The Book of Job - Satan doesn't interact with God?

[TheTanakas]

Last week's Come Follow Me dealt with Job chapters 1-3; 12-13.

"The opening chapters of Job emphasize, in a poetic way, Satan’s role as our 
adversary or accuser; they don’t describe an actual interaction between God 
and Satan."

Job 42:7 says God spoke to both Job and Eliphaz. 

Was this also poetic?

[AnchoredinChrist]

In the Torah, the Book of Job is included in the "Poetry" section, not the "History" section. I think the whole story of Job is a work of allegorical prose/poetry literature, and not a true or accurate history of a man.

Edited Friday at 05:47 PM by AnchoredinChrist

[the narrator]

Job is based on an older Sumerian legend which provides the main framing beginning with chapters 1 and 2, and concluding with 42:7-17. This is the standard story and part that people generally only read. The rest is an Israelite poem calling into question the very premise of the story, rejecting it, and even has Job announce that someone would avenge him by punishing God for such an injustice.

[Pyreaux]

22 hours ago, TheTanakas said:

Last week's Come Follow Me dealt with Job chapters 1-3; 12-13.

"The opening chapters of Job emphasize, in a poetic way, Satan’s role as our 
adversary or accuser; they don’t describe an actual interaction between God 
and Satan."

Job 42:7 says God spoke to both Job and Eliphaz. 

Was this also poetic?

Your "gotcha" attempt relies on a false equivalency between literary framing/genre and theological truth claims.

Who even wrote the Book of Job and when? Job himself? Did he himself enter the council of the sons of God to witness Job 1 happen? No. Mainstream biblical scholars generally agree that the Book of Job is a piece of wisdom literature and dramatic poetry, not a transcript of the event.

Latter-day Saints recognize Job himself as a real individual who suffered immensely (Ezekiel 14:14, James 5:11). Thought to be a patriarchal era figure, but the "book" of Job seems to be penned by an anonymous scribe after the fall of Jerusalem to answer why bad things happen to good people. Come Follow Me seems to be trying to help readers look past a somewhat jarring image of God making a "bet" with Satan, and instead focus on the doctrinal takeaways.

To your question, if the prologue is poetic, then God speaking in chapter 42 must also be poetic (i.e., made up)? 

No, you can use a dramatic literary device in the beginning to set up a real spiritual resolution at the end.

Concerning truth, even a made-up story can teach the truth.  Is it not true that Satan and the rival sons of God are our adversaries*, and suffering is not always a direct punishment for sin?

Are Jesus' parables "true" stories? No, Jesus' parables were not literal, historical events. He made them up to teach spiritual principles.

* Job 1:6 "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them").  The "to present themselves" (yatsal contextualized in council settings) is the exact same root used in places like Psalm 2:2 "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord".

That the assembly wasn't just a peaceful, harmonious meeting of angels standing at attention. Instead, imply a scene of confrontation, rivalry, or dissent, where heavenly beings are taking counsel against or challenging Yahweh.

Edited Saturday at 02:00 PM by Pyreaux

[TheTanakas]

On 8/21/2026 at 3:41 PM, Pyreaux said:

To your question, if the prologue is poetic, then God speaking in chapter 42 must also be poetic (i.e., made up)? 

On what basis do you believe the conversation between Satan and God is a poetic 
rendition instead of actual one? Were the limits the Lord put on Satan to test Job
also poetic?

Edited Sunday at 02:32 PM by TheTanakas

[Eschaton]

The problem of course is that Satan in Job is not the Satan of Christianity. He's a member of the divine council and he's not working in opposition to God. He's just testing Job's loyalty, and God lets him.

Trying to map Job onto LDS or Christian theology doesn't work well because their Satan basically functions as the god of evil. In Job Satan is on God's side. 

Edited Sunday at 05:41 PM by Eschaton

[Pyreaux]

23 hours ago, TheTanakas said:

On what basis do you believe the conversation between Satan and God is a poetic 
rendition instead of actual one? Were the limits the Lord put on Satan to test Job
also poetic?

On basis of its location in the Bible. Job is placed directly inside the Ketuvim (the Writings), alongside Proverbs and Psalms, encompassing poetry and wisdom literature. On the basis of its structure, Chapters 3 through 42 are written in structured Hebrew verse. There is a stylized, symmetrical rhythm to it. Like the repetitive messengers bringing bad news, or the very precise numbers of livestock.

I believe there was a Job, and there was a council of malicious sons of God, and there were people and territory under the protection of one son of God while off limits to the other sons of God, unless given permission by that son of God. Or they'll go to war.

If this "adversary" was Baal, or one of the other sons of El, he would not be allowed to destroy Job's property, livestock, servants, and even kill his children, unless the Lord of Israel first gave him permission. Whether literal or poetic liberties were taken, the boundaries described do have a real theological basis.

The phrase in Job 1:6, the sons of God came "to present themselves before the LORD," can be understood as taking a position before or even against the Lord. It is like a courtroom with an accuser "among" them raising a challenge to Yahweh's judgment concerning Job.

Edited yesterday at 02:17 PM by Pyreaux

[InCognitus]

11 hours ago, TheTanakas said:

On what basis do you believe the conversation between Satan and God is a poetic 
rendition instead of actual one? Were the limits the Lord put on Satan to test Job
also poetic?

The book of Job is classified as Wisdom Literature in the Bible (among the different genres of the Bible).  It's like the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. 

And this video explains the role of "ha satan" (the satan) in the book of Job, among other things.  I highly recommend it.

 

[The Nehor]

The prologue and epilogue of Job are believed to have been added later. It makes sense. The prologue and epilogue undermine the whole point of the text.

God comes out in the ‘meat’ of the story saying that man cannot comprehend the ways of God and Job is not in a position to question what he endured. We see in the prologue that God made a bar bet with Satan and that is why Job had to deal with all he did. Not really that incomprehensible.

On 8/23/2026 at 12:40 PM, Eschaton said:

The problem of course is that Satan in Job is not the Satan of Christianity. He's a member of the divine council and he's not working in opposition to God. He's just testing Job's loyalty, and God lets him.

Trying to map Job onto LDS or Christian theology doesn't work well because their Satan basically functions as the god of evil. In Job Satan is on God's side. 

Also worth noting that sub divine beings (what we would call angels) in Judaism at the time were often conceived as being opposed to humanity and not their ally. You get texts where angels/divine servants don’t get why God bothered with the foulness that is humanity.

You get Merkabah mysticism where the goal is to somehow convince to let you pass or trick or give passwords to dangerous angels when you attempt a mystical descent to the throne of God. Many reportedly died or went insane trying this path because the angels pushed back hard against humanity going where it did not belong.