And Satan answered Jehovah and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life;
Job has already lost his wealth and his children, and he has not turned against God. Satan now stands before God a second time with a sharper charge: a man will give up anything, even his fear of God, to stay alive.
Commentators read the phrase in more than one way.
Satan asks for one more trial: "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life." Many take "skin for skin" to mean like for like. Or he may be reducing all that had happened to a surface trial, one that had only touched the outside of things. But he says: let there be something deeper now, and we shall see.
Another writer presses the trade to its end.
"Skin for skin" — to save part of his skin a man will give up another part; yes, to save his life he will surrender everything he has, including his fear of God.
Satan talks about Job, but he aims the words at God. The first charge was that Job's possessions meant more to him than God. Now the charge is that Job himself does.
That is what the great adversary said to God. He repeated his accusation against Job and threw his taunt at God: "You have made this man. Though You are more to him than his possessions, You are not more to him than himself; he loves himself better than he loves You."
Scripture records these words, but the speaker is Satan. People often quote a verse as if every line in the Bible carried God's approval.
How often do we hear people say that the Bible says, "Stolen waters are sweet," when in fact Scripture says that a wicked woman said it! Mr. Jay preached from Job 2:4, "All that a man has he will give for his life." … It was the devil who was speaking. This was one of those half-truths which are worse than whole lies. Millions of men have refused to give up their principles to save their lives. Job himself proved how false that cynical statement is.
One writer tells how a lawyer made that mistake in court.
This remark of the devil was once quoted in court by a barrister who wanted to strengthen his case. He introduced it by saying, "As a great authority has said …" He felt quite safe in his authority, since he was quoting from the Bible! But the judge knew his Bible better than the lawyer did. He quietly said, "I am interested to observe whom the learned counsel quotes as 'a great authority'!"
The saying is not a flat lie. It describes one kind of person exactly, and misses another.
Satan's words, "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life," are sadly true of an unbeliever. But faith is something that Satan does not understand. He confidently claimed that if God struck Job's body, Job would curse God to His face.
God hands Job over to Satan, but draws a line at his life. He does not draw that line to soften the ordeal.
The LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand; only spare [literally, abstain from] his life." Sparing his life was not meant to lessen the trial. It was so that God might triumph for the good of the afflicted — the moral of the book.
Satan's saying treats life as the one thing nobody gives up. Christ gave His.
The fullest possible proof of love is to lay down one's life. No sacrifice can go beyond this. "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life" (Job 2:4). But Christ laid down His life, as He said, "I lay down my life for the sheep" (John 10:15). Among men, though, we can hardly imagine anyone making such an extreme sacrifice for someone who is not a friend or benefactor. Yet "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).
- Skin. The phrase may mean "like for like," or it may be Satan calling round one only skin-deep and demanding a deeper cut.
- Slander. The charge lands on God as much as on Job: You outrank Job's property, but not Job himself.
- Speaker. It is the accuser talking, and it is a half-truth — worse than a whole lie — which Job's endurance refutes.
- Scope. It fits the man without faith. It misses the man of faith, because Satan cannot understand faith.
- Surrender. God spared Job's life to win a victory, not to lighten the test. And Christ broke the saying: He gave His life for people who were not His friends.
but put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, [and see] if he will not curse thee to thy face!
Satan's first attack has failed. Job has lost everything and still holds on to God. So the accuser asks for Job's body itself, sure that every man has a price.
Satan answers with a proverb. One writer reads it as a trade: a man gives up one part to save another.
Unabashed by his failure to move Job, Satan makes fresh demands, coupled with fresh accusations. "Skin for skin" — to save part of his skin a man will give up another part. Yes, to save his life he will surrender everything he has, including his fear of God. Until now God had not let anyone touch Job's body. Let God lay His hand on that, and how quickly Job's boasted piety will disappear.
Notice who Satan asks to strike. His real target stands higher than Job.
So said the great adversary to God, repeating his accusation against Job and casting his taunt at God. "You have made this man. You are more to him than his possessions. But You are not more to him than he is to himself; he loves himself better than he loves You."
Satan's proverb is not nonsense. It fits man without God. But it leaves out one thing.
Satan's words, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life" are sadly true of an unbeliever, but faith is something that Satan does not understand. He was sure that if God struck Job's body, Job would curse God to His face.
Where did Satan get this rule? From watching people since the fall.
Satan understood well the character of the fall. He knew that men were utterly selfish; that they would sacrifice everything, even their God, to save themselves.
The whole verse is a request. Satan must ask, and God sets the limits of what he gets.
In Job's case we see Satan, by God's permission, using different means to bring extraordinary affliction on Job. But even here Satan is under strict limits. He may not touch Job himself (ch. 1:12). Then at the second trial, when God allows him to afflict Job's body, he may not touch his life (2:6). It is therefore a mistake to attribute to Satan absolute power to do as he will.
God says yes to Satan, but He sets a limit. One writer finds love in that limit.
We may be sure of this: divine love, as well as divine wisdom, gave this afflicted child of God over to fresh attacks from Satan. We see the tenderness in the words, "Save his life." The enemy may do everything, and so prove his own charge false. Every prop must go, every earthly joy must be taken away, and still Job will cling to the God he has trusted, even though dimly.
Satan wanted a collapse. God wanted something else: a work inside Job's own heart.
God's object was to show Job the depths of his own heart. Then he would delight in the grace and mercy of God, and not in his own goodness... Job was a true saint of God, and all Satan's accusations were flung back in his face. But all the while Job was unbroken material. So he was not ready for "the end of the Lord" — that blessed end for every contrite heart. God, blessed and praised be His name, will not allow Satan to accuse us. But He will expose us to ourselves, so that we may judge ourselves.
God grants the demand. After that, Satan never appears again in the book.
From here on the enemy disappears. His fresh attack had failed just as completely as before. What a comfort to learn this in a scene where, then as now, he seems to win! But so it always is, whatever it looks like: God has His way, as the end proves beyond answer.
- Accusation — Satan puts a price on Job's faith: a man will give up anything, even his fear of God, to save his own skin.
- Aim — the taunt lands on God as much as on Job: You are not more to him than he is to himself.
- Ask — Satan must ask for the blow. He may strike the body, but he may not touch the life.
- Aftermath — God aims deeper than the accuser: not to break Job, but to show Job his own heart and lead him to grace.
- Absence — Satan gets what he asks for, fails, and disappears from the book. God has His way, whatever it looks like at the time.