Why did God ask Satan if he had considered His servant, Job? And did Satan choose to obey God in not killing Job?

Ted's Response:

Job was one of God's chosen, who reverenced God greatly. Evidently, he was one of the most righteous men who ever lived, and he followed God's commands "religiously" and consistently. The latter is what it means to be a "servant" of God, and God pointed that out to Satan.

One of Satan's primary functions, is to accuse those who follow God. ("Satan" means "accuser.") Satan wants to find any fault he possibly can with those that God considers to be His "chosen" or "elect." In Satan's eyes, this discredits God for being "dumb" enough to choose them. Satan is very "legalistic" and points out even the most minute actions and character traits in human beings to criticize.

Another of Satan's primary functions is to turn as many people as possible away from God. In actuality, he is unable to turn any of the "chosen elect" permanently away from God, because (I believe) there is a one-to-one correspondence between those that God chooses to be His and those who will choose God to be their God. (More about this can be read in one of my email responses to somebody here: Which do you feel is true, God's predestination or our free will?)

If Satan were to be able to turn away (permanently) anyone who has been chosen by God to be His throughout eternity, it would be a gigantic, momentous victory for Satan. In fact, though, I do not believe that it can be done, which is why he tried so hard to do it with Job. Basically, with Job, Satan "pulled out all the stops."

Satan believed that he could get Job so angry and disillusioned with God that Job would curse God and turn completely away from Him. But it didn't work. As usual, Satan was proven to be wrong by God, because God knew Job's steadfast character better than Satan did.

Even Satan, God's arch-enemy, knows that he is limited by God in everything he does. Satan can "push the envelope" and cause only as much suffering, destruction, and death as God will allow him to do. I suspect that Satan tries to go beyond what God tells him that He will alow; but it is like trying to penetrate an impenetrable barrier, on Satan's part.

But, really, there is another level to this. Note that Job 1:11 says, "But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." Later, in 2:5, it says, "But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face."

It is true that the text also says that it was Satan who directly was responsible for Job's afflictions (Job 2:7). However, notice that the Lord Himself, speaking to Satan, stated that Job "maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason" (2:3). This seems to indicate, then, that God Himself was behind Job's afflictions.

This is how I interpret this seeming paradox. God is behind everything that happens. That is, I believe, everything is predetermined or predestined, by God, to happen. In that sense, Satan merely is a very powerful "pawn" that God utilizes to carry out many of His undertakings. It sort of is like how a judge decrees a punishment upon someone, but he does not personally administer the punishment; the legal system does.

So, considering it this way, Satan could do to Job only as much as God Himself had determined to do to Job, using Satan as the means to do it. One might feel that it was "mean" and "cruel" for God to do this. However, as we will find out later, God ultimately rewarded Job exceedingly for enduring the suffering that God had planned for him to go through.

This suggests to us that undergoing distress and affliction, if brought upon us directly or indirectly by God, has enormous rewards, if we are able to accept it as coming from God and not finding fault with God for doing it. This especially is true if it is for God's glory—which it was in the case of Job, because Satan was proven wrong, but God was proven right.