Job 1:6

6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah; and Satan came also in the midst of them. The translation "it happened on a day" is rejected in Ges. 109, rem. 1, c. (Note: The references to Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar have been carefully verified according to the English edition published by Bagster and Sons, London. - Tr.) The article, it is there said, refers to what precedes - the day, at the time; but this favourite mode of expression is found at the beginning of a narrative, even when it cannot be considered to have any reference to what has preceded, e.g., Kg2 4:18. The article is used in the opposite manner here, because the narrator in thought connects the day with the following occurrence; and this frees it from absolute indefiniteness: the western mode of expression is different. From the writer assigning the earthly measure of time to the place of God and spirits, we see that celestial things are represented by him parabolically. But the assumptions on which he proceeds are everywhere recognised in Scripture; for (1.) האלהים בּני, as the name of the celestial spirits, is also found out of the book of Job (Gen 6:2; cf. Psa 29:1; Psa 59:7; Dan 3:25). They are so called, as beings in the likeness of God, which came forth from God in the earliest beginning of creation, before this material world and man came into existence (Job 28:4-7): the designation בּני points to the particular manner of their creation. (2.) Further, it is the teaching of Scripture, that these are the nearest attendants upon God, the nearest created glory, with which He has surrounded himself in His eternal glory, and that He uses them as the immediate instruments of His cosmical rule. This representation underlies Gen 1:26, which Philo correctly explains, δ…

Job was not only so rich and great, but withal so wise and good, and had such an interest both in heaven and earth, that one would think the mountain of his prosperity stood so strong that it could not be moved; but here we have a thick cloud gathering over his head, pregnant with a horrible tempest. We must never think ourselves secure from storms while we are in this lower region. Before we are told how his troubles surprised and seized him here in this visible world, we are here told how they were concerted in the world of spirits, that the devil, having a great enmity to Job for his eminent piety, begged and obtained leave to torment him. It does not at all derogate from the credibility of Job's story in general to allow that this discourse between God and Satan, in these verses, is parabolical, like that of Micaiah (Kg1 22:19, etc.), and an allegory designed to represent the malice of the devil against good men and the divine check and restraint which that malice is under; only thus much further is intimated, that the affairs of this earth are very much the subject of the counsels of the unseen world. That world is dark to us, but we lie very open to it. Now here we have, I. Satan among the sons of God (Job 1:6), an adversary (so Satan signifies) to God, to men, to all good: he thrust himself into an assembly of the sons of God that came to present themselves before the Lord. This means either, 1. A meeting of the saints on earth. Professors of religion, in the patriarchal age, were called sons of God (Gen 6:2); they had then religious assemblies and stated times for them. The King came in to see his guests; the eye of God was on all present. But there was a serpent in paradise, a Satan among the sons of God; when they come together he is among them, to distract an…

1:1–2:13 God and Satan agree to a test that would bring about Job’s troubles and confirm his integrity (1:20-21; 2:10). None of the book’s characters ever learn of this heavenly council. 1:6-7 The members of the heavenly court are heavenly beings; they may be either holy angels or rebellious demons (Gen 6:2, 4). They join God in his deliberations, including at creation (Gen 1:26) and in his rule over creation (Job 1:6; Gen 3:22; 2:1; 1 Kgs 22:19-22; Pss 82:1; 89:5, 7-8; Dan 3:13, 17, 23, 25; 7:9-14). • The account remains unclear as to whether Satan usually came with other members of the heavenly court to make a report or whether he was intruding as Job’s adversary. • Where have you come from? The question was God’s sovereign demand for a report from a subordinate (see Gen 3:9). • Satan was not patrolling to implement God’s judgments (cp. 1 Chr 21:1-14; 2 Kgs 19:35 // Isa 37:36; Ezek 1:5-9) but to oppose God’s purposes (2 Tim 2:26; 1 Pet 5:8).