In this chapter we will discuss the book of job and the opening chapter in the book of genesis, i. He is a member of the heavenly court whose task is. God, who doesnt respond that hes omniscient and will always win a bet, gives hasatan permission to test job by whacking his wealth, killing a lot of his family and ruining his health. Job and his family there was once a man in the land of uz whose name was job. In the book of job, the ha satan of the torah becomes a literary figure in christianity and takes on the role of the accuser. Rather, it begins with a typical day in the divine oval office, and the topic of gods just operation of the cosmos is put on the table. The book of job, in the old testament, opens with words both majestic and onceuponatimeish. In this weeks sermon, the historical dating and literary criticism is commented on in the beginning.
You must understand who god is and who satan is, what they know, and what their motivation is. During the report, god draws attention to jobs righteousness, only to have satan retort that job is faithful to god solely because of all that god gives him. The book of job is ancient israelite wisdom literature, and its purpose isnt to teach us about how satan and god make bets and leave innocent peoples fates hanging in the balance. In the book of job, the hasatan of the torah becomes a literary figure in christianity and takes on the role of the accuser. He saw that it led to a dead end, that it had no way to cope with the suffering of godly people. Joshua the high priest, whom satan opposed zechariah 3. Thomas explores the difficulty of jobs suffering, satans involvement, and gods sovereignty. God takes the bet and allows satan to basically destroy the life job had made for himself, including killing his family. These two titles were interchangeable in jewish literature by the time of jesus, and this explains the differences between the gospel accounts.
Satan has put god in a tough place by his question. Whatever would possess the rabbis to include the book of job as one of the official books in the canon of holy writ. The study of the rest of his hideous kingdom, the fallen angels or demons, is sometimes called demonology. Hasatan the adversary is creature of god, doing gods will, not. Hasatan with the definite article occurs times in the masoretic text, in two books of the hebrew bible. Satan, after having first attempted, in the guise of a beggar, to get job into his power, but without success, secured from god permission comp. Apparently, at that time, quite a few jews did believe in samael hasatan, an entity more like. For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing god and turning away from evil. The book of job is sometimes cited to support the claim that the jewish view of satan as an agent of god is different from the christian view, which sees satan as an autonomous force opposed to god. The book, as it appears in the bible, dates to somewhere between the 6th and 4th centuries b. An intertextual reading, 2006 argued that hasatan represented and. So as far as the book of job is concerned, there was indeed a designated angel whos job it was to accuse or oppose.
God granted satan permission to do whatever he wanted, so long as he didnt. The book of job god did not give satan power biblebro. Years later, in the book of the revelation, the apostle john wrote about a future day when satan will be kicked out. It could only deny the reality of the experienced anomaly and add to the pain and inner turmoil of the sufferer. Well, god says, lets see, and he gives satan permission to ruin jobs life.
In the book of job, why did the devil present himself when. Here in the book of job the answer to that question is no. He wants to prevent us from developing a close relationship with god. An intertextual reading, 2006 argued that hasatan represented and articulated the alterego of the lord. Satan, the thief, has come to kill, steal, and destroy john 10. In job, an exceptionally ancient book, satan is part of the heavenly court. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared god and turned away from evil. Introduction satanology or the doctrine of satan is properly a part of angelology since satan is a fallen angel. The story of lucifer how did he fall and become satan.
Human beings are unable to understand why the righteous suffer job 28. In the book of job, for instance, we read of the angels coming to present themselves before the lord, and satan being among them. In this story, some literal translations of the text replace satan correctly as the adversary job verse 2. In it, satan is a member of gods divine court who walks the earth looking for sin and reports back to god. The word satan in hebrew literally means enemy, opposer or adversary, but it. Job, who did not curse god even through satans tests job 12. Jesus, who overcame all of satans temptations matthew 4. Writers job has inspired or influenced include john milton samson. Also, the serpent in the garden of eden, called nechash in hebrew, is never referred to as satan in the bible, this is another common misconception. Job rebuked by his friends, an 1805 illustration of the book of job by william blake. This to me is the overriding teaching of the book of job. A bible study in this end of the world video, we are going to take a look at the history of satan or history of satanism. The book of job begins with a prologue job 12, which describes a wager between satan and god, in which satan the adversary bets god that joba particularly pious manwill abandon his piety and curse god if all his wealth and wellbeing are taken away. The story of job basically amounts to a bet made by satan that gods most faithful and favored follower would turn against him if his favor was taken away.
At one point in history, perhaps somewhere around the sixth century a. It is translated as satan eighteen times in the old testament, fourteen of those occurrences being in job 12, the others in 1 chronicles 21. Satan, however, wants to thwart gods plan in any way he can. He wants to keep us from attaining our destiny as the very sons of god. Even though satan admits defeat, job continues to remain in poor shape. The book allows hard issues to emerge because they do in human experience. Satan answered the lord, from going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.
And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to ruin him without cause. Of course, job remains faithful and god rewards him with a new family and prosperous life in the end. Apparently, at that time, quite a few jews did believe in samael ha satan, an entity more like the christian satan than like ha satan of the book of job. The adversary satan insinuates himself among the angels of gods court and argues that job s virtue is not genuine. In addition, new studies on creation texts in the hebrew bible have. Satan can touch flesh and bone but your spirit belongs to god. One day satan surveys the world for god to report the behavior of its inhabitants. The author of the book of job broke out of the tight, logical mold of the traditional orthodox theology of his day. The book of job in the hebrew bible was crafted to address human suffering and why bad things happen to good people. Job chapters 1 and 2, part of the bibles oldest book, say that satan has access to heaven. God allows satan to do what he will except to spare his life, and satan causes job to suffer immensely. Translators differ about how to translate hasatan, or the satan. But here are some articles dealing with apocryphal and rabbinic traditions contemporary to jesus.
Satan targets job because of his righteousness and favour with god and wishes to turn job against god. Jesus, who overcame all of satan s temptations matthew 4. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Job and his family there was once a man in the land of uz whose name was. Satan claims that job isnt such a great servant, and that he only serves gd because he is wealthy and things are always going his way. Although english bibles continue to capitalize the word satan in passages like job 1 and 2, those passage do not have a specific individual in mind. In the text, job is a righteous man favored by yahweh. The author is referring to the angel of the lord in an adversarial manner, no reference to the satan ha satan as someone in the role of the adversary of god. The book of job asks two questions, but it only answers one. Some who hear the word, and satan snatches the seed from their hearts mark 4. Job, who did not curse god even through satan s tests job 12. As we noted earlier, satan is a powerful, intelligent being who will stop at nothing to carry out his ends.
Allowing the questions is necessary in order to be able to address them. But job remains faithful and then is attacked personally. There was a man in the land of uz, whose name was job. In the book of job, ha satan is a member of the divine council, the sons of god who are subservient to god. The meaning of the book of job is found in gods and satans conversation in heaven. In christianity, satan is an enemy of gd, an opposing force, and something very bad. Over time, our eyes are opened to find this lovely creature is the personification of hatred, evil, and death. In other words, the satan claims that job puts his faith in god only. Job 1 nrsv job and his family there was once a bible gateway. Its more of a title than anything elselike your honor or the monsieur. The idea that satan is a being, a fallen angel or cherubim, and that he has horns and a tail comes from the catholic church and medieval catholic themed iconography and imagery that have become part of traditional lore, pseudochristian teachings and collective beliefs for centuriesbut it is not biblical truth. No red skin, no horns, no pointy teeth and tail, and no devilish grin. It is that part that deals specifically with the ruler of the fallen angels or demons matt.
In the story, satan inflicts suffering on a human being and seeks to induce him to sin but only with gods permission. The book of job begins by introducing us to its three most significant characters. However, in judaism satan is an agent of gd, created by gd for a specific purpose. He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants. There is some dispute as to whether it should be taken as a proper name or a title. The career of satan, which extends from the dateless past. Adversary, in this context, is a courtroom metaphor and refers to the advocate on the other side of the argument i. Job 1 new revised standard version nrsv job and his family. From the start we know there are limits to job s trial, and we know what those limits are.
Satan in book of job shmoop test prep, study guides. The more study one does on hasatan it becomes clear that hasatan in nothing more a servant of god, an instrument or person used to carry out the purposes of. This indicates quite clearly that satan is not a personal name. The book of job describes job as a pious, godfearing man who had many sons and daughters and was quite wealthy. Here is a hebrew search showing this to be the case. One day, satan asks god for permission to tempt job to see just how loyal to god job was. In fact, in the old greek translation of the book of job, the greek word diabolos was used to translate the hebrew word ha satan, the adversary. Aug 23, 2016 in the book of job, for instance, we read of the angels coming to present themselves before the lord, and satan being among them. Hasatan is not like the satan in other faith traditions, by the way.
Satan tempts job satan smiting job with boils william blake. Strongs number h7854 matches the hebrew satan, which occurs 27 times in 23 verses in the hebrew concordance of the kjv. If god does not permit satan to test his theory about the motivation of pious folks like job, then satan can say, you are afraid i might be right. So when the lord asserted that hasatan incited him it may very well have been the other way around. Hasatan and his angels were cast out of heaven and became hasatan and his evil spirits 2 peter 2. So you also, job, were the one below and in a plague, but you conquered my wrestling tactics which i brought on you. Blow after blow falls on job, depriving him of his possessions and of his children. Without exception, the word satan in job occurs with the hebrew definite article. What you need to know about satans limitations bible study. How could satan access heaven in the books of job and the. Virtually all readers of the bible love the book of job and somehow derive from it a. Once we see this and accept it, the structure of the book becomes clear. Not being everywhere at once, as hwhy yahuah is, he works through his forces, including fallen angels and demons.
But that ignores the obvious hebrew wording for the sake of christian tradition again, the phrasing is actually the satan. For the rest of the lesson, the role of satan in the book of job is covered. Satan, in the book of job, listens to god speak highly of job and accuses job to god before the host of angels that job praises god only because he is blessed and would curse god if he was forced to suffer. In christianity, satan has a level of power that is considered almost equal to that of gd. Satanology or the doctrine of satan is properly a part of angelology since satan is a fallen angel. Satan bets job would not be so righteous if he hadnt been blessed.
When we begin reading the book of job we learn that, while god allowed satan to afflict job, he set limits beyond which the devil could not pass. The more study one does on ha satan it becomes clear that ha satan in nothing more a servant of god, an instrument or person used to carry out the purposes of. Oct 19, 2015 in this weeks sermon, the historical dating and literary criticism is commented on in the beginning. Satan without the definite article is used in 10 instances, of which two are translated diabolos in the septuagint and satan in the king james version kjv. Jobs spiritual status at beginning of book how god describes him to satan righteous, upright, fears god, oneofakind. Ha satan, in this capacity, is many times translated as the prosecutor, and is charged by god to tempt humans and to report back to god all who go against his decrees. The story recounted in chapters 1 and 2 makes us privy to actual conversations between god and satan. Satan only pops up in chapters 1 and 2when things get poetic, hes out of there for good. There is some dispute as to whether it should be taken as a. The book of job is a book in the ketuvim writings section of the hebrew bible tanakh, and. Most relevant to his study of the book of job, is his expert knowledge of.
Rabbi breitowitz responds to these fundamental issues based on the book of job. There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears god and turns away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. These two titles were interchangeable in jewish literature by the time of jesus, and this explains the differences. In hebrew, satan actually means the accuser or the prosecutor, and he is referred to as the satan, not just satan. In fact, in the old greek translation of the book of job, the greek word diabolos was used to translate the hebrew word hasatan, the adversary. Therefore, there must be a lot to gain from the deep study of the book of job. The hebrew word satan ff means an adversary, one who resists. Job s spiritual status at beginning of book how god describes him to satan righteous, upright, fears god, one of akind. Satan answers that job is pious only because god has blessed him.