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There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared elohim and turned away from evil.
One day the heavenly beings [the sons haelohim] came to present themselves before Yahweh, and Satan also came among them to present himself before Yahweh. Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered Yahweh, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears elohim and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.” Then Satan answered Yahweh, “Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” Yahweh said to Satan, “Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.”
So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse elohim, and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand haelohim, and not receive the bad?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
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This is the Track 1 Old Testament reading that will be read aloud (if the church is on this track) on the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 22], Year B, according to the lectionary for the Episcopal Church. If read, it will be accompanied by Psalm 26, which sings, “Do not sweep me away with sinners, nor my life with those who thirst for blood.” That pair will precede a reading of the Epistle Hebrews, where Paul wrote, “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.” All will accompany the Gospel reading from Mark, when Jesus responded to a question about divorce from some Pharisees, saying “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her,” adding, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you.”
I wrote about this reading selection the last time it came up in the lectionary cycle (2018) and posted those views on my website at that time. That commentary can be read on this website by clicking on this link. At that time I was not focused on the English translations that routinely transform “Yahweh” to “Lord” and the plural “elohim” to “God.” Because I have done that to this reading, those clarifications make it necessary to add more comments to my prior interpretation. The meaning stated in 2018 is still valid today; and, I welcome all readers to read that posting and compare what I said then to what I will now say. As always, I welcome comments, questions, suggestions and corrections.
In the above English translation that the Episcopal Church says comes from the New Revised Standard Version [NRSV], you will note where I have placed “Yahweh” in bold text [eight times] and versions of “elohim” in italics [five times]. While chapter one’s first verse does not include any adjustments in the text that shows “Yahweh” written as “Lord,” that proper name is found written ten times there. The use of “elohim” or “haelohim” is found written seven times in chapter one, with all translated as “God” or “of God.” All of this is significant to realize when interpreting this reading.
In the first verse of chapter two, the translation says “the heavenly beings,” which is innocuous enough to totally miss what that says. One can assume it means Yahweh met Satan, as one could assume both are “heavenly beings.” The Hebrew written [transliterated] is "bə·nê hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm," or "sons of elohim," means "sons of gods." The "sons" are then the creations of Yahweh; and, the fact they are "gods" says they are angels, as "elohim" means an eternal being. Satan is an angel, with his being named making him stand out in this reading as a purposeful creation of Yahweh to test the Creation.
The reality of the Hebrew text of verse one begins by stating [transliterated], “way·hî hay·yō·wm,” which translates to state, “and came to pass the day.” This must be seen as more than some fairy tale beginning, as “Once upon a time,” because in those two words is stated “the day,” which is the seventh “day,” after Creation had rested. We still live in “the seventh day” today, as that is the day that Yahweh hand-made His Son and his mate in Eden, before releasing them into the world as His first priests.
In chapter one [unread] is basically the same text as is written in chapter two, verses 1 through 3a. At that point in chapter one, Satan said to Yahweh, “Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side?” In that NRSV translation, the Hebrew word “śaḵ·tā,” from “suk,” has been translated as “fence,” while equally meaning “hedge.” That was stated by Satan as his recognizing a protective environment had been made by Yahweh, in which Job lived. That "fence" or "hedge" prevented Satan from touching Job. As such, the “hedge” can be seen as Eden, with Job being the equivalent of Adam.
If that is so, then while Adam was in Eden, he and “wife” (some call her “Eve”) had children (seven sons and three daughters). He also had many livestock. However, once Satan met with Yahweh at a prior meeting of the “sons of elohim,” Job no longer had the protective “hedge,” and Satan’s first attack on Job was to cause him to lose his children and livestock. [The unread story in chapter one.] That attack did not sway Job away from being true to Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh gave and Yahweh has taken away,” while still worshiping Yahweh.
That becomes the set-up for what we read in chapter two; but if Job is not Adam, then he is a direct descendant of that lineage because he offered burnt offering as a priest, when nobody else on earth was doing so. In support of that concept, Yahweh said, “There is no one like him on the earth.” (Job 2:3b)
When one takes into consideration that it was the Book of Enoch that told of the war of angels, listing two hundred fallen “watchers,” for Satan to meet with Yahweh says this rebellion took place after Adam had been expelled from Eden. After the rebellion – brought on because of a refusal to serve man [Adam?], rather than only Yahweh – Satan was cast into the depths of the earth and forbidden from ever appearing before Yahweh again. Thus, for Satan to appear before Yahweh twice in Job (chapters one and two) becomes a statement that this was “the day” of rest, when Yahweh made a Holy man [a Son of man]. Job is therefore the test Yahweh allowed for His Son to endure, which would lead Satan to rebel and be forever condemned.
The authorship of the Book of Job is unknown, although Moses is said to be the one who orated the story first. Like the story of Creation and all that happened before the Book of Exodus, all of Genesis comes from the Mind of Yahweh through a prophet of His. That is a Yahweh elohim and Moses was certainly one. This means Job was real and not a parable.
Because Adam is a Hebrew word that means “man” it is not necessarily his proper name. The name “Job” (while uncertain) is believed to be from Aramaic, meaning “he who turns (to God).” This can then be seen as “Returning.” [Abrahim Publications] Such a name would then aptly apply to Adam, as after his sin expelled him from Eden, his passing the test of Satan allowed his soul to “Return (to God)” after he died. Still, the statement that Job “was a man in the land of Uz,” this can be a statement that he was born as a descendant of Noah: A son of Aram, a son of Shem, a son of Noah (Genesis 10:23). This would mean Job was a descendant of Adam, prior to the birth of Abram.
In this regard, I want to address what Satan said to Yahweh, which is “Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” In that, first of all, the Hebrew word “or” is repeated, transliterated as “‘ō·wr bə·‘aḏ-‘ō·wr,” translated as “skin for skin.” That should be seen as a statement that “man” had to take the “skins” (hides, pelts) of animals to cover his “skin,” because his “skin” was not made strong and able to face harsh environments.
Look and see if you see something to skin for warmth.
That becomes the weak link between human beings and the other animals on earth. For having life on earth (“all that people have”), they have to take the lives of animals, so they can eat their flesh and clothe themselves in their furs and hides (“they will take to save their lives,” with “nathan” acceptable when translated as “take”). This means “skin” is a statement about the presence of a living soul [a minor form of elohim] in a body of flesh [death animated], where “skin for skin” is merely the exchange of one soul’s dead flesh to be additional dead covering for another soul.
Seeing this meaning, when Satan said, “But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh,” this speaks of an elohim attempting to unite with a living soul, so that a spiritual possession within the death of flesh is natural to resist and reject. By saying, “he will curse you to your face,” this is not about a living soul cursing Yahweh, but Satan saying the Son of man made by Yahweh would curse all elohim ["heavenly beings," like Satan] from joining his soul. The rejection of that possession would similarly be opposite of how the Son of man did not curse his taking of animal life to cover his weakness – fair skin.
That rejection must be seen as stated by Yahweh, when he told Satan that Job was “a blameless and upright man who fears elohim and turns away from evil.” In that “fear” is more that of losing the presence of Yahweh within, by facing an elohim that would be an influencer of “evil.” That “fear” would be in losing Yahweh's presence, for some spirit less than Yahweh. As such, when Satan said, “he will curse you to your face,” the reality of that written translates literally as saying, “and not to your face he will surely curse you.”
In that, the word “pā·ne·ḵā,” from “paneh,” has little to do with the “skin” of a “face,” but the Spiritual “face of Yahweh” that the Sons of man all wear. They wear the “face” of Yahweh and curse any other “face” that would suggest it be worn, especially that "face" of an evil elohim. As such, a Son of man will willingly put the skin of an animal over its skin, but it will curse the idea of putting the “face” of evil over the human face that glows with the “face” of Yahweh.
When Yahweh [who is All-Knowing, so able to know the ending of a story at the beginning] agreed to let His Son be tested by Satan, saying, “he is in your power; only spare his life,” that command to “spare his life” needs to be understood. All creatures that live on earth and breathe oxygen in any manner have souls that animate the death of matter that is their flesh. That says a soul equals “life.” Thus, the command was that Satan had free use of his powers of influence and present changes that effected dead matter, but he could not destroy the flesh to the point that it forced the release of Job’s soul from it. Therefore, “spare his life” means do not cause his soul to exit his flesh.
When Satan caused the skin of Job to be covered in painful sores, from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head, he looked as if he was covered in evil. Even with the face of Job covered in sores, the face of Yahweh glowed through them. For Job to then scrape the boils with a sharp piece of pottery and spread ashes in the wounds, he was attempting medical treatment and putting his trust in Yahweh that natural healing would occur. When healed wounds became new sores, his wife told Job it was not Yahweh causing this plight, but an evil elohim. Thus, she said, “Curse elohim, and die.” The aspect of death means the wife knew the soul would be released from a diseased body of flesh that had been overtaken demonically. There never was any suggestion that Job should curse Yahweh, because to do than and then “die” would be time for Judgment, which would not go well.
That is why Job responded to his wife, saying, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand haelohim, and not receive the bad?” Because Job knew Yahweh was greater than all elohim combined (having Created them all), it would be foolish to give up on that power, simply because of some unsightly and painful boils all over the skin. The “integrity” of being Yahweh’s “hand” on the earth (“the good at the hand haelohim”), which meant being a beacon to all other human beings that marriage of one’s soul to Yahweh means eternal reward that is freedom from the physical plane, it was foolish to see life in the flesh as anything more than a temporary period of limitation [even knowing Adam lived for nine hundred and thirty years]. That says “the bad” IS being in the flesh, which is known to die at some time. In other words, Job knew his soul was being tested by Yahweh, not Satan.
My new perspective on this reading, beyond what I have just added, deals with how the other readings on this Sunday relate to a theme of angels and marriage. The alternate Old Testament reading comes from Genesis 2, when the wife for the Son was made from his rib [sex chromosome] and divine marriage was made to project in physical unions. The Gospel reading has Jesus refer to this Genesis reading, in answer to a question about divorce [a test of Satan]. Paul wrote of man being made “a little lower than angels” [a quote from David], which is his divine knowledge of elohim, in the same way Job and wife knew of their spiritual presence [evil and watchers]. Thus, this reading selection states hidden terms that make it adhere more strongly to the others needs to be exposed.
As a reading for the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, when one’s own personal ministry for Yahweh should already be well underway, the less of Job is to be a soul married to Yahweh, which is the only way to be blameless [sinless] and upright [righteous]. From that strength of divine possession, there can be no capitulation to the threats of evil in the world. All of the sins of the world cover the skin that is the presence of humanity, from one end of the globe to the other, in all directions [head to toe]. Because sin exists (“the bad”), ministry for Yahweh means not to give that too much credit, so one sells one’s own soul cry-babying about all that is evil, becoming blind to all that is “good of elohim.” Being a wife of Yahweh as a soul married to His Spirit, means one is a “good elohim,” regardless of whatever persecution the world throws at your flesh of death. The lesson is to be one in the name of Yahweh, as Job - a name that means “Returning” to Eden, when this life’s work is finished.
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