The disinterestedness of Job's piety is brought into question by the Satan in the council of heaven. We are now to see how misfortune may come absolutely unprovoked by sin. The sons of God, who come to present themselves before Yahweh, are the angels. They are referred to in Job 38:7 as witnesses of the creation. In Psalms 29:1 (see RVm) they appear as ministers of God's heavenly temple. Here they form the court and council of Yahweh. For a similar scene in heaven, cf. 1 Kings 22:19.
Amongst these sons of God appears one, who is known by the name of the Satan, or the Adversary. The word Satan means one who opposes another in his purpose (Numbers 22:23; Numbers 22:32) or pretensions or claims (Zechariah 3:1; 1 Kings 11:14; 1 Kings 11:23; 1 Kings 11:25), or generally (Davidson). Here Satan appears as one of the angels, a minister of Yahweh, whose office it is to oppose men in their pretensions to a right standing before God. We find the same conception in Zechariah 3:1 * (in 1 Chronicles 2:11 * Satan, without the article, has become a proper name). The character of the Satan is that of an observer of men, whose affair it is to see whether they live well or ill, but who exceeds his office in so far as he betrays a spiteful interest in the discovery of their failures. This testing of Job is carried out with the greatest refinement and evident delight. He is not at all moved by Job's patience (Job 2:4). To a certain extent the Satan is a personification of the spite of circumstance (Duhm). No one can escape from him since all have faults unknown to themselves. Ancient Israel ascribed the blows of fate, otherwise inexplicable, to the machinations of some inimical power. The Satan is, like the angels in general, a relic of a poly-dæ monistic stage of religion. With the disappearance of polydæ monism before monotheism, the Satan has become a minister of the Divine Providence. But he is still somewhat of a free lance even Yahweh has to ask where he has been (Job 1:7).
Yahweh calls the Satan's attention to the integrity of Job (Job 1:8). But the Satan cannot conceive of any man serving God without reward (Job 1:9), and complains that Yahweh has made a hedge round about him, as one makes about a valuable vineyard (Isaiah 5:5) to keep out marauders. If there had been the least gap in the hedge, the Satan would have found it out long ago. Let Yahweh touch his substance (Job 1:11) and Job will curse Him to His face. The Satan uses the form of an oath: lit. he will curse Thee, if not (may evil betake me).