Job -- The Suffering Prophet (5): Job Loses Everything

Reflections on the Book of Job (5)

Satan Comes to Rob, Steal, and Destroy

Everyone reading this essay has suffered loss. We have all lost something we prize. Some of us have suffered greatly and must live in constant pain, either physical or emotional, and sometimes both. Yet, no one reading this has lost as much as Job. Like a series of Tsunamis, the bad news of Satan’s handiwork begins to come, wave after wave after wave.

As we continue our look at Job, the suffering prophet, we come to verse 13 of chapter one, where we read “one day [probably that day when Job offered burnt offerings] when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, `The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” The Sabeans are Arab Bedouins, who not only took all of Job’s livestock, they killed all of the servants. But this is only the beginning.

According to verse 16, the earth itself seemed to turn against Job. “While he [the first messenger] was still speaking, another messenger came and said, `The fire of God [probably a reference to a lightening storm] fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” A devastating blow. Yet another wave of bad news was still to hit. “While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, `The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!’”

But Job’s loss is still not over. Another, even more painful blow was soon to fall. “While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, `Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

In but the span of a few moments, Job learns that all his wealth has been destroyed and stolen. The joy of his life–his seven sons and three daughters–had been taken from him. Only the messengers have been spared so as to bring Job the news that the accumulated fruit of a lifetime of work is now gone. Marauding enemies and the forces of nature appeared to conspire to bring Job to his knees.

The way in which this horrible loss occurred not only conceals the hand of God, but also the hand of Satan. Remember, Job does not know of the heavenly scene, nor the divine permission given to Satan to afflict him. If Job were an atheist, he would have had an explanation for what has just happened. The world is a cruel place, red in tooth and claw. If Job were a polytheist, a dualist, a materialist, or a fatalist, he would have had a ready explanation for his loss–human weakness, the forces of nature, or the eternal struggle between good (spirit) and evil (things material).[1]

But Job believes in the living God, who is sovereign over the forces of nature as well as the enemies to the east. Job knows that his God is supremely good. Therefore, Job knows that these things have befallen him only because the good and almighty God has either brought these things to pass, or else has permitted these things to occur. And this brings us to the mystery of the suffering of the righteous.

Job Praises God Despite All that Has Happened

The knowledge that God is both good and sovereign serves as the basis for Job’s reaction to this horrible news, as recounted in verses 20-21. “At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head,” a common gesture of grief. Overcome with shock at the realization of his loss, Job “fell to the ground in worship and said: `Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.’” Even as the reader’s heart aches for Job, this grief-stricken man still utters words of faith. As one writer puts it, Job knows “that a man may stand before God stripped of everything, and still lack nothing.”[2] Surely, the sentiment expressed in Psalm 73:25 comes to Job’s mind, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.” And yet Job’s faith does not relieve his suffering, it only makes it worse.[3]

The God whom Job loves has brought this to pass. Job has done nothing to deserve what has happened. And still, Job praises God. As we read in verse 22, “In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” Job knows there is a reason for this situation, even if he must wait to discover it. From his now-broken heart, Job pours forth a doxology of praise at news of the loss of everything.

Yet, Job’s ordeal is far from over. Things are only going to get worse as yet another heavenly scene is revealed.

The Second Heavenly Scene

Satan is once again summoned before the heavenly court but this time is strangely silent about the results of Job’s first ordeal. It is the Lord who calls Satan’s attention to what has happened to Job. As we read in 2:1-3, “On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. And the LORD said to Satan, `Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the LORD, `From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.’ 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.’” Job is clearly innocent, he is blameless and upright, even though his life has been ruined without reason.

The depths of Satan’s cynicism becomes apparent in verse 4. Job praised the Lord, acknowledging that he came into the word naked and he will depart that way as well. Satan sees in this a shrewd attempt by Job to conceal his bitterness and to bargain with God for his health. Satan sees Job’s praise of YHWH in the midst of his terrible loss as a kind of health insurance.[4] If he praises God, God might relent so Job won’t lose anything else. But in verse 4, we read that Satan’s focus shifts to Job’s health and physical well-being. “`Skin for skin!’ Satan replied. This is probably a parody of Job’s lament about being born and dying naked.[5] “`A man will give all he has for his own life. But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.’” Okay, Satan reasons, Job can withstand the loss of his possessions and children, but he will not be able to cope with the loss of his health. Remove Job’s good health, and he’ll curse God.

With the challenge issued and accepted, “God permits the mystery of affliction to engulf his servant.”[6] According to verse 6, “The LORD said to Satan, `Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.’ So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from 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.” While there is great speculation about the precise nature of his illness (boils, elephantitus, or leprosy), it is difficult to diagnose the exact malady which rendered Job so miserable.

We do know that the only relief Job could find was to scrape his skin with pieces of broken pottery. We also know from later references to this disease that it included darkened skin (30:28), rotting and peeling of the skin (30:30) and maggot infested sores (7:5).[7] The very sight of the greatest man of the east reduced to such a pitiful state, shocked everyone. Given the nature of Job’s illness and the fear that he might be contagious, Job was now forced to live in the town trash-heap, which served as both a dump and a dunghill. Job has hit rock bottom.

Mrs. Job (Like Eve) Echoes Satan’s Challenge to Her Husband

In verse 9, we learn why Satan did not take the life of Job’s wife. Mrs. Job reminds us very much of Eve, having given in to the Devil’s temptation and now (even if unwittingly) serving as his instrument of the undoing of her husband.[8] Her advice to her husband is exactly what Satan wants. As reported in verse 9, “His wife said to him, `Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!’” These words echo the hope of Satan that Job would curse God to his face once his health has been taken from him. With these words, Job’s trial becomes most acute–his own wife and the mother of his children, wants him to curse God and die. His own wife thinks Job is hiding some great sin.

Again, we see why Job was the apple of God’s eye and why the Lord pointed him out to the Accuser. Job replied with great restraint to this unwitting foil of the Devil, “`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.” Job does not speak evil of his wife, but only of her behavior. The great paradox is that Mrs. Job lacks wisdom, the very thing God is displaying in infinite measure in the ordeal Job is now facing. If Job has received so many good things from the Lord, he is fully prepared to receive calamity when the Lord sends it. Satan’s hope that Job would curse God has come to nought. A righteousness from God is being revealed. In the struggles and obedience of Job, we are pointed to the man of sorrows, Jesus Christ.

Job Loses His Wealth, His Beloved Children, and His Health . . .

But Not the Imputed Righteousness of Christ

As we look at the story of Job in light of the big picture of redemptive history, the story of Job actually begins when Satan deceived Eve and then enticed her husband, Adam, to eat the forbidden fruit and plunge the entire human race into sin. But as soon as Adam fell into sin, God preached the gospel to Adam, promising to redeem him from his sins through the promised seed of the woman, who would crush the serpent’s head, although the redeemer would himself be bruised in the process. In the ordeal of Job, Satan thinks that he can overturn YHWH’s promise of redemption by exposing God’s plan of redemption as nothing but cosmic bribery. So when God summons Satan and asks him to consider his righteous servant, Job, Satan takes the bait. When Satan afflicts Job, he is attacking God’s promise to save sinners.

But unlike Adam, “the sinner Job stands triumphant, while the righteous Adam fell.”[9] Job’s faith leads him to praise God, even in the midst of trial. His doing so thoroughly confounds Satan’s attack upon the gospel, while at the same time giving proof that God does indeed give a justifying righteousness to sinners, through the perfect obedience of a second Adam yet to come. In Job’s triumph in the midst of this horrible ordeal, we see that is there is a righteousness being revealed which is superior to Adam’s and which can withstand even the greatest of satanic assaults. Satan’s rage cannot overcome the wisdom and justice of God.

Job does not like nor understand what has happened. He is utterly heart-broken and bewildered. His suffering is beyond our comprehension. But Job knows that the same God who gave him all good things, will redeem him, and deliver him from whatever may befall him. Take everything Job has away from him, and he still praises the God who made him and who will redeem him. In this ordeal, we see both the triumph of God’s grace, and learn that we too must be willing to accept the trials God sends along with the good which so richly overflows to us.

In the ordeal of Job, we see the words of Romans 8:28-39, wonderfully fulfilled:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. . . . If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Job has lost everything. He is devastated and grief-stricken beyond words. He has gone from being the greatest man of the east to living on the town dunghill, scratching his skin with pieces of pottery to ease his itchy pain. But despite all of this, nothing can separate him from the love of God, certainly not the scheming of Satan. Despite every appearance to the contrary, Job is more than a conqueror. And so are we, if our trust is in Jesus Christ. For nothing can separate from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Not sickness. Not loss. Not death. God has not promised that we will not suffer. But be has promised that he will turn all evil to good. And this is what we learn from the sufferings of Job, who points us to the suffering and dying of our Savior, that one whose suffering redeems us from our sin, that Savior who knows what human suffering is like, and who promises to restore us and vindicate us in the end.

The next in the series: Job -- The Suffering prophet (6): Job's Counselors Arrive

To read the first in this series: Job: The Suffering Prophet (1)

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[1] Andersen, Job, 86.

[2] Andersen, Job, 88.

[3] Andersen, Job, 89.

[4] Kline, Job, 463.

[5] Kline, Job, 463.

[6] Kline, Job, 463.

[7] See the discussions in: Andersen, Job, 91; and Kline, Job, 463.

[8] Kline, Job, 463.

[9] Kline, Job, 464.