Job 2:1-13

One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.’ Then Satan answered the Lord, ‘Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.’

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.

Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.’ But he said to her, ‘You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. 

Comment:

I find it very difficult to deal with Job part by part, because understanding its meaning requires opening ourselves to the whole. The Book of Job is based on an ancient folktale from the second millennium that was written down in Hebrew many centuries later, sometime in the first. I see it as the first drama of the Hebrew tradition—a theatrical dialogue among a number of characters around the central question of why we should live virtuous and faith-filled lives. Goaded by Satan (who is clearly part of the heavenly court), God demonstrates Job's faith by allowing him to be inflicted with every conceivable misfortune short of death. Meanwhile, on earth, Job's three friends are happy to challenge, debate, and evaluate his fate.  

As Job sits upon the ashes, afflicted with unbearable sores, he resists the pity of his wife and refuses to blame or curse God—"In all this Job did not sin with his lips." Three friends arrive from far distances to witness Job's state for themselves. (It's true today that people tend to be more drawn to news of global catastrophy than to positive news of love expressing.)

And so the stage is set for the dialogues to follow as Job hears and considers each viewpoint, culminating in Job's great dialogue with the Lord. So in this early passage, what I see is not the "patient" Job we have heard about all our lives, enduring great suffering and accepting it as his due. What we have is an intelligent, faith-filled man who believes in a divine purpose yet to be revealed.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed