"Does Job Fear GOD For Nothing?"

Hello! and happy good first day of the week to all of us, GUYS.  Our "food for the soul" this Monday:

THE GOOD NEWS (26 September 2016)

"One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before YAHWEH, and Satan came with them.  YAHWEH asked Satan, 'Where have you been?'

Satan answered, 'Going up and down the earth, roaming about.'

YAHWEH asked again, 'Have you noticed my servant Job?'  No one on earth is as blameless and upright as he, a man who fears GOD and avoids evil.'

But Satan returned the question, 'Does Job fear GOD for nothing?'  Have you not built a protective wall around him and his family and all his possessions?  You have blessed and prospered him, with his livestock all over the land.  But stretch out your hand and strike where his riches are, and I bet he will curse you to your face.'

YAHWEH said to Satan, 'Very well, all that he has is in your power.  But do not lay a finger upon the man himself.'  So Satan left the presence of YAHWEH.

One day, while his sons and daughters were feasting in the house of their eldest brother, a messenger came to Job and said, 'Your oxen were plowing, and your donkeys were grazing nearby when the Sabaeans came and carried them off.  They killed the herdsmen.  I alone escaped to tell you.'

While he was still speaking, another messenger came, 'GOD's fire fell from the sky and burned all your sheep and the shepherds as well.  I alone have escaped to tell you.'

He had hardly finished speaking when another messenger arrived, 'Three raiding teams of Chaldeans have killed your servants and carried off your camels.  I alone have escaped to tell you.'

He was still speaking when another messenger came and said to Job, 'Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking in the house of their eldest brother when suddenly a great wind blew across the desert and struck the house.  It collapsed on the young people and they all died.  I alone have escaped to tell you.'

In grief Job tore his clothes and shaved his head.  Then he fell to the ground and worshiped, saying,

 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I shall return.

YAHWEH gave, YAHWEH has taken away.

Blessed be HIS name!.'

In spite of this calamity, Job did not sin by blaspheming GOD." - Job 1:6-22 

Job, A Good And Prosperous Man

(Job lives in a foreign pagan land [Uz would be in the southern part of Palestine] in ancient times.  His position is enviable: he is a leader of nomads, somewhat like Abraham, and lacks nothing.  Yet he is only a pawn in world politics, or better, in heavenly politics.  GOD holds a council with the heavenly beings, namely, the angels, and looks at things which escape Job.  In this case, GOD is challenged by Satan, the enemy, the spirit who promotes evil, and in spite of HIMSELF GOD has to test Job in order to defend HIS own honor.

And so, from the very start, humans are put in their place.  They are not the center of the world, nor can they demand that GOD stop the course of history for their sake.

This intervention of Satan is one of the means to which believers spontaneously resort to justify GOD.  Because, in the final analysis, that is where the problem lies.  As long as we live without GOD, no one is responsible for evil except ourselves.  If we have good and evil gods, we know whom to blame.  If there is only one GOD, he is responsible for both good and evil and Job's words in 2:10 ["You talk foolishly.  If we receive good things from GOD, why can't we accept evil from HIM?"]  also apply to him.)   

      
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