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AUGUST 5
20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved
his head; and he fell to the ground and wor-
shiped. And he said:
21
1:1–2:13 This section identifies the main per- “Naked I came from my mother’s
sons and sets the stage for the drama to fol-
low. Uz. Job’s home was a walled city with womb,
gates (29:7,8), where he held a position of And naked shall I return there.
great respect.The city was in the land of Uz in The LORD gave, and the LORD has
northern Arabia, adjacent to Midian, where taken away;
Moses lived for 40 years (Ex. 2:15). Job. The Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
story begins on earth with Job as the central 22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God
figure. He was a rich man with 7 sons and 3 with wrong.
daughters, in his middle years with a grown Again there was a day when the sons of
family. He was good, a family man, rich, and 2 God came to present themselves before the
widely known. blameless…upright,…feared
God… shunned evil. 1:8.Job was not perfect LORD, and Satan came also among them to
2
present himself before the LORD. And the LORD
or without sin (6:24; 7:21; 9:20). However, it
appears from the language that he had put his said to Satan, “From where do you come?”
trust in God for redemption and faithfully Satan answered the LORD and said, “From
lived a God-honoring, sincere life of integrity going to and fro on the earth, and from walk-
and consistency personally, maritally (2:10), ing back and forth on it.”
and parentally (1:4,5). 3 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you
considered My servant Job, that there is none
1:6 sons of God. Job’s life is about to be like him on the earth, a blameless and upright
caught up in heavenly strategies as the scene man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And
moves from earth to heaven where God is still he holds fast to his integrity, although you
holding council with His heavenly court. incited Me against him, to destroy him with-
Neither Job nor his friends ever knew about out cause.”
this.The angelic host (38:7; Pss.29:1; 89:7; Dan.
3:25) came to God’s throne to render account
of their ministry throughout the earth and
heaven (1 Kin. 22:19–22). Like a Judas among
the apostles, Satan was with the angels. 2:3 he holds fast to his integrity. God
Satan. Emboldened by the success he had affirmed that Job had won round one. with-
with the unfallen Adam in paradise (Gen. out cause. God uses the same expression the
3:6–12,17–19), he was confident that the fear adversary used in Job 1 “for nothing
of God in Job, one of a fallen race, would not (1:9)…without cause (2:3).” The message
stand his tests. And he had fallen himself (see behind God’s turn of words is that the adver-
Is. 14:12). As opposed to a personal name, sary is the guilty party in this case, not Job
Satan as a title means “adversary,” in either a who had suffered all the disaster without any
personal or judicial sense. This demon is the personal cause. He had done nothing to incur
ultimate spiritual adversary of all time and has the pain and loss, though it was massive. The
been accusing the righteous throughout the issue was purely a matter of conflict between
ages (Rev. 12:10). God and Satan. This is a crucial statement,
because when Job’s friends tried to explain
why all the disasters had befallen him, they
17 always put the blame on Job. Grasping this
While he was still speaking, another also
came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three assessment from God—that Job had not been
punished for something, but suffered for
bands, raided the camels and took them away, nothing related to him personally—is a crucial
yes, and killed the servants with the edge of key to the story. Sometimes suffering is
the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell caused by divine purposes unknowable to us.
you!”
While he was still speaking, another also
18
came and said, “Your sons and daughters were 4 So Satan answered the LORD and said,
eating and drinking wine in their oldest broth- “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will
5
19
er’s house, and suddenly a great wind came give for his life. But stretch out Your hand
from across the wilderness and struck the four now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he
corners of the house, and it fell on the young will surely curse You to Your face!”
people, and they are dead; and I alone have 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is
escaped to tell you!” in your hand, but spare his life.”
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