See an instance in 1Ki 22:19-24. Neither do we know why Satan was suffered to be present at that gathering, except that it was a link in the chain of events which the Lord was forging for another of his great dramas. We should not be disturbed over the idea of the presence of Satan in the region of the eternal life. Bear in mind that the judgment day has not come yet, and that certain conditions and actions may be tolerated that will not be after the final day. Such an experience as that recorded in 2 Corinthians 12 will never take place after the eternal settlement of things has occurred. And so for wise reasons the Lord suffered Satan to be present in the solemn gathering.
Job 1:7. Whence comest thou? means “from where have you come?” That indicates Satan had been in some place other than the one where this great assembly was being held. The answer stated that Satan had come from . . . the earth, etc. This is what proves that the gathering was not on earth and that the sons of God were angels.
Job 1:8. We may “read between the lines” without speculating. We read (1Pe 5:8) that the devil walks about as a roaring lion. So between the lines of this verse we can read that Satan had been going up and down in the earth, spying on the servants of God and hoping to get in one of his darts of temptation. In such a tour he would logically meet up with Job, but fail to make any progress against him. The Lord threw this fact as a challenge to Satan.
Job 1:9-11. Satan did not deny the Lord’s claim about the righteousness of Job. But, like many human beings, tried to “explain it away” by giving it a questionable motive. To make it brief, he charged that Job’s service to God was on the basis of a bribe; that he was serving the Lord purely from a selfish purpose, and that if his earthly possessions and interests were taken from him he would curse God.
Job 1:12. The Lord gave Satan the privilege of stripping Job of everything he had outside of his body. Even had this special commission not been given to Satan, we know that he has at times manifested great power. In the universe there are three shades or degrees of power; human, superhuman and infinite. Man has the first, God has the third. Between these extremes we have seen various limited degrees of power, sometimes manifested by men, sometimes by animals and sometimes by the devil. We should always bear in mind, however, that all power comes from God, and that every creature in the universe will possess just the amount of power that God sees fit to let him have. When the magicians in Egypt failed at the plague of lice, they explained that it was because it was “the finger of God” that had brought that plague. That was an admission that the superhuman acts which they had performed were by the power of Satan. And so we nee Satan given the power to damage Job miraculously, with restrictions.
II. THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN JEHOVAH AND SATAN AND THE RESULTS
CHAPTER 1:6-22
1. A scene in heaven, Jehovahs challenge and Satans, accusation (Job 1:6-12)
2. Satans power manifested (Job 1:13-19)
3. Jobs great grief and great victory (Job 1:20-22)
Job 1:6-12. Suddenly the scene changeth. We are no longer on earth but heaven is opened and we read what is going on before the throne of God. While Job on earth with his loved ones is enjoying himself something takes place in heaven in which he is prominently concerned and yet he is ignorant of all.
The whole scene is intensely interesting. It is not fiction but revelation, and what is here recorded actually took place, and something like it still goes on in heaven. A parallel passage is found in 1Ki 22:19. The prophet Micaiah saw the Lord sitting on His throne and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left. And then the Lord permitted as a judgment upon Ahab, that a lying spirit should enter Ahabs prophets to deceive Ahab.
Heaven as a place is not fiction. There is an uncreated heaven where Gods throne and dwelling place have always been. From the passage here we may gather that there are certain times when all heavenly tenants, good and evil, have to assemble before the Lord. The sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. The expression sons of God does not mean believers on earth (the sonship of a believer is a New Testament truth), but supernatural beings, the angels. According to this book these sons of God shouted for joy in the hour of creation (38:7). Other Scriptures speak of such heavenly gatherings. (See Psa 89:5-7; Zec 4:1-14, etc.) And Satan came also among them. He likewise must appear before the Lord. Satan means adversary. In this character, as the accuser of the brethren he is seen in the last book of the Bible and according to Rev 12:1-17 he is still active in the same capacity as in the days of Job, and has still access to the throne of God, till the hour comes when his doom begins with being cast out of heaven. Destructive criticism pronounceth Satan a Babylonian or Persian myth, a reproduction in Hebrew literature of the Persian fable of Ahriman. But even the French infidel Renan said of the Satan of the Scriptures, This is quite a different person from the Ahriman of the Zend-Avesta. It is not the spirit of evil existing and acting for himself. He is not independent of God; as one has correctly stated it, Satan can go only to the end of his chain. The critical assertion that the belief in a Satan originated after the exile is historically incorrect. The serpent in Gen 3:1-24 is Satan. Originally he was Lucifer, the son of the morning (Isa 14:1-32), the cherub that covereth (Eze 28:1-26) and this great creature of God fell by pride. (See The History of Satan in Studies in Prophecy Our Hope Press, and the larger work on Satan, His Person, Work Place and Destiny, by F.C. Jennings.)
He is forced to give an account to Jehovah. He walked to and fro in the earth and walked up and down in it. He therefore is not in hell. The New Testament tells us that he is the god of this age and that his throne is here on earth. He still walks up and down and to and fro. Then God calls his attention to Job and approves his character that there is none like Job. Satan knew Job and hated Job, as he still knows and hates every child of God and is moved with malice towards Gods people. And so at once he sneers into the face of the Lord the challenge, Doth Job fear God for nought?–Hast not Thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath and he will renounce thee to thy face. Then the Lord delivers Job to Satan; gives him the permission to take all that he hath, only upon the person of Job he was not permitted to lay his vile hands. But let us notice that the accusation of Satan is the result of Jehovahs challenge. We quote another.
It is carefully to be remarked here, that the spring and source of all these dealings is not Satans accusations, but God Himself. God knew what His servant Job needed, and Himself brings forward his case and sets all in movement. If He demands of Satan if he had considered His servant Job, it is because He Himself had. Satan is but an instrument, and an ignorant though subtle instrument, to bring about Gods purposes of grace. His accusations result really in nothing as against Job, save to disprove their truth by what he is allowed to do; but, for Jobs good, he is left to his will up to a certain point, for the purpose of bringing Job to a knowledge of his own heart, and thus to a deeper ground of practical relationship with God. How blessed and perfect are Gods ways! How vain in result the efforts of Satans against those that are His! (Synopsis of the Bible)
The controversy then is not between Satan and Job, but between Jehovah and Satan. Job is not so much on trial as the Lord Himself. Is God able to keep His servants loyal when the greatest afflictions pass over them? Has the Lord the power to sustain them? To manifest this power, to show forth His own glory, He permits the suffering of the saint. There are many blessed and comforting truths connected with all this. The best is that we learn that the Lord lovingly watches His people, as He watched Job and spoke well of him and that it is an honor not chastisement when He permits afflictions and sorrow to come.
Satan could not attack the righteousness of Job, but he impeacheth his motives in serving God. In this he only revealed his own character. He attributes the godliness of Job to the selfishness in Job. Then comes his challenge. The conflict is on and it is to be seen if one who is the Lords, who trusts in Him, can be made by adversities to turn his back upon God and forsake Him; or is God able to keep?
Job 1:13-19. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. The accuser now acts the roaring lion. And now his work against Job begins. But caution is needed here lest powers be ascribed to Satan which he in reality does not possess. Satan is only a creature and does not share the attributes of God. He is not omnipotent; nor is he omniscient, nor omnipresent. If he displays powers it is with divine permission only. Of course here are secrets which we cannot fathom nor fully understand. Questions upon questions might be asked on this subject which the finite mind cannot answer, problems are here which no human can solve. But we know that all Gods ways are perfect, yet past finding out.
And so here he is permitted to use powers to carry out his purposes. If God had not said, Behold all that he hath is in thy power, he would have had no power.
Four calamities overtake Jobs possessions and household. Satan stirred up the Sabeans (Hebrew: Sheba), a nomadic people, probably robber tribes and under his direction they plunder Job of his most valuable cattle and murdered the servants. No sooner had this happened than another messenger announced that the fire of God, probably not lightning, had fallen from heaven and the sheep and servants who were there had been completely destroyed. Then came the third calamity. The Chaldeans robbed Job of his camels and killed his servants who had charge of them. And then the last affliction which is the greatest of them all. A hurricane tore down the house and his loved ones were killed. His wife is not mentioned. Satan did not touch her for he intended to use her as a tool and as his mouthpiece. Thus suddenly, without any warning whatever, in the midst of earthly happiness, yea, real piety, Job, the great and prosperous Job had been stripped of all he had. Satan had done his work well. He knew how to be cruel and reserve the worst blow to the last. And all this happened not only under the all-seeing eye of God, but with His own permission.
Job 1:20-22. And Job? Not a murmur escapes his lips. He arose; he expressed his great grief by renting his robe, shaving his head. But then he fell as a worshipper upon the ground and uttered the never to be forgotten words, Naked came I out of my mothers womb, and naked shall I return thither; the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. It was a great victory. Satan had failed completely. The Lord remained the refuge of Job and underneath the everlasting arms.
sons of God
This scene is in heaven. Cf. Job 2:1-7.
Now: Job 2:1
the sons: Job 38:7, Dan 3:25, Luk 3:38
came to: Psa 103:20, Mat 18:10
Satan: Heb. the adversary, 1Ki 22:19, 1Ch 21:1, Zec 3:1, Rev 12:9, Rev 12:10
came also: Joh 6:70
among them: Heb. in the midst of them
Reciprocal: Deu 31:14 – presented 1Ki 22:21 – General 2Ch 18:20 – there came Isa 6:2 – stood Zec 6:5 – go Zec 6:7 – the bay Mat 4:10 – Satan Mar 4:15 – Satan Heb 1:14 – ministering 1Pe 5:8 – your
Job 1:6. Now there was a day A certain time appointed by God; when the sons of God came The Targum says, Troops of angels, the LXX., Angels of God; the holy angels are called sons of God, (Job 38:7, and Dan 3:25; Dan 3:28,) because of their creation by God, their resemblance of him in power, dignity, and holiness, and their filial affection and obedience to him. To present themselves before the Lord Before his throne, to receive his commands, and to give him an account of their ministrations. The verb , lehithjatseb, here rendered to present themselves, expresses the attendance and assiduity of ministers appearing before their king to receive his instructions, or give an account of their negotiations. This must be understood as a parabolical representation, similar to that in 1Ki 22:19. The Scripture speaks of God after the manner of men, condescending to our capacities, and suiting the revelation to our apprehensions. As kings, therefore, transact their most important affairs in a solemn council or assembly, so God is pleased to represent himself as having his council likewise and as passing the decrees of his providence in an assembly of his holy angels. We have here, in the case of Job, the same grand assembly held as was before in that of Ahab, 1 Kings 22 : the same host of heaven, called here the sons of God, presenting themselves before Jehovah, as in the vision of Micaiah they are said to stand on his right hand and on his left: a wicked spirit appearing among them, here called Satan, or the adversary, and there a lying spirit, both bent on mischief, and ready to do all the hurt that they were able, as far as God would give them leave; but, nevertheless, both under the control of his power, and suffered to go as far as might best serve the wise ends of his justice and his providence, and no further. The imagery, in short, is just the same; and the only difference is in the manner of the relation. Micaiah, as a prophet, and in the actual exercise of his prophetic office, delivers it as he received it, that is, in a vision: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, &c. The other, as an historian, interweaves it with the history, and tells us, in the plain narrative style, There was a day, &c. And this parabolical or prophetical way of representing what is a great and most important truth, namely, that God, by his wise and holy providence, governs all the actions of men and devils, is used that it may make a more lively and lasting impression on our minds. At the same time it must not be forgotten that representations of this kind are founded in a well-known and established truth, namely, that there are angels, both good and bad, that they are interested in the affairs of men; a point revealed, no doubt, from the beginning. And that the affairs of earth are much the subject of the counsels of the unseen world, to which we lie open, though that world is in a great measure concealed from us. And such representations may also be intended to discover to us, in part, at least, the causes of many of those things which happen on earth, and which appear to us unaccountable, namely, that they arise from our having some connection with, or relation to, other orders of beings through the universe, on whose account, and through whose ministry, many things may happen to us, which otherwise would not. Thus the dreadful calamities and afflictions which befell Job, in such quick succession, are utterly unaccountable according to the ordinary course of human things, and seem almost without reason, if he were considered merely as a human being, having no connection with, relation to, or influence upon, any world but this, or any order of beings but those among whom he lived; but are easily accounted for if brought on him by invisible agents, through divine permission, and certainly answered a most wise and grand purpose, if intended to show to superior beings, whether good or evil, to what a degree of steady and invincible piety and fidelity to God his grace can raise creatures formed out of the clay, and dwelling in flesh. It is but just to observe here, that some commentators adopt a different interpretation of this verse, understanding by the sons of God presenting themselves before the Lord, the people of God meeting together for religious worship on earth. Dr. Lightfoots comment is, On a sabbath day, when the professors of the true religion were met together, in the public assembly, Satan was invisibly there among them; namely, to distract and disturb them in their worship, and observe their infirmities and defects, that he might have matter of accusation against them. But what we have stated above seems to be the most probable sense of the passage.
Job 1:6-12. The disinterestedness of Jobs piety is brought into question by the Satan in the council of heaven. We are now to see how misfortune may come absolutely unprovoked by sin. The sons of God, who come to present themselves before Yahweh, are the angels. They are referred to in Job 38:7 as witnesses of the creation. In Psa 29:1 (see RVm) they appear as ministers of Gods heavenly temple. Here they form the court and council of Yahweh. For a similar scene in heaven, cf. 1Ki 22:19.
Amongst these sons of God appears one, who is known by the name of the Satan, or the Adversary. The word Satan means one who opposes another in his purpose (Num 22:23; Num 22:32) or pretensions or claims (Zec 3:1, 1Ki 11:14; 1Ki 11:23; 1Ki 11:25), or generally (Davidson). Here Satan appears as one of the angels, a minister of Yahweh, whose office it is to oppose men in their pretensions to a right standing before God. We find the same conception in Zec 3:1* (in 1Ch 2:11* Satan, without the article, has become a proper name). The character of the Satan is that of an observer of men, whose affair it is to see whether they live well or ill, but who exceeds his office in so far as he betrays a spiteful interest in the discovery of their failures. This testing of Job is carried out with the greatest refinement and evident delight. He is not at all moved by Jobs patience (Job 2:4). To a certain extent the Satan is a personification of the spite of circumstance (Duhm). No one can escape from him since all have faults unknown to themselves. Ancient Israel ascribed the blows of fate, otherwise inexplicable, to the machinations of some inimical power. The Satan is, like the angels in general, a relic of a poly-dmonistic stage of religion. With the disappearance of polydmonism before monotheism, the Satan has become a minister of the Divine Providence. But he is still somewhat of a free lanceeven Yahweh has to ask where he has been (Job 1:7).
Yahweh calls the Satans attention to the integrity of Job (Job 1:8). But the Satan cannot conceive of any man serving God without reward (Job 1:9), and complains that Yahweh has made a hedge round about him, as one makes about a valuable vineyard (Isa 5:5) to keep out marauders. If there had been the least gap in the hedge, the Satan would have found it out long ago. Let Yahweh touch his substance (Job 1:11) and Job will curse Him to His face. The Satan uses the form of an oath: lit. he will curse Thee, if not (may evil betake me).
1:6 Now there was a day when the {k} sons of God came to present themselves {l} before the LORD, and Satan {m} came also among them.
(k) Meaning the angels, who are called the sons of God because they are willing to execute his will.
(l) Because our infirmity cannot comprehend God in his majesty, he is set forth to us as a King, that our capacity may be able to understand that which is spoken of him.
(m) This declares that although Satan is an adversary to God, yet he is compelled to obey him, and do him all homage, without whose permission and appointment he can do nothing.
1. The first test 1:6-22
These verses reveal that angels ("sons of God," Job 1:6), including Satan, periodically report to God on their activities. Satan was doing then what he did in the Garden of Eden and still does today, namely, "seeking whom he may devour" (1Pe 5:8). [Note: For a summary of what the Book of Job teaches about angels, see ibid., p. 232. See too Sydney H. T. Page, "Satan: God’s Servant," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50:3 (September 2007):449-65.] In Eden, Satan disparaged God to Eve. Here he disparaged Job to God. [Note: Kline, p. 462.]
Satan accused God of bribing Job so he would act piously (Job 1:9-11). This charge articulates one of the main questions of this book: Why do righteous people such as Job live upright lives? Satan said Job did so because Job had learned that there is an inevitable connection between deed and state of being (i.e., godliness results in prosperity). This idea, that the relationship between God and man rests on retribution-we always reap in kind during our lifetime what we sow-is one that Job held. However, his fear (reverential trust) of God ran deeper than Satan realized.
Satan determined to prove that Job would not obey God if he got no blessing in return. He believed selfishness prompted Job’s obedience rather than love. Satan also believed that God would not get worship from Job if He stopped blessing him.
"Cynicism is the essence of the satanic. The Satan believes nothing to be genuinely good-neither Job in his disinterested piety nor God in His disinterested generosity." [Note: Andersen, p. 84. ]
Since the English word "satan" is a transliteration of the Hebrew satan, meaning adversary, it is not uncommon for writers to refer to Satan as "the Satan," namely, the ultimate adversary. Why does God allow Satan to test believers? He allowed Satan to test Job to silence Satan and to strengthen Job’s character (cf. Jas 1:2-18).
"The primary purpose of Job’s suffering, unknown to him, was that he should stand before men and angels as a trophy of the saving might of God . . ." [Note: Kline, p. 461.]
"From the outset, the writer reminds us that, no matter what happens in this world and in our lives, God is on the throne and has everything under control." [Note: Warren W. Wiersbe, "Job," in The Bible Exposition Commentary/Wisdom and Poetry, p. 11.]
The fact that the oxen were plowing (Job 1:14) indicates that these events probably happened in the winter. The Sabeans (Job 1:15) may have come from a region in southwest Arabia called Sheba or from the town of Sheba located in upper Arabia (cf. Gen 10:7; Gen 25:3). The Chaldeans (Job 1:17) came from Mesopotamia to the north and were at this time nomadic marauders, assuming a patriarchal period setting of the events. [Note: Kline, p. 462.]
Tearing one’s robe (Job 1:20) typically expressed great grief in the ancient Near East. It symbolized the rending of one’s heart (cf. Joe 2:13). Shaving the head (Job 1:20) evidently symbolized the loss of personal glory. When a person mourned, he or she put off all personal adornments, including what nature provided (cf. Jer 7:29; Mic 1:16). Hair in the ancient world was a symbol of one’s glory (cf. 2Sa 14:26). Job apparently fell to the ground to worship God (Job 1:20). A mother’s womb is a figure used elsewhere to describe the earth (Job 1:21; cf. Psa 139:15; Ecc 5:15; Ecc 12:7).
Job’s recognition of Yahweh’s sovereignty (Job 1:21) was a key to his passing his test (cf. 1Ti 6:7). In some respects he regarded God as an equal (cf. Job 9:33), but underneath he knew God was his sovereign. This conception of God is one that Job never lost, though many people who go through trials do.
"Job’s exclamation is the noblest expression to be found anywhere of a man’s joyful acceptance of the will of God as his only good. A man may stand before God stripped of everything that life has given him, and still lack nothing." [Note: Andersen, p. 88.]
"Anybody can say, ’The Lord gave’ or ’The Lord hath taken away’; but it takes real faith to say in the midst of sorrow and suffering, ’Blessed be the name of the Lord.’" [Note: Wiersbe, p. 12.]
Job grieved but worshipped. These two activities are not incompatible. He saw God’s hand in the events of his life. Moreover he had a proper perspective on his possessions. His faith did not relieve his agony; it caused it. Many people believe that if one has enough faith, he or she will always be happy. Job’s experience does not bear this out. We should have a deep-seated joy no matter what happens to us, knowing that we are in the Lord’s hands and that He has permitted whatever happens to us (Php 4:4). But we may not always be happy, namely, enjoying our circumstances.
B. Job’s Calamities 1:6-2:10
God permitted Satan to test Job twice. [Note: For a summary of what the Book of Job teaches about God, see Zuck, A Theology . . ., pp. 219-26.] The first test touched his possessions, including his children (Job 1:6-22), and the second his person (Job 2:1-10). God permitted Satan to afflict Job to demonstrate and to purify Job’s motives for worshipping God and for living a godly life (cf. Jas 1:2-4). The writer takes us behind the scenes in this pericope (Job 1:6 to Job 2:10) so we can know why Job’s calamities befell him, the very question that Job and his friends debated hereafter. In each test, we first see Satan accusing Job in heaven, and then attacking him on earth.
The Scriptures consistently affirm that God tempts no one (Jas 1:13). That is, He is not the source of temptation and, therefore, the author of evil. He does not seduce people, trying to get them to sin. However, it is equally clear that God allows us to experience temptation from other sources for our welfare (Jas 1:2-18). The primary sources of our temptation are the world (1Jn 2:15-16), the flesh (Jas 1:14), and the devil (Job 1-2).
III.
THE OPENING SCENE IN HEAVEN
Job 1:6-12
WITH the presentation of the scene in heaven, the genius, the pious daring, and fine moral insight of the writer at once appear-in one word, his inspiration. From the first we feel a sure yet deeply reverent touch, a spirit composed in its high resolve. The thinking is keen, but entirely without strain. In no mere flash did the overworld disclose itself and those decrees that shape mans destiny. There is constructive imagination. Wherever the idea of the heavenly council was found, whether in the vision Micaiah narrated to Jehoshaphat and Ahab, or in the great vision of Isaiah, it certainly was not unsought. Through the authors own study and art the inspiration came that made the picture what it is. The calm sovereignty of God, not tyrannical but most sympathetic, is presented with simple felicity. It was the distinction of Hebrew prophets to speak of the Almighty with a confidence which bordered on familiarity yet never lost the grace of profound reverence; and here we find that trait of serious naivete. The writer ventures on the scene he paints with no consciousness of daring nor the least air of difficult endeavour, but quietly, as one who has the thought of the Divine government of human affairs constantly before his mind and glories in the majestic wisdom of God and His friendliness to men. In a single touch the King is shown, and before Him the hierarchies and powers of the invisible world in their responsibility to His rule. Centuries of religious culture are behind the words, and also many years of private meditation and philosophic thought. To this man, because he gave himself to the highest discipline, revelations came, uplifting, broad, and deep.
In contrast to the Almighty we have the figure of the Adversary, or Satan, depicted with sufficient clearness, notably coherent, representing a phase of being not imaginary but actual. He is not, as the Satan of later time came to be, the head of a kingdom peopled with evil spirits, a nether world separated from the abode of the heavenly angels by a broad, impassable gulf. He has no distinctive hideousness, nor is he painted as in any sense independent, although the evil bent of his nature is made plain, and he ventures to dispute the judgment of the Most High. This conception of the Adversary need not be set in opposition to those which afterwards appear in Scripture as if truth must lie entirely there or here. But we cannot help contrasting the Satan of the Book of Job with the grotesque, gigantic, awful, or despicable fallen angels of the worlds poetry. Not that the mark of genius is wanting in these; but they reflect the powers of this world and the accompaniments of malignant human despotism. The author of Job, on the contrary, moved little by earthly state and grandeur, whether good or evil, solely occupied with the Divine sovereignty, never dreams of one who could maintain the slightest shadow of authority in opposition to God. He cannot trifle with his idea of the Almighty in the way of representing a rival to Him; nor can he degrade a subject so serious as that of human faith and well being by painting with any touch of levity a superhuman adversary of men.
Dante in his “Inferno” attempts, the portraiture of the monarch of hell:-
That emperor who sways
The realm of sorrow, at mid-breast from the ice
Stood forth; and I in stature, am more like
A giant than the giants are to his arms
If he were beautiful
As he is hideous now, and yet did dare
To scowl upon his Maker, well from him
May all our misery flow.
The enormous size of this figure is matched by its hideousness; the misery of the arch fiend, for all Its horror, is grotesque:-
“At six eyes he wept; the tears
Adown three faces rolled in bloody foam.”
Passing to Milton, we find sublimity in his pictures of the fallen legions, and it culminates in the vision of their king:-
Above them all the archangel; but his face
Deep scars of thunder had intrenched, and care
Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows
Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride
Waiting revenge: cruel his eye, but cast
Signs of remorse and passion, to behold
The fellows of his crime
Millions of spirits for his fault amerced
Of heaven, and from eternal splendours flung
For his revolt.
The picture is magnificent. It has, however, little justification from Scripture. Even in the Book of Revelation we see a kind of contempt of the Adversary, where an angel from heaven with a great chain in his hand lays hold on the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil, and Satan, and binds him a thousand years. Milton has painted his Satan largely, as not altogether unfit to take arms against the Omnipotent, grown gigantic, even sublime, in the course of much theological speculation that had its source far back in Chaldaean and Iranian myths. Perhaps, too, the sympathies of the poet, playing about the fortunes of fallen royalty, may have unconsciously coloured the vision which he saw and drew with such marvellous power, dipping his pencil “in the hues of earthquake and eclipse.”
This splendid regal archfiend has no kinship with the Satan of the Book of Job; and, on the other hand, the Mephistopheles of the “Faust,” although bearing an outward resemblance to him, is, for a quite different reason, essentially unlike. Obviously Goethes picture of a cynical devil gaily perverting and damning a human mind is based on the Book of Job. The “Prologue in Heaven,” in which he first appears, is an imitation of the passage before us. But while the vulgarity and insolence of Mephistopheles are in contrast to the demeanour of the Adversary in presence of Jehovah, the real distinction lies in the kind of power ascribed to the one and the other. Mephistopheles is a cunning tempter. He receives permission to mislead if he can, and not only places his victim in circumstances fitted to ruin his virtue, but plies him with arguments intended to prove that evil is good, that to be pure is to be a fool. No such power of evil suggestion is given to the Adversary of Job. His action extends only to the outward events by which the trial of faith is brought about. Cynical he is and bent on working evil, but not by low cunning and sophistry. He has no access to the mind. While it cannot be said that Goethe has descended beneath the level of possibility, since a contemporary and friend of his own, Schopenhauer, might almost have sat for the portrait of Mephistopheles, the realism in Job befits the age of the writer and the serious purpose he had in view. “Faust” is a work of genius and art, and succeeds in its degree. The author of Job succeeds in a far higher sense, by the charm of simple sincerity and the strength of Divine inspiration, keeping the play of supernatural agency beyond human vision, making the Satan a mere instrument of the Divine purpose, in no sense free or intellectually powerful.
The scene opens with a gathering of the “sons of the Elohim” in presence of their King. Professor Cheyne thinks that these are “supernatural Titanic” beings who had once been at strife with Jehovah, but who now at stated times paid him their enforced homage; and this he illustrates by reference Job 21:22 and Job 25:2. But the question in the one passage, “Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing He judgeth those that are high” [ymir, the heights of heaven, highnesses], and the affirmation in the other, “He maketh peace in His high places,” can scarcely be held to prove the supposition. The ordinary view that they are heavenly powers or angels, willing servants, not unwilling vassals of Jehovah, is probably correct. They have come together at an appointed time to give account of their doings and to receive commands, and among them the Satan or Adversary presents himself, one distinguished from all the rest by the name he bears and the character and function it implies. There is no hint that he is out of place, that he has impudently forced his way into the audience chamber. Rather does it appear that he, like the rest, has to give his account. The question “Whence comest thou?” expresses no rebuke. It is addressed to the Satan as to the others. We see, therefore, that this “Adversary,” to whomsoever he is opposed, is not a being excluded from communication with God, engaged in a princely revolt. When the reply is put into his mouth that he has been “going to and fro in the earth, and pacing up and down in it,” the impression conveyed is that a certain task of observing men, perhaps watching for their misdeeds, has been assumed by him. He appears a spirit of restless and acute inquiry into mens lives and motives, with a keen eye for the weaknesses of humanity and a fancy quick to imagine evil.
Evidently we have here a personification of the doubting, misbelieving, misreading spirit which, in our day, we limit to men and call pessimism. Now Koheleth gives so finished an expression to this temper that we can hardly be wrong in going back some distance of time for its growth; and the state of Israel before the northern captivity was a soil in which every kind of bitter seed might spring up. The author of Job may well have drawn from more than one cynic of his day when he set his mocking figure in the blaze of the celestial court. Satan is the pessimist. He exists, so far as his intent goes, to find cause against man, and therefore, in effect, against God, as mans Creator. A shrewd thinker is this Adversary, but narrowed to one line and that singularly like some modern criticism of religion, the resemblance holding in this that neither shows any feeling of responsibility. The Satan sneers away faith and virtue; the modern countenances both, and so has an excellent reason for pronouncing them hollow; or he avoids both, and is sure there is nothing but emptiness where he has not sought. Either way, all is habel habalim-vanity of vanities. And yet Satan is so held and governed by the Almighty that he can only strike where permission is given. Evil, as represented by him, is under the control of Divine wisdom and goodness. He appears as one to whom the words of Christ, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve,” would bring home a sense neither of duty nor privilege, but of a sheer necessity, to be contested to the last. Nevertheless he is a vassal of the Almighty. Here the touch of the author is firm and true.
So of pessimistic research and philosophy now. We have writers who follow humanity in all its base movements and know nothing of its highest. The research of Schopenhauer and even the psychology of certain modern novelists are mischievous, depraving, for this reason, if no other, that they evaporate the ideal. They promote generally that diseased egotism to which judgment and aspiration are alike unknown. Yet this spirit too serves where it has no dream of serving. It provokes a healthy opposition, shows a hell from which men recoil, and creates so deadly ennui that the least gleam of faith becomes acceptable, and even Theosophy, because it speaks of life, secures the craving mind. Moreover, the pessimist keeps the church a little humble, somewhat awake to the error that may underlie its own glory and the meanness that mingles too often with its piety. A result of the freedom of the human mind to question and deny, pessimism has its place in the scheme of things. Hostile and often railing, it is detestable enough, but needs not alarm those who know that God takes care of His world.
The challenge which begins the action of the drama-by whom is it thrown out? By the Almighty God sets before the Satan a good life: “Hast thou considered My servant Job? that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil.” The source of the whole movement, then, is a defiance of unbelief by the Divine Friend of men and Lord of all. There is such a thing as human virtue, and it is the glory of God to be served by it, to have His power and divinity reflected in mans spiritual vigour and holiness.
Why does the Almighty throw out the challenge and not wait for Satans charge? Simply because the trial of virtue must begin with God. This is the first step in a series of providential dealings fraught with the most important results, and there is singular wisdom in attributing it to God. Divine grace is to be seen thrusting back the chaotic falsehoods that darken the world of thought. They exist; they are known to Him who rules; and He does not leave humanity to contend with them unaided. In their keenest trials the faithful are supported by His hand, assured of victory while they fight His battles. Ignorant pride, like that of the Adversary, is not slow to enter into debate even with the All-wise. Satan has the question ready which implies a lie, for his is the voice of that scepticism which knows no reverence. But the entire action of the book is in the line of establishing faith and hope. The Adversary is challenged to do his worst; and man, as Gods champion, will have to do his best, -the world and angels looking on.
And this thought of a Divine purpose to confound the falsehoods of scepticism answers another inquiry which may readily occur. From the first the Almighty knows and asserts the virtue of His servant, -that he is one who fears God and eschews evil. But why, then, does He condescend to ask of Satan, “Hast thou considered My servant Job?” Since He has already searched the heart of Job and found it faithful, He does not need for His own satisfaction to hear Satans opinion. Nor are we to suppose that the expression of this Adversarys doubt can have any real importance. But if we take the Satan as representing all those who depreciate faith and undermine virtue, the challenge is explained. Satan is of no account in himself. He will go on cavilling and suspecting. But for the sake of the race of men, its emancipation from the miserable suspicions that prey on the heart, the question is proposed. The drama has its prophetical design; it embodies a revelation; and in this lies the value of all that is represented. Satan, we shall find, disappears, and thereafter the human reason is alone addressed, solely considered. We pass from scene to scene, from controversy to controversy, and the great problem of mans virtue, which also involves the honour of God Himself, is wrought out that our despondency and fear may be cured; that we may never say with Koheleth, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
To the question of the Almighty, Satan replies by another: “Doth Job fear God for nought?” With a certain air of fairness he points to the extraordinary felicity enjoyed by the man. “Hast Thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” It is a thought naturally arising in the mind that very prosperous people have all on the side of their virtue, and may be less pure and faithful than they seem. Satan adopts this thought, which is not only blameless, but suggested by what we see of Gods government. He is base and captious in using it, and turns it with a sneer. Yet on the surface he only hints that God should employ His own test, and so vindicate His action in making this man so prosperous. For why should Job show anything but gratitude towards God when all is done for him that heart can desire? The favourites of kings, indeed, who are loaded with titles and wealth, sometimes despise their benefactors, and, being raised to high places, grow ambitious of one still higher, that of royalty itself. The pampered servant becomes an arrogant rival, a leader of revolt. Thus too great bounty is often met with ingratitude. It does not, however, suit the Adversary to suggest that pride and rebellion of this kind have begun to show themselves in Job, or will show themselves. He has no ground for such an accusation, no hope of proving it true. He confines himself, therefore, to a simpler charge, and in making it implies that he is only judging this man on general principles and pointing to what is sure to happen in the case. Yes; he knows men. They are selfish at bottom. Their religion is selfishness. The blameless human fear is that much may be due to favourable position. The Satan is sure that all is due to it.
Now, the singular thing here is the fact that the Adversarys accusation turns on Jobs enjoyment of that outward felicity which the Hebrews were constantly desiring and hoping for as a reward of obedience to God. The writer comes thus at once to show the peril of the belief which had corrupted the popular religion of his time, which may even have been his own error once, that abundant harvests, safety from enemies, freedom from pestilence, such material prosperity as many in Israel had before the great disasters, were to be regarded as the evidence of accepted piety. Now that the crash has fallen and the tribes are scattered, those left in Palestine and those carried into exile alike sunk in poverty and trouble, the author is pointing out what he himself has come to see, that Israels conception of religion had hitherto admitted and may even have gendered a terrible mistake. Piety might be largely selfishness-was often mingled with it. The message of the author to his countrymen and to the world is that a nobler mind must replace the old desire for happiness and plenty, a better faith the old trust that God would fill the hands that served Him well. He teaches that, whatever may come, though trouble after trouble may fall, the great true Friend is to be adored for what He is, obeyed and loved though the way lies through storm and gloom.
Striking is the thought that, while the prophets Amos and Hosea were fiercely or plaintively assailing the luxury of Israel and the lives of the nobles, among those very men who excited their holy wrath may have been the author of the Book of Job. Dr. Robertson Smith has shown that from the “gala days” of Jeroboam II to the fall of Samaria there were only some thirty years. One who wrote after the Captivity as an old man may therefore have been in the flush of youth when Amos prophesied, may have been one of the rich Israelites who lay upon beds of ivory and stretched themselves upon their couches, and ate lambs out of the flock and calves out of the midst of the stall, for whose gain the peasant and the slave were oppressed by stewards and officers. He may have been one of those on whom the blindness of prosperity had fallen so that the storm cloud from the east with its vivid lightning was not seen, who held it their safety to bring sacrifices every morning and tithes every three days, to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which was leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings and publish them. {Amo 4:4-5} The mere possibility that the author of Job may have had this very time of prosperity and religious security in his own past and heard Hoseas trumpet blast of doom is very suggestive, for if so he has learned how grandly right the prophets were as messengers of God. By the way of personal sorrow and disaster he has passed to the better faith he urges on the world. He sees what even the prophets did not fully comprehend, that desolation might be gain, that in the most sterile wilderness of life the purest light of religion might shine on the soul, while the tongue was parched with fatal thirst and the eye glazed with the film of death. The prophets looked always beyond the shadows of disaster to a new and better day when the return of a penitent people to Jehovah should be followed by a restoration of the blessings they had forfeited-fruitful fields and vineyards, busy and populous cities, a general distribution of comfort if not of wealth. Even Amos and Hosea had no clear vision of the prophetic hope the first exile was to yield out of its darkness to Israel and the world.
The question, then, “Doth Job fear God for nought?” sending a flash of penetrating light back on Israels history, and especially on the glowing pictures of prosperity in Solomons time, compelling all to look to the foundation and motives of their faith, marks a most important era in Hebrew thought. It is, we may say, the first note of a piercing strain which thrills on to the present time. Taking rise here, the spirit of inquiry and self-examination has already sifted religious belief and separated much of the chaff from the wheat. Yet not all. The comfort and hope of believers are not yet lifted above the reach of Satans javelin. While salvation is thought of mainly as self-enjoyment, can we say that the purity of religion is assured? When happiness is promised as the result of faith, whether happiness now, or hereafter in heavenly glory, the whole fabric of religion is built on a foundation insecure, because it may be apart from truth, holiness, and virtue. It does not avail to say that holiness is happiness, and so introduce personal craving under cover of the finest spiritual idea. To grant that happiness is in any sense the distinctive issue of faith and faithfulness, to keep happiness in view in submitting to the restraints and bearing the burdens of religion, is to build the highest and best on the shifting sand of personal taste and craving. Make happiness that for which the believer is to endure and strive, allow the sense of personal comfort and immunity from change to enter into his picture of the reward he may expect, and the question returns, Doth this man serve God for nought? Life is not happiness, and the gift of God is everlasting life. Only when we keep to this supreme word in the teaching of Christ, and seek the fulness and liberty and purity of life, apart from that happiness which is at bottom the satisfaction of predominant desires, shall we escape from the constantly recurring doubt that threatens to undermine and destroy our faith.
If we look further, we find that the very error which has so long impoverished religion prevails in philanthropy and politics, prevails there at the present time to an alarming extent. The favourite aim of social meliorists is to secure happiness for all. While life is the main thing, everywhere and always, strength and breadth and nobleness of life, their dream is to make the warfare and service of man upon the earth so easy that he shall have no need for earnest personal endeavour. He is to serve for happiness, and have no service to do that may even in the time of his probation interfere with happiness. The pity bestowed on those who toil and endure in great cities and on bleak hillsides is that they fail of happiness. Persons who have no conception that vigour and endurance are spiritually profitable, and others who once knew but have forgotten the benefits of vigour and the gains of endurance, would undo the very order and discipline of God. Are human beings to be encouraged to seek happiness, taught to doubt God because they have little pleasure, given to understand that those who enjoy have the best of the universe, and that they must be lifted up to this level or lose all? Then the sweeping condemnation will hang over the world that it is following a new god and has said farewell to the stern Lord of Providence.
Much may be justly said in condemnation of the jealous, critical spirit of the Adversary. Yet it remains true that his criticism expresses what would be a fair charge against men who passed this stage of existence without full trial. And the Almighty is represented as confirming this when He puts Job into the hands of Satan. He has challenged the Adversary, opening the question of mans fidelity and sincerity. He knows what will result. It is not the will of some eternal Satan that is the motive, but the will of God. The Adversarys scornful question is woven into Gods wise ordinance, and made to subserve a purpose which completely transcends the base hope involved in it. The life of Job has not yet had the difficult and strenuous probation necessary to assured faith, or rather to the consciousness of a faith immovably rooted in God: It would be utterly inconsistent with the Divine wisdom to suppose God led on and beguiled by the sneer of His own creature to do what was needless or unfair, or indeed in any sense opposed to His own plan for His creation. And we shall find that throughout the book it is assumed by Job, implied by the author, that what is done is really the doing of God Himself. The Satan of this Divine poem remains altogether subsidiary as an agent. He may propose, but God disposes. He may pride himself on the keenness of his intellect; but wisdom, compared to which his subtlety is mere blundering, orders the movement of events for good and holy ends.
The Adversary makes his proposal: “Put forth now Thine hand, and touch all that he hath, and he will bid Thee farewell.” He does not propose to make use of sensual temptation. The only method of trial he ventures to suggest is deprivation of the prosperity for which he believes Job has served God. He takes on him to indicate what the Almighty may do, acknowledging that the Divine power, and not his, must bring into Jobs life those losses and troubles that are to test his faith.
After all some may ask, Is not Satan endeavouring to tempt the Almighty? And if it were true that the prosperous condition of Job, or any man, implies Gods entire satisfaction with his faith and dutifulness and with his character as a man, if, further, it must be taken as true that sorrow and loss are evil, then this proposal of the Satan is a temptation. It is not so in reality, for “God cannot be tempted to evil.” No creature could approach His holiness with a temptation. But Satans intention is to move God. He considers success and happiness to be intrinsically good, and poverty, and bereavement to be intrinsically evil. That is to say, we have here the spirit of unfaith endeavouring to destroy God as well as man. For the sake of truth professedly, for his own pride of will really, he would arrest the righteousness and grace of the Divine. He would unmake God and orphan man. The scheme is futile of course. God can allow his proposal, and be no less the Infinitely generous, wise, and true. The Satan shall have his desire; but not a shadow shall fall on the ineffable glory.
At this point, however, we must pause. The question that has just arisen can only be answered after a survey of human life in its relation to God, and especially after an examination of the meaning of the term evil as applied to our experiences. We have certain clear principles to begin with: that “God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempteth no man”; that all God does must show not less beneficence, not less love, but more as the days go by. These principles will have to be vindicated when we proceed to consider the losses, what may be called the disasters that follow each other in quick succession and threaten to crush the life they try.
Meanwhile, casting a glance at those happy dwellings in the land of Uz, we see all going on as before, no mind darkened by the shadow that is gathering, or in the least aware of the controversy in heaven so full of moment to the family circle. The pathetic ignorance, the blessed ignorance in which a man may live hangs upon the picture. The cheerful bustle of the homestead goes on, the feasts and sacrifices, diligent labour rewarded with the produce of fields, the wine and oil of vineyards and olive gardens, fleeces of the flock and milk of the kine.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary