Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.
Job has just heard four messengers in a row: raiders, fire, more raiders, and a wind that killed all ten of his children. What he does next raises the hardest question in the book: how can a man honour God at the very moment God seems to have stripped him bare?
What the gestures mean
Each action in the verse carries its own weight, and only the last one is positive.
Leslie M. GrantJob arose and tore his robe (a sign of repentance). He shaved his head, a picture of how weak and exposed he stood before God. Then he fell to the ground and bowed low before his Creator. All of these are negatives, implying denial of self. But lastly, and most important of all, he worshipped, giving God the place of highest honour and dignity (v.20). To those who have no faith in the living God, worship is one thing they would not think of considering. It feels more natural to complain bitterly that they do not deserve what is happening to them.
The robe he tore was a mark of rank. The Morrish Bible Dictionary describes it as "a large tunic, worn over the common one, but without sleeves," worn by priests, kings, princes and other men of high position.
Grief without sin
The torn robe is not a lapse that the worship makes up for. Scripture never blames Job for it.
J. N. DarbyJob went through the heavy afflictions set before us in the first chapter: the loss of his property and of his family. He tears his mantle, it is true (chapter 1:20). He did not sin in that, the word tells us. His grief was lawful. He was free to grieve for the loss of his children. But he arises and worships before God. He can worship Him, because his will is broken. He can say, "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
Behind the raiders and the wind
The messengers pointed to raiders, fire and a storm. Job pointed to none of them.
H. H. SnellIt showed complete submission to God under the hand that had taken so much from him. It showed that this servant of the Lord was walking in the way of faith. He traced every sorrow back to God alone, no matter how it reached him, and took everything from His hand.
The same writer adds that this submission is not the hardest lesson God teaches.
H. H. SnellFor some, bowing in submission to God in a great loss is not as hard a lesson as giving up our own wisdom, and refusing every idea of our own righteousness and self-sufficiency.
Worship as the answer to blame
Many people meet a blow like this by blaming God.
A. J. PollockWhat did Job do? His conduct was perfect. We read, "Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell on the ground and WORSHIPPED." Could it be so? It was. What a rebuke to some, who would blame God for the blow that has fallen.
The same writer makes it practical. He writes: "if we worship, give God the glory, accept the trial at His hand, we shall be greatly helped to bear the trial" (A. J. Pollock).
The accusation that started it all
Satan's charge in the opening chapter was that Job served God only because it paid. This verse is the reply.
Hamilton SmithSatan's vile suggestion is that no such thing as godliness exists. If a man claims to be godly, it is not that he fears God or cares for God. It is simply that he knows it pays and works to his worldly advantage. Satan says to God, "Stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face." The Lord lets this horrible lie of the devil be fully exposed. He lets Satan strip Job of all that he has, and in the end Satan stands exposed as a liar.
Why he stood this blow
Commentators differ on how much credit belongs to Job here. One suggests the very speed of the disaster helped him bear it.
The Bible TreasuryNote that a man bears a great mass of afflictions better at first than he does later on. The strength that is in the heart, the confidence in God, is the resource when the crash is sudden and terrible. And in the speed with which Satan used his power, it seems to me he outwitted himself, for sufferings with a gap between them are certainly more trying.
Another writer reads the same scene as incomplete: "though Job bows, he does not thank God for his trials." He traces this to a man "occupied with circumstances, and not with the God of circumstances" (G. V. Wigram). Yet Job's response here is an answer "to those who claim that their hard circumstances are an excuse for sinning" (Leslie M. Grant).
Summary
- Charge. Satan claimed Job served God only because it paid; God let him strip Job and expose the lie.
- Grief. The torn robe and shaved head were real sorrow, and Scripture does not call that sin.
- Worship. Every gesture in the verse denies self except the last, which gives God the highest place.
- Source. Job looked past Sabeans, fire and storm and took the whole loss from God's hand alone.
- Result. A broken will could bless the Name that had taken away — and the accuser stood exposed as a liar.