Job 2

The Adversary’s Attack on Job’s Person

1 {And then} one day the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan also came into their midst to present himself before Yahweh.

2 So Yahweh {asked} Satan, "From where have you come?" And Satan answered Yahweh and said, "From roaming on the earth and from walking about in it."

3 So Yahweh {asked} Satan, "Have you {considered} my servant Job? Indeed, there is no one like him on the earth--a blameless man and upright and God-fearing and turning away from evil. And still he persists in his blamelessness {even though} you incited me against him to destroy him for nothing."

4 Then Satan answered him and said, "Skin for skin! All that {that} man has he will give for his life.

5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bones and his flesh, [and see] {whether} he will {curse} you to your face."

6 So Yahweh said to Satan, "{All right}, he [is] in your {power}. Only spare his life."

Job’s Blameless Behavior

7 So Satan went out from {Yahweh's presence}, and he inflicted Job with loathsome skin sores from the sole of his foot up to the crown of his head.

8 {So} he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and he sat in the midst of the ashes.

9 Then his wife said to him, "Are you still persisting in your blamelessness? {Curse} God and die."

10 So he said to her, "You speak like one of the foolish women speaks. Indeed, should we receive the good from God, but not receive the evil?" In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.

11 Thus Job's three friends heard of this calamity that had come upon him. So each set out from his [own] place: Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. And they met together to come to console him and to comfort him.

12 Thus they lifted up their eyes from afar, but they did not recognize him, so they raised their voice, and they wept, and each man tore his outer garment and threw dust on their heads {toward the sky}.

13 Then they sat with him on the ground [for] seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that {his} suffering was very great.

Job 2 Commentary

Chapter 2

Satan obtains leave to try Job. (1-6) Job's sufferings. (7-10) His friends come to comfort him. (11-13)

1-6. How well is it for us, that neither men nor devils are to be our judges! but all our judgment comes from the Lord, who never errs. Job holds fast his integrity still, as his weapon. God speaks with pleasure of the power of his own grace. Self-love and self-preservation are powerful in the hearts of men. But Satan accuses Job, representing him as wholly selfish, and minding nothing but his own ease and safety. Thus are the ways and people of God often falsely blamed by the devil and his agents. Permission is granted to Satan to make trial, but with a limit. If God did not chain up the roaring lion, how soon would he devour us! Job, thus slandered by Satan, was a type of Christ, the first prophecy of whom was, that Satan should bruise his heel, and be foiled.

Verses 7-10 The devil tempts his own children, and draws them to sin, and afterwards torments, when he has brought them to ruin; but this child of God he tormented with affliction, and then tempted to make a bad use of his affliction. He provoked Job to curse God. The disease was very grievous. If at any time we are tried with sore and grievous distempers, let us not think ourselves dealt with otherwise than as God sometimes deals with the best of his saints and servants. Job humbled himself under the mighty hand of God, and brought his mind to his condition. His wife was spared to him, to be a troubler and tempter to him. Satan still endeavours to draw men from God, as he did our first parents, by suggesting hard thoughts of Him, than which nothing is more false. But Job resisted and overcame the temptation. Shall we, guilty, polluted, worthless creatures, receive so many unmerited blessings from a just and holy God, and shall we refuse to accept the punishment of our sins, when we suffer so much less than we deserve? Let murmuring, as well as boasting, be for ever done away. Thus far Job stood the trial, and appeared brightest in the furnace of affliction. There might be risings of corruption in his heart, but grace had the upper hand.

Verses 11-13 The friends of Job seem noted for their rank, as well as for wisdom and piety. Much of the comfort of this life lies in friendship with the prudent and virtuous. Coming to mourn with him, they vented grief which they really felt. Coming to comfort him, they sat down with him. It would appear that they suspected his unexampled troubles were judgments for some crimes, which he had vailed under his professions of godliness. Many look upon it only as a compliment to visit their friends in sorrow; we must look life. And if the example of Job's friends is not enough to lead us to pity the afflicted, let us seek the mind that was in Christ.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "And it came to be," or "and it happened"
• [b]. Or "the heavenly beings," or "the angels"
• [c]. Hebrew "the accuser," or "the adversary"
• [d]. Hebrew "And"
• [e]. Literally "said to"
• [f]. Hebrew "the accuser," or "the adversary"
• [g]. Hebrew "And"
• [h]. Literally "said to"
• [i]. Hebrew "the accuser," or "the adversary"
• [j]. Literally "set your heart"
• [k]. Or "For" or "Because"
• [l]. Hebrew "and"
• [m]. Hebrew "And"
• [n]. Hebrew "the accuser," or "the adversary"
• [o]. Literally "the"
• [p]. Or "please"
• [q]. Literally "if not"
• [r]. Literally "bless"--negative meaning by context
• [s]. Hebrew "your faces"
• [t]. Literally "And it happened the/one day"
• [u]. Hebrew "the accuser," or "the adversary"
• [v]. Literally "Look"
• [w]. Literally "hand"
• [x]. Hebrew "And"
• [y]. Hebrew "the accuser," or "the adversary"
• [z]. Literally "the faces of Yahweh"
• [aa]. Hebrew "And"
• [ab]. Hebrew "And"
• [ac]. Literally "Bless"--negative meaning by context
• [ad]. Hebrew "And"
• [ae]. Or "and"
• [af]. Hebrew "And"
• [ag]. Hebrew "And"
• [ah]. Or "they agreed"
• [ai]. Hebrew "And"
• [aj]. Or "they gazed"
• [ak]. Hebrew "and"
• [al]. Hebrew "and"
• [am]. Or "robe"
• [an]. Or "in the air"; literally "to the heavens"
• [ao]. Hebrew "And"
• [ap]. Hebrew "and"
• [aq]. Or "there was no speaking"
• [ar]. Literally "the"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 2

This chapter gives an account of a second trial of Job's constancy and integrity, the time and occasion of it, Job 2:1-3; the motion made for it by Satan, which being granted, he smote him from head to foot with sore boils, which he endured very patiently, Job 2:4-8; during which sad affliction he is urged by his wife to give up his integrity, which he bravely resisted, Job 2:9,10; and the chapter is concluded with an account of a visit of three of Job's friends, and of their conduct and behaviour towards him, Job 2:11-13.