Satan Among the Sons of God
Job was a man who feared God (Job 1:1-3,6-12). Blessings came upon him from God, so that he was a prosperous man with God’s protection around him. The account tells of the sons of God with Satan among them. We will analyse this passage closely and see who this Satan was.
The word ‘satan’ is a Hebrew word translated into English as ‘adversary’ or someone who opposes. This Satan was among the sons of God when they went to present themselves in the presence of God (verse 6). They went with different motives.
The sons of God are those who believe in God and obey Him. “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ”(Rom 8:14-17). “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor 6:17,18).These quotations are not talking about heavenly angels. God never called a heavenly angel a son, “To which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my son, today I have become your Father?” (Heb 1:5). The sons of God in Job went to present themselves in the presence of God here on earth, not in heaven.
The first example of Satan among the sons of God is found in Numbers: “ Korah, son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites, Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On, son of Peleth, became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community members of the council. They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far. The whole community is holy, every one of them and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?” (Num 16:1-30). These people not only opposed Moses and Aaron, they also opposed God’s will – but that would soon be fulfilled in them. These disobedient Israelites were adversaries of God, that is they were satans.
The whole nation of Israel were ‘sons of God’, thus these satans were amongst the sons of God
A second example is: “The Lord said to Moses, Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff. On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. Place them in the Tent of Meeting in front of the testimony, where I meet with you. The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites” (Num 17:1-5). In this passage, the Israelites who were grumbling were against Aaron as High Priest. In other words, as before, the whole tribe of Israel were sons of God, and those who were grumbling were adversaries, satans, against Aaron (and against God, because Aaron was appointed as High Priest by God).
A third example of satan amongst the sons of God is found in Num 12:1-3, when Aaron and Miriam were the satans against Moses.
A further occasion is: “Another time, he (Jesus) went into the synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, Stand up in front of everyone.’ Then Jesus asked them, Which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill? But they remained silent. He looked round at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus (Mark 3:1-6). In the passage, we have the Jews (Pharisees, Herodians) who were the sons of God opposing Jesus, the only begotten son of God, doing his Father’s will. These Jews were opposing Jesus, they were being satans, especially as they went on to plot how to kill Jesus.
All these examples are instances of satans who were amongst the sons of God. Now compare with Job 1:12.
In times of trouble or adversity, we believers should trust in the living God, the one who is able to take us out of trouble. We should always believe and hope for God’s help, as He helped Job. Our belief must be like Job’s: “’I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. I myself will see him with my own eyes: I, and not another’” (Job 19:25-27).
Bro Robert Miwele (Kitwe, Zambia)
