Daniel Kwame Bediako
The Seventh-day Adventist Church has as one of its cardinal teachings the Great Controversy, a conflict between good and evil.1 A summary of this doctrine is as follows:
All humanity is now involved in a great controversy between Christ and Satan regarding the character of God, His law, and His sovereignty over the universe. This conflict originated in heaven when a created being, endowed with freedom of choice, in self-exaltation became Satan, God’s adversary, and led into rebellion a portion of the angels. He introduced the spirit of rebellion into this world when he led Adam and Eve into sin. This human sin resulted in the distortion of the image of God in humanity, the disordering of the created world, and its eventual devastation at the time of the worldwide flood. Observed by the whole creation, this world became the arena of the universal conflict, out of which the God of love will ultimately be vindicated. To assist His people in this controversy, Christ sends the Holy Spirit and the loyal angels to guide, protect, and sustain them in the way of salvation (Rev. 12:4-9; Isa. 14:12-14; Ezek. 28:12-18; Gen. 3; Rom. 1:19-32; 5:12-21; 8:19-22; Gen. 6-8; 2 Pet. 3:6; 1 Cor. 4:9; Heb. 1:14).2
The key biblical texts usually cited in support of this doctrine, as can be seen above, include no text from the book of Job.3 This book has commonly been considered a treatise on theodicy par excellence. The man Job is an example from whom most devout Christians draw inspiration when undergoing suffering.4 The didactic value of the book—patient endurance under suffering or persecution—cannot be overestimated. But does this book only teach how to endure religious suffering? In this brief study, it is suggested that rather than answering how God’s involvement in the existence of evil should be understood, the book of Job portrays or attests to a cosmic reality, known among Seventh-day Adventists as the ‘great controversy’.5 Thus read, the book can be seen as a biblical foundation for the conflict between good and evil.
Although we find the great controversy theme through the length of the book of Job, the focus of the present study is the first chapter of the book. This first chapter reveals the key players in the conflict, the issues involved in the conflict, and the arena of the conflict. Because the discussion concentrates on chapter 1, the full trajectory and resolution of the conflict which culminates in chapter 42 does not receive attention in this study. This delimitation notwithstanding, it is hoped that the study will be able to set forth the basic platform of the great controversy theme in the book.
Job 1:6-12 presents a conflict between two opposing parties. Jiri Moskala puts it this way:
From the very beginning of this biblical book, God is presented as the One who is passionately and wholeheartedly standing up for Job. He stands on his side. However, Satan does not share God’s loving affection for Job; he does not like it. In reality, he tries very hard to prove God is incorrect. He does not bow before God and applaud His decision! On the contrary, in order to win his case, he involves Job in his acute argument against God, and his evil devices go to the very root of his dispute with Him.6
The key players in this conflict are God and Satan.7 In Job 1, ‘God’ (Elohim) and ‘Lord’ (Yahweh) are used seven times and ten times respectively. God is Sovereign and has a government that is democratic rather than autocratic (v. 6).8 Job’s concern is perfect worship of God (vv. 4-5). That Job is perfectly able to obey God’s will (vv. 1, 8) implies that God is just in His dealings with His subjects. We also observe that the righteous and blameless character of Job as attested by God is a reflection of His own character (1:1, 8; 2:3). Being a just and loving God, He boasts of His faithful servants, whose sincere interest is to know His will and to do that will (v. 8). He is a God who accepts worship and requires obedience to His will as pure acts of love in recognition of His creatorship, sovereignty, and benevolence. For this reason, He is confident that Job worships Him for who He is (v. 12). As gracious and loving God, He does not exercise the veto but allows what His ‘accuser’ may deem a fair process for both parties to prove their causes in the ongoing conflict (v. 12; 2:3b).9 In this context, God can allow disaster, pain, and suffering to befall His faithful servants as part of the conflict (vv. 12-22; 2:7-13).10 Yet as seen later in the book, victory is assured these faithful servants of the Lord (42:7-17). By implication, God is vindicated in this conflict when His servants, like Job, remain loyal to Him (1:20-21; 2:10).11
Satan means “adversary.” 12 In the book of Job, the term ‘Satan’ refers to a specific individual who confronts God and questions the integrity of His reign or His dealings with His subjects (1:9-11).13 Satan is among the “sons of God” who present themselves before the Lord (1:6).14 What this means is that he was created by God, though at a point in time he seems to have sought autonomy by rebelling against his Creator and thus initiating the conflict (cf. Isa 14; Ezek 28). The use of the Hebrew particle gam “also” as well as Satan’s self-assigned, unregulated operations on the “earth” (as opposed to “heaven”) implies that he is a ‘son’ who has aspired to be self-sufficient and independent from his Father. Thus, through rebellion Satan became a different kind of ‘son’, and his Father, being just and democratic, granted him such autonomy so that his character would fully unfold before all creation, who would fully appreciate the love and justness of God when the conflict comes to an end.
Satan epitomizes pride (cf. Isa 14:12-14; Ezek 28:12-18). In pride, he accuses God with injustice. He questions the basis of God’s dealings with His creatures. He intimates that God is not what Job sees Him to be and that His law can only be obeyed by those He favors, over whom He unjustly makes a protective “hedge” by which to attract their allegiance and worship (Job 1:9). In order to prove his point, Satan challenges God to remove the blessings He has bestowed upon Job that have otherwise induced him to worship and serve God (v. 11). Satan is certain that when Job loses God’s blessings he will only ‘curse’ God and thus vindicate the claim that God cannot be worshipped purely for who He is. Being confident of the genuineness of Job’s allegiance and worship, however, God allows Satan to undo Job’s blessings in a way that appears as if God were taking back that which He had given to Job unjustly or as penalty for some iniquity (1:13-21). Yet, we see in Job’s reaction in 1:21-22 (also 2:10) that Satan’s accusation against God is completely unfounded. On this basis, it can be said that Satan is bound to lose the battle (1:9-11, 22; 2:1-10).
As seen above, there is a conflict between God and Satan in which the latter is the accuser of the former. A close reading of the interactions between God and Satan reveals that the issues involved in the controversy are (a) the character of God (i.e., as translated into His law) and (b) worship (i.e., whether God deserves to be worshipped and can be worshipped purely from the heart).
The law of God is the “transcript of His character,”15 so that when the fairness of the law is questioned God’s character too is. The following remark is to the point:
Satan’s sin―which manifested itself as a quest for independence and autonomy― represented a desire to be freed from the ‘restraints’ of God and His laws. Thus, by refusing to allow himself to be brought under the authority of God’s law, Satan showed that he wanted to live under a different set of conditions. This rebellion would also imply that the system of laws in heaven was not ideal, that something was, indeed, wrong with it. But because God’s law is a reflection of God’s character, a defect in the law would amount to a defect in God’s character. In short, Satan’s rebellion was as much against God Himself as it was against anything else.16
In 1:1, Job is presented as a faithful man whose concern is obedience to God’s law. In verse 8, God testifies to Job’s faithfulness. He is one who perfectly keeps God’s law: he is blameless (tam), upright (yashar), God-fearing (yere’ ‘elohim), and shuns evil (ra’). The terms used in verse 8 to describe Job depict faithful adherence to the divine will. Sin is breaking God’s law, slighting Him, or charging Him with wrong (vv. 5, 22). Job would not commit any such wrongs. Being a righteous man he is concerned with God’s law, as sin is the breaking of this law (v. 5). In Satan we find pride and disrespect for God and His law. He questions the character of God by insinuating that Job is able to obey God only because He has enticingly endowed him with bounteous material blessings (vv. 9-11). Thus, he maintains that Job could not be loyal to God without God’s “hedge” around him.17 Satan’s claim, however, is deflated because Job is able to joyfully obey God and remain loyal to Him even under the severest circumstances. This is an indication that, contrary to Satan’s claims, God is fair in His dealings with His creatures. God is love and gracious, and Job rightly recognizes this fact (vv. 20-22; 2:10).
To challenge God’s law, which is the basis of His government, means to challenge His sovereignty. Satan challenges God’s sovereignty by seeking autonomy from Him (1:9-11). The second key issue in the conflict, namely worship, follows directly from the sovereignty of God and the graciousness of His law. Since Satan undermines the fairness of God’s law and His relationship with Job, he claims that God is not worthy to be praised or worshipped on His own merit. Although Satan claims that Job could not worship God for “nothing” (cf. 1:9; 2:3; 9:17; 22:6),18 Job’s life demonstrates that there can be sincere religious faith without any special favors from God. Job maintains a perfect communion with God through regular sacrifices on behalf of his household (vv. 4-5). In the context of the book, “burnt offerings” (‘oloth) not only express devotion and fellowship with the Lord but also atone for inadvertent sins (1:5; 42:8). Job’s concern for worship is further highlighted by the fact that he regularly ‘sanctifies’ his children before offering sacrifices in their behalf (1:5). The implication is that Job is interested in genuine worship rather than in a mere formalistic ritual of worship. Job understands that it is sin to blame the Lord even when life seems unbearable (1:22). That he desists from blasphemy and worships the Lord and blesses His name despite a series of calamities (1:20-22; 2:10), among other things, justifies the Lord’s testimony about Job (1:8; 2:3). Job would not worship God merely because He prospered him, but because He is God and deserves his worship.19 This, in turn, reveals that for Job God is truly just and His law, perfect.
The conflict between God and Satan did not originate over Job. The conflict seems to have existed before Job was brought into the picture. For example, the statement that Satan “also” (gam) presented himself before the Lord as well as Satan’s own answer that he had been moving to and fro the earth (v. 7) would suggest that he had theretofore rebelled against the Lord. If so, the conflict may have occurred in heaven and that in Job 1 it is only being extended to humanity, as exemplified by righteous Job.20 The book of Job, therefore, records the transfer of the great controversy from heaven to the earth as well as a foretaste of its resolution (cf. Gen 3; Isa 14; Ezek 28; Rev 12).
The earth, particularly the human being, is the arena of the conflict. Job is a literal human figure who lived in Uz with seven sons and three daughters (1:1). He was richly blessed by God and thus became the “greatest of all the people of the East” (1:2-3). Satan is also portrayed as one whose sphere of operations is the earth (v. 7). Since real figures are involved, the controversy is also to be considered real. If the earth is the arena of the conflict, then all human beings are involved in the conflict. Satan roams around on earth, seeking to win humans to his side (v. 7; cf. 1 Pet 5:8).
In the book of Job, Job becomes the center of the controversy, as both God and Satan debate over the sincerity of his loyalty to God. Note the following remark regarding Job’s character:
After giving Job’s place of origin and his name, the writer describes him as the epitome of godly character: he was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil (1:1). Blameless implies that he was a man of integrity; upright implies that he was completely fair and honest in his dealings; that he feared God implies that he was committed to obeying the will of God above all else; while the fact that he shunned evil shows he took trouble to avoid anything of which God would disapprove. God twice repeats this description of Job’s sterling character (1:8; 2:3), showing that he regards Job as the ‘best representative of his purpose for man on earth’.21
Like Adam and Eve in Eden, Job is perfect and blameless.22 But unlike the first parents, Job would not yield to the temptations of Satan. God trusts in the integrity of Job’s obedience and worship. Satan disagrees and argues that God is merely securing Job’s praises and obedience through unjust means―a protective hedge has been made around Job (vv. 8-12). He then challenges God to withdraw His hedge from Job, thinking that if this hedge of blessings is withdrawn Job will ‘curse’ God and thus justify Satan’s accusations and claims. But God trusts that Job will not fail Him (v. 12). We find in the interactions between God and Satan that in the conflict human beings have become the point of bargain, where each party needs human allegiance to prove their side of the case. The heavenly council of God with His sons, therefore, provides the cosmic context within which to understand Job’s suffering that ensues. Job’s response, however, is complete loyalty to the Lord. He justifies the Lord’s claims (1:8) by worshipping Him whether in gain (vv. 1-5) or in pain (vv. 13-20; 2:10). Even upon receiving the most terrible news of the loss of his property and children, Job still prostrates and worships his Maker:
Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD (1:20-21, NKJV).
These verses show that Job worshipped the Lord not because of His blessings but because of His creatorship and sovereignty. He would not sin, even amidst obliterating calamities (1:22; 2:10). In the end, he would triumph in the Lord over the temptations of Satan and the Lord would restore his joy and prosperity (42:8-17). Despite the mystery that surrounds his life, the calamities that befall his family, and the physical suffering he undergoes, Job remains a faithful servant to the Lord.23 As demonstrated in the life of Job, humility, fear of the Lord and unswerving obedience to His word are the key to victory in this conflict.
As one theologian has noted, the book of Job is difficult to understand:
The story of Job is one of the best known in the entire Bible yet, strangely enough, one of the least understood. No book in the Scripture is so shrouded in mystery as this ancient story. As Winston Churchill once described the Soviet Union, Job is ‘a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.’ Tangled and troubling, its pages are veiled with the deep, perplexing issues of life. Profoundly provocative to the human mind, Job is a journey into the inscrutable ways of God.24
However, the book makes more sense to the believer when read within the context of the conflict between good (God) and evil (Satan). This great controversy is a focal teaching of Scripture. The doctrine underlies the biblical text and gives meaning to the Christian’s own life experiences. The book of Job presents this conflict as one that had originated in heaven and that was transferred to human beings on the earth, especially as represented by ‘blameless’ Job. Unlike Adam, Job is one who would not yield to the temptation of Satan, that “serpent of old” (Rev 12:9; cf. Gen 3:1).
Job 1 depicts a conflict between God and Satan in which Satan questions the integrity of the relationship between God and His faithful servant Job. As unfolded in this chapter, the issues involved in the conflict include the law of God and worship. Satan is a defiant ‘son of God’ who has sought autonomy from God through rebellion against His law, government, and sovereignty. For him, God’s law―the transcript of His character―is unfair and can be obeyed only by those upon whom God unjustly showers His blessings to allure them into His worship. Loss and pain are means employed by Satan against Job to prove his case against God. Yet God trusts in the genuineness of Job’s righteousness and Job proves his genuineness by loving and serving God despite every calamity. Job worships God because He is God, not because it serves his self-interest to do so. The unswerving loyalty of Job to God in response to Satan’s destructive temptations serves to justify the justness of God’s law and the integrity of His relationship with His creatures as opposed to the claims of the Accuser. For Job, God is worthy of worship, whether in prosperity or in calamity. Through Job’s life, God’s character and His claim over His creatures stand vindicated.
Like Job, every human being is engaged in the great controversy which centers on God’s law and worship. From the beginning of human history (i.e., protology, Gen 1-3) to its consummation (i.e., eschatology, Rev 20), the earth has become the battlefield of the great controversy between the forces of good and evil. The book of Job provides not only rare insight into this cosmic conflict and the issues at stake but also a foretaste of its resolution (Job 1:6-2:10; 42:1-15). Faithful believers who, like Job, uphold God’s law and true worship “shall see God,” no matter the attacks, calamities, and suffering inflicted upon them by Satan (19:25-27; cf. Rev 14:7-12). In this conflict, Satan stands defeated (Job 1:20-22; 2:10; Rev 12) and his destruction, certain (Rev 20).
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1 Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy between Christ and His Angels, and Satan and His Angels (Battle Creek, MI: Review and Herald, 1858); idem, Patriarchs and Prophets (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald, 1890), 34-43; Ministerial Association of Seventh-day Adventists, Seventh-day Adventists Believe …: An Exposition of the Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 2nd ed. (Silver Spring, MD: Pacific, 2005), 113-120; Frank B. Holbrook, “The Great Controversy,” A Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2000), 969-1009.
2 General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual, 18th ed. (Silver Spring, MD: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 2010), 158.
3 Jirí Moskala, “The God of Job and Our Adversary,” Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 15/1 (Spring 2004):104-117, has done an insightful study on the characters of God and Satan in the book of Job. See also Gordon Christo, “The Battle between God and Satan in the Book of Job,” Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 11/1-2 (2000): 282-286. However, the focus of each of these works is slightly different from that of the present study.
4 On the theme of suffering in the book of Job, see e.g., Daniel E. Fleming, “Job: The Tale of Patient Faith and the Book of God’s Dilemma,” Vetus Testamentum 44.4 (1994): 468-482; Donald A. Carson, “Job: Mystery and Faith,” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 4.2 (2000): 38-55; Roland K. Harrison, “The Problem of Suffering and the Book of Job,” The Evangelical Quarterly 25.1 (1953): 18-27; K.T. Thompson, “Out of the Whirlwind: The Sense of Alienation in the Book of Job,” Interpretation 14 (1960): 51-63; Larry J. Waters, “Reflections on Suffering from the Book of Job,” Bibliotheca Sacra 154/616 (Oct.-Dec. 1997): 436-451; idem, “Reflections on Suffering from the Book of Job,” Bibliotheca Sacra 156/621 (1999): 443-451; idem, “Elihu’s Theology and His View of Suffering,” Bibliotheca Sacra 156/622 (1999): 143-159; R. J. Williams, “Theodicy in the Ancient Near East,” Catholic Journal of Theology 2 (1956): 14-26; J. C. L. Gibson, “The Book of Job and the Cure of Souls,” Scottish Journal of Theology 42 (1989): 303.
5 For the Adventist understanding of this doctrine, refer to Seventh-day Adventists Believe, 113-120; Holbrook, 969-1009.
6 Moskala, 105.
7 There is a sharp difference in character between God and Satan. While God is positive and benevolent in attitude, Satan is negative and destructive. The realm of God is both heaven and earth, but that of Satan is the earth. Satan accuses but God affirms.
8 The accessibility of God by the “sons of God” and the freedom allowed these “sons” to engage God in debate underscore the democratic nature of His rule (vv. 6-11).
9 This is enough prove of the justness of God. While He could have destroyed Satan at the point of rebellion, the Lord in His justice and mercy allowed for a process in which truth rather than force will ultimately conquer error. Having allowed such a process, the whole creation would be in position to affirm and appreciate God’s character.
10 The suffering of Job has mostly been understood on only a personal level and questions that arise from his suffering have not fully been answered. As suggested here, Job’s suffering and the questions that it raises need to be understood within the context of the great controversy. God’s servants may suffer not because of some hidden sins but as a result of the struggle between good and evil. Similarly, God is not responsible for, nor takes pleasure in, human suffering. Yet He may allow trials and temptations to befall His servants as ‘legally’ fair and necessary components of the conflict. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, the great controversy cannot be disassociated from human suffering in general. In the case of Job, God is able to vindicate Himself and Job from the accusation of Satan by first allowing Satan to inflict suffering on Job.
11 See also Elmer B. Smick, “Job,” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary with the New International Version, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1988), 4:880, who notes that “the attack is on God through Job, and the only way the Accuser can be proven false is through Job.”
12 The word satan means “adversary” and may refer to human person (1 Sam 29:4; 2 Sam 19:23; 1 Kin 5:18; 11:25) or a superhuman person who, from the viewpoint of God may be good (Num 22:22, 32) or evil (1 Chr 21:1; Job 1-2; Zech 3:1-2). Because, he is God’s adversary, the evil, superhuman Satan is “the accuser of God’s people” (Zech 3:1-2; Rev 12:10).
13 In Job 1 alone the word “Satan” is used seven times. While it is often argued that “Satan” in the book of Job is a title rather than a personal name (e.g., Stephen M. Hooks, “Job,” The College Press NIV Commentary [Joplin, MS: College Press, 2006], 63), the figure represented by the word satan in this book is clearly a specific, superhuman individual. Cf. M. Tate, “Satan in the Old Testament,” RevExp 89 (1992): 461-475.
14 The “sons of God” in the book of Job probably refers to angels in heaven. There is a contrast between these angelic “sons” and human “servants,” one of who is Job. In this heavenly council, Satan appears to be an intruder whose mission is to oppose God and His relationship with His servants. Cf. James Burton and Thelma B. Coffman, The Book of Job (Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press, 1993), 13-17.
15 White, Patriarchs and Prophets, 52, states, “The law of God is as sacred as God Himself. It is a revelation of His will, a transcript of His character, the expression of divine love and wisdom. The harmony of creation depends upon the perfect conformity of all beings, of everything, animate and inanimate, to the law of the Creator.”
16 “Growing in Christ,” The Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, 4th Quarter (2012), 7.
17 According to Moskala, 107, Satan here “claims that no one serves God unselfishly because, according to him, that is impossible. He declares that God is surrounded only by hypocritical sycophants who confess their love to the Lord, but in reality serve Him only because He blesses them.” See also Smick, 880.
18 In his accusations, Satan suggests that Job’s motivation for worship and righteousness was “self-focused aggrandizement (Job 1:9-11)” (Roy B. Zuck, “A Theology of the Wisdom Books and the Song of Songs,” in A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, ed. Roy B. Zuck [Chicago: Moody. 1991], 219). In other words, Satan’s thesis is that “all religious interest is ultimately grounded in self-interest, or worse, in mercenary commitment” (D. A. Carson, How Long, 0 Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990], 160).
19 Elsewhere, we see that Satan, because he makes himself ‘god’ (cf. Isa 14:12-14), seeks to be worshipped. He demanded worship from Jesus Christ: “The devil took Jesus up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, ‘To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours’” (Luke 4:5-7).
20 The council of the “sons of God” has received differing interpretations. If, as proposed in this study, the purpose of the first chapter of the book is to introduce the reader to the unfolding events of the great controversy, then the council should be understood as part of stage-setting. In other words, the meeting of God with the “sons of God” does not have to be a literal meeting―it serves to convey the idea that the terrible suffering that Job is about to undergo results from, and witnesses to, an already-existing conflict between God and Satan that has been transferred to humans on earth. Since this meeting is between God and angels, and since the “earth” is referred to from a distance, we may conclude that the council takes place in heaven rather than on earth. In any case, the reference to the council gives the book as well as the experience of Job a cosmic implication.
21 Tewoldemedhin Habtu, “Job,” Africa Bible Commentary, ed. Tokunboh Adeyemo (Nairobi, Kenya: WordAlive, 2006), 572.
22 Samuel E. Balentine, “Job,” Smyth and Helwys Bible Commentary (Macon, GA: Smyth and Helwys, 2006), 25-26, 41-43, has noted several parallels between Job 1-2 and Gen 1-3, allowing for his observation that the “book of Job functions somewhat like a sequel to the book of Genesis” (41) and that “at the outset (vv. 1-5), Job’s world is a seemingly perfect recapitulation of primordial Eden” (26). Among the parallels between the two passages are (1) creation context and terminology, (2) the settlement of Adam and Job “in the east,” (3) the uniqueness of Adam and Job, and (4) the idea of temptation.
23 Commenting on Job 1:20-22, Smick, 882, has noted that “in a very real sense, Job’s statement of trust in God went as far as he or any human can go in solving this mystery.”
24 Steven J. Lawson, “Job,” Holman Old Testament Commentary, ed. Max Anders (Nashville, TN: Holman, 2004), 1.