I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 1-5.

    Sometimes I think that the translators have done us a disservice by using “Satan” as a proper name. The Hebrew word means “adversary” and I think it would aid our understanding of this passage, and several others, if the translators had used “The Adversary” rather than “Satan”. Of course, this usage of Satan goes back to the New Testament writers who chose to use a transliteration of the Hebrew word in their Greek writings. Nevertheless, everywhere in the Bible where we see the word “Satan” we should be aware that the original writers were thinking “The Adversary” or perhaps just “adversary”.

    Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of this book is the fact that Job suffered in order to prove to Satan that he would not stop living righteously, even in the midst of suffering. And here is where reading “Satan” rather than “The Adversary” affects our thinking. (I am struggling with how to word the thought which struck me today reading this). Most of us have heard someone say something similar to what Satan said here about Job, or its opposite:

“Well, of course he/she is law-abiding and upright. See how privileged they are!”

OR

“Well, it is no wonder they commit crimes, look at all of the things they have suffered.”

Sometimes people suffer so as to serve as examples to the people who say such things, or more importantly to the people who excuse their sin using such arguments. There are people who will not stop honoring and serving God, even when they suffer. And having all of the blessings of this world does not mean that someone will necessarily do so. There are people who have been healthy and wealthy their entire lives for whom everything seems to go their way.

    Another important point to remember when reading the Book of Job is that at the end God tells Job’s friends that they were in the wrong regarding what they said to him. So, in light of that, I am going to look at this first exchange between Job and Eliphaz. When Job’s three friends arrived they sat and mourned his suffering with him in silence for seven days. Finally Job expressed his deep depression. I find two themes in Job’s statement. He wishes he had never been born rather than suffer the way that he was and he asks why he is suffering. Eliphaz replies by saying that suffering comes to those who have done wrong, that it is how God corrects us for doing wrong. By saying this Eliphaz implies that Job must be suffering because he did something wrong. If only Job would confess and repent of his sins his suffering would cease.