Today’s bible study is all about the chapter of Job 2 – Job Loses His Health. According to Bible scholars, the events of the book of Job took place approximately before 2100 B.C.
I encourage you to get your bibles ready and turn to Job 2. Kindly invite the Holy Spirit to guide you as you read Job 1 with me. I am using the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible, just in case you want to know. All the scripture references that you find in this post are from the NKJV.
In the Bible Study on Job 1, we read about who was Job, his children, his possessions and how he lost them all as a sign of satan testing Job’s character and integrity. Well, in Job 2, we will see how Job lost his health too and if he was able to maintain his integrity before God.
Without any more delay, let us begin!
Satan Presents Himself Before THE LORD Again
1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?”
Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”
According to Verses 1-2 of Job 2, Satan presented himself before the Lord along with the sons of God. And the Lord asked Satan again where did he come from. Satan replied that he came from going to and fro on the earth and from walking back and forth on it. In short, the same conversation between The LORD and Satan which we saw in Job 1:6-7 is repeated in Job 2. When The Lord repeats himself, it is something important to take note of.
Observation
Looking at the repetitive conversation between Satan and the Lord in Job 1 and Job 2 we can infer some things. It is not a one-time event for satan to walk to and fro, back and forth on the earth. It is what he does every day regularly to report to the Lord to make sure people reap their bad harvest.
The Lord Speaks About Job’s Uprightness
3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “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 still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.”
According to Verse 3 of Job 2, The Lord said to Satan if he has considered His servant Job. He said that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil. And the Lord was pleased with how Job held fast to his integrity although satan incited The Lord against Job to destroy him without cause.
This is clearly a challenge between Satan and the Lord regarding Job’s character and integrity. The Lord is well-pleased with Job for his uprightness and integrity even after losing his possessions and children. The Lord is pro-Job (if I could put it that way to explain it better) whereas satan is anti-Job.
And The Lord Himself admitted that if Satan didn’t challenge Him about Job’s integrity by wanting to test him, the Lord wouldn’t have allowed satan to destroy Job without a cause. The Lord always speaks well of Job as he is upright before God. However, Satan wants to find a loophole that will somehow bring Job to curse God to His face.
Satan Wants To Destroy Job’s Health And Flesh
4 So Satan answered the Lord 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!”
6 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.”
In Verses 4-5, satan wants to destroy Job’s health. He said a man would do anything to protect his life. It shows that Satan is well-aware of the weakness of men. So satan said if Job’s bone and flesh were affected he would surely curse God to His face. Thus, he wanted to affect Job’s flesh and skin as a test of Job’s character and integrity.
In verse 6 of Job 1, the Lord gave Job into Satan’s hand to allow Satan to test him. However, He told Satan not to touch Job’s life, meaning not to kill Job. It is because Satan’s work is to steal, kill and destroy and that is why the Lord told Satan not to kill Job.
We see from the above verses again that it is satan who tests men’s character. He is constantly on the lookout for loopholes in men’s life and behaviour. It is how he has a legal right to bring chaos to men’s lives.
Observation
Satan does not let go easily. When Job passed the first test and upheld his integrity by worshipping God instead of cursing Him, The Lord was pleased but not satan. He wanted to go further and continue testing Job, this time severely, by tormenting him in his flesh. It was his way of pushing Job to his limits to make him curse God so that he could prove a point to the Lord that no man fears God and is upright before God out of love but only out of selfish desires.
In short, this whole test of Job’s character was satan’s attempt to prove God wrong.
Satan Struck Job’s Flesh
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes.
Verse 7 of Job 2 shows how Satan went out from the Lord’s presence and struck Job with painful boils in his entire body. Verse 8 tells us how Job sat in the midst of ashes. And, he took for himself a potsherd ( a broken vessel or pottery) to scrape himself for relief.
Job using a broken vessel to scrape himself also has a hidden meaning prophetically. At this point of Job’s test, he was basically a broken vessel too. His vessel is his body and it was broken as a part of satan’s test.
Thus, Job, the richest man in Northern Arabia was brought down to sit in ashes and scrape himself.
Job’s Wife Speaks Foolishly
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
In Verse 9 of Job 2, Job’s wife questions Job. She asks him if he still holds fast to his integrity before God even after losing his children, possessions and now his health. And she said, the unsayable, to Job to curse God and die.
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Verse 10 of Job 2 tells how Job corrected his wife. He told her that she spoke as a foolish woman speaks. He also questioned her if it is reasonable to accept only good from God and not accept adversity.
Thus, Job maintained his integrity and did not sin with his lips. What does this imply? Especially, the part in bold? It means that men can easily sin with lips. Therefore, it is important to be aware of the sins that we commit just by talking or speaking. For the sin which we commit with our lips by talking could easily bring in our bad harvest. Be sure, that such sins give the enemy a legal right and he will surely take it to the Lord to accuse you.
Job’s Three Friends
11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him. 12 And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. 13 So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
Verse 11 of Job 2 talks about Job’s three friends who came together to be with Job and comfort him. Each of them came from their own place. Job’s friends were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. These friends of Job had made an appointment among themselves to gather together and go to Job to comfort him.
Verse 12 tells us that they raised their eyes from afar and did not recognize Job because of his condition. It made them miserable and they lifted their voices and wept. Each one of Job’s friends tore his robe and sprinkled dust on their own heads toward heaven. They did this to mourn Job’s condition.
Verse 13 of Job 2 describes how Job’s friends sat down with Job for seven days and seven nights. And, they did not speak a word to him for they saw that his grief was very great.
Conclusion
This brings us to the conclusion of Job 2. It is a sad and moving chapter describing the condition to which Job was reduced. All this was satan’s way of proving a point to God that Job did not fear God for nothing. That Job was upright only because God protected him and made him prosper.
Much is to be said about Job’s integrity before God and how he called his wife foolish for asking him to curse God. In Job’s condition and circumstances, it was easy to curse God and blame God and lament about it. However, Job accepted his test and refused to sin.
I hope you learned something from his chapter. If you have any comments or questions for me, kindly leave them in the comments box below. I will reply at the earliest possible.
Until Next Time!