13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants1 with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
Section Overview
Job 1:13–19 records a very structured account of a very unruly day. After the setting of a celebratory scene (v. 13), human savagery (Sabeans and Chaldeans) and natural disasters (fire and wind) crash the party (vv. 14–19). In one day Job loses all of his possessions (cf. vv. 2–3). First, some of Job’s servants are massacred and his oxen and donkeys are taken. Second, a lightning storm (“the fire of God”; v. 16) consumes more servants, along with his sheep. Third, more servants are slaughtered, with his camels being taken. Fourth, “a great wind” (v. 19) blows down the walls of Job’s oldest son’s house, leaving all Job’s children dead. Their house of celebration (vv. 4, 13) has become their burial chamber.
Job 1:20–21 records Job’s extraordinary response—unspeakable grief (he “tore his robe and shaved his head”), submissive faith (he “fell on the ground and worshiped”), recognition of his own mortality (“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return”), and unwavering commitment to God’s providential rule (“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord”). Verse 22 offers a brief commentary on verses 20–21. Satan was wrong (cf. vv. 9–11). Job has praised the good reputation of the Lord. Put differently, Job has not sinned or accused God of wrongdoing.
Section Outline
Response
The story of Job can make us wise unto salvation. It can also train us in righteousness by teaching us what it means to stay grounded in God. Why is Job able to withstand Satan’s sifting? Why is his immediate response to unspeakable tragedy not to question or curse his creator but rather to prostrate himself upon the earth in sorrow, humility, and faith and to worship its sovereign sustainer? Three roots—theological foundations—help to hold up Job during this day of duress.
The first root is Job’s knowledge that material and spiritual prosperity are divine gifts, and as divine gifts they can be freely given and taken away. Along with this, he might know that peace, prosperity, self-security, and happiness can become perils that may threaten to hinder or prohibit fallen human beings from undertaking and continuing the arduous journey of faith. He might even believe, in some sense, that suffering possesses the strange but beautiful power of liberating one’s soul from the seduction of safety and the love of temporal, perishable goods. In these ways he anticipates the Christian life—the necessity of cross-bearing (Luke 9:23), of enduring persecution for righteousness’ sake (Matt. 5:10), of learning obedience from hardship (Heb. 5:8), of sharing in the sufferings of Christ (Phil. 1:29).
The second root is Job’s trust in God’s providence. Job had no idea what was going on in the heavens. He was not privy to the chamber room conversation. And yet he gave God the benefit of the doubt. He knew what the Bible calls wisdom. He knew who was the potter and who was the clay, and as the clay he did not say to the potter, “Do you know what you are doing?” Rather, he was able to be cracked and battered about because he trusted that he was still in God’s wise and just and loving hands. He trusted in the purposeful providence of God. Following Job’s lead, we should trust that God rules every aspect of the universe, every event of history, and every detail of our personal lives; that God even numbers the very hairs on our heads, as Jesus taught (Luke 12:7).
The third root is to believe in the resurrection. Believe that this life is not all there is. We live. We die. And then there is the resurrection. This conviction is not apparent from Job 1. It is not apparent that Job believed in life after death and in a day in which all wrongs would be judged and made right. Yet as Job speaks with his friends, it becomes apparent that he believes in some sort of a bodily resurrection (cf. comment on 13:28–14:22 [at 14:13–17]). This is nowhere more evident than at 19:25–26, where he answers his friends’ false accusations by declaring, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God!” Job held the belief, or at least pondered the possibility, that there would be a resurrection and that in that day there also would be retribution—final justice. If we would look toward the afterlife and live in light of the resurrection—our future resurrection grounded in Christ’s past resurrection (we know so much more than Job did!)—our troubles would be far more tolerable. The apparent tyrannies of providence would be more palatable, for we would remember that God still “has time,” so to speak, to remedy any and all injustices of history (even our personal histories). By looking forward to a future vindication and the joy that will accompany it, we can affirm Paul’s words in Romans 8:18: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”