Job 2

1 On another day the angels[a] came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him.
2 And the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
3 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life.
5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
6 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish[b] woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.
12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads.
13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

Job 2 Commentary

Chapter 2

Satan obtains leave to try Job. (1-6) Job's sufferings. (7-10) His friends come to comfort him. (11-13)

1-6. How well is it for us, that neither men nor devils are to be our judges! but all our judgment comes from the Lord, who never errs. Job holds fast his integrity still, as his weapon. God speaks with pleasure of the power of his own grace. Self-love and self-preservation are powerful in the hearts of men. But Satan accuses Job, representing him as wholly selfish, and minding nothing but his own ease and safety. Thus are the ways and people of God often falsely blamed by the devil and his agents. Permission is granted to Satan to make trial, but with a limit. If God did not chain up the roaring lion, how soon would he devour us! Job, thus slandered by Satan, was a type of Christ, the first prophecy of whom was, that Satan should bruise his heel, and be foiled.

Verses 7-10 The devil tempts his own children, and draws them to sin, and afterwards torments, when he has brought them to ruin; but this child of God he tormented with affliction, and then tempted to make a bad use of his affliction. He provoked Job to curse God. 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. Job humbled himself under the mighty hand of God, and brought his mind to his condition. His wife was spared to him, to be a troubler and tempter to him. Satan still endeavours to draw men from God, as he did our first parents, by suggesting hard thoughts of Him, than which nothing is more false. But Job resisted and overcame the temptation. 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. Thus far Job stood the trial, and appeared brightest in the furnace of affliction. There might be risings of corruption in his heart, but grace had the upper hand.

Verses 11-13 The friends of Job seem noted for their rank, as well as for wisdom and piety. Much of the comfort of this life lies in friendship with the prudent and virtuous. Coming to mourn with him, they vented grief which they really felt. Coming to comfort him, they sat down with him. It would appear that they suspected his unexampled troubles were judgments for some crimes, which he had vailed under his professions of godliness. Many look upon it only as a compliment to visit their friends in sorrow; we must look life. 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.

Cross References 28

  • 1. "fn" Genesis 6:2
  • 2. S Job 1:6
  • 3. S Genesis 3:1
  • 4. S Exodus 20:20; S Job 1:1,8
  • 5. Job 6:29; Job 13:18; Job 27:6; Job 31:6; Job 32:1; Job 40:8
  • 6. Job 9:17; Psalms 44:17
  • 7. S Job 1:10
  • 8. Job 16:8; Job 19:20; Job 33:21; Psalms 102:5; Lamentations 4:8
  • 9. S Exodus 20:7; S Job 1:11
  • 10. 2 Corinthians 12:7
  • 11. S Job 1:12
  • 12. S Deuteronomy 28:35; Job 7:5; S Job 16:16
  • 13. Genesis 18:27; Esther 4:3; Job 16:15; Job 19:9; Job 30:19; Job 42:6; Psalms 7:5; Isaiah 58:5; Isaiah 61:3; Jeremiah 6:26; Lamentations 3:29; Ezekiel 26:16; Ezekiel 27:30; Jnh 3:5-8,6; Matthew 11:21
  • 14. Job 6:29; Job 13:15; Job 27:5; Job 33:9; Job 35:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:8
  • 15. S Exodus 20:7; S 2 Kings 6:33
  • 16. S Job 1:21; S Ecclesiastes 2:24; Lamentations 3:38
  • 17. S Job 1:22; S Job 6:24; Psalms 39:1; James 1:12; James 5:11
  • 18. S Genesis 36:11; Jeremiah 49:7
  • 19. S Genesis 25:2
  • 20. Job 11:1; Job 20:1
  • 21. S Genesis 37:35; S Job 6:10; John 11:19; Job 42:11; Romans 12:15
  • 22. Job 17:7; Isaiah 52:14
  • 23. S 2 Samuel 15:23
  • 24. S Genesis 37:29; S Mark 14:63
  • 25. S Joshua 7:6; S 2 Samuel 1:2; Nehemiah 9:1; Lamentations 2:10; Ezekiel 27:30
  • 26. Isaiah 3:26; Isaiah 47:1; Jeremiah 48:18; Lamentations 2:10; Ezekiel 26:16; John 3:6; Haggai 2:22
  • 27. S Genesis 50:10; Ezekiel 3:15
  • 28. Proverbs 17:28; Isaiah 23:2; Isaiah 47:5

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Hebrew "the sons of God"
  • [b]. The Hebrew word rendered "foolish" denotes moral deficiency.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 2

This chapter gives an account of a second trial of Job's constancy and integrity, the time and occasion of it, Job 2:1-3; the motion made for it by Satan, which being granted, he smote him from head to foot with sore boils, which he endured very patiently, Job 2:4-8; during which sad affliction he is urged by his wife to give up his integrity, which he bravely resisted, Job 2:9,10; and the chapter is concluded with an account of a visit of three of Job's friends, and of their conduct and behaviour towards him, Job 2:11-13.

Job 2 Commentaries

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