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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Job 2 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/job/2.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/job/2.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/job/2-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../job/">Job</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../job/1.htm" title="Job 1">◄</a> Job 2 <a href="../job/3.htm" title="Job 3">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/2-1.htm">Job 2:1</a></div><div class="verse">Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.</div><span class= "bld">II.</span><p>(1) <span class= "bld">And Satan came also.</span>—See <a href="/job/1-7.htm" title="And the LORD said to Satan, From where come you? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.">Job 1:7</a>. St. Peter applies to Satan the verb from which we have <span class= "ital">peripatetic.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/2-4.htm">Job 2:4</a></div><div class="verse">And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">Skin for skin.</span>—This is a more extreme form of the insinuation of <a href="/job/1-9.htm" title="Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Does Job fear God for nothing?">Job 1:9</a>. He means Job takes care to have his <span class= "ital">quid pro quo; </span>and if the worst come to the worst, a man will give up everything to save his life. If, therefore, Job can save his life at the price of subservience to God, he will willingly pay that price rather than die; but his service is worth no more than that selfish object implies.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/2-6.htm">Job 2:6</a></div><div class="verse">And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he <i>is</i> in thine hand; but save his life.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">But save his life.</span>—God’s faithfulness cannot fail even if, as Satan hints, Job’s should do so (<a href="/2_timothy/2-13.htm" title="If we believe not, yet he stays faithful: he cannot deny himself.">2Timothy 2:13</a>). There was one who cared for Job’s life more than he cared for it himself.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/2-7.htm">Job 2:7</a></div><div class="verse">So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">Sore boils.</span>—Supposed to be Elephantiasis, an extreme form of leprosy, in which the skin becomes clotted and hard like an elephant’s, with painful cracks and sores underneath.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/2-9.htm">Job 2:9</a></div><div class="verse">Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Then said his wife.</span>—Thus it is that a man’s foes are they of his own household (<a href="/micah/7-6.htm" title="For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.">Micah 7:6</a>; <a href="/matthew/10-36.htm" title="And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.">Matthew 10:36</a>, &c.). The worst trial of all is when those nearest to us, instead of strengthening our hand in God and confirming our faith, conspire to destroy it.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/2-10.htm">Job 2:10</a></div><div class="verse">But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Shall we receive good . . .?</span>—The words were fuller than even Job thought; for merely to receive evil as from <span class= "ital">God’s </span>hands is to transmute its character altogether, for then even calamities become blessings in disguise. What Job meant was that we are <span class= "ital">bound </span>to expect evil as well as good from God’s hands by a sort of compensation and even-handed justice, but what his words <span class= "ital">may </span>mean is a far more blessed truth than this. There is a sublime contrast between the temptation of Job and the temptation of Christ (<a href="/context/matthew/26-39.htm" title="And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.">Matthew 26:39-42</a>, &c.). (Comp. <a href="/hebrews/5-8.htm" title="Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;">Hebrews 5:8</a>.) <span class= "ital">This </span>was the lesson Job was learning.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/2-11.htm">Job 2:11</a></div><div class="verse">Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Eliphaz the Temanite.</span>—Teman was the son of Eliphaz, the son of Esau, to whose family this Eliphaz is probably to be referred (<a href="/genesis/36-4.htm" title="And Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz; and Bashemath bore Reuel;">Genesis 36:4</a>; <a href="/context/genesis/36-10.htm" title="These are the names of Esau's sons; Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Bashemath the wife of Esau.">Genesis 36:10-11</a>). If so, this may roughly indicate the date of the book. The inhabitants of Teman, which lay north-east of Edom, were famed for their wisdom (<a href="/jeremiah/47-7.htm" title="How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD has given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there has he appointed it.">Jeremiah 47:7</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Bildad the Shuhite </span>probably derived his origin from Shuah, the son of Abraham by Keturah (<a href="/genesis/25-2.htm" title="And she bore him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.">Genesis 25:2</a>). Of the district from which Zophar the Naamathite came nothing is known. It probably derived its name from a Naamah or Naaman, of which there were several (<span class= "ital">e.g., </span><a href="/genesis/4-22.htm" title="And Zillah, she also bore Tubalcain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.">Genesis 4:22</a>; <a href="/1_kings/14-21.htm" title="And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess.">1Kings 14:21</a>; <a href="/genesis/46-21.htm" title="And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.">Genesis 46:21</a>; <a href="/numbers/26-40.htm" title="And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the family of the Ardites: and of Naaman, the family of the Naamites.">Numbers 26:40</a>; <a href="/2_kings/5-1.htm" title="Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance to Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper.">2Kings 5:1</a>), as names of persons or places called after them.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/2-12.htm">Job 2:12</a></div><div class="verse">And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">And knew him not.</span>—Compare the converse statement descriptive of the love of mm who could recognise his lost son under a disguise as great as that of Job, or even greater (<a href="/luke/15-20.htm" title="And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.">Luke 15:20</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/2-13.htm">Job 2:13</a></div><div class="verse">So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that <i>his</i> grief was very great.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days.</span>—Compare the conduct of David (<a href="/2_samuel/12-16.htm" title="David therefore sought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night on the earth.">2Samuel 12:16</a>), and see also <a href="/genesis/1-10.htm" title="And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.">Genesis 1:10</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/31-13.htm" title="And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.">1Samuel 31:13</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/3-15.htm" title="Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelled by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.">Ezekiel 3:15</a>. There is a colossal grandeur about this description which is in keeping with the majesty and hoary antiquity of the poem.<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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