Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

• Job 2:1-13

Job 2:3  ”God affirmed that Job had won round one. without cause. God uses the same expression the adversary used in Job 1 ‘for nothing (1:9) … without cause (2:3).’ The message behind God’s turn of words is that the adversary is the guilty party in this case, not Job who had suffered all the disaster without any personal cause. He had done nothing to incur the pain and loss, though it was massive. The issue was purely a matter of conflict between God and Satan. This is a crucial statement, because when Job’s friends tried to explain why all the disasters had befallen him, they always put the blame on Job. Grasping this assessment from God—that Job had not been punished for something, but suffered for nothing related to him personally—is a crucial key to the story. Sometimes suffering is caused by divine purposes unknowable to us.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

The Message

Again, we find Satan in heaven, arguing with God about Job.  Satan again has been roaming the earth.  It’s a little muddy regarding where Satan is and where he is when he talks with God, but remember that when Satan is here, he is in one place, but when he goes to heaven, he is like God, outside time and space.

So, he slips past the veil to tell God that his hands are tied.  If God would only give him further permission, this time to attack Job himself.  Then, Satan is sure that Job will turn on God.  Again, Satan had to ask permission.  God allowed Satan to afflict Job, but not kill him.

Satan afflicts Job with painful sores.  Job sits in the ashes and scrapes himself with a broken piece of pottery.  The ashes are possibly the area of the city where the people with unclean diseases go to be away from others.  I have had skin issues.  A potsherd could be used to break the boils to release the infection or scrape away the dead skin or provide some deep massage to ease the pain.  I doubt if his purpose is to do cuttings.  Then again, they still performed bloodletting roughly 150 years ago.

Job’s wife tells him to curse God and let God kill him.  Job admonishes her, saying that she was talking like a “foolish woman.”  Even in the phrasing of his admonishment, he did not call her a fool, just that she talked like a foolish woman.  He tells her that they had a good run of good fortune, and there was no reason why they should not have bad fortune.

Job stayed true to God, but then, his “friends” showed up: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite.

Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite is not mentioned until Job 32, but we might assume that he was there from the beginning.  When he starts to speak, Elihu says that due to his younger age, he listened and did not enter into the conversation at first.  So, we know that Elihu was there quite some time before he ever spoke.  Showing up late might be another social reason to listen to the conversation before interrupting.  But I wonder if the concept of a polite child being seen and not heard comes from Elihu’s initial silence.  Then again, does anyone follow that old saying that a child should be seen and not heard?

There is a great lesson in the last few verses for anyone visiting someone that is bedridden.  The three friends of Job communicated and met first before going to where Job was.  Their goal was to sympathize and to comfort.

When they saw him, they barely recognized him.  They wept.  They sat down with him and no one spoke for seven days and seven nights.

If the book ended at that point, they would have been good friends.  They accomplished what their goal was.  Without speaking, they sympathized and comforted.  With the sick, sometimes just being there is enough.

To empathize, you would have to share the pain.  There is no evidence that they had the gift to empathize.  My wife did, and she did not want me telling her about my pain.  In hearing about my pain, she would feel it.  But to sympathize, they could feel sorrow for the suffering of Job.  One definition of sympathy is to have a common feeling.  Under that definition, they would have had to have undergone the same series of sorrows in order to mentally place themselves in a common frame of mind in suffering with Job.  But the concept of feeling sorrow due to Job’s pain is a broader definition of sympathy.  This could be done without words.

But then, after seven days, it seems the concept of sympathy and comfort went out the window.

They started talking…

And now let us sing.

The following song is Praise You in This Storm.  This is sung by Casting Crowns.  There are so many songs of this type to choose from.  Then again, we will be here a while.

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom.  Again, Your servant Job did not falter.  His wife, probably in deep anguish that her husband is suffering so, sees the easy way out.  But this was not about Job and his sin.  This had to do with something greater than us.  Lord, You were going to win, whether Job stayed faithful or not.  But You had something to prove.  Once You have us firmly in Your hands, You do not let go.  We may be unable to hold onto anything else, but we can hold onto that promise.  We need to hold onto that promise, Lord, no matter the pain, no matter how bleak the circumstances.  With You, there is Hope.  In thy Name we pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.