Bible Study Job 2
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Job 2 · WEB

The Second Test; Three Friends Arrive

Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.

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Again, on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan came also among them to present himself before Yahweh.
2Yahweh said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered Yahweh and said, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
3Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him to ruin him without cause."
4Satan answered Yahweh and said, "Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.
5But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face."
6Yahweh said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life."
7So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.
8He took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.
9Then his wife said to him, "Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die."
10But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job didn't sin with his lips.
11Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.
12When they lifted up their eyes from a distance and didn't recognize him, they raised their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe, and they threw dust toward the sky over their heads.
13So they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
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Summary

Satan returns to the heavenly court and raises the stakes: take away a man's health and he'll abandon God. God permits the assault, keeping only Job's life. Job is struck with agonizing sores from head to foot and sits among the ash heap, scraping himself with pottery. His wife urges him to curse God and die. Job rebukes her: "Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" His three friends — Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar — arrive and are so shocked by his condition they weep, tear their robes, and sit in silence with him for seven days. That silence is their finest moment.

Themes

  • Bodily suffering as a deeper test than material loss
  • The value of silent, present companionship in grief
  • God's acknowledgment that Job suffered "without cause"

Key verses

  • Job 2:10 — “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”
  • Job 2:13 — “They sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.”
  • Job 2:3 — “He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him to ruin him without cause.”

Context & background

"Skin for skin" (v. 4) is an idiom meaning people will sacrifice anything — property, others — to preserve their own skin. The painful sores (possibly a severe form of elephantiasis, smallpox, or boils) made Job unrecognizable (v. 12) — a devastating detail. The ash heap (v. 8) was outside the city, where garbage was burned; Job has literally been expelled to the margins. Eliphaz was from Teman (modern southern Jordan/Edom), Bildad from Shuah (possibly northern Arabia), and Zophar from Naamah (location uncertain). Their seven-day silence follows ancient Near Eastern mourning customs. Crucially, God says Job suffered "without cause" (v. 3) — the narrator explicitly tells us the friends' later explanations are wrong before they even begin speaking.

Cross-references

  • Hebrews 4:15 — Jesus as a high priest "touched with the feeling of our infirmities" — present in suffering
  • Job 1:22 — "Job didn't sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing"; now v. 10: "Job didn't sin with his lips" — the qualification deepens
  • John 11:35 — Jesus weeping at the tomb; the friends' weeping here is similarly the right instinct
  • Lamentations 2:10 — Sitting on the ground in silence as grief; the friends instinctively follow this tradition
  • Romans 12:15 — "Weep with those who weep" — the friends do this well before they speak

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    What was the difference between the first and second tests on Job?

  2. Observe

    What did Job's three friends do when they arrived?

  3. Interpret

    What does God's statement that Job suffered "without cause" do to retribution theology?

  4. Interpret

    Why is silent presence often more valuable than words in deep suffering?

  5. Apply

    When loved ones counsel despair from a place of pain, how do you discern your response?

  6. Apply

    How do you personally relate to the idea that God governs both blessings and losses in your life?

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