Job Chapter 2
Please read: Job 2 –
It seems that the horrible things done to Job in the first chapter did not achieve the results that Satan was hoping for. So, he was back with another plan. It is always the way of Satan; he keeps devising plans and schemes, ways in which he can attack the creation of God. In fact, we learn that Satan “walks to and fro” all over the earth seeking who he can attack. These attacks are meant to cause a human to denounce their faith in God, to give up on Him. That is not what Job did much to the dismay of Satan.
Satan accused Job of being able to stand strong because it was the lives of his children and animals that had been attacked. It was “skin for skin,” that somehow Job in his mind had traded the skin of his children for his own skin. Satan was accusing him of thinking that at least it wasn’t his own life that was taken. This accusation was not true. The loss of Job’s children was devastating and heartbreaking to both him and to his wife. But Satan was sure that Job would give up on his faith in God if his own skin was afflicted. Bodily pain and illness can be very hard to deal with, that is for certain. It can cause people to fall apart. But God knew His servant named Job.
Let's Reflect
1. Despite having lost everything as described in chapter 1, how does God describe the reaction of his servant Job?
2. When Satan was given permission to strike Job once again there was one restriction, what was it?
3. We learn how Satan afflicted Job’s body in this chapter and in later chapters there is more description of just how extensive the attack on his body was. What is the first part of the attack on Job’s body?
4. It seems that Job is not within his own house but probably sitting on the ground in great mourning over the loss of his family. He would have possibly made a fire for warmth or maybe this is just the spot where he chose to sit, a spot where a fire had been previously. What did Job do with a shard of pottery to help relieve some of his discomfort?
5. It might be tempting to think terrible thoughts about Job’s wife, but we need to remember that she too had just lost all of her children. To her in all her pain, Job’s continued and unshakeable faith in God seemed ridiculous. But it didn’t seem ridiculous to Job. What truth did he tell his wife about God?
6. Despite this horrible second attack from Satan, what does verse 10 tell us about Job?
7. The last section of this chapter introduces us to three good friends of Job. These men had made an appointment to come together to go and be with Job. What does the Bible say about their reaction to seeing Job when they arrived?
8. They were in fact very good friends in that they did what for the first seven days? Sometimes that is the best thing we can do for a friend who has just lost a loved one – just be still and sit with them.
