Week 25 Job 1
The second scene in the book is an odd one. Satan appears before the Lord. They are on speaking-terms. The Lord asks Satan where have you come from? and Satan replies from roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.
The book of Job doesn’t say how much roaming around on earth Satan does.
I check a word book and see that ‘roaming’ is only used twice in the bible – both in Job. The back of the word book says roaming can also mean things like:
go back and forth
move to and fro
roam to and fro
rush back and forth.
They aren’t too helpful. I wonder if they apply to Satan.
The word ‘roam’ can give the impression of wandering (maybe even aimless wandering). That might be but in this case I don’t think there’s anything very aimless about Satanic roaming. My sense is that he’s very deliberate. Intentional. Diabolically-focused.
I check an NT cross-reference where Peter implies that Satan is roaming more-or-less all the time. He’s always on-the-prowl. The reason why? He’s looking for someone to devour.
In Job Satan’s roaming starts out seeming like it could be a pretty neutral activity. But only at first. I just have to read to the end of the chapter to see that Satan doesn’t operate in neutral. Satan on-the-roam is someone to be concerned about.
Note: quotes from Job 1:7 & 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV). Word meanings are from the Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.