Job – the name means “hated or persecuted one.” The biggest problem in the book of Job has to do with theology, not Job’s pain and suffering. What is Job to do when God doesn’t act the way he expects him to act (the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked punished). The book showcases the unfathomable wisdom of God in times of human suffering. With God, there is a reason for everything he does.
Just because the spirit realm is unseen by us that doesn’t make it any less real. We the readers have visibility of the dialog between God and Satan. Job does not. This window into heaven is valuable to the story of Job and explains why things end up happening to him.
I have always wondered why Satan bothers to concern himself with humankind. You would think there would be more pressing, more significant things he could be doing rather than antagonizing people. Perhaps other passages of scriptures can shed some light on this.
Psalm 8:4-5 asks the question, “What is man that You [God] are mindful of him…For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.” The original Hebrew text uses the word Elohiym, (the name for God) instead of the word “angels.” So, man was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and a little lower than God. The Apostle Paul in his discourse to the Corinthian church says, “do you not know that we will judge angels?” 1 Corinthians 6:3.
It’s starting to make sense now why Satan would concern himself with leading people away from God. At one time Lucifer, a.k.a Satan, occupied the highest position in heaven among the angels. He led worship in heaven, until he was found to be filled with pride concerning his own beauty and was cast out. Lucifer wanted to be worshipped. He wanted to be like God (see Ezekiel 28, Isaiah 14). But God chose to make man, not angels, in his likeness. What could be more fulfilling for Satan than to have mankind worship him instead of God. To goad man into sinning, knowing that it separates people from God.
In chapter 1, Satan believes if he can get God to remove the hedge of protection around Job, then “the most righteous human” on earth will curse God. Satan is proven wrong and Job worships God anyway.
God is not playing a game with Satan over the life of Job. God, in his wisdom, has a reason for allowing tragedy to strike him.
Which one of us can stand in the face of what Job endured and say, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.” Job 1:21-22
Joshua chapters 16-19 go into great detail of how the tribes of Israel received their inheritance beginning with Caleb (from the tribe of Judah) and ending with Joshua (from the tribe of Ephraim). Lots were cast before God’s presence in the tabernacle in Shiloh (Joshua 18:6). Casting lots for land distribution involved God in the process. Today’s equivalent would be casting dice or picking a slip of paper out of a hat with a choice written on it. How many of us today would attribute the casting of lots to divine providence?
Caleb stands out as an example of how Israel’s tribes ought to be living out their conquest of Canaan. He remained faithful to God. He wanted the complete portion God promised. His faith wouldn’t let him make compromises. At age 85, he set out to claim the land promised to him. The same land his feet trod 45 years earlier when he and 11 other Israelites first spied out the land of Canaan under Moses’ leadership (See Numbers 13). He approached Joshua and said, “Give me the land God promised through Moses.” It didn’t matter to him that the land was occupied by giants. Caleb’s faith in God allowed him to conquer the land.
Scraps 