Job 1:13-19

Job's Misfortune. The activity of the Satan is depicted, though he himself remains invisible. Between Job 1:12 and Job 1:13 there is an interval, an ominous silence like that which precedes the storm. The poet has drawn aside the curtain to us, and we know what is impending. Job knows nothing. he does not know that he is being played for like a pawn. Suddenly the catastrophe overtakes him. Messenger after messenger, each taking up his tale of ruin before the other has concluded his, announces that all has been taken from him (Davidson). The ideal character of the narrative should be observed. The catastrophe takes place on the day when the feast was in the eldest brother's house, i.e. the very day on which Job had just purified his children by sacrifice. Heaven and men alternate their strokes, which follow with ever-increasing severity. In each case one alone escapes to tell the tale.