In part three we will deal with the figure of the satan as it plays out in the book of Job. Terms change and meanings of words change over time and can influence the attitude and date the time of writing.
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THE SATAN
In previous chapters I have referred to the satan, not Satan. The words used in the Book of Job for this character mean the accuser, it does not translate as the devil. That is one reason why they believe this book was written in the Patriarchal times. Satan was not used as a name until the time of chronicles, before that the title “the accuser” was used. This is the role that our character has in this book. He is an accuser of Job. He is sort of a prosecutor if this was a court of law. His job is to bring the accusation against the guilty one’
God tells the satan that Job is blameless and upright fears God and shuns evil. The satan immediately accuses Job of only being this way because God has blessed him so much. He wants to destroy the relationship between God and Job. By insinuating that Job has ulterior motives for his behavior, it brings into question his integrity and his relationship with God. Is he blameless and upright because he is in awe of God or because he is afraid of God? Is he only behaving this way in order to receive the blessings God is lavishing on him?
The satan believes that he can disrupt Job’s relationship with God by taking away the blessings. He challenges God for the right to do this. God agrees. All Job’s flocks are taken or destroyed. His children are killed and his servants are killed. Still Job does not curse God and God points this out. He says that even thought he allowed these things to happen to Job, and though Job earned none of these things, Job has maintained his integrity.
The satan then challenges God to remove his protection on Job’s body, which he does with the proviso that Job is not to be killed. Still Job does not curse God.
Next the satan uses Job’s wife to attack Job and Job instead instructs her that if goodness is accepted from God, so must trouble or evil be accepted.
By this time, the satan must be truly frustrated. His next attack on Job comes from the three friends who start out correctly by sitting in silence with him. Then they start to commiserate with Job but their words turn to accusations. Once again, the accuser is doing his utmost to break Job. Job calls out for vindication instead.
The satan is not done yet. He brings in a 4th friend who does the same thing as the three friends…ends up in accusation. Still Job does not break.
The satan has destroyed Job’s wealth and children, has interfered with his marital relationship and has worked to destroy his friendships. All is taken from Job. The satan is determined to wreak havoc between God and Job. The wife and the friends have become the devil’s advocates instead of Job’s advocates.
Just as in a court of law, these friends become witnesses called upon to testify about Job’s character. Rather than sticking to the facts, they have perjured themselves on the stand and slandered Job. They have become the prosecution’s tools. The satan has used them to pound against Job’s defenses over and over again. I believe by the end of the story, the satan was pulling his hair out because nothing he did brought about Job’s fall. The satan lost the battle with God and was shamed in front of the heavenly council.
Time and time again, throughout scripture, the satan or Satan tries to come between God and human beings. In Job it is a blatant and open attack. He wants to prove that he has the power over God’s favored beings. This struggle began in the Garden of Eden and continues to the present day.
1Peter 5:8 states that the devil wanders the earth like a lion looking for people to devour. He admonishes us to resist him him, standing firm in the faith because all of us belonging to the kingdom are fighting the same battle. It is an admonition that the satan, or Satan is looking for whatever weakness he can play on in people. Job is an illustration of the enemy trying to find a chink in the armor of the faithful. The book also illustrates the behavior of people who are confronted by someone who is suffering and how subtle it can be.
Many times people take on the role of the accuser when faced with trouble, with situations that they do not understand, that frighten them. I believe the author or authors of Job were faced with the same dilemma. If the original story was comprised of chapters 1-3 and 42, the later writers must have had a hard time dealing with the fact that God would allow such liberty for the satan and in the conversations of the four friends were trying to make the story more comfortable for them. If these conversations were a part of the original book, I think the author was speaking against the retribution theology that says if you are suffering, you must have done something to deserve it.
Had he been through his own time of suffering and was trying to teach the people that this behavior is not acceptable? Was he trying to show that when people say to someone that their suffering is because of some act that that person has done, they become like the satan and walk away from Godly behavior? I think, if this book was written with all the verses originally that this must have been the author’s design. Whether these speeches were in the original book or not, then must be taken into account in the canonical text and I think they point out the way human beings should not act towards one another.
In today’s world, this is the basis of slut shaming, calling the young men and women unjustly killed by police as thugs and jumping on the band wagon to accuse Hillary of wrong doing in Benghazi. It is re-victimization of victims. It was wrong when the story of Job was written and it is wrong today. Not only are these lies thrown at the victims but it adds to their and their families and friends suffering. When the Teapublicans do this under the veil of supposed Christianity they are misreading the Old Testament and ignoring totally what Jesus said that you shouldn’t judge or you will be judged the same way.
I think this is what Jesus was directly addressing. So many times when something happens, people misconstrue the circumstances. In our foolishness we will immediately jump to the wrong conclusions especially if the person involved is someone we do not like. It is best to set judgment aside until all the facts are in. That is why people in court are considered innocent until proven guilty.
Our fear of suffering in others is covered up and pushed aside when we come up with a reason, even if it is wrong. The mystery of suffering in our own and others’ lives is so threatening and we have to try to come up with answers. Even Job’s friends and his wife are wrestling with it.