Chapter Two

1–5. The second appearance of angels and Satan before God’s face and the new slander of the devil. 6–3. Job’s sickness and his removal beyond the limits of the city. 9–10. The speech of his wife and Job’s answer to it. 11–13. The arrival of friends.

Job 2:3. And the Lord said to Satan: Have you considered my servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth: a man blameless, righteous, God-fearing, and turning away from evil, and he still holds fast to his integrity; and you moved me against him, to destroy him without cause. Compared with the Lord’s first commendation of Job (Job 1:8), the second contains a small addition: “and he still holds fast to his integrity.” It is made for the purpose of exposing Satan in his slander against Job (Job 1:9-11). He lost everything, but remained faithful to God, while, according to Satan’s assurance, he should have cursed the Lord (Job 1:9-11).

Job 2:4. And Satan answered the Lord and said: Skin for skin; and all that a man has will he give for his life; Job 2:5. But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh—will he not curse you? The custom of ancient barter trade to get for sold goods not coins, money, but an item of corresponding value created among nomads acquiring their needed things for animal hides a proverb: “skin for skin,” that is, equal for equal, without any profit. Using this proverb, the devil says that Job’s patience shown cannot be called disinterested, and therefore there is no reason to praise it (v. 3). Knowing that cursing threatens with death (Job 2:9), Job by his patience preserved himself life—the greatest good for man. He lost in comparison with it little—possessions and children; with calculation he patiently surrendered, gave up these things, but in exchange gained for himself the greater—life. And only the taking away of this latter can provoke on his part a curse.

Job 2:7. And Satan went away from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with severe leprosy from the sole of his foot to the top of his head. Judging by the manifestations of the sickness noted in the book itself (Job 7:4-6), Job was struck with leprosy. This disease begins with the appearance on the body of pustules in the form of clusters. In further development the disease covers the entire surface of the body and eats it away so that all the limbs appear as though detached. The legs and shins swell and become covered with growths, resembling growths on elephant skin, from which comes its name “elephantiasis,” the elephant disease. The face becomes bloated and shiny; the gaze—fixed and gloomy; the voice—weak. The sufferer, tormented by severe pain, deprived of sleep, or rather, tormented by nightmares, finds no rest either day or night.

Job 2:8. And he took a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat in the ashes [outside the settlement]. Struck by an unclean (Lev 13:3 and so forth) and, perhaps, contagious disease (see Commentary on the Bible, vol. 1, p. 448, vv. 33–34), Job had to remove himself “beyond the limits of the settlement” (an addition of the LXX, in accord with Lev 13:46; Num 5:2-3; 2 Sam 7:3), where he sat in ashes, according to the Slavonic text, “in a dunghill.” The disagreement observed in the present case between the texts is tried to be reconciled by the consideration that, according to existing Eastern custom, waste matter carried out of the city and various refuse subject to decay were gradually burned, resulting in ash, which from rains became a hardened mass. By its origin, in its essence, the ash was indeed a dunghill.

Job 2:9. And his wife said to him: Are you still holding fast to your integrity! His wife’s speech, inspired, in the opinion of John Chrysostom, by the devil, presents a new trial of Job’s patience in that, by depicting (according to the translation of the LXX) his complete helplessness, it troubles souls not yet healed, suggests to the sufferer’s mind a seductive thought not yet arisen there—to speak one cursing word and forever free himself from the terrible disease. The outcome indicated by his wife is the only one possible for Job: no matter how much he blesses God, he will die anyway; piety is useless.

Job 2:10. But he said to her: You speak as one of the foolish women speaks: should we accept the good from God and not the evil? In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Struck by disasters, but not yet knowing their true cause, a man has no reason to abandon God. To do so can only an unreasonable person (Eccl 7:14).

Job 2:11. And when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, they came each from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and they made an appointment together to come and sympathize with him and comfort him. According to Genesis 36, “Eliphaz” is one of the ancient Edomite names, and Teman is one of the regions of Idumea (Gen 36:4; Gen 36:34; Jer 49:20; Ezek 25:13; Amos 1:12), known for the wisdom of its inhabitants (Jer 49:7; Bar 3:22-23). “Bildad the Shuhite”—a Shuhite. The region with the name Shuah remains unknown; some, Gesenius, Winer, identify it with the Σακκαία mentioned by Ptolemy, lying in the eastern part of Batanea (ancient Bashan). In Gen 25:2 the name Shuah is assigned to one of the sons of Abraham from Keturah, sent by him together with his brothers to the East. “Zophar the Naamathite”; Naamah is the name of a city that fell to the tribe of Judah in the distribution of the promised land (Josh 15:41) and lay by the Mediterranean Sea; but whether Zophar came from here is difficult to say.

Job 2:12. And they lifted their eyes from afar and did not recognize him; and they raised their voices and wept; and each tore his mantle and threw dust over his head toward heaven. In the sick man struck with leprosy, forsaken by all and sitting in the ashes, it was difficult, especially from a distance, to recognize the former healthy, surrounded by a large family, and wealthy man. Words of comfort (v. 11) give way to deep sorrow, expressed in the scattering of ashes over their heads (1 Sam 4:12).

Job 2:13. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights; and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. The seven-day (seven—the number of fullness) silence testifies to the strength of the friends’ sorrow (Ezek 3:15).