Job 1 & 2

Cross-references For Better Understanding a Related Topics b Additional Materials c

Summary

• The testing of Job: blessings given by God, then taken away. Throughout the test, Job does not know the "behind the scenes" events that took place in God's presence.

• The issue involves MOTIVES.

Why does a person serve God? For the benefits of doing so? (This is what Satan claimed was the reason that people served God.)

What if you don't get those benefits... will you still serve him? What if the circumstances in your life are simply not what you want? Or what if they are completely terrible? Will you still serve God? (Job continued to serve him.)

Details and/or Comments

• Job would not know the outcome until after the test (chapter 42). He expected to never recover from the tragic events that had occurred. But in the end, he still maintained his integrity; but he had to repent of some attitudes he probably didn't realize he had.

• Psalm 73 is another instance in which someone had to think seriously about such issues.

Scripture

Job 1 & 2

• See also: Injustice and Misfortune.

Background

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.	Job – who he was and what his character was like. Godly Character - Examples
Job 1:2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. Job 1:3 His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east.	His greatness; the blessings he received from God. These would all be taken away, and Job would be severely tested. later, God would restore the blessings, but in greater proportions than before. Yet Job wouldn't know about this until after he had passed the test. The two issues involved here are: Blessings with Obedience / Curses with Disobedience Injustice
Job 1:4 His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. Job 1:5 It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts." Job did so continually.	A joyful family, with Job as the spiritual leader. Sacrifices Spiritual Leadership

TESTING PART 1

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Job 1:6 Now it happened on the day when the God's sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, that Satan also came among them. Job 1:7 Yahweh said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." Job 1:8 Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil."	Sons of God (Old Testament) Satan / Devil God points out Job's righteous character.
Job 1:9 Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Job 1:10 Haven't you 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 substance is increased in the land. Job 1:11 But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face."	Satan, the accuser, couldn't find any wrong in Job's character. So he attacks Job's motives. He claims that Job's “fear of God” comes from evil (self-centered) motives. It also implied that God was bribing Job, "paying" Job to follow him! Fear of God Motives
Job 1:12 Yahweh said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don't put forth your hand." So Satan went forth from the presence of Yahweh.	God lets Satan test Job, but restrains him. Satan Testing People - He wants to destroy Job. God Testing People - He is going to purify Job, and make him more godly.
Job 1:13 It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house,	In one day, Job loses all his children, possessions, and servants (except for those who brought the reports to Job). This was a day when everything seemed to be going well, probably during one of the son's birthday celebrations - verse 4. Everything that happens in the life of God's people is under God's providential control and care. Yet many times, it is only at a later time that the goodness of God's providence is understood. In Job's case, we will have to wait until the last chapter, to see the good conclusion to the horrible things that were about to happen. Providence Two of these events are actions by raiding bands; but two look like they come from God. And the timing of all four shows that they go beyond "mere coincidence." Reversal of Circumstances
Job 1:14 that there came a messenger to Job, and said, "The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them, Job 1:15 and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."	Probably Bedouin invaders from southern Arabia.
Job 1:16 While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said, "The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you."	Fire from the Sky
Job 1:17 While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, "The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you."	Raiders from the east.
Job 1:18 While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house, Job 1:19 and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you."	Wind - Perhaps a windstorm or tornado.
Job 1:20 Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped. Job 1:21 He said, "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be the name of Yahweh." Job 1:22 In all this, Job did not sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.	Job's response? Worship, no sin or accusations against God. Response to God's Judgments - At least it looked like judgment from God. Responding to Misfortune Worship Came out / shall return... that is, came out of darkness and will return to darkness. Or we could say, formed out of dust (in his mother) and returning to dust (at death). We bring nothing with us when we are born; we will take nothing with us when we die. A similar statement is found in Ecclesiastes 5:15.

TESTING PART 2 - Some of the links listed above are not repeated here.

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Job 2:1 Again it happened on the day when the God's sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, that Satan came also among them to present himself before Yahweh. Job 2:2 Yahweh said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." Job 2:3 Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause."	God points out Job's character, which did not change when circumstances changed. Integrity The Nature of the Righteous
Job 2:4 Satan answered Yahweh, and said, "Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. Job 2:5 But put forth your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face."	Satan claims Job still has less-than-righteous motives... and that he will tolerate loss as long as it doesn't affect his own person.
Job 2:6 Yahweh said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life." Job 2:7 So Satan went forth from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head. Job 2:8 He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.	God lets Satan test Job. Health-Related Issues
Job 2:9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die." Job 2:10 But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job didn't sin with his lips.	Job's response? Still no sin. His wife tempts him to reject God - but only as an escape from misery. (She was not looking to what would happen after death.) If he did this, Satan would have spoken correctly, when he said, "he will renounce you to your face" (v. 1:11 and 2:5).
Job 2:11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him. Job 2:12 When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn't recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky. Job 2:13 So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.	Though sincere in their sorrow, his friends will (unwittingly) tempt him to lie about himself. Job had integrity; he was righteous. But they would claim that he had sinned grievously, and that he needed to repent. (See the chapters that follow.) To do what they wanted him to do, Job would have had to sacrifice his integrity, claim he had committed sins that he had never actually done, and then "faked" a repentance! It would be like saying, "I will do whatever I need, to get what I want" - in this case, relief from this painful trial. It would have supported Satan's claim that Job's conduct sprang from impure motives (Satan's claim in 1:9-10).

Scripture Passages (Only books that have relevance to this study have active links. The others are in italics.) Genesis  •  Exodus  •  Leviticus  •  Numbers  •  Deuteronomy  •  Joshua  •  Judges  •  Ruth  •  1 Samuel  •  2 Samuel  •  1 Kings  •  2 Kings  •  1 Chronicles  •  2 Chronicles  •  Ezra  •  Nehemiah  •  Esther  •  Job  •  Psalms  •  Proverbs  •  Ecclesiastes  •  Song of Solomon  •  Isaiah  •  Jeremiah  •  Lamentations  •  Ezekiel  •  Daniel  •  Hosea  •  Joel  •  Amos  •  Obadiah  •  Jonah  •  Micah  •  Nahum  •  Habakkuk  •  Zephaniah  •  Haggai  •  Zechariah  •  Malachi Matthew  •  Mark  •  Luke  •  John  •  Acts  •  Romans  •  1 Corinthians  •  2 Corinthians  •  Galatians  •  Ephesians  •  Philippians  •  Colossians  •  1 Thessalonians  •  2 Thessalonians  •  1 Timothy  •  2 Timothy  •  Titus  •  Philemon  •  Hebrews  •  James  •  1 Peter  •  2 Peter  •  1 John  •  2 John  •  3 John  •  Jude  •  Revelation

—— To avoid any copyright issues, all Scripture is either from a public domain translation (such as the World English Bible), my own translation, or a combination of these. ——

The name "Yahweh," when present in an Old Testament passage, represents the Hebrew name for the God of the Bible.

Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.