Job 1 Footnotes

1:12 God’s justice and integrity were not impugned by allowing Satan to inflict suffering upon an innocent man. Only a genuine test could demonstrate to Satan whether Job’s devotion was real or was, as Satan insinuated, the result of God’s having protected and blessed Job beyond that of most human beings. More important than proving something to Satan, God had purposes for Job’s good that could only come through this arduous path of testing.

1:15 Because Sabeans are traditionally associated with a location in present-day Yemen hundreds of miles to the south (1Kg 10:1; Jr 6:20), some consider as unlikely the arrival of marauders in Job’s homeland in Uz, east of the Jordan River somewhere between Aram (Gn 10:23) and Edom (Gn 36:28). But the Bible indicates Sabean presence further north (Gn 10:7; Jb 6:19). These Sabeans were brigands, hence may point to an early setting of the book before they became the well-known later traders of southern Arabia.