Ep. 56 - Job (Part 1)

So we’re going to take a pause on our story about the Israelites and go to another time and another place…and talk about the story of a man named Job. Now interestingly, no one is quite sure when this story took place, or even who wrote the book of Job.  Some people think that Moses wrote it, and they also think Job maybe lived around the time of Abraham (which makes sense to Papa…but just keep in mind its a guess).  What we do for sure know about Job is that he lived in the land of Uz, which at that time was a big area east of the Jordan River (parts of which later became Edom, Moab, Ammon, and the kingdom of Bashan).  We also know that Job was quite rich.  The Bible talks about, “seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household.” (Job 1:3) (As you kidzos already know…back in those days how rich you were was measured by the number of animals you had.) Job had a wife, a big family (7 sons and 3 daughters), lots of friends, and the Bible says that Job was “the greatest of all the people of the East.” (1:3) But most importantly, Job really loved God and followed Him as best he could…to the point where the Bible says that Job was, “blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” (1:1) So Job had a great life…he was rich, he had a big family, he had lots of friends, and he was a stand-up guy.

Now while Job was busy enjoying his great life, there was something going on far far away that was going to ruin that great life very quickly.  And the Bible carries us off to one of the most interesting scenes in the Bible.  And the Bible says, “there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.” (1:6) So, somewhere there’s a meeting going on between God, the “sons of God”, and Satan.  Now, a lot of people believe a lot of different things about where this meeting takes place, who the “sons of God” are, why is Satan there, and what exactly they are all doing there.  But as far as Papa can tell, the sons of God are either angels or maybe even other beings from other worlds that God has created.  It also kinda seems like this meeting is in heaven.  And if that’s all true, then what is Satan doing at this meeting?  Well, before answering that, I think this might be the first time that the name “Satan” has come up in an actual Bible verse in our stories…so just a quick reminder…Satan is who took control of the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve all those years ago in the Garden of Eden.  Satan is a fallen angel and the enemy of God, he’s the one that wants us to do bad things, and he’s the one we call the devil.  (BTW kidzos Satan’s rebellion and the fight between God and Satan is quite deep and complicated…so one of these days I might do a bonus episode just on Satan…where he came from, what he’s trying to do, and what exactly God and Satan are fighting about.  So keep an eye out for that.)  Now once Satan had tempted Adam and Eve to sin and to go against God, well…Satan became the defacto leader of our world (this is one of those things that is hinted at here and there in the Bible…even Jesus said that Satan was the “prince of this world”).  So, if this meeting in heaven is for all the beings or angels from all the different worlds, then Satan would have been there representing our world…Earth.  Yah…crazy eh?  And this is how the meeting starts. 

Now as this meeting is going on, God starts a conversation with Satan.  And the Bible tells us that God turns to Satan and says, “From where do you come?” (1:7) And Satan answers God, and says, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” (1:7) Now, this might seem like a pretty innocent answer…yah ya know…I’ve just been walking around…stretching my legs…burning some calories.  But something we have to understand about the the fight between God and Satan, is that Satan wants to take the place of God…he wants to be in charge…of everything.  Satan wants God's throne, and he’s trying to convince everyone (all the other angels and anyone else who will listen to him) that Satan can run things better than God can…that everybody would be so much happier if Satan was running things.  So Satan is not just talking about what he’s been up to, he’s basically saying, ‘Yes I’ve been traveling all over MY world…just making sure that MY world is in good shape and that all of MY people are getting along…ya know…because it’s MY world and everyone in MY world follows me.’ And indeed if this story took place during the time of Abraham, well actually most of the people on the earth did worship Satan in one way or the other.  (This is why God called out Abraham to start a nation that would eventually be called Israel.) But of course, God knew that not everything was quite the way that Satan was making it out to be.  And God replied to Satan, and said, “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?” (1:8) Basically, God is saying to Satan, ‘Well, if it really is your world, and everything there there runs so smoothly and everyone there loves you so much, then how do you explain Job?  Job is one of the greatest people in all the East…and Job follows me.’

Now of course Satan knew exactly who Job was and he knew all about Job’s faithfulness to God.  And it really wasn’t a good look for Satan, because if Satan being in charge is so amazing…why was Job being faithful to God?  And if Satan’s way of doing things was so much better than God’s, then why was Job doing so well…why was he “one of the greatest people in all the East”? So Satan, not wanting to lose face, replied to God, and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?  (10)  Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.  (11)  But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” (1:9-11)

So basically what Satan is saying is, ‘Yes I know all about Job.  And the only reason that Job follows You is because You protect him and you give him stuff. Take away his protection and take away his stuff and he'll come running to me just like everybody else.’ This was a really terrible thing for Satan to say.  Because if God kept his blessing and protection on Job, then it would seem to all the other “sons of God” attending the meeting that there was some kind of special arrangement between God and Job…like ya know…you stay faithful to me and I will take care of you.  Kinda like a ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ kinda thing.  But if God took away his blessing and protection, then Satan could attack Job and at the very least knock him off his “greatest man in the East” pedestal.  Which would be one less eyesore for Satan.  So, what was God going to do?  Well, the only thing that He could do.  God replied to Satan, and said, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” (1:12) The only way to prove Satan wrong was to take away His protection and let Satan attack Job.  And with that, Satan rushed out of God’s presence and went back to Earth.  Satan had work to do.

Back on earth, Job, having no idea that any of this was going on, was just going about his great life…when all of a sudden everything started to go crazy!  A messenger ran up Job and gave him some terrible news, and said to him, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,  (15)  when the Sabeans raided them and took them away—indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” (1:14-15) What?  Raiders just randomly came out of nowhere and stole all one thousand oxen and donkeys…and killed all the servants?  This was super bad news…but before the messenger had even finished telling him about it, another messenger came running to Job, and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” (1:16) What? Fire just randomly came out the sky and burned up all seven thousand sheep…and all the servants?  Since when does that happen?  But before the second messenger had finished telling him about that, a third messenger came running up to Job, and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” (1:17) What?  The Chaldeans came all the way from Babylon to take all three thousand of his camels?  Since when do they do that?  But before the third messenger had even finished telling him about it…you guessed it…another messenger ran up to Job.  And this messenger had the worst news of all.  And he said to Job, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,  (19)  and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” (1:18-19)  What?  A random gust of wind came up, hit the house in just the right way, and all of my kids are dead?  All of them?  What in the world was going on?

Job was completely distraught.  In about 5 minutes, he’d gone from being one of the richest men in the world, to one of the poorest.  And of course the loss of all his kids…he didn’t even know what to say.  As was the practice in those days for someone who was super sad…Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head.  He went and and found an ash heap…probably to cry.  And this was moment that Satan, God, and the “sons of God” were waiting for…what would Job do?  Job had faithfully worshipped God for all these years…and now all these bad things had happened to him.  Would Job abandon God?  Was Satan’s accusation right that the only reason Job followed God was because he gave him all his stuff?  Well, the Bible says that in his intense grief and sadness, Job fell to the ground and…worshipped!  Yah that’s right, in the middle of all that was happening to him, in the middle of indescribable hurt, Job worshipped God.  And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” (1:21) Basically Job’s saying that all the things that God gave Job (including even his kids) were God’s to begin with, and if God takes them away…well so be it…that’s up to Him. Either way, Job was going to keep following God.  That was certainly not the reaction that Satan was hoping for!

Not too long after Job’s life had gone crazy, it seems that there was a follow up meeting between God, the “sons of God”, and Satan.  And wouldn’t you know it, God starts another very similar conversation with Satan, and says to him, “From where do you come?” (2:2) And Satan answered, and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” (2:2) And then God said, “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, considering all that had just happened with Job, and how Job had stuck with God despite everything that had happened, God added, “And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” (2:3) So, God is reminding Satan that at the last meeting he’d accused Job of only following God because God was protecting him and giving him stuff.  Well, God wasn’t protecting him anymore and he didn’t have any more stuff…and yet Job still followed God.  What did Satan have to say about that? 

(And just a side note here kidzos…notice that God seems to be saying that God Himself had done all these bad things to Job? “You incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” But did God do anything to Job?  Of course not, Satan did.  But God sometimes talks about things like this because really and truly everything that happens God has allowed to happen.  God might not want it to happen, He might not have anything to do with it, but because God knows the future and God has the power to stop anything He wants, God takes responsibility…even when He doesn’t like what’s happening.  There’s a few other places in the Bible where God talks like this…and so I thought I’d just clear that up.  Okay back to the story.)

So what did Satan have to say about Job remaining faithful to God?  Well, he answered God, 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!” (2:4-5) So what Satan is saying here is, ‘Yes yes yes, Job is still being faithful to you.  But this doesn’t mean anything because Job thinks that his life depends on You.  If You let Job get sick…and let him think that his life is almost over, then Job will definitely stop following You.’ It’s basically the same accusation as last time…the only reason that Job follows God is because there’s some kind of ‘I scratch your back you scratch mine’ deal going on between the two of them.  And again, the only way to prove that this wasn’t the case was to let Satan do his worst.  So, God answered Satan and said, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.” (2:6) God would let Satan do bad things to Job’s body…the only thing that Satan couldn’t do was to take Job’s life.  And, just like last time, Satan rushed back to Earth.  Satan had work to do.

Back on Earth, poor Job is still sitting on his ash pile still reeling from everything that had just happened to him.  When all of a sudden, the Bible says that “Satan went out…and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (2:7)  If you kidzos will remember, boils were one of the plagues that God had brought on Egypt, and they were these really big, really gross, and really painful sores that broke out all over your skin.  And the way that the Bible describes it, it seems that Job had boils everywhere…even on the the bottom of his feet.  Imagine walking around with super painful sores on the bottoms of your feet?  No fun right!  And the boils were apparently so big and so gross, that Job ended up using a broken piece of a pot to scape the boils…probably to get rid of all gross dead skin…bleh!  But it didn’t stop there, because later on Job talks about all kinds of other things that happened to his health, including some of his skin growing black and falling off of him (30:30), about his skin cracking and breaking out over and over (7:5), about his flesh being caked with worms (7:4), about gnawing pains that didn’t let him sleep (30:17), and then when he could sleep he’d have terrible nightmares (7:14). Job was certainly a sight for sore eyes.  And in the middle of all this, just when Job could use a little encouragement, Job’s wife (who by the way hadn’t died with all the children) walks by and says to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (2:9) Job looked so bad that even his wife thought that he was on death’s doorstep. 

Boy…this poor guy Job.  He’d just been going about his great life when all of a sudden…randomly by no fault of his….all these terrible things started happening to him.  All his stuff…gone.  All his kids…gone.  All his hopes and dreams…gone.  And now it looked like he was going to die.  What was Job going to do?  Would Job give up on God like his wife had told him to do?  Or would he stay faithful to God and follow Him even though all these bad things were happening to him?  Well, we will find out all about it…next time.