Pt2 Book of Job in Talmudic Interpretation: Job's Contested Righteousness and Satan's Character (Bava Batra 15b-16b)

This is the second part of a three-part series. Part 1 is here; the outline of the series can be found there.

On Satan - Job 2:3-7

R' Yoḥanan - God was persuaded by Satan against Job - Job 2:3

״ויאמר ה׳ אל השטן:

השמת לבך אל עבדי איוב,

כי אין כמהו בארץ וגו׳,

ועדנו מחזיק בתמתו,

ותסיתני בו לבלעו חנם״

אמר רבי יוחנן:

אלמלא מקרא כתוב,

אי אפשר לאומרו –

כאדם שמסיתין אותו וניסת.

About this it says: “And YHWH said to the Satan:

Have you considered My servant Job,

that there is none like him on earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God and turns away from evil?

And still he holds fast to his integrity,

although you moved Me against him, to destroy him without cause” (Job 2:3).

R' Yoḥanan says:

Were it not explicitly written in the verse,

it would be impossible to say this,¹ as it would be insulting to God’s honor.

The verse states: “You moved Me against him,” like a person whom others persuade and allows himself to be persuaded, as if God had not wanted to do anything, but allowed Himself to be persuaded to bring harm to Job.

Baraita - Satan misleads, accuses, and punishes

במתניתא תנא:

1. יורד ומתעה,

2. ועולה ומרגיז,

3. נוטל רשות,

4. ונוטל נשמה.

It was taught in a baraita

with regard to the methods of the Satan:

1. He descends to this world and misleads (מתעה) a person into sinning.

2. He then ascends to Heaven, levels accusations against that very sinner, and inflames God’s anger (מרגיז) against him.

3. He then receives permission to act

4. and takes away the sinner’s soul as punishment.

R' Yitzḥak - Satan’s suffering was more difficult than that of Job - Job 2:4-7

״ויען השטן את ה׳ ויאמר: עור בעד עור, וכל אשר לאיש יתן בעד נפשו.

אולם שלח נא ידך וגע אל עצמו ואל בשרו, אם לא על פניך יברכך.

ויאמר ה׳ אל השטן: הנו בידך, אך את נפשו שמר.

ויצא השטן מאת פני ה׳, ויך את איוב וגו׳״.

אמר רבי יצחק:

קשה צערו של שטן, יותר משל איוב –

משל לעבד שאמר לו רבו:

שבור חבית,

ושמור את יינה.

The Talmud returns to discuss the text of the book of Job:

“And the Satan answered YHWH, and said: Skin for skin, for all that a man has he will give for his life.

But put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse You to Your face.

And YHWH said to the Satan: Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.

So the Satan went forth from the presence of YHWH, and smote Job with vile sores from the sole of his foot to his crown” (Job 2:4–7).

R' Yitzḥak says:

Satan’s suffering was more difficult than that of Job.

This can be explained by means of a parable (משל) involving a servant whose master said to him:

Break the jug

but save its wine.

Here too, God told the Satan that he could do whatever he liked short of taking Job’s life, and that limitation caused Satan to suffer.

Reish Lakish - Satan = Evil Inclination = Angel of Death - Job 2:6; Genesis 6:5

אמר ריש לקיש:

1. הוא שטן,

2. הוא יצר הרע,

3. הוא מלאך המות.

Reish Lakish says:

1. Satan,

2. the evil inclination,

3. and the Angel of Death

are one, that is, they are three aspects of the same essence.

הוא שטן –

דכתיב: ״ויצא השטן מאת פני ה׳״.

הוא יצר הרע –

כתיב התם: ״רק רע כל היום״,

וכתיב הכא: (״רק את נפשו שמר״) [״רק אליו אל תשלח ידך״].

הוא מלאך המות –

דכתיב: ״(רק) [אך] את נפשו שמר״ –

אלמא בדידיה קיימא.

He is the Satan --

who seduces people and then accuses them, as it is written: “So the Satan went forth from the presence of YHWH, and smote Job with vile sores” (Job 2:7).

He is also the evil inclination --

as it is written there: “The impulse of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continuously” (Genesis 6:5);

and it is written here: “Only upon himself do not put forth your hand” (Job 1:12).

The verbal analogy between the various uses of the word “only” teaches that the evil inclination is to be identified with the Satan.

He is also the Angel of Death --

as it is written: “Only spare his life” (Job 2:6);

apparently Job’s life depends upon him, the Satan, and accordingly the Satan must also be the Angel of Death.

R' Levi - Satan and Peninnah acted for Heaven's sake - I Samuel 1:6

R' Levi states that both Satan and the biblical Peninnah (who tormented her co-wife Hannah) acted with good intentions (“for the sake of Heaven”):

1. Satan accused Job before God in order to prevent God from 'forgetting' (מינשי) Abraham’s love (רחמנותיה).

2. Peninnah provoked (כעס) Hannah in order to motivate her to pray .²

אמר רבי לוי:

1. שטן

2. ופנינה

לשם שמים נתכוונו.

שטן –

כיון דחזיא להקדוש ברוך הוא דנטיה דעתיה בתר איוב,

אמר:

חס ושלום

מינשי ליה לרחמנותיה דאברהם.

פנינה –

דכתיב:

״וכעסתה צרתה גם כעס,

בעבור הרעימה״.

R' Levi says:

Both

1. Satan, who brought accusations against Job,

2. and Peninnah, who tormented Hannah, mother of Samuel the prophet,

acted with intent that was for the sake of Heaven.

As for Satan --

when he saw that God inclined to favor Job and praised him,

he said:

Heaven forbid

that He should forget the love of Abraham.

With regard to Peninnah --

as it is written:

“And her rival wife also provoked her sore,

to make her fret” (I Samuel 1:6),

i.e., Peninnah upset Hannah in order to motivate her to pray.

Rav Aḥa bar Yaakov, citing this in Papunya, is thanked by Satan himself

דרשה רב אחא בר יעקב בפפוניא.

אתא שטן,

נשקיה לכרעיה.

Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov taught this in Paphunya,

and Satan came

and kissed his feet in gratitude for speaking positively about him.

Job’s Flaws - Job 2:10-42:8

Rava/R' Eliezer - Job sinned in his heart - Job 2:10; Abaye/R' Yehoshua - Job’s complaint was directed at Satan - Job 9:24

Rava and Abaye

Rava accuses Job of internal heresy (“he sinned in his heart“)—implying God is unjust.

Abaye counters that Job’s criticisms were aimed at the Satan.

״בכל זאת לא חטא איוב בשפתיו״.

אמר רבא:

בשפתיו לא חטא,

בלבו חטא.

מאי קאמר?

״ארץ נתנה ביד רשע,

פני שפטיה יכסה,

אם לא איפו מי הוא״ –

אמר רבא: בקש איוב להפוך קערה על פיה.

אמר ליה אביי: לא דבר איוב אלא כנגד השטן.

The Talmud considers the character of Job.

The verse states: “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:10).

Rava says:

A close reading of the verse indicates that he did not sin with his lips,

but he sinned in his heart.

What did he say that suggests that he had wicked thoughts?

“The earth is given into the hand of the wicked, he covers the faces of its judges; if not he, then who is it?” (Job 9:24).

Rava says:

Job sought to turn the bowl upside down, that is to say, he alluded here to a heretical thought, as he said that the earth is given into the hand of the wicked, indicating that he had God in mind.

Abaye said to him: Job was referring here only to the Satan, he being the wicked one into whose hands the land was given.

R' Eliezer and R' Yehoshua

A parallel tannaitic debate--R' Eliezer vs R' Yehoshua--maps onto the disagreement (in the previous section).

כתנאי:

״ארץ נתנה ביד רשע״ –

רבי אליעזר אומר: בקש איוב להפוך קערה על פיה.

אמר לו רבי יהושע: לא דבר איוב אלא כלפי שטן.

The Talmud comments: This is parallel to a dispute between tanna’im, as it was taught in a baraita:

“The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.”

R' Eliezer says: Job sought to turn the bowl upside down;

R' Yehoshua said to him: Job was referring here only to the Satan.

Rava - Job denied free will and moral responsibility - Job 10:7

Rava interprets Job’s argument as fatalistic: God created righteous and wicked people—so divine judgment is arbitrary.

״על דעתך כי לא ארשע

ואין מידך מציל״

אמר רבא:

בקש איוב לפטור את כל העולם כולו מן הדין.

אמר לפניו:

רבונו של עולם!

• בראת שור – פרסותיו סדוקות,

• בראת חמור – פרסותיו קלוטות;

• בראת גן עדן,

• בראת גיהנם;

• בראת צדיקים,

• בראת רשעים

מי מעכב על ידך?!

The Talmud continues to discuss Job’s statements: “Although You know that I am not wicked,

and there is none that can deliver out of Your hand” (Job 10:7).

Rava says:

Job sought to exempt the whole world from judgment, claiming that all of a person’s actions are directed by God, and therefore one cannot be held culpable for his misdeeds.

Job said before God:

Master of the Universe!

• You created the ox with split hooves (פרסותיו סדוקות), making it kosher,

• and You created the donkey with closed (קלוטות) hooves, making it forbidden;

• You created the Garden of Eden,

• and You created Gehenna;

and similarly,

• You created righteous people

• and You created wicked people;

who can restrain You?!³

Seeing that You created people as either righteous or wicked, You cannot later complain about their actions.

Job’s Friends respond that God gave Torah to counter evil inclination - Job 15:4

Job’s friends⁴ rebut that God gave Torah as an antidote⁵ to the evil inclination.

ומאי אהדרו ליה חבריה [דאיוב]?

״אף אתה תפר יראה,

ותגרע שיחה לפני אל״;

ברא הקדוש ברוך הוא יצר הרע –

ברא לו תורה תבלין.

And how did Job’s friends answer him?

“You do away with fear,

and impair devotion before God” (Job 15:4) with such statements.

True, God, created the evil inclination,

but He also created the Torah as an antidote to counter its effects and prevent it from gaining control of a person.

Rava - Job returned improved stolen land to orphans - Job 29:13

Rava interprets Job’s deeds paradoxically: he took land from orphans, improved it, and returned it, earning their blessing.

דרש רבא:

מאי דכתיב:

״ברכת אבד עלי תבא,

ולב אלמנה ארנן״?

״ברכת אבד עלי תבא״ –

מלמד ש:

היה גוזל שדה מיתומים,

ומשביחה

ומחזירה להן

Rava interpreted a verse homiletically:

What is the meaning of that which is written, Job saying about himself:

“The blessing of him that was lost came upon me,

and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy” (Job 29:13).

“The blessing of him that was lost came upon me”

teaches that

Job used to steal a field from orphans,

cultivate it, improve it,

and then return it to them; consequently, they would bless him for the field they had lost.

Job helped widows remarry by associating his name with them

״ולב אלמנה ארנן״ –

דכל היכא דהוה איכא אלמנה דלא הוו נסבי לה,

הוה אזיל שדי שמיה עילווה,

והוו אתו נסבי לה.

“I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy”

teaches that anywhere that there was a widow whom no one would marry,

he would go and cast his name upon her, i.e., he would start a rumor that she was related to him,

and then somebody would come forward and marry her.

Rav - Job’s speech was disrespectful to God - Job 6:2

״לו שקול ישקל כעשי והותי,

במאזנים ישאו יחד״ –

אמר רב:

עפרא לפומיה דאיוב,

חברותא כלפי שמיא?!

Job further said: “O that my vexation were thoroughly weighed,

and my calamity laid in the balances” (Job 6:2).

Rav says:

Dirt should be put in the mouth⁶ of Job, meaning, he should not have spoken in such a manner, as if he were weighing his deeds against those of God;

may one act as if he is in a friendship (חברותא) with Heaven?!

Rav - “is there a servant who rebukes his master?!” - Job 9:33

״לו יש בינינו מוכיח,

ישת ידו על שנינו״ –

אמר רב:

עפרא לפומיה דאיוב,

כלום יש עבד שמוכיח את רבו?!

And similarly, Job said: “There is no arbiter between us,

who may lay his hand upon us both” (Job 9:33).

Rav says:

Dirt should be put in the mouth of Job for saying this;

is there a servant who rebukes (מוכיח) his master?!

1. אלמלא מקרא כתוב, אי אפשר לאומרו.

A frequent Talmudic phrase, similar in intent to כביכול.

These terms serve as a linguistic hedge when speaking about God. Literally meaning “as if it were possible” or “so to speak,” kivyachol is used to preface or qualify statements that would otherwise be overly anthropomorphic.

Compare my “Some Notes on the Anthropomorphization of God in the Talmud“.

2. הרעימה - interpreted to mean “pray”, i.e. to motivate Hannah pray to God to have a child.

3. מי מעכב על ידך.

A somewhat ambiguous idiom.

The same idiom—also directed at God—is used by Moses in the well-known story in Menachot.29b.3-5:

אמר רב יהודה, אמר רב:

בשעה שעלה משה למרום

מצאו להקב"ה שיושב וקושר כתרים לאותיות

אמר לפניו:

רבש"ע!

מי מעכב על ידך?!

§ Rav Yehuda says that Rav says:

When Moses ascended on High,

he found God sitting and tying crowns on the letters of the Torah.

Moses said before God:

Master of the Universe!

who is preventing You (מי מעכב על ידך) from giving the Torah without these additions?!

אמר לו:

אדם אחד יש שעתיד להיות בסוף כמה דורות

ועקיבא בן יוסף שמו

שעתיד לדרוש על כל קוץ וקוץ תילין תילין של הלכות.

God said to him:

There is a man who is destined to be born after many generations,

and Akiva ben Yosef is his name;

he is destined to derive from each and every thorn (קוץ) of these crowns mounds (תילין) upon mounds of halakhot.

It is for his sake that the crowns must be added to the letters of the Torah.

אמר לפניו:

רבש"ע!

הראהו לי

אמר לו: חזור לאחורך

הלך וישב בסוף שמונה שורות

ולא היה יודע מה הן אומרים

תשש כחו

Moses said before God:

Master of the Universe!

show him to me.

God said to him: Return behind you.

Moses went and sat at the end of the 8th row in R' Akiva’s study hall

and did not understand what they were saying.

Moses’ strength waned (תשש), as he thought his Torah knowledge was deficient.

כיון שהגיע לדבר אחד

אמרו לו תלמידיו:

רבי!

מנין לך?

אמר להן:

הלכה למשה מסיני

נתיישבה דעתו.

When R' Akiva arrived at the discussion of one matter,

his students said to him:

My teacher! (רבי)

from where do you derive this?

R' Akiva said to them:

It is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai.

When Moses heard this, his mind was put at ease, as this too was part of the Torah that he was to receive.

חזר ובא לפני הקב"ה

אמר לפניו:

רבונו של עולם!

יש לך אדם כזה

ואתה נותן תורה ע"י?!

אמר לו:

שתוק!

כך עלה במחשבה לפני

Moses returned and came before God,

and said before Him:

Master of the Universe!

You have a man as great as this

and yet You still choose to give the Torah through me?! Why?

God said to him:

Be silent (שתוק)!

this ‘intention (“thought”) arose’ (עלה במחשבה) before Me.

אמר לפניו:

רבונו של עולם!

הראיתני תורתו

הראני שכרו

אמר לו: חזור [לאחורך]

חזר לאחוריו

ראה ששוקלין בשרו במקולין

אמר לפניו:

רבש"ע!

זו תורה וזו שכרה?!

א"ל:

שתוק!

כך עלה במחשבה לפני.

Moses said before God:

Master of the Universe!

You have shown me R' Akiva’s Torah,

now show me his reward.

God said to him: Return to where you were.

Moses went back

and saw that they were weighing R' Akiva’s flesh in the meat-market (מקולין - from Greek mắkellon: “market“), as R' Akiva was tortured to death by the Romans.

Moses said before Him:

Master of the Universe!

this is Torah and this is its reward (זו תורה וזו שכרה)?!

God said to him:

Be silent!

this intention arose before Me..

4. חבריה.

Meaning, his three friends who come to visit him, whose speeches form the core of the Book of Job.

For more on Job’s friends, see the next part (Part 3).

5. תבלין - literally: “spice(s), seasoning(s)”.

See Jastrow (modernized):

תבל

masculine

(בלל)

1) mixture, spice, seasoning.

• Yerushalmi Orlah 1:61b top - אין תבל ביותר וכ׳ - “spices have no seasoning effect in a mixture larger than two hundred times their quantity”

• Arakhin 2:6 - כדי ליתן תבל בנעימה - “in order to put spice (sweetness) in the melody (to raise the effect of the melody through the accompaniment of young voices)”

• Yalkut Proverbs 943 (reference to תבל, Proverbs 8 :31) - “Eretz Yisrael is called tebel” - על שם תבל שבתוכה וכ׳ - “for the spice which is in it, and what is this? The Law”

• Sifre Deuteronomy 37

תבלין, see: below.

Plural: תבלין,

(traditional pronunciation)

תבלין.

• Orlah 2 :10 - תבלין שנים וכ׳ - “spices of two or three different legal categories, of one kind or of three”

• Ibid. 15

see: תבל.

• Kelim 2 :7, and elsewhere

בית תבלין

“spice box”

• Yerushalmi Pesahim 10:37d top - תבלי מצוה;

• Bavli Pesahim 116a - תבלין למצוה - “spices for the Passover ceremony”

  (חרוסת);

• and frequently

Also used as singular

• Shabbat 119a - תבלין אחד יש לנו וכ׳ - “we have a certain spice the name of which is Sabbath etc.”

• Bava Batra 16a - הקב"ה …תורה תבלין - “God created the evil inclination (in man), and he created the Law with which to season (temper) it;

• Kiddushin 30b.

• Sifre Deuteronomy 37,

see above; and elsewhere

• Nedarim 51a (play on תבל, Leviticus 18 :23) - ת׳ הוא ת׳ יש בה וכ׳ - “is it a spice? is there any spice (additional gratification) in it? etc.

[ 2) (biblical Hebrew)

confusion, unnatural act, defilement, see: supra, a.

תבל.]

• [Yerushalmi Shevuot 3 :34c top - מן התבל, read: הטבל.]

And see also Hebrew Wiktionary, “תַּבְלִין“, section “גיזרון“ for an extended discussion and bibliography regarding the correct pronunciation and etymology of this word, and whether it’s singular or plural.

6. עפרא לפומיה - literally: “dirt to his mouth”; an idiom.

This idiom appears twice here, and nowhere else in the Talmud.

Compare the biblical euphemism “to lick dirt” (עפר ילחכו) in Psalms.72.9, meaning “to be defeated”:

לפניו יכרעו ציים

ואיביו עפר ילחכו

Let desert-dwellers kneel before him,

and his enemies lick the dirt.

However, the idioms differ significantly: the one in the sugya likely means Job deserves to have his mouth filled with dirt, to silence his blasphemy, while the latter refers to someone falling to the ground.

(Compare also the modern English idiom “eat dirt”.)