We've come to Job 2:7 now where Satan goes and immediately causes Job to break out in horrible sores all over his body. Just reading it the way it's stated doesn't make it sound too bad, but let's take a closer look at what Satan actually did to him. I want to quote from a commentary for this as it explains it quite well:
The condition pemphigus foliaceus, matches the symptoms of Job’s afflictions—inflamed, ulcerous sores (Job 2:7), itching (Job 2:8), degenerative (constantly getting worse, chronic) changes in facial skin (Job 2:7, Job 2:12), loss of appetite (Job 3:24), depression (Job 3:24-25), loss of strength (Job 6:11), worms in the boils (Job 7:5), running sores (Job 7:5), difficulty in breathing (Job 9:18), darkness under the eyes (Job 16:16), foul breath (Job 19:17), loss of weight (Job 19:20; Job 33:21), continual pain (Job 30:17), restlessness (Job 30:27), blackened skin (Job 30:30), peeling skin (Job 30:30), and fever (Job 30:30). Job was so disfigured by the disease that his friends hardly recognized him (Job 6:21). The Bible Knowledge Commentary
A summary of Job's physical pain: Inflamed ulcerous sores Job 2:7 Persistent itching, Facial disfiguration, Loss of appetite, Fears and depression, Sores that burst open, scab over, crack and ooze with pus, Worms that form in the sores themselves, Difficulty in breathing, A darkening of the eyelid, Loss of weight, Continual pain, High fever with chills and diarrhea, On top of that Job says,"my breath is offensive to my wife". When Pain is Prolonged
As we can see, Job was in very bad shape and I think many of us can relate to at least some of his symptoms. (if nothing else, the constant pain) We're very blessed today because we do have some pretty strong medications that can help us endure pain and other symptoms, but none of that was around during Job's time. Understanding how much pain Job was in and how very sick he was is also important for us to know if we want to understand what happens in the rest of this book. After all, I know for a fact that when my pain gets out of control, that my attitude changes. I start snapping at people for no reason and getting upset at little things, etc. I don't think we can blame Job if he did something similar with all the pain he's in.
Just so it's understood, Job 2:8 —Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. * is letting us know that Job went off to where the lepers stayed and stayed with them because of his disease as he had no way of knowing if he was contagious or not. He may have scraped himself with the broken pottery simply because of the itching, or in order to break open the sores, but I suspect it was probably due to the itching. It's at this point that his wife shows up and says something that always shocked me. She sure doesn't sound like a very nice person does she? Job 2:9 —His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!” *
Can you imagine your spouse saying something like that to you after so much tragedy has happened??? You've lost all your money, all your means of making money, your children, your slaves, and now, at least for Job, even his health, and that's what she says??? 
What I see here is a perfect picture of the truth that those we hurt the most are often the very people we love the most. So I don't think she didn't love her husband, I think she was just hurting very badly herself and said something she really didn't mean just as we all do at times.
In my mind I have this picture of the wife grieving for her children and worried about how she's going to get enough food to feed her husband and herself that night, and upset about what the neighbors have been saying about them both. As she's dealing with all these feelings, what does she see? She sees her husband praising God instead of comforting her the way she wants him to. I don't mean to say that Job didn't comfort his wife, I'm sure he tried to since God said he was a righteous man, but that doesn't mean that his wife didn't want more comfort then he gave her.
So she sees him praising God while she's grieving and wanting him, really just wanting the emotional pain to stop, but instead of stopping it gets worse: now her husband is terribly ill and looks just awful too! It must have both shocked and terrified her! How was she going to take care of him? What could she do for him? Now what would happen to them??? And here he is, sitting in ashes with lepers (which would have also terrified her because they believed you could get it just by being near someone who had it) calmly scratching himself with pottery! She also knew God was in control, but she reacted the way most of us would have. She blamed God and got angry.
She got angry at her husband and at God. At God for all He'd caused to happen and at her husband for so calmly accepting it. She felt like screaming, ranting and raving, not sitting calmly like he was, and she wanted him to do the same thing. So she screamed at him: "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" She wasn't saying that she wished he was dead, she figured there was nothing else God could possibly do to hurt them other then to cause her husband to die, so that was logically what would happen next, at least that's what she thought.
This also shows us another of Satan's favorite tricks. One he first used in the garden of Eden. He loves to use our loved ones to cause us pain, and that's what he did here. If she had been taking her thoughts captive and replacing them with God's Truth from the start, he wouldn't have been successful with her, and while she would have still grieved, she too would have known the peace that Job knew. She didn't do that though, instead she dwelled on what had happened and her fears of the future, and Satan was able to both upset her emotionally and use her to cause Job pain at a time when he most needed his wife's support. This is another area the Lord's shown me too. That just because our husband appears to be calm and have it all under control, that does not mean he doesn't need our support, compassion and affection. On the contrary, it often means he needs it more then ever so he can maintain his integrity. I'm sure that it would have helped Job greatly had she been able to give it.
Notice how Job reacts to her. He tells her she's talking like a foolish woman. In Psalms we're told that it's foolish people who mock God. Job wasn't calling her names, he was showing her what she was doing and reminding her of what was right. Job then says, "shall we accept good from God and not bad?" Notice that Job says "we", so he is including her in what he says, not excluding her. He's recognizing that they are both going through all of this together and it's not just him (or her) alone. He's speaking the truth to her with love.
I think we've all probably read this book before, so let me remind everyone too that at the end, when God rebukes Job's friends and tells them to repent, she is never rebuked or told to repent. It's possible that's because she was under the cover of Job's righteousness just as the spouse of a believer is sanctified by the believing spouse, but it seems more likely from what we read that she repented on her own, because we don't hear her complain again, but know she stays with her husband. (she's the one who gave birth to the children God gives Job at the end).
The last sentence in that verse, Job 2:10, is that "in all this, Job did not sin in what he said." That shows us that up till now, even though Satan attacked Job's body, causing him chronic pain and illness, he still worshiped God. It also shows us that so far, he did not fall prey to the sin of self pity, or blame God saying God wasn't being fair or that he deserved better treatment from Him, or any of the other many ways we often sin at times like this. Instead he proved God right by showing that some people would worship Him even if they weren't getting anything for it- even if He wasn't bribing them to do so.
The next verses begin to introduce Job's friends so we'll talk about them tomorrow, God wiling. I would like to mention one other thing that came to my mind while writing this. Whenever we read the Bible, it's important to do more then "just read the words". I think it's easy to see that God includes a LOT of information in every sentence. For example when we read the one sentence about his wife and how she reacted to all that had happened. Think about all we got from that, and I'm sure if we tried we could get more. Yet it was mostly only one sentence we got it from. We need to remember to ask ourselves (and the Lord) "why" things like that are said; ask how the person must have been feeling and try to imagine what they were going through that would have caused them to say or do whatever the verse says. Another example is the short sentence of what Satan did to Job. If we hadn't asked ourselves what that meant, what Job was going through because of it, we would have written it off as just a few sores and no big deal. See what I mean? This is a good example of what I mean when I talk about "studying the Word with the Lord", because it shows what we can get from scripture when we're talking to Him about it and asking Him why that would have happened or been said etc. When we talk to Him, we should also use our own minds, as that's what God gave them to us for. He never tells us to make our minds "blank", but instead wants us to use them. That's how He leads us to the answers. I think sometimes people get the wrong impression that they're supposed to ask Him questions and then sit quietly and "wait" for an answer to just appear out the sky. While that can happen, it generally doesn't happen that way. Usually God uses our own minds to guide us and help us discover the answers to our questions.
Originally Posted by catt
I like what you wrote about Job's wife. I had never thought of her as
anything but harsh.
When I stopped to think of it, she did well to come and see him.
He was unclean by the Mosaic law. If she touched him she would be too.
Then she would have to stay away for the proper amount of time, wash her
clothes and herself, buy two birds for the sacrifice and bring them to the
priest for the atonement. Pretty hard to do while you are homeless and
have no money. Oh, and the gossiping neighbors!
When I thought of her loss. How she was so recently in the center of a
thriving community, then completely cut off. I wouldn't be surprised if she
was depressed. Men generally do better at being alone than women do.
I am learning how to live by myself. This is the 6th month since I moved
due to divorce. I haven't been alone for 35 years. Sometimes I get sick
of my own company. I have much to be thankful for. I too have to take
the thoughts captive and replace them with the truth of God's word.
Poor Job, he was disgusting. I bet the lepers didn't even want to associate
with him. We get acne and think we have it bad.
You're probably right that the lepers probably didn't want anything at all to do with him either, and many probably gloated over the fact that he was now just as unclean as they were. Misery loves company.
I'm not sure the Mosaic law was in effect during the time Job lived, but even if it wasn't, they most likely did know about being unclean. In fact they must have for the lepers to have lived separately. And since Job offered sacrifices, it's quite likely it was normal to offer sacrifices after you'd become clean again anyway.
Yes, it can be hard to be alone, but it helps to remember that really isn't true since the Lord is always with us and He's a great listener! However there's been many times when I was alone that I had to tell Him that I'd really appreciate another human to talk to too! With that in mind, remember, you can always give me a call!
Originally Posted by jtheb
Good thoughts! I was alone for ten years and most of the time liked it.
?What is the date of Job? Doesn't it predate Moses?
I believe so John. Of all the commentaries and handbooks I've read about it, I thought the most informative one talking about the date was The MacArthur Bible handbook which I'll share with you:
The date of the book’s writing may be much later than the events recorded therein. This conclusion is based on:
(1) Job’s age (Job 42:16);
(2) his life span of nearly 200 years (Job 42:16), which fits the patriarchal period (Abraham lived 175 years; Gen. 25:7);
(3) the social unit being the patriarchal family;
(4) the Chaldeans who murdered Job’s servants (Job 1:17) were nomads and had not yet become city dwellers;
(5) Job’s wealth being measured in livestock rather than gold and silver (Job 1:3; Job 42:12);
(6) Job’s priestly functions within his family (Job 1:4, 5); and
(7) a basic silence on matters such as the covenant of Abraham, Israel, the Exodus, and the law of Moses. The events of Job’s odyssey appear to be patriarchal. Job, on the other hand, seemed to know about Adam (Job 31:33) and Noah and the Flood (Job 12:15).
These cultural/historical features found in the book appear to place the events chronologically at a time probably after Babel (Gen. 11:1–9) but before or during the period of Abraham (Gen. 11:27ff.), making it the most ancient book in the Bible.
The MacArthur Bible handbook
Catt posted:
Good point about the timing of Job. I think it was the
animal sacrifices that threw me off.
No worries Catt. Most folks don't realize that this book was written before all that. After all, it's placed after that in the Bible, so you'd think logically, that stuff had already happened. Well, at least I used to before I really started to study it.
Kind of like when we read about Abraham, Cain and Abel, or Noah. All of them can be really confusing because it sure seems like they know the 10 commandments and the Law, but they hadn't been given yet. To me it was really neat when I realized that they knew about all those things because of what Adam and Eve had learned during their time in the Garden and that it had been passed down through all the generations. And of course that God had probably helped by revealing it to key people as well over the course of time, or just reminding them about it.
Originally Posted by Fearnot
I never really read about the worms in the sores....euuuuwwww! That would have been very hard to handle. Hard to have them and hard as a wife or friend to see them wiggling and squirming around gross! I also missed how tired it would have made him, but when I think about how tired I am all the time from pain alone, it makes perfect sense. Also bad breath, something I fear I am dealing with any time I notice someone stepping back a step, makes me wonder Oh Oh, Is my breath bad? Then I step back another step. I already have a built in personal space issue ( I don't like to be nose to nose talking to someone, I just naturally feel better a few steps away).
And it is soooooo true about how satan likes to hurt us thru our family (children especially comes to mind!!). But the fact that satan started that first in the garden I had never really put together either.
Originally Posted by catt
Just a thought.
Sometimes goodness isn't pretty or nice.
As a girl I was taught to be nice. Mother's admonition was,
"Don't do that it's not nice!" But sometimes goodness is gritty
and brutal. Consider the cross. All the times our savior was
tempted, but did not sin. Only to go to the cross and bear
all the sins of the world. And here is Job. Is he a type of
Christ? He was most certainly tempted and yet he did not sin.
The way he bore suffering was a testimony to the goodness of God.
But it wasn't pretty or nice.
True Catt, good isn't always pretty or nice. Getting a flu shot hurts, but it's a good idea to get one for many people.
No, Job isn't generally considered a type of Christ. Instead, we'll discover that he cries out to God asking Him for a mediator to stand between him and God. Of course we know that Christ is the answer to that cry.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please comment so we can grow in faith together and edify each other.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.