Job Chapter 2
1 Again, on the day when the God's sons came to present themselves before the LORD, Satan came also amongst them to present himself before the LORD.
2 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, and said, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
3 The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause."
4 Satan answered the LORD, and said, "Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.
5 But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face."
6 The LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life."
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.
8 He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat amongst the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die."
10 But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job didn't sin with his lips.
11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathise with him and to comfort him.
12 When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn't recognise him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads towards the sky.
13 So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
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Job Chapter 2 Guide
Again the solemn council met, and again Satan was present. The Most High uttered the same estimate of His servant as before, adding thereto a declaration of Job's victory in the conflict which had taken place. The adversary declared that the limits which God had set had hindered him in the accomplishment of his purpose. Though Job had triumphed over his loss of possession, he was not therefore proven loyal to God. The essential greatness of the man was unimpaired in that his own life had not been touched by weakness. Let him but feel there, and renunciation of God would immediately ensue. It is the devil's perpetual estimate of humanity that flesh is supreme. Once again he was permitted to prove his slander, but again the divine limit was set to the sphere of his operation.
The enemy went forth on his terrible work, and immediately we are presented with the awful picture of the man of God weakened in his personality by the unutterable misery of physical affliction. To this was now added the new and subtle attack of the sympathy of his wife. Her love, utterly misguided it is true, counselled that he die by renouncing God. His answer was characterized by tenderness toward her, and yet by unswerving loyalty to God.
Here the adversary passes out of sight. He has done his dire and dreadful work. His slander is manifestly a lie. The darkest days of all for Job now began. There is a stimulus in the clash of catastrophe. The very shock and surprise of the strokes create strength in which men triumph. It is in the brooding silence which enwraps the soul afterward that the fiercest fight is waged. To that the patriarch now passed. These verses tell the story of the coming of his friends. There were only three of them, joined presently, perchance, by another, when Elihu came on the scene. While it is true that Job suffered more at the hands of these friends ultimately than by the attacks of the foe, yet some recognition must be made of the goodness of the men. They were admirable, first, because they came at all. Even more were they to be admired because they sat in silence with him for seven days and nights. In overwhelming sorrows, true friendship almost invariably demonstrates itself more perfectly by silence than by speech. And even in spite of the fact that Job's friends caused him sorrow by their words, they are more to be admired because what they thought concerning him they dared to say to him, rather than about him to others.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Job Chapter 2 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- Satan obtains leave to try Job. -- (1-6)
- Job's sufferings. -- (7-10)
- His friends come to comfort him. -- (11-13)
Verses 1-6
How well is it for us, that neither men nor devils are to be our judges! but all our judgment comes from the Lord, who never errs. Job holds fast his integrity still, as his weapon. God speaks with pleasure of the power of his own grace. Self-love and self-preservation are powerful in the hearts of men. But Satan accuses Job, representing him as wholly selfish, and minding nothing but his own ease and safety. Thus are the ways and people of God often falsely blamed by the devil and his agents. Permission is granted to Satan to make trial, but with a limit. If God did not chain up the roaring lion, how soon would he devour us! Job, thus slandered by Satan, was a type of Christ, the first prophecy of whom was, that Satan should bruise his heel, and be foiled.
Verses 7-10
The devil tempts his own children, and draws them to sin, and afterwards torments, when he has brought them to ruin; but this child of God he tormented with affliction, and then tempted to make a bad use of his affliction. He provoked Job to curse God. The disease was very grievous. If at any time we are tried with sore and grievous distempers, let us not think ourselves dealt with otherwise than as God sometimes deals with the best of his saints and servants. Job humbled himself under the mighty hand of God, and brought his mind to his condition. His wife was spared to him, to be a troubler and tempter to him. Satan still endeavours to draw men from God, as he did our first parents, by suggesting hard thoughts of Him, than which nothing is more false. But Job resisted and overcame the temptation. Shall we, guilty, polluted, worthless creatures, receive so many unmerited blessings from a just and holy God, and shall we refuse to accept the punishment of our sins, when we suffer so much less than we deserve? Let murmuring, as well as boasting, be for ever done away. Thus far Job stood the trial, and appeared brightest in the furnace of affliction. There might be risings of corruption in his heart, but grace had the upper hand.
Verses 11-13
The friends of Job seem noted for their rank, as well as for wisdom and piety. Much of the comfort of this life lies in friendship with the prudent and virtuous. Coming to mourn with him, they vented grief which they really felt. Coming to comfort him, they sat down with him. It would appear that they suspected his unexampled troubles were judgments for some crimes, which he had vailed under his professions of godliness. Many look upon it only as a compliment to visit their friends in sorrow; we must look life. And if the example of Job's friends is not enough to lead us to pity the afflicted, let us seek the mind that was in Christ.
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.