Lenten Study Job Ch. 2
Chapter 2 opens in a very similar fashion to chapter 1. While chapter two opens in similar fashion to chapter one and Job has more problems he also gets some support. Satan continues his assault on Job, but we meet Job’s wife, and his three buddies Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. His friends are all here to support Job in his time of difficulties.
"There was a man in the land of Uz" by andrevanb is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.
2 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.”
3 The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”
Job 2:1-3 (NASB)
Well, look at that. Yesterday I wrongfully thought when the servants told Job “…the fire of God fell from heaven…” from Job 1:16. I thought it was Satan causing the fire and it being wrongfully identified as from God. Clearly, here it was God who wrought all the calamities on Job on behalf of Satan per God’s agreement.
4 Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.
5 “However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.”
6 So the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.”
7 Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
Job 2:4-7 (NASB)
Once again, God agrees to let Satan have his way with Job. This time, however, it is Satan who is bringing the calamity down on Job.
8 And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes.
Job 2:8 (NASB)
I’ve often wondered why the use of ashes when someone is mourning, depressed, or otherwise trying to communicate they really are repentant of something? I looked it up. Ashes are used to symbolically represent a person having been reduced to nothing, as in destroyed utterly. Ashes are all that remain after fire consumes a thing, such as a burnt offering or cremation. Thus, when someone puts ashes all over themselves or sits in ashes, they are humbling themselves publicly for all to see. The link I found is HERE from the Jewish Encyclopedia online. Additionally, the Hebrew word used when “ashes” appears can also mean “dust,” which has a similar meaning akin to the fact that we are from dust and back to dust we will go in Genesis when Adam and Eve are kicked out of the Garden of Eden.
19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust, you shall return.”
Genesis 3:19 (NASB)
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? 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 not accept adversity?” In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.
Job 2:9-10 (NASB)
I have to be honest here. Mrs. Job does not sound like a very supportive spouse. Let’s keep this in perspective, too, though. She’s just lost everything as well, though why she doesn’t recognize she still has Job is beyond me. He was successful and capable to this point. There is nothing in what is going on that suggests Job won’t be able to turn this around, especially given he is widely held as a respected, righteous man of God. Honestly, I think Job’s response to his wife was fairly reserved, given he has just lost everything, including all his children, and now has painful boils all over his body. I’m not sure I would be able to be so restrained.
11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him.
Job 2:11 (NASB)
Eliphaz is from Teman, a place south of Israel in modern-day Saudi Arabia. You can read more about Teman HERE. Bildad is a Shuhite. This is not a specific country but a region around Saudi Arabia. Biblehub has a good explanation for where Bildad was from, found HERE. I couldn’t find a lot on Zophar and where a Naamathite might be from. The simplest answer is that it isn’t really known.
12 When they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky.
Job 2:12 (NASB)
Take a moment to appreciate the level of what has happened to Job from the eyes of his three best friends. Keep in mind these three guys just traveled by foot a considerable distance over very rugged terrain because they heard their friend was in distress. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar can’t even recognize Job; he is so bad off. His clothing is in tatters, he is covered in dirt, ash, and boils, and he is in his grief, having lost all his children within likely the last seven days. What would you or I look like if all our children just died and every material possession we had was suddenly wiped out? Would anyone recognize us?
13 Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.
Job 2:13 (NASB)
Seven days and seven nights sitting on the ground, out of doors, not saying a word. Consider in modern times just taking a week out of your life to be with someone grieving. With modern lifestyles, jobs, and families, one family member stepping away from the cycle of that group of people for seven days is a tremendous hardship. In Job’s day, it wasn’t just seven days either. This is seven days once they get there. They likely had a week’s journey to get to Job, which means another week’s journey to get home too. Imagine telling your wife or husband, “Honey, my best friend needs me, and I’ll be gone for a month starting now.” How would that go?
12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
14 “You are My friends if you do what I command you.
John 15:12-14 (NASB)