Job 1:6 - Meaning and Application

Job was not only rich and important, but also wise and good. He had such favor both in heaven and on earth that his prosperity seemed as secure as a mountain. Yet here a dark cloud gathers over him, full of a terrible storm. We should never think we are safe from trouble while we live in this world.

Before we hear how Job’s troubles struck him in the visible world, we are told how they were planned in the spiritual world. The devil, filled with hate toward Job because of his deep devotion to God, asked for and received permission to afflict him. This does not weaken the truth of Job’s story if we understand this conversation between God and Satan as a parable, like Micaiah’s vision in (1 Kings 22:19), or as an allegory that shows the devil’s hatred for godly people and the limits God places on that hatred. At the same time, it teaches that the events of this earth are much affected by the counsels of the unseen world. That world is hidden from us, but we are fully exposed to it.

Here, then, we see Satan among the sons of God (Job 1:6). Satan means “adversary,” one who opposes God, people, and everything good. He forced his way into an assembly of the sons of God that came to present themselves before the Lord. This may mean either a meeting of the saints on earth or a meeting of the angels in heaven.

If it was a meeting of saints on earth, then believers in the patriarchal age were called sons of God (Gen 6:2), and they had set times for worship. The King came in to see his guests, and God’s eye was on everyone there. But even in paradise there was a serpent, and among the sons of God there was a Satan. When God’s people gather, Satan is there to distract and trouble them, standing at their right hand to oppose them. “The Lord rebuke you, Satan.”

Or it may mean a meeting of the angels in heaven. They are called the sons of God (Job 38:7). They came to report on their work on earth and to receive new orders. Satan was one of them at first, but he fell from that high place. He will no longer stand in that company, yet here he is pictured as coming among them, either because he was summoned as a criminal or because he was allowed in for the time being, though he did not belong there.

Next comes his examination, when God asks how he came there (Job 1:7). The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” God knew very well where he came from and why he came. The good angels came to do good, but Satan came to ask permission to do harm. Still, God called him to account to show that he was under control.

God asked, first, in wonder, what had brought him there. How does Satan appear among the sons of God? Yes, he disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:13, 2 Corinthians 11:14) and wants to look like one of them. A person may be a child of the devil and still be found in the gatherings of God’s people in this world. Men may not notice, but the all-seeing God does. “Friend, how did you get in here?”

God may also have asked what Satan had been doing before he came there. The same question may have been put to the others who stood before the Lord: “Where have you come from?” We are accountable to God for every place we visit and every path we take.

Then Satan gives his own account of himself and of the journey he had made. “I have been roaming through the earth,” he says. He could not claim he had been doing any good. He could not give the same sort of report the sons of God could give, for they came from carrying out God’s orders, serving his kingdom, and helping those who will inherit salvation. Nor would he admit he had been doing harm, though that was his true work, turning people away from loyalty to God and deceiving and destroying souls.

By saying he had gone “to and fro” through the earth, he suggests that he had kept within the limits allowed to him and had not crossed beyond them. The dragon is cast down to the earth (Revelation 12:9), but he is not yet shut up in his place of punishment. While we are on this earth, we are within his reach. He moves with such skill, speed, and tireless effort through every corner of the world that no place is safe from his temptations.

Yet his answer may also reveal something of his own character. He may speak proudly, as if he were the prince of this world and the kingdoms of the world were his (Luke 4:6), walking through his own territory. Or he may speak in frustration, as a restless wanderer who can find no peace, like Cain in the land of Nod. Or he may be saying, “I have been hard at work, searching the earth,” looking for an opportunity to do evil. He goes about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. So we must stay sober and alert.

Then God asks Satan about Job (Job 1:8): “Have you considered my servant Job?” It is like asking about a dear friend who lives far away, “You have been there, did you see my friend?” Notice how honorably God speaks of Job. He calls him “my servant.” Good people are God’s servants, and he is pleased to be honored in their service. They are a name and praise to him (Jeremiah 13:11), and a crown of glory (Isaiah 62:3).

“Yonder is my servant Job,” God says. “There is no one like him, among all the princes and rulers of the earth.” One such saint is worth them all. No one is like him in uprightness and serious devotion. Many do well, but he rises above them all. There is not such great faith, not even in Israel. Much later, Christ spoke in a similar way of the centurion and the woman of Canaan, who were both outsiders like Job. The saints glory in God, asking, “Who is like you among the gods?” and God is pleased to glory in them, asking, “Who is like Israel among the peoples?”

So here, there is none like Job on earth, in that condition where people are still imperfect. Those in heaven far outshine him, and even the least in that kingdom is greater than he. But on earth, there is no one like him. In that land, he stands out, and some good people are indeed the honor of their country.

God also presses this good character of Job home to Satan: “Have you set your heart on my servant Job?” He does this to make Satan’s own fall and misery seem even worse. How unlike Job Satan is. The holiness and happiness of the saints are the shame and torment of the devil and of the devil’s children. God also means to answer Satan’s boasting about his influence in this world.

“I have been walking around in it,” he says, “and it is all mine. All people have corrupted their way; they sit still and rest in their sins” (Zac 1:10, Zac 1:11). “No,” says God, “Job is my faithful servant.” Satan may boast, but he will not win.

God said this to stop Satan’s charge before it was even made. It is as if God were saying, “Satan, I know why you have come. You came to accuse Job, but have you thought about him? His proven character shows your lie.” God knows all the evil plans of the devil and his helpers against his servants. Even before we are accused, we already have an advocate, one who speaks for us.

Now comes the devil’s mean attack on Job, in response to God’s praise. He could not deny that Job feared God, so he suggested that Job served God only for profit, and therefore was a hypocrite (Job 1:9): “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Notice how annoyed the devil was to hear Job praised, even by God himself. He is like those who cannot stand to hear anyone praised except themselves, and who resent the honor others receive, like Saul (Sa1 18:5, etc.) and the Pharisees (Mat 21:15).

He also had nothing solid to say against Job. He could not point to anything evil, so he accused Job of selfish motives in doing good. If even half of what Job’s angry friends later said against him had been true (Job 15:4, Job 22:5), Satan surely would have used it here. But since he could not, he tried to poison the truth with suspicion. He did not say Job was a hypocrite. He only asked if he was. That is how slander often works, by raising a question without proof.

It is no surprise when people who are approved by God are unfairly judged by the devil and his servants. If a believer’s life cannot be easily blamed, then hypocrisy is often the charge. The only safe answer is to wait patiently for God’s judgment. We should fear being hypocrites more than anything else, but we do not need to fear being called hypocrites without cause.

The devil also falsely called Job mercenary, meaning that Job served God for pay. It is true that Job did not fear God for nothing. He gained much from it, because godliness really does bring great gain. But it was false to say that Job would not have feared God without those blessings, as the outcome proved. Job’s friends accused him of hypocrisy because he was suffering, while Satan accused him because he was prospering. Those looking for an opening can always find something to say.

It is not greedy to think of the eternal reward that comes with obedience. But it is wrong to use religion for earthly gain, or to make religion serve that purpose. That is spiritual idolatry, worshiping the created thing more than the Creator. It usually ends in ruin. No one can keep serving God and money for long.

Satan then complained about Job’s prosperity (Job 1:10). First, notice what God had done for Job. He had protected him and placed a hedge around him for the safety of Job himself, his family, and all his possessions. God’s special people are under his special care, along with everything that belongs to them. His grace puts a hedge around their spiritual life, and his providence puts a hedge around their natural life, so they are safe and at peace.

God had also made Job prosper, not through laziness or unfairness, which the devil could not charge him with, but through honest work. “You have blessed the work of his hands.” Without God’s blessing, even strong and skilled hands cannot make a work succeed. With his blessing, Job’s wealth greatly increased in the land. It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and even Satan had to admit that.

The devil noticed this blessing and turned it against Job, with clear irritation. “I see you have put a hedge around him, all around,” he says, as if he had walked around it looking for one gap to slip through. But he found none. The evil one saw it and was angry, and he argued that Job served God only because God made him prosper. In effect, he was saying, “No credit to him for staying loyal to a ruler who promotes him, or for serving a master who pays him so well.”

Satan then offered proof, as he claimed it, that Job’s faith was false and selfish, if only God would let him strip Job of his wealth. “Put it to this test,” he says (Job 1:11). “Make him poor, turn against him, strike what he has, and then see what becomes of his religion. Touch his possessions, and you will find out what he really is. If he does not curse you to your face, then I should never be trusted again.”

He speaks lightly of the trouble he wants Job to suffer. “Just touch what he has,” he says, “just begin with him, just threaten to make him poor, and his devotion will change quickly.” He also speaks cruelly about what he expects Job to say. Satan says Job will not merely stop worshiping, but will openly turn against God and curse him to his face.

The word translated “curse” is barac, which usually means “bless.” But cursing God is so wicked that the holy language would not freely use a direct word for it. Yet the meaning is plain where Scripture requires it, as in Kg1 21:10-13, where Naboth is accused of blaspheming God and the king.

Satan probably thought that if Job lost his wealth, he would drop his religion and prove his profession false. If that had happened, he would have seemed to prove his claim to rule all human hearts. God had already declared Job the best man alive. So if Satan could show Job to be a hypocrite, it would look as if God had no true servant on earth at all, and that real faith did not exist anywhere. Then religion would be exposed as a fraud, and Satan would appear to rule mankind in fact. But the Lord knows those who belong to him, and he is never mistaken.

Even if Job stayed faithful, Satan still wanted the pleasure of seeing him suffer deeply. He hates good people and takes delight in their pain, just as God takes pleasure in their prosperity.

Finally, God allowed Satan to afflict Job in order to test Job’s sincerity. Satan asked God to act: “Put forth your hand now.” God allowed it (Job 1:12): “Everything he has is in your hand. Make the test as severe as you can. Do your worst to him.”

It is amazing that God would give Satan permission like this and hand his beloved servant over to the enemy. Job was like God’s turtle-dove, a gentle bird, or like a lamb given to a lion. Yet God allowed it for his own glory, for Job’s honor, for a better understanding of providence, and to encourage suffering believers in every age. He wanted Job’s case to become a clear example, one that could be judged and then used as a helpful pattern for others.

God allowed Job to be tested, just as he allowed Peter to be sifted, but he made sure Peter’s faith would not fail (Luke 22:32). In the end, that testing would prove to be “praise, honor, and glory” for faith that stood firm (1 Peter 1:7). This is the comfort for believers, God keeps the devil on a chain, and even a great chain (Revelation 20:1). Satan could not harm Job until God gave permission, and even then he could go no farther than God allowed: “Only do not touch his person.” The devil’s power is always limited. He cannot lead people into sin except by what they willingly give him, and he cannot afflict them except by what is given him from above.

Satan then left this meeting of the sons of God. Before they broke up, he went out from the presence of the Lord, like Cain going away from God’s presence (Genesis 4:16). He was no longer being held there, as Doeg was kept before Saul, until he had carried out his evil plan (1 Samuel 21:7). He left glad that he had gained permission to harm a good man, and eager to waste no time. He went off at once, not wandering aimlessly through the earth, but moving straight toward poor Job, who was quietly continuing in his duty and knew nothing of what was coming. We do not know what passes between good and evil spirits about us.