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From: Job 1:6-22

Satan’s Challenge

[6] Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves be-
fore the LORD, and Satan also came among them. [7] The LORD said to Satan,
“Whence have you come?” Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on
the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” [8] And the LORD said to Satan,
“Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a
blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” [9] Then
Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for naught? [10] Hast thou not
put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou
hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the
land. [11] But put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse
thee to thy face.” [12] And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in
your power; only upon himself do not put forth your hand.” So Satan went forth
from the presence of the LORD.

Job is stripped of his property

[13] Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drink-
ing wine in their eldest brother’s house; [14] and there came a messenger to
Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them; [15]
and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them, and slew the servants with the
edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.” [16] While he was yet
speaking, there came another, and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and
burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have es-
caped to tell you.” [17] While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said,
“The Chaldeans formed three companies, and made a raid upon the camels and
took them, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have es-
caped to tell you.” [18] While he was yet speaking, there came another, and said,
“Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s
house; [19] and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness, and struck the
four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead;
and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

[20] Then Job arose, and rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell upon the
ground, and worshipped. [21] And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s
womb, and naked shall I return; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD.”

[22] In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

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Commentary:

1:6-12. The protagonists, God and Satan, act very much like human beings —
God like a great lord who summons his ministers to a meeting (v. 6); Satan like
a spy who seems to be stalking a man who fears the Lord, but in fact he is trying
to attack God himself, for he turns traditional teaching about rewards and punish-
ment on its head: it is not true that God blesses a man because he is pious; ra-
ther, man behaves in a pious way because God blesses him (vv. 9-11). Man only
seems to be obedient to God; his actions are really motivated by self-interest.

In this book ‘Satan’ does not yet mean the devil, the fallen angel who tempts man
to do evil (cf. Rev 12:9-11). He is the prosecutor who denounces man to God for
his sins (cf. Zech 3:1). For a fuller comment, see the note on 1 Chron 21:1.

Like Abraham when he was required to sacrifice his first-born son (cf. Gen 22:1-
12), Job does not realize that his faith in and fear of the Lord are being put to the
test. Yet in both cases, Abraham and Job, the initiative lies with God: he will not
allow Abraham to perform the sacrifice, nor will he allow Job to be tested beyond
the limit (v. 12).

“The sons of God” (v. 6), which the Septuagint translates as “the angels of God,”
are those who are subject to his commands.

1:13-22. Satan puts his plan into operation in just one day (v. 13) and Job’s world
crashes down around him. There are four separate calamities, each worse than
the previous one, and in each case there is only one survivor left to tell the tale.
First Job loses his oxen and asses, then his flocks, his camels, his children. All
his property has been taken from him and he has no means of recovering it, and
no children to help him. From being a wealthy, respected man, he has been re-
duced to utter misery. “The fire of God” (v. 16): this has no particular religious
significance; it is just a popular expression for a bolt of lightning.

1:20-22. Job expresses his feelings in actions and words. As we can see else-
where in the Bible (for example, in the case of Joseph, cf. Gen 37:34, and David,
cf. 2 Sam 1:11; 13:31), rending of garments was a sign of profound sorrow. The
words in v. 22 very poetically describe the human condition, its fragility and im-
potence. Job experiences complete deprivation; he is conscious too of the abso-
lute sovereignty of God, who alone has power to give and to take away; and he
fully accepts the will of God. St Gregory the Great draws attention to Job’s good
disposition when he comments that “If all the goods we have at our disposal in
this life have been given to us by him (God), why should we complain if the same
Judge asks for the return of what he has so generously granted to us?” (”Moralia
in lob”, 2,31).

Just before the words “blessed be the name of the Lord” (v. 21), the Septuagint
and the Vulgate add “As it has pleased God, so is it done” — probably a later ad-
dition to draw a general lesson from the particular case of Job.

In Job’s few words in v. 21, God’s own name of “Yhwh” is mentioned three times;
this indicates that the writer has a deep faith in the God of the Covenant and sin-
cere respect for God’s plans.

The first scene ends with Job the clear winner: Satan thought he would curse the
Lord (v. 11), but in fact he openly praises him (v. 21). The sacred writer comes
out on Job’s side when he states that Job committed no sin nor even raised his
voice against God. Satan has been proved wrong.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.