11 June Job 2:1-13

11 June. Job’s friends offer him sympathy

“On another day the angels came to show themselves before the LORD, and Satan was with them again. The LORD said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered, ‘I have been wandering around the earth, going back and forth in it.’”

“Then the LORD said to Satan, ’Have you noticed my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him. He is an honest and innocent man, honouring God and staying away from evil. You caused me to ruin him for no good reason, but he continues to be without blame.’”

“’One skin for another!’ Satan answered. ‘A man will give all he has to save his own life. But reach out your hand and destroy his flesh and bones, and he will curse you to your face.’ The LORD said to Satan, ‘All right, then, Job is in your power, but you may not take his life.’”

“So Satan left the LORD’s presence. He put painful sores on Job’s body, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself, and he sat in ashes in misery.”

“Job’s wife said to him, ‘Why are you trying to stay innocent? Curse God and die!’ Job answered, ‘You are talking like a foolish woman. Should we only take good things from God and not trouble?’ In spite of all this Job did not sin in what he said.”

“Now Job had three friends: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. When these friends heard about Job’s troubles, they agreed to meet and visit him. They wanted to show their concern and to comfort him.”

“They saw Job from far away, but he looked so different they almost didn’t recognise him. They began to cry loudly and tore their robes and put earth on their heads to show how sad they were. Then they sat on the ground with Job for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him because they saw how much he was suffering.”

(Job 2:1-13)

Yesterday, Job’s faith in God was tested when his oxen and donkeys were carried off, his sheep were struck by lightning, and his sons and daughters were killed when the house collapsed on top of them.

In today’s passage, Job’s faith was further tested when he was afflicted with painful sores, and he spent his time huddled up in misery.

But despite all this, Job was still faithful to the LORD, and he refused to turn away from God. He argued that God still loves us even when we have to stand up to hard times.

Job’s three friends from the area near the eastern border of Edom came to offer him sympathy. They hardly recognised Job when they first saw him as he’d changed so much. They sat with Job for a whole week, but no one knew what to say to him to comfort him or relieve his suffering.

In tomorrow’s selection of verses from the next 35 chapters of Job, we’ll look at some of the discussions his friends have with Job about why people suffer.

The photo (by Batya ben Zvi) shows the Arabah area of Edom where Job’s friends came from.