Job 1:7 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Lord said unto Satan, &c. As we are not to suppose from the preceding verse that Satan entered into heaven among the angels of God, uncalled; so, neither are we so to understand what is here said, as if the Great and Holy One really entered into a conversation with that apostate spirit. But, as we have stated above, the whole is parabolical and emblematical. Whence comest thou? God, being here represented as Judge, begins with an inquiry as the ground of his further proceedings, as he did with our first parents, Genesis 3:9, and with Cain, Genesis 4:9. Satan answered the Lord, From going to and fro in the earth Where, by thy permission, I range about, observing, with great diligence, all the dispositions and actions of men, and working in them and among them, as far as I have liberty and opportunity. The Targum, after the words, from going to and fro in the earth, very significantly adds, to try the works of the children of men. From which it appears, that the ancient Jews understood this account of the temptation of Job in a literal sense. This representation teaches us, that Satan, the great apostate spirit, is entirely under the dominion of the sovereign Lord of all things, and not suffered to act without control; and that he is chiefly confined to the limits of this earth; agreeably to which he is called, in the New Testament, the Prince of this world, John 12:31. And from this and many other passages in Scripture, we may learn that it is his employment to seek for all opportunities to delude the human race. The New Testament frequently mentions the temptations, wiles, and snares of the devil. And St. Peter describes him as doing the same thing which he is here said to do, namely, walking about as an adversary to man, seeking whom he may devour; roving to and fro with an evil intention, and a determined resolution of doing mischief.