SATAN’S ATTACK ON JOB – ROUND 2

We begin this post with another meeting of God with the angels.

Job 2:1–6 “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 unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 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? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.”

This is an amazing bit of scripture to me. When Satan once again presents himself before the LORD, the LORD very clearly wants Satan to acknowledge his defeat in his attempt to get Job to curse God. The LORD is clear in making the point that Job’s suffering was “without cause.” In other words, Job had done nothing to deserve such personal attack. In fact, it appears that it is Job’s commitment and faithfulness to God that brought disaster upon him.

Again, God praises Job as a man without equal on earth as a servant of God in spite of experiencing such personal devastation in his life. In fact, the wording acknowledges Satan’s actions against Job as a direct result of His action to give Satan permission to act. In other words, He assumes responsibility for Job’s suffering.

Satan is not deterred; he is very bold. Remember, it was pride that caused Satan’s rebellion. Satan is trying to save face in the presence of the sons of God. He throws out another challenge. If God would make him suffer physically, Job would curse God. Note that again the challenge is that God afflict Job. Without hesitation, God gives Satan permission to afflict Job, but he cannot kill him.

This definitely falls in the category of “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” as the LORD declares through the prophet Isaiah. If we are truthful, we must admit that more often than not we equate health, wealth and protection to God’s blessing and sickness and suffering as withholding of His blessing for some deserved reason. This is one of the main reasons that the book of Job is so important to us. It is a clear-cut case of testing, trouble, or disaster in our life as an opportunity to glorify God rather than punishment for wrongdoing.

Again Satan wastes no time; he immediately heads out to afflict Job with boils all over his body. Note that Satan is again utilizing his power as authorized by God. Other scriptures support this aspect of Satan’s powers.

Luke 13:16 “And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?”

2 Corinthians 12:7 “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.”

How does Job respond? According to the accepted customs of the day. He separates himself so as not to cause infection to anyone else. He sits down among the ashes, which most reflect his feelings about life about now. Study indicated that these ashes were the residue of the dung that was burnt outside the city. You would have thought that a man of his position would have been tended to with great care. Evidently, his loss of possessions also resulted in loss of position and esteem of any sort. Oh how true to human nature that is. How many friends of people in positions of wealth and authority would remain their friends if they lost that wealth and/or position?

I would assume that scraping the boils with the broken piece of pottery must have provided some relief to endure the pain of the scraping. What a humiliating, painful position to be in.

At this point even Job’s wife adds to his misery by telling him that he should curse God and die.

Job 2:9 “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.”

Matthew Henry made an interesting statement regarding Job’s wife being left behind by Satan as a tool of torment. “If Satan leaves anything that he has permission to take away, it is with a design of mischief.” She did, however, hit the nail on the head—It was Job’s integrity that was being tested.

Job strongly rebukes his wife and then repeats the truth of God’s sovereignty in choice of bestowing blessing and removing blessing. Still Job does not sin with his lips as Satan had said he would, but his time of testing is not over.

It’s at this point in the narrative that Job’s three friends enter the picture. I will only summarize this portion of the book.

I would assume that these friends of Job were some of the other most wealthy and influential men of the east. It would seem that they were quite good friends since they contacted one another regarding coming together to visit Job for the purposes of mourning with him and comforting him. After joining Job in a state of mourning for seven days and nights without saying a word, Job breaks the silence. He doesn’t bother greeting his friends. He just begins unloading the pent up emotion in his heart. He doesn’t curse God; he curses the day he was born. He does, however, begin to question God.

The three friends proceed to try to “comfort” Job by encouraging him to repent of his sins. The rest of the book contains the dialogue between Job and each of his friends as Job maintains his innocence before God. Though Job questions God and admits limited understanding, he stands firm in his faith and his ultimate vindication.

Job 16:18–20 “O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place. Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.”

Job 19:25–27 “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.”

Finally, God has heard enough and decides to insert Himself into the conversation. This is where we will pick up in the next post.