Job 2:1-10 | KingComments | STEP | Now that Job has lost all his possessions and all his children, the scene moves from earth to heaven again ( ). Again there is a day when the LORD calls the angels, including satan ( ). Of satan it is also said separately this time that he “came among them to present himself before the LORD”. After the loss of the first round he is summoned for the second round. Again the LORD begins to speak and addresses the word to satan with again the question where he has come from ( ; ). The answer of satan is the same as the one given last time ( ). Also the testimony about Job is as given in Job 1 ( ; ). For the third time this testimony sounds, but this time it is a testimony that is surrounded by the glimmer of a trial endured. In spite of the great affliction into which Job has fallen, so the LORD testifies against satan, Job holds fast his integrity. Job is “struck down, but not destroyed” ( ). In addition, the LORD bears witness that there was no reason for Job to suffer this. The words “although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause”, reaffirm that it is not only satan who has robbed Job, but that the LORD is in control and uses satan to accomplish His purpose. Here the LORD uses the words “without cause” which satan used earlier to insinuate that Job does not fear the LORD “for nothing” ( ). With this He says that satan was wrong in his assertion that Job only serves Him because of the benefit it would bring.

‏ Job 2:1-10

The LORD Reminds Satan Again of Job

Now that Job has lost all his possessions and all his children, the scene moves from earth to heaven again (Job 2:1). Again there is a day when the LORD calls the angels, including satan (Job 1:6). Of satan it is also said separately this time that he “came among them to present himself before the LORD”. After the loss of the first round he is summoned for the second round.

Again the LORD begins to speak and addresses the word to satan with again the question where he has come from (Job 2:2; Job 1:7a). The answer of satan is the same as the one given last time (Job 1:7b). Also the testimony about Job is as given in Job 1 (Job 2:3; Job 1:1 ; 8). For the third time this testimony sounds, but this time it is a testimony that is surrounded by the glimmer of a trial endured. In spite of the great affliction into which Job has fallen, so the LORD testifies against satan, Job holds fast his integrity. Job is “struck down, but not destroyed” (2Cor 4:9).

In addition, the LORD bears witness that there was no reason for Job to suffer this. The words “although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause”, reaffirm that it is not only satan who has robbed Job, but that the LORD is in control and uses satan to accomplish His purpose. Here the LORD uses the words “without cause” which satan used earlier to insinuate that Job does not fear the LORD “for nothing” (Job 1:9). With this He says that satan was wrong in his assertion that Job only serves Him because of the benefit it would bring.

Satan Again Challenges the LORD

Satan does not give up. He will never give up, as long as he is given the opportunity to do his pernicious work. His reaction to what the LORD says about Job and about the actions of satan testifies to this (Job 2:4). He does not come to acknowledge his defeat, but fancies new wickedness. In his depravity he will always seek new reasons to separate God’s children from God and plunge them into ruin. He can only act according to his immutable wickedness.

He contradicts God and says that Job has not yet been tested to the extreme. All previous trials have affected his possessions and his children, but not him personally. Satan claims that Job will be prepared to give up another person’s skin – his relationship with God – in order to save his own skin. Let the LORD make Job feel pain and torment, then Job will really curse him (Job 2:5).

The LORD allows satan to do with Job as he pleases, but Job’s life must be spared (Job 2:6). The LORD sets the limit. Satan is not allowed to cross it, nor does he do so. By the way, this does not make the trial lesser, but greater. Death would put an end to the trial and thereby shorten its grief. How Job longed for death in the midst of suffering! But the fact that Job remains alive enables God to reach His goal with him.

Satan goes away to do his pernicious work here himself. After this we hear nothing more of him in this book. With this terrible action he disappears from the story. God no longer needs him. Satan does what he is allowed to do. He smites Job with a disease with which God threatens to smite Israel if the people are unfaithful to Him (Job 2:7; Deu 28:27 ; 35).

If satan is allowed to have his way, he does not do half the work. He beats Job in a way that Job loses all personal satisfaction and dignity. He has lost everything: his possessions, his children, his prestige, and now also his health. All that Job has left on earth is unbearable mental and physical pain. He is covered from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head with sore boils on which also worms grow (Job 7:5). His breath stinks (Job 19:17). He is slimmed down to just skin and bone (Job 19:20) and suffers unbearable pain (Job 30:17). His powers are demolished by high fever (Job 30:30). He is tormented by anxiety (Job 6:4) and suffers from sleeplessness (Job 7:4), and when he sleeps, he has nightmares (Job 7:14).

Job goes to an ash heap, possibly outside the inhabited world, where he sits amidst the dust in solitude and takes a potsherd to scrape himself (Job 2:8). However, the lowest point has not yet been reached.

Job and His Wife

While Job is plunged into the greatest misery and sorrow, his wife appears on the scene. She begins to talk to him (Job 2:9), but that is not to encourage him. On the contrary, she turns against him. At first she blames him for still holding fast his integrity. How can he do that? Surely it is foolish to rely on God in the midst of all the misery, isn’t it? A God Who inflicts such suffering on someone who so faithfully serves Him is not worth taking into account. If you take Him into account, all you get is misery over you.

This completes the trial. She who has to be a help to him, as she is meant to be (Gen 2:18), collapses in the trial. It seems that she has not shared in the integrity of Job. Now that his integrity is being tested and he, and she too, has lost everything, it no longer makes sense to her to trust in God. To her, God is no longer necessary. She has given up her trust in God.

As a result, she no longer honors her husband. Drawn away by her emotions, she urges him to “curse” God and end his life. In the proposal she makes to Job, she utters the same words as satan and thus becomes his spokesman. This is a temptation for Job that surpasses the previous one. If Job had listened to his wife, satan – the accuser – would have emerged as the victor in this battle after all.

Job retorts his wife. He tells her that her speaking is like the speaking of “foolish women” (Job 2:10). Job does not call his wife a fool. She is his wife and he loves her, but he must reprimand her. He tells her she speaks as foolish women do. A fool is one who does not want to know about God, who denies the existence of God, because “the fool says in his heart, There is no God” (Psa 14:1 ; Psa 53:1; 1Sam 25:25). Job takes everything from the hand of God, although he does not understand why all this is necessary. He speaks of “we” when it comes to taking from the hand of God whatever happens to him and to her – they are also her children and Job is her husband.

“In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” There’s not a rebellious word coming out of his mouth. Job acknowledges with his mouth that the LORD kills and makes alive (Deu 32:39; 1Sam 2:6), that He wounds and heals (Job 5:18). For the second time, Job refutes with his reaction the lie which satan has spoken about him.

If the book had ended here, the great goal of God with Job’s life would not have been achieved. Nor would we be able to learn the lessons we can learn now. The book would be an indictment of all the ‘whys’ we can have if things are against us in life. After all, there would have been someone who, despite all the suffering that has afflicted him, would not have ascribed anything incongruous to God – namely Job. That is why it is of great significance that later, when Job starts to think about everything, he comes up with his ‘whys’ and bitter reproaches in the direction of God. But then satan has already disappeared from the scene. As said, we will hear nothing more about him after the second chapter.