Job 1

Both the introduction of the book (Job 1-2) and the conclusion of the book (Job 42:7-17) have the character of a narrative, while the conversations in between are poetic. The enigma of suffering is sometimes compared to an embroidery. The narrative shows us the topside of the embroidery, as the suffering is seen from heaven, by God. The conversations in poetry form show us the underside, the earthly side of suffering, people’s attempts to understand the government of God with regard to suffering.

In these verses we are told the dwelling-place, the name, the eminent characteristics, the family, the possession and the prestige of the main character of the book. The Holy Spirit does this to show what is taken away from him. We see from what great height he is thrown down and how enormous the pain is that such a fall causes.

The book begins with the words “there was a man” (verse 1). There is a man among the many people who live in the time in which the events of the book take place on whom the spotlight is turned. This man lives “in the land of Uz” and is called “Job”. Just as God knows where this man lives and what his name is, He knows that of every man – see, for example, Saul (Acts 9:11) and Simon Peter (Acts 10:5-6). No one can hide from God in the crowd. To Him there is no nameless mass either, but He is concerned with each individual, He has attention for each individual.

Possibly, as already suggested in the introduction, Job is a king of Edom (Jobab, Gen 36:33). If so, then his title has been omitted here. It is not about his position in society, but about his place as a man in creation before his Creator, before God.

There is more to say about Job than just that he is a man who lives in Uz and is called Job. These are external characteristics. Characteristics of this man are also mentioned that make it clear that he is in connection with God and lives in a way that is a joy to God’s heart (Acts 10:34b-35). Those are inner characteristics. These characteristics may also be visible in his life, but they come from his inner being, his heart. The virtues that are recorded of him do not come from his own mouth, but are the testimony of the Holy Spirit. God repeats this testimony – and thereby affirms it – in the face of satan (Job 1:8).

1. He is first and foremost “blameless”, that is to say, inwardly perfect, sincere. Job stands right before God. This is so in the midst of suffering, right through the accusations of the three friends and the silence of God.

2. Immediately associated with this, he is said to be “upright”. This is evident from his testimony to those around him. He is not a hypocrite, not an actor. ‘Upright’ means as much as ‘going straight’. “Blameless” is inner. “Upright” is the expression of that. Job has a balanced character.

[This is also reflected in the numbers in verse 2, his seven sons and his three daughters. The number 7 is the number of completeness, and the number 3 has to do with revelation and testimony. Also compare the 7000 sheep and 3000 camels in verse 3].

3. The inner side (blameless) and the outer side (upright) we also have in the two following characteristics. The third characteristic, “fearing God”, is inner. His inner is directed toward God. In his heart is reverence for Him. Further on in the book he says: “The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom” (Job 28:28a).

4. The fourth characteristic, “turning away from evil”, is outward appearance and indicates an attitude to life that is a consequence of his fear of God. Job confirms this when he says: “And to depart from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28b).

By the way, all this does not mean that he is sinless (Ecc 7:20). This is evident from the course of the book.

After we are told how Job is related to God, the blessings of Job are mentioned in his family (verse 2). He has seven sons and three daughters. Job sees his children as gifts from God (verse 21).

After his relationship with God and the blessing in his family his wealth is listed (verse 3). This is done in terms that also describe the wealth of the patriarchs (Genesis 12-13). God has blessed Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but in His grace He is able to go further and bless others as well, even though they have no part in the covenant He made with the patriarchs. God’s grace is not limitable, not restricted.

We see that with Job: Godliness and prosperity go hand in hand. This is not self-evident. People who are doing well are often people who abandon God. That is not the case with Job.

Except that Job is blessed with many children, he is also blessed with a good bond among them. Children are a blessing. It is an extra blessing if the children also get along well with each other. When the children are out of the house, it is customary for some families to have a family day every year, for example. It is a great privilege when all the children come and like to see each other again.

The sons of Job organize a feast regularly and in turns, to which the sisters are also invited (verse 4). There is no evidence to suggest that such feasts are revels and drinking bouts. It is not likely that unlawful things are happening. Job has raised his children to independence and taught them to make good choices. It also seems that Job is not present. It doesn’t make him jealous or bitter. It is good that parents allow their children to meet without them being present.

Although Job was not invited to the feasts, he did not forbid them, but allowed them. That does not mean that he considers them too good for doing wrong things or making wrong choices. This becomes apparent “when the days of feasting had completed their cycle” (verse 5). Then he calls them to himself and consecrates them. For this purpose he gets up early in the morning and brings each of them under the power of the burnt offering he brings for each of them. He does this because he believes there is a chance that his children have “cursed God in their hearts”. This is not a one-off action of his, but he does so “continually”.

We see in Job the involved father. He recognizes that blessing and satiety are the danger of his children ‘cursing’ God in their hearts (cf. Pro 30:9a). Cursing God means that they disengage themselves from Him and withdraw from Him and His authority. Prosperity and feasting can easily cause us to forget that we are dependent on God. There are also circumstances in which one sometimes comes to statements or actions that one does not come to in normal circumstances.

Although Job is not present at the feasts organized by his children, he is closely involved in them. He is with them in spirit and sympathizes with them. He does not do this as a proud father, but as a father who knows the spiritual dangers to which his children are exposed, especially during family gatherings. It is there that one loses self-control easily. The fact that he knows his children and recognizes the spiritual dangers, shows that he also knows himself. He is a father who realizes that his children have the same sinful nature that he himself has.

Father Job, like the patriarchs, acts like a priest in his family. He rises “early in the morning”, which means that he hurries with the sacrifice. He makes sure that the children are there. Everything indicates that his children do not make any objections. They come and Job consecrates them. This means that he dedicates his children to the LORD again. It also means that he asks about their behavior during feasts. If they have done or said something that is not right, they can confess it. In this way they are consecrated again, i.e. in agreement with God. He then offers a burnt offering for each of them, which in a New Testament perspective means that he places them on the foundation of Christ’s sacrifice.

Job knows his children and does not consider them too good to sin. But he does not only look at outward behavior. He looks deeper. Perhaps they have always behaved well, but in their hearts there has come a deviation from God. That is why he wants to consecrate them and to show them the offering. Job is the committed father who is actively committed to the spiritual welfare of his children. He is conscious of what Solomon later wrote down as a proverb, that from the “heart … [flow] the springs of life” (Pro 4:23).

Is this the way we look at our children (if we have them), and do we take to heart the mind of their hearts? Is that more important to us than their school results or other achievements? Does that also determine our dealings with God and with them?

Job realizes that his children are only pleasing to God if he places them before Him in the pleasantness of the sacrifice. We know that God looks forward in this sacrifice to the work of His Son on the cross of Calvary. Job appeals, as it were, to that sacrifice for his children. That they are his children, the children of the God-fearing and exceptionally blessed Job, has no meaning for him. On the contrary, because they are his children, they are sinners and God’s judgment rests on them (Job 14:4). We must also be well aware of this in relation to our children.

From the earth in verses 1-5 we now go to heaven (verse 6; cf. 1Kgs 22:19; Isa 6:1). In Job 1 and 2 we find several times a change of scenery. One time we are on earth, the next time we are in heaven. Because we are allowed a glimpse into heaven – that is, into the part of heaven where satan still has access – we learn that the suffering of Job – and of believers in general – is related to a struggle in the heavenly places. We are made partakers of a conversation in heaven between the LORD and satan about Job, in which the LORD allows satan to test Job. Job himself knows nothing of this whole conversation.

We, Christians, know from the New Testament that since the ascension of the Lord Jesus we have an opened heaven (see for example the letter to the Hebrews). This conversation gives us light about events on earth that would otherwise remain a mystery to us. It makes it clear to us what the background is to everything that happens on earth, whether it concerns the life of a human being or whether it concerns nations. What happens on earth is governed by heaven. Heaven decides what happens on earth. The friends of Job and Job himself wander because they do not know the heart of God. They try to explain what is happening on earth without knowledge of its heavenly origin.

One day “the sons of God” come to the LORD. Satan is in their midst. We see here that satan has access to the throne room of God. Satan is “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2), of the fallen angels. When he is in the throne room, he is always there as “the accuser of our brethren” (Rev 12:10; Zec 3:1). The angels here are called “sons of God” (e.g. Septuagint, Job 38:7; Gen 6:1-2), for God is “the Father of spirits” (Heb 12:9), which means that He created them; they came forth from Him. These angels come “to present themselves before the LORD”. They come because they have been summoned by Him to account to Him for their activities. They are there as subordinates (cf. 1Kgs 22:19-22; Dan 7:9-14; Psa 89:7). The servants must stand (1Kgs 22:19), an attitude that indicates that they are ready to serve.

Further this is about the LORD and satan. The angels are the setting. They stand there and must listen. The LORD begins to speak, not satan. Whoever He calls to Himself must respectfully wait until He speaks. The LORD asks satan where he comes from (verse 7). It is clear that it is not a discussion between equal persons. Satan must answer, simply because the LORD asks him something. He is completely subject to Him, just as the whole universe is subject to Him and must obey Him. And, like men, they cannot see Him fully, for no one can ever see God (1Tim 6:16). Even the seraphs cover their faces when they call out the Name of the three times holy God (Isa 6:2-3).

Satan hates God, but must nevertheless do what God says and answer. God knows the answer, but He wants us to know it too. With the question “from where do you come?”, God commands satan to account for his activities. The answer shows that satan is a restless roamer, which also indicates that he is not omnipresent, which God is. His roaming about on the earth does not imply anything good. He roams about on the earth to see who he can hurt. The believer may know that the eyes of the Lord also move to and fro throughout the earth, but then to strongly support him (2Chr 16:9; Zec 4:10).

By way of exception satan is introduced here speaking. This does not happen very often in the Bible, although we do read a lot about him. Three times we read that he says something: here in Job to the LORD, in Genesis 3 to Eve in paradise (Gen 3:1-5) and in Matthew 4, and in the parallel verses in Luke 4, to the Lord Jesus in the wilderness (Mt 4:1-3,6,9; Lk 4:1-3,6,9-11).

In the speaking of satan to Eve in paradise and to the Lord Jesus in the wilderness, we see that these are extremely important situations. With Eve he has had success, through which sin has come into the world. With the Lord Jesus he had no success, through which the work of redemption could be accomplished. Against this background it becomes clear what enormous interests are at stake if he is also introduced in the history of Job. Will he succeed in making Job curse God, or not?

Not satan, but the LORD then directs satan’s attention to Job: “Have you considered My servant Job?” (verse 8). The initiative for everything that happens to Job comes from God and not from satan. God knows what His servant Job needs. If He asks satan whether he has also considered Job, it is because He Himself has considered Job. And His testimony is even greater than what is written in verse 1. God says here of Job that “there is no one like him on the earth”. This is not to praise Job, but is the result of his relationship with God. Surely it must have made Job a special target of satan.

Satan cannot bring anything against God’s testimony about Job. God gives that testimony with a purpose. He also wants to use satan to achieve that purpose. Satan – who is very cunning, but knows nothing of God’s purposes – is only an instrument to fulfill the purposes of God’s grace. God keeps everything under His control, nothing gets out of His hand. Everything goes according to His plan. This can be a comfort to us in all circumstances in which we feel a plaything of the evil one. God is at the beginning of it, not the evil one. He also determines the end and not the evil one. Between the beginning and the end is a path that is also determined by God and not by the evil one.

Job is a servant of the LORD. He does not belong to the covenant people of God, but he has his own unique ‘covenant’, his own relationship, with the LORD, and the LORD with him. Twice the LORD calls Job “My servant” (Job 1:8; 2:3). And at the end of the book He still calls him thus (Job 42:7-8). Whatever happens between the beginning and the end, Job appears at the end as a faithful servant.

Satan must answer. He does so entirely according to the incorrigible depravity of his evil nature. He not only hates God, but all who live according to God’s will. He can’t stand it when someone is praised by God, because he himself wants to be praised. We see this in Saul’s attitude toward David. Saul is also jealous of the honor that David gets from the people, while he does not get that much honor (1Sam 18:6-9).

Satan cannot deny Job’s piety. What he, as “the accuser of our brethren” (Rev 12:10), can do, however, is to suggest that Job’s piety is not real, but feigned. With his question “does Job fear God for nothing?” (verse 9), he expresses the assumption that Job has good reason to fear God. Job fears God, not for Whom God is, but only because of the benefits it brings (verse 10). ‘Look’, he says to God, ‘all that you have given Job: protection of his family and all that he has; prosperity in all that he does; his territory is expanding. Quite logically, he fears You.’

Then satan comes up with a proposal (verse 11) which also shows his wicked nature and his cunning (2Cor 11:3,14; Eph 6:11). He challenges God to put forth His hand against Job and take away everything He has blessed him with. It is remarkable that satan does not tell God if God will allow him to take everything from Job. Satan also knows that everything is in God’s hand. God must turn His hand against Job to take everything away from him. Job later rightly says: “The LORD has given and the LORD has taken away” (Job 1:21b).

Satan says as it were: ‘Take away all these benefits, then something else will turn out!’ He supposes that Job will curse God right in His face for losing everything. Satan supposes that Job’s dedication is the result of God’s blessing. This shows that he is not omniscient, which God is. Satan questions both the uprightness of Job and the righteousness of God He shows in blessing him.

We see this reflected in the main characters of the book:
1. The friends of Job question his uprightness. They are sure that he has sinned in secret, but that he does not want to admit it.
2. Job, because he suffers innocently, cannot understand how God can allow him to suffer so. He therefore doubts God’s righteousness.

The big question in the book of Job is whether Job will curse God or not. Satan wants to use all the suffering in our lives to separate us from God, while God wants to use the suffering to get to know Him and ourselves better. Satan wants us to get worse, while God wants us to get better. If Job would curse God, Job would not be the loser, but God. However, God sees in Job what satan does not see: endurance.

God allows satan to storm Job (verse 12). He gives everything that belongs to Job into the hand of satan, showing that satan is not omnipotent, which God is. It is remarkable that in verse 11 satan speaks about God putting forth His hand against Job and that God now allows satan to put out his hand against Job. This shows that the hand of God is above the hand of satan. We therefore do not take the suffering from ‘the second hand’, that of satan, but from ‘the first hand’, that of God.

At the same time God determines the limit of the actions of satan. He also says that he may not put forth his hand against Job himself. Satan will therefore not exceed that limit by a millimeter. Without God the Father, no sparrow will fall to the earth, and even the hairs of our head are all numbered (Mt 10:29-31).

Satan departs “from the presence of the LORD”, as it also says of Cain (Gen 4:16), pleased with what he is allowed to do and what he will do quickly (cf. Lk 22:31-32). We see here that in heaven decisions are made, of which the consequences become visible in events on earth.

From heaven we go back to earth. There will come a day (verse 13) when disasters will strike the life of Job. It is an “evil day” (Eph 6:13), a day which according to its content follows the day when the sons of God came to the LORD (verse 6). Satan is in a hurry to perform his evil work, but he also knows how to wait for the right moment. In the disasters that occur in Job’s life, we hear or see nothing of satan himself, yet the disasters are his work.

The day when satan will carry out his evil intentions has been carefully chosen by him. It is a day when the children of Job are all together again to eat and drink (cf. verse 4). Job will again feel richly blessed to know them together and at the same time realizes the spiritual dangers of such a gathering (cf. verse 5). It brings him, as usual, to intercede for his children. He looks forward to consecrating them again and offering a burnt offering for each of them when they have finished their feast.

Job is cruelly disturbed in his pious deliberations in the presence of God by a messenger who brings him a doomsday message (verse 14). The messenger reports to him a disaster that has come upon him. He tells of the oxen that were ploughing – from which we can see that it is autumn – and of the donkeys that were feeding in peace and therefore did not wander around. The servants looked after them. Everything speaks of care and a sense of responsibility for the work.

There is no carelessness or negligence, yet in this scene of peace and quiet a rough gang of Sabeans penetrated. They rob oxen and donkeys and kill the servants (verse 15). It shows that our prudence and thoughtfulness cannot prevent disasters from happening to us at times (cf. Psa 127:1). It can happen at times when we handle our possessions responsibly.

This first disaster strikes Job in one of the evidences of his prosperity (verse 3). It is the means by which he gained prosperity (Pro 14:4). Only one of those who faithfully guard these means is spared. This is not because he is ‘lucky’ that the disaster did not affect him. He is spared as an eyewitness to be able to report in detail to Job what he has seen happen. This servant has not hearsay it.

While the witness has not yet completed his account of the disaster, a second messenger arrives (verse 16). The speed with which satan acts shows his malevolent desire to overpower Job and overload him with grief. Job has no chance of coming to terms with the shock of the disaster that has struck him and of recovering from it. Disasters become more difficult to bear the faster they succeed each other.

The servant who comes to tell Job about the second disaster is the only one who barely escaped the disaster, and also with the intention of telling Job about it as an eyewitness. This second disaster was not caused by a gang of robbers, like the first one, but by “the fire of God … from heaven”.

The escaped servant speaks of ‘the fire of God from heaven’. Like Job, he doesn’t know that satan is behind it. Satan is the prince of the power of the air and has received permission from God to use this fire against Job. The fire has struck Job’s sheep and destroyed another proof of his prosperity (verse 3), as well as the servants who took care of them, except for this one.

The destruction of the sheep affects Job in his source of clothing and food. The fire of God speaks of His judgment. It reminds us of what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:24) and to the men of King Ahaziah who are to capture Elijah (2Kgs 1:9-12).

The escaped servant has not yet finished speaking about the horrors caused by God’s fire, when another messenger is coming (verse 17). He interrupts his predecessor to inform Job of another disaster that has struck him. In this disaster, the third, people play a role again. This time it is the Chaldeans. They have robbed the three thousand camels that Job possesses (verse 3) and killed the servants with the sword. In order to rob that enormous amount of camels, the Chaldeans had divided into three bands. With this loss, Job was struck in his trading expedition. Also here one of the servants is spared to tell Job.

Job is not given the opportunity to think about what happened, because without a break, even while the third messenger is still reporting, a fourth messenger comes forward. This messenger, too, immediately begins to tell what has happened. He tells Job about his sons and daughters, who were eating and drinking “in their oldest brother’s house” and how a great wind had suddenly come up from the east – “from across the wilderness” – which struck the house from all sides and caused it to collapse, resulting in the death of all his children (verses 18-19).

The fourth and final disaster is, like the second, another natural disaster caused by satan. We see here again that the prince of the power of the air – though under the permission of God – uses natural elements against one of God’s servants. We also see this in the storm on the lake that is being rebuked by the Lord Jesus (Mk 4:39). The Lord rebukes that storm because it was unleashed by satan with the intention of killing Him and His own. The Lord does not rebuke acts of God.

This last disaster is also the worst. All the children of Job are killed. The only one who has escaped is a servant to bring the calamity to Job. Job always prayed for his children, they had a good relationship with each other, yet they all die prematurely – “the young people” –, suddenly and at the same time.

It indeed is hard that Bildad insinuates in his first speech that their death is the result of committed sins (Job 8:4). This harsh judgment proves that he has little feeling. Who, like Job, has ever buried ten children on the same day and stood at the graves of his ten children? A suffering unfathomable to us must have plagued his heart.

The tidings of the disasters reach Job in an unprecedented rapid succession. The misery piles up to unprecedented heights in a very short time. Not only do the disasters follow one another without a break, but they intertwine, because one has not yet finished speaking when the other is already beginning to tell. While Job listens to the last part of the report of one disaster, another disaster penetrates into the ongoing story. The disasters reinforce each other. The burden is unbearable.

Job’s reaction shows his deep mourning and intense sorrow, but also his submission (verse 20). He stands up to tear his robe and shave his head as signs of his mourning and sorrow (cf. Gen 37:34; Jos 7:6; Ezra 9:3,5). Then he falls to the ground, not in despair, but to bow down in adoration before the LORD. From one moment to the next Job has fallen down from happiness and prosperity, and is plunged into sorrow and poverty. But he has not fallen down from the love of God into the cursing of God.

Someone’s response to a disaster that strikes him reveals what spirit or mind is in him (verse 21). Job did not forget to honor God when he was prosperous. Now that he is in misery, that mind continues to characterize him. Job acknowledges that all that he possessed was given to him by God. He also acknowledges God’s right to take back what He has given (cf. Ecc 5:14; 1Tim 6:7).

Job does not say: ‘The LORD has given, the Sabaeans have taken’, or: ‘The LORD has made me rich, and the devil has made me poor.’ Our tendency is to dwell on the external causes of our difficulties. Job doesn’t do that. He doesn’t look at the Sabaeans or the storm. He recognizes that the hand of God controls all of this – only he doesn’t yet realize that it is a loving hand.

The way in which Job accepts this loss puts satan in the wrong. Job’s reaction makes it clear that his piety was not in his own interest. His piety remains, even now that everything has been taken away from him, and he does not withdraw his trust in God. Satan wanted to drive a wedge between Job and God. The effect is that Job is driven closer to God. Instead of saying goodbye to God, Job praises him.

Accepting evil from the hand of the LORD is different from saying that the LORD caused evil. What Job says gives no ground for the assumption that God is the Author of evil, its origin, which suggests that evil comes from Him. There is “no darkness in Him” (1Jn 1:5) and He tempts no one to do evil (Jam 1:13). It does mean that the LORD in His unfathomable wisdom has allowed it because it fits into His plan.

The statement of Job, “the LORD has given and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD”, has always been a comfort to many believers who had to miss dear family members. However, grace is needed to repeat it in faith. It must not become a flag that does not cover the charge, a word that is imitated purely rationally or out of a faint resignation.

The fact that God created man with the ability to sin does not mean that He laid the principle of sin in man from within Himself. If it says that He creates evil (Isa 45:7), it has to do with the punishment for sin. In this context it is also good to quote a word from Amos: “If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?” (Amos 3:6b). It is always, and certainly here, necessary to see the connection with the verses around it. Then it becomes clear that God is not the Processor, the Author of sin. Evil has a punitive character here. The idea that God would work sin is completely misplaced in all respects.

The closing verse (verse 22) testifies that Job does not sin with his lips. He is not sinless, which he knows well himself (Job 9:20), but he does not commit the sin of attributing to God incongruous things. If we can’t reconcile things, it doesn’t mean they are incongruous. Job does not understand God’s actions, but he does not call God to account for them. Later he will.