伯二4~7 撒但……说，人……为了自己的性命，情愿付出一切所有的。你且伸手，伤他的骨头和他的肉；他必当面咒诅你。耶和华对撒但说，他在你手中；只要存留他的性命。于是撒但从耶和华面前退去，击打约伯，使他从脚掌到头顶都长了毒疮。

　　在以赛亚十四章十五节和以西结二十八章十六至十七节，撒但已经被神定罪，甚至受神判刑。但神按祂的智慧和主宰的权柄，还未在撒但身上执行祂的审判。祂仍然给撒但有限的时间，使他能作些事，好应付一些消极的需要，以完成神的经纶。……没有撒但，就没有一位会作这丑恶的事来伤害约伯，就是剥夺他的一切，使他能被神充满（约伯记生命读经，一四页）。

　　Job 2:4-7 Then Satan…said,…Indeed all that a man has he will give for the sake of his life. But stretch forth Your hand, and touch his bone and his flesh; and he will surely curse You to Your face. And Jehovah said to Satan, Here he is, in your hand; only spare his life. And Satan went forth from Jehovah’s presence and struck Job with severe boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

　　In Isaiah 14:15 and Ezekiel 28:16-17 Satan was condemned by God and even sentenced by God. Yet in His wisdom and sovereignty God did not execute His judgment over Satan. He still has given Satan a certain limited time so that he can do something to meet some negative need in the fulfillment of God’s economy….Without Satan, there would have been no one to do the ugly work of damaging Job in order to strip him of everything that he might be full of God. (Life-study of Job, p. 11)

　　需要有人来伤害约伯，不是审判他，而是剥夺他的一切。约伯在神的祝福下劳苦多年，累积了许多财富。他有七千只羊，三千只骆驼，五百对牛，五百匹母驴，并有许多仆婢。他有一个亲爱的妻子、七个儿子、三个女儿。不仅如此，约伯在完全、正直、持守纯全的事上，非常成功。他的家产、成功和成就，使他成为一个自满自足的人。约伯虽然满了家产，满有成就，但他里面没有神。神看约伯时，可能说，“约伯，我该在你身上作什么？你满有家产和成就，但你没有满了我。你在名义上有我，但你里面并没有我。”因此，神为了对付约伯，就需要撒但。撒但是宇宙中唯一的一位，能够且愿意完成神这目的，就是剥夺约伯的家产和道德成就。

　　 “耶和华问撒但说，你曾用心察看我的仆人约伯没有？地上没有人像他完全且正直，敬畏神，远离恶事。”（伯一8）神在这里向撒但夸奖约伯。我们若仔细读，就看见神在这里夸奖的目的，是要撒但为祂作点事。

　　撒但回答耶和华，问祂说，“约伯敬畏神，岂是无故呢？你岂不是四面圈上篱笆围护他和他的家，并他一切所有的么？他手所作的，你都赐福；他的家产也在地上大大增多。”（9~10）神的确在四面圈上篱笆围护约伯，并赐福他手所作的。在十一节撒但继续说，“你且伸手，碰他一切所有的，他必当面咒诅你。”

　　“耶和华对撒但说，看哪，凡他所有的，都在你手中；只是不可伸手加害于他。”（12上）我们不该认为神被撒但掌握，因为乃是撒但被神掌握，要为祂作点事—为神剥夺约伯。撒但这邪恶的天使，愿意作善良天使所不愿意作的；因此，他马上接受神的任务。

　　关于神对付寻求祂的人这件事，撒但的邪恶观念乃是基于他得失的商业原则。撒但是个生意人，是个商人，他的思想是照着他的商业原则。他不知道神对付爱祂的人，甚至使他们受损失，目的乃是要使他们最完满地得着祂，远超过他们在祂之外所亏损的一切，使祂能借着他们得以彰显，以成就祂造人的目的（创一26）（约伯记生命读经，一四至一七页）。

　　参读：约伯记生命读经，第二至三篇；神计划里的救赎，第三篇；倪柝声文集第二辑第二十四册，第九十篇；初信造就，第五十篇。

　　There was the need for someone to damage Job, not to judge him but to strip him of everything. Job had been laboring under God’s blessing for many years and he had accumulated many things. He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a great many servants. He had a dear wife and seven sons and three daughters. Moreover, Job was very successful in being perfect and upright and in holding to his integrity. His possessions, success, and attainment made him a contented and satisfied person. Although Job was full of possessions and full of his attainment, he did not have God within him. As God looked upon Job, He might have said, “Job, what shall I do with you? You are full of your possessions and your attainment, but you are not full of Me. You have Me in name, but you do not have Me within you.” Thus, for God’s dealing with Job, Satan was needed. Satan was the unique one in the universe who could and who would fulfill God’s intention of stripping Job of his possessions and his ethical attainment.

　　“Jehovah said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a perfect and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8). Here God was boasting to Satan regarding Job. If we read this carefully, we will see that God’s boasting here was with the intention that Satan would do something for Him.

　　Satan answered Jehovah, asking Him, “Does Job fear God without cause? Have You not set a hedge around him and his household and all that he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his possessions are spread throughout the land” (vv. 9-10). God had set a hedge around Job, and He had blessed the work of his hands. In verse 11 Satan went on to say, “But stretch forth Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”

　　“Jehovah said to Satan, Here is all that he has, in your hand; only do not stretch forth your hand against him” (v. 12a). We should not think that God was caught by Satan, for Satan was caught by God to do something for Him—to strip Job for God. Satan, an evil angel, was willing to do what none of the good angels was willing to do, and he immediately accepted God’s commission.

　　Satan’s evil concept concerning God’s dealing with His seeking people is based on his commercial principle of gain or loss. Satan is a businessman, a merchant, and his thought is according to his commercial principle. He does not know that God’s purpose in dealing with those who love Him, even in the way of loss, is that they may gain Him to the fullest extent, more than the loss of all that they have other than Him, that He might be expressed through them for the fulfillment of the purpose in His creation of man (Gen. 1:26). (Life-study of Job, pp. 11-13)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Job, msgs. 2-3; CWWL, 1950-1951, vol. 2, “Redemption in God’s Plan,” ch. 3; CWWN, vol. 44, ch. 90; CWWN, vol. 50, “Messages for Building Up New Believers (3),” ch. 50