Job’s character, family and possessions
1
📚There was a man in the land of Uz 📖, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless 📖 and upright 📖, and one who feared God 📖 and shunned evil 📖. 2 📚And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 📚And his possessions were seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.1:3 East here means the area lying east of Canaan, extending, perhaps, to the Euphrates river.⚜
4 📚And his sons used to go and have a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and call for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 5 📚And it came about when their days of feasting had completed its cycle, that Job would send and sanctify them, and rise up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts”. Thus Job did continually.
The dialogue between God and Satan
6 📚Now a day came 📖 when the sons of God 📖 came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan 📖 also came among them.
7 📚And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it”.
1:7 God knew where Satan had been. This verse suggests that Satan also is required to give an account of his activities. Satan had been roaming the earth looking for opportunities to do evil (1 Pet 5:8). He is not, like God, able to be everywhere at once.⚜
8 📚And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job 📖, that there is no one like him 📖 on the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
9 📚Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
1:9 This is Satan’s evaluation of the piety of the best man on earth, and so of all religious people. He is saying that men will serve and worship God only for what they can get out of it, that among the whole of mankind there is no such thing as genuine love for God or reverence for Him, that the basis of all religion is selfishness.
Unfortunately, Satan’s evaluation is correct to a large extent. Sinful men indeed think only of themselves and what they can get from God rather than how they can love, please, and serve God. But God can and does work in the hearts of individuals to change them, give them a new nature, and pour his love into their inner being. Such people serve God truly and are willing to suffer the loss of all things for His sake (Mark 10:28; Luke 5:11, 27, 28; 14:33; Rom 5:5; Phil 3:8; Heb 10:32-34; 11:36-38).
Judging from the information we have in the Bible we can say that Satan does not want to admit this and goes on accusing and opposing God’s people (Rev 12:10), and that his aim is to get people to turn against God, reject Him, and even curse Him. They who do so are siding with Satan, though they may not even be aware of Satan’s existence. Satan hates God and wants all men to hate Him. He also hates men and wants God to hate them and judge, punish, and destroy them.⚜
10 📚Have you not made a hedge 📖 around him and around his house and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 📚But now stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face”.
1:10-11 Satan makes his view of Job (and so of all pious people) quite clear. Job, he is saying, served and worshiped God only because of God’s material blessings and protection; take away these and Job’s piety will go with them. In the case of Job we can see that this was not true. But is it true of us? Will we lose our devotion to God if He allows disaster to come on our possessions and on our children?⚜
12 📚And the LORD said to Satan, “See, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand to the man himself”. So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
1:12 God accepted Satan’s challenge concerning Job. He Himself would not raise His hand against Job, but would allow Satan to put his theory to the test. God often tries His people and allows them to be tested by circumstances (notes at Gen 22:1; Ps 66:10-12). The result of such trials is glory to God and great honor and spiritual good to those who come through them. In other words, God uses all the accusations, opposition, and activities of Satan against Him and His people to bring good (notes at Gen 50:20; Num 24:25; Rom 8:28). Job was God’s masterpiece of spiritual workmanship in that generation (compare Eph 2:10). God would not shield him from testing.⚜
Satan brings disasters on Job
13 📚And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house; 14 📚and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys were feeding beside them, 15 📚and the Sabeans attacked and took them away. Yes, they killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you”.
1:14-15 The Sabeans were a nomadic tribe ranging here and there in northern Arabia.⚜
16 📚While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you”.
1:16 Some scholars think the words “the fire of God” means lightning flashes. But it may have been fire that Satan caused to fall from the sky (compare Rev 13:13). In any case, the man who reported it to Job was mistaken if he thought God Himself had sent the fire.⚜
17 📚While he was still speaking 📖, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans 📖 formed three bands and attacked the camels and carried them away; yes, and they killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you”.
18 📚While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house; 19 📚and, see, a great wind 📖 came from the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you”.
1:13-19 Satan now reveals what happens to possessions and persons when he is given the opportunity to injure them. He is a destroyer and a murderer (John 8:44). We have reason to believe that he would, if permitted by God, do similar things to every one of God’s people. If he does not, it is only because God still keeps His protective “fence” about them (Ps 3:3; 5:12; 32:7; Deut 33:27; John 17:15; 1 Pet 1:5). Satan, of course, may actually increase the wealth and position of those on his side, or of those who yield to his temptations for these things. But this too, as he well knows, will result in their eventual destruction.⚜
Job’s wonderful behavior and words in the time of disaster
20 📚Then Job arose and tore his cloak and shaved 📖 his head, and prostrated himself on the ground and worshipped,
1:20 In this verse and the next we have one of the great moments in the whole Bible, in the whole of human history. It should fill us with admiration. Job’s faith rises superior to all his loss and sorrow. Satan is proved a liar. And God’s work of grace in human hearts is shown to be powerful and real. Instead of uttering the curse Satan had predicted, Job praises God. Notice that Job does not blame the Sabeans or Chaldeans or wind or fire or even Satan for his losses. He did not think these losses were the result of accidents or men’s cruelty or the powers of nature. He says God gave, God took away. He recognizes God’s sovereignty in everything. He knows the things which have happened could not happen unless God permitted them.⚜
21 📚and said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked 📖 I shall return. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away 📖. Blessed be the name of the LORD 📖”.
22 📚In all this Job did not sin, or charge God foolishly.
1:22 Many there are in this world who foolishly charge God with injustice toward them when they experience losses much less than Job’s.⚜