Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 1:8

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 1:8. Hast thou considered my servant Job — Literally, Hast thou placed thy heart on my servant Job? Hast thou viewed his conduct with attention, whilst thou wert roaming about, seeking whom thou mightest devour? viz., the careless, prayerless, and profligate in general.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

1:1-2:13 SATAN TESTS JOB

From prosperity to ruin (1:1-22)

A popular belief in ancient times was that prosperity and well-being were proofs of godliness, but poverty and suffering were proofs of ungodliness. They were signs that God was either rewarding or punishing a person, according to whether that person’s life was good or bad. The book of Job contradicts this belief. Yet the prosperous and contented Job was indeed a godly person who was blameless in all that he did. He was concerned also for purity in the lives of all his children (1:1-5).
Meanwhile in heaven, God’s court of angelic beings had assembled before him. Among them was one, Satan, whose chief concern was to move around the world looking for human failings (6-7). (In Hebrew satan was a common word that meant ‘adversary’ or ‘opponent’.) Satan made the accusation to God that Job’s faith was not sincere. If Job suddenly lost his family and possessions, argued Satan, his apparent devotion to God would soon disappear (8-11). God allowed Satan to test Job by removing anything that belonged to him, but he was not to harm Job’s body (12).

In a series of calamities, Job lost first his working animals (13-15), then his sheep and shepherds (16), then his camels (17), and finally all his children (18-19). In spite of his overwhelming distress, Job’s devotion to God did not alter (20-22).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THAT CONVERSATION BETWEEN GOD AND SATAN

"Now it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, that Satan also came among them. And Jehovah said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And Jehovah said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and turneth away from evil. Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath, on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will renounce thee to thy face. And Jehovah said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power: only upon himself put not forth thy hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah."

See our chapter introduction for the location of this scene, not in heaven, but upon earth when God's people were assembled for worship.

"Jehovah… Jehovah… Jehovah… Jehovah… Jehovah… Jehovah… Jehovah" Seven times in six verses, the covenant name of God appears in this passage, thundering the message that the "sons of God" here are those in covenant relationship with the Eternal. Note that [~'Elohiym] (God) is used twice in the preceding paragraph. Are the holy angels within any such covenant relationship? Absolutely, NO! How blind the critics are to this passage! Dummelow noted that the use of the Tetragrammaton here is thought by some, "To be a slip on the part of the author!J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 294. How could anybody make "a slip" seven times in six verses? Our own opinion is that we have proof here, as Dummelow wrote, that, "The Tetragrammaton (Jehovah) may have been much older than Moses."Ibid. This writer fully believes that the name Jehovah is indeed much older than Moses. (See my excursus on the Tetragrammaton (Y-H-W-H), beginning on p. 32 of my commentary on Exodus.)

"Satan here has ready access to heaven."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 423. See chapter introduction for many reasons why such a comment is erroneous.

"The sons of God… are divine beings who shared in the nature of divinity."The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 3, p. 910. Rowley enunciated the same error, "Sons of God means superhuman, or celestial beings."H. H. Rowley, Job, in the New Century Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970). "To interpret these words thus is to suppose that the very same words in Genesis 6:1-3 teach that angels intermarried with men producing a race of giants, despite the fact that the Christ himself declared that angels "Neither marry nor are given in marriage" (Matthew 22:30). The true meaning of Sons of God is found in Romans 8:14. How are they sons of God? "They are born of God, born of water and the Spirit". In short, they are followers and worshippers of God; and so were those mentioned in Genesis 6:1-3, and in this passage before us. To suppose that the Holy Spirit in this passage was speaking of angels is ridiculous. Did He not know the word angels? If that is what he meant, why did not the Holy Spirit write angels? This student of God's Word has had his fill, and more, of the speculations of commentators who presume to tell us what the Holy Spirit meant, instead of what he said.

Rawlinson, usually quite accurate, misses it here, stating that, "Job 1:7 teaches that Satan, therefore, is not, like most of his fallen angels, "reserved in chains under darkness to the judgment of the last day (Judges 1:6)."The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 4. However, this very passage teaches that Satan is chained. (See more on the chaining of Satan under Job 1:12). He could not even touch Job, without God's permission; and, even after the Lord gave him permission to destroy Job's possessions, he was not allowed to touch the person of Job (Job 1:12).

"Doth Job fear God for naught?" Satan's implication here is that Job's motive for serving God was purely selfish. Atkinson raises the question, "Why do we serve God? Is it merely for what we can get out of it"?The Bible Speaks Today (Downer's Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1976), Job, p. 21. Some of the comments on this are quite inadequate. It is true that genuine faith does not serve God merely for the temporal blessings that most certainly do accompany it, and which Satan himself freely admitted in the next verse. But in spite of this, it is a profound fact that the ultimate reward in heaven, after the present life is ended, is a valid motive for serving God. Christ himself admonished righteousness, saying, "For great is your reward in heaven" (Matthew 5:12). Yet, even the hope of heaven is not the highest motive. The Lord revealed that there are three basic motives for serving God, namely, (1) The love of God, (2) the hope of heaven, and (3) the fear of hell. Quite understandably, Satan was careful not to mention the other two motives! But we wonder why so many writers do not mention them.

"Hast thou not made a hedge about him?" Oh yes, even the devil admitted in this instance that serving God is certainly rewarded in this life also, at least, in the vast majority of instances; and it would doubtless be true invariably, if mankind had not chosen to become servants of the devil. In this verse, for once, the devil was speaking the truth. How mighty is God's protection and blessing of the faithful, even in this life; and even though Satan's interference brought great calamity and grief upon Job, read the rest of the story! "Job did not serve God for something he could gain by it."A. Van Selms, Job, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1985. This is typical of the comments on Job which appear to us as totally inadequate. This comment would have been true if the author of it had said that, "Job did not serve God merely for what he can gain by it in this life." Job had the eye of faith upon the eternal world, confident in the resurrection of the dead and the appearance of the blessed Redeemer (Job 19:25). To leave this consideration out of the Book of Job is to miss the point of it completely.

"In Eden, Satan disparaged God to man; but here he disparages man to God."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 462.

"All that he hath is in thy power" Some scholars have even taken the position that it was really a very mean and inconsiderate old God who would thus have turned Job over to the devil. Such an attitude is merely the blindness of unbelief. It was not God who gave Satan dominion over Adam and his posterity, making him, in fact, "The god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4); but it was Adam himself. The human family in the person of their great progenitors rejected the benign and glorious government of heaven and willfully became the servants of Satan. Thus Satan's implied request for power to afflict Job was, in a sense, within his prerogative as mankind's chosen ruler.

Could not God have prevented it? Indeed, he could have. Why then, did he allow it? "God allowed it; because Job's sufferings, unknown to him, would stand forever before men and angels, as a trophy of the saving might of God, and an exhibition of that divine wisdom (and faithfulness) which is the archetype and foundation of human wisdom."Ibid., p. 461.

"Against himself put forth not thy hand" Note also that Satan could not even touch Job's property without God's permission. Yes, indeed, Satan is bound. That does not mean that Satan is inactive, but merely that his activity is limited to the earth, where he awaits the judgment; and, even upon earth, he is by no means free to act without God's permission.

REGARDING THE BINDING OF SATAN

(1)    The proof that Satan is bound is resident in the fact of each and every person who is saved by obeying the gospel. "How can one enter into the house (the earth) of the strong man (Satan) and spoil his goods (save a sinner from hell), except he first bind the strong man (Satan)? and then he will spoil his goods" (Matthew 12:29). No person whomsoever would ever be saved if Satan were not bound.

(2)    Satan cannot tempt even the weakest child of God beyond that which he is able to bear (1 Corinthians 10:12). This reveals a definite limitation (or binding) of Satan's activity.

(3)    In this passage, Satan was definitely chained (a) to the extent that he had been unable to touch Job in all the days of his prosperity, (b) in the fact that he could never have destroyed Job's wealth without God's permission, (c) to the extent that in this first test, he was not permitted to touch the person of Job, and (d) to the extent that, even after God allowed him to afflict Job's body, in the second test, Satan was, even then, forbidden to take Job's life. The same limitation of Satan's hatred of any and all of God's children is indicated by the fact that Satan was not allowed to sift (test) the apostle Peter without Jesus' specific permission (Luke 22:31). What is the chain that restrains Satan? It is the Word of God.

(4)    It is revealed in Revelation 20:1-3 that Satan is bound "for a thousand years," the same being only another designation of the current dispensation of the love of Christ. (See our extensive comments on this passage in Vol. 12 of my New Testament series, pp. 454-460.)

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Hast thou considered my servant Job? - Margin, “Set thine heart on.” The margin is a literal translation of the Hebrew. Schultens remarks on this, that it means more than merely to observe or to look at - since it is abundantly manifest from the following verses that Satan “had” attentively considered Job, and had been desirous of injuring him. It means, according to him, to set himself against Job, to fix the heart on him with an intention to injure him, and yahweh means to ask whether Satan had done this. But it seems more probable that the phrase means to consider “attentively,” and that God means to ask him whether he had carefully observed him. Satan is represented as having no confidence in human virtue, and as maintaining that there was none which would resist temptation, if presented in a form sufficiently alluring. God here appeals to the case of Job as a full refutation of this opinion. The trial which follows is designed to test the question whether the piety of Job was of this order.

That there is none like him in the earth - That he is the very highest example of virtue and piety on earth. Or might not the word כי kı̂y here be rendered “for?” “For there is none like him in the earth.” Then the idea would be, not that he had considered “that” there was none like him, but God directs his attention to him “because” he was the most eminent among mortals.

A perfect and an upright man - See the Notes at Job 1:1. The Septuagint translates this verse as they do Job 1:1.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Shall we turn now to the book of Job, chapter 1.

As we come to the book of Job, we actually enter into a new section of the Old Testament. As you know, the Old Testament is divided into different divisions. The first five books comprising what is often called the Pentateuch, the books of the law. The next several books are historic as they deal with the history of the nation of Israel from the time that they have come out of Egypt and they begin as a nation in the land. And it covers that period of history while they are in the land of Israel through the Babylonian captivity and through the repatriation and the regathering again to Israel. And the books of history take us up to about 400 B.C.

Now we are entering into a third part of the Old Testament, the books that are known as the books of poetry. And these include Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. And they are Hebrew poetry. And in Hebrew poetry, it is unlike our English poetry in that Hebrew poetry does not rhyme words, but actually gives sort of parallel thoughts or contrasting thoughts. And their sense of literature and poetry is found not in the rhyming of a word or not in a meter, but in the thoughts themselves. The paralleling thoughts are the rhyming thoughts. The words don't necessarily rhyme, but there is a rhyme or parallelism within the thoughts or a contrast: the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. For the righteous shall flourish, but the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous, the wicked. And so you have the contrast between the thoughts, or you have the parallel thoughts where they are building: the way of the Lord is right; the way of the Lord is true; the way of the Lord is just. And so you are giving parallel thought concepts.

So Job is the first of the books of poetry. It has been considered perhaps older than the book of Genesis. Though Genesis, of course, deals with history that predates Job, yet there is a Jobab mentioned in Genesis that is very possibly the Job of this book who lived contemporarily with Abraham. So it is possible that Job dates back as far as does Abraham, just a couple of generations away from Noah and the flood. Thus, in the book of Job, which is one of the oldest books of man's literature, the expression of the thoughts of some of the earliest men, once writing was developed and thoughts could be recorded. We find that men from the beginning have been pretty much the same. Though our cultures have changed and times have changed from Job, yet basically the same things that were a problem to Job are the same things that become a problem to us. The same needs that Job expressed are the same needs that still exists in man today.

In Job we have the picture of a man who was reduced perhaps more than any other man has ever been reduced, to just the bare essence of existence. With Job it's just raw existence. Everything that we think as necessary for life, everything that we consider to be important for our lives was stripped away from Job. His possessions, his family, his friends, his health, lost everything. He even lost the consciousness of the sense of his own worth as he began to curse the day that he was born and cry out for death.

Now, when you have lost everything, then is when is exposed the deepest longings and quest of man. You see, you're not worried about, "Where shall we go to eat after church tonight?" And this doesn't become a real major issue, a point of argument and debate. Or, "What are we going to do tomorrow on the holiday?" You see, we crowd and fill our minds with a lot of things that really aren't essential to life, because we have friends and we have many interests. And these things can become very important to us. And unfortunately, people can spend their whole lives in things that really don't matter. A whole life can be wasted in non-essentials. It isn't, "What shall we eat?" or, "Shall we eat or not?" or, "Can we eat or not?" but it becomes then the argument is, "What is the choice of what we are going to eat?" "Well, I have a taste for Mexican food." "Well, I have a taste for Italian food." "Well, I want Mexican food. I want the chips with the sauce." "Well, I want lasagna." And you call the attorney to get a divorce. Oh, how tragic that man can spend his life majoring in minors and never, never come to the real issues of life.

Now with Job, man, it was just existence. Everything was stripped away. Now just the raw person. What are the things that are expressed? What are the cries? What are the needs? They are the basic needs of man and the basic needs of life that are expressed at this point. And thus, Job becomes a very interesting book to us as we listen to the cries of Job as they deal with the deepest issues of life.

The story of Job is an interesting story, and it is one that surely does confirm what God has declared in Isaiah and Job expressed himself, and that is that the ways of God are beyond our finding out. God said through Isaiah the prophet, "My ways are not your ways, saith the Lord, My ways are beyond your finding out" ( Isaiah 55:8 ). I do not pretend to understand everything about God. In fact, I must confess that I understand very little about God. That's why I worship Him. If I could understand Him completely then He would be on my level and what would I have to worship? But because He is so much greater, vaster in wisdom and understanding and knowledge than I am, I stand in awe and reverence and I worship Him.

Now, He doesn't always do things my way. Nor does He always stop to explain to me why He did it His way. Though I sometimes demand that He does. He doesn't always even pay attention to my demands. He just seems to go ahead and do what He wants to anyhow, in spite of my objections. But I appreciate that, because I have found a long time ago that I don't know very much. I fit in the category of which Shakespeare wrote when he said, "Man, poor man, so ignorant in that which he knows best." And I find I'm so ignorant in the things I know best. And thus, I am glad to submit my life, my will to God and to His wisdom. And I am thankful that I can pray, "Lord, I don't understand what You're doing. I don't like what You're doing, but I know that what You're doing is best so just keep doing it. Not my will, Your will, Lord, be done."

The beginning of Job. It tells us a little background of him.

Job lived in the land of Uz ( Job 1:1 );

Wherever that is. But then concerning him, it said he was,

a perfect [man] and upright, and one that feared God [or reverenced God], and hated evil ( Job 1:1 ).

Job was a good man. Loving, reverencing God, hating evil.

Now he had seven sons and three daughters. Plus seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east ( Job 1:2-3 ).

A good man. A wealthy man. A man who loved God and hated evil.

And his sons ( Job 1:4 )

Seem to be partiers. So in his concern for his sons, daily he would offer sacrifices for them and say, "Lord, forgive them if in their partying they say something that is contrary or against Thee, Lord, grant them forgiveness." And he was constantly praying for his children. The background of the man.

Now we turn from this man and now we are ushered into the heavenly scenes. We are now at the throne of God and the angels are coming and presenting themselves to God. And along with the angels, here comes Satan. Now, even after Satan's fall, it seems that he had access, and thus have access to the throne of God. Why does God allow him access there? I told you I don't know everything about God and I don't know. It's a question in my mind. The Bible says he's the accuser of the brethren and he accuses them before God day and night. Now we find him in that position right here. He is accusing Job after God brings up the subject of Job. But first of all, when Satan comes in to present himself before God, God says, "Oh, where have you been?" He says, "I've been cruising around the world. Going to and fro throughout it, walking up and down." God said, "Oh?"

Have you considered my servant Job ( Job 1:8 ),

God's doing a little bragging now. He's got one down there who really loves Him. He's a perfect man. He hates evil. Praying for his children.

The word considered is the word that I'm interested in, though, because it is actually a military term. It is the term that is used of a general who is studying a city before he attacks it in order that he might develop his strategy whereby he can destroy the city. So he's watching when they open the gates, the method of which they open the gates. How do the people come out? What gates are the most easily attacked? And he's developing his whole strategy in order that he might attack and destroy the city. That's the Hebrew word, the background of the word. It's a military term. "Have you been studying Job? Seeking to develop the strategy whereby you might destroy him? Have you considered my servant Job?"

Now God's witness of Job, perfect man and upright. He loves Me; he hates evil. And Satan frighteningly declares, "Yes, I have seen that fellow. I've studied him." And not only had Satan been studying Job, but he had developed a whole philosophy concerning Job. He said, "Job has been blessed of You. Look, he's the wealthiest man in the east. He has everything anybody could ever desire or want. Job is just serving You because You've blessed him so much. Who wouldn't serve You if You blessed them like that? And You've put a hedge around him and I can't get to him." This interests me, the hedge that God puts around His children. "He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. To bear thee up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone" ( Psalms 91:11-12 ). And God has a hedge around us. Satan is complaining about that hedge. "Let me get at it. Let me at it. Let me take away his wealth and he's going to curse you to your face. Job only serves You because it pays such big dividends." So God said to Satan, "All right, I will let you at him. Only don't touch him. You can touch his possessions; don't touch him."

So it came to pass in a certain day while his children were feasting and drinking in his oldest son's house: there came a messenger to Job, and he said, Your oxen were plowing, and the asses were feeding beside them: and the Sabaeans fell upon them, and took them away; and they killed all of your servants; and I'm the only one that is left and I have come to tell you. And before he could finish his message of despair, a second servant came, and he said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and it has consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. And while he was still talking, there came another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, they fell upon your camels, and have carried them away, and they've killed all of your servants with the edge of the sword; and I'm the only one that has escaped and I've come to tell you. While he was yet speaking, another came and said, Your sons and daughters while they were having this big banquet, a wind came out to the east, and it blew down the house, and they were all of them crushed to death; and their servants with them ( Job 1:13-18 ).

Wipe out. In a moment's time your wealth, your possessions, and even all of your children are taken away. What do you do? Job fell on his face there in the dirt and he blessed God.

He said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I'm going to return: the LORD has given, the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all of these things Job did not curse God, neither did he charge God foolishly ( Job 1:21-22 ).

I would like to say that I have heard many people charge God foolishly. Maybe they didn't curse God, but they've made foolish charges against God. I've heard people say, "I don't think God cares about me at all. I don't think God loves me." Those are foolish charges against God. Sometimes because of our circumstances we are prone to make foolish charges against God. But Job didn't do that. He passed test one.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. The first test 1:6-22

These verses reveal that angels ("sons of God," Job 1:6), including Satan, periodically report to God on their activities. Satan was doing then what he did in the Garden of Eden and still does today, namely, "seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8). [Note: For a summary of what the Book of Job teaches about angels, see ibid., p. 232. See too Sydney H. T. Page, "Satan: God’s Servant," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 50:3 (September 2007):449-65.] In Eden, Satan disparaged God to Eve. Here he disparaged Job to God. [Note: Kline, p. 462.]

Satan accused God of bribing Job so he would act piously (Job 1:9-11). This charge articulates one of the main questions of this book: Why do righteous people such as Job live upright lives? Satan said Job did so because Job had learned that there is an inevitable connection between deed and state of being (i.e., godliness results in prosperity). This idea, that the relationship between God and man rests on retribution-we always reap in kind during our lifetime what we sow-is one that Job held. However, his fear (reverential trust) of God ran deeper than Satan realized.

Satan determined to prove that Job would not obey God if he got no blessing in return. He believed selfishness prompted Job’s obedience rather than love. Satan also believed that God would not get worship from Job if He stopped blessing him.

"Cynicism is the essence of the satanic. The Satan believes nothing to be genuinely good-neither Job in his disinterested piety nor God in His disinterested generosity." [Note: Andersen, p. 84. ]

Since the English word "satan" is a transliteration of the Hebrew satan, meaning adversary, it is not uncommon for writers to refer to Satan as "the Satan," namely, the ultimate adversary. Why does God allow Satan to test believers? He allowed Satan to test Job to silence Satan and to strengthen Job’s character (cf. James 1:2-18).

"The primary purpose of Job’s suffering, unknown to him, was that he should stand before men and angels as a trophy of the saving might of God . . ." [Note: Kline, p. 461.]

"From the outset, the writer reminds us that, no matter what happens in this world and in our lives, God is on the throne and has everything under control." [Note: Warren W. Wiersbe, "Job," in The Bible Exposition Commentary/Wisdom and Poetry, p. 11.]

The fact that the oxen were plowing (Job 1:14) indicates that these events probably happened in the winter. The Sabeans (Job 1:15) may have come from a region in southwest Arabia called Sheba or from the town of Sheba located in upper Arabia (cf. Genesis 10:7; Genesis 25:3). The Chaldeans (Job 1:17) came from Mesopotamia to the north and were at this time nomadic marauders, assuming a patriarchal period setting of the events. [Note: Kline, p. 462.]

Tearing one’s robe (Job 1:20) typically expressed great grief in the ancient Near East. It symbolized the rending of one’s heart (cf. Joel 2:13). Shaving the head (Job 1:20) evidently symbolized the loss of personal glory. When a person mourned, he or she put off all personal adornments, including what nature provided (cf. Jeremiah 7:29; Micah 1:16). Hair in the ancient world was a symbol of one’s glory (cf. 2 Samuel 14:26). Job apparently fell to the ground to worship God (Job 1:20). A mother’s womb is a figure used elsewhere to describe the earth (Job 1:21; cf. Psalms 139:15; Ecclesiastes 5:15; Ecclesiastes 12:7).

Job’s recognition of Yahweh’s sovereignty (Job 1:21) was a key to his passing his test (cf. 1 Timothy 6:7). In some respects he regarded God as an equal (cf. Job 9:33), but underneath he knew God was his sovereign. This conception of God is one that Job never lost, though many people who go through trials do.

"Job’s exclamation is the noblest expression to be found anywhere of a man’s joyful acceptance of the will of God as his only good. A man may stand before God stripped of everything that life has given him, and still lack nothing." [Note: Andersen, p. 88.]

"Anybody can say, ’The Lord gave’ or ’The Lord hath taken away’; but it takes real faith to say in the midst of sorrow and suffering, ’Blessed be the name of the Lord.’" [Note: Wiersbe, p. 12.]

Job grieved but worshipped. These two activities are not incompatible. He saw God’s hand in the events of his life. Moreover he had a proper perspective on his possessions. His faith did not relieve his agony; it caused it. Many people believe that if one has enough faith, he or she will always be happy. Job’s experience does not bear this out. We should have a deep-seated joy no matter what happens to us, knowing that we are in the Lord’s hands and that He has permitted whatever happens to us (Philippians 4:4). But we may not always be happy, namely, enjoying our circumstances.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job,.... Or, "hast thou put thine heart on my servant" p; not in a way of love and affection to him, to do him any good or service, there being an original and implacable enmity in this old serpent to the seed of the woman; but rather his heart was set upon him in a way of desire to have him in his hands, to do him all the mischief he could, as the desire of his heart was toward Peter, Luke 22:31 but the sense of the question is, since thou sayest thou hast been walking up and down in the earth, hast thou not taken notice of Job, and cast an eye upon him, and wished in thine heart to have him in thine hands to do him hurt? I know that thou hast; hast thou not contrived in thine heart how to attack him, tempt him, and draw him from my service, and into sins and snares, in order to reproach and accuse him? thou hast, but all in vain; and so it is a sarcasm upon Satan, as well as an expression of indignation at him for such an attempt upon him, and as anticipating his accusation of Job; for it is as if he should further say, I know he is in thine eye, and upon thine heart, now thou art come with a full intent to accuse and charge him; so Jarchi, "lest thou set thine heart", c. so as "to have a good will to accuse him" he had, but the Lord prevents him, by giving a high character of him, in these and the following words: here he calls him "my servant" not a servant of men, living according to the lusts and will of men, and their customs and forays of worship, superstition, and idolatry; nor a servant of sin and the lusts of the flesh; nor of Satan, who boasted of the whole earth being his; but the Lord's servant, not only by creation, but by special choice, by redemption, by efficacious grace, and the voluntary surrender of himself to the Lord under the influence of it; and by his cheerful and constant obedience he answered this character; and the Lord here claims his property in him, acknowledges him as his servant, calls him by name, and gives an high and honourable account of him:

that there is none like him in the earth; or "in the land"; in the land of Uz, so Obadiah Sephorno; whatever there were in other countries, there were none in this, being in general idolaters; or in the land of the people of the Heathen nations, as the Targum; or rather in the whole earth, where Satan had been walking: and, very probably, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were now dead; Job being, as it should seem, between them and the times of Moses; and though there might be many godly persons then living, who were like to him in quality, being partakers of the same divine nature, having the same image of God upon them, and the same graces in them, and a similar experience of divine things, yet not upon an equality with him; he exceeded them all in grace and holiness; and particularly, none came up to him for his patience in suffering affliction, though this was often tried; as Moses excelled others in meekness, and Solomon in wisdom; Job was an eminent saint and servant of the Lord, a father in his family, a pillar in his house, like Saul among the people, taller in grace and the exercise of it; and this is a reason why he could not but be taken notice of by Satan, who has his eye more especially on the most eminent saints, and envies them, and strikes at them; and so the words are by some rendered, "for there is none like him" q; or rather they may be rendered, "but there is none like him" r: and so are opposed to the accusations and charges Satan was come with against him:

a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

Luke 22:31- : here the character there given is confirmed by the Lord in the express words of it.

p השמת לבך על עבדי "nunquid posuisti cor tuum super servum meum", Pagninus, Montanus, Bolducius, Schmidt. q כי "nam", Piscator. r "Atqui", Schmidt.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.   7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.   8 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?   9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?   10 Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.   11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.   12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

      Job was not only so rich and great, but withal so wise and good, and had such an interest both in heaven and earth, that one would think the mountain of his prosperity stood so strong that it could not be moved; but here we have a thick cloud gathering over his head, pregnant with a horrible tempest. We must never think ourselves secure from storms while we are in this lower region. Before we are told how his troubles surprised and seized him here in this visible world, we are here told how they were concerted in the world of spirits, that the devil, having a great enmity to Job for his eminent piety, begged and obtained leave to torment him. It does not at all derogate from the credibility of Job's story in general to allow that this discourse between God and Satan, in these verses, is parabolical, like that of Micaiah (1 Kings 22:19-29, c.), and an allegory designed to represent the malice of the devil against good men and the divine check and restraint which that malice is under only thus much further is intimated, that the affairs of this earth are very much the subject of the counsels of the unseen world. That world is dark to us, but we lie very open to it. Now here we have,

      I. Satan among the sons of God (Job 1:6; Job 1:6), an adversary (so Satan signifies) to God, to men, to all good: he thrust himself into an assembly of the sons of God that came to present themselves before the Lord. This means either, 1. A meeting of the saints on earth. Professors of religion, in the patriarchal age, were called sons of God (Genesis 6:2); they had then religious assemblies and stated times for them. The King came in to see his guests; the eye of God was on all present. But there was a serpent in paradise, a Satan among the sons of God; when they come together he is among them, to distract and disturb them, stands at their right hand to resist them. The Lord rebuke thee, Satan! Or, 2. A meeting of the angels in heaven. They are the sons of God,Job 38:7; Job 38:7. They came to give an account of their negotiations on earth and to receive new instructions. Satan was one of them originally; but how hast thou fallen, O Lucifer! He shall no more stand in that congregation, yet he is here represented, as coming among them, either summoned to appear as a criminal or connived at, for the present, though an intruder.

      II. His examination, how he came thither (Job 1:7; Job 1:7): The Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? He knew very well whence he came, and with what design he came thither, that as the good angels came to do good he came for a permission to do hurt; but he would, by calling him to an account, show him that he was under check and control. Whence comest thou? He asks this, 1. As wondering what brought him thither. Is Saul among the prophets? Satan among the sons of God? Yes, for he transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:13; 2 Corinthians 11:14), and would seem one of them. Note, It is possible that a man may be a child of the devil and yet be found in the assemblies of the sons of God in this world, and there may pass undiscovered by men, and yet be challenged by the all-seeing God. Friend, how camest thou in hither? Or, 2. As enquiring what he had been doing before he came thither. The same question was perhaps put to the rest of those that presented themselves before the Lord, "Whence came you?" We are accountable to God for all our haunts and all the ways we traverse.

      III. The account he gives of himself and of the tour he had made. I come (says he) from going to and fro on the earth. 1. He could not pretend he had been doing any good, could give no such account of himself as the sons of God could, who presented themselves before the Lord, who came from executing his orders, serving the interest of his kingdom, and ministering to the heirs of salvation. 2. He would not own he had been doing any hurt, that he had been drawing men from the allegiance to God, deceiving and destroying souls; no. I have done no wickedness,Proverbs 30:20. Thy servant went nowhere. In saying that he had walked to and fro through the earth, he intimates that he had kept himself within the bounds allotted him, and had not transgressed his bounds; for the dragon is cast out into the earth (Revelation 12:9) and not yet confined to his place of torment. While we are on this earth we are within his reach, and with so much subtlety, swiftness, and industry, does he penetrate into all the corners of it, that we cannot be in any place secure from his temptations. 3. He yet seems to give some representation of his own character. (1.) Perhaps it is spoken proudly, and with an air of haughtiness, as if he were indeed the prince of this world, as if the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them were his (Luke 4:6), and he had now been walking in circuit through his own territories. (2.) Perhaps it is spoken fretfully, and with discontent. He had been walking to and fro, and could find no rest, but was as much a fugitive and a vagabond as Cain in the land of Nod. (3.) Perhaps it is spoken carefully: "I have been hard at work, going to and fro," or (as some read it) "searching about in the earth," really in quest of an opportunity to do mischief. He walks abut seeking whom he may devour. It concerns us therefore to be sober and vigilant.

      IV. The question God puts to him concerning Job (Job 1:8; Job 1:8): Hast thou considered my servant Job? As when we meet with one that has been in a distant place, where we have a friend we dearly love, we are ready to ask, "You have been in such a place; pray did you see my friend there?" Observe, 1. How honourably God speaks of Job: He is my servant. Good men are God's servants, and he is pleased to reckon himself honoured in their services, and they are to him for a name and a praise (Jeremiah 13:11) and a crown of glory,Isaiah 62:3. "Yonder is my servant Job; there is none like him, none I value like him, of all the princes and potentates of the earth; one such saint as he is worth them all: none like him for uprightness and serious piety; many do well, but he excelleth them all; there is not to be found such great faith, no, not in Israel." Thus Christ, long after, commended the centurion and the woman of Canaan, who were both of them, like Job, strangers to that commonwealth. The saints glory in God--Who is like thee among the gods? and he is pleased to glory in them--Who is like Israel among the people? So here, none like Job, none in earth, that state of imperfection. Those in heaven do indeed far outshine him; those who are least in that kingdom are greater than he; but on earth there is not his like. There is none like him in that land; so some good men are the glory of their country. 2. How closely he gives to Satan this good character of Job: Hast thou set thy heart to my servant Job? designing hereby, (1.) To aggravate the apostasy and misery of that wicked spirit: "How unlike him are thou!" Note, The holiness and happiness of the saints are the shame and torment of the devil and the devil's children. (2.) To answer the devil's seeming boast of the interest he had in this earth. "I have been walking to and fro in it," says he, "and it is all my own; all flesh have corrupted their way; they all sit still, and are at rest in their sins," Zechariah 1:10; Zechariah 1:11. "Nay, hold," saith God, "Job is my faithful servant." Satan may boast, but he shall not triumph. (3.) To anticipate his accusations, as if he had said, "Satan, I know thy errand; thou hast come to inform against Job; but hast thou considered him? Does not his unquestionable character give thee the lie?" Note, God knows all the malice of the devil and his instruments against his servants; and we have an advocate ready to appear for us, even before we are accused.

      V. The devil's base insinuation against Job, in answer to God's encomium of him. He could not deny but that Job feared God, but suggested that he was a mercenary in his religion, and therefore a hypocrite (Job 1:9; Job 1:9): Doth Job fear God for nought? Observe, 1. How impatient the devil was of hearing Job praised, though it was God himself that praised him. Those are like the devil who cannot endure that any body should be praised but themselves, but grudge the just share of reputation others have, as Saul (1 Samuel 18:5-16, c.) and the Pharisees, Matthew 21:15. 2. How much at a loss he was for something to object against him he could not accuse him of any thing that was bad, and therefore charged him with by-ends in doing good. Had the one half of that been true which his angry friends, in the heat of dispute, charged him with (Job 15:4; Job 22:5), Satan would no doubt have brought against him now; but no such thing could be alleged, and therefore, 3. See how slyly he censured him as a hypocrite, not asserting that he was so, but only asking, "Is he not so?" This is the common way of slanderers, whisperers, backbiters, to suggest that by way of query which yet they have no reason to think is true. Note, It is not strange if those that are approved and accepted of God be unjustly censured by the devil and his instruments; if they are otherwise unexceptionable, it is easy to charge them with hypocrisy, as Satan charged Job, and they have no way to clear themselves, but patiently to wait for the judgment of God. As there is nothing we should dread more than being hypocrites, so there is nothing we need dread less that being called and counted so without cause. 4. How unjustly he accused him as mercenary, to prove him a hypocrite. It was a great truth that Job did not fear God for nought; he got much by it, for godliness is great gain: but it was a falsehood that he would not have feared God if he had not got this by it, as the event proved. Job's friends charged him with hypocrisy because he was greatly afflicted, Satan because he greatly prospered. It is no hard matter for those to calumniate that seek an occasion. It is not mercenary to look at the eternal recompence in our obedience; but to aim at temporal advantages in our religion, and to make it subservient to them, is spiritual idolatry, worshipping the creature more than the Creator, and is likely to end in a fatal apostasy. Men cannot long serve God and mammon.

      VI. The complaint Satan made of Job's prosperity, Job 1:10; Job 1:10. Observe, 1. What God had done for Job. He had protected him, made a hedge about him, for the defence of his person, his family, and all his possessions. Note, God's peculiar people are taken under his special protection, they and all that belong to them; divine grace makes a hedge about their spiritual life, and divine providence about their natural life, so they are safe and easy. He had prospered him, not in idleness or injustice (the devil could not accuse him of them), but in the way of honest diligence: Thou hast blessed the work of his hands. Without that blessing, be the hands ever so strong, ever so skilful, the work will not prosper; but, with that, his substance has wonderfully increased in the land. The blessing of the Lord makes rich: Satan himself owns it. 2. What notice the devil took of it, and how he improved it against him. The devil speaks of it with vexation. "I see thou hast made a hedge about him, round about;" as if he had walked it round, to see if he could spy a single gap in it, for him to enter in at, to do him a mischief; but he was disappointed: it was a complete hedge. The wicked one saw it and was grieved, and argued against Job that the only reason why he served God was because God prospered him. "No thanks to him to be true to the government that prefers him, and to serve a Master that pays him so well."

      VII. The proof Satan undertakes to give of the hypocrisy and mercenariness of Job's religion, if he might but have leave to strip him of his wealth. "Let it be put to this issue," says he (Job 1:11; Job 1:11); "make him poor, frown upon him, turn thy hand against him, and then see where his religion will be; touch what he has and it will appear what he is. If he curse thee not to thy face, let me never be believed, but posted for a liar and false accuser. Let me perish if he curse thee not;" so some supply the imprecation, which the devil himself modestly concealed, but the profane swearers of our age impudently and daringly speak out. Observe, 1. How slightly he speaks of the affliction he desired that Job might be tried with: "Do but touch all that he has, do but begin with him, do but threaten to make him poor; a little cross will change his tone." 2. How spitefully he speaks of the impression it would make upon Job: "He will not only let fall his devotion, but turn it into an open defiance--not only think hardly of thee, but even curse thee to thy face." The word translated curse is barac, the same that ordinarily, and originally, signifies to bless; but cursing God is so impious a thing that the holy language would not admit the name: but that where the sense requires it it must be so understood is plain form 1 Kings 21:10-13, where the word is used concerning the crime charged on Naboth, that he did blaspheme God and the king. Now, (1.) It is likely that Satan did think that Job, if impoverished, would renounce his religion and so disprove his profession, and if so (as a learned gentleman has observed in his Mount of Spirits) Satan would have made out his own universal empire among the children of men. God declared Job the best man then living: now, if Satan can prove him a hypocrite, it will follow that God had not one faithful servant among men and that there was no such thing as true and sincere piety in the world, but religion was all a sham, and Satan was king de facto--in fact, over all mankind. But it appeared that the Lord knows those that are his and is not deceived in any. (2.) However, if Job should retain his religion, Satan would have the satisfaction to see him sorely afflicted. He hates good men, and delights in their griefs, as God has pleasure in their prosperity.

      VIII. The permission God gave to Satan to afflict Job for the trial of his sincerity. Satan desired God to do it: Put forth thy hand now. God allowed him to do it (Job 1:12; Job 1:12): "All that he has is in thy hand; make the trial as sharp as thou canst; do thy worst at him." Now, 1. It is a matter of wonder that God should give Satan such a permission as this, should deliver the soul of his turtle-dove into the hand of the adversary, such a lamb to such a lion; but he did it for his own glory, the honour of Job, the explanation of Providence, and the encouragement of his afflicted people in all ages, to make a case which, being adjudged, might be a useful precedent. He suffered Job to be tried, as he suffered Peter to be sifted, but took care that his faith should not fail (Luke 22:32) and then the trial of it was found unto praise, and honour, and glory,1 Peter 1:7. But, 2. It is a matter of comfort that God has the devil in a chain, in a great chain, Revelation 20:1. He could not afflict Job without leave from God first asked and obtained, and then no further than he had leave: "Only upon himself put not forth thy hand; meddle not with his body, but only with his estate." It is a limited power that the devil has; he has no power to debauch men but what they give him themselves, nor power to afflict men but what is given him from above.

      IX. Satan's departure from this meeting of the sons of God. Before they broke up, Satan went forth (as Cain, Genesis 4:16) from the presence of the Lord; no longer detained before him (as Doeg was, 1 Samuel 21:7) than till he had accomplished his malicious purpose. He went forth, 1. Glad that he had gained his point, proud of the permission he had to do mischief to a good man; and, 2. Resolved to lose no time, but speedily to put his project in execution. He went forth now, not to go to and fro, rambling through the earth, but with a direct course, to fall upon poor Job, who is carefully going on in the way of his duty, and knows nothing of the matter. What passes between good and bad spirits concerning us we are not aware of.

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible

Satan Considering the Saints

April 9th, 1865 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892)

"And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job." Job 1:8 .

How very uncertain are all terrestrial things! How foolish would that believer be who should lay up his treasure anywhere, except in heaven! Job's prosperity promised as much stability as anything can do beneath the moon. The man had round about him a large household of, doubtless, devoted and attached servants. He had accumulated wealth of a kind which does not suddenly depreciate in value. He had oxen, and asses, and cattle. He had not to go to markets, and fairs, and trade with his goods to procure food and clothing, for he carried on the processes of agriculture on a very large scale round about his own homestead, and probably grew within his own territory everything that his establishment required. His children were numerous enough to promise a long line of descendants. His prosperity wanted nothing for its consolidation. It had come to its flood-tide: where was the cause which could make it ebb? Up there, beyond the clouds, where no human eye could see, there was a scene enacted which augured no good to Job's prosperity. The spirit of evil stood face to face with the infinite Spirit of all good. An extraordinary conversation took place between these two beings. When called to account for his doings, the evil one boasted that he had gone to and fro throughout the earth, insinuating that he had met with no hindrance to his will, and found no one to oppose his freely moving and acting at his own pleasure. He had marched everywhere like a king in his own dominions, unhindered and unchallenged. When the great God reminded him that there was at least one place among men where he had no foothold, and where his power was unrecognized, namely, in the heart of Job; that there was one man who stood like an impregnable castle, garrisoned by integrity, and held with perfect loyalty as the possession of the King of Heaven; the evil one defied Jehovah to try the faithfulness of Job, told him that the patriarch's integrity was due to his prosperity, that he served God and eschewed evil from sinister motives, because he found his conduct profitable to himself. The God of heaven took up the challenge of the evil one, and gave him permission to take away all the mercies which he affirmed to be the props of Job's integrity, and to pull down all the outworks and buttresses and see whether the tower would not stand in its own inherent strength without them. In consequence of this, all Job's wealth went in one black day, and not even a child was left to whisper comfort.

A second interview between the Lord and his fallen angel took place. Job was again the subject of conversation; and the Great One defied by Satan, permitted him even to touch him in his bone and in his flesh, till the prince became worse than a pauper, and he who was rich and happy was poor and wretched, filled with disease from head to foot, and fain to scrape himself with a miserable potsherd, to gain a poor relief from his pain. Let us see in this the mutability of all terrestrial things. He hath founded it upon the floods," is David's description of this world; and, if it be founded on the floods, can you wonder that it changes oft? Put not your trust in anything beneath the stars: remember that "Change" is written on the fore-front of nature. Say not therefore, "My mountain standeth firm: it shall never be moved;" the glance of Jehovah's eye can shake thy mountain into dust, the touch of his foot can make it like Sinai, to melt like wax, and to be altogether on a smoke. "Set your affection on things above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God," and let your heart and your treasure be where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal." The words of Bernard may here instruct us: "That is the true and chief joy which is not conceived from the creature, but received from the Creator, which (being once possessed thereof) none can take from thee: compared with which all other pleasure is torment, all joy is grief, sweet things are bitter, all glory is baseness, and all delectable things are despicable." This is not, however, our subject this morning. Accept thus much as merely an introduction to our main discourse. The Lord said to Satan, "Hast thou considered my servant Job?" Let us deliberate, first, in what sense the evil spirit may be said to consider the people of God ; secondly, let us notice what it is that he considers about them; and then, thirdly, let us comfort ourselves by the reflection that one who is far above Satan considers us in a higher sense. I. First, then, IN WHAT SENSE MAY SATAN BE SAID TO CONSIDER THE PEOPLE OF GOD? Certainly not in the usual Biblical meaning of the term "consider." "O Lord consider my trouble." "Consider my meditation." "Blessed is he that considereth the poor." Such consideration implies good-will and a careful inspection of the object of benevolence with regard to a wise distribution of favour. In that sense Satan never considers any. If he has any benevolence, it must be towards himself; but all his considerations of other creatures are of the most malevolent kind. No meteoric flash of good flits across the black midnight of his soul. Nor does he consider us as we are told to consider the works of God, that is, in order to derive instruction as to God's wisdom and love and kindness. He does not honour God by what he sees in his works, or in his people. It is not with him, "Go to the ant; consider her ways and be wise;" but he goes to the Christian and considers his ways and becomes more foolishly God's enemy than he was before. The consideration which Satan pays to God's saints is upon this wise. He regards them with wonder, when he considers the difference between them and himself. A traitor, when he knows the thorough villainy and the blackness of his own heart, cannot help being astounded, when he is forced to believe another man to be faithful. The first resort of a treacherous heart is to believe that all men would be just as treacherous, and are really so at bottom. The traitor thinks that all men are traitors like himself, or would be, if it paid them better than fidelity. When Satan looks at the Christian, and finds him faithful to God and to his truth, he considers him as we should consider a phenomenon Perhaps despising him for his folly, but yet marveling at him, and wondering how he can act thus. "I," he seems to say, "a prince, a peer of God's parliament, would not submit my will to Jehovah. I thought it better to reign in hell than serve in heaven: I kept not my first estate, but fell from my throne. How is it that these stand? What grace is it which keeps these? I was a vessel of gold, and yet I was broken; these are earthen vessels, but I cannot break them! I could not stand in my glory what can be the matchless grace which upholds them in their poverty, in their obscurity, in their persecution, still faithful to the God who doth not bless and exalt them as he did me!" It may be that he also wonders at their happiness. He feels within himself a seething sea of misery. There is an unfathomable gulf of anguish within his soul, and when he looks at believers, he sees them quiet in their souls, full of peace and happiness, and often without any outward means by which they should be comforted, yet rejoicing and full of glory. He goes up and down through the world and possesses great power, and there be many myrmidons to serve him, yet he hath not the happiness of spirit possessed by yonder humble cottager, obscure, unknown, having no servants to wait upon her, but stretched upon the bed of weakness. He admires and hates the peace which reigns in the believer's soul. His consideration may go farther than this. Do you not think that he considers them to detect, if possible, any flaw and fault in them, by way of solace to himself? "They are not pure," saith he "these blood-bought ones these elect from before the foundations of the world, they still sin! These adopted children of God, for whom the glorious Son bowed his head and gave up the ghost! even they offend!" How must he chuckle, with such delight as he is capable of, over the secret sins of God's people, and if he can see anything in them inconsistent with their profession, anything which appears to be deceitful, and therein like himself, he rejoices. Each sin born in the believer's heart, cries to him, "My father! my Father!" and he feels something like the joy of fatherhood as he sees his foul offspring. He looks at the "old man" in the Christian, and admires the tenacity with which it maintains its hold, the force and vehemence with which it struggles for the mastery, the craft and cunning with which every now and then, at set intervals, at convenient opportunities, it putteth forth all its force. He considers our sinful flesh, and makes it one of the books in which he diligently reads. One of the fairest prospects, I doubt not, which the devil's eye ever rests upon, is the inconsistency and the impurity which he can discover in the true child of God. In this respect he had very little to consider in God's true servant, Job. Nor is this all, but rather just the starting point of his consideration. We doubt not that he views the Lord's people, and especially the more eminent and excellent among them, as the great barriers to the progress of his kingdom; and just as the engineer, endeavouring to make a railway, keeps his eye very much fixed upon the hills and rivers, and especially upon the great mountain through which it will take years laboriously to bore a tunnel, so Satan, in looking upon his various plans to carry on his dominion in the world, considers most such men as Job. Satan must have thought much of Martin Luther. "I could ride the world over," says he, "if it were not for that monk. He stands in my way. That strong-headed man hates and mauls my firstborn son, the pope. If I could get rid of him I would not mind though fifty thousand smaller saints stood in my way." He is sure to consider God's servant, if there be "none like him," if he stand out distinct and separate from his fellows. Those of us who are called to the work of the ministry must expect from our position to be the special objects of his consideration. When the glass is at the eye of that dreadful warrior, he is sure to look out for those who by their regimentals are discovered to be the officers, and he bids his sharpshooters be very careful to aim at these, "For," saith he, "if the standard-bearer fall, then shall the victory be more readily gained to our side, and our opponents shall be readily put to rout." If you are more generous than other saints, if you live nearer to God than others, as the birds peck most at the ripest fruit, so may you expect Satan to be most busy against you. Who cares to contend for a province covered with stones and barren rocks, and ice-bound by frozen seas? But in all times there is sure to be contention after the fat valleys where the wheat-sheaves are plenteous, and where the husbandman's toil is well requited, and thus, for you who honour God most, Satan will struggle very sternly. He wants to pluck God's jewels from his crown, if he can, and take the Redeemer's precious stones even from the breastplate itself. He considers, then, God's people; viewing them as hindrances to his reign, he contrives methods by which he may remove them out of his way, or turn them to his own account. Darkness would cover the earth if he could blow out the lights; there would be no fruit to shake like Lebanon, if he could destroy that handful of corn upon the top of the mountains; hence his perpetual consideration is to make the faithful fail from among men. It needs not much wisdom to discern that the great object of Satan in considering God's people is to do them injury. I scarcely think he hopes to destroy the really chosen and blood-bought heirs of life. My notion is that he is too good a divine for that. He has been foiled too often when he has attacked God's people, that he can hardly think he shall be able to destroy the elect, for you remember the soothsayers who are very nearly related to him, spoke to Haman on this wise; "If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him." He knows right well that there is a seed royal in the land against whom he fights in vain; and it strikes me if he could be absolutely certain that any one soul was chosen of God, he would scarcely waste his time in attempting to destroy it, although he might seek to worry and to dishonour it. It is however most likely that Satan no more knows who God's elect are than we do, for he can only judge as we do by outward actions, though he can form a more accurate judgment than we can through longer experience, and being able to see persons in private where we cannot intrude; yet into God's book of secret decrees his black eye can never peer. By their fruits he knows them, and we know them in the same manner. Since, however, we are often mistaken in our judgment, he too may be so; and it seems to me that he therefore makes it his policy to endeavour to destroy them all not knowing in which case he may succeed. He goeth about seeking whom he may devour, and, as he knows not whom he may be permitted to swallow up, he attacks all the people of God with vehemence. Some one may say, "How can one devil do this?" He does not do it by himself alone. I do not know that many of us have ever been tempted directly by Satan: we may not be notable enough among men to be worth his trouble; but he has a whole host of inferior spirits under his supremacy and control, and as the centurion said of himself, so he might have said of Satan "he saith to this spirit, 'Do this,' and he doeth it, and to his servant, 'Go,' and he goeth." Thus all the servants of God will more or less come under the direct or indirect assaults of the great enemy of souls, and that with a view of destroying them; for he would, if it were possible, deceive the very elect. Where he cannot destroy, there is no doubt that Satan's object is to worry. He does not like to see God's people happy. I believe the devil greatly delights in some ministers, whose tendency in their preaching is to multiply and foster doubts and fears, and grief, and despondency, as the evidences of God's people. "Ah," saith the devil, "preach on; you are doing my work well, for I like to see God's people mournful. If I can make them hang their harps on the willows, and go about with miserable faces, I reckon I have done my work very completely." My dear friends, let us watch against those specious temptations which pretend to make us humble, but which really aim at making us unbelieving. Our God takes no delight in our suspicions and mistrusts. See how he proves his love in the gift of his dear Son Jesus. Banish then all your ill surmisings, and rejoice in unmoved confidence. God delights to be worshipped with Joy. Oh come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms." "Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart." "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say, rejoice." Satan does not like this. Martin Luther used to say, "Let us sing psalms and spite the devil," and I have no doubt Martin Luther was pretty nearly right; for that lover of discord hates harmonious, joyous praise. Beloved brother, the arch-enemy wants to make you wretched here, if he cannot have you hereafter; and in this, no doubt, he is aiming a blow at the honour of God. He is well aware that mournful Christians often dishonour the faithfulness of God by mistrusting it, and he thinks if he can worry us until we no more believe in the constancy and goodness of the Lord, he shall have robbed God of his praise. "He that offereth praise, glorifieth me," says God; and so Satan lays the axe at the root of our praise, that God may cease to be glorified. Moreover, if Satan cannot destroy a Christian, how often has he spoilt his usefulness? Many a believer has fallen, not to break his neck that is impossible, but he has broken some important bone, and he has gone limping to his grave! We can recall with grief some men once eminent in the ranks of the Church, who did run well, but on a sudden, through stress of temptation, they fell into sin, and their names were never mentioned in the Church again, except with bated breath. Everybody thought and hoped they were saved so as by fire, but certainly their former usefulness never could return. It is very easy to go back in the heavenly pilgrimage, but it is very hard to retrieve your steps. You may soon turn aside and put out your candle, but you cannot light it quite so speedily. Friend, beloved in the Lord, watch against the attacks of Satan and stand fast, because you, as a pillar in the house or God are very dear to us, and we cannot spare you. As a father, or as a matron in our midst, we do you honour, and oh we would not be made to mourn and lament we do not wish to be grieved by hearing the shouts of our adversaries while they cry "Aha! Aha! so would we have it," for alas! there have been many things done in our Zion which we would not have told in Gath, nor published in the streets of Askelon, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised should rejoice, and the sons of the Philistines should triumph. Oh may God grant us grace, as a Church, to stand against the wiles of Satan and his attacks, that having done his worst he may gain no advantage over us, and after having considered, and considered again, and counted well our towers and bulwarks, he may be compelled to retire because his battering rams cannot jar so much as a stone from our ramparts, and his slings cannot slay one single soldier on the walls. Before I leave this point, I should like to say, that perhaps it may be suggested, "How is it that God permits this constant and malevolent consideration of his people by the evil one?" One answer, doubtless, is, that God knows what is for his own glory, and that he giveth no account of his matters; that having permitted free agency, and having allowed, for some mysterious reason, the existence of evil, it does not seem agreeable with his having done so to destroy Satan; but he gives him power that it may be a fair hand-to-hand fight between sin and holiness, between grace and craftiness. Besides, be it remembered, that incidentally the temptations of Satan are of service to the people of God; Fenelon says they are the file which rubs off much of the rust of self-confidence, and I may add, they are the horrible sound in the sentinel's ear, which is sure to keep him awake. An experimental divine remarks, that there is no temptation in the world which is so bad as not being tempted at all; for to be tempted will tend to keep us awake: whereas, being without temptation, flesh and blood are weak and though the spirit may be willing, yet we may be found falling into slumber. Children do not run away from their father's side when big dogs bark at them. The howlings of the devil may tend to drive us nearer to Christ, may teach us our own weakness, may keep us upon our own watch-tower, and be made the means of preservation from other ills. Let us "be sober, be vigilant, because our adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour;" and let us who are in a prominent position be permitted affectionately to press upon you one earnest request, namely, "Brethren, pray for us." that, exposed as we are peculiarly to the consideration of Satan, we may be guarded by divine power. Let us be made rich by your faithful prayers that we may be kept even to the end. II. Secondly, WHAT IS IT THAT SATAN CONSIDERS WITH A VIEW TO THE INJURY OF GOD'S PEOPLE? It cannot be said of him as of God, that he knoweth us altogether; but since he has been now nearly six thousand years dealing with poor fallen humanity, he must have acquired a very vast experience in that time, and having been all over the earth, and having tempted the highest and the lowest, he must know exceeding well what the springs of human action are, and how to play upon them. Satan watches and considers first of all our peculiar infirmities. He looks us up and down, just as I have seen a horse-dealer do with a horse; and soon finds out wherein we are faulty. I, a common observer, might think the horse an exceedingly good one, as I see it running up and down the road, but the dealer sees what I cannot see, and he knows how to handle the creature just in such quarters and at such points that he soon discovers any hidden mischief. Satan knows how to look at us and reckon us up from heel to head, so that he will say of this man, "His infirmity is lust," or of that other, "He hath a quick tempter," or of this other, "He is proud," or of that other, "He is slothful." The eye of malice is very quick to perceive a weakness, and the hand of enmity soon takes advantage of it. When the arch-spy finds a weak place in the wall of our castle, he takes care to plant his battering-ram, and begin his siege. You may conceal, even from your dearest friend, your infirmity, but you will not conceal it from your worst enemy. He has lynx eyes, and detects in a moment the joint in your harness. He goes about with a match, and though you may think you have covered all the gunpowder of your heart, yet he knows how to find a crack to put his match through, and much mischief will he do, unless eternal mercy shall prevent. He takes care also to consider our frames and states of mind. If the devil would attack us when our mind is in certain moods, we should be more than a match for him: he knows this, and shuns the encounter. Some men are more ready for temptation when they are distressed and desponding; the fiend will then assail them. Others will be more liable to take fire when they are jubilant and full of joy; then will he strike his spark into the tinder. Certain persons, when they are much vexed and tossed to and fro, can be made to say almost anything; and others, when their souls are like perfectly placid waters, are just then in a condition to be navigated by the devil's vessel. As the worker in metals knows that one metal is to be worked at such a heat, and another at a different temperature; as those who have to deal with chemicals know that at a certain heat one fluid will boil, while another reaches the boiling-point much earlier, so Satan knows exactly the temperature at which to work us to his purpose. Small pots boil directly they are put on the fire, and so little men of quick temper are soon in a passion; larger vessels require more time and coal before they will boil, but when they do boil, it is a boil indeed, not soon forgotten or abated. The enemy, like a fisherman, watches his fish, adapts his bait to his prey; and knows in what seasons and times the fish are most likely to bite. This hunter of so souls comes upon us unawares, and often we are overtaken in a fault and or caught in a trap through an unwatchful frame of mind. That rate collector of choice sayings, Thomas Spencer, has the following which is to the much to the point "The chameleon, when he lies on the grass to catch flies and grasshoppers, taketh upon him the colour of the grass, as the polypus doth the colour of the rock under which he lurketh, that the fish may boldly come near him without any suspicion of danger. In like manner, Satan turneth himself into that shape which we least fear, and sets before us such objects of temptation as are most agreeable to our natures, that some may the sooner draw us into his net; he sails with every wind, and blows us that way which we incline ourselves through the weakness of nature. Is our knowledge in matter of faith deficient? He tempts us to error. Is our conscience tender? He tempts us to scrupulosity, and too much preciseness. Hath our conscience, like the ecliptic line, some latitude? He tempts us to carnal liberty. Are we bold spirited? He tempts us to presumption. Are we timorous and distrustful? He tempteth us to desperation. Are we of a flexible disposition? He tempteth us to inconstancy. Are we stiff? He labours to make obstinate heretics, schismatics, or rebels of us. Are we of an austere tempter? He tempteth us to cruelty. Are we soft and mild? He tempteth us to indulgence and foolish pity. Are we hot in matters of religion? He tempteth us to blind zeal and superstition. Are we cold? He tempteth us to Laodicean lukewarmness. Thus doth he lay his traps, that one way or other, he may ensnare us." He also takes care to consider our position among men. There are a few persons who are most easily tempted when they are alone; they are the subjects then of great heaviness of mind, and they may be driven to most awful crimes: perhaps the most of us are more liableiable to sin when we are in company. In some company I never should be led into sin; into another society I could scarcely venture. Many are so full of levity, that those of us who are inclined the same way can scarcely look them in the face without feeling our besetting sin set a-going; and others are so somber, that if they meet a brother of like mould, they are pretty sure between them to invent an evil report of the goodly land. Satan knows where to overtake you in a place where you lie open to his attacks; he will pounce upon you, swoop like a bird of prey from the sky, where he has been watching for the time to make his descent with a prospect of success. How too, will he consider our condition in the world! He looks at one man, and says, "That man has property: it is of no use my trying such-and-such arts with him; but here is another man who is very poor, I will catch him in that net." Then, again, he looks at the poor man, and says, "Now, I cannot tempt him to this folly, but I will lead the rich man into it." As the sportsman has a gun for wild fowl, and another for deer and game, so has Satan a different temptation for various orders of men. I do not suppose that the Queen's temptation ever will annoy Mary the kitchen-maid. I do not suppose, on the other hand, that Mary's temptation will ever be very serious to me. Probably you could escape from mine I do not think you could; and I sometimes fancy I could bear yours though I question if I could. Satan knows, however, just where to smite us, and our position, our capabilities, our education, our standing in society, our calling, may all be doors through which he may attack us. You who have no calling at all, are in peculiar peril I wonder the devil does not swallow you outright. The most likely man to go to hell is the man who has nothing to do on earth. I say that seriously. I believe that there cannot happen a much worse evil to a person than to be placed where he has no work; and if I should ever be in such a state, I would get employment at once, for fear I should be carried off, body and soul, by the evil one. Idle people tempt the devil to tempt them. Let us have something to do, let us keep our minds occupied, for, if not, we make room for the devil. Industry will not make us gracious, but the want of industry may make us vicious. Have always something on the anvil or in the fire.

"In books, or work, or healthful play, I would be busy too, For Satan finds some mischief still For idle hands to do."

So Watts taught us in our childhood; and so let us believe in our manhood. Books, or works, or such recreations as are necessary for health, should occupy our time; for if I throw myself down in indolence, like an old piece of iron, I must not wonder that I grow rusty with sin. Nor have I done yet. Satan, when he makes his investigations, notices all the objects of our affection. I doubt not when he went round Job's house, he observed it as carefully as thieves do a jeweller's premises when they mean to break into them. They very cunningly take account of every door, window, and fastening: they fail not to look at the next-door house; for they may have to reach the treasure through the building which adjoins it. So, when the devil went round, jotting down in his mind all Job's position, he thought to himself, "There are the camels and the oxen, the asses, and the servants yes, I can use all these very admirably." "Then," he thought, "there are the three daughters! There are the ten sons, and they go feasting I shall know where to catch them, and if I can just blow the house down when they are feasting, that will afflict the father's mind the more severely, for he will say 'O that they had died when they had been praying, rather than when they had been feasting and drinking wine.' I will put down too in the inventory," says the devil I shall want her," and accordingly it came to that. Nobody could have done what Job's wife did none of the servants could have said that sad sentence so stingingly or, if she meant it very kindly, none could have said it with such a fascinating air as Job's own wife, "Bless God and die," as it may be read, or "Curse God and die." Ah, Satan, thou hast ploughed with Job's heifer, but thou hast not succeeded; lob's strength lies in his God, not in his hair, or else thou mightest have shorn him as Samson was shorn! Perhaps the evil one had even inspected Job's personal sensibilities, and so selected that form of bodily affliction which he knew to be most dreaded by his victim. He brought upon him a disease which Job may have seen and shuddered at in poor men outside the city gates. Brethren, Satan knows quite as much in regard to you. You have a child, and Satan knows that you idolize it. "Ah," says he, "there is a place for my wounding him." Even the partner of your bosom may be made a quiver in which hell's arrows shall be stored till the time may come, and then she may prove the bow from which Satan will shoot them. Watch even your neighbour and her that lieth in your bosom, for you know not how Satan may get an advantage over you. Our habits, our joys, our sorrows, our retirements, our public positions, all may be made weapons of attack by this desperate foe of the Lord's people. We have snares everywhere; in our bed and at our table, in our house and in the street. There are gins and trap-falls in company; there are pits when we are alone. We may find temptations in the house of God as well as in the world; traps in our high estate, and deadly poisons in our abasement. We must not expect to be rid of temptations till we have crossed the Jordan, and then, thank God, we are beyond gunshot of the enemy. The last howling of the dog of hell will be heard as we descend into the chill waters of the black stream, but when we hear the hallelujah of the glorified, we shall have done with the black prince for ever and ever. III. Satan considered, but THERE WAS A HIGHER CONSIDERATION WHICH OVERRODE HIS CONSIDERATION. In times of war, the sappers and miners of one party will make a mine, and it is a very common counteractive for the sappers and miners of the other party to countermine by undermining the first mine. This is just what God does with Satan. Satan is mining, and he thinks to light the fuse and to blow up God's building, but all the while God is undermining him, and he blows up Satan's mine before he can do any mischief. The devil is the greatest of all fools. He has more knowledge but less wisdom than any other creature, he is more subtle than all the beasts of the field, but it is well called subtlety, not wisdom. It is not true wisdom; it is only another shape of folly. All the while that Satan was tempting Job, he little knew that he was answering God's purpose, for God was looking on and considering the whole of it, and holding the enemy as a man holds a horse by its bridle. The Lord had considered exactly how far he would let Satan go. He did not the first time permit him to touch his flesh perhaps that was more than Job at that time could have borne. Have you never noticed that if you are in good strong bodily health you can bear losses and crosses, and even bereavements with something like equanimity? Now that was the case with Job. Perhaps if the disease had come first and the rest had followed, it might have been a temptation too heavy for him, but God who knows just how far to let the enemy go, will say to him, "Thus far, and no farther." By degrees he became accustomed to his poverty; in fact, the trial had lost all its sting the moment Job said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away." That enemy was slain nay it was buried and this was the funeral oration, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." When the second trial came, the first trial had qualified Job to bear the second. It may be a more severe trial for a man in the possession of great worldly wealth suddenly to be deprived of the bodily power of enjoying it, than to lose all first, and then lose the health necessary to its enjoyment. Having already lost all, he might almost say, "I thank God that now I have nothing to enjoy, and therefore the loss of the power to enjoy it is not so wearisome. I have not to say, "How I wish I could go out in my fields, and see to my servants, for they are all dead. I do not wish to see my children they are all dead and gone I am thankful that they are; better so, than that they should see their poor father sit on a dunghill like this." He might have been almost glad if his wife had gone too, for certainly she was not a very particular mercy when she was spared; and possibly, if he had all his children about him, it might have been a harder trial than it was. The Lord who weighs mountains in scales, had meted out his servant's woe. Did not the Lord also consider how he should sustain his servant under his trial? Beloved, you do not know how blessedly our God poured the secret oil upon Job's fire of grace while the devil was throwing buckets of water on it. He saith to himself, "If Satan shall do much, I will do more; if he takes away much, I will give more; if he tempts the man to curse, I will fill him so full of love to me that he shall bless me. I will help him; I will strengthen him; yea, I will uphold him with the right hand of my righteousness." Christian, take those two thoughts and put them under your tongue as a wafer made with honey you will never be tempted without express license from the throne where Jesus pleads, and, on the other hand, when he permits it, he will with the temptation make a way of escape, or give you grace to stand under it. In the next place, the Lord considered how to sanctify Job by this trial. Job was a much better man at the end of the story than he was at the beginning. He was "an incredible disgrace upon Satan. If you want perfect and an upright man" at first, but there was a little pride about him. We are poor creatures to criticize such a man as Job but still there was in him just a sprinkling of self-righteousness. I think, and his friends brought it out, Eliphaz and Zophar said such irritating things that poor Job could not help replying in strong terms about himself that were rather too strong, one thinks; there was a little too much self-justification. He was not proud as some of us are, of a very little he had much to be proud of, as the world would allow but yet there was the tendency to be exalted with it; and though the devil did not know it, perhaps if he had left Job alone, that pride might have run to seed, and Job might have sinned; but he was in such a hurry, that he would not let the ill seed ripen, but hastened to cut it up, and so was the Lord's tool to bring Job into a more humble, and consequently a more safe and blessed state of mind. Moreover, observe how Satan was a lacquey to the Almighty! Job all this while was being enabled to earn a greater reward. All his prosperity is not enough; God loves Job so much, that he intends to give him twice the property; he intends to give him his children again; he means to make him a more famous man than ever; a man whose name shall ring down the ages; a man who shall be talked of through all generations. He is not to be the man of Uz, but of the whole world. He is not to be heard of by a handful in one neighbourhood, but all men are to hear of Job's patience in the hour of trial. Who is to do this? Who is to fashion the trump of fame through which Job's name is to be blown? The devil goes to the forge, and works away with all his might, to make Job illustrious! Foolish devil! he is piling up a pedestal on which God will set his servant Job, that he may be looked upon with wonder by all ages. To conclude, Job's afflictions and Job's patience have been a lasting blessing to the Church of God, and they have inflicted incredible disgrace upon Satan. If you want to make the devil angry, throw the story of Job in his teeth. If you desire to have your own confidence sustained, may God the Holy Ghost lead you into the patience of lob. Oh! how many saints have been comforted in their distress by this history of patience! How many have been saved out of the jaw of the lion, and from the paw of the bear by the dark experiences of the patriarch of Uz. Oh arch fiend, how art thou taken in thine own net! Thou hast thrown a stone which has fallen on thine own head. Thou madest a pit for Job, and hast fallen into it thyself; thou art taken in thine own craftiness. Jehovah has made fools of the wise and driven the diviners mad. Brethren, let us commit ourselves in faith to the care and keeping of God come poverty, come sickness, come death, we will in all things through Jesus Christ's blood be conquerors, and by the power of his Spirit we shall overcome at the last. I would God we were all trusting in Jesus. May those who have not trusted him be led to begin this very morning, and God shall have all the praise in us all, evermore. Amen.