Job 1:6-12 | The Way of Scripture

Job 1:6-12

What is the challenge about Job’s motives?

Berean Standard Bible

6 One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 “Where have you come from?” said the LORD to Satan. “From roaming through the earth,” he replied, “and walking back and forth in it.” 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil.” 9 Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not placed a hedge on every side around him and his household and all that he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out Your hand and strike all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face.” 12 “Very well,” said the LORD to Satan. “Everything he has is in your hands, but you must not lay a hand on the man himself.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

What is the context?

In the heavenly scene, the Lord commends Job’s integrity. Satan challenges the sincerity of devotion protected by prosperity, arguing that Job will curse God if his possessions are struck.

The Lord permits an attack on what Job has while forbidding harm to Job himself. The attacker’s power is bounded rather than independent or equal to God’s.

The question concerns whether Job fears God only for the benefit he receives. It is not the narrator saying that Job’s actual motive has been proved selfish, and Job is not told about this exchange.

How is this passage commonly understood?

Wesley takes the court scene as a figurative presentation of God’s rule over human and demonic actions, with Satan understood as the devil. The USCCB note reads the figure in this scene as the heavenly court’s accuser and distinguishes that portrayal from the later biblical development of the devil. Both readings recognize the accusation and the limits imposed; neither makes Job privy to the scene.

What is our position?

We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.

Where can I study this further?

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