The Lord Gave
Passage: Job 1:1-22
Job was 'perfect and upright' and prosperous.
Overview
The Satan claims Job serves God only for blessing. Job loses his children and wealth in one day, yet says, 'the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.'
Going deeper
The reader sees the heavenly scene; Job does not. Suffering is not proof of sin.
Key verses (KJV)
- Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
- Job 1:9 Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
- Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
From the commentaries
1. Uz—north of Arabia-Deserta, lying towards the Euphrates. It was in this neighborhood, and not in that of Idumea, that the Chaldeans and Sabeans who plundered him dwell. The Arabs divide their country into the north, called Sham, or "the left"; and the south, called Yemen, or "the right"; for they faced east; and so the west was on their left, and the south on their right. Arabia-Deserta was on the east, Arabia-Petræa on the west, and Arabia-Felix on the south. Job—The name comes from an Arabic word meaning "to return," namely, to God, "to repent," referring to his end [Eichorn]; or rather from a Hebrew word signifying one to whom enmity was shown, "greatly tried" [Gesenius]. ...
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
This is the most singular book in the whole of the Sacred Code: though written by the same inspiration, and in reference to the same end, the salvation of men, it is so different from every other book of the Bible, that it seems to possess nothing in common with them, for even the language, in its construction, is dissimilar from that in the Law, the Prophets, and the historical books. But on all hands it is accounted a work that contains "the purest morality, the sublimest philosophy, the simplest ritual, and the most majestic creed." Except the two first chapters and the ten last verses, which are merely prose, all the rest of the book is poetic; ...
Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke's Commentary (1810-1826)
Application
- What did Job not know?
- Is it possible to worship in loss?
- Do you serve God for his gifts or for himself?