Job 2:1 - Meaning and Application

Satan, the sworn enemy of God and of all good people, is here pressing ahead with his hateful attack on Job. He hated Job because God loved him, and he wanted to drive a wedge between Job and God, stir up trouble between them, and push Job first into suffering and then into blasphemy. One might have thought Satan had already had enough after his first attempt failed so badly. But malice never rests, and the devil, along with those who serve him, is always like that.

Those who slander good people and accuse them falsely keep speaking, even when the evidence against them is plain and their case has already collapsed. Satan wanted Job’s case tried again. This stubborn, unreasonable persistence of the great persecutor of the saints is shown in (Revelation 12:10), where he is described as accusing them before our God day and night. He keeps repeating charges that have already been answered many times, and so he does here with Job day after day.

First, the court is set, and the prosecutor appears, as before, in (Job 2:1, Job 2:2), just as in (Job 1:6, Job 1:7). The angels attend God’s throne, and Satan stands among them. One might have expected him to come in and admit his hatred of Job and his mistake about him, to say, “I have done wrong,” for speaking falsely about someone God had praised, and to ask for forgiveness. But instead, he comes with another plan against Job. God asks him the same question as before, “Where have you come from?” and he gives the same answer, “From roaming the earth.” He speaks as if he had done no harm, though he had been attacking that good man.

Second, the Judge himself speaks in defense of the accused, pleading for him in (Job 2:3): “Have you noticed my servant Job even better than before? Are you now finally convinced that he is a faithful servant of mine, a complete and upright man, since he still holds on to his integrity?” This is added to Job’s character as a fresh proof. Instead of giving up his religion and cursing God, he holds it more firmly than ever, especially now that he has greater reason to cling to it. He is the same in suffering that he was in prosperity, and in some ways even better, more earnest and lively in blessing God than before. He takes deeper root because he has been shaken.

See how Satan is condemned for his claims against Job: “You moved me against him, as an accuser, to destroy him without cause.” Or, “You tried in vain to move me to destroy him, for I will not do that.” Good people, when they are brought low, are not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:9). It is a mercy that neither men nor demons are our judges, because they might destroy us, right or wrong. Our judgment comes from the Lord, whose judgment never goes wrong and is never unfair.

See also how Job is praised for his steadfastness under attack: “Still he holds fast his integrity,” as his weapon, which Satan cannot take from him, and as his treasure, which Satan cannot steal. In fact, Satan’s efforts only make Job hold it more firmly. Instead of losing ground under temptation, he gains ground. God speaks of this with wonder, pleasure, and even a kind of triumph in the power of his own grace: “Still he holds fast his integrity.” So the testing of Job’s faith was found to his praise and honor (1 Peter 1:7). Steadfastness is the crown of true integrity.

Third, the accusation is pushed further in (Job 2:4). What excuse can Satan offer for the failure of his first attempt? What can he say to soften it, when he had been so sure of winning? He says, “Skin for skin. All that a man has he will give for his life.” There is some truth in this. Self-love and self-preservation are powerful forces in human hearts. People love themselves more than their closest relatives, even their children, who are part of themselves. They will not only risk their property, but give it up, to save their lives. Everyone counts life as sweet and precious, and while they are healthy and comfortable, they can bear losses more easily.

We should make a good use of that. While God gives us life, health, and the use of our limbs and senses, we should bear the loss of other comforts with more patience. See (Matthew 6:25). But Satan twists this truth into an accusation against Job. He quietly paints Job as unnatural toward those around him, as if he did not care about the death of his children and servants, or about their bodies being stripped bare, so long as his own skin stayed whole. That would be as if the man who cared so deeply about his children’s souls were careless about their bodies, and as if, like the ostrich, he had hardened himself against his young ones, as though they were not his. Satan also paints him as selfish, caring only for his own comfort and safety, as if his religion had made him sour, rude, and unpleasant. This is how the devil and his agents often misrepresent God’s people and their ways.

Fourth, Satan issues a challenge for a further test of Job’s integrity in (Job 2:5): “Put forth your hand now,” for Satan admits that his own hand is too short to reach Job and too weak to hurt him, “and touch his bone and his flesh,” that is, strike the part most easily felt, make him sick by smiting his body (Micah 6:13), and then, I am sure, he will curse you to your face and let go of his integrity. Satan knew this, and experience shows it too, that nothing is more likely to upset the mind and throw thoughts into confusion than sharp pain and bodily sickness. There is no arguing against what people directly feel. Even Paul had great trouble bearing a thorn in the flesh, and he could not have borne it without special grace from Christ (2 Corinthians 12:7, 2 Corinthians 12:9).

Fifth, permission is given to Satan to make this trial in (Job 2:6). Satan wanted God to put forth his hand and do it, but God does not afflict willingly, and he takes no pleasure in grieving people, much less his own children (Lamentations 3:33). So, if it must be done, let Satan do it, since he delights in such work: “He is in your hand, do your worst with him, but with one restriction, only spare his life, or his soul. Afflict him, but do not kill him.” Satan hunted for that precious life and would have taken it if he could, hoping that dying agony would force Job to curse God. But God had mercy in store for Job after this trial, so Job must survive it. No matter how much he is afflicted, his life must be kept as a spoil saved from the enemy.

If God did not restrain the roaring lion, how quickly would he devour us? As far as God allows the anger of Satan and wicked people to go against his people, he will turn it to his own glory and theirs, and he will hold back what remains (Psalm 76:10). “Save his soul” means, some say, “save his reason.” Preserve his mind, because otherwise the trial would not be fair. If Job were driven into madness and then cursed God, that would not prove anything against his integrity.

This would be the language of Job’s sickness, not of his true heart. In this, Job was a picture of Christ. The first promise about Christ said that Satan would bruise his heel (Genesis 3:15), and Satan was defeated there, just as he was in Job’s case.

Satan also tried to shake Christ’s faith and sonship, saying, “If you are the Son of God” (Matthew 4:6). He entered Judas, who betrayed Christ, and some think he also stirred Christ’s deep distress in the garden. Satan was allowed to strike Christ’s body, but not take his life, because Christ was going to do what Job could not do, destroy the one who had the power of death, that is, the devil.