Job 1:15, commentary and pictures

The verse reports Sabean raiders falling upon Job's livestock, carrying off the animals, slaying the servants with the sword, and leaving one servant to escape alone with the news, as one stroke in a swift succession of losses that swept away flocks, servants, houses and children almost at once. The assault was Satan's work of violence and destruction against God's servant, which he could do only as suffered and permitted by God, who shields His creatures and limits the destroyer's power. The loss did not come from a sinful course nor prove Job guilty before God, but belonged to the severe testing by which a faithful servant closely connected with God may be sorely tried and afflicted in this life. Though stripped of worldly possessions and abhorred in affliction, Job did not swerve from loyalty but maintained his integrity, and God did not forsake him but rewarded him, leaving his steadfastness as a witness to God's abiding presence and sustaining grace in the darkest hour.

The Raid and Context

The Sabeans fell upon the livestock, carried off the animals and property, slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and left one servant alive who escaped alone to tell of the attack. The loss of possessions in that raid formed part of the sweeping away of all that was owned — flocks and herds, menservants and maidens, sons and daughters. That messenger left alive to report the loss belonged to the severe affliction in which God had not forsaken the sufferer.

The raid was one stroke in the swift succession of losses in Job 1:13-19, in which flocks and herds, menservants and maidens, houses and children, and household and possessions were swept away. One trouble followed another almost at once, as in a moment. The destructive power at work in that rapid succession could be exercised only as far as God permits.

The assault was Satan's work of indignation, violence, calamity and destruction against God's servant, done only as suffered, permitted and allowed by God. Satan was permitted to afflict and was suffered to act in stripping away possessions and family. His destructive power operates only as far as God allows.

Satan as destroyer has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature and uses his power to control the elements as far as God allows. God shields His creatures and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. Satan has control only of those whom God does not especially guard.

When God withdraws His blessings and protecting care from those rebelling against His law, Satan favors some to further his designs and brings trouble on others. He works through disease and disaster, accidents and calamities by sea and by land, conflagrations, tornadoes, hailstorms, tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, earthquakes, ruined harvests, famine, pestilence and a deadly taint in the air, to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. These visitations are to become more frequent and disastrous until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation and destruction is upon the inhabitants of the world. Through such trouble Satan leads men to believe that it is God who is afflicting them. The assault on property and servants in this verse belongs to Satan's assault in attacking a father in order to destroy his children.

Tested Loyalty and Witness

The stripping of Job's oxen and asses by the Sabeans, with his servants cut down by the sword, did not spring from a perverted life or a sinful course on his part. It did not prove that he had lived sinfully, that he stood guilty before God, or that he deserved punishment as a wrongdoer. The raid belongs to the severe losses by which a faithful servant was proved and tried. It shows that those who connect closely with God may not be prosperous in the things of this life but may often be sorely tried and afflicted, and that God's appointed witnesses for the truth's sake expose themselves to reproach and persecution.

Though stripped of worldly possessions and so afflicted in body that he was abhorred by relatives and friends, Job did not swerve from loyalty. Through the loss of possessions and family that Satan was permitted to bring upon him, including livestock taken and servants slain in the Sabean raid, he remained loyal to God and maintained his integrity. He preserved his faithfulness to God under severe trial. God had not forsaken him in the affliction but rewarded His faithful servant and afterward showed him greater favor.

His experience stands as an example of human steadfastness in the might of divine power. His steadfastness bears witness to the faithfulness of God's promises and to His abiding presence and sustaining grace. It bears witness to the power of faith to withstand the powers of the world and to rest in God in the darkest hour. In this way it gives wonderful strength and comfort to God's people in trial and conflict.