This is a continuation of my consideration of God’s love for Satan revealed in the book of Job.  I left off at Job 1:8 (NETS) Table:

And the Lord said to him, “Did you give thought to your disposition against my servant Iob—because there is no one of those on the earth like him, a man who is blameless, genuine, religious, staying away from every evil thing?”

I quoted the NETS here not because I think Claude E. Cox the English translator might agree with me.  On the contrary the abstract of his paper—“Translator as Author: The Old Greek Translator of Job”—presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2015 leads me to believe that he ascribed editorial prerogatives to the Greek translator(s) of Job rather than the Masoretes.

This paper attempts to access the mind of the translator of Job by examining those instances the OG has no correspondence in the source text. Since these pieces of text cannot really be called “translation,” they belong uniquely to the translator.

Johann Cook in a paper titled, “The Profile and some Theological Aspects of the Old Greek of Job – Resurrection and Life after Death as Points in Case¹” quoted from Mr. Cox’s introduction to his translation of Job:^[1]

According to Cox,¹⁹ the OGJOB is a work of good literary quality. The usual Hebraisms that are the tell-tale signs of translation Greek in much of the Septuagint corpus are absent – this applies to LXX Proverbs too. There can be no doubt that the translators of LXX Proverbs and the OGJOB were both steeped in Greek and Jewish culture.²⁰

Another general characteristic of the translation consists of transferring passages from elsewhere in Job or from other parts of the Septuagint into the translation, so-called inter-/intra-textual rendering.²¹ This phenomenon was detected by Dhorme²² and Ziegler and studied by Heater, who calls it “the anaphoric translation technique.”²³

I quoted Mr. Cox’s translation because he alone recognized the foreknowledge of God in προσέσχες τῇ διανοίᾳ σου κατὰ (English Elpenor: Hast thou diligently considered) with his rendering: Did you give thought to your disposition against…  Rather than singling Job out to brag about his righteousness, in Mr. Cox’s translation  יהוה (Yᵊhōvâ) is fully aware that Satan has singled out Job and set his own heart and mind against him.

I wondered if the Greek translators of Job heard this foreknowledge in the Hebrew from which the Greek was translated: השׁמת (śûm) לבך (lēḇ) על (ʿal).  In this particular instance Rashi’s commentary seems to confirm what the Greek translators heard in the Hebrew and what Mr. Cox heard in turn in the Greek: “Have you paid attention to My servant Job: that you should desire to denounce him?”  If I had studied Mr. Cox’s translation of Job many years earlier might I have come to a different conclusion about God’s love and my hunger and thirst for righteousness, and served my wife and family better?

I can’t go back.  I can only go on.

Like Eve I’m very susceptible to Satan’s reasoning.  I don’t want to take away from this that I should fear (yārē’, יָרֵ֥א) God for nought (ḥinnām, הַ֣חִנָּ֔ם), that true righteousness would be to worship (σέβεται, a form of σέβω) the Lord for nothing (μὴ δωρεὰν).  The Greek word δωρεὰν in particular might deceive me.

As you go, Jesus instructed his disciples, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near!’  Heal the sick, raise the dead,^[2] cleanse lepers, cast out demons.  Freely (δωρεὰν) you received, freely (δωρεὰν) give.^[3]  Would it not be better to worship the Lord freely?  Jesus’ own attitude and the answer to this question are revealed as He continued (Matthew 10:9, 10 NET):

Do not take gold, silver, or copper in your belts; no bag for the journey; or an extra tunic, or sandals or staff; for the worker deserves his provisions.

Jesus believes the worker deserves his provisions (ἄξιος γὰρ ὁ ἐργάτης τῆς τροφῆς αὐτοῦ).  This ought to be a no-brainer.  My employer provided everything I needed to do the job he also paid me to do.  Imagine being sent out to Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and cast out demons without the grace of God to enable one to do so.

That grace, that enabling power to Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and cast out demons is what was freely (δωρεὰν) received by Jesus’ disciples.  Then and only then did he command them to freely (δωρεὰν) give the benefit of that enabling power to Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and cast out demons to others.  Jesus never asked them to worship Him freely, sending them out to Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and cast out demons by their own power, their own authority or their own righteousness.

Now without faith it is impossible to please [God], for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.^[4]  The Greek words translated he rewards were the noun μισθαποδότης followed by the verb γίνεται (a form of γίνομαι): literally “he becomes the paymaster of” those who seek him.  In other words, God is a better employer than the man who “provided everything I needed to do the job he also paid me to do.”

And my God will supply your every need, Paul wrote believing Philippians, according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.^[5]  What then shall we say about these things? Paul asked believing Romans rhetorically.  If God is for us, who can be against us?  Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things [Table]?^[6]  (The Greek word translated freely give here was χαρίσεται, a form of χαρίζομαι).

Satan continued:

It is difficult to use Satan’s words to decipher what he thinks or believes.  Jesus described the devil (διαβόλου, a form of διάβολος) as one who does not uphold the truth because there is no truth in him.  Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature because he is a liar and the father of lies.^[7]  Still, Satan’s words express a thought or belief as a hypothesis: Job does not fear or worship God freely (or, for nothing).  Job worships God because God has blessed the works of Job’s hands and protected the fruit of Job’s labors.

We are told the following about Job:

Satan’s hypothesis was that this was the reason Job feared or worshiped God.  He proposed a test for this hypothesis.

A note (30) in the NET reads:

The Hebrew verb is בָּרַךְ (barakh), which means “to bless.” Here is a case where the writer or a scribe has substituted the word “curse” with the word “bless” to avoid having the expression “curse God”…

Rashi’s commentary reads:

But: were you to touch all that he has, would he not blaspheme You to Your face immediately? This is a question…

Another note (53) in the NET reads:

The formula used in the expression is the oath formula: “if not to your face he will curse you” meaning “he will surely curse you to your face.” Satan is so sure that the piety is insincere that he can use an oath formula.

The Greek translators of the Septuagint seem to confirm that oath formula: εἰ μὴν (BLB), translated surely (NETS); ἦ μὴν (Elpenor), translated verily (English Elpenor).  By translating εὐλογήσει (a form of εὐλογέω) in the positive sense to bless rather than the negative sense to curse, the English translators of the Septuagint have made Satan’s words sarcastic to the point of mockery.

To review: Satan’s hypothesis is that Job does not fear or worship God freely (or, for nothing); Job worships God because God has blessed the works of Job’s hands and protected the fruit of Job’s labor.  Satan’s proposed test of this hypothesis is, strike everything he has, and he will no doubt curse you (or not bless you) to your face.

God announces the end from the beginning and reveals beforehand what has not yet occurred.^[8]  He didn’t need a scientific experiment to know Job’s response.  Satan lacks this knowledge.  Love is patient, love is kind…^[9]  God was both patient with, and kind to, Satan when He authorized this scientific experiment.

I’ll pick this up in another essay.

Tables comparing Job 1:9; 1:10; 1:2; 1:3; 1:11 and 1:12 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Job 1:9; 1:10; 1:2; 1:3; 1:11 and 1:12 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and a table comparing Matthew 10:8 in the NET and KJV follow.