1:9 Then Satan answered the Lord, “Is it for nothing that Job fears God? 1
3:1 Next I saw Joshua the high priest 4 standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan 5 standing at his right hand to accuse him. 3:2 The Lord 6 said to Satan, “May the Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, 7 rebuke you! Isn’t this man like a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
22:31 “Simon, 8 Simon, pay attention! 9 Satan has demanded to have you all, 10 to sift you like wheat, 11
1 tn The Hebrew form has the interrogative ה (he) on the adverb חִנָּם (khinnam, “gratis”), a derivative either of the verb חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious, show favor”), or its related noun חֵן (khen, “grace, favor”). The adverb has the sense of “free; gratis; gratuitously; for nothing; for no reason” (see BDB 336 s.v. חִנָּם). The idea is that Satan does not disagree that Job is pious, but that Job is loyal to God because of what he receives from God. He will test the sincerity of Job.
2 sn The “bones and flesh” are idiomatic for the whole person, his physical and his psychical/spiritual being (see further H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 26-28).
3 sn This is the same oath formula found in 1:11; see the note there.
4 sn Joshua the high priest mentioned here is the son of the priest Jehozadak, mentioned also in Hag 1:1 (cf. Ezra 2:2; 3:2, 8; 4:3; 5:2; 10:18; Neh 7:7; 12:1, 7, 10, 26). He also appears to have been the grandfather of the high priest contemporary with Nehemiah ca. 445
5 tn The Hebrew term הַשָּׂטָן (hassatan, “the satan”) suggests not so much a personal name (as in almost all English translations) but an epithet, namely, “the adversary.” This evil being is otherwise thus described in Job 1 and 2 and 1 Chr 21:1. In this last passage the article is dropped and “the satan” becomes “Satan,” a personal name.
6 sn The juxtaposition of the messenger of the
7 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
8 tc The majority of
9 tn Grk “behold” (for “pay attention” see L&N 91.13).
10 sn This pronoun is plural in the Greek text, so it refers to all the disciples of which Peter is the representative.
11 sn Satan has demanded permission to put them to the test. The idiom “sift (someone) like wheat” is similar to the English idiom “to pick (someone) apart.” The pronoun you is implied.