“Job's Adversary”

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

In Job 1:6 and Job 2:1, if these sons of God are people instead of angels (because it literally translates in Hebrew as "sons" or "children"), can the same thing be said about Satan here because "satan" here literally translates in Hebrew as "adversary", so this Satan is just a person and not the supernatural being that we know of, right?

Sincerely,
Adversary Aware

Dear Adversary Aware,

The word ‘satan’ does mean ‘adversary’, and it takes specific context to tell us what type of adversary it is.  If you were talking about a football match, the adversary would be the other team.  In this case, the adversary is someone that had the power to supernaturally destroy Job’s physical possessions (Job 1:12-19) and to strike Job with sickness (Job 2:7).  The context of this scenario makes it clear that the adversary is the devil.

Share