With Job’s fate placed in the hands of his enemy by none other than God, himself, we read that Job’s sons and daughters were again feasting together in the home of his eldest son (Job 1:13). No doubt Job knew what was going on and may have been at that very time praying for them. As chance would have it, on the very day Job’s sons and daughters were feasting, one of Job’s servants came running to him, to say the Sabeans had come suddenly upon Job’s plowmen, killed everyone laboring in his fields and stole his herds of oxen and donkeys, and only he escaped alive to tell him (Job 1:14-15).
Likewise, while the first servant was still speaking a second came in to tell Job that the fire of God had fallen from heaven and burned up all his sheep and his shepherds, and he alone escaped to tell him. Moreover, while the second was still speaking a third servant came to Job to tell him the Chaldeans had suddenly raided Job’s herds of camels, slew their keepers and only he was able to escape and tell Job (Job 1:16-17). Finally, a fourth servant came in to tell Job the news that, while his sons and daughters were feasting together in his eldest son’s home, the house collapsed, killing all of them, and he alone escaped to tell him (Job 1:18-19).
One has to wonder, as we read these things, if either God was personally involved in Job’s calamities or if Satan truly is a great spiritual entity who is powerful enough to control nature, which was used to destroy Job’s family and his sheep and shepherds. Certainly, the Lord has the power to judge people and cause fire (lightening?) from heaven to fall and destroy those he judges (cp. Numbers 11:1-3; 2Kings 1:2, 10, 14), but does anyone else have such power, including angels? If one looks for support elsewhere in scripture to prove Satan has that power, he would fail, because the evidence simply isn’t there.[1] Therefore, assuming God didn’t take an active part in destroying Job’s family and possessions, we need to consider what did occur in light of the possibility of it being a conspiracy.
In the context of Job being the greatest man in the East (Job 1:3), if either the Chaldeans or the Sabeans (descendants of Cush; Genesis 10:7-10) were allied with Job (cp. Genesis 14:13), this alliance could have been the hedge that Job’s enemy referred to (Job 1:10). Satan led one clan, and he was now able to convince the other to betray Job, destroying him and taking his goods. If such a thing were true, it occurred only because God permitted the other to be enticed. Of course, in reality, the actual circumstances may have been different, but this is one way, in which Job’s family and wealth could have been destroyed without the need of a powerful angelic being. No evil spirits are needed, if the actors are human beings of high rank, seeking to enhance their own wealth at the expense of the greatest man in the East (Job 1:3).
One more thing, we have only the word of the so-called witnesses that Job’s calamities occurred just as they claimed. Keep in mind that all of them escaped alone to deliver their horrible tales to Job, and that was done almost simultaneously. Such a thing reeks of conspiracy, and, if Job’s adversary hated him as much as the text implies, he couldn’t have delivered a more deadly blow to Job than to have such news come to him all at once. So, were these four servants of Job truly loyal to him, or were they bribed or planted among Job’s servants by his adversary? Or, was one of his servants the chief conspirator who not only betrayed Job, but also brokered a deal with both the Chaldeans and the Sabeans?
When Job heard of all the trouble that befallen him, he rose up, tore his clothes, shaved his head and mourned by praising God with the well-known phrase: “Naked came I into the world and naked I shall return. Blessed be the name of the Lord!” (Job 1:20-21), and in all of this Job did not sin or charge God with impropriety.
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[1] This statement, of course, excludes the power of the Angel of the Lord, who later became Jesus. This is no mere angel, but is the Spirit of God, himself.
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