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An Exegetical Analysis

The Book of Job has inspired numerous Bible scholars to examine some of the particular issues in the narrative. One interesting section is found in the needed prologue of the book. There is a strange and questionable interaction between the Satan and the Lord in Job 1:6-12 and Job 2:1-6. The Satan is able to converse and question the Lord in the Heavenly realm. This discussion seems odd and inappropriate to the modern reader’s mind. Since God and Satan are to be at enmity with one another, how can both of these spiritual beings be having a conversation over a human? Another question is raised in the heavenly court scene when Satan seems to challenge the Almighty Lord concerning the reasons that humans serve Him. Then instead of God banishing Satan from the heavenly realm, the text of the prologue seems to indicate that God accepts the challenge. The text almost presents the Lord in a position where He has to defend Himself from the Satan (Fyall 36).

The interaction between God and the Satan may seem irreconcilable at a peripheral reading, but when one examines the text at a deeper level, one is able to discern the true exegetical happenings of the heavenly scene. The heavenly court scene presents God defending Himself against the charge that man would not serve Him for nothing (Job 1.9). This charge does not come from the classical image of the character of Satan, who is seen as the prominent adversary of God. Rather, the one that makes the accusation against the Lord is merely a celestial being who is playing the adversary in this heavenly court scene. This thesis will be proved by a quick examination of the historical background material concerning the book of Job. Also, there will be an exegesis of the two dialogues of God and the Satan in the introductory prologue in the book of Job. Finally, there will be special attention given to the identity of the Satan.

Historical Background

The historical background is brief in the book of Job because of a lack of discernable details in the text. Much of the historical background is shrouded in mystery (Yancey 142). Since the Book of Job contains few clues concerning the date, there have been proposed dates ranging from the time before Moses to the period between the writing of the Old and New Testaments. Typically, most scholars place Job during the patriarchal period, but this dating of when Job lived does not provide an undeniable date for the time of writing for the book (Habel 40-42). But for the intent of this paper, the date of writing will be assumed to be during the time of the patriarchs.

Just like the dating of the Book of Job, the authorship of Job is highly speculative. The text is anonymous. The form of the book seems to indicate a period of time when the narrative was communicated through oral means. In the text there is a shift from prose to poetic writing. Poetry was used as a device to facilitate remembrance of the story (Alden 28-29). Any guess on the author is merely speculation, and for the purposes of this paper, the author will be assumed to be unknown.

Fortunately, unlike the date and the author of the book of Job, there are a few indisputable details concerning the setting of the story. The text states “The land of Uz,” which may be located in the area of northern Saudi Arabia or southern Jordan is the setting for this book (Keil and Delitzsch 269-270). More than likely, Job lived as a prominent nomadic patriarch in this desert region.

An Exegetical Analysis of the Heavenly Court Scenes

There are two scenes that take place in the heavenly realm. The first scene is in Job 1:6-12 and the second scene is in Job 2:1-6.

Analysis of Job 1:6-12

After he has introduced the character of Job, the author shifts scenes to the dialogue between God and the Satan. Verse 6 sets the assembly before God as the sons of God appear. The Jewish Targumic and the Midrashic tradition identify this day as the New Year’s Day. In Mesopotamian religion the gods would meet on New Year’s Day to decide the destiny for humans for the coming year (Janzen 37). Though this is speculation, nevertheless this background could have influenced the text.

The “sons of God” appear to be “celestial beings or angels whom God created as his servants” (Hartley 71). The phrase “sons of God” could be a designation for a class of spiritual beings (Driver and Gray 10). They could be the attendants of the celestial court who surround Yahweh (Pss. 82:1 and 89:6-9). They “present themselves” perhaps to provide an update on their service or to accentuate their role as royal attendants faithfully serving the King. With these celestial beings, the Satan has come also. The text gives no indication if the Satan was a regular attendant with the “sons of God” or if his coming with them was an unexpected event. A discussion of the Satan will be addressed in greater detail later on in the paper.

God opens session in the divine court with a question to the Satan. God simply wants to know where the Satan has been and what he has been doing. The Satan answers by stating that he has been roaming the earth. The term “roaming” has been interpreted to mean that the Satan has engaged in the activity of a royal spy involved in intelligence operations for a king or government. The Satan has taken on the role of patrolling the earth as the inquiring agent or enforcer of God (Habel 89).

In Job 1:8 God introduces Job to the Satan by calling attention to Job’s personal righteousness. God states that Job is blameless and upright, which means that he has attained a state of perfection in terms of completeness, while upright is connected to the thought of straightness (Pope 7). But the Satan questions God’s praise of Job. The Satan insinuates that Job only serves God because of the blessings that God provides (Clines 249) and then attributes Job’s piety to a sense of dependence on and gratitude for divine blessings (Janzen 39). The Satan charges that if God removed His hedge of protection then Job would refrain from serving the Lord. The term “hedge” connotes that God has “planted a fence of thorn bushes around all that Job owns so that no plague or misfortune could harm Job’s” possessions (Hartley 73). God and the Satan are now arguing over Job’s motives for serving God. God sees Job’s service coming from pure piety, while the Satan attributes Job’s piety to self-interest.

In verse 11 the Satan places two challenges. The first challenge is levied against Job. If God reverses His gracious conduct, then Job would reverse his conduct also? When the life of piety no longer pays, then Job will become defiantly profane, the Satan assumes. Will Job remain faithful in the face of suffering? The other challenge is hurled against the Lord and his estimation of His servant Job. Will God be wrong in praising Job?

So God accepts these challenges, but before He does, He places some conditions in verse 12 on how far the Satan can go in afflicting Job.

Analysis of Job 2:1-6

The second heavenly realm scene is very much like the first scene. Verses 1-3a are essentially the same as Job 1:6-8. But now when God declares Job’s character to be blameless and upright, He is asserting that the Satan has been incorrect in his estimation of Job. Job has endured the test of suffering and has remained faithful to the Lord.

The Satan does not argue Job’s faithfulness but continues to press for another test of faith. Satan quotes an ancient folk saying that has lost its meaning to the modern reader (Habel 95). The Satan in verse 4 and 5 is charging that Job’s faith is only skin deep. He implies that if Job was to have his body afflicted, then he would forsake his trust in and relationship with God. The Satan believes that Job will do anything to save his own skin or life. The previous afflictions were not severe enough, so the Satan in verse 5 presses for further suffering. The Satan assumes that Job will curse God when he has to endure physical pain.

God grants the Satan’s request in verse 6, but He does stipulate a limit on the testing. Job will be tested through severe harm to the body, but the Satan must refrain from taking Job’s life. This final challenge by the Satan sets up the rest of the poetic narrative in the book.

The Identity of the Satan

To the average reader of the prologue of Job, when the term “Satan” is mentioned, it automatically is interpreted as the devil (Hailey 35) who is an “independent fallen angel devoted to the promotion of evil in the universe and the corruption of the souls of men” (Wolfers 201). This view that the Satan is the devil might be correct, but there are two other possibilities for the identity of the Satan. Another view that has been propagated is that the Satan represents the “projection of the spirit of doubt and skepticism within the complex mind of the deity itself” (Wolfers 205). The third possibility states that the Satan is merely a prominent member of the Angelic hosts whose duties take him to earth to engage in destructive deeds (Gammie 13).

Those that advocate that the Satan in Job is referring to the classical understanding of Satan in the Bible would link Job 1.6 with 1 Peter 5.8 (Chapman 29). Though there seem to be some parallels between the two texts, nevertheless 1 Peter 5:8 reflects a later development of the concept of the Satan that the author of Job would not have comprehended.

There is considerable evidence against the view that the mention of the Satan in the prologue of Job should be identified with the later figure of Satan from Jewish and Christian theology. Some state that since the Satan came from “among” the “sons of God”, then the Satan is separate from the celestial beings. But to be “among” frequently expresses membership in the group in question (Gen. 23.10, 40.20, and 2 Kings 4.13). The fact that the Satan is singled out has no other purpose besides literary effect (Clines 19).

Another argument against the Satan in Job being identified with Satan from later theology is the use of the definite article before the term Satan. The term Satan “is a designation of function and not a personal name” (Tate and Sampey 462). The literal meaning of the term “Satan” is “be, or act as, an adversary, or bear a grudge, cherish animosity” (Clines 20). Numerous times in the Old Testament when the definite article appears before the term Satan, it is referring to a human opponent (Pss 38:21, 71:13, 109:4,20; 1 Sam. 29:4, 2 Sam. 19:23, and 1 Kings 5:18). To attribute the Satan in the prologue of Job to the great adversary of God throughout history is an unjustified label.

Another interesting interpretation of the nature of the Satan in the prologue of Job is that the Satan is an accusing extension of God’s own personality. Wolfers advocates this view in a special chapter on the identity of Satan (201-208). He connects the dialogue of the Satan in the Book of Job with another heavenly scene in 1 Kings 22.19-22. This text in 1 Kings mentions the “Spirit”. Wolfers states that this “Spirit” is the agent of “subtlety, treachery and deceit” (202). These attributes would not be consistent with the perceived nature of God, so the author of Kings must attribute them to the heavenly council around the Lord. Wolfers seems to allow 1 Kings 22.19-22 to dictate his understanding of the Satan in Job. But the “Spirit” in 1 Kings 22.19-22 could be also interpreted as another one of the Angels comprising the heavenly hosts surrounding the Lord. In Wolfers’ book he has the desire to interpret the Book of Job as an historical analysis of religion. He sees the author of Job attempting to persuade the people of the polytheistic world to embrace a monotheistic view of deity. This causes him to reject the literal meaning of the role of the Satan and embrace an allegorical understanding of the intent of the author (Wolfers 207-208).

The final view concerning the Satan states that he is a heavenly agent from God’s council. As stated previously in this paper, the term “Satan” has the definite article preceding it. This removes the word from a proper name to a term describing a role. Also, as mentioned previously, the Satan is among the celestial Angels before the Lord. Since God and Satan seem to be having a friendly bantering over Job, it appears that the Satan is “a malicious servant of God” (Carus 71). Gammie in his article on “The Angelology and Demonology in the Septuagint of the Book of Job” says that the Greek translation of Job 1.6 suggests that the Adversary is one of the Angels (7). Maybe the best way of looking at the adversary’s role among the heavenly hosts would be to see him as a “cop on the beat.” Instead of just picturing this Angel as a prosecuting attorney in the heavenly court room, picture this Angel as a cop testifying in a court case. The Satan does more than just accuse Job; but rather, he has been designated to patrol the earth watching for those who break the rules of divine authority (Handy 109). The Satan works for God and acts only on God’s command. In the context of Job 1:6, the Satan should be understood as an Angel who is given the role of an adversary by God.

Conclusion

When one reads the text of the heavenly court scenes in the prologue, there is a moment of confusion because of certain presuppositions concerning the identity of the Satan. The reader is disturbed at the amount of freedom that the Satan has in challenging the Lord. Also, a reader could question the fact that the Satan is even allowed in the courtroom with God. These doubts fade away after one realizes that the Satan is not the infamous Devil of Jewish and Christian theology but rather an Angelic being that has been given the role of the adversary by the Lord. The Satan has no inherent power but receives his commission from the Lord. His role in the prologue is to question the motivation of Job in serving God. The Satan asserts that Job only serves God because of the material blessings that he receives, while God contends that Job serves Him because of a sincere relationship with deity. Ultimately the heavenly court scenes in the prologue of Job establish the premise of the rest of the poetic narrative of the book. Does Job serve God for nothing?




Works Cited

Alden, Robert L. Job. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1993.

Brown, William P. “Introducing Job.” Interpretation 53 (1999): 228-238.

Carus, Paul. The History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil. La Salle: Open Court Publishing, 1974.

Chapman, Milo L. Job. Beacon Bible Commentary. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967.

Clines, David J.A. “A Brief Explanation of Job 1-3.” Sitting with Job. Ed. Roy B. Zuck. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992. 249-251.

_________________. Job 1-20. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word, 1989.

Day, Peggy L. An Adversary in Heaven: Satan in the Hebrew Bible. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988.

Delitzsch, F. The Book of Job. Commentary on the Old Testament. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996.

Driver, Samuel Rolles, and George Buchanan Gray. The Book of Job. The International Critical Commentary. Edinburgh: T.&T. Clark, 1986.

Fyall, Robert S. Now My Eyes Have Seen You: Images of Creation and Evil in the Book of Job. New Studies in Biblical Theology. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2002.

Gammie, John G. “The Angelology and Demonology in the Septuagint of the Book of Job.” Hebrew Union College Annual 56 (1985): 1-19.

Habel, Norman C. The Book of Job. The Old Testament Library. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1985.

Hailey, Homer. A Commentary on Job. NA: Religious Supply, 1994.

Handy, Lowell K. “The Authorization of Divine Power and The Guilt of God in the Book of Job: Useful Ugaritic Parallels.” The Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 60 (1993): 107-118.

Hartley, John E. The Book of Job. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988.

Janzen, J. Gerald. Job. Interpretation. Atlanta: John Knox, 1985.

Newsom, Carol A. The Book of Job: A Contest of Moral Imagination. New York: Oxford University, 2003.

Owens, John Joseph. “The Prologue and the Epilogue.” Review and Expositor LXVIII (1971): 457-469.

Pope, Marvin H. Job. The Anchor Bible Commentary. Garden City: Doubleday& Company, 1965.

Tate, Marvin E, and John R.Sampey. “Satan in the Old Testament.” Review & Expositor 89 (1992):461-474.

Wolfers, David. Deep Things Out of Darkness: The Book of Job. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

Yancey, Philip. “A Fresh Reading of the Book of Job.” Sitting with Job. Ed. Roy B. Zuck. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992. 141-149.