How could god create a character that becomes satan. Satan is seen as the adversary or prosecutor, an agent of gd, very much part of the divine council, that searches out the individuals wrongdoings and appears as their accuser. So i read the book of job once more to get some insight and thats how i ended up on your page. Job chapters 1 and 2, part of the bibles oldest book, say that satan has access to heaven. The book that gives us the most information about the devil in the old testament, however, is the book of job.
Job gives us insights into his character, his purposes, his tactics, and his goals. The book of job describes job as a pious, godfearing. Job 1 niv prologue in the land of uz there bible gateway. While the book job does paint a picture of a being bringing accusations against job, he is far more than just an accuser. So here he was, checking out a remote island before the vice president of the united states of america paid a visit.
He operates in his own children, and he operates on the children of god. And god says, well, take a look at my man job over there. His task is to roam the earth like a contemporaneous persian official seeking out acts or persons to be. When god first unleashes satan on job, he tells him that he must not damage the man physically. Click on the links to the right to order the book in the style of your choice hardcoverh, paperbackp, kindlek from for the united states. In the first test, gods instructions to satan were that he could do anything to job, as long as he did not kill, or.
From roaming through the earth, he replied, and from walking back and forth in it. I recently began studying the book of job and several things strike me as strange right from the start. These two dialogues, in job 1 and 2 respectively, are the only appearances of the word satan in the book of job. Satan is doing a masterful job of confusing the ministers, intellectual leaders and educators of our nation about true religion. Job s suffering did not come because he was bad but rather because of his unwavering faithfulness to god.
My question regards the way that satan is presented in the book of job as a servant of god that tests human beings. The american rabbi richard rubenstein has said that we should think not just of job. The word satan is the english transliteration of a hebrew word for adversary in the bible. Job 1, new american standard bible nasb the bible app. Then the lord said to satan, have you considered my servant job. Many people are confused on gods justice when they read job, and it seems satans actions and god allowing this, also confused some of the members of the divine council. The book of job god did not give satan power biblebro. The human author of book of job i believe received a vision and overheard a conversation and through gods grace gave him the wisdom to write the inspiration for purpose of stating that all the action of satan are subject to divine providence. Satan tempts job satan smiting job with boils william blake. You must understand who god is and who satan is, what they know, and what their motivation is. Although most of the book consists of the words of job and his friends, job himself was not the author. In that book, an adversary or tempter asks god whether the prosperous man job would continue to praise god. The traditional response to job is to view satan as the same entity as the cosmic evil force of satan as characterized in the new testament. Perhaps jobs staunch belief in his redeemer job 19.
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. They also slew the servants with the edge of the sword. A scriptural analysis of the history of satan part 6. What happened to satan in the book of job after jobs. In it, satan is a member of gods divine court who walks the earth looking for sin and reports back to god. God gives satan permission to take jobs wealth and kill his children and servants, but job nonetheless. Satan answered the lord, i have been roaming all over the earth. Satan, the thief, has come to kill, steal, and destroy john 10. God praises job before satan, and satan is unimpressed, claiming that he is only righteous because his life is so comfortable. The christian idea about satan cannot be applied to the book of job. The satan appears in the book of job, a poetic dialogue set within a prose framework, which may have been written around the time of the babylonian captivity. The book of job explores the nature of true piety and the problem of innocent suffering.
Satans role in the book of job is a kind of microcosm, illustrating the place satan plays in the overall plan of god. What if you knew you were satans next major target. The war room of satan and his rulers of darkness july 31, 2009 the king allowed me to go into the military war room of satan and his principalities of darkness. T he mainstream jewish view of satan emanates from the book of job. The book of job in the hebrew bible was crafted to address human suffering and why bad things happen to good people. Now, lets look, first of all, at category number one and see how satan works in his own children. The role satan plays in jobs life illustrates the role satan plays in the overall plan of god for creation. In the midst of suffering, we must never lose our hope in god. It is a sad fact that the internet has been under heavy attack, most significantly the online yahoo egroups. In the book of job, satan did not try to destroy job, but only to test him. Why did god hand job over to satan and subject him to so. How does this relate to the understanding that the devil and the fallen angels rebelled at the beginning of the world and were thrown out of heaven. The meaning of the book of job is found in god s and satans conversation in heaven.
Above you posted only a part of a statement i made and omitted the part where i said that after chapter two, the book is about job attempting to reconcile the events that happened to him with his loyalty to god you disallowed my entire response to jason and. In the text, job is a righteous man favored by yahweh. Did satan successfully tempt god in the book of job. In the book of job, how was it possible for god and satan. Job would, if he knew the plot hatched in heaven against him, consider satan the worst sort of enemy.
Analysis this is a key passage for setting the stage for all that follows. I could see a large war room where all of satans military operations are carried out and strategies are executed. How could that god let that evil hatefilled entity, virtually destroy jobs life. Even the snake in the genesis account is an anthropomorphism of eves intellect as in ancient egyptian mythology the snake sym. These watercolors constitute blakes first set of illustrations for the book of job, which the artist produced between 1805 and 1810 for his most important patron. But i perceive five foundational methods by which satan would bring downand is bringing downthe united states of america. What role did satan play in the story of job answers.
While in christian terms jobs personal spiritual triumph is theologically impossible, in jewish terms it stands out as the embodiment of gods salvation program for mankind. So the information we have to work with to understand who satan is, is minimal. The book of job is a book in the ketuvim writings section of the hebrew bible tanakh, and. How could god be so casual in allowing jobs children and servants to be killed. In the book of job, satan afflicts the righteous man job with several calamities, trying to turn him away from god. In the book of job, how was it possible for god and satan to hang out together. For the rest of the lesson, the role of satan in the book of job is covered. Perhaps it was because his pension was only around the corner. This time of spiritual warfare was a great time of learning and dependence upon scripture.
There is some dispute as to whether it should be taken as a. Satans first attack 6 one day the sons of god came to present themselves before the lord, and satan also came with them. Job 2 isv satans second attack on job some bible gateway. With the definite article, the hebrew word denotes the adversary par excellence, mainly in the book of job, where the adversary comes to the heavenly court with the sons of god.
What you need to know about satans limitations,greg laurie study from the bible and be encouraged to grow your faith. So jehovah god called satans attention to a man down there on earth, job in the land of uz, as being different from all others, a man blameless and upright, fearing god and turning aside from bad. What the devil and job got wrong about god stephen moore on. I said the book of job isnt about god foiling satans plan. The book of job opens in verse one by telling us that job was a blameless, upright man who feared god and turned away from evil. In this weeks sermon, the historical dating and literary criticism is commented on in the beginning. Satan in the book of job sacred scripture catholic. Why did god hand job over to satan and subject him to so much torment. Satans toolbox is the result of a five year bible study on the tools and tricks of our adversary. Nowhere in the book of job is satan explicitly stated to be a fallen angel.
Im a long time christian and am dealing with some issues. How could satan access heaven in the books of job and the. Jews, still is the assistant to god, tasked by god with testing the. It may be that prior to job, the divine council had been practicing justice, but after seeing satans attack on job, it set a bad example for them. The only significant mention of him is in the book of job, wherein we see the first example of a most curious, if often overlooked, aspect of satanthat he asks for, and receives permission from god, to test the faith of anyone who claims to have it. Satans second attack on job some time later, divine beings again presented themselves to the lord, and satan accompanied them to present himself. In the book of job, for instance, we read of the angels coming to. Satans accusation of job now the day came when the sons of god came to present themselves before the lordand satan also arrived among them.
The lord said to satan, have you noticed my servant job. How does this relate to the understanding of angels and demons and the unseen spiritual war going on that we cannot see. This is the list as originally published in magistra blanche bartons the church of satan as approved by magus anton szandor lavey. Another noted act of satan occurs in the temptation of christ, recorded in matthew 4. 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 is seen as the adversary or prosecutor, an agent of gd, very much part of the divine council, that searches out the. It decimated jobs wealth, his family, his health, his relationship with his wife, his relationship with his friends, and his reputation in the community. As we saw earlier, genesis 3 describes satans appearance on the scene shortly after god created adam and eve. Although the hebrew bible is not monotheistic according to the common definition of the term, comparative study shows that the essence of monotheism is gods uniqueness rather than gods oneness. And those are the two spheres in which satan functions. In hebrew, satan actually means the accuser or the prosecutor, and he is referred to as the satan, not just satan. Hell is described as an underground world dominated by fire and sadistic demons under satans command. This book was born out a satanic attack on his life, family, and ministry. No red skin, no horns, no pointy teeth and tail, and no devilish grin.
And satan says, oh, you know, just hanging around, minding my own business. What you need to know about satans limitations bible study. All of this is to say that the satan in the book of job cannot be entirely identified with the devil or satan in the new testament. As a result, god would bring shame upon satan through the fact that job was a perfect and an. In the book of job satan accuses god of putting a hedge around job, in effect protecting job from demonic assaults. This summary of the book of job provides information about the title, authors, date of writing, chronology, theme, theology, outline, a brief overview, and the chapters of the book of job. We find satans job in heaven in the book of job and several. Job 14 flesh out a basic doctrinal understanding of satan. Now, in the operation of satan, we simply need to understand that he operates in two categories.
Satans role in the new testament, though highly expanded, has much more in common with the accuser of the hebrew bible than the commander of the armies of darkness that is typically portrayed in the dead sea scrolls. He didnt even know why he was bothering to cling on to his job. The mainstream jewish view of satan emanates from the book of job. Even though satan is the god of this world 2 cor 4. Some bible commentators have professed great difficulty in understanding and explaining how satan could have access to heaven in job chapters 1 and 2, as well as in revelation chapter 12. It took job from being the greatest of all the people of the. The hebrew word satan means an adversary, one who resists.
1050 756 621 1266 219 1023 1217 927 1540 712 1035 985 291 1410 759 1346 518 1208 884 589 1439 708 81 708 285 95 1411 1179 1463 531 797 966 802 184 471 1476 448 1316 420 769 1150