One Year Later...

Pastor: Hi Mrs. Job, I just wanted to call and see how you and your husband are getting along.

Mrs. Job: Oh, hi Pastor. Job is out helping one of the families that were employed by us or I would put him on the phone. To be honest, it’s been awfully tough Pastor – losing all ten of our children like we did. Our life seems so empty at times.

Pastor: I can’t even imagine how difficult it’s been. It was one year ago today that tragedy struck, isn’t it?

Mrs. Job: Yes, one year ago exactly. We still love God, Job still gets up real early to pray and read his Bible and worship. But needless to say it’s been hard. We emptied out our savings to help the families that were employed by us. A lot of homes lost the bread-winner in the family, so we’re trying to help out. Job has started a couple of new businesses, so we’ll see how things work out. We are just trusting in God that this coming year will be better…

The most difficult time after a funeral may be those one to two to three months afterward. Family and friends that came to comfort have gone back home and life is trying to find some semblance of normalcy. Remember those that are grieving…visit or call or write to them not only at the time of funeral, but also the weeks and months that follow.

Job 2:1-6 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming about on the earth, and walking around on it." 3 And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to ruin him without cause."

Although we aren’t given the exact time-line, Jewish tradition and commentators seem to indicate that it was either seven months or one full year from the General Council of 1:6 until this second heavenly assembly. I think most lean toward one year. Again the angels appeared before God to report on last year’s assignment and to receive new orders. And as happened in chapter one, Satan himself came to give an account. The language of verses 2:1-3a is almost identical to the language of 1:6-8.

It is not without significance that in less than two chapters, our main character is thrice called “blameless, upright, one who feared God, and one who turned away from evil. Twice God says in these two chapters, “There is no one like him on the earth.” Hartley notes that “not a single flaw has been discovered in Job’s character.”

God adds this at the end of verse three, “And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to ruin him without cause." Jehovah says to Satan, “He is still loyal to Me, he still loves Me with ALL of his heart, he is still sitting on the front pew every Sunday raising his hands in worship – although you persuaded Me to take a course of action I wouldn’t normally have taken, to ruin him (swallow him up) without cause!”

This is perhaps the strongest affirmation of Job’s stellar character. Hartley again says that “Job had endured all the losses without compromising his blameless and upright character in any angry outburst against God.” Satan’s skepticism about Job and his slander that he “only worshipped God because of what he could get out of it” proved utterly false. Job received an A+++ on his first test.

(Note that by saying this, God takes full responsibility for what happened to Job. There are some things presented to us in these first two chapters that are exceedingly difficult to get our arms around theologically. More on this later on when we get into the dialogue between Job and the three “comforters.”)

2:4 “And Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.”

“Skin for skin” is a perplexing proverb. Perhaps it was a saying from the market place meaning, “pelt for pelt” (i.e. bartering or exchanging something). Perhaps it meant “outer skin for inner skin” – outer skin referring to a man’s possessions and family members and the inner skin referring to one’s life or health. Or perhaps it meant something like “holding up the arm (a lesser skin) to protect the head (more valuable skin).”

Barnes in his commentary says that it refers to “property for person – the skin forming property for the skin forming person. And it seems to refer to some kind of barter or exchange and means that a man would give up one thing for another or one piece of property of lesser value in order to save a greater. In other words – a man would give up his religion in order to purchase life. He would give the ‘skin of his sons and daughters’ to save his own skin!”

Satan is saying this: that a test of adequate severity had not been applied to Job to really try his faith and to show his true character. What Satan is doing here is implying that Job is so selfish that he would gladly sacrifice all he had (even his kids!) to save his own skin or to preserve his own life. The Bible is certainly correct when it calls Satan the “Accuser” or the “Slanderer!”

2:5-6 “However, put forth Thy hand, now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse Thee to Thy face." So the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life."

Again it is shown that Satan has only as much power as Yahweh allows him to have. The Satan lost round one, but he now wants to afflict Job with a disease that would devastate our main character and bring him close to the threshold of death. “If you do that,” he sneers, “He will shake his fist at You and stop serving You!”

Quoting from page 81 of his commentary, Hartley says this, “Although Yahweh rejected the Satan’s reasoning, He released Job into the Satan’s power for further testing. But again he set a boundary to the affliction by prohibiting the Satan from taking Job’s life. This concession reveals the full extent of God’s confidence in Job, namely, that Job’s basic commitment is to God alone. This means that Job, being ignorant of this dialogue, is about to experience the most dire circumstances. The shadow of death will fall over him so heavily that he will think that he is afflicted by a terminal illness with no hope of recovery. In this way God allows Job’s faith to be tested to its innermost core.

Are you going through a particularly difficult time in your life? The trial you are going through may not be because you are doing something wrong, it may be that you are doing something right!!! Remember, God has tremendous confidence in you (and He has a wonderful plan for your life no matter how dark your circumstances may be).

NLT = New Living Translation
NASV = New American Standard Version
OT = Old Testament
K&D = Commentary by Keil and Delitzsch (from PC Bible Study)
JFB = Commentary by Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown (from PC Bible Study)
Adam Clarke = Adam Clarke Commentary (from PC Bible Study)
Barnes = Barnes Notes (from PC Bible Study)
Vine = Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words (from PC Bible Study)
Hartley = The New International Commentary on the Old Testament:
The Book of Job by John E. Hartley
Swindoll = Job, Profiles in Character from Charles R. Swindoll
FIA = Tyndale OT Commentaries: Job by Francis I. Anderson
Eugene Peterson = Introduction to Job, "The Message"