Temptation of Job

Job was a perfect and an upright man that feared God and abstained from evil. Satan using his accusing character and maliciousness, pretended that Job would cursed God if he were deprived from all his belongings and family.

The Lord allowed Satan to severely try Job and cause him intense suffering and anguish for his ultimate good, but told him not to put his hand upon Job himself, Satan went forth from the presence of God and terrible things began to happen to his children and his possessions. It was Satan who stirred up the Sabeans and the Chaldeans to plunder Job’s animal possessions and to slay his servants.

He was the one who made fire come down from heaven and burn up the sheep, and the great wind to arise and blow down the house where Job’s seven sons and three daughters were, killing them all. This shows something of the great power Satan and his wicked enmity against God’s servants. But it also reveals that Satan can only go as far as God allows.

The patriarch never cursed God, and Satan was defeated. The end of Job was that he had a greater realization of God and of his own sinfulness, and his possessions were doubled from what he had before. He was also given seven more sons and three daughters who were the fairest women in all the land.

Temptation of Job, wall painting from St Stephen’s Chapel at the Palace of Westminster, c. 1360