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Thursday, September 11, 2008

The troubles of Job

Job 1:21-22 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
Job 2:3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.
Job 2:10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Did Satan initiate the troubles of Job? What was God's part in it? Can God be credited with work that Satan did? In Job 1:11 Satan says, "But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face." And then in verse 21 of all his loss Job says, "the LORD hath taken away," and the Bible says in this "Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." When we get to chapter two, of all this God says Satan "movedst me against him."

When Satan went "forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job," Job's wife told him to "curse God, and die." Rather Job replied, "What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" Again the Bible says in this "did not Job sin with his lips."

Anyone care to explain how they see these verses?

Can we agree with all these statements?
1. Job SINNED NOT (in this).
2. GOD SINNED NOT (not in this, not ever).
3. All Satan does IS SIN.

If so, let us consider:
1. Job SINNED NOT, and he said God took away his children and his belongings (1:21-22), and also said that he received what happened at the hand of God (2:10). If Job sinned not in what he said, then God is in some way responsible for what happened. If God were not responsible, then Job would have sinned because that is what he said in both places.
2. GOD SINNED NOT, and he said to Satan "thou movedst me against him." (2:3) Since God sinned not in what He said, then Satan is in some way responsible for what happened.
3. All Satan does IS SIN. Yet the Scriptures attribute the calamitous events to both All-Holy and Righteous God and to all-sinful Satan. These are the same events -- death of his children, loss of his assets, and miserable boils from head to foot -- not different events. So there is some sense in which God can be responsible for the same events carried out by Satan, and yet Satan be guilty and God be righteous.

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