Job's Affliction: God or Satan?

Job is a tough book to get through.  I always get lost in the back and forth dialogue between Job's friends, Job, and then God enters the chat.  It's also a tough book because we see God allowing untold suffering to a man who was faithful and obedient to Him...  

I fielded a question recently.  It was this.  

"Who brought evil on Job? Was it Satan (Job 2:7) or God (Job 42:11)?" 

There is a theological implication to the question, as it ultimately calls into question the goodness of God... So let's try and approach this emotionally charged inquiry with nuance...

So, I would start here...

"Then Satan answered the Lord and said, 'Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around 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 stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.' And the Lord said to Satan, 'Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.' So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord." -Job 1:9‭-‬12 

We see two things here. First, that God was the one who allowed Job to prosper. He set a hedge of protection around him and as a result he prospered materially and paternally. The second thing we see, is that Satan is eager to disrupt Job's well being. However, he is powerless against God's protection.  

God therefore allows Satan to "touch all that he has," but not Job... This implies that had Satan wanted Job's life, he could have taken it... But that would defeat the entire test of faith thing... So Job's possession (children included) were threshing ground for the enemy.

Technically, God wasn't the one to afflict Job directly, but you cannot say his suffering was outside the purview and permission of God. 

But is that uncharacteristic of the God of the Scriptures?  

You'll find God say to Isaiah, "I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things." -Isaiah 45:7 

He creates calamity? Remember Isaiah's warning? That judgment was coming upon the nation of Israel... God was allowing the prosperity of the Assyrians to use as an avenger upon the nation Israel. Ironically, they would be the arbiter of divine retribution upon God's covenant people who had forsaken Him. 

God was creating calamity... Or as other translations render "evil."  He would repeat these steps in raising up the Babylonians, against the Assyrians and ultimately against Judah...  

God allowed the wicked to accomplish His purposes, so that in the end, God was glorified.

It's tough to stomach when we are fed a constant diet of feel good narratives about God's love and mercy... But inherent in this calamity is God's love and mercy.

In Job, God restores all that Satan had touched... God did not allow Job to perish, and though I'm only speculating, God in His providence may have taken into consideration the eternal destiny of Job's family prior to them meeting their demise. It's not outside His omniscience or goodness, neither is it outside His justice if they had fallen into condemnation. We only read that Job would make sacrifice on behalf of His children in the event they had cursed God in their hearts unknowingly. This leads me to believe that they would not have gone out of their way to transgress against God, but just in case, submitted themselves to the obersvance of sacrifice as offered by their father.

Calamity also served to glorify God by preserving a faithful remnant of Israel... It purged the nation of sin and preserved a line by which Messiah would come.

Which leads us to the biggest seeming "injustice" of God. The making of Him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. We typically see the crushing of Jesus as a sign of God's love, grace, and mercy... Because it is!

But it wasn't fair...

Why would God allow Satan to enter Judas? Why would He allow His perfectly obedient, all loving, healing, restoring, tender hearted, unblemished by sin, divine Son to be betrayed by someone under the influence of the devil?  

Kinda feels a bit Job-like right? God gave Satan the go ahead to crush Jesus, but God didn't restrain Satan to merely touching His possessions... God permitted Him to take His very life.

But here's the thing... Whether or not someone or something dies isn't the ultimate injustice (though we typically hold God to that standard). The ultimate injustice is the rebellion of creation against its Creator... God had every right to deluge all life from the face of the earth. He has all authority to be the author of calamity.

Yet, we find in the Scriptures that though He has all authority to mete out judgment, He opts for mercy. Mercy in Job's life... Mercy against the children of Israel, and mercy toward all mankind through the judgment of Christ on the cross.

It is inconsequential who afflicted Job personally. Though it may not have been by the direct hand of the Lord, it was always within His permission. We want to know the specifics because it informs the judgment we hold against our Creator... But I would be hesitant as the clay to ask the potter why He has made us this way... Why He has treated us this way... Our ability to rationalize only takes into account one slender strand of eternity (this is our "knowing good and evil" from the garden). It is enough to see a portion of God's love, justice, mercy, and grace... But not merely sufficient for us to stand in judgement on whether He is, in fact, any of those things.

So who brought "evil" (or "calamity") on Job?  God and Satan... 

But why do we want to know?  What is our motive in asking?  Who is glorified?  God or Satan?