He accuses god of cruel and monstrous behavior, while the friends try to defend god. Which is exactly the role he seems to fulfill in the book of job. Job 1 niv prologue in the land of uz there bible gateway. The complex and delicate nature of the subject matter. Above all, though, what happened to job lets us know that god, our creator and sustainer, is in charge of everything and has a right to do whatever he wishes to do. In the absence of answers, job has been held up as a model of quiet faithfulness.
A theodicy is an attempt to respond to the problem of suffering in a world ruled by an allpowerful, allgood god. Satan appears as a proper being only twice in the whole of the hebrew bible, in the book of job and in the book of zechariah 3. If god does not permit satan to test his theory about the motivation of pious folks like job, then satan can say, you are afraid i might be right. In all this did not job sin is proof enough that satan was wrong and was sorely defeated. The prose narratives date to before the 6th century bce, and the poetry has been dated between the 6th and the 4th century bce. Satan said that job would curse god if he took away everything he had. What role did satan play in the story of job answers. In chapters, satan is allowed by god to attack job. God boasts about job, whom god considers to be an outstanding example of what a religious person should be. Years later, in the book of the revelation, the apostle john wrote about a future day when satan will be kicked out. Satan tells god that job is only virtuous because he is well off. So when the lord asserted that hasatan incited him it may very well have been the other way around. An intertextual reading, 2006 argued that hasatan represented and articulated the alterego of the lord.
The book of job begins with a prologue job 12, which describes a wager between satan and god, in which satan the adversary bets god that joba particularly pious man. God can permit evil things to happen for good ends gen. Despite being near the middle, the story of job is probably the first one written, even before the pentateuch. Stephen cook is a phd candidate in the department of hebrew, biblical and jewish studies at the university of sydney. And there is a reality called satan who challenges god that his man is not as good as he thinks he is.
God talking to satan in the book of job,how did they know. The book of job is one of the wisdom books of the bible. In the book of job, many english translations say that satan was in heaven. The book allows hard issues to emerge because they do in human experience. Actually, it doesnt say literally that job would curse god in the original language. The satan appears in the book of job, a poetic dialogue set within a prose framework, which may have been written around the time of the babylonian captivity.
Satan appears only in the first two chapters to challenge god and then apparently just walks off as the rest of the book focuses on job and his three friends. Satan, after having first attempted, in the guise of a beggar, to get job into his power, but without success, secured from god permission comp. Job 1 nrsv job and his family there was once a bible gateway. It mentions that the names of jobs friends suggest an edomite origin, specifically the. In the text, job is a righteous man favored by yahweh. Its more of a title than anything elselike your honor or the monsieur. In the end, satan loses the bet that job will deny gods goodness and fidelity. And the devil is in the general assembly of the angels and is asked where he has been. Satan is like a roving ambassador who comes to god to give a report on what he has seen and heard. Rather, it begins with a typical day in the divine oval office, and the topic of gods just operation of the cosmos is put on the table.
The accuser satan hopes to set just such a trap for job. One day, satan the adversary appears before god in heaven. The particular angel to play gods hasatan, or accuser was to try to cause the character job to curse god and to denounce his faith in god. There is some dispute as to whether it should be taken as a proper name or a title. Job would, if he knew the plot hatched in heaven against him, consider satan the worst sort of enemy.
As the story of job progresses and his situation deteriorates, the constant refrain of the early chapters is, job did not charge god with wrong 1. Satan contends that no one serves yahweh except for selfish reasons, but yahweh disagrees and presents job, a righteous man who fears god and shuns evil, as an example to counter. He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants. The facts the book of job does not tell us many facts concerning the identity of satan, which is doubtless why it forms such a mystery. The book of job is one of the literary masterpieces of all time, and provides a profound discussion on the suffering of a just man. What happened with the devil, and is satan a title or a. This is meant to show that the terminology is referring to a. This video falls within the boundaries of fair use, as defined in us. Up in the heavens, god brags to the divine assembly about job. It is common to view the narrative frame as the original core of the book, enlarged later by the poetic dialogues and discourses, and sections of the book such as the elihu speeches and the wisdom poem of chapter 28 as late insertions, but recent trends have tended to concentrate on the. This would be what satan would do, if he were in jobs place. The book is often understood as an exploration of the question of theodicy that is, how god can be declared just in the light of innocent suffering. In job, he is one of the sons of god, and hes called hasatan, which translates as the accuser. The book of job is ancient israelite wisdom literature, and its purpose isnt to teach us about how satan and god make bets and leave innocent peoples fates hanging in the balance.
In essence, job is an essay on the problem of evil. Addressing the problem of theodicy the vindication of the justice of god in the light of humanitys suffering it is a rich theological work setting out a variety of perspectives. In this story, some literal translations of the text replace satan correctly as the adversary job verse 2. In the book of job, how was it possible for god and satan to.
Mar 18, 2014 either way, we are not told in the book of job how ha satan got his title but we can read the incredibly hateful things ha satan said concerning job and god. So as far as the book of job is concerned, there was indeed a designated angel whos job it was to accuse or oppose. The new american bible refers to the book of job as a dramatic poem. The big picture of job is that there was a man who was, in one sense, blameless in gods sight. For the rest of the lesson, the role of satan in the book of job is covered. In chapters, god tests jobs faithfulness through allowing satan to attack him. Job 12 new revised standard version nrsv job and his family. Satan takes the bait and raises a question about job s sincerity and motivation for serving god. Once we see this and accept it, the structure of the book becomes clear. Job 1 kjv there was a man in the land of uz, bible gateway.
The hebrew word satan ff means an adversary, one who resists. As part of its attempt to answer the indictment, the book of job introduces one of the great characters of literature satan. Its incredibly complex and obscure hebrew allowing for multiple translations and meanings. There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears god and turns away from evil.
March 18, 2014 commentary the mysterious bible club. Iyov is one of the writings ketuvim of the hebrew bible, and the first poetical book in the christian old testament. In this chapter we will discuss the book of job and. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared god and turned away from evil. In contrast to the tradition that exalts patient job, recent scholars have focused attention on the impatient job who questions divine justice. Allowing the questions is necessary in order to be able to address them. The book of job begins with a description of its titular character, blameless and upright, one who feared god and turned away from evil 1. Satan was arguing that the only reason job was so righteous was because of the way god had blessed him. For that matter, elihu pops out of nowhere, delivers a the reason you suck speech to both job and his three friends, and then just disappears again. The word used in the bible for the devil satan, literally means opposer or resister hebrew. May 23, 20 in fact some suggest that ha satan could simply be translated the prosecuting attorney. Furthermore, there are many creative attributes about god in the book of job especially in chapters 38 and 39 for us to learn about. It is translated as satan eighteen times in the old testament, fourteen of those occurrences being in job 12, the others in 1 chronicles 21. Nevertheless we do glean two things from the passages where satan is mentioned.
The 18th book in the christian bibles established order, and appearing in the ketuvim writings section of the hebrew tanakh. The prologue of the book, telling of satans wager and the subsequent disaster that befell job, has been a scandal to many readers. Human beings are unable to understand why the righteous suffer job 28. The rest of the book includes over thirty chapters of anguished conversation in which jobs three friends. The book of job may be divided into two sections of prose narrative, consisting of a prologue chapters 12 and an epilogue chapter 42. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. The book of job the holy bible complete chapters 1 42. This was to show satan how job loved worshiped god. In christianity and islam, he is usually seen as either a fallen angel or a genie, who used to possess great piety and beauty, but rebelled against god, who nevertheless allows him temporary power over the fallen world and a host of demons. The serpent in the garden of eden doesnt count because. How could satan access heaven in the books of job and the. You must understand who god is and who satan is, what they know, and what their motivation is. Job is a wealthy man living in a land called uz with his large family and extensive flocks.
The book of job challenges the simple equation of suffering with punishment, by telling the story of one righteous mans confrontation with overwhelming misfortune. God told satan, behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him 1. Remember, evil is bad, but it is good to have evil. Satan, also known as the devil, is an entity in the abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehood. The book of job consists of a prose prologue and epilogue narrative framing poetic dialogues and monologues.
Job is not an israelite but is a gentile from the land of uz, perhaps a place in edom. Job is a book that ranks as one of the most difficult books in thetanach bible, for two reasons. The doctrine of satan in job chronological bible teaching. But here are some articles dealing with apocryphal and rabbinic traditions contemporary to jesus. He is blameless and upright, always careful to avoid doing evil 1. Yahweh asks one of them, the satan, where he has been, to which. There are a variety of views on chance to be found in the hebrew bible, or old testament. Clicking on a chapter will show you the text of that chapter of job in the bible new international version. This to me is the overriding teaching of the book of job. These things, however, satan begrudged job, so he destroyed his sheep and camels and herds by fire, or had them taken by marauders.
Jobs encounters with the adversary surface syracuse university. In all this job did not sin with his lips, although the wording of the final phrase with his lips leaves this doorway into the re mainder of the book of job ajar. The hebrew here is hasatan, literally the accuser, with satan being the general word for any accuser or adversary, and this language reflects the early understanding of satan as being not an evil entity existing in diametric opposition to god but rather an agent of god, a kind of heavenly prosecutor known as the accuser. It further refers to job as an oriental chieftain, clearly delineating him as being of jewish descent, in fact, describing uz as being, somewhere in arabia. But the prologue is necessary, first of all, to establish jobs righteousness, to depict the effect of dire misfortune that demolishes the faith of a perfectly blameless man in a just divine order is the author. Satan said he could have job eating out of his hand turn him away from god. Here in the book of job the answer to that question is no. In the book of job, how was it possible for god and satan. The prologue, which consists of the books first two chapters, is believed to have been based on an older folktale in which a wager is made between yahweh and satan. Satan, the thief, has come to kill, steal, and destroy john 10.
Job and his family there was once a man in the land of uz whose name was job. The book of job asks two questions, but it only answers one. Above all, though, what happened to job lets us know that god, our creator and sustainer, is in charge of everything and has a. Satan says to god that if he removes the blessings he has so richly bestowed on job, he will curse you to your face job 1. Like anything in life, the reward for success reflects the amount of effort put. The accuser hebrew, hasatan is not satan, the devil, but an angel whose job it is to identify people disloyal to god. The book of job god did not give satan power biblebro. Aug 23, 2011 job would, if he knew the plot hatched in heaven against him, consider satan the worst sort of enemy.
Job bible book with full chapters new international. Sep 14, 2016 if anything, job s satan is most similar to the satan of the book of zechariah, written in the early second temple period, which may indicate that job was written during the same period the late 6th century bce or the early 5th bce. Over time, our eyes are opened to find this lovely creature is the personification of hatred, evil, and death. Satan can touch flesh and bone but your spirit belongs to god and only you can defile it and cause god to reject it. This is meant to show that the terminology is referring to a being. Through jobs trials, all is lost including his health, his wife even tells him to curse god and commit suicide, but he remains strong and. Most people finish the book feeling unsure they got the point, but convinced theyve experienced something profound. God boasts to satan about jobs goodness, but satan argues that job is only good because god has. Once the re fusal to answer the second question is recognized, the integrity of the book can be preserved. When we see the words ha satan in the book of job, we are actually looking at a title, not a name in the strict sense. Hes blameless and upright, and he has kids, a wife, land, and a bunch of sheep. Job is an honest upright man, blessed with wealth and children, but satan challenges god that job is only devout because of the blessings his life has. Job 12 nrsv job and his family there was once a bible. All of this is to say that the satan in the book of job cannot be entirely identified with the devil or satan in the new testament.
In hebrew, satan actually means the accuser or the prosecutor, and he is referred to as the satan, not just satan. According to orthodox christianity, satan had been cast out of the heavens before the creation of genesis chapter one, but here in job many centuries after the fall, we find satan coming into the presence of god. Similarly, the book of job does not mention reward and punishment in the afterlife. In both of these instances, the term that appears is hasatan, with ha being the definite article the. Adversary, in this context, is a courtroom metaphor and refers to the advocate on the other side of the argument i. Its not a proper name but like many names used in the bible its descriptive. The book starts with god and satan discussing job, a perfect and upright man who feared god and eschewed evil 1.
Job chapters 1 and 2, part of the bibles oldest book, say that satan has access to heaven. Satan has put god in a tough place by his question. If satan can get job to believe he is being punished by god, job may be caught in either of two snares. Then god throws another party for all his sons of god. The 19th book of the old testament, the book of job is possibly the oldest book in the bible, written between 21001800 bc. If satan can get job to believe he is being punished by god, job may be caught in. Apparently, at that time, quite a few jews did believe in samael ha satan, an entity more like the christian satan than like ha satan of the book of job. In the hebrew bible, yhwhs greatest enemies are not fallen angels commanding armies of demons, nor even. The meaning of the book of job is found in gods and satans conversation in heaven. Rather, the reader is invited to ponder the pain and complaining of job job, 19, 2931, the puzzling speeches of god job 3841, and the surprise conclusion of the whole story job 42. The satan of the book of job could not have been the fallen angel of orthodox christianity for the following reasons.
May 20, 2017 the book of job is ancient israelite wisdom literature, and its purpose isnt to teach us about how satan and god make bets and leave innocent peoples fates hanging in the balance. But that ignores the obvious hebrew wording for the sake of christian tradition again, the phrasing is actually the satan. In the book of job, the ha satan of the torah becomes a literary figure in christianity and takes on the role of the accuser. Thus, god allowed satan to take everything away from job. The book of job is an epic poem much like the illyad. Ha satan is the satan, the adversary and the accuser, he is the angel who impregnated eve, collected the soul of lot, known to the hebrews as samael blindness of god, the angel of death.
The book of job is a book in the ketuvim writings section of the hebrew bible tanakh, and the first poetic book in the old testament of the christian bible. Either way, we are not told in the book of job how ha satan got his title but we can read the incredibly hateful things ha satan said concerning job and god. The first question is asked by the accuser the satan. So satan went forth from the presence of the lord and smote job etc. The prose prologue chapters one and two and the epilogue 42. If anything, jobs satan is most similar to the satan of the book of zechariah, written in the early second temple period, which may indicate that job was written during the same period the late 6th century bce or the early 5th bce. Satan, the evil prompter, and the angel of death are all one. Lo and behold, satan comes out and challenges god on jobs goodness. Satan presented himself before god now there was a day when the sons of god came to present themselves. Satan targets job because of his righteousness and favour with god and wishes to turn job against god. Satan only pops up in chapters 1 and 2when things get poetic, hes out of there for good. In job, an exceptionally ancient book, satan is part of the heavenly court.
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