Job 2:1-13

2:1-6 | This is a nearly identical replay of the scene in 1:6-12, except that this test would be focused directly on Job. Satan’s phrase skin for skin falsely accused Job of sacrificing his children, his animals, and his servants in order to preserve his own life.

2:2 | Satan actively works for the downfall of Christians, going to and fro, back and forth across the earth (1 Pet. 5:8).

2:3 | Satan had said that Job did not serve God “for nothing”, and now God uses the same Hebrew word to defend Job, saying he was still blameless even though Satan incited God against Job without cause. This play on words highlights Job’s unwavering character and unconditional trust in God, apart from any material blessings from God.

2:7-8 | These boils (“burning sores”) were the same affliction that plagued the Egyptians in Exodus 9. Job’s disease was not merely painful but life-threatening (2 Kgs. 20:7; Isa. 38:21). A potsherd was a broken piece of pottery. His sitting among the ashes was a way of publicly demonstrating his intense state of grief (Jonah 3:6; Esth. 4:3).

2:9 | Job’s wife unknowingly urged her husband to do exactly what Satan wanted him to do” curse God and die. Although on the surface this appears to be an accusation, her words may be a declaration that actual death would be better than ceaseless misery.

2:10 | In another testament to his integrity, Job again responded as he did to the first trial, resisting the temptation to speak ill of God within his grief or to grow impatient and give up. His reply to his wife indicated he had better understanding of God than she did.

2:11-13 | Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar were three sages who shared Job’s faith in God and whose initial intentions come together and mourn with him – were the right ones. The intensity of their mourning, from the moment they saw Job and during seven days of silence, was appropriate for the devastation he had experienced (Gen. 50:10; Rom. 12:15).

Job 1:1-22

1:1-2:13 | This prose prologue provides critical background to Job’s experiences that establishes upfront that God is sovereign over all things, including Satan.

1:1 | Job was not a fictitious character, as some have claimed. In Ezekiel 14:14,20, Job is linked with two other OT characters; Noah and Daniel. The land of Uz is a region many scholars have connected with Edom, lying south of Israel, north of Arabia (Gen. 36:21-28; 1 Chron. 1:42; Lam. 4:21).

1:1-5 | For Job to be the greatest of all the people of the East means he stood out among his peers in every respect. First and foremost, he is introduced as a pious believer in Yahweh – one who feared God, shunned evil, and was blameless and upright. Job was also blessed by God in many ways, reaching the pinnacle of wealth in his day with an abundance of land, animals and servants.

1:4-5 | If this is the earliest book in the OT, as some believe, it is also the earliest written picture of a godly family – God-honoring parents and God-fearing children. The events in Job take place during the time of the patriarchs, when the head of the family acted as the priestly intercessor for his household.

1:6-2:10 | Job’s testing will be a result of this divine-satanic conflict – an interaction he knew nothing about.

1:6 | The sons of God refers to a council of ministering angels that periodically appears before the Lord to report on their activities. Satan (“adversary”) is an angel – a created being – and though powerful, he is not omnipotent, omniscient, nor omnipresent. Although Sata is a fallen creature, he has access to God.

1:8 | Blameless and upright denotes that Job’s integrity and way of life corresponded to God’s expectations, not that he was sinless. This description contrasts with instances where children of God did what was right in their own eyes (Judg. 17:6; 21:25).

1:10-12 | Satan does not have unrestricted power. God had placed a protective hedge around not only Job but his family and his possessions so that Satan could not touch them without God’s permission. God’s children can take comfort in the truth that no harm can come to them that God does not permit (1 Pet. 5:8).

1:13-19 | Three times the text says these events happened while he was yet speaking, meaning they happened one right after the other. As one messenger was leaving, the next one was bringing more bad news, completely immersing Job in tragedy.

1:20-22 | This godly man became a grieving man who still worshiped while he mourned. To affirm God’s goodness in the midst of desolation is as much an act of worship as it is a sign of integrity.

1:22 | Job did not let anything that happened make a sinner out of him; he did not turn to evil when evil came upon him.