Satan cannot make a move without the permission of god almighty. You have this omnipotent, omniscient god who is being challenged by a mere angel, a being he created. Job 2 gods word translation gw satan challenges the lord again. Read the book of job and you will see that you are falsely accusing gd of killing job s children satan killed them, gd simply withheld his protection of them. 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. The book of job is one of the most misunderstood books in the bible. God, who knows everything, knew that job would not deny him. Nobody is worthy to judge gd except someone who is his equal in knowledge, wisdom and justice, and in questioning him you are trying to put yourselves on a level with him. Can job be a true story or just a good story to illustrate the character of god. Perhaps jobs staunch belief in his redeemer job 19. Obviously the book of job would have existed in the probably original hebrew in multiple versions prior to its being canonized, so what it looks like to me is that the septuagints version of the book of job was translated into greek from a different hebrew source text.
If job was blameless, why did god allow satan to afflict. Why did god allow satan to harm job s health and wealth. Book of job simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. In effect, satan charged god with bribing job for his loyal worship.
In the end, gods wager with satan actually achieved an incredible coup. He bet that job would not deny god when satan oppressed him. And god would often boast about this man, who worshipped him with all his heart. In it, god brags to satan about the devotion of job, an upright and virtuous man. Virtually all readers of the bible love the book of job and somehow derive from it a significant theological message. Im an atheist, so i dont believe in god or the devil, but i think its worth pointing out something with this story. The bet the bibles book of job is one of the most difficult for religious apologists to explain. If you want to call it a bet, god bet on job, not satan. Like everyone with a pulse, i knew the basic outlines. While not reading job, i apparently developed a gross misconception about what it was. Why did god ask satan if he had considered his servant. The word blameless doesnt mean sinless, but rather.
Satan answered the lord, from wandering all over the earth. The book of job god did not give satan power biblebro. It is clearly stated that satan has no power to do anything to job until god agrees that satan can kill job s family. No red skin, no horns, no pointy teeth and tail, and no devilish grin. I just reread the book for the first time in years. In it, satan is a member of gods divine court who walks the earth looking for sin and reports back to god. The book of job in the hebrew bible was crafted to address human suffering and why bad things happen to good people. Study questions on the book of job concordia college. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and check out our resources for adapting to these times. Whoever they were, they had an appointment to present themselves before god. University scholars are at a loss as to when and why the book of job was written. After satan kills job s family in accordance with the power god granted, satan asks god permission to torture job. Job 2 gw satan challenges the lord again bible gateway. The book of job is a very interesting book in the bible.
The story of job basically amounts to a bet made by satan that gods most. William blakes illustrations of the book of job wikipedia. Satan was there and a conversation ensued about job s goodness. Now, there was a righteous hebrew in the land of uz named job. And god reins him in or gives him slack according to gods own sovereign purposes. Satan, the thief, has come to kill, steal, and destroy john 10. From roaming through the earth, he replied, and from walking back and forth in it. The meaning of the book of job is found in gods and satan s conversation in heaven. The book of job ive only read the first 4 chapters so far can teach at least some of us different things. Job rebuked by his friends, an 1805 illustration of the book of job by william blake. Its possible that god sometimes does things to show us things, even if he already knew the outcome he knows all, we dont. The names of his friends are eliphaz, bildad, and zophar. Satan also claimed that job only worshiped god for what he could get out of it and if given the chance, satan could turn away job and by extension all human beings from being faithful to god. I ask this due to the part at the beginning where god and satan basically have a bet.
And if satan is evil, as you think he is, then so is god. The character of satan is featured in the book of job as an accusing angel. An alternate, ironic, answer is suggested by the frame narrative. You must understand who god is and who satan is, what they know, and what their motivation is. Does god need to make a bet with satan in order to prove a point to satan. It also refers to two earlier sets of watercolours by blake on the same subject 1806 and 1821. While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing nearby, 15 the. William blakes illustrations of the book of job primarily refers to a series of twentytwo engraved prints published 1826 by blake illustrating the biblical book of job. Analysis this is a key passage for setting the stage for all that follows. The story of job gods bet with the devil religious forums. God and satan had an interesting interaction, as recorded in the book of job. The jobian god is an amoral, cosmic deity, beyond good and evil, totally unconcerned with the human condition and principles of ethics, morality and justice.
In the book of job, it is quite clear that satan was doing gods bidding, hence a servant of god, not gods opponent. It opens with a prose story about a good and righteous man named job who, through no fault of his own and simply because of gods bet with satan, the angelic prosecuting attorney, is unjustly tormented. But although the job of the story was from the land of uz, and its main character was a kind of jordanian abraham, we cannot help but think of him as the hebrew everyman, grappling with the question of gods fairness. Towards the end of the book, job s friends start to think that.
A casual reading of the verse seems to indicate that they are spiritual in nature, for satan himself is listed among them. Satan challenges god by stating that job will denounce god if afflicted. As the story goes, the sons of god, angels, presented themselves before god. Satan was also not the devil, to the jews, he was simply an angel of god, not the personification of evil that the christians portrayed to satan to be. Satan s first attack 6 one day the sons of god came to present themselves before the lord, and satan also came with them. The hebrew book of job is part of ketuvim writings of the jewish bible. Zeitlin, in contrast, repudiates the message for the following reasons. What does god allow satan to do, and how does god think job will react. The characters in the book of job consist of job, his wife, his three friends bildad, eliphaz, and zophar, a man named elihu, god, and angels one of whom is named satan. In that book, an adversary or tempter asks god whether the prosperous man job would continue to praise god. Why did god make a bet with satan that caused jobs family. William henry green, in his great book, the argument of the book of job unfolded, says of satan. When job s friends heard about the things that happened to him they went to comfort him.
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. Did satan obey god in not killing job because he chose to, or would god have. Job is described as an upright man who follows gods commands, and is blameless in gods eyes. Who really won the bet between god and the devil on jobs. Satan makes the wager that if job were to suffer, he would not be so loyal, pious and faithful. Why are we so preoccupied with the book of job in a book about satan. This is the final time satan is mentioned in the book of job. In the book of job, how was it possible for god and satan. Not much is known about job based on the masoretic text of the jewish bible. So while gods answer to job is basically how dare you question my will when you know so little, mortal man. The book of job, in the old testament, opens with words both majestic and onceuponatimeish.
For one thing, god asked satan, have you considered my servant, job. The biblical family drama stars cast members ernie hudson, vanessa bell calloway, ryan bathe, kennedy mccullough, brandon scott, and arjay smith. Also, god told satan that he could bring various disasters upon job but could not kill him. Hi all, i was reading the book of job, and it kinda troubled me, here we have a guy who loves god, he is gods homeboy so to speak, one of gods favourites, an upright man, god fearing and loving, a perfect example of what the god of the bible requires from his followers. To hell and back, the new and original african american movie that is based on the true story of the bibles job, will make its debut on tv one this easter weekend. Was it unfair for god to allow job to suffer over what was. For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is. Or maybe it had some extra added onto it at one stage. In the apocryphal book of enoch, written in the first century b. Most of the book tells about job and his friends talking. Third of all, if we analyze the language job contains the most difficult hebrew of the tanakh, with more hapax legomena than any other book we find that the frame story of god and the satan was almost certainly added to the text of job long after the creation of the majority of the text. It is not so much a bet as it is a challenge from satan to god. Rather, it begins with a typical day in the divine oval office, and the topic of. Did satan successfully tempt god in the book of job.
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