JOB 2
OPENS WITH ANOTHER SCENE IN HEAVEN AND JOB'S HEALTH IS DESTROYED
Verses 1-3 tells us God BOASTS AGAIN over His servant Job.
"Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD. And the LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" So Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it." Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause."
AGAIN THERE WAS A DAY when the sons of God came:
This again indicates that Satan and certain angelic beings (fallen as well as faithful) have somewhat open access to God's presence in heaven.
And the LORD said to Satan: The dialogue recorded here was completely UNKNOWN to Job.
From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it:
Surely as Job STILL retained his integrity, so did Satan his BLIND HATRED AND VANITY.
Up to this point, this second recorded dialogue followed the same pattern shown in Job 1:6-8. God used the repetition to impress upon Satan the FUTILITY of his first attack against Job.
And still he HOLDS FAST to his integrity, God tells us that Job strengthens his grip on his belief in God.
Although you incited Me against him:
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
This shows that both God and Satan understood that the attack could ONLY come to Job because God allowed it. Although God did not actively send the Sabeans, the Chaldeans, the fire, or the wind, they could only come by His permission.
To destroy him without cause:
The idea is NOT that cause was absent in either God or Satan; they both had something they wanted to prove and establish in the whole account. However, there was NO SINFUL cause in Job that prompted the calamities that befell him.
Verses 4-6 tells us Satan's reply.
"So Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!" And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life."
Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life:
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Satan here asserted that Job FAILED to curse God ONLY because he was afraid that if he did, it would bring personal punishment from God. Satan argued that the problem with the PRIOR attacks was that NONE of the previous attacks touched Job directly, but only things next to or outside of Job (his family and his possessions).
DID YOU KNOW...
In Job's ancient culture, 'skin for skin' was a BARTERING term meaning to trade one skin for another. The Devil is accusing Job of being willing to risk the skin of his children and livestock in order to protect his own skin.
When it came down to it, the Bible tells us...
1. Abraham betrayed his wife to save his life.
2. David forsook his sanity to save his life.
3. Peter denied Jesus to save his own life.
So there is certainly some truth to the statement, all that a man has he will give for his life.
Touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face! Satan insisted that if the attack were made against Job DIRECTLY - if some calamity came upon Job's body - then Job WOULD certainly curse God.
Satan suggested to God a new test for Job. Physical suffering. Pain can weaken our resistance and make everything look and feel worse than it really is. More than one person has withstood tragedy only to fall apart under the onslaught of pain.
Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life:
With this God again "lowered the hedge" that protected Job, but He did NOT eliminate it. Satan was given greater allowance to attack Job, but NOT unlimited allowance.
Verses 7-8 tells us Job is smitten with painful and disgusting sores & yet continues to show Godly faith and interity.
"So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes."
This disease that came upon Job was specifically meant to drive Job to such great despair that he would curse God. We are not surprised that the attack against Job was severe (painful boils) and massive (from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head).
We again are challenged to see that Satan has the power to attack mankind in ways we perhaps previously did not perceive.
Previously we saw that Satan could inspire others to attack Job (Job 1:14, 1:17) and could direct natural calamity as an attack against Job (Job 1:16, 1:18-19).
Now we see that disease and physical suffering could come against Job as a attack from Satan. Another example of this is in Luke 13:17, where Jesus revealed that a woman who had been afflicted for 18 years was actually afflicted with a spirit of infirmity and was bound by Satan in her condition.
One of the curses God promised to a disobedient Israel was, The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed (Deuteronomy 28:27).
This may very well be the same affliction that Job suffered from; it reminds us also that Job had every reason to feel cursed by God, and he appeared that way to others also.
Whatever the exact diagnosis of Job's condition, taken together his medical problems were significant. Other passages in the Book of Job tell us more of what Job suffered.
1. Intense pain (My bones are pierced in me at night, and my gnawing pains take no rest; Job 30:17)
2. Peeling and darkened skin (My skin grows black and falls from me; Job 30:30a)
3. Pus-filled, erupting sores (My flesh is caked with worms and dust, my skin is cracked and breaks out afresh; Job 7:5b)
4. Anorexia, emaciation (My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh; Job 19:20)
5. Fever (My bones burn with fever; Job 30:30b)
6. Depression (I loathe my life; I would not live forever; Job 7:16 and My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me. I go about mourning, but not in the sun; Job 30:27-28)
7. Weeping (My face is flushed with weeping; Job 16:16a)
8. Sleeplessness (When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be ended?' Job 7:4)
9. Nightmares (Then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions; Job 7:14)
10. Putrid breath (My breath is offensive to my wife; Job 19:17)
11. Difficulty breathing (He will not allow me to catch my breath; Job 19:18)
12. Failing vision (On my eyelids is the shadow of death; Job 16:16b)
13. Rotting teeth (I have escaped by the skin of my teeth; Job 19:20)
14. Haggard looks (When they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him; Job 2:12)
15. Painful swollen sores all over his body (painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head; Job 2:7)
16. Intense itching (to scrape himself; Job 2:8)
17. This condition lasted for months (Oh, that I were as in months past; Job 29:2 and I have been allotted months of futility; Job 7:3)
He took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself:
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Job dealt with his painful affliction to the best of his ability and then sat in a mournful place. In the midst of the ashes probably means "in the city dump," where garbage was burned; Job sat on a burned heap.
Verses 9-10 tells us Job holds his integrity before his wife.
"Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!" But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips."
Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die! Job's wife has become a proverbial example of a cruel, unsupportive, sharp-tongued wife. Yet some allowance must be made considering her losses in the previous few days. She also lost her children and her wealth, and should not be too harshly judged.
REMEMBER THIS...She can NOT bear to see her husband suffer like this. Her heart, already crushed by the loss of her ten children, is now without hope. She is saying, 'Curse God and He'll strike you dead too. Then you can escape this pain. Death would be better than this.
Nevertheless, the implication of her words, "do you still hold fast to your integrity?" is that she had ABANDONED her integrity. Satan's goal in his attacks against Job was to shake Job from his standing; he failed in regard to Job, but he SUCCEEDED in regard to Job's wife.
BRADLEY says it well, "Job must have been severely grieved both at his wife's foolish words and her own shaken faith. "His cup seemed full. One other turn of the rack, so to speak, is yet possible. It is not spared him. From the one human quarter from which comfort might have yet come, there comes only a vulgar taunt, and suggestion of despair."
You speak as one of the foolish women speaks:
This was a wisely-worded rebuke to Job's wife. He did not accuse her of being a foolish woman, but of speaking like one of the foolish women. He indicated that this was out-of-character for her.
Mason comments on Satan's strategy here: "He sows strife and succeeds in turning the couple against each other. She ridicules his religion, and he calls her a fool. A degree of alienation sets in which, just in itself, would very likely have been the worst trial these two had ever passed through in their married life."
Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?
Job again shows his wisdom in this reply. He recognized that God does NOT owe us good; He gives it as A GIFT that we should accept. Accordingly, if adversity comes to us, and we are wise to see that even in adversity there may be a "gift" that we should accept.
In all this Job did NOT sin with his lips:
This is another remarkable statement to the credit of Job. He did not sin in his response to either his God or his wife.
In all this is a broad statement, meaning that up to this point Job had not sinned at all in what he said.
This is important to note, WHY?
Because some READERS AND TEACHERS WRONGLY SAY that these calamities came upon Job because of a NEGATIVE confession he made, supposedly recorded in Job 1:5 and in Job 3:25.
This statement FROM ALMIGHTY GOD HIMSELF makes it clear that Job did NOT sin with his lips, certainly NOT in the sense of a NEGATIVE confession.
Verses 11-13 tells us the CONSOLATION of Job's friends.
"Now when Job's three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him. And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great."
When Job's three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place:
This passage introduces THREE remarkable friends of Job. Their names were Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. These men came to Job in his hour of need.
To come and mourn with him, and to comfort him:
Their INTENDED goal was good and noble. They came to be with him (to come), to share his sorrow (and mourn with him), and to bring some relief to Job (and to comfort him).
And did not recognize him:
The boils left Job with a horrific, disfigured appearance. Upon seeing Job, his three friends were instantly gripped with grief and mourning as if one had died.
They sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him:
This was a wonderful display of comfort and common cause with Job. They shared in his afflicted state, acting as if they were similarly afflicted. They offered no statement except for their compassionate presence.
DID YOU KNOW...Seven days and seven nights was the usual time of mourning for the dead, told to us in Genesis 50:10; 1 Samuel 31:13, and therefore proper both for Job's children, who were dead, and for Job himself, who was in a manner dead even though he lived.
After this point in the Book of Job there begins 35 chapters of DISCUSSION between Job and his friends. Yet all that discussion must be put in the context of the genuine love and concern that these friends had for Job, and there was a sense in which they earned their right to speak by their sacrificial display of compassion.
AND WE NEED TO REMEMBER...While it is true that Job suffered MORE at the hands of these friends ultimately than by the attacks of Satan, yet some recognition must be made of the goodness of the men.
WHY?
1. They are to be admired because they came to Job.
2. They are to be admired because they wept for and with Job.
3. They are to be admired because they sat in silence with Job for seven days.
4. They are to be admired because they intended all the best for Job, and were persistent in wanting and doing what they thought was best for Job.
5. They are to be admired because they spoke their opinion about Job and his condition to Job himself, instead of speaking about him to others.
JOB 2 ENDS with us leaving Job and his friends seated in silence. There is calm around them, but we feel that the air is heavy, and that there is a tempest in the sky.
AND WE NEED TO REMEMBER WHAT GOD TELLS US AND SHOWS US IN THIS CHAPTER. HE WHO READS AND KNOWS THE HEART, MIND, AND SOUL OF JOB, HIS WIFE, AND JOB'S THREE FAITHFUL FRIENDS...
THOUGH THROUGH DEEP GRIEF AND SORROW THEY SAID AND WERE PROMPTED BY WHISPERS OF SATAN AND HIS GREAT DESPAIR, HOPELESSNESS, AND ACCUSATION AND WILL ALL SAY THINGS TO JOB, THAT THOUGH INTENDED TO DIAGNOSE, HELP, AND TO COMFORT, IN THE LONG RUN...UNKNOWINGLY ADD TO JOB'S HURT AND SORROW AND PAIN.
WE MUST ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT THE LORD SEES AND READS THEIR HEARTS PERFECTLY. HE KNOWS WHAT THOUGHTS ARE THEIR OWN AND THOSE THAT ARE INFLICTED ON THEM BY SATAN. AND THIS AND THE FOLLOWING CHAPTERS WILL SHOW US THAT THE LORD SEES PERFECTLY AND ONLY CONFRONTS THOSE THOUGHTS THAT COME FROM THEIR OWN HEARTS AND MINDS.