12 And Jehovah said to Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand; only upon himself put not forth thy hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah.
And Abram said to Sarai, Behold, thy maidservant is in thy hand: do to her what is good in thine eyes. And Sarai oppressed her; and she fled from her face.
And now, behold, Jehovah has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and Jehovah has spoken evil concerning thee.
And Satan answered Jehovah and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life; but put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, [and see] if he will not curse thee to thy face! And Jehovah said to Satan, Behold, he is in thy hand; only spare his life. And Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah; and he smote Job with a grievous botch from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
For the fury of man shall praise thee; the remainder of fury wilt thou gird on thyself.
And king Zedekiah said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do a thing against you.
And there was there a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain, and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into those; and he suffered them. And the demons, going out from the man, entered into the swine, and the herd rushed down the precipice into the lake, and were choked.
The Father loves the Son, and has given all things [to be] in his hand. He that believes on the Son has life eternal, and he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.
Jesus answered, Thou hadst no authority whatever against me if it were not given to thee from above. On this account he that has delivered me up to thee has [the] greater sin.
No temptation has taken you but such as is according to man's nature; and God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are able [to bear], but will with the temptation make the issue also, so that [ye] should be able to bear [it].
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 1
Commentary on Job 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Book of Job
Chapter 1
The history of Job begins here with an account,
In all this he is set forth for an example of suffering affliction, from which no prosperity can secure us, but through which integrity and uprightness will preserve us.
Job 1:1-3
Concerning Job we are here told,
Job 1:4-5
We have here a further account of Job's prosperity and his piety.
Job 1:6-12
Job was not only so rich and great, but withal so wise and good, and had such an interest both in heaven and earth, that one would think the mountain of his prosperity stood so strong that it could not be moved; but here we have a thick cloud gathering over his head, pregnant with a horrible tempest. We must never think ourselves secure from storms while we are in this lower region. Before we are told how his troubles surprised and seized him here in this visible world, we are here told how they were concerted in the world of spirits, that the devil, having a great enmity to Job for his eminent piety, begged and obtained leave to torment him. It does not at all derogate from the credibility of Job's story in general to allow that this discourse between God and Satan, in these verses, is parabolical, like that of Micaiah (1 Ki. 22:19, etc.), and an allegory designed to represent the malice of the devil against good men and the divine check and restraint which that malice is under; only thus much further is intimated, that the affairs of this earth are very much the subject of the counsels of the unseen world. That world is dark to us, but we lie very open to it. Now here we have,
Job 1:13-19
We have here a particular account of Job's troubles.
Job 1:20-22
The devil had done all he desired leave to do against Job, to provoke him to curse God. He had touched all he had, touched it with a witness; he whom the rising sun saw the richest of all the men in the east was before night poor to a proverb. If his riches had been, as Satan insinuated, the only principle of his religion now that he had lost his riches he would certainly have lost his religion; but the account we have, in these verses, of his pious deportment under his affliction, sufficiently proved the devil a liar and Job an honest man.
Lastly, Here is the honourable testimony which the Holy Ghost gives to Job's constancy and good conduct under his afflictions. He passed his trials with applause, v. 22. In all this Job did not act amiss, for he did not attribute folly to God, nor in the least reflect upon his wisdom in what he had done. Discontent and impatience do in effect charge God with folly. Against the workings of these therefore Job carefully watched; and so must we, acknowledging that as God has done right, but we have done wickedly, so God has done wisely, but we have done foolishly, very foolishly. Those who not only keep their temper under crosses and provocations, but keep up good thoughts of God and sweet communion with him, whether their praise be of men or no, it will be of God, as Job's here was.