— The Historical Introduction
The Historical Introduction—Job’s piety and prosperity; his sufferings at the hand of Satan, in his possessions, his family, and his person.
In piety as well as in prosperity Job resembles in some measure the patriarch Abraham. His faith, however, was feeble in comparison, and there seems to have been a lack of that personal acquaintance with God which marked “the father of them that believe,” who was called “the friend of God.” Nor could he compare with Melchizedek, “the priest of the Most High God,” to whom Abraham gave tithes, whose personality and nearness to God must not be lost sight of in the brighter light of his typical position.
It is this lack of true acquaintance with God, with the corresponding ignorance of his own heart, which probably made necessary the trials to which Job was subjected.
We come now to the narrative of the first two chapters, which may be divided into three main parts:
1. Chap. 1:1-5. —Job’s piety and prosperity.
2. Chap. 14:6-22 —Delivered to Satan.
3. Chap. 2 —Full trial.
1.— Job’s character is described by four adjectives, which in their order remind us of the significance of numbers, which already seems to mark the structure of the book. He was perfect, complete and rounded out in character; humanly speaking, there was nothing uneven or lacking in him. Many men have excellent traits, but are deficient in other elements which go to make up a complete man. They are, for instance, truthful, but lacking in kindness; amiable, but inclined to be weak. Job was a well-balanced man.
Next, he was upright. This describes his relationship to others. Righteousness marked his ways, as he himself knew all too well.
Then, he feared God; this is the “beginning of knowledge,” and must be taken at its full value. Job was not, as some have thought, an unregenerate man; there was life in his soul. He was a child of God, not a sinner away from Him. Unless this is seen, much of the exercises through which he passed will lose meaning. Lastly, he “eschewed evil;” his outward walk corresponded with the state of his heart.
All this was morally excellent; it was not the false pretense of the hypocrite, but the genuine character of one of whom God says, “there is none like him in the earth.”
In fitting correspondence with his moral character, and according to Old Testament standards, Job was a man of prosperity, both in his family and his possessions. He had seven sons—their number suggesting completeness; and three daughters—the manifestation of his character and excellence. These numbers are also seen in his possessions—seven thousand sheep and three thousand camels; while the five hundred yoke of oxen and asses indicate complete ability for all work. Great numbers of servants complete the picture of this noble Emir, “the greatest of all the men of the East.”
With abundance of wealth, Job’s sons led a life of prosperous ease and enjoyment, sharing their pleasures with their three sisters. Some have thought that this round of festivities was daily, throughout the entire week; but there seems no need to hold it down to such a routine. Nor is it intimated that these festivities were in themselves of a wanton, worldly character, as were his who bade his soul to “eat, drink and be merry.” Job only recognized the possibility that they might, as Agur feared for himself, “be full and deny Thee, and say, Who is the Lord?” (Prov. 30:99Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. (Proverbs 30:9).) The word “curse” God, is literally “bless,” as also Job was later urged to “bless God and die” —to renounce Him, bidding Him farewell (chap. 2:9). In view of the possibility of this, Job offered for each of his sons a burnt-offering.
This sacrifice, while it shows the knowledge of the only way of approach to God—the way of sacrifice, from Abel and Noah onward—indicates that Job lived before the institution of the Levitical ordinances. He offered a burnt-offering rather than a sin or trespass-offering.
It is possible that there is a slight token of Job’s self-righteousness in his thought that his sons might have turned away from God, rather than that he himself had. But this is rather reading a meaning into his action from his subsequent state. It seems only to indicate the solicitude of one who feared God, that his children should not succumb to temptations too common to the life of pleasure. It seems to be mentioned as a proof of the real piety of the man.
— Delivered to Satan (chap. 1:6-22)
The scene now changes from earth to heaven, where Jehovah is seen in His majesty, attended by the angelic hosts. “I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left” (1 Kings 22:1919And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. (1 Kings 22:19)).
“No man hath seen God at any time”; and, in the fullest sense, even angels cannot look upon His face who dwelleth “in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see” (1 Tim. 6:1616Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:16)). The seraphim veil their faces as they proclaim His thrice holy Name (Isa. 6.).
No creature, be he ever so great, can “know the Almighty to perfection.” Yet angels have an access into the presence of God which it would be impossible for man, as at present constituted, to enjoy. Apart from the fact that sin has severed him from God morally, man, as formed of the dust (although endowed with an immortal spirit), is “a little lower than the angels.” His natural dwelling-place is the earth, not heaven, and his intercourse with God would naturally be modified and limited by that fact. The heavenly scene before us represents angelic access to God, as contrasted with human approach to Him.
The heavenly beings are called “the sons of God,” for He is “the Father of spirits.” While this is true of men as well— “for we also are His offspring” —it is because they also have spirits, and so far are like the angels. But in man all is linked with the body, and intercourse is had through that medium. It is only in resurrection that men will be “equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection” (Luke 20:3636Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. (Luke 20:36)).
The expression “sons of God” seems to suggest, not merely a spirit-nature, but moral likeness to God as well. This is further emphasized by the fact that “Satan” is mentioned as in contrast. “Sons of God” shouted for joy when the material universe was founded (Job 38:77When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:7)). And when the First-begotten is brought into His own, and reigns over the earth, these “ethereal virtues” will unite with all redeemed creation to give glory “unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever” (Rev. 5:1313And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:13)). We know too that infernal beings will also own “that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil. 2:10, 1110That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10‑11)). But that is by compulsion; the worship of the “sons of God” is an outflow of their hearts.
We cannot intrude into things which we have not seen and must not make the attempt, nor seek to have a “religion of angels;” nor would this be the place to gather together the various teachings of Scripture regarding the host of heaven. It must suffice us to note that these beings, as their name both in Hebrew and Greek tells us, are Jehovah’s messengers. They “excel in strength, and do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word” (Ps. 103:20). It is their happy privilege to worship and to serve, answering thus in some sense to the priestly worship and Levitical service of God’s earthly children. In connection with this worship and service they are seen here gathered, as on some great occasion, before their divine Lord.
In dreadful contrast with these worshiping servants, these “sons of God,” we see one utterly unlike them in moral character, though having a spirit-nature like themselves. Indeed he was once morally like them, the very chief of them all (Ezek. 28) —the “covering cherub” that shadowed the throne of Jehovah. But “how hast thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” Dazzled with his own glory, willfully forgetting the creature-place which he must ever keep, he has fallen into pride (“the condemnation of the devil”), by which he became the bitter, eternal enemy of all that is good, and of God Himself.
Revising ordinary views of Satan in the light of this scripture, we find that while morally fallen he still has access into God’s presence, can still present himself along with the “sons of God.” So far from being shut up in hell, or even confined to earth, we see this shameless apostate taking his place there as though it were still his right. The time is coming, and that ere long, when he shall be cast out of heaven to earth (Rev. 12:7-127And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 12Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. (Revelation 12:7‑12)), to tarry there but a short time, and then to be bound a thousand years in the bottomless pit (Rev. 20:2-32And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. (Revelation 20:2‑3)); and finally, after leading another brief outbreak of apostate men, will receive his eternal retribution in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:1010And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)).
How great is the patience of God! He has tolerated Satan’s malignity and scheming through all the sad centuries of fallen man’s history—permitted him indeed to tempt our first parents in their innocence—and allows him to make his accusations and insinuations that there is no good, before His very face. But all is permitted to bring out lessons for eternity. Satan is surely heaping up added wrath for himself, and meanwhile his very malice can but serve God’s righteous purposes of blessing, as we shall see in Job’s case.
In the dialog between the Lord and Satan, we have God’s challenge and Satan’s accusation. The answer to the first question shows where Satan is carrying on his work. Like the restless raven flying over the waste of waters after the flood, he walketh about “as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” In heaven he is the accuser; on earth the destroyer; wherever he is, he is ever and only Satan—the enemy of God and of good.
“Hast thou considered my servant Job?” asks Jehovah, adopting for Himself the description of the patriarch already given. God delights in His beloved people, and in their righteous ways. If Satan accuse, He will commend. It is ever thus; judgment is His strange work; He would be occupied with good, and “if there be any virtue and any praise,” He thinks upon that.
True to his character, Satan can only accuse. He cannot deny Job’s righteousness, but impugns his motives. Having no motive himself but selfishness, he declares that Job is only actuated by that. Why should he not be righteous? Does it not pay? He is prosperous, blessed in every way, and nothing is allowed to come near him for injury. Let God but remove that safeguard, and let Job be deprived of all his wealth, “and he will curse Thee to thy face.”
Is this accusation true? Can good exist only with a pleasant environment? Is God afraid to let His children see adversity? Can one who knows and loves God be brought to renounce Him, to “curse Him to His face?” Such questions are involved in Satan’s charge. Not only for Job’s sake, but the truth’s sake, God will not permit this accusation to rest upon Him, nor upon Job. For Satan would ever strike at God when outwardly pleading even for righteousness.
Therefore Job is delivered into Satan’s hands; all that he has is subject to that enemy’s malignity: “Only upon himself put not forth thy hand.” Not a hair of the child of God can fall without His permission. Satan is but the unintentional instrument to accomplish God’s will; he can do no more than he is allowed to do. How good it is to remember this! If trials come as a host against us, we know that the Almighty is between us and them. They will but work out for us His own purposes of love.
Nor must we forget that not only was God going to vindicate His truth, silence Satan and wicked men, but He knew that His servant Job needed to learn lessons for his own soul. He would put the precious ore into the crucible, for He knew how much unsuspected evil lay hidden beneath all that outward excellence, mixed even with the inner piety of this good man. He would show that even piety cannot feed upon itself, nor righteousness lean upon its own arm. These are some of the lessons which Job is to learn. May we learn them too!
Before going into the details of Job’s trials, it will be well to consider the question of the character and limits of Satan’s power. Can he, of his own power, bring down the lightning or raise up a whirlwind? Can he inflict disease, and order events as he may desire?
There are two extremes, from each of which we must guard ourselves. The one would ascribe to Satan powers little, if any, short of divine. It is claimed that as prince of this world, all things are in his hand—all the forces of nature as well as the mind and heart of man; in short, that he is the God of providence for this world. The opposite view would ignore his dignity of position, his power as chief of God’s creatures, and make him practically inferior to man. We must turn therefore, however briefly, to Scripture, and examine its positive teachings, as well as some passages which need special explanation.
Of his moral power over man there can be no question. “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not” (2 Cor. 4:44In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:4)); “According to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:22Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: (Ephesians 2:2)); “The whole world lieth in the wicked one” (1 John 5:1919And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. (1 John 5:19)). His power is to blind men to the gospel, and to keep them away from God, in the broad way that leadeth to destruction. The whole world is thus under his blinding, seducing influence. To those who yield themselves willfully to his sway, he is father: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do... He is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:4444Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)) “He abode not in the truth,” and would lead men away from the truth. In the Garden of Eden, he seduced the woman into disobedience, in which Adam united and thus brought sin into the world (Rom. 5:1212Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12)). “The wages of sin is death,” which has passed upon all men—as necessitated by the universality of sin—and thus Satan has the power of death (Heb. 2:1414Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Hebrews 2:14)), not the power of inflicting death, but the moral power of sin which brings death, and the judgment which follows.
Sickness is the shadow and precursor of death— “Sick unto death” (Is. 38:1) —and it is a witness to the solemn truth of man’s separation from the Source of life— “alienated from the life of God” (Eph. 4:1818Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: (Ephesians 4:18)). The alienation is moral; the physical death is the governmental infliction. Sickness is thus connected with Satan’s power in a moral rather than a physical way.
The subject of demon possession is too large to be entered upon fully. It must suffice to notice the moral effect this possession had. The man in the synagogue at Capernaum had an unclean spirit (Mk. 1:2323And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, (Mark 1:23)). Another man had a dumb spirit. Frequently the power of these demons was exerted in leading their victims to injure or even to destroy themselves. The “daughter of Abraham” who had “a spirit of infirmity” (Lk. 13:13:11-16) and thus bound by Satan, was undoubtedly more than sick in the ordinary sense. As the power of the enemy made some dumb, it bound her down. It is difficult to define the relation between our own spirit and the body; it must be more so in the case of demon power. But the power seems to be exerted through the mind. This is evident in the case of the demoniac boy (Matt. 17:1515Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. (Matthew 17:15)) who was “lunatic and sore vexed” with a demon.
It is striking that Satan was permitted to manifest his power in this special way during our Lord’s ministry. It gave Him the opportunity to show to the least believing that He “was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:88He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)).
We come next to those scriptures which connect Satan’s activities with natural, physical phenomena. He carried our Lord to the top of the temple, and urged Him to cast Himself down (Matt. 4:55Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, (Matthew 4:5)). He would take possession of the body of Moses (Jude 99Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. (Jude 9)). As Elijah called down fire from heaven (2 Ki. 14:1010Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home: for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee? (2 Kings 14:10)), we know that the Antichrist will do the same (Rev. 13:1313And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, (Revelation 13:13)). An angel rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulcher (Matt. 28:22And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. (Matthew 28:2)), and another released Peter from prison (Acts 12:77And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. (Acts 12:7), etc.). Scripture gives no intimation that Satan has less power than the angels, for he was chief of them all. What then are we to gather from these facts?
The material universe—all things—has been created by the Son of God. “Without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:33All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3)). Satan has brought nothing into existence; he is but a creature himself. Similarly all the forces of nature act according to divine laws. “Laws of nature” are but laws of God, the manner in which all things are upheld by the word of His power. He has not relinquished His prerogatives as God of providence any more than His place as Creator. He is sovereign and doeth according to His own will, blessed be His name. He causes His sun to shine and rain to fall; He sends fruitful seasons, filling men’s hearts with food and gladness. He holds the winds in His fists, and rides upon the storm. “The sea is His, and He made it;” and the stormy wind, which He commandeth and raiseth up, doth but fulfill His word.
“He everywhere hath sway,
And all things serve His might.”
God’s creatures can use these forces of nature only by His permission. A Christian professor, in performing experiments in natural science before his class, was accustomed to say, “Gentlemen, God is working before your eyes.” Man cannot force nature to act contrary to the will of God.
This applies in an especial way to Satan, for he is no longer a servant of God, one of the usual agents of His will, but a rebel. He can do nothing except by divine permission. As prince of this world, he rules in the hearts of men, individually and corporately, but his domain stops there. He is not prince of the earth, the sea, nor air. “Prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:22Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: (Ephesians 2:2)) does not mean lord of the winds, but one whose evil influence pervades the moral world, as the atmosphere envelops the physical. Where faith realizes the omnipresent supremacy of God over all nature, it can, in its little measure, sleep on the waves amid the tumult of the storm. But only One can say to that storm, “Peace, be still.”
Our answer then as to the nature of all miraculous powers of Satan is that they are divine power put forth with divine permission with a divine object, in answer to a Satanic demand for that power. Satan desired to tempt our Lord, and God put all His power at the enemy’s disposal to effect his object if possible. The result was the exhibition of the perfections of the sinless Man. The “messenger of Satan” (2 Cor. 12) given to Paul was permitted of God with a purpose of grace, in spite of the malignity of the one who would destroy the usefulness of a servant of the Lord. In regard to every outward form of Satanic activity we can use the words of our Lord, “Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above” (John 19:1111Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. (John 19:11)). In other words, it was not Satan’s lightning, but God’s that smote Job’s property; God’s, not Satan’s, whirlwind that destroyed his family. Satan had demanded this— “Put forth Thy hand now, and touch all that he hath” (chap. 1:11). Job sees only God’s hand in his affliction— “The Lord hath taken away” (ver. 21); and God Himself says to Satan, “Thou movedst Me against him, to destroy him without cause” (chap. 2:3).
The bearing of all this upon human sickness and the use of medicines is simple. The connection of sickness with Satan is through sin, and it is a governmental dealing of God with men calculated to turn them to Him in their need. Medicines are creatures of God, acting according to divinely established laws. To call them works of the devil is the opposite of the truth. Faith therefore can use them, as every other creature of God, with thanksgiving.
We come now to the strokes that fell upon Job.
There were four of these, suggesting by their number the trial to which the Lord’s servant was subjected. The first blow fell upon his oxen and asses, the means of labor which is the chief source of wealth. “Much increase is by the strength of the ox” (Prov. 14:44Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox. (Proverbs 14:4)); “That our oxen may be strong to labor” (Ps. 144:14). The Sabeans, a mixed nomadic race of nearby Arabians, swooped suddenly down, slew all the servants except the fugitive who told the tale, and made off with all the spoil. We can see Satan’s work in stirring up the cupidity of these people, ever ready to murder and to rob, but the supernatural part was that along with all the rest, it took place at just this time, God permitting it all.
The second stroke follows immediately, falling upon the sheep, the source of his food and clothing, and their attendants. The agency this time was “the fire of God” from heaven. It is not designated as lightning, though some authorities consider it was that, but has been thought to be similar to that which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha. Whatever it was, it was “an act of God,” as men say, when destruction comes without human interposition.
We have already intimated, in the earlier discussion, Satan’s part in this.
The third stroke falls upon the camels, the animals used for burden-bearing and for travel, the source of commercial wealth. The agents here are the Chaldeans, from the north of the country of Job—apparently a warlike and numerous people at that day, though not yet in their place of later national supremacy. They clear all away, both of camels and servants, as completely as had the Sabeans.
Lastly, the whirlwind falls upon the house where the sons and daughters were feasting, leaving but one servant to tell of the awful calamity.
Thus the blows fall in quick succession without opportunity for partial recovery. They come with terrible suddenness, in the midst of prosperity, happiness and piety. They were incurable, cumulative, stunning. In one brief hour Job is stripped of all. Truly, Satan had done his work thoroughly, under the permission of an all-wise God.
The storm has burst in all its fury; how does the sufferer act beneath it? Not a murmur escapes his lips at the loss of his property; and when the climax is reached, he meets it in the dignity of a man of faith, yet with a tender, broken heart. Rent mantle and shorn head are the marks of a mourner. He acknowledges that nothing was his by right; he had come into the world naked, and would leave it as he came. “We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out” (1 Tim. 6:77For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. (1 Timothy 6:7)). But he turns from the stroke to the Hand that gave it. He looks past all second causes, whether human or miraculous, and lays his sorrow at the Lord’s feet. “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
So Satan has utterly failed thus far. His object had been to drive Job from God; he had only drawn him to Him. This proves the reality of Job’s faith.
But more, much more, is to follow.
3. — Full Trial.
Again Satan presents himself before God as at the first, and again the Lord asks concerning Job, faithful in spite of the afflictions through which he had passed. Unabashed by his failure to move Job, Satan makes fresh demands, coupled with fresh accusations. “Skin for skin” —to save part of his skin man will give up another part; yea, to save his life he will surrender everything he has, including his fear of God. Hitherto God had not allowed Job’s body to be touched; let the hand of God be laid upon that, and how quickly will Job’s vaunted piety disappear.
We may be sure that divine love, as well as divine wisdom, subjected this afflicted child of God to fresh assaults at the hands of Satan. We see the tenderness in the words, “Save his life.” The enemy is to do all, and thus prove the falsity of his own charge. Every prop is to be removed, every earthly joy taken away, and still Job will cleave to the God whom he has trusted, even though dimly. And on the other hand, through the very exercises through which he must pass, Job will learn the lesson of all lessons, for all eternity, that God is all in all; and as a step to that knowledge, he will see that he is nothing.
It is not necessary that we should know the exact nature of the disease which fell upon Job. Some have thought it to be leprosy, the most hopeless, loathsome and deadly of all human affections. Others have named it elephantiasis, a repulsive and fearful disease in which every part of the body is affected. It is accompanied not only by the distortion and swelling of the limbs which give it its name, but by putrid inflammation extending throughout the entire frame. It “begins with the rising of tubercular boils, and at length resembles a cancer spreading itself over the whole body, by which the body is so affected that some of the limbs fall completely away.”
Without going into speculation, however, we may recall the solemn warnings of God if His people should depart from Him: “The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed” (Deut. 28:27, 3527The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. (Deuteronomy 28:27)
35The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head. (Deuteronomy 28:35)). When, in Old Testament times, practically all God’s dealings with men were on an earthly plane, it is evident that such an affliction would be regarded as a particular token of His displeasure—at least by those who had not learned the varied uses of adversity in the school of God. We shall find that practically all—Job’s friends, and even himself—labored under this misapprehension; and this accounts for the long and painful controversy between them, in which neither side could reach what God could approve.
And, apart from revelation, how wretched and hopeless was Job’s condition! Who that knew him in the days of his prosperity could have recognized him in the abject misery of his present condition, sitting in ashes and scraping himself with a potsherd? The ashes suggest his mourning for his losses, especially his bereavement; the potsherd might well typify his own broken condition, and while he vainly seeks to alleviate the intolerable pain and itching of his “putrefying sores,” his self-contemplation is equally powerless to alleviate the sufferings of his soul.
The wife is the first to break down completely. As “the weaker vessel” this is not surprising, for the husband should ever be the leader in faith and love, as in the responsibilities which he cannot transfer to another. But there is something more than the outward collapse of faith; there seems to be a spirit of apostasy which had listened to the lie of Satan. As the woman of old was beguiled by the attractiveness of Satan’s snare, so she seems to have fallen before the apparent hopelessness of Job’s contending against a “sea of troubles.”
The wives of men of faith have not always been on the same plane as their husbands. Sarah counseled Abraham to resort to human expedients to secure the promises. Zipporah evidently stood in the way, for a time, of Moses acting in faithfulness in his family (Exod. 4:24-2624And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. 25Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. 26So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. (Exodus 4:24‑26)). Michal mocked when David exhibited the joy and liberty which a sense of grace always gives (2 Sam. 6:16, 20-2316And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. (2 Samuel 6:16)
20Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself! 21And David said unto Michal, It was before the Lord, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel: therefore will I play before the Lord. 22And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honor. 23Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death. (2 Samuel 6:20‑23)). Faith must necessarily be an individual matter between the soul and God. It cannot be received at second hand. On the other hand, however, God abundantly blesses the family of the man of faith, and often gives him the joy of seeing those dear to him resting also in the unfailing faithfulness of One who invites all to trust in Him.
We will not dogmatize about Job’s wife. The root of the matter may have been in her, and she may have been only for a time overwhelmed by her grief. But her words are very evil: “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die.” It has been thought that her love to Job prompted these words; that she could not endure seeing one so dear to her suffering such torture, and practically counseled suicide. We can leave her case with Him who searcheth the heart, and seek to get the benefit of Job’s noble reply: “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What! Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” She was associating herself with the profane who despise God. She had been quite willing to enjoy good things at the hand of God; now that He sees fit to send trial, shall we refuse to take it as meant for good? It was God who was the giver in each case.
Alas, how few of us can bear adversity! “If thou faintest in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” And yet can we, would we, escape suffering in a world like this? In one form or another, at one time or another, it must come.
“Aliens may escape the rod,
Nursed in earthly, vain delight,
But a true-born child of God,
Must not, would not, if he might.”
Judging from what follows, we might include the visit of Job’s friends in the general assault of Satan. In that way we speak of that assault as threefold: first, circumstantial, in the disasters upon his property and family and himself; second, personal, in the advice of his wife and the arguments of his friends; third, inward, in the doubts of the goodness and justice of God which Job entertained. But strictly speaking, Satan’s work ended when he launched his four bolts against Job and then smote him with disease.
These three friends of Job were evidently persons of age, rank, and, indeed piety. For we must distinguish between their erroneous dealings with Job and their personal character. Like him they were on the wrong track—more so than himself, but like him also they were in the end brought into a true realization of God’s ways.
They came from districts noted for men of wisdom: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is counsel perished from the prudent? Is their wisdom vanished? (Jer. 49:77Concerning Edom, thus saith the Lord of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished? (Jeremiah 49:7)). The “men of the East” were similarly famed. As has just been said, they seem to have been men of personal piety; at least they had a knowledge of the true God and of righteousness. Of the significance of their names we can say little. Eliphaz has been defined as “God is strength,” and by others, “God is fine gold.” Both meanings suggest at least the greatness and preeminence of God. His country, Teman, means “the south,” the country lying under the sun, open to the light. But we have learned that while the south country is open to the light, it is apt to be dry and arid, as indeed Arabia was. It needs, as Achsah said, “springs of water.” Light without life can never help.
Bildad is said to mean “son of contention,” and he certainly answers to his name in these controversies. His place, Shuach, “depression or pit,” is also appropriate. Zophar, “a sparrow,” from the root verb “to twitter,” is the masculine form of Zipporah, Moses’ wife, and like her he was an unconscious opponent of God’s judgment on the flesh, though he was very zealous in condemning the fancied works of the flesh in Job. His vehement denunciations being utterly out of place, were as harmless as the “twitterings” of the bird for which he was named. His place, Naamah, “pleasantness,” is, like the miserable comfort he offered, but a mockery of true happiness. But these meanings are only tentative.
These men have evidently heard in their distant homes of Job’s affliction. As true friends they are not unmoved, and make an appointment to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. Certainly their motive was excellent; how they succeeded appears later.
The second scene in this divine drama may be said to open with the arrival of these friends. As they draw near what a sight meets their shocked vision! Can this wretched, loathsome object, covered with putrid sores, sitting in the midst of ashes, be their stately friend, the greatest man of the East? They burst into tears, rend their garments and sit down with him. Very touching and appropriate this is, and the silence of seven days emphasizes the reality of their sympathy. They wept with him who wept. Unable to help by words, their silence would indicate how deeply moved they were.
Meanwhile the thoughts of all were doubtless busy. After the first shock produced by Job’s terrible condition was over, they must necessarily have begun to think—why has this evil come upon him? Long accepted principles would suggest an answer, to which they seem slow to give expression. God punishes the ungodly; the righteous are prosperous; therefore... can it be? On his part too Job is meditating. He too had accepted his prosperity as a mark of God’s approval. He has been righteous and faithful, and God rewards faithfulness—at least he had thought He did. Can it be that God...? But he has not yet allowed these thoughts to find expression; indeed they may not yet have been present. But his sufferings are intense, his burden of grief and pain intolerable. The silent sympathy of his friends does not soften his heart. While he muses the fire burns, and at last the pent-up grief bursts forth in bitter cursings and lamentations.