seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Job 1:6 One day the angels[a] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan(b) also came with them. 7 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.”
8 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.”
9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord
a. Job 1:6 Hebrew the sons of God
b. Job 1:6 Hebrew satan means adversary
This is quite a spectacular event. It's a meeting in Heaven. I bet Satan stuck out like a sore thumb.... maybe that's why God saw him and asked "where did you come from". Smart butt answered right back too! That is one big headed angel... that Satan. I bet he sticks out like a peppercorn in salt.
This commentary is from enduringword.com.
When the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD: The phrase sons of God is used in the Old Testament to describe angelic beings (Genesis 6:1-4 and Job 38:7). Among this group of angelic beings, Satan also came among them.
The fact that Satan… came among them shows that Satan is himself an angelic being, and in no way equal to God. We often – to his great delight – inflate Satan’s status and importance, thinking of him as the opposite of God, as if God were light and Satan were darkness; as if God were hot and Satan were cold. Satan wishes he was the opposite of God, but God wants us to know that Satan is a mere creature and is in no way the opposite of God. If Satan has an opposite, it is not God the Father or God the Son; it would be a high-ranking angelic being such as Michael.
The fact that they came to present themselves before the LORD shows that angelic beings – indeed, fallen angelic beings – have access to the presence of God (1 Kings 22:21, Zechariah 3:1), but one day they will be restricted to the earth (Revelation 12:9).
So once Satan [boy I hate to put that capital at the front of his name].... brings up earth..... God mentioned Job. It's as if satan said "I've been to the greenhouse... and God says.... have you seen my new red rose.... it's gorgeous.... and satan says "sure it is.... you water it every day and make sure it's turned to the sun just right".... and God says "I bet".
Now back to enduringword.com.
There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil: This was God’s pronouncement of Job’s character. After these first two chapters of Job, almost everything we know of the man is colored by the perspective of the speaker. Later, when Job talks about himself and his situation, we must take into account that it is Job who speaks; when his friends speak likewise, they speak according to their own knowledge, ignorance, and bias. Only in the first two chapters do we have a truly objective viewpoint about Job. He really was a blameless and upright man, no matter what his friends would later say.
i. We know (and God knew) that Job was not sinlessly perfect; yet God called him blameless. “It means that no matter how horrible his offenses may have been, all the charges against him have been dropped. Absolutely no blame attaches to him, because the very one he offended has exonerated him.” (Mason)
ii. We know that Job was not sinlessly perfect; yet God unashamedly seemed to see him that way. The modern believer stands in the same place, completely justified in Jesus Christ.
iii. “If at any point in the ensuing struggle we are tempted to question the integrity of Job’s faith (as his friends do, relentlessly), it will not really be Job we are questioning, but the Lord.” (Mason)
So now satan questioned God.... "why is Job such a great guy?" Back to the same commentary.Does Job fear God for nothing: Here Satan fulfilled the role described in Revelation 12:10 – the accuser of the brethren. Satan accused Job before God, insisting that Job’s godliness was essentially false, and that Job only served God for what he could get from Him.
Satan’s reply to God first reveals his essential cynicism; he doubts every supposed good as being dishonest and hollow. “Cynicism is the essence of the satanic. The Satan believes nothing to be genuinely good – neither Job in his disinterested piety nor God in His disinterested generosity.” (Andersen)
“If thou wilt be gracious, he will be pious. The exact maxim of a great statesman, Sir Robert Walpole: Every man has his price… No doubt Sir Robert met with many such and the Devil many more. But still God has multitudes that will neither sell their souls, their consciences, nor their country, for any price; who, though God should slay them, will nevertheless trust in him, and be honest men howsoever tempted by the Devil and his vicegerents. So did Job; so have done thousands; so will all do, in whose hearts Christ dwells by faith.” (Clarke)
The accusation against Job was also an accusation against God, for it implied that God had bribed Job into obedience. “‘I myself,’ he seems to say, ‘could be as pious as Job, were I as prosperous as he.’” (Bradley)
Satan’s accusation gave testimony to the fact that God had protected Job (Have You not made a hedge around him) and had also blessed him (You have blessed). Jesus indicated that Satan wanted to do much worse against Peter than God allowed him to do (Luke 22:31-32) because of a similar hedge of protection.
But now, stretch out Your hand: “His language is abrupt; he commands God with imperative verbs: literally, ‘But now, you just extend your hand and damage all his property.’” (Andersen)
Confident in his accusation against Job, Satan insisted to God that Job would surely curse You to Your face if this protection and blessing was withdrawn. Satan believed that adversity could make Job move from his standing in faith; that Job would be unable to stand against the wiles and the deceptions of the devil, as is given to the believer in Ephesians 6:13.
Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person: In response to Satan’s accusation, God gave him great – though limited – permission to attack Job. God would let down the hedge without completely removing it.
Satan had the power and the desire to afflict Job all along; what he lacked was the allowance from God. When God allowed it, Satan was more than happy to attack Job up to the limit of the allowance.
Though Satan was now able to attack Job in a much greater way than before, his power was not unlimited. God only allowed Satan to do what he wanted to do to ultimately serve His purpose.
“But we must know, that God’s end in this large grant was not to gratify the devil, but to glorify himself, by making Satan an instrument of his own shame and infamy.” (Trapp)
Sometimes I wonder.... why is it I have such a love for Christ and others don't. People have called me all kinds of names.... stupid, naive, arrogant, hypocrite, ignorant and dreamer come to mind. I took the name "thumper" as a real compliment. What if it is all just a book.... a lie.... made up to keep us in line? What if it is just all a hoax?
If it's all a lie.... I get the privilege of carrying around my mistakes for the rest of my life and then I get to spend eternity in a jug on a mantle [if the jug doesn't get donated to Goodwill to get rid of it]. But.... while I was carrying around all those mistakes.... the way I'm going..... I truly believe I can carry those mistakes around because someone else is helping me carry the load.... even if it's not true, as the naysayers would lead me to believe..... I think it's true so I'm more capable..... and that in itself is heavenly! Who was it who said.... "I think therefore I am"?
I feel sorry for those who carry around such Cynicism. Not only do they get to carry the burdens of everything that goes bad in their lives.... but their cynicism is packed on top of all that.... and they have no place to put any of it down for a second so they can rub the small of their backs from the burden. To me... those who carry around all this cynicism should give up that stupid lie satan is selling them.... and let God help them carry life's load.... but if they want to be cynical.... well I guess it'll give them something to do when they retire.... wait... they can't retire... they have to carry that load the rest of their life!
