Job 2:4-6

4 And Satan [satan] answered [`anah] the LORD [Yahovah], and said ['amar], Skin [`owr] for skin [`owr], yea, all that a man ['iysh] hath will he give [nathan] for his life [nephesh].

5 But ['uwlam] put forth [shalach] thine hand [yad] now, and touch [naga`] his bone [`etsem] and his flesh [basar], and he will curse [barak] thee to thy face [paniym].

6 And the LORD [Yahovah] said ['amar] unto Satan [satan], Behold, he is in thine hand [yad]; but save [shamar] his life [nephesh]. KJV-Interlinear

4 And Satan answered the LORD and said, 'Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. 5 'However, put forth Thy hand, now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse Thee to Thy face.' 6 So the LORD said to Satan, 'Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.' NASB

Satan places humanity, through Job, into a broad stereotypical category. Satan knows that humanity was formed from the dust of the earth, a common and useless dust. Therefore, here is the application of how dust probably thinks. Or how it should think according to Satan.

Life is precious to man, and if man has to give up anything, even everything, then he will if only to save his own life. That is to say, man will save his own skin at any price.

Job, in Satan's eyes, gladly gave up his property, his employees, even his children, because he himself was not harmed. Satan implies that Job has no conscience and therefore has no concern for the welfare of others. That Job will place his own interests first, and the interests of others, even his own family, at a place far lower in priority than his own.

Satan is the first of the liberals, as I mentioned in an earlier study. But do not confuse the spiritual liberal with the political liberal. A liberal in the spiritual sense, is one who rejects truth, and goes even further to distort truth. Satan does this.

All of the accusations made by of Satan, do not apply to the victim, but are in fact the revelation of his, Satan's, own character. This is how Satan thinks. This is exactly how Satan feels about himself. Satan will place his own interests before those of everyone else, even of the fallen angels who followed him into his rebellion against God.

In a rebellion, people perceive themselves as being restricted in some way, therefore they rebel in order to obtain something better. Satan promised something better. They will all get the Lake of Fire.

When truth is rejected, then the results will always be bad.

Satan is the one who has attended the angelic assembly to complain and to protest Job. What has Job done to deserve this? Nothing.

Job did not attend the assembly to defend himself. In fact no charges have been made with respect to criminal activity. Satan simply does not like Job because Job loves God, and based on that love, Job has pursued his spiritual life and consequently was blessed.

Why should Satan care? Gods blessing is freely available to everyone.

But those who reject truth, never develop the capacity of contentment. They cannot. Only truth in the soul can provide the foundation and framework for contentment. So, a person who lacks contentment, will be discontented. Just a simple truth.

A discontented person cannot change things in his own life, so he will look to the lives of others. Anyone who is perceived to have less is looked down on with aloofness. Anyone who has more is envied and then hated. What they have you want, and if you cannot have it, or if they offend you in any way, then you would prefer to destroy them and all they have. Envy and jealousy, and hate can be very powerful sins. These can lead to gossip, to vindictiveness, to maligning, to violence.

A person who hates, will distort their sense of justice to unreasonable proportions. If someone burns the toast, then shoot them.

Where has the harm come to Satan? In what way has Satan been wronged? What does Job have that Satan could not have had?

Satan is the father of lies. He is the father of complaints. He is the father of accusations. He is the father of distortions.

Job was an upright citizen. We know what Job was doing after he had suffered his losses. He was doing all of the right things.

We know what Satan was doing after the attack against Job. Satan just went about his merry way, cruising the earth, looking for other victims. Satan had left Job behind, sitting in the ashes of his grieving, just as the criminals who had attached Job's property, had left behind those they had murdered, laying in the dust where they had fallen.

Now, out of nowhere, Satan makes an accusation that simply is not true. Granted there are many examples of selfishness among humanity, but in all of history, man has demonstrated great personal sacrifice for his fellow man. Some sacrifices occur on the battlefield. Other sacrifices occur in hospital settings, as with the donation of a kidney, or bone marrow, or similar things. Everyday in life, parent's sacrifice their own personal wants and needs, for their children's so that their children can have better lives before them. And these are just a few examples of the goodness of humanity.

Satan's accusation was a lie. And even if it were true, then so what. What was the point of Satan's accusation. What wrong had been committed? What correction did Satan expect? That perhaps God would just leave this entire universe to Satan? Where would be the justice in substituting a lesser wrong with a greater one?

Satan is selfish to the maximum. His accusations are arbitrary and never intend to bring justice, but only to satisfy his own ego, and to delay his inevitable doom.

Look at our own history. Often we will see tyrants in the world limelight, making ridiculous, but even reasonable sounding remarks, just to buy themselves time. Humanity will fall for the political ploys, but then humanity is not in charge of history. And not bring in charge is a good thing. Humanity would just mess things up. And we often do.

Jesus Christ controls history. Job is going to be permitted to suffer once again, and the rest of the book of Job will be filled with reasoning, with arguments, with explanations as to why. They will all be wrong.

At the end of the book, God will explain it all.

Matt. 6:25

25 'For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing? NASB

Psa. 118:18

18 The LORD has disciplined me severely, But He has not given me over to death. NASB

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