Job 1:8

Here we learn what could not otherwise be known: it was God, and not Satan, who began the whole transaction. It was God who took notice of His servant Job. His delight in His servant — for He does delight in His saints — is what roused the malice of Satan.

Notice carefully here: the source of all these dealings is not Satan's accusations, but God Himself. God knew what His servant Job needed. He Himself brings forward Job's case and sets everything in motion. If He asks Satan whether he had considered His servant Job, it is because He Himself had. Satan is only an instrument. He is clever, but he does not know that he serves God's purposes of grace. And for Job's good, God lets Satan have his way up to a certain point. The purpose is to bring Job to know his own heart, and so onto deeper ground in his practical relationship with God.

The term "servant" is often used in Scripture of people commissioned by God to carry out some special duty for Him. Among others it is applied to Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Job, and even to Nebuchadnezzar, the first great head of Gentile rule.

Job was not a lopsided man, weak in some qualities and remarkable in others. He had whole-heartedness and integrity. This rested on the fear of God and showed itself in the refusal of evil. The inner and the outer life were right all round. The word "perfect" gives no support at all to the foolish dream that sin in the flesh is wiped out. That is not what "perfect" means in Scripture. It means a spiritually complete character, together with integrity.

Let the reader clearly understand this. Job was a real saint of God — a soul made alive by God, a possessor of divine and eternal life. We cannot insist on this too strongly. He was just as truly a man of God in the first chapter as he was in the forty-second. If we do not see this, we shall miss one of the great lessons of the book.

You can understand that the Jews did not like that. None like Job, a Gentile! According to the story, according to the book, according to the truth — none like him! Yet it was so.

"Have you considered my servant Job?" asks Jehovah. He takes up for Himself the description of Job already given. God delights in His beloved people and in their righteous ways. If Satan accuses, He will commend. It is always so; judgment is His strange work. He prefers to be occupied with good. "If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise," He thinks on that.

True to his character, Satan can only accuse. He cannot deny Job's righteousness, but he attacks his motives. Having no motive himself but selfishness, he declares that Job is driven by that alone. Why should he not be righteous? Does it not pay?

He was the most perfect man on earth, but it was not the goodness of the flesh that made him so — it was God's work in his soul. God commends him when speaking to Satan. The enemy cannot deny his good qualities, so he can only put them down to low motives. But God knew His servant, though the poor servant did not know himself.