Job's children

[darinhouston]

Several callers recently asked about Job's children and Steve mentioned something I hadn't considered before -- that it's entirely possible that he did get his own kids back since the story only tells us that he was "told" that his children were killed. But, as my wife pointed out -- the man did more than report the story -- he says he was in the disaster and was the only one to survive. So, I wonder how reasonable that is, also given the time that must have passed during his affliction.

Thoughts? I'd love to think this is feasible.

[steve]

The original report is not said (by the author) to be true or false. It is only reported that Job received such and such a communication about his children. It is true that Job's afflictions were stretched out over a long enough period for him to have received corrected news, if it were the case that his children had survived. Of course, if they were critically injured in ways from which they eventually recovered, it would still be very traumatic for him.

He does make reference to his children as though they were still living, in Job 19:17 (NKJV, in other versions he is thought to be speaking of his brothers, not his children). Yet, it sounds as if his children are regarded to be dead, even more than a week after the mishap (long enough for the true account to have reached him), in Job 8:4.

[look2jesus]

I haven't yet listened to the dialog that Darin mentioned but here are my thoughts:

The context in chapter 1 and 2, especially considering the contest between God and Satan, makes this scenario very dubious, to my mind. God gave Satan permission to touch "all" that Job had, excepting his person, and I find it hard to swallow that Satan would not have taken full advantage of the situation. After all, what is it that is portrayed as Job's most coveted possession? And how 'apropos' that Satan save his strongest blow for the end! Furthermore, consider Satan's response after the tragedies and God's response to him. "All that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!"...And the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life." It seems that God was very specific regarding how much leeway Satan would have in attacking Job. In the first case, he could touch anything Job had but could not touch Job himself. In the second case, he could do whatever he wanted to Job himself but not take his life. It seems to me that the entire narrative portrays Job as facing, in all reality, the most severest of circumstances, which doesn't make the survival of his children at all likely, in my opinion.

Also, if we accept that Job's servant was mistaken in recounting the peril that befell Job's children, is there any reason not to question whether his oxen and sheep and camels might have somehow escaped their captors after the initial attack and made for home? I really don't think the structure of the narrative allows for this or for the survival of Job's children.