Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 2:7
So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
7. with sore boils ] It is generally agreed that the disease of Job was the leprosy called Elephantiasis, so named because the swollen limbs and the black and corrugated skin of those afflicted by it resemble those of the elephant. It is said by ancient authors, as Pliny, to be peculiar to Egypt, but it is found in other hot countries such as the Hijz, and even in northern climates as Norway. It is said to attack the limbs first, breaking out below the knees and gradually spreading over the whole body. We are probably to consider, however, that Job was smitten “from the sole of his foot unto his crown” all at once. Full details of its appearance and the sensations of those affected may be gathered from the Book, though, being poetically coloured, they will hardly bear to be read like a page from a handbook of Pathology. The ulcers were accompanied by an itching so intolerable that a piece of potsherd was taken to scrape the sores and remove the feculent discharge, Job 2:8. The form and countenance were so disfigured by the disease that the sufferer’s friends could not recognise him, Job 2:12. The ulcers seized the whole body both without and inwardly, Job 19:20, making the breath fetid, and emitting a loathsome smell that drove every one from the sufferer’s presence, Job 19:17, and made him seek refuge outside the village upon the heap of ashes, Job 2:8. The sores, which bred worms, Job 7:5, alternately closed, having the appearance of clods of earth, and opened and ran, so that the body was alternately swollen and emaciated, Job 16:8. The patient was haunted with horrible dreams, Job 7:14, and unearthly terrors, Job 3:25, and harassed by a sensation of choking, Job 7:15, which made his nights restless and frightful, Job 7:4, as his incessant pains made his days weary, Job 7:1-4. His bones were filled with gnawing pains, as if a fire burned in them, Job 30:30, or as if his limbs were tortured in the stocks, Job 13:27, or wrenched off, Job 30:17. He was helpless, and his futile attempts to rise from the ground provoked the merriment of the children who played about the heap where he lay, Job 19:18. The disease was held incurable, though the patient might linger many years, and his hopelessness of recovery made him long for death, Job 3:20 and often. Delitzsch and Dillmann refer to various treatises on the subject, in particular, to one published at the cost of the Norwegian Government, Danielsen et Boeck, Trait de la Spdalskhed ou lphantiasis des Grecs (with coloured plates), Paris, 1848.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
So went Satan forth – Job 1:12.
And smote Job with sore boils – The English word boil denotes the well-known turnout upon the flesh, accompanied with severe inflammation; a sore angry swelling. Webster. The Hebrew word, however, is in the singular number shechyn, and should have been so rendered in our translation. Dr. Good renders it a burning ulceration. The Vulgate translates it, ulcere pessimo. The Septuagint, helkei ponero – with a foul ulcer. The Hebrew word shechyn means a burning sore; an inflamed ulcer, a bile. Gesenius. It is derived from shakan, an obsolete root, retained in Arabic, and meaning to be hot or inflamed. It is translated bile or boil, in Exo 9:9-11; Lev 13:18; 2Ki 20:7;: Isa 28:21, (see the notes on that place), Lev 13:19-20; Job 2:7; and botch, Deu 28:27, Deu 28:35. The word does not occur elsewhere in the Scriptures. In Deu 28:27, it means the botch of Egypt, some species of leprosy, undoubtedly, which prevailed there.
In regard to the disease of Job, we may learn some of its characteristics, not only from the usual meaning of the word, but from the circumstances mentioned in the book itself. It was such that he took a potsherd to scrape himself with, Job 2:8; such as to make his nights restless, and full of tossings to and fro and to clothe his flesh with clods of dust, and with worms, and to break his flesh, or to constitute a running sore or ulcer, Job 7:4-5; such as to make him bite his flesh for pain, Job 13:14, and to make him like a rotten thing, or a garment that is moth eaten, Job 13:28; such that his face was foul with weeping, Job 16:16, and such as to fill him with wrinkles, and to make his flesh lean, Job 16:8; such as to make his breath corrupt, Job 17:1, and his bones cleave to his skin, Job 19:20, Job 19:26; such as to pierce his bones with pain in the night, Job 30:17, and to make his skin black, and to burn up his bones with heat, Job 30:30.
It has been commonly supposed that the disease of Job was a species of black leprosy commonly called elephantiasis, which prevails much in Egypt. This disease received its name from elefas, an elephant, from the swelling produced by it, causing a resemblance to that animal in the limbs; or because it rendered the skin like that of the elephant, scabtons and dark colored. It is called by the Arabs judham (Dr. Good), and is said to produce in the countenance a grim, distorted, and lion-like set of features, and hence has been called by some Leontiasis. It is known as the black leprosy, to distinguish it from a more common disorder called white leprosy – an affection which the Greeks call Leuce, or whiteness. The disease of Job seems to have been a universal ulcer; producing an eruption over his entire person, and attended with violent pain, and constant restlessness. A universal bile or groups of biles ever the body would accord with the account of the disease in the various parts of the book. In the elephantiasis the skin is covered with incrustations like those of an elephant. It is a chronic and contagious disease, marked by a thickening of the legs, with a loss of hair and feeling, a swelling of the face, and a hoarse nasal voice. It affects the whole body; the bones as well as the skin are covered with spots and tumors, at first red, but afterward black. Coxe, Ency. Webster. It should be added that the leprosy in all its forms was regarded as contagious, and of course involved the necessity of a separation from society; and all the circumstances attending this calamity were such as deeply to humble a man of the former rank and dignity of Job.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. Sore boils] bischin ra, “with an evil inflammation.” What this diabolical disorder was, interpreters are not agreed. Some think it was the leprosy, and this is the reason why he dwelt by himself, and had his habitation in an unclean place, without the city, (Septuagint, ,) or in the open air: and the reason why his friends beheld him afar off, Job 2:12, was because they knew that the disorder was infectious.
His scraping himself with a potsherd indicates a disease accompanied with intolerable itching, one of the characteristics of the smallpox. Query, Was it not this disorder? And in order to save his life (for that he had in especial command) did not Satan himself direct him to the cool regimen, without which, humanly speaking, the disease must have proved fatal? In the elephantiasis and leprosy there is, properly speaking, no boil or detached inflammation, or swelling, but one uniform disordered state of the whole surface, so that the whole body is covered with loathsome scales, and the skin appears like that of the elephant, thick and wrinkled, from which appearance the disorder has its name. In the smallpox it is different; each pock or pustule is a separate inflammation, tending to suppuration; and during this process, the fever is in general very high, and the anguish and distress of the patient intolerable. When the suppuration is pretty far advanced, the itching is extreme; and the hands are often obliged to be confined to prevent the patient from literally tearing his own flesh.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Like those inflicted upon the Egyptians, which are expressed by the same word, and threatened to apostate Israelites, Deu 28:27, whereby he was made loathsome to himself and to his nearest relations, Deu 19:13,19, and a visible monument of Divine displeasure, and filled with tiring and consuming pains in his body, and no less torment and anguish in his mind.
From the sole of his foot unto his crown; in all the outward parts of his body. His tongue he spared, that it might be capable of venting those blasphemies against God which he expected and desired.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. sore boilsmalignant boils;rather, as it is singular in the Hebrew, a “burningsore.” Job was covered with one universal inflammation. The useof the potsherd [Job 2:8] agreeswith this view. It was that form of leprosy called black (todistinguish it from the white), or elephantiasis,because the feet swell like those of the elephant. The Arabicjudham (De 28:35), where”sore botch” is rather the black burning boil (Isa1:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord,…. With leave and license, with power and authority, as the Targum; having got his commission enlarged, on a fresh grant, to do more mischief to Job, he departed directly and immediately, being eager to put in execution what he had a permission to do; [See comments on Job 1:12];
and smote Job with sore boils, from the sole of his foot unto his crown: with hot and burning ulcers, such as were inflicted on the Egyptians in the plague of the boils and blains, called the botch of Egypt, see Ex 9:10; it is in the original text “with a bad boil”, or “the worst” a; it was as it were but one boil; they stood so thick and close together, that they were as one, reaching from head to foot, and spreading all over his body, so that there was no part free; he was full of sores; as Lazarus, and to him may be applied what is said in a figurative sense of the Jews, Isa 1:6; and this boil or boils were of the worst sort, and most hot and angry, and gave the most exquisite pain, and what Job was “smitten” with at once; they did not rise up in pimples and pustules at the first, and gradually gathered and came to an head, but he was at once covered with burning ulcers at their height, and with running sores; this was done by Satan, through divine permission; who, when he has leave, can inflict diseases on the bodies of men, as he did in the days of Christ on earth, see
Mt 17:15; some Jewish writers, as R. Simeon, say, that the devil heated the air, and thereby caused inflammation in Job’s blood, which broke out in boils; but then this would have affected others besides him: many are the conjectures of learned men b about this disease of Job’s, some taking it to be the leprosy c, others the scurvy, others an erysipelas, c. Bolducius reckons up no less than fourteen diseases that are attributed to him, collected from his own words, Job 7:5 a late learned writer d thinks it was the smallpox.
a “nicere malo”, Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Schmidt; “maligno”, Cocceius, Michaelis, “pessimo”, Junius & Tremellius, Schultens. b Vid. Reiskii dissert. de Morbo Jobi, in Thesaur. Dissert. Philolog. par. 1. p. 556. c Origen contr. Cels. l. 6. p. 305. So Michaelis in Lowth. Praelect. de Sacr. Poes. Heb. p. 182, 201, 202. d Delaney’s Life of King David, vol. 2. p. 147.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Working Out of the Commission:
7, 8 Then Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah, and smote Job with sore boils, from the sole of his foot to his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself with, and sat in the midst of ashes.
The description of this disease calls to mind Deu 28:35 with Deu 28:27, and is, according to the symptoms mentioned further on in the book, elephantiasis so called because the limbs become jointless lumps like elephants’ legs), Arab. jdam , gudham , Lat. lepra nodosa , the most fearful form of lepra , which sometimes seizes persons even of the higher ranks. Artapan (C. Mller, Fragm. iii. 222) says, that an Egyptian king was the first man who died of elephantiasis. Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, was afflicted with it in a very dangerous form.
(Note: Vid., the history in Heer, De elephantiasi Graecorum et Arabum, Breslay, 1842, and coloured plates in Trait de la Spdalskhed ou Elephantiasis des Grecs par Danielssen et Boeck, Paris, 1848, translated from the Norwegian; and in Hecker, Elephantiasis oder Lepra Arabica, Lahr, 1858 (with lithographs). “The means of cure,” says Aretus the Cappadocian (vid., his writings translated by Mann, 1858, S. 221), “must be more powerful than the disease, if it is to be removed. But what cure can be successfully applied to the fearful evil of elephantiasis? It is not confined to one part, either internally or externally, but takes possession of the entire system. It is terrible and hideous to behold, for it gives a man the appearance of an animal. Every one dreads to live, and have any intercourse, with such invalids; they flee from them as from the plague, for infection is easily communicated by the breath. Where, in the whole range of pharmacy, can such a powerful remedy be found?”)
The disease begins with the rising of tubercular boils, and at length resembles a cancer spreading itself over the whole body, by which the body is so affected, that some of the limbs fall completely away. Scraping with a potsherd will not only relieve the intolerable itching of the skin, but also remove the matter. Sitting among ashes is on account of the deep sorrow (comp. Jon 3:6) into which Job is brought by his heavy losses, especially the loss of his children. The lxx adds that he sat on a dunghill outside the city: the dunghill is taken from the passage Psa 113:7, and the ”outside the city” from the law of the . In addition to the four losses, a fifth temptation, in the form of a disease incurable in the eye of man, is now come upon Job: a natural disease, but brought on by Satan, permitted, and therefore decreed, by God. Satan does not appear again throughout the whole book. Evil has not only a personal existence in the invisible world, but also its agents and instruments in this; and by these it is henceforth manifested.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Job Smitten with Disease; The Affliction of Job. | B. C. 1520. |
7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. 8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes. 9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. 10 But he said unto her, 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.
The devil, having got leave to tear and worry poor Job, presently fell to work with him, as a tormentor first and then as a tempter. His own children he tempts first, and draws them to sin, and afterwards torments, when thereby he has brought them to ruin; but this child of God he tormented with an affliction, and then tempted to make a bad use of his affliction. That which he aimed at was to make Job curse God; now here we are told what course he took both to move him to it and move it to him, both to give him the provocation, else he would not have thought of it: thus artfully in the temptation managed with all the subtlety of the old serpent, who is here playing the same game against Job that he played against our first parents (Gen. iii.), aiming to seduce him from his allegiance to his God and to rob him of his integrity.
I. He provokes him to curse God by smiting him with sore boils, and so making him a burden to himself, Job 2:7; Job 2:8. The former attack was extremely violent, but Job kept his ground, bravely made good the pass and carried the day. Yet he is still but girding on the harness; there is worse behind. The clouds return after the rain. Satan, by the divine permission, follows his blow, and now deep calls unto deep.
1. The disease with which Job was seized was very grievous: Satan smote him with boils, sore boils, all over him, from head to foot, with an evil inflammation (so some render it), an erysipelas, perhaps, in a higher degree. One boil, when it is gathering, is torment enough, and gives a man abundance of pain and uneasiness. What a condition was Job then in, that had boils all over him, and no part free, and those as of raging a heat as the devil could make them, and, as it were, set on fire of hell! The small-pox is a very grievous and painful disease, and would be much more terrible than it is but that we know the extremity of it ordinarily lasts but a few days; how grievous then was the disease of Job, who was smitten all over with sore boils or grievous ulcers, which made him sick at heart, put him to exquisite torture, and so spread themselves over him that he could lie down no way for any ease. If at any time we be exercised with sore and grievous distempers, let us not think ourselves dealt with any otherwise than as God has sometimes dealt with the best of his saints and servants. We know not how much Satan may have a hand (by divine permission) in the diseases with which the children of men, and especially the children of God, are afflicted, what infections that prince of the air may spread, what inflammations may come from that fiery serpent. We read of one whom Satan had bound many years, Luke xiii. 16. Should God suffer that roaring lion to have his will against any of us, how miserable would he soon make us!
2. His management of himself, in this distemper, was very strange, v. 8.
(1.) Instead of healing salves, he took a potsherd, a piece of a broken pitcher, to scrape himself withal. A very sad pass this poor man had come to. When a man is sick and sore he may bear it the better if he be well tended and carefully looked after. Many rich people have with a soft and tender hand charitably ministered to the poor in such a condition as this; even Lazarus had some ease from the tongues of the dogs that came and licked his sores; but poor Job has no help afforded him. [1.] Nothing is done to his sore but what he does himself, with his own hands. His children and servants are all dead, his wife unkind, ch. xix. 17. He has not wherewithal to fee a physician or surgeon; and, which is most sad of all, none of those he had formerly been kind to had so much sense of honour and gratitude as to minister to him in his distress, and lend him a hand to dress or wipe his running sores, either because the disease was loathsome and noisome or because they apprehended it to be infectious. Thus it was in the former days, as it will be in the last days, men were lovers of their own selves, unthankful, and without natural affection. [2.] All that he does to his sores is to scrape them; they are not bound up with soft rags, not mollified with ointment, not washed or kept clean, no healing plasters laid on them, no opiates, no anodynes, ministered to the poor patient, to alleviate the pain and compose him to rest, nor any cordials to support his spirits; all the operation is the scraping of the ulcers, which, when they had come to a head and began to die, made his body all over like a scurf, as is usual in the end of the small-pox. It would have been an endless thing to dress his boils one by one; he therefore resolves thus to do it by wholesale–a remedy which one would think as bad as the disease. [3.] He has nothing to do this with but a potsherd, no surgeon’s instrument proper for the purpose, but that which would rather rake into his wounds, and add to his pain, than give him any ease. People that are sick and sore have need to be under the discipline and direction of others, for they are often but bad managers of themselves.
(2.) Instead of reposing in a soft and warm bed, he sat down among the ashes. Probably he had a bed left him (for, though his fields were stripped, we do not find that his house was burnt or plundered), but he chose to sit in the ashes, either because he was weary of his bed or because he would put himself into the place and posture of a penitent, who, in token of his self-abhorrence, lay in dust and ashes, Job 42:6; Isa 58:5; Jon 3:6. Thus did he humble himself under the mighty hand of God, and bring his mind to the meanness and poverty of his condition. He complains (ch. vii. 5) that his flesh was clothed with worms and clods of dust; and therefore dust to dust, ashes to ashes. If God lay him among the ashes, there he will contentedly sit down. A low spirit becomes low circumstances, and will help to reconcile us to them. The LXX. reads it, He sat down upon a dunghill without the city (which is commonly said, in mentioning this story); but the original says no more than that he sat in the midst of the ashes, which he might do in his own house.
II. He urges him, by the persuasions of his own wife, to curse God, v. 9. The Jews (who covet much to be wise above what is written) say that Job’s wife was Dinah, Jacob’s daughter: so the Chaldee paraphrase. It is not likely that she was; but, whoever it was, she was to him like Michal to David, a scoffer at his piety. She was spared to him, when the rest of his comforts were taken away, for this purpose, to be a troubler and tempter to him. If Satan leaves any thing that he has permission to take away, it is with a design of mischief. It is his policy to send his temptations by the hand of those that are dear to us, as he tempted Adam by Eve and Christ by Peter. We must therefore carefully watch that we be not drawn to say or do a wrong thing by the influence, interest, or entreaty, of any, no, not those for whose opinion and favour we have ever so great a value. Observe how strong this temptation was. 1. She banters Job for his constancy in his religion: “Dost thou still retain thy integrity? Art thou so very obstinate in thy religion that nothing will cure thee of it? so tame and sheepish as thus to truckle to a God who is so far from rewarding thy services with marks of his favour that he seems to take a pleasure in making thee miserable, strips thee, and scourges thee, without any provocation given? Is this a God to be still loved, and blessed, and served?”
| Dost thou not see that thy devotion’s vain? What have thy prayers procured but woe and pain? Hast thou not yet thy int’rest understood? Perversely righteous, and absurdly good? Those painful sores, and all thy losses, show How Heaven regards the foolish saint below. Incorrigibly pious! Can’t thy God Reform thy stupid virtue with his rod?–Sir R. BLACKMORE. |
Thus Satan still endeavours to draw men from God, as he did our first parents, by suggesting hard thoughts of him, as one that envies the happiness and delights in the misery of his creatures, than which nothing is more false. Another artifice he uses is to drive men from their religion by loading them with scoffs and reproaches for their adherence to it. We have reason to expect it, but we are fools if we heed it. Our Master himself has undergone it, we shall be abundantly recompensed for it, and with much more reason may we retort it upon the scoffers, “Are you such fools as still to retain your impiety, when you might bless God and live?” 2. She urges him to renounce his religion, to blaspheme God, set him at defiance, and dare him to do his worst: “Curse God and die; live no longer in dependence upon God, wait not for relief from him, but be thy own deliverer by being thy own executioner; end thy troubles by ending thy life; better die once than be always dying thus; thou mayest now despair of having any help from thy God, even curse him, and hang thyself.” These are two of the blackest and most horrid of all Satan’s temptations, and yet such as good men have sometimes been violently assaulted with. Nothing is more contrary to natural conscience than blaspheming God, nor to natural sense than self-murder; therefore the suggestion of either of these may well be suspected to come immediately from Satan. Lord, lead us not into temptation, not into such, not into any temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
III. He bravely resists and overcomes the temptation, v. 10. He soon gave her an answer (for Satan spared him the use of his tongue, in hopes he would curse God with it), which showed his constant resolution to cleave to God, to keep his good thoughts of him, and not to let go his integrity. See,
1. How he resented the temptation. He was very indignant at having such a thing mentioned to him: “What! Curse God? I abhor the thought of it. Get thee behind me, Satan.” In other cases Job reasoned with his wife with a great deal of mildness, even when she was unkind to him (ch. xix. 17): I entreated her for the children’s sake of my own body. But, when she persuaded him to curse God, he was much displeased: Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. He does not call her a fool and an atheist, nor does he break out into any indecent expressions of his displeasure, as those who ar sick and sore are apt to do, and think they may be excused; but he shows her the evil of what she said, and she spoke the language of the infidels and idolaters, who, when they are hardly bestead, fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, Isa. viii. 21. We have reason to suppose that in such a pious household as Job had his wife was one that had been well affected to religion, but that now, when all their estate and comfort were gone, she could not bear the loss with that temper of mind that Job had; but that she should go about to infect his mind with her wretched distemper was a great provocation to him, and he could not forbear thus showing his resentment. Note, (1.) Those are angry and sin not who are angry only at sin and take a temptation as the greatest affront, who cannot bear those that are evil, Rev. ii. 2. When Peter was a Satan to Christ he told him plainly, Thou art an offence to me. (2.) If those whom we think wise and good at any time speak that which is foolish and bad, we ought to reprove them faithfully for it and show them the evil of what they say, that we suffer not sin upon them. (3.) Temptations to curse God ought to be rejected with the greatest abhorrence, and not so much as to be parleyed with. Whoever persuades us to that must be looked upon as our enemy, to whom if we yield it is at our peril Job did not curse God and then think to come off with Adam’s excuse: “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me persuaded me to do it” (Gen. iii. 12), which had in it a tacit reflection on God, his ordinance and providence. No; if thou scornest, if thou cursest, thou alone shalt bear it.
2. How he reasoned against the temptation: Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil also? Those whom we reprove we must endeavour to convince; and it is no hard matter to give a reason why we should still hold fast our integrity even when we are stripped of every thing else. He considers that, though good and evil are contraries, yet they do not come from contrary causes, but both from the hand of God (Isa 45:7; Lam 3:38), and therefore that in both we must have our eye up unto him, with thankfulness for the good he sends and without fretfulness at the evil. Observe the force of his argument.
(1.) What he argues for, not only the bearing, but the receiving of evil: Shall we not receive evil, that is, [1.] “Shall we not expect to receive it? If God give us so many good things, shall we be surprised, or think it strange, if he sometimes afflict us, when he has told us that prosperity and adversity are set the one over against the other?” 1 Pet. iv. 12. [2.] “Shall we not set ourselves to receive it aright?” The word signifies to receive as a gift, and denotes a pious affection and disposition of soul under our afflictions, neither despising them nor fainting under them, accounting them gifts (Phil. i. 29), accepting them as punishments of our iniquity (Lev. xxvi. 41), acquiescing in the will of God in them (“Let him do with me as seemeth him good”), and accommodating ourselves to them, as those that know how to want as well as how to abound, Phil. iv. 12. When the heart is humbled and weaned, by humbling weaning providence, then we receive correction (Zeph. iii. 2) and take up our cross.
(2.) What he argues from: “Shall we receive so much good as has come to us from the hand of God during all those years of peace and prosperity that we have lived, and shall we not now receive evil, when God thinks fit to lay it on us?” Note, The consideration of the mercies we receive from God, both past and present, should make us receive our afflictions with a suitable disposition of spirit. If we receive our share of the common good in the seven years of plenty, shall we not receive our share of the common evil in the years of famine? Qui sentit commodum, sentire debet et onus–he who feels the privilege, should prepare for the privation. If we have so much that pleases us, why should we not be content with that which pleases God? If we receive so many comforts, shall we not receive some afflictions, which will serve as foils to our comforts, to make them the more valuable (we are taught the worth of mercies by being made to want them sometimes), and as allays to our comforts, to make them the less dangerous, to keep the balance even, and to prevent our being lifted up above measure? 2 Cor. xii. 7. If we receive so much good for the body, shall we not receive some good for the soul; that is, some afflictions, by which we partake of God’s holiness (Heb. xii. 10), something which, by saddening the countenance, makes the heart better? Let murmuring therefore, as well as boasting, be for ever excluded.
IV. Thus, in a good measure, Job still held fast his integrity, and Satan’s design against him was defeated: In all this did not Job sin with his lips; he not only said this well, but all he said at this time was under the government of religion and right reason. In the midst of all these grievances he did not speak a word amiss; and we have no reason to think but that he also preserved a good temper of mind, so that, though there might be some stirrings and risings of corruption in his heart, yet grace got the upper hand and he took care that the root of bitterness might not spring up to trouble him, Heb. xii. 15. The abundance of his heart was for God, produced good things, and suppressed the evil that was there, which was out-voted by the better side. If he did think any evil, yet he laid his hand upon his mouth (Prov. xxx. 32), stifled the evil thought and let it go no further, by which it appeared, not only that he had true grace, but that it was strong and victorious: in short, that he had not forfeited the character of a perfect and upright man; for so he appears to be who, in the midst of such temptations, offends not in word,Jas 3:2; Psa 17:3.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Notes
Job. 2:7. Smote Job with sore boils. The Septuagint and Vulgate, followed by MARTIN and DIODATI in their French and Italian versions, render the words which describe Jobs disease, a bad or malignant ulcer. The word (shekheen) which we render boils, derived from a root not used in Hebrew, but appearing in the Arabic (sakhana) to be hot, inflamed, fevered. Jobs disease, according to GESENIUS, NOYES, and others, a kind of black leprosy, formerly prevailing in Egypt (Deu. 28:27); called Elephantiasis, from the skin being covered with black scales, and from the mouth, feet, and legs swelling enormously, while the body becomes emaciated. The disease not attended with great pain, but with much debility of the system, uneasiness, and mental depression. Both Pliny and Lucretius speak of it as a disease peculiar to Egypt; the former calling it, gypti peculiare malum. PISCATOR and CASTALIO render the singular noun collectively ulcers; as our English version, boils. MORUS renders it: An inflammation. VATABLUS: Pustules,boils from heat, such as were inflicted on Egypt (Exo. 9:10), and threatened to Israel (Deu. 28:27). GRYNUS, after SCHULCENS: An inflammation, of which the ulcers were the effect. ADAM CLARKE queries whether it was not the small-pox. GOOD makes it: Burning ulcerations,the baras of the Arabs. WEMYSS: Foul ulcers. LEE: A burning disease. FRY: A sore ulcer. CAREY: A malignant ulceration,the disease nearly proving fatal in the case of Hezekiah (Isa. 38:1-21); in Jobs case, of a very virulent form. The Homilist: One universal inflammation. FAUSSET: A burning sore. CONANT, after EWALD, observes that the singular here has the effect of a collective. So HEILIGSTEDT: Malignant ulcers. ZCKLER, in Lange, regarding it as the Elephantiasis, speaks of it as the Arabian, or worst kind of leprosy; called also lepra nodosa, or tuberculosa, from the greatly swollen lumps, or boils, which give to the extremities the appearance of an elephants legs, whence its name. BARNES, after GOOD, calls it a universal ulcer, attended with violent pain and constant restlessness; named by the Arabs, gudham, and said to produce a grim, distorted, lion-like set of features, hence called Leoutiasis. CHRYSOSTOM observes that it made Job like Lazarus, but in a far worse condition. The Jewish doctors say that the disease, in Jobs case, lasted a whole year; while SUIDASwe know not on what groundsmakes it to have continued seven.
SEVENTH PART OF INTRODUCTION; JOBS FURTHER TRIAL
I. Satans use of Gods permission (Job. 2:7).
So went Satan forth. Glad in obtaining his wish, like Saul on his way to Damascus. Resolved to use his liberty to the utmost. Gets his will, but with limitation (Luk. 22:31-32).From the presence of the Lord. Like Cain (Genesis 4-16). His object not to serve God, but torture man.Smote Job. Implies suddenness and vehemence. The hand heavy, though unseen. So Herod smitten by the angel (Act. 12:23). Such smiting often ascribed to God, whoever the instrument (Deu. 28:35). Satanic ingenuity in smiting the body yet preserving life and mental faculties. Piety and patience under one trial, no security against another and a heavier. Heavy burdens laid on strong shoulders. God knows the metal He gives Satan to ring [Trapp]. Our comfort is, that He lays no trial on His children beyond what He enables them to bear (1Co. 10:13).
II. Jobs Disease
Sore boils. Heb., a bad, malignant ulcer, or inflammatory ulceration. Worst kind of leprosy. Inflicted on the Egyptians and threatened to the Israelites (Deu. 28:27). Prevalent both in Arabia and Egypt. Made the sufferer loathsome to himself and his nearest relations (ch. Job. 19:13; Job. 19:19). Appeared to make him out as an object of the Divine displeasure; as Miriam, Gehazi, and King Azariah. In an advanced stage, fingers, toes, and hands, gradually fall off (ch. Job. 30:17; Job. 30:30). Attended with great attenuation and debility of body (Job. 16:8; Job. 19:20; Job. 30:18). Restless nights and terrifying dreams (Job. 30:17; Job. 7:13-14). Anxiety of mind and loathing of life (Job. 7:15). Foul breath and difficult respiration (Job. 7:4; Job. 13:15; Job. 30:17). The skin itchy, of great tenseness, full of cracks and rents, and covered with hard or festering ulcers, and with black scales (Job. 2:8; Job. 19:20; Job. 30:18; Job. 7:5; Job. 30:30). The feet and legs swollen to an enormous size; hence the disease also called Elephantiasis. The mouth swollen and the countenance distorted, giving the patient a lion-like appearance; hence another name to the disease, Leontiasis. Contagious through the mere breath. Often hereditary. As a rule, incurable. In any case, one of the most protracted as well as dreadful diseases.From the crown, &c. So in Deu. 28:35. The body one continued sore. Job escaped with the skin of his teethsores everywhere else (Job. 19:20). The tongue left free for an obvious reason. Satans mercies cruel. Rare spectacle for angels; the holiest man on earth the most afflicted. Astounding sight for men; the richest and greatest man in the land made at once the most loathsome and miserable. Impossible to say to what extent God may allow his dearest children to be afflicted. After Job, no saint need be staggered at his suffering. Yet all Jobs sufferings under Divine inspection and admeasurement (Isa. 27:8).A circumstance marking the extremity of Jobs affliction (Job. 2:8). And he took him a potsherd. As near at hand. Arab jars thin and frail, and easily brokensometimes by merely putting them down on-the floor. Hence fragments of broken jars found everywhere (Isa. 30:14). A potsherd used by Job instead of a napkin. Possibly, however, an instrument still used in the East for similar purposes. Required to remove the purulent matter from his sores, and perhaps to allay their irritation. His hands and fingers themselves affected, or the foulness of his sores forbidding the touch. Without friend, physician, or relative to attend to his disease. In the case of Lazarus, dogs supplied the place of the potsherd (Luk. 16:20-21). Gods dearest saints often reduced to the greatest extremities.Sat down among the ashes. In token of mourning (Job. 42:6; Jon. 3:6; Mat. 11:21); and of abasement (Jer. 6:26; Isa. 47:3; Isa. 58:5; Eze. 27:30). The ash-heap probably outside the city. Dung-hills still similarly used in the East. One part of the lepers affliction, that he was to be removed from society (Lev. 13:46; Num. 12:14-15; 2Ki. 15:5).
1. Increased affliction calls for increased humiliation.
2. Self-abasement the certain way to Divine exaltation (Jas. 4:9-10).
III. Jobs trial from his wife (Job. 2:9).
Then said his wife. Amazed at her husbands sufferings and piety. Herself already tempted and overcome. Spared by Satan to and him in his attempts upon her husband. Another of his cruel mercies. She who should have been a comforter now becomes a tormentor. Her former piety now staggered at her husbands trials. Weak professors readily offended. The case of Adam and Eve expected to be repeated. Satan wise in selecting his instruments.
1. Those who full themselves usually employed in tempting others.
2. Strongest temptations and keenest triais often from nearest friends.
Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Already affirmed by God (Job. 2:3). What is highly esteemed by God often reproached by man, and vice versa (Luk. 16:15). Job, in his wifes eyes, perversely righteous and absurdly good [Sir R. Blackmore]. Perseverance in piety under heavy crosses a mystery to the world.Curse God and die. Three horrid temptationsinfidelity, blasphemy, and despair. Same word used as in Job. 1:11; but properly denoting to bless. Perhaps a bitter taunt, referring to Job. 1:21Go on with your fine religion! ProbablyRenounce God, who treats you so vilely. Includes the idea of uttered reproach and blasphemy (1Ki. 21:10). Job urged by his wife to fulfil Satans grand desire.
1. Satans great work to set men against their Maker and His service.
2. His fiercest temptations often reserved for the time of greatest affliction.
3. Satan tempts men to put the worst construction on Gods dealings, and prompts to the worst means of relief. Points Job to the gulf of Atheism as the only refuge [Davidson].
4. The holiest saints liable to the most horrid and blasphemous temptations.
5. The flesh in ourselves and others always an antagonist to faith and holiness (Mat. 16:22-23).
And die. As the end of all your trouble. So Satan tempted Saul, Ahithopel, and Judas Iscariot. No suggestion so horrid but Satan may inject it into a believing mind. Job afterwards still pressed with the same temptation to suicide (Job. 7:15). One of Satans lies, that death ends all. His object to make men die in an act of sin, without time or opportunity for repentance. His friendliest proposals tend to damnation and destruction. Would make men imitators of his blasphemy and partakers of his despair.
IV. Jobs continued patience and piety (Job. 2:10). But he said unto her. Did not curse God, and then use Adams excuse (Gen. 3:12.Thou speakest, &c. Reproves with mingled gentleness and firmness. So Christ reproved Peter (Mat. 16:23). Dishonour done to God to be at once discountenanced and reproved (Lev. 19:17; Pro. 27:5; Pro. 29:15).As one. A gentle form of reproof. Husbands to love their wives, and not be bitter against them (Col. 3:19). No fierce or furious language here. Her present speech not like her usual self. Speaks out of her ordinary character.
1. Believers liable to be drawn into sin.
2. Love to be mingled with, and to moderate, reproof (Eph. 4:15).
3. Reproof to be respectful, especially when addressed to relatives and seniors (1Ti. 5:1).
As one of the foolish women speaketh. Foolish, in the Old Testament, used for sinful or ungodly. The language of Jobs wife, that of foolish, profane, wicked women.
1. The part of a fool to deny God and reproach His Providence (Psa. 14:1).
2. Folly to judge of a mans condition from Gods outward dealings with him.
3. Unworthy thoughts of God the mark of a carnal, foolish spirit.
4. Sin not only vile but foolish,as truly opposed to mans interests as to Gods honour.
5. Impatience and passion under trouble the greatest foolishness. Hard, and therefore senseless, to kick against the pricks (Act. 9:5). Idolaters wont to reproach their gods in misfortune.
What! shall we receive, &c.? What is sinful is to be put down, not with rage but with reason. Satans horrid and blasphemous temptations not to be listened to for a moment. Sharp reproof consistent with love and sometimes required by it (Tit. 1:13). He who knows not how to be angry knows not how to love [Augustine.]Shall we receive good at the hand of God? Present miseries not to obliterate past mercies. The greatest sufferer already the recipient of unnumbered benefits. Gods mercies new every morning. To sinners all is mercy on this side of hell. Mercy written on every sunbeam that gilds and gladdens the earth.And shall we not receive evil also? Evil put for affliction and adversity. All comforts and no crosses, unreasonable to expect and undesirable to receive. Evil as well as good to be not only expected, but thankfully accepted. The question points to the manner of receiving, as well as the matter received. Both equally dispensed by God, therefore both to be reverentially accepted by us. Both worthy of God to dispense, and beneficial for us to receive. The part of faith and love, to accept troubles as from a Fathers hand. The true spirit of adoption, to kiss the rod and the hand that holds it. Thankfully to accept of good is merely human, thankfully to accept of evil is Divine. In every thing to give thanks, Gods will in Christ concerning us (1Th. 5:13). Job here greater than his miseries. More than a conqueror. One of heavens as well as earths heroes.In all this, his increased calamities as well as his wifes taunts and temptations. Job now lying under a quaternion of troublesadversity, bereavement, disease, and reproach. More, however, yet remained for Satan to inflict and for Job to suffer. Continuance of suffering often much more trying than suffering itself. Inward affliction to be added to the outward. Much more trying. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear? (Pro. 18:14). A hint, perhaps, here given of further trial, with a less gratifying result.Sinned not with his lips. Vented no reflection on Gods character and procedure. The greatest temptation in such circumstances to sin with the lips. The thing Satan desired, endeavoured after, and waited for. The temptation to murmur present, but resisted and repressed. Job still by grace a conqueror over corrupt nature. Not always thus walking on the swelling waters of innate corruption. Mans weakness to be exhibited, even in a state of grace. Hitherto Job shown to be the perfect man God declared him to be (Jas. 3:2). The Old Testament ideal of a perfect man and a suffering saint. An illustrious type of Christ in His suffering and patience (Isa. 53:7; 1Pe. 2:23). The type afterwards fails, that in all things Christ may have the pre-eminence (Col. 1:18).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(7) Sore boils.Supposed to be Elephantiasis, an extreme form of leprosy, in which the skin becomes clotted and hard like an elephants, with painful cracks and sores underneath.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Sore boils The word , translated boils, in the verbal form signifies to be hot. Dr. Good, a learned physician, translates it “a burning ulceration.” That it was terrible is indicated by the addition of the word , ra’h, evil, or malignant. The features of the disease with which Job was afflicted most resemble the black leprosy, or elephantiasis, as it is called by the Greeks. It takes the latter name from its rendering the skin “scabrous, dark-coloured, and furrowed all over with tubercles,” ( Dr. Good;) or, as others say, because in some of its stages the feet swell, and take the shape of those of the elephant. The Arabians and Syrians call it the lion disease, ( leontiasis,) because of its producing in the countenance of the afflicted grim, distorted, and lion-like features. It is regarded as the most foul, painful, and incurable of all diseases. “It begins beneath the knee” ( W. Scholtze) with tubercular boils, which, in time, resemble a cancer, and thence spreads itself over the whole body. In its slow and destructive course all the members of the body, fingers, toes, hands, feet, gradually decay and fall off, on which account the Arabians call it also the maiming disease. The dread the disease inspires appears in the title it bears throughout the East “the first-born of death.” Its victim, even the Icelanders, among whom it prevails, say, resembles “a rancid, putrefying corpse.” Maundrell, an old but judicious Oriental traveller, describes the “distemper as so noisome that it might well pass for the utmost corruption of the human body on this side the grave.” The features and course of the disease may be traced in the incidental descriptions given by Job 3:24; Job 6:2; Job 6:4; Job 6:9; Job 6:11-14; Job 7:4-5; Job 7:14-15; Job 7:19; Job 9:17-18; Job 13:20; Job 13:27-28; Job 16:8; Job 16:16; Job 16:22; Job 17:1; Job 19:17-18; Job 19:20; Job 30:17; Job 30:30; Job 33:20. The entire diagnosis thus given answers to the elephantiasis.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 2:7. So went Satan forth It has been objected, I. That it does not seem likely that Satan should appear in such good company as the sons of God; nor, II. That God should permit him to afflict Job in this manner, only to satisfy the wicked sycophant that Job was a man of integrity. As to the first objection, we grant that such company is too good for him: but he who can sometimes transform himself into an angel of light, may affect also to appear in company with angels of light, and may impudently intrude himself with them. If good angels are sent forth to mankind, in order to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation, and if Satan also walketh about among men, seeking whom he may devour; it is neither impossible nor improbable that the latter may sometimes present himself in company with the former before the Lord. As to the second objection, we must own that it would be of force if there were any truth in it: but, since the text affords no sufficient grounds for the poor suggestion, and God might have higher ends to answer in that affair than this suggestion hints, the pretended difficulty is easily got over, and so the literal construction of the text may still be the true one: nevertheless, I prefer the figurative construction in the present instance; not condemning those who prefer the literal, nor commending such as are dogmatical and positive in either. I am of opinion with those who think that the structure of the book of Job is of the dramatic kind; relating true history, but curiously embellished with many very lively decorations, such as are not to be interpreted up to the strictness of the letter, but serve to convey an excellent meaning or moral to the pious reader. The prophetic style is generally full of lofty thoughts and bold figures or emblems, and abounds with parables; and Job himself, who perhaps was author of the principal part of the book, has been deservedly reckoned by learned men in the number of prophets. See Waterland’s Script. Vind. part 3: p. 14.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(7) So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. (8) And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.
Everything tended to aggravate Job’s affliction, because added to the sores of the body, no doubt the enemy made the most furious attack on his soul. But here what a type was Job of his Redeemer; who in his unequalled seasons of temptation was at once oppressed with hunger, and driven out from men into the wilderness, the haunts of wild beasts, that the attack of the enemy might be the more powerful?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 2:7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
Ver. 7. So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord ] The like is said of Cain, when he meditated the murder of his innocent brother, and went to put it in practice. Malefactors amongst us, we know, are indicted in this form: For that thou, not having God before thine eyes, but moved by the instigation of the devil, didst –
And smote Job
With sore boils
From the sole of his foot unto his crown
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 2:7-10
Job 2:7-10
SATAN TORTURES JOB’S BODY WITH A VILE DISEASE
“So Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself therewith; and he sat among the ashes. Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still hold fast thine integrity? renounce God, and die. But he said unto her, 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.”
“Satan smote Job … with sore boils” (Job 2:7). “Modern medical opinion is not unanimous in the diagnosis of Job’s disease. Driver and Gray, like many others, identified the disease as Elephantiasis, basing their conclusion upon many symptoms of the disease mentioned subsequently in the Book of Job, such as, his fetid breath (Job 19:17), maggots breeding in the sores (Job 7:5), the falling off of the skin (Job 30:30), feelings of terror (Job 3:25; 6:40), terrible dreams and horrible nightmares (Job 7:14), a sensation of strangulation (Job 7:15), and disfiguration of his appearance (Job 2:12). Whatever it was, it was as loathsome and pitiful a disease as can be imagined.
“Then said his wife, Dost thou still hold fast thine integrity? Renounce God, and die” (Job 2:9). As Chrysostom observed, we have here the reason why the devil did not kill Job’s wife during that first test. “It was because Satan thought she would be the best tool by which to scourge him more acutely than by any other means. Some have attempted to defend Job’s wife; but it is evident that she was indeed, “A tool of the tempter,” for she suggested here that Job should do the very thing that Satan had predicted that he would do, namely, “renounce God.”
“Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh” (Job 2:10). In no other response does Job appear more restrained than in this one. In view of the diabolical action she had proposed for him to commit, it appears that Job’s response might have been vehement, derogatory, or angry; but, instead, he merely charged her with foolishness. She no longer believed that Job was righteous.
“What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil” (Job 2:10)? Job here stated the truth that God has the right to send (or allow) either good or evil to befall any person whomsoever. All that God allows is right, regardless of how it may appear to the imperfect perception of men.
“In all this did not Job sin with his lips” (Job 2:10). Some have hinted that his thoughts in this extremity were sinful, but there is no evidence of that. “There is certainly no veiled suggestion here that Job had cursed God in his heart. Job’s wisdom was sound.
However, the same writer declared that, “Job truly served God for naught, but for God Himself”; and with that opinion, which we find frequently repeated by many scholars, we find it difficult to agree. We believe that Job’s serving God was also, at least, partially motivated by the hope of eternal reward after the sorrows of life were ended. Did he not speak of his Redeemer, and of the resurrection of the dead?
The commentators have overreached themselves when they teach that no hope of reward enters into the motivation for Christian living. Christ himself spoke of those who might be compelled to forsake, “Houses, and brethren, and sisters, and father, or mother, or children, or lands, for his name’s sake,” promising them in the same breath that they should receive, “A hundredfold now in this time … and in the world to come eternal life” (Mar 10:29). Admittedly, the hope of reward is not the highest motive; but we truly believe that God never asked any man to serve God “for naught.” And whatever Job’s motives might have been, he certainly did not serve God for naught.
Job’s wife advised him to renounce God and die; but Job decided to go on living. “And he did so because of his faith in God, and because he was strong enough to endure all that Satan could heap upon him.
Keil referred to Job’s rejection of his wife’s evil proposal as his repelling the sixth temptation. The first four were the satanic blows delivered by those four messengers, one after another, announcing the loss of all Job’s possessions and the death of his children. The fifth temptation came in the form of that horrible disease; and this sixth one was that wicked proposal of his wife to “Renounce God, and die.” The seventh temptation would come in the words of those who came to comfort him, but who, instead, were guilty of dishonoring him with their false admonitions to confess his wickedness and repent of his sins. This might have been the strongest of all his temptations.
E.M. Zerr:
Job 2:7. It is the inspired writer who says that Satan smote Job. This proves that Satan can wield supernatural power when the Lord is willing for him to do so. The restriction placed upon him was that he do nothing that would cause Job’s death. We may be sure he would design to give him an affliction that would cause the most possible suffering short of death. For that purpose he smote him with sore boils. The second word is from SHECIYN and is defined, “from an unused root probably meaning to burn; inflammation, i. e. an ulcer.”–Strong. So we are to think of Job as being afflicted with burning ulcers or running sores. Just one such spot on a man’s body is often enough to render him frantic with distress. But not one spot on Job’s body was exempt, for the sores started at the sole of his foot and covered .him to the top of his head. Reason would tell us that the filthy discharge from the ulcers would impose themselves upon his eyes and nearby tissues, and even encroach upon his lips and mouth.
Job 2:8. No friendly nurse was near to ease the misery with ministrations of soothing bath or other alleviating services. And there is no indication that he could have the services of a physician. In fact, since it was a diseased condition that was miraculously brought on (although the nature of the disease itself was not miraculous), it would not have availed him anything could he have been treated by a physician. The most that such a professional man could have done would be to use one of the crude surgical instruments of those times called “scrapers.” In the absence of such services Job had only the use of a potsherd. That was a “broken piece of earthenware” according to Smith’s Bible Dictionary. With this sort of an instrument Job sat down in the ashes for shame and distress, and scraped off the accumulation of the discharge from the sores. Thus we see him; his property and children all gone, and that by violence, and his own body attacked by a loathsome disease. The entire surface is viciously irritated by burning ulcers, and the repulsive matter is trickling down and over him constantly.
Job 2:9. God intended that a man’s wife should be his greatest earthly helper. (Gen 2:18-20.) When the storms of life threaten his feeble bark, and the trials and afflictions seem more than he can bear, he is often saved from complete dejection by the sympathy and love and encouraging words of her who is the sharer of his burdens and the keeper of his honor. How indescribably opposite of all this is the case if she fails even to cooperate with him. And how much worse, still, is the case, if she becomes outspoken in her opposition to his good purpose. Job’s wife treated with contempt his determination to retain his integrity or innocence. Curse God and die means to take a final fling at the Lord as being the cause of his misfortunes, then be sullenly resigned to his fate which would doubtless be a miserable death, after such a disgraceful apostasy from the true God.
Job 2:10. When Job lost his children and property he did not speak evil against God. When his health and comfort of body deserted him, he still maintained his respect for the Lord. Now when the greatest of all blows came, the desertion on the part of his wife, he still repelled all attempts to draw him away from his devotion to God. He told her that she spoke as one of the foolish women spoke. The original word has a more serious meaning according to the lexicon of Strong. Its definition is, “foolishness, i. e. (morally) wickedness; concretely a crime; by extension, punishment.” Moffatt gives us, “You are talking like an impious fool.” From these critical sources of information we can see how Job regarded his wife. He meant that her attitude was criminal and deserving of punishment. It implied also that she was a slacker in her obligations to God in that she was not willing to take her share of the unpleasant parts of life along with the pleasant. Then the writer adds the conclusion stated before that Job did not sin with his lips. See comments on Job 1:22 about sinning with the lips.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
So went: 1Ki 22:22
sore boils: Shechin ra, supposed to be the Judham, or black leprosy, of the Arabs, termed Elephantiasis by the Greeks, from its rendering the skin, like that of the elephant, scabrous, dark coloured, and furrowed all over with tubercles. This loathsome and most afflictive disease is accompanied with most intolerable itching. Job 30:17-19, Job 30:30, Exo 9:9-11, Deu 28:27, Deu 28:35, Rev 16:11
from the sole: Isa 1:6, Isa 3:17
Reciprocal: Gen 4:16 – went Lev 13:18 – a boil 2Sa 14:25 – from the sole 2Ki 20:7 – the boil Job 1:12 – So Satan Job 7:5 – flesh Job 9:17 – multiplieth Job 9:23 – If the Job 13:27 – settest Job 16:11 – to the ungodly Job 19:10 – destroyed Job 30:18 – By the great Psa 38:3 – soundness Psa 41:8 – An evil disease Psa 78:49 – by sending Pro 18:14 – spirit Jon 1:3 – from Mat 8:32 – the whole Mat 17:15 – for ofttimes Mar 5:5 – crying Luk 13:11 – a spirit Luk 16:20 – full 2Co 12:7 – the messenger Rev 16:2 – a noisome
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
JOBS TWO FOES AND THREE FRIENDS
Satan his wife Jobs three friends.
Job 2:7; Job 2:9; Job 2:11
The outward calamities from which Job first suffered are narrated in chapter 1. Affliction, affecting Jobs property and even family, failed to destroy his religious integrity.
Then Satan says that the test has not been a complete and a sufficient one. You do not really try a man by touching his outward circumstances, only by touching his body and putting in peril his life. God even permits the trial to go this length. Let disease in its most shameful and suffering forms afflict My servant, and see by that whether he is heart sincere. This form of the trial is given in chapter 2., and the points may be taken in the following order:
I. Gods inquiry shows that while Satan wrought the mischief in Jobs circumstances, God was matching Job; and notice what He was watching, even to see how Jobs character stood the test of trial. That is what God watches still.
God asks whether what he saw in Job others too had seen, so that the example of his trustfulness and integrity might have its influence.
II. Satans proverb.Dr. Mason Good explains the proverb thus: The skins or spoils of beasts, in the rude and early ages of man, were the most valuable property he could acquire, and that for which he most frequently combatted. Skins hence became the chief representation of property, and in many parts of the world continue so to the present hour. The idea is, that a man would be willing to lose all, even his religion, rather than his life. Satan can recognise no principle of action but selfishness, and finds in it alone the secret of Jobs firmness.
III. Jobs sufferings.The Speakers Commentary gives the following explanation of Jobs disease: The original word means an intense heat, hence a burning and ulcerous swelling, or leprosy in its most terrible form, taking its name from the appearance of the body, which is covered with a knotty, cancerous bark, like the hide of an elephant; the whole frame is in a state of progressive dissolution, ending slowly but surely in death. The foulness, loathsomeness, irritation, and intense pain make Jobs sufferings to be extreme, and the worst that Satan could devise.
Compare the extreme sufferings by which the obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ was tested. (See Psalms 22)
IV. His wifes foolishness.Note two things: (1) part of Jobs trial came out of this failure of faith in the partner who ought to have comforted and helped him. And (2) that we may often find it a more testing trial to look upon the sufferings of others than to bear suffering ourselves. This wife spoke hastily and, therefore, foolishly; she could not see the end of the Lord.
V. His friends sympathy.However they turned out, they began well. See the signs of their sincere and brotherly sympathy. Their silence did very much more for Job than their speech.
The question to press home in closing is this: What will our personal piety and godly principle stand? For we, too, must be buffeted in life, even as Job was; and that not only by calamity, but by suffering also, and temptation, and even by the failure and misunderstanding of those about us, who ought to help us. Only if our godly principle is well settled and centred, can we hope to hold fast our integrity in the evil day.
Illustration
However ye might err in after-speech,
The mute expression of that voiceless woe
Whereby ye sought your sympathy to show
With him of Uz, doth eloquently preach,
Teaching a lesson it were well to teach
Some comforters, of utterance less slow,
Prone to believe that they more promptly know
Griefs mighty depths, and by their words can reach.
Seven days and nights, in stillness as profound
As that of chaos, patiently ye sate
By the heart-stricken and the desolate.
And though your sympathy might fail to sound
The fathomless depth of his dark spirits wound,
Not less your silence was sublimely great.
F. Quarles.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Job 2:7. Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord Or, from the Lord, , as the LXX. render it. Compare Act 5:41, They departed, , from the presence of the council that is, from the council. And smote Job with sore biles , with a foul ulcer, or evil inflammation, say the Seventy; breaking out and spreading itself over all his body. The biles, it seems, were like those inflicted upon the Egyptians, which are expressed by the same word, and threatened to the apostate Israelites, (Deu 28:27,) whereby he was made loathsome to himself and to his nearest relations, and filled with consuming pains in his body, and no less torments and anguish in his mind. From the sole of his foot unto his crown In all the outward parts of his body. His tongue, says Poole, he spared, that it might be capable of uttering those blasphemies against God which Satan desired and expected him to utter. One boil, when it is gathering, is very distressing, and gives a man abundance of pain and uneasiness. What a condition was Job then in, who had biles all over his body, no part being free, and those as much inflamed, and of as raging a heat, as Satan could make them! If at any time we be exercised with sore and grievous distempers, let us not think ourselves more hardly dealt with than God has sometimes dealt with the best of his saints and servants. We know not how far Satan may have a hand, by Gods permission, in the diseases with which mankind, especially the children of God, are afflicted; or what infections that prince of the air may spread, what inflammations may come from that fiery serpent. We read of one whom he had bound for many years, Luk 13:10. And should God suffer him to have his will against us, he would soon make the best and bravest of us very miserable. It is a judicious remark of Dr. Mede here, that it is not Job himself or his friends, but the author of the book, who attributes his calamities to Satan; for this writers intention seems to have been to show, by a striking example, that the world is governed by the providence of God; and as the holy angels, whose ministry God makes use of in distributing his bountiful gifts, punctually execute all his commands; so Satan himself, with his agents, are under the power of God, and cannot inflict any evils on mankind without the divine permission.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2:7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore {h} boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
(h) This sore was most vehement, with which God also plagued the Egyptians, Exo 9:9 and threatened to punish rebellious people, De 28:27 so that this temptation was most grievous: for if Job had measured God’s favour by the vehemency of his disease, he might have thought that God had cast him off.