Introducing the Off-Stage Drama

Job 1 is crucial for rightly reading the rest of the book of Job well. In particular, the first twelve verses lay out the off-stage drama that drives much of the dialogue in this wisdom book. It is good, then, to familiarize ourselves with three of the main characters in the book of Job and to note how they affect what follows. That’s the goal of this reflection, and we begin with Job himself, who is introduced to us in vv1-5. Job is a man whose character is exemplary. He is “blameless,” which means that he is living a sound, “normal” life, a life according to God’s intention. His blamelessness flows from his fear of God, for that is the first principle for wisdom and life. Job is also “upright,” which means that he does what is right. Negatively, this means that he “turned away from evil;” positively, this means that he loved God and neighbor. Taken together, Job had unimpeachable character; he was living his best life in the fullest sense of that phrase.

Indeed, the following verses in Job 1 flesh this idea out. The numbers three, seven, and ten are all significant symbols of perfection and completeness. While this might incline us to view the figure of Job as a hypothetical person, it is not required. Why couldn’t God bless a real person according to such numbers that resonate with blessing? So, Job had seven sons and three daughters, tons of livestock and land, and “very many servants.” In sum, “this man was the greatest of all the people of the east” because he was fantastically wealthy, well blessed as a family man, and religiously upright. Importantly, his prosperity did not prompt him to forget God. Quite to the contrary, vv4-5 tell us that Job was pious. He made sacrifices to God because he loved God and his children. Religion was not an afterthought for him, but a central part of his life. “Thus, Job [offered sacrifices] continually.” All in all, then, vv4-5 reinforce Job’s blamelessness and uprightness, for they demonstrate how he feared God and turned away from evil.

Next, we are introduced to YHWH. In v6, we see that the Lord is the sovereign king who holds court, which is why the sons of God came to present themselves before him. In v7, the Lord takes the initiative with Satan, his subject, as the Lord presides over the unfolding of history and the activity of the whole unseen world. There is, of course, very little that is said explicitly about the Lord in Job 1, because his sovereignty, along with the whole of his character, is assumed by the author. Nevertheless, assumptions will be challenged throughout the book of Job, and thus YHWH is a focal point of the unfolding drama of the book of Job.

Third, we meet (the) Satan. In v6, the initial scene that is set is what we could call the gathering of the divine council. The sons of God are the heavenly beings, the angels, whom God created. What is notable is that our text says that “Satan also came among them.” Does this mean that Satan was not one of the sons of God but rather an outsider? This verse certainly can be read like that. Or, does it mean that Satan was a key figure among the sons of God, and he is singled out because of the role he plays in the subsequent verses? That’s also possible. For our purposes, we simply need to note that Satan means “accuser” and that the accuser had presented himself before the Lord as one subject to the Lord.

Now, on this occasion, the Lord takes the initiative by questioning Satan. It is somewhat ambiguous how we should understand Satan’s response in v7 (but isn’t that the way it always is?). Is he searching out those who might be disloyal to the sovereign Lord? Or are his roaming and wandering the characteristics of a troublemaker? Given how the rest of the book plays out, the latter seems likely. Satan’s response to the Lord’s praise of Job is tart, to say the least. In v9 he replies, “Does Job fear God for no reason?” This is a bold dismissal of the Lord’s endorsement of Job, and Satan’s reasoning is presented in v10. Essentially, Satan says that Job’s piety is inseparably connected with Job’s prosperity, which, of course, has all come from and been protected by the hand of God himself. Thus, in v11, Satan argues that if Job were to lose his prosperity, God would lose his man, as it were, for Job would curse God to his face.

With these opening verses, the context for Job’s suffering is presented. What we must keep in mind is that all three of these characters have a part to play in the unfolding of the drama of this book. If we leave out any one of them, our assessment will miss the mark.