Job 2

Job’s trial deepens. Satan is allowed to strike Job’s own body, though not take his life, and Job’s wife urges him to give up. Job holds firm, and three friends arrive to sit with him in silence.

Job 2:1

Another heavenly gathering takes place. The sons of God stand before the LORD to report, and Satan comes among them. Job’s story reminds us that unseen things happen behind earthly events, and that Satan appears only as someone who must answer to God.

BSA: present (“stand, station”): They take their positions like servants reporting for duty before their King.

See also: Job 1:6.

Job 2:2

God asks Satan where he has been. The question is not because God lacks knowledge; it calls Satan to account. Satan’s reply is the same as before: he has been going to and fro over the earth, restless and watching.

BSA: roaming (“going to and fro, traveling”): It pictures ceaseless, restless movement, as of one looking for opportunity.

See also: 1 Peter 5:8.

Job 2:3

God points to Job’s steadfastness. Job has kept his integrity even after losing everything. God says that Satan stirred Him up against Job without cause. Job’s suffering was not a punishment for hidden sin, which is a truth his friends will miss.

BSA: integrity (“moral purity, innocence”): Job’s wholeness of character stayed intact through the loss of everything. cause (“for no reason, in vain”): Job’s suffering was not payment for any wrongdoing.

Hebrew: תֻּמָּה (tummāh, H8538) — “wholeness, completeness, integrity.” The word speaks of a life that is whole and undivided, not mixed with pretense. God says Job still holds it.

Job 2:4

Satan answers with a proverb-like saying, “Skin for skin.” He claims that people will gladly lose possessions, even children, to save their own life. He suggests Job’s loss so far has not touched what he cares about most: himself.

BSA: Skin (“human or animal hide”): It is a trading saying, as if one hide were bartered for another.

Job 2:5

Satan now asks for an attack on Job’s body. He is sure that pain will break Job’s faith and make him curse God openly. His charge is that Job’s godliness is only a fair-weather loyalty.

BSA: curse (“renounce, blaspheme”): The Hebrew word literally means to bless, here used as a softened word for the opposite, to renounce God.

Job 2:6

God permits the test, but with a firm limit: Job’s life must be spared. Satan has no power of his own. He can act only as far as God allows. That boundary is a comfort to every sufferer.

BSA: spare (“keep, protect”): God sets a protective fence around Job’s life even while he is tested.

See also: 1 Corinthians 10:13.

Job 2:7

Satan leaves God’s presence and strikes Job with painful sores covering him from head to foot. The attack is complete and humiliating. Job goes from wealth and family to bodily misery.

BSA: boils (“sore, inflamed spots”): Inflamed, festering sores that would itch and burn without relief.

Job 2:8

Job sits in the ashes and scrapes his sores with a piece of broken pottery. He has no medicine, no comfort, and no dignity. The ash heap was a place of mourning and of the outcast, and Job takes his seat among the discarded things.

BSA: ashes (“worthless remains, dust”): Ashes were a sign of grief, and Job sits among what is left over after burning.

Job 2:9

Job’s wife, who has also lost her children, speaks from deep grief. She sees no point in his continued faith and urges him to curse God and die. Her words are the voice of despair, and they repeat Satan’s own wager.

BSA: integrity (“moral purity, uprightness, innocence”): She echoes God’s own word about Job, but now uses it with scorn.

Job 2:10

Job gently but firmly refuses. He calls her words foolish, meaning without the sense of God. Good and hard things both come under God’s rule, and Job will not trust God only when life is pleasant. The writer adds that Job did not sin with his lips.

BSA: adversity (“evil, affliction”): It is the same word as evil, here meaning hardship or calamity that comes within God’s rule. sin (“miss the mark, go wrong”): Job’s words did not wander away from the truth about God.

See also: James 5:11.

Job 2:11

Three friends hear the news and come together to sympathize with Job. Their purpose is good: to share his grief and bring comfort. They come from different places, which shows how far Job’s trouble was known.

BSA: sympathize (“to wander, showing grief or sympathy”): The word suggests moving toward someone to share in his sorrow.

See also: Romans 12:15.

Job 2:12

Job is so changed by suffering that they hardly know him. They respond in the ways of that time: loud weeping, torn robes, and dust thrown over their heads. Their grief is real and strong.

BSA: tore (“rent”): Tearing the garment was a public sign of deep sorrow.

Job 2:13

The friends sit with Job on the ground for a week and say nothing. Their silence is their best moment. The later chapters show how much harm their words do, and how much good their quiet presence had done.

BSA: intense (“very great, exceedingly”): His pain was so great that words seemed useless.

See also: Job 16:2.