Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan came also among them to present himself before Yahweh. 2 And Yahweh said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered Yahweh and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” 3 Then Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” 4 So Satan answered Yahweh and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” 6 And Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh , and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job was unmoved at loss of family and servants and estate. His faith remained intact. “‘Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan came also among them to present himself before Yahweh.’ (1) - How long this was after the former trial, we know not: probably one whole year, when, as the Targum intimates, it was the time of the annual atonement; which, if so, must have been at least one whole year after the former.” (Adam Clarke) Between scenes Satan is represented as still having liberty upon the earth to roam (2) while “Job,” says the Advocate, still “holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.’ (3) Or, ‘in vain,’ as this word is used, Proverbs 1:17 Ezekiel 6:10, and elsewhere.” (Poole) His desert is eternal life and it shall be his portion. “Thou wishedst me to permit thee to destroy a man whose sins have not called for so heavy a judgment. .” (Adam Clarke) “How well is it for us that neither men nor devils are to be our judges, for perhaps they would destroy us, right or wrong but our judgment proceeds from the Lord, whose judgment never errs nor is biassed.” (Matthew Henry) Satan answered, “‘Skin for skin!’ Job is selfish, contented with the losses. “He is well pleased, that thou wilt accept of these”— the lives of his children— “a ransom in his stead.” Satan complains that “it is not true patience which makes him seem to bear his crosses so submissively, but policy, that he may appease thy wrath against him, and prevent those farther plagues… upon his own carcase.” (John Wesley)— “’Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.(3) But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh,’ (4) that is, his body, which consisted of flesh and bones.” (John Gill)— ‘and he will surely curse You to Your face!’ (5) It shows Satan’s knowledge of human nature.” (A. Gaebelein) “Pinch him to the quick, that not his flesh only may feel it, but the marrow also in his bones, Psalms 6:2; 32:3; 51:8. The bone and flesh are the chief materials of man’s body, which is fitly compared to a fabric.” (Trapp) “And Yahweh said to Satan, ‘Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.’ (6) Heb. his soul; put oft for the life.” (John Trapp) “The didactic purposes for which God was allowing his faithful servant to be tried in the furnace of affliction would have been frustrated by Job's removal from the earth. Individually he might equally well have been compensated in another world; but then the lesson of his example to living men, and the lesson of his story to all future generations of mankind, would have been lost.“ (The Pulpit Commentaries)—> “‘So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh , and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.’ (7) This sore was most vehement, with which God also plagued the Egyptians, (Exodus 9:9) and threatened to punish rebellious people, (Deuteronomy 28:27) so that this temptation was most grievous: for if Job had measured God's favour by the vehemency of his disease, he might have thought that God had cast him off.” (Geneva Study Bible) But Job knew his deserts and hoped that perhaps Yahweh would relent of His judgment. “The disease was very grievous. If at any time we are tried with sore and grievous distempers, let us not think ourselves dealt with otherwise than as God sometimes deals with the best of his saints and servants.” (Matthew Henry) — “‘And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes,’ (8) Or dust, as repenting in dust and ashes, Job 42:6. So Jonah 3:6, Matthew 11:23.” (John Trapp)— “which Job did to humble himself under the mighty hand of God upon him.” (John Gill) “Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!’ (9) That is exactly what Satan had spoken in God’s presence, that Job would do this very thing.” (Arno Gaebelein) — not suicide but apostasy. “For death was appointed to the blasphemer.” (Geneva Study Bible) “But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women speaks.’ Job did not call her a foolish woman, but rightly said she was speaking as one.” (L. M. Grant) “It is not like thee to say such things as these.” (Expositor's Bible Commentary)— “‘Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?’ (10a) Shall we, guilty, polluted, worthless creatures, receive so many unmerited blessings from a just and holy God, and shall we refuse to accept the punishment of our sins, when we suffer so much less than we deserve? Let murmuring, as well as boasting, be for ever done away.” (Matthew Henry) “‘In all this Job did not sin with his lips.’ (10b) He trusted in the coming of the One to die in his place. “Satan’s defeat is complete. His mouth is stopped [in the case of Job’s integrity]. If he appears again before Jehovah he must stand in silence.” Arno Gaebelein) But, my friend, what of your case? What is your special difficulty? “Is it a home difficulty?.. Is it a business difficulty?... Whatever our difficulties or sorrows, a great battle is being fought out in our lives; let us fight it sedulously, daily, constantly, lovingly. We have heard of the patience of Job: may the memory of that patience encourage us to toil on, suffer on; under the consciousness that on the third day, in our degree, we [too] shall be perfected...” (Joseph Parker) if we trust and faint not. For we have such an Advocate before the Father— the Lord Jesus Christ- the Righteous, a mercy seat for sin. “I would have the Reader, before he enters further in this Chapter, turn again to the passage referred to in the former Chapter. Zechariah 3:1-5— ‘Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.’ etc. It forms the highest relief to the mind, the recollection of this precious office of our adorable Lord, amidst the unknown accusations of our spiritual foe, which may daily be going on against the redeemed of the Lord! John 2:1.— ‘On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.’” (Robert Hawker) The last word belongs to God. Yet the accuser is still roaming upon the earth. Look to "the day when Satan’s defeat is complete, when he will be completely bruised under the feet of God’s people.” (Arno Gaebelein)
Job 2:11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him. 12 And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. 13 So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great. “‘It is well to go to the house of mourning’ But few are they who know how to conduct themselves when there.” (Pulpit Commentaries) “The house of mourning will be frequented by the wise and gracious, both in charity to support others, and as a school to learn themselves.” (Thomas Coke) These particularly were true believers— professors of religion, being probably of the posterity of Abraham. “Eliphaz descended from Teman, the grandson of Esau, Genesis 36:11. Bildad probably from Shuah, Abraham's son by Keturah, Genesis 25:2. Zophar is thought to be same with Zepho, (Gen 36:11.) a descendant from Esau.” (John Wesley) Thus, they were not considered the children of the promise. “Esau lost the birthright… yet it appears many of his descendants inherited some of the best blessings.” (Joseph Benson)— “‘For they’ were friends of this righteous man and “‘had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him.’ (11) “To show the appropriate sympathy of friends in a time of special calamity.” (Albert Barnes) “To their credit they do not turn away from their repulsive friend as others have done." (David McKenna) “It is a profitable service to visit gracious souls in their affliction, especially if we pray the Lord Jesus to go with us, and be of the party. Better to go. (saith Solomon) to the house of mourning than the house of feasting. Ecclesiastes 7:2.” (Robert Hawker) “‘And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept;’— a burst of tears and cries terrified their deep affliction.” (Coke) This was the only sound of their voices for they otherwise remained silent for a period of mourning, not that it then ceased.— “‘and each one tore his robe’ his robe of state, such as men of great honour used to wear, Stolam regiam. royal garment...” (Trapp)— “‘and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven.’ (12) They “cast it up into the air, so as it should fall upon their heads, as they did Acts 22:23. See Joshua 6:6 Nehemiah 9:1 Lamentations 2:10.” (Matthew Poole) They considered “themselves and all mortals were but dust, Genesis 18:27, a little dirt neatly made up, and to dust they should return, Genesis 3:19, little deserving in the mean while to tread upon the earth, or to be above ground, Joshua 7:6. See Job 1:16.” (John Trapp) “‘So they sat down with him upon the ground’— in the posture of abased, mortal men — “‘seven days and seven nights.’— “the usual time of mourning for the dead and therefore proper both for Job’s children, who were dead, and for Job himself, who was in a manner dead whilst he lived.” (Matthew Poole) “I venture to suppose that this seventh day here spoken of, in which it should seem an interruption was given to the long silence, was in respect to the sabbath day, which those three men no doubt reverenced, as they sprung from stock which could not be ignorant of the sabbath.” (Robert Hawker) “The Israelites mourned for Jacob seven days, Genesis 50:10. And the men of Jabesh mourned so long for the death of Saul, 1 Samuel 31:13; 1 Chronicles 10:12. And Ezekiel sat on the ground with the captives at Chebar, and mourned with and for them seven days. Ezekiel 3:15. The wise son of Sirach says, ‘Seven days do men mourn for him that is dead;’ Sirach 22:12. So calamitous was the state of Job, that they considered him as a dead man: and went through the prescribed period of mourning for him.” (Adam Clarke)— “‘and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.’(13b) “Thus we find the Prophet Ezekiel 3:15, sitting with his brethren of the captivity by the river Chebar, for seven days, astonished, silent among them, as the Chaldee renders it; struck dumb, as it were, at the apprehension of their present miseries, and the still greater calamities coming on his country.” (Dr. C. H. Dodd) It is only on the prophetic seven day, when Jesus comes again, that our mourning will cease. “They knew not well what comfort to administer, and were fearful lest they should add grief to grief.” (John Gill)” If we cannot restore the dead to life, or give ease in pain, we may lend an attentive ear, while the afflicted ease their hearts of grief; for grief, like streams of water, seems diminished by being divided.’ (Joseph Sutcliffe) “Some have noted that they were actually better comforters when they remained silent.” (Mark Dunagan) “It would have been good for their reputation if they had gone home at the end of the week.” (Pulpit Commentaries) “In overwhelming sorrows, true friendship almost invariably demonstrates itself more perfectly by silence than by speech." (G. Campbell Morgan) “Explanations never heal a broken heart." (Warren Wiersbe) “And if the example of Job's friends is not enough to lead us to pity the afflicted, let us seek the mind that was in Christ.” (Matthew Henry) “But while their lips did not speak their minds were deeply engaged with the problem which ere long they would take up in controversy with the afflicted one.” (Arno Gaebelein)— “they chose to be prosecuting attorneys instead of witnesses.” (Warren Wiersbe)