1 Satan appearing again before God obtained further leave to tempt Job. 7 He smites him with sore boils. 9 Job reproves his wife, moving him to curse God. 11 His three friends condole with him in silence.
Satan Attacks Job’s Health
Job 2:1 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him.
1. To present themselves. See on ch. 1:6.
Job 2:2 And the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
See on ch. 1:7.
Job 2:3 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
Upright man. See on ch. 1:1, 7. Integrity. Heb. tummah. This word comes from the same root as the word translated “perfect” in this verse, and in ch. 1:1, 8. The idea is that of completeness (see on ch. 1:1).
You incited me…to ruin him. The LXX for “him” reads “his possessions.” Without cause. Heb. chinnam. Translated “for nought” (see on ch. 1:9).
Job 2:4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life.
This expression has provoked much discussion among commentators. The saying, evidently proverbial, may have had its origin in the language of barter or exchange, signifying that a man would give up one thing for another, or one piece of property of less value to save a greater.
In like manner he would be willing to surrender everything, in order that his life, the most valuable object, might be preserved. Satan is trying to show that a test of sufficient severity had not been imposed on Job to reveal his actual character. He advances the theory that every man has his price.
Job’s integrity had demonstrated that a man may lose his property and still serve God; but Satan was not willing to admit that a man will maintain his loyalty to God if his life is placed in jeopardy.
Compare Matt. 6:25.
Job 2:5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
Job 2:6 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
Save. Heb. shamar, “to keep,” “to watch,” “to preserve.” Life. Heb. nephesh frequently translated “soul,” but here the meaning of physical life is intended.
Job 2:7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
Sores. Heb. shechin, from a root that means, “to be hot,” “to be inflamed.” The word is used for the boils of the Egyptian plagues (Ex. 9:9), the eruptions of leprosy (Lev. 13:20), and for Hezekiah’s disease (2 Kings 20:7). The same disease may not be described in every case.
Many have attempted to diagnose Job’s disease from the various symptoms indicated (Job 7:4, 5, 14; 17:1; 19:17–20; 30:17–19, 30). Some have assumed that Job’s boils were the purulent skin tumors commonly known today. Others have thought that Job was afflicted with elephantiasis. This disease takes its name from the appearance of the affected parts, which are covered with a knotty and fissured bark like the hide of an elephant.
It is dangerous, precarious to try to diagnose the disease of a man who lived 3,500 years ago, when our only information consists of a few nontechnical observations recorded in a book that is largely poetic.
In the first place, it cannot safely be assumed that all the diseases of today are identical with those of Job’s day.
Second, the symptoms are too vague to warrant a conclusion. Third, it is not even certain that Satan’s affliction of Job followed the plan of any then-known or now-known disease. It is sufficient to see Job as a great sufferer without trying to diagnose his specific ailment. Job 2:8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
A potsherd. A piece of broken pottery, evidently used to relieve the violent itching, and perhaps to remove the discharge and crust from the eruptions.
Sat down among the ashes. A customary symbol of grief (see Isa. 58:5; Jer. 6:26; Jonah 3:6).
Job 2:9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
His wife. The Targum gives her name as Dinah, from which some have concluded that Job was the son-in-law of Jacob. This is, of course, only tradition
Integrity. See on ch. 2:3.
Curse God. Job’s wife tries to persuade Job to do what Satan wanted him to do. She says in effect, “What good is your virtue doing you? You might as well curse God and take the consequences.” The LXX greatly enlarges the speech of Job’s wife: “And when much time had passed, his wife said to him, How long wilt thou hold out, saying, Behold, I wait yet a little while, expecting the hope of my deliverance? for, behold, thy memorial is abolished from the earth, even thy sons and daughters, the pangs and pains of my womb which I bore in vain with sorrows; and thou thyself sites down to spend the nights in the open air among the corruption of worms, and I am a wanderer and a servant from place to place and house to house, waiting for the setting of the sun, that I may rest from my labours and my pangs which now beset me: but say some word against the Lord, and die.” The origin of the above statement is uncertain. It is not in any Hebrew manuscript now extant, and there are reasons for doubting whether it was in the earliest manuscripts of the LXX. Job 2:10 He 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.
Foolish. Heb. nebalah. Not weakness of reason but religious and moral insensibility. Receive evil. Here, again, is the complete resignation previously expressed in ch. 1:21. Job’s question may be paraphrased as follows: “Should we receive all God’s benefits as a matter of course and then complain when He sends affliction?”
Job’s Three Friends
Job 2:11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, 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.
Eliphaz the Temanite. See on ch. 1:1. One of Esau’s sons was named Eliphaz. He, in turn, had a son named Teman (Gen. 36:11). Teman is named as a geographical location connected with Edom in Jer. 49:7; Eze. 25:13; Amos 1:11, 12; Obadiah 8, 9.
There seems to be no definite information as to what part of Edom was the home of the Temanites.
Bildad the Shuhite. Commentators have connected Bildad with Shuah, the brother of Midian (Gen. 25:2), whose descendants were believed to have lived somewhere in the Edomite area. However, the inscriptions now point to Shûkhu on the middle Euphrates as the likely origin of Bildad.
Zophar the Naamathite. The name Zophar is otherwise unknown. There was a town of Naamah in southwest Judah (Joshua 15:41) to which Zophar may have belonged.
Made an appointment. The circumstances here mentioned suggest the lapse of considerable time since the calamities had overtaken Job. It would take time for word of his plight to reach these three friends. Then there had to be further time for the three men to communicate with one another and make their appointment. After that they had to travel to Job’s home in the land of Uz. This passage of time helps to explain Job’s change of attitude from the calm resignation of ch. 2:10 to the deep discouragement of ch. 3.
The initial blows of tragedy appeared not to be as damaging to Job’s morale as were the weeks of constant suffering of body and distress of mind that followed.
To sympathise. Literally, “to shake the head as an expression of pity,” “to make gestures of grief.” Sometimes translated “to bemoan” (Job 42:11; Jer. 15:5; Jer. 16:5; etc.).
To comfort. Heb. nacham, related to a cognate Arabic root meaning “to breathe heavily.” Job 2:12 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.
Job was so marred by his affliction that he was not recognizable. His friends could not control their emotions when they saw his condition. They not only wept, which is the natural reaction to sorrow; they also observed expressions of grief customary in the East—tearing their robes and sprinkling dust or ashes on their heads (see Joshua 7:6; 1 Sam. 4:12
Job 2:13 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.
No one said a word. Some have observed that among the Jews and among Orientals generally it was a matter of decorum, dictated by a fine and true feeling, not to speak to a person in deep affliction until he gave an intimation of a desire to be comforted.
If so, then as long as Job kept silence, his friends would refrain from conversation
him. They were free to discuss matters between themselves or with the servants who attended Job.
Suffering. Literally, “pain,” either physical or mental. Here probably both.