Job: Session 1: Job's Tragedy (1:1–2:13)

-`With a group study of a large book like Job. We have really two options. One is to plow through through it verse by verse. Which has it’s own set of benefits & rewards. But that would take a tremendous amount of time. So we are left with one other options. Each of us as an adult is responsible for reading the book on our own. Then coming to the discussion with our own set of reflections and questions.

As I mentioned before. I am here to guide you. But to get the most out of this study. You bear the responsibility of wrestling with the text individually. Which means you must read it! Because we will not be able to read all of it and discuss it as a group. There is simply not enough time. So we will be taking this in sections over roughly the next 12-14 sessions. For the most part this will stop at the end of a chapter. And understanding the opening chapters are important. So we will cover them more in depth in Ch 1-3. And the rest we will be in more block form. So some will cover a number of chapters at once. Then zooming in on specific verses. Remember, the text is inspired by God. But the chapter numbers and verses are a human thing. And sometimes they can actually get in the way of study. Depending on where they break.

So, my job is to draw out what I see as the relevant verses and topics for discussion. As we do this I am going to stop to as questions, defines some things, give some glimpses of how this connects to the Gospels, connects to the Bible as a whole, give some theological implications and some brief personal implications.

The Place of the Passage

The first section of Job introduces the issue that drives the entire book: why did God allow such horrifying suffering to befall someone who was so loyal to him, who seemed to “deserve” so much better? In these brief chapters, we learn of God’s sovereignty over everything in creation, and we gain insight into a great contest that is being fought in heaven over the saints. We see how much God cares for his own glory and for the purity of our relationship with him. And we see a great saint suffer greatly, yet worship in the most costly, beautiful way possible.

The Big Picture

Job 1–2 reveals a dramatic struggle in heaven over the saints and, by extension, over the glory of God. The great question driving these chapters is whether Job will persevere in faith in God when it costs him every earthly blessing.

Reflection and Discussion

Job’s First Test (1:1–22)

The first five verses of Job 1 show us Job’s wonderfully blessed life.

Job 1:1–3 “1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.”

In verses 1–3, what aspect of Job’s life is described first, and why is it important that we are told of this before anything else?

Job 1:4–5 “4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.”

What do we learn about Job’s family life and his deepest concerns for his family in verses 4–5?

Job was richly blessed in his relationship with the Lord. What blessings do you enjoy in your relationship with God, even if they are not identical to Job’s?

Job 1:6–12 “6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And 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, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.”

In verses 6–12, the scene shifts to the throne room of heaven. Although ancient Israelites might not have known everything that the New Testament reveals about Satan, what do we learn about him, his intentions and plans, and his relationship to God? What do we learn about God’s sovereignty?

Satan’s question in 1:9, “Does Job fear God for no reason?,” is most significant. What is Satan implying about Job’s motives and the basis of his relationship with God? If Satan is right, how should God treat Job? Why might it be important for God to allow a terrible test of Job’s devotion to him?

The story of Job's unwavering faith despite devastating losses is used to highlight the idea of worship that is not dependent on blessings or favorable circumstances. 

Job 1:13–19 “13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.””

Like clockwork, in 1:13–19 Job loses every secondary blessing that was listed in 1:2–3. Some elements of Job’s tragedy have naturalistic causes (e.g., the Sabeans in v. 15), while some are supernatural (the fire from heaven in v. 16).

We know that Satan is the one at work behind the scenes, but what would Job have concluded about the cause of these losses? (In the worldview of Job’s day, such events were interpreted not as random tragedies but as signs of divine wrath.)

Job 1:20–21 “20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.””

Job’s response to his losses is as poignant as it is noble (1:20–21). How does he express his grief as well as his devotion to God? How does his worship prove that Satan’s claim in 1:9 was false? How does Job’s worship guide our own in instances when God allows some great or tragic loss?

Job’s Second Test (2:1–13)

Job 2:1–6 “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 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And 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, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.””

The Lord’s statement in 2:3 that Satan “incited” him against Job “without reason” is clear at one level—the Lord is acknowledging that the test was needless and that Job did not deserve this treatment. But this statement can also be troubling, since it might appear that God is admitting that he was tricked or manipulated. But how do we see God continuing to defend his servant against Satan? And does the echoing phrase “for no reason” (1:9) and “without reason” (2:3) imply a deeper reason behind God’s actions?

Satan responds to the Lord by implying that Job’s first test was not deep enough. What is Satan’s second proposal, and why does he think this will break Job’s devotion to God?

Job 2:9 “9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.””

Reflect on the short speech of Job’s wife in 2:9. Would she have passed Satan’s test in 1:9? What do we learn about the quality of Job’s loyalty to God from his response to his wife (v. 10)?

Job 2:11 “11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.”

Job’s three friends arrive in 2:11. What is their motive in traveling to see Job? What does their shock and grief imply about their expectations for what they would find? What might we expect the friends to say to Job in the following chapters, given their intentions?

Definition:Satan “accuser”

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 1

Satan The Hebrew word used here, satan, literally means “the accuser” or “the adversary.” He is likely acting as a prosecutor in a courtroom-like scene. In the OT, the term satan is often used to describe an adversary in general—whether human or divine (compare

Definition: The Fear of the Lord

Proverbs 1:7 “7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Gospel Glimpses

GOD’S GRACE. Job lives out his faith in beautiful and costly ways (see 29:11–17), but when God takes from him his family and wealth, Job speaks only of what God had given him (1:21). Job considers his deeply blessed life a gift, not something he was owed in return for his good behavior. When he loses everything, he is not angry with God for betraying him but worships God just as sincerely as when he enjoyed all of his blessings. Job’s relationship with God is clearly based on grace, not reward or merit. What Job loves most deeply in life is his deep friendship with God (see 29:4); for him, everything else is a gift. We also see God’s grace in his enthusiastic recommendation of Job. Although Job was a sinner (see 31:33–34), God had only positive things to say about “his servant,” a term that puts Job in the exalted company of Abraham (Gen. 26:24), Moses (Ex. 14:31), and David (2 Sam. 7:5). As we will see, everyone will turn on Job except God. No one defends him as enthusiastically as God does, all on terms of grace, not merit.

CHRIST PREFIGURED. 

Who do you think the character named Job is representative of? Each one of us? Or how does it compare to the image of Christ?

Job is not an “everyman.” Of how many of us would God say, “There is none like him in all the earth” (Job 1:8)? And even though God does allow Job-like suffering in our lives, none of us will suffer in so extreme and total away as Job did. In both Job’s deep piety and his suffering, he prefigures that greater man, Jesus Christ, who innocently suffers the wrath of God in order to refute the accusations of the Devil and to glorify God.

Whole-Bible Connections

RETRIBUTION AND REWARD. 

What do you think about the concept of retribution and reward?

Both Testaments clearly teach that faithful obedience to God, even when imperfect, is rewarded with blessing even in this life (Eliphaz neatly defines it in 4:8; see also Mark 10:29–30; Gal. 6:7). The book of Job does not contradict this teaching, because Job finishes the book twice as blessed as he was before (Job 42:10). But Job will nuance our understanding of the doctrine of retribution: sometimes God interrupts his normal policy of blessing our obedience in order to allow the kind of suffering we would expect to fall on someone openly defiant of God and hurtful toward others. Although the book of Job teaches us that these experiences are temporary, it also insists that God sometimes allows them in order to seal us in our relationship with him.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF SUFFERING. 

What do you think about different kinds of suffering and how they are depicted in the Bible?

Suffering is diagnosed in different ways in the Bible: sometimes, it is the direct result of sin (see Ps. 38:3–5); at other times, God allows pain in order for us to mature as Christians (see Rom. 5:3–5). But neither of these explanations is applicable to Job. The first two chapters of Job go out of their way to show that it is for no sin in Job’s life that he is suffering—not even Satan can find fault with him! Furthermore, God is not trying to grow Job spiritually. Job is already a mature saint—and if Job did receive some spiritual virtue from his ordeal, Satan could have repeated his accusation that Job loved God only for the secondary benefits, this time pointing to spiritual benefits instead of material ones. The book of Job teaches that saints who imperfectly but sincerely serve God will sometimes suffer for no reason they can explain in relation to past sin, and will perhaps not seem to grow spiritually from the ordeal. Job’s suffering is of a kind that will lead only to a deeper vision of God himself (Job 42:5).

Theological Soundings

THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE TESTING OF THE SAINTS. “Does Job fear God for no reason?” (Job 1:9) (center of the chiasm) is a question that should make every Christian nervous.

It is easy to drift unconsciously from honoring the Lord as our only real treasure and great joy, to viewing him as a business partner or Santa Clause. This is clearly not true for Job: Job loves and fears God for God’s sake alone, irrespective of what secondary blessings Job gains or loses in the relationship. But do we? It is beneficial to use Job’s worship in 1:5 as a guide for our own when we are in good health, surrounded by our family. But would we be just as enthusiastic in worship if we were at death’s door or had lost a child in a car accident? If God loves us, he will at some point put us in a position where we must worship him for his own sake, in the midst of agony. The book of Job teaches us that God must sometimes allow this kind of suffering if he is going to save us, because a relationship with God for God’s sake, not merely viewing him as a dispenser of blessing, is the only kind of relationship that will save us. If we love God only for what he gives us in this life and not for himself, we are serving ourselves, not him. When God allows Job-like suffering in our lives, his greater purpose is to deliver us from our trivializing of him.

GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY. 

What do you think about the idea of good God allowing suffering?

The book of Job gives us a nuanced understanding of God’s rule over all things. Sometimes Christians speak of God as the sole immediate cause behind every occurrence in their lives, but Job shows that other hostile forces are sometimes also at work when we suffer. At the same time, it is clear that Satan can attack Job’s family, property, and health only with God’s permission and within the boundaries God has set (1:12; 2:6). Furthermore, when God finally speaks to Job, he does not shift the blame for Job’s suffering to Satan. Although the Lord is not the direct cause behind Job’s suffering, he is ultimately responsible for it (see 42:11). This helps us understand the complex nature of God’s rule. Regardless of what we as believers might suffer, we are always in the hands of a loving God.

But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.-C.S. Lewis (The Problem of Pain)

Personal Implications

Take time to reflect on the implications of Job 1–2 for your own life today. Consider what you have learned that might lead you to praise God, repent of sin, and trust in his gracious promises. Make notes on the personal implications for your walk with the Lord of the (1) Gospel Glimpses, (2) Whole-Bible Connections, (3) Theological Soundings, and (4) this passage as a whole.

As You Finish This Unit . . .

Take a moment now to ask for the Lord’s blessing and help as you continue in this study of Job. And take a moment also to look back through this unit of study, to reflect on some key things that the Lord may be teaching you—and perhaps to highlight and underline these things to review again in the future.