Job’s Knowledge of Satan’s Plans

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How did Job know about the conversation between God and Satan? Did Job know that God allowed Satan to abuse him?

This question concerns Job 1-2. The prologue to the book of Job tells the reader about a conversation between God and Satan in heaven. Satan accuses God of helping Job to gain his allegiance. He challenges that if God took away Joe’s wealth and health, Joe would turn away from serving him.

God knows that Job will not turn away from him. He knows that Job will remain faithful no matter what comes his way. So he agrees to allow Satan to take Job’s wealth and his health. But in both instances, he limits Satan’s power and authority over Job.

If Job wrote the book of Job, he would need to know about this conversation before writing about it. That’s probably the assumption of this first question. How did Job know about this conversation between Satan and God?

After Job’s trial was over, he would’ve had to been given the information by God. That would be the only way he would ever find out about it. Within the book itself, God never tells Job lie he suffered all of these afflictions. God gives him twice as much wealth and family as he had before the trial.

But not once, not even in Job 38-41 where he directly addresses Job and his friends does God ever tell any of them what has happened before the trial. The book rests on God’s sovereignty to not tell us everything that’s going to happen.

So it would only be after the trial of Job had concluded and everything was restored that God would have given him the information from Job 1-2. You can see in another question about the authorship of Job that he may not have been the one to write the book. But if he did, God will divinely inspired him to write about the occurrence between Satan and God.

Jonathan Srock

Rev. Jonathan Srock is an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God since 2010. He received two Bachelor’s degrees in Biblical Languages and Pastoral Ministries, as well as a Masters of Divinity from Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. Jonathan was privileged to be the Lead Pastor of New Life Assembly in Shillington, PA for five years before suffering sudden paralysis in 2013. Jonathan has been a Christian since 1988.

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