Job 2

Carefully Examining the Text

Job 2

2:1 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- The scene in 2:1-6 is a repetition of the scene produced in 1:6-12. Just as parallelism can drive home the point in poetry, prose often stresses its point by repeating the narrative (Gen. 24:1-27;24:28-49). 2:1 is a verbatim repetition from 1:6 except 2:1 adds the three Hebrew words that end the sentence translated to present himself before the LORD.

2:3 And he still holds fast his integrity- The verse from this point on adds to the words of 1:8. This verb holds fast is a common verb and means be strong or strengthen (Josh.1:6, 7, 9; Job 4:3) or seize (Gen. 19:16). Job held fast to his integrity as some hold fast to deceit- Jer. 8:5. This word will be used also in Job in 2:9; 4:3; 8:15,20; 18:9 and 27:6. In Job 27:6 Job declares I hold fast to my righteousness.

The picture of the divine council does not eliminate the picture of an omniscient God (Psalm 139:1-6; Isa. 40:13-14).

2:4 What does skin for skin mean? Much has been written to answer this question, but few good answers have been provided. The meaning seems to be something along the lines that even if a person loses their possessions, children, and all else, that the person will respond differently when the suffering is his and his death is imminent. I think the meaning of the phrase is largely derived by the next line that all that a man has he will give for his life.

2:7 Deut. 28:35 speaks of boils from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. The phrase from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head is also used of Absalom in II Sam. 14:25. In II Sam. 14:25 there was no blemish on Absalom from his foot to his head. Job’s case is the opposite of Absalom’s attractiveness.

2:9 Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!’

These are the only words we have from Job’s wife. Job does make a reference to her in Job 19:17 saying that his breath is offensive to her. Job 19:13-20 demonstrates Job’s deep sense of alienation from those who we would expect to be closest to him. Job’s wife uses the same phrase that the LORD used in speaking of Job in Job 2:3 you hold fast your integrity. God used this to praise Job, but Job’s wife uses the phrase in criticism of Job. In The Testament of Job she sells her hair to buy bread for Job and herself. Does she believe the sin of cursing God will be punished by God with Job’s instant death?

2:10 ‘Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?’ The word adversity is also used in the next verse in 2:7, 10, 11. Some versions translate the Hebrew term ra’ by the English word evil. Evil can be moral evil (1:1, 8; 2:3) or it can refer to a calamity or disaster (2:10, 11; 42:11). “Out of about 640 occurrences of the word ra’ (which ranges in meaning from a ‘nasty’ taste to full moral evil) there are 275 instances where ‘trouble’ or ‘calamity’ is the meaning”[1] God is sovereign over good and bad (Deut. 32:39; Job 1:21). God is not responsible for moral evil (Hab. 1:13; Jas. 1:13), but His hand is involved in adversity (Isa. 45:7; Lam. 3:37-38; Amos 3:6). The translation adversity or calamity is better than the translation evil in this verse.

[1] J.A. Motyer, Isaiah, 359.