Bible in one year 7/25/2022 Job Chapter 2-4 Satan’s second test to Job
By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce
Christian Arts Ministries : Biblical precepts & Gospel music;
Pastoral ministry & Counseling
Chapter 2 Satan’s second
test to Job
In God’s eyesight, Job a servant of God, he is blameless, upright,
a man fears God and shuns evil. There is no one on earth like him. But Satan
second attack was against Job’s person. “ Skin
for skin! A man will give all he has for his own life.” Satan said, “ But stretch out your hand and strike his
flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” (vb.4-5). The
Lord said to Satan, “ Very well, then, he
is in your hands; but you much spare his life.”(v.6). So Satan went out
from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores form the
soles of his feet to the top of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken
pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.(vv.7-8).
Painful sores (v.7). Satan’s second test
was againt Job’s person. Job’s condition was characterized by several symptoms.
The skin covering his entire body was affected(v.7), he itched intensely(v.8),
and he was in acute pain (v.13). His flesh attracted worms and became crusty
and hard(7:5). It oozed serum and turned darker in color (7:5;30:30). Job also
experienced fever and aching bones (30:17:30). He may have had elephantiasis or
a leukemia of the skin. The good will of God included physical suffering for
Job at this time, as it does for many today.
Job’s wife concluded that he was suffering because God
was unfair – a popular explanation for suffering but totally contrary to the
character of God. Job called her view foolishness (v.10). Many people arrive at
her conclusion when they consider only empirical evidence (that which we gain
by observation).Unless we also consider revelational evidence (that which comes
form God), we are likely to reason as Job’s wife did. His wife said to him, “ Are
you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!” But Job
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.(vv.9-10).
When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanited, 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.(vv.11-13).
The Temanite.
(v.11). Eliphaz was a resident of the city of Teman in Uz (Edom). This town
became famous for its wise men (Jer.49:7).The Shuhite. Bildad lived in the area
nearby, inhabited by the descendant of Shuah, one of Abraham’s sons by
Keturah(Gen.25:1-2).The Naamathite. Zophar also lived nearby, in the area of
Naamath. All three men were probably outstanding in their areas and time, since
they were friends of the greatest of all the men of the east” (1:3).
Chapter 3 the dialogues with Job; Job’s lament
Whereas the introductory two chapters the debate that follows. In
it Job says some things that move his friends to break their long silence and
suggest to him why he may be suffering. Job speaks out of great physical and
mental anguish. His own basic presupposition, that God always blesses the
righteous and afflicts the wicked, has proven faulty. If he judges by his
experience, he must conclude that his theology is wrong, for he cannot put what
he believes to be true of God together with what is happening to him. Though at
times Job reacts with hostility, he always turns back to God. Much of what he
says later is exaggerated, untrue, and virtually blasphemous, but he never
renounces God.
Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. He
said,
“ May the day of my birth
perish, and the night it was said, “ A boy is born!” that day may it turn to
darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine upon it(vv.1-2)…
May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it. May those who
curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan..(vv.8-9)…Why
did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb? Why were there
knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed? For now I would be
lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest with kings and counselors of
the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins, with rulers who
had gold, who filled their houses with silver. Or why was I not hidden in the
ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?
(11-16) What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I
have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.(vv.25-26)
Chapter 4 Eliphaz’s First
Speech
Eliphaz is the most sympathetic of Job’s three friends,
who speaks first and appeals to experience for authority. He was likely the
eldest (15:10). Eliphaz said,
If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can keep from speaking? Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands. Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees. But now trouble comes to you and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed. Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope? Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it. At the breath of God they are destroyed; at the blast of his anger they perish. The lions may roar and growl, yet the teeth of the great lions are broken. The lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. (vv.1-11)..... Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker? If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error, how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth!(vv.17-19).
Although wicked men may be strong,
they cannot ultimately prosper. Eliphaz tried to bolster his argument by relating
it to a vision he had had (vv.15-16). He asks, “ If angels cannot be considered
trustworthy, how can man be? (vv.18-19). The cords of their tent. Death is likened
to the collapse of a tent when the tent-cord is pulled up.
Bibliography,
Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV).Chicago,
IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986
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