Book of Job is it an Allegory?

[Esther]

OneAccord brings some interesting thoughts that I think deserve it's own thread for discussion.

I don't think of Satan as some anti-god who has equal but opposite power as God. What God does for good, Satan can do for evil. If God can heal, Satan can make sick. If God fills with the Holy Ghost, Satan can possess. God talks, the devil talks, and so on. If that were true then Satan would be God's equal only at the opposite pole. And God has no equal.

Satans only weapon, IMO, against us is the power to decieve. If Satan can convince us he has this great and terrible power over us, then, well, he DOES have this great and terrible power over us. Deception is his only tool, and its very effective.

The story of Job is a good example. Satan, with God's permission, killed all of Jobs children, took all he had, and inflicted him with boils. Did he? Really?

In the end of the Book, Job had all his kids and his possessions. All was well, because none of it was actually taken in the first place. "And there came a MESSENGER unto Job, and said..." Job 1:14. Job heard, and believed, these messengers, became distraught, and hives, which erupted into boils, broke out on his body. The fact is, IMO, Job believed a lie. The reason for it all? To help Job discover his human fallacy of self-righteouness. Yes, even "perfect people" have faults, Job's was that he was a little too self-righteous. He spent alot of time talking about HIS "goodness" and HIS "righteousness". (In addition, there was a good deal of self-pity there too.) Job's victory was when he finally said, "Wherefore I abhor (hate) myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (42:6). If Job was so perfect, there would have been no need for him to repent. Once his "flaw" was discovered and corrected his trial ended.

But I'm off the topic. Satan deceived Job. Satan decieved Eve. If the devil can make people think he can possess them, then, he can. Or make them sick. Or do evil things. Its all deception. Read 2 Thess. 2:9-12, Eph. 4:14

Deception is a powerful tool. But many Christians (and Hollywood) has given Satan much more power than he really has.

Well, no, not exactly. I'm saying that, IMO, there was no "two sets of children". The children of the first chapter are the same children of the last chapter. 7 sons, 3 daughters. (1:2, 42:13). They never died. Job was only TOLD that they had died. No where in the Book of Job do we find evidence that had, in fact, died. Jobs substance (ie, livestock ) was doubled, but not his children. They were yet alive.

I believe this for a couple of reasons. Mainly because I don't think God, in his love and mercy, would allow Satan to kill Job's children in order to "win a bet" with the devil. The Bible says that Satans demons can and do transform themselves into "angels of light" for the purpose of deception. These messengers that informed Job of his calamities were just that... false messengers that decieved Job into thinking he had lost it all... including his children, who were all away at the time at the eldest sons house (1:13). How convenient it is for Satan to decieve when people are divided and separated. 1 Cor. 3:3

Compare the story of Job with 1 Kings 22:20-22. Satan, and, apparently sometimes God, uses evil spirits to decieve people in order to acheive a means.

2Th 2:9 [Even him], whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

No, I find no evidence in the Scripture that supports the belief Job's children died in Job 1. I do find evidence that Satan decieved Job, and that theme is thru out the Bible. Satan, IMO, has NO power but to decieve. And does so thru what ever means is available to him, including false preachers and teachers.

Jobs boils? Hives. (2:7) Caused by extreme anxiety and remorse. I developed hives when my wife became sick. Two things relieved the itching: 1) Scratching (a "potsherd" would have been a great relief from the itching, but would have caused sores (boils). And 2) Powder. Job used ashes for relief, I used some kind of medicated powder.