and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
Three messengers have already told Job that his oxen, donkeys, sheep, camels and servants are gone. Now a fourth reports a desert wind that killed all ten of his children — and one question hangs over the verse: who sent that wind?
The heaviest of the four blows
The first three reports stripped Job of property. This one takes what property could never replace.
William KellySo we find it from all quarters, and then the weightiest of all — the destruction not merely of property but of everything he had, taken quite literally. Did he not have sons? Did he not have daughters? All was swept away, and swept away in a way that was especially distressing to the heart. Was not God above? Does not God take an interest in everything?
A wind — and a hand behind the wind
Human greed explains raiders. It cannot explain a storm. Yet the reader of chapter 1 knows what Job's household could not see. The same enemy stood behind all four disasters, and nothing in the scene showed him.
William KellySo we see that not only men's desires and passions were in Satan's hand, but the elements too — as far as God allowed. One after another the herds, the flocks, the camels and the children perished. The loss was felt all the more sharply because it did not come in one moment. There was just enough time to hear of each loss on its own. On the surface neither God nor the enemy appeared. There were only Sabeans, Chaldeans, fire of God from heaven, and a whirlwind from beyond the wilderness.
The timing of the blows was part of the plan.
William KellyThey were earthly events, carried out by ordinary means, and they fell with extraordinary speed — and that speed was no small part of the trial. A long gap between the blows would not have served the enemy's purpose. He arranged it with great skill, so that these disasters would look like judgments sent by God, judgments that spared nothing, and yet came by earthly means.
Why a survivor was left every time
Four disasters, four sole survivors. That is not luck. Each spared man was needed as a courier.
Leslie M. GrantWhile this man was speaking, another came to tell Job that a great wind (perhaps a tornado) struck the house where his sons and daughters were feasting, killing all ten of his children. The messenger said he alone had escaped to bring the report. But Satan allowed these four messengers to remain alive so that Job would receive the news quickly, blow upon blow. Satan designed these things to devastate Job completely, so that he would curse God.
The leash on the enemy
The wind killed the children, but it never touched Job himself — because it could not. God had drawn a line before the trial began.
Samuel RidoutSo God hands Job over to Satan. Everything he has lies open to that enemy's malice: "Only against him do not stretch out your hand." Not a hair of the child of God can fall without His permission. Satan is only an instrument, carrying out God's will without meaning to; he can do no more than he is allowed to do. How good it is to remember this! If trials come against us like an army, we know that the Almighty stands between us and them. They will only work out His own purposes of love for us.
Three causes, and where faith looks
There are three layers to this disaster, and Job's whole answer depends on which one he fixes on.
F. B. HoleThere were the agents of his sorrows, quite open to public view — the Sabeans, the Chaldeans, the fire, the whirlwind. But behind these lay the sinister power of Satan, thrusting hard at him. Again, behind even this lay the chastening hand of God. Job's faith and patience showed in this: he did not look at the third cause, or even at the second. He looked straight through to God, and accepted it all from His hand. It is exactly the same for us today. When trouble sweeps in on us, looking at second or third causes distracts us completely and often provokes us. If we bow under the hand of God we are greatly blessed.
The wind still blows
The house at the feast is not the only thing this enemy would like to bring down.
A. J. PollockOnce Satan brought the wind around the house of Job's sons and daughters as they feasted together, and all perished when it collapsed. Today he would bring the wind of his opposition around our souls, and we need constant watchfulness.
Summary
- Permitted — the trial starts with God's boundary line, not Satan's freedom. The enemy can do only what God allows.
- Hidden — the messengers report weather and raiders, and the blows even look like judgments from God. The enemy never shows his face.
- Designed — Satan leaves one survivor at each disaster on purpose. The news lands blow upon blow, aimed at making Job curse God.
- Total — the wind takes what the Sabeans and Chaldeans could not: not property but children, all ten, in one day.
- Answered — Job looks past the raiders and past the enemy to the hand of God. That is where trouble stops destroying and starts blessing.