The Devil on a Leash Text: Job 1:6-12
Introduction: The Heavenly Staff Meeting
We come now to a portion of Scripture that is, for many modern Christians, deeply unsettling. We are pulled back from the earthly piety of Job, from his sacrifices and his concerns for his children, and the curtain is drawn back on the unseen realm. We are shown a scene from the heavenly court, a sort of divine staff meeting. And in this meeting, we are confronted with the central problem that the book of Job is designed to answer. That problem is not, as is commonly supposed, "Why do the righteous suffer?" The book answers that, to be sure, but it is a secondary question. The primary question, the one that undergirds everything else, is this: "Who is in charge here?"
Our sentimental age has constructed a weak and fretful God, a deity who is constantly wringing his hands over the state of the world, wishing that evil people would stop being so evil. In this view, Satan is a rival power, a black king to God's white king, and the universe is a grand chessboard where the outcome is somehow in doubt. The book of Job takes a sledgehammer to this flimsy, unbiblical notion. What we see in this passage is not a cosmic battle between two equals. What we see is the absolute, untroubled, meticulous sovereignty of God over all His creation, and that includes His sovereignty over our great adversary, the devil.
If you do not grasp this central point, the rest of the book will be unintelligible to you. You will be like Job's friends, offering pious-sounding nonsense that ultimately dishonors God. You will be tempted to believe that your suffering is meaningless, a random intrusion of chaos into God's ordered world. But the Bible teaches us that there are no maverick molecules in God's universe. Every atom, every angel, and every adversary is moving according to the eternal counsel of His will. This is not a truth to make us tremble in fear, but rather a truth to give us immense comfort. The Accuser may be a roaring lion, but he is a lion on a leash, and the hand holding that leash is nail-scarred.
This passage is a glimpse into the celestial mechanics of our trials. It shows us that behind the proximate causes of our suffering, the Sabeans and the lightning and the wind, there is an ultimate cause, a divine purpose being worked out. And it shows us that the devil, for all his malice and bluster, is nothing more than an instrument, a tool, a sheepdog used by the Great Shepherd to accomplish His good purposes for His sheep.
The Text
Now it was the day that the sons of God came to stand before Yahweh, and Satan also came among them. And Yahweh said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Then Satan answered Yahweh and said, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it." Then Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you set your heart upon My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil." And Satan answered Yahweh and said, "Does Job fear God without cause? Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But send forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face." Then Yahweh said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand, only do not send forth your hand toward him." So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh.
(Job 1:6-12 LSB)
The Divine Council and the Accuser (v. 6-7)
The scene opens in the court of the King of kings.
"Now it was the day that the sons of God came to stand before Yahweh, and Satan also came among them." (Job 1:6)
The "sons of God" here are angels, members of the divine council, reporting for duty. This is not an unusual scene in Scripture. We see a similar council in 1 Kings 22, where God asks for a volunteer to be a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab's prophets. The point is that heaven is an organized place, a throne room, not a chaotic free-for-all. These angelic beings are accountable to God; they come to "stand before Yahweh," which is the posture of a servant before his master.
And notice who shows up with them: "Satan also came among them." The name Satan means "the Accuser" or "the Adversary." He is not a horned creature with a pitchfork ruling over a fiery underworld. That's medieval cartooning. Biblically, he is a fallen angel, a prosecutor, and as we see here, he still has access to the throne room of God. His job, as he sees it, is to accuse the brethren, to point out the flaws in God's people. We see this again in Zechariah 3, where he stands ready to accuse Joshua the high priest, and in Revelation 12, where he is called "the accuser of our brethren...who accuses them before our God day and night."
But his presence here is not an intrusion. He is not crashing the party. He is there because he has been summoned. He is a member of the council, albeit a disloyal one, and he is still on God's leash. This is crucial. Satan is not God's opposite. God has no opposite. To think so is to fall into a pagan dualism. Satan is a creature, and a fallen one at that. His opposite would be a holy angel, like Michael. God is in a category by Himself.
"And Yahweh said to Satan, 'From where do you come?' Then Satan answered Yahweh and said, 'From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.'" (Job 1:7)
God initiates the conversation. He is the one in charge of the meeting. He asks Satan for a report of his activities. Satan's answer reveals his nature. He is a restless wanderer, a prowler. Peter tells us to be sober and vigilant because our "adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). He is inspecting God's creation, not with the eye of a loving owner, but with the eye of a malevolent fault-finder, looking for an opportunity to devour, to destroy, to accuse.
God's Boast and Satan's Cynicism (v. 8-11)
What happens next is astounding. God does not just tolerate Satan; He directs his attention.
"Then Yahweh said to Satan, 'Have you set your heart upon My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.'" (Job 1:8)
This should knock us off our feet. God is the one who brings up Job. God boasts about His servant. He puts Job forward as exhibit A of His grace. He is proud of Job's integrity. This is not God setting Job up for a fall. This is God setting Job up for a victory that will glorify God. God has a supreme confidence, not in Job's native strength, but in the power of the grace that He has worked in Job. God is essentially saying to the Accuser, "Look at this man. My grace works. My salvation is real. Go ahead, take your best shot."
Satan's response is pure, distilled cynicism. It is the voice of every scoffer and unbeliever in history.
"And Satan answered Yahweh and said, 'Does Job fear God without cause? Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.'" (Job 1:9-10)
Satan's accusation is not against Job, fundamentally. It is an accusation against God. He is saying that God's relationship with His people is purely transactional. He is saying, "The only reason anyone serves You, God, is for the stuff. Job isn't righteous; he's just well-paid. His piety is a business arrangement. You bribe him with blessings, and he pays you with worship. Take away the perks, and his faith will evaporate." This is the primordial lie of the serpent: that God is a cosmic tyrant, holding out on us, and that true freedom lies in disobeying Him. Satan cannot conceive of disinterested love for God. He believes all worship is mercenary.
Notice that Satan acknowledges God's total protective sovereignty. "Have You not made a hedge about him?" Satan knows he cannot touch Job without God's permission. He sees the hedge of God's providence and protection, and he resents it. He wants access. And so he makes his proposal, his challenge.
"But send forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face." (Job 1:11)
Satan is a theological parasite. He has no creative power. He can only twist what God has done. He says to God, "You've used Your hand to bless him; now use Your hand to strike him, and you will see his true colors." Satan believes that if the blessings are removed, Job will not just stop worshipping. He will actively curse God. This is the great test. Is it possible for a man to love God for God's own sake, and not for what he can get from God?
The Divine Permission (v. 12)
God accepts the challenge. Not because He is unsure of the outcome, but because He intends to vindicate His own glory and the reality of His grace in His servant.
"Then Yahweh said to Satan, 'Behold, all that he has is in your hand, only do not send forth your hand toward him.' So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh." (Job 1:12)
Here we see the central truth in its starkest form. God gives permission. He sets the boundaries. "Behold, all that he has is in your hand." This is a delegated authority. Satan is not acting autonomously. He is acting as God's instrument of testing. The evil he is about to unleash comes from his own malicious heart, but the permission and the parameters come from the throne of God. God is sovereign over the actions of Satan.
And God sets a limit: "only do not send forth your hand toward him." Satan can go this far, and no farther. God determines the severity of the trial. This is an immense comfort for the believer. Whatever trial you face, whatever satanic assault you endure, it has first passed through the hands of a loving Father who has measured its intensity and set its limits. Satan wanted to sift Peter like wheat, but Jesus told Peter, "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail" (Luke 22:31-32). The Accuser may have his designs, but God has His purposes, and God's purposes always prevail.
So Satan, having received his commission, "went out from the presence of Yahweh." He leaves the throne room as a servant, on a mission assigned to him by the very God he hates. He thinks he is about to disprove God's goodness, but in reality, he is about to become the unwitting instrument of God's glory.
Conclusion: Our Advocate and Our King
What are we to do with such a passage? First, we must see that the problem of evil is only a problem if you begin with the assumption of man's autonomy. If you begin with the absolute sovereignty of God, then you see that what we call "evil" is woven into His perfect plan for a purpose. God is not the author of sin, but He is the author of the plan in which sin occurs, and He masterfully turns the evil intentions of creatures, both demonic and human, to His own glorious ends. He did this supremely at the cross, where the most wicked act in history accomplished the greatest good in history.
Second, we must see that we have an Accuser. He is real. And he brings accusations against us day and night. He points to our sins, our failures, our mixed motives. And his accusations are often true. We do not fear God perfectly. Our motives are not always pure. We are indeed sinners.
But praise be to God, the story does not end there. We have an Accuser in heaven, but we also have an Advocate. "If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1). When Satan stands up to accuse us, Jesus stands up to defend us. And His defense is not that we are innocent, but that He is righteous, and that His righteousness has been given to us. His blood has paid for every sin that Satan can name. The Accuser is silenced not by our righteousness, but by Christ's.
Therefore, when suffering comes, when the Sabeans and the fire fall, we must not look at the proximate causes alone. We must look up to the throne. We must see that our God reigns. The devil may be the agent of our misery, but God is the architect of our glory. He is using the malice of the enemy to strip away our love of "the stuff" so that we might learn to love the Giver for Himself alone. He is proving to a watching world of men and angels that His grace is real, that His salvation is powerful, and that His people, held fast in His hand, will never be snatched away. The devil is on a leash, and our King holds the chain.