January 19: Job 1:1 – Job 4:21

Job's Character and Wealth – Job 1

• A man by the name of Job lives in the land of Uz (possibly near Edom?). He is blameless and upright, has always feared God and turned away from evil.
• Job has seven sons and three daughters, as well as much livestock (seven was the biblical number of completeness).
• Job's sons participate in a feast with their siblings on their appointed day. Afterward, Job sanctifies his children by interceding with burnt offerings, in case any of them have sinned and cursed God in their heart. 

Satan Allowed to Test Job

• The sons of God (angels) present themselves before God, and Job comes among them. God asks Satan where he has come from, and he answers that he has been walking about the earth. God points out his servant Job, and Satan says that Job fears God only because God has blessed him, and points out that if God took what he had, Job would curse God to his face.
• God tells Satan that he may do what he will with all that Job has, "only against him do not stretch out your hand." (This proves that God limits Satan's power.)
• Satan leaves God's presence.

Satan Takes Job's Property and Children

• On a day that Job's children are feasting in the oldest brother's house, a messenger comes to Job to tell him that the Sabeans (nomadic raiders from Sheba) have taken all the oxen and donkeys and have killed all the servants with them (except the one who escaped to tell Job). 
• Before that servant finishes speaking, another messenger comes and informs Job that fire fell from heaven and burned up all the sheep and the servants with them (except for the one who escaped to tell Job).
• Before that servant finishes speaking, another messenger comes and informs Job that the Chaldeans (a west Semitic raiding tribe) have taken all the camels and killed all the servants with them (except the one who escaped to tell Job).
• Before that servant finishes speaking, another messenger comes and informs Job that a great wind struck the house of his oldest son, collapsing the house on all his children, who all died.
• Job rises, tears his robe, shaves his head, and falls on the ground worshiping God. He claims, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
• Despite what has happened, Job does not sin or charge God with wrong.

Satan Attacks Job's Health – Job 2

• Again, Satan comes before God when the sons of God present themselves to Him. God asks Satan where he has been, and he responds that he has been walking the earth. God again points out his servant Job and how he has held to his integrity despite what has happened to him.
• Satan replies that a man will give all he has to keep his life, and that if God would "touch his bone and flesh," Job would curse Him to His face. God tells Satan he may do with Job as he wishes, but he must not take his life.
• Satan leaves the Lord's presence and strikes Job with "loathsome sores" from the top of his head to the sole of his foot.
• Job sits in ashes and uses a piece of broken pottery to scratch himself. His wife tells him to curse God and die. He replies that she speaks like a foolish woman and that they receive good from God, so why shouldn't they receive evil. He does not sin with his words.

Job's Three Friends

• When Job's three friends hear about what has happened to him, they come to show sympathy and comfort him. When they see him from a distance, they do not recognize him, and they tear their robes and sprinkle dust on their heads, crying loudly. They sit with him in silence for seven days and nights because of his great suffering.

Job Laments His Birth – Job 3

• Job curses the day of his birth. (He wishes that the popular magicians who cast spells could cast a spell on the day of his birth so he was never born. Job's belief in God indicates that he was speaking dramatically, and not that he was truly endorsing pagan magic.)

Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prayer – Job 4

• Eliphaz speaks, and though his words are more courteous than will be the other two friends', he points out that God would never punish the righteous. He concludes that since Job is suffering, he must be a sinner.
• Eliphaz adds illustrations of God's retribution on animals (possibly implying that Job's "groanings" or "roaring" made him comparable to an old lion, symbolizing the wicked). He then states that he heard a voice that told him that no one is righteous compared to God, implying that Job is not righteous.