Job 2:1-8

6. The second trialbodily suffering (Job 2:1-8)

TEXT 2:1-8

2 Again it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, that Satan came also among them to present himself before Jehovah. (2) And Jehovah said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answereth Jehovah, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. (3) And Jehovah said onto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and turneth away from evil: and he still holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. (4) And Satan answered Jehovah, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will be give for bis life. (5) But put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce thee to thy face. (6) And Jehovah said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thy hand; only spare his life.

(7) So Satan, went forth from the presence of Jehovah, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. (8) And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself therewith; and he sat among the ashes.

COMMENT 2:1-8

Job 2:1-3Job 2:1-3 a repeat Job 1:6-8 almost verbally. In Job 2:3 b without cause is the very same adverb as appears in Job 1:9 translated as for nothing. It is Satan's cynicism, not Job's integrity, that goes for nothing. Now Satan begins his sustained attack on the individual as against the corporate. Job's ultimate concern is neither things nor family, but his integrity before Yahweh. Strip him of all his values and security symbols and he will still reverence God. The verb translated holds fast literally means to hold firmly or tenaciously to something. One may also hold firmly to anger (Micah 7:18; or to deceitJeremiah 8:5). In Job 27:6 we are told that he holds firmly to his innocence. The verb translated movedst or incited me against him generally is used in a negative senseJob 36:18; Deuteronomy 13:7; Joshua 15:18. Yahweh even gives Satan his due for instigating the experiment.

Job 2:4The proverbial saying skin after skin is meaningful only because of the following phraseall that a man has he will give for his life. Then the Lord gives Satan permission to get under Job's skin, anything short of his death. The Hebrew word translated his life (napso) means himself as a person.[38] Satan does not want Job dead because then he could never prove that Job's piety rested in self-interest. A martyr for a cause is hardly an appropriate example of radical self-interest.

[38] See the indispensable comparative study of Hebrew psychological terms used metaphorically in Edouard Dhorme, L-'Emploi metaphorique des noms de parties du corps en hebreu et in akkadian (Paris, 1923).

Job 2:5God has permitted Satan to only lightly touch Job, i.e., externally and superficially. Now, from skin to skin into the depths of Job's beingflesh and bone. Surely now Job will revolt against Yahweh when He afflicts his bones and flesh. Such is Satan's shrewd strategy. But stripped of honor and health, Job still fears God.

Job 2:7Job is afflicted with some unnamed but disfiguring disease which causes continual pain and sleeplessness. The first disease has been identified with leprosy, because the ancients considered elephantiasis as a disease peculiar to Egypt.[39] The Hebrew word means -to be inflamed, hot-' Thus the disease which afflicts Job is an inflammation of the skin which causes sores and boils. We do not seek to minimize Job's agony and alienation, but it seems idle to seek a precise identification of his disease. The symptoms of his despicable disease are presented throughout the Jobian drama: (1) inflamed eruptionsJob 2:7; (2) intolerable itchingJob 2:8; (3) disfigured appearanceJob 2:12; (4) maggots in his ulcersJob 7:5; (5) terrifying dreamsJob 7:14; (6) running tears which blind his eyesJob 16:16; (7) fetid breathJob 19:17; (8) emaciated bodyJob 19:20; (9) erosion of the bonesJob 30:17; (10) blackening and peeling off of his skinJob 30:30.[40]

[39] Pliny, Natural History, XXVI, 7ff; and Lucretius, VI, 1105ff.

[40] A document from the Dead Sea Scrolls, The Prayer of Nabonidus reveals that he is afflicted with the same disease as is Job. See R. Meyer, Das Gebet des Nabonid, 1962, p. 16, A 2f.

Job 2:8Because of the intolerable itching, Job takes a broken piece of pottery to scrape himself. How much Lord? He sat among the ashes. This describes the dunghill (mazbaleh) outside of town. Here the rubbish was thrown. Children, outcasts, and dogs came here. When tragedy came, men came here to sit (Isaiah 47:1; Jonah 3:6), or roll in the ashes (Jeremiah 6:26; Micah 1:10); or to throw ashes on their heads (Ezekiel 27:30).[41]

[41] See Dhorme, Job, p. 19 for description.