Job 1:1

1 There was a man ['iysh] in the land ['erets] of Uz [`Uwts], whose name [shem] was Job ['Iyowb]; and that man ['iysh] was perfect [tam] and upright [yashar], and one that feared [yare'] God ['elohiym], and eschewed [cuwr] evil [ra`]. KJV-Interlinear

1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. NASB

The name of Job as several meanings. The short list is: persecuted, cruelly or hostilely treated, hated and counted as an enemy, one that grieves or groans, to return to repent. And this all comes to mean, 'one who turns to God as a result of enduring misery due to cruel and hostile treatment.'

Job was a man. He was not an angel, nor someone who was of noble birth, or viewed as someone of whom history would have taken exceptional notice. Except for this book in the Bible, we would never have known of his name nor even of his existence. Job was in effect a common person, not unlike many other people of history, even including yourself. Therefore, the lessons of his experiences, apply to all of humanity.

He lived in the land of Uz. No one knows for sure where this land was located. But, since Job is presumed to have lived in the time prior to Abraham, then it is assumed that Uz was located in the Mesopotamia region along the Euphrates River, in eastern Arabia. Perhaps in the vicinity of Ur, where Abraham came from.

He was a good person. Blameless is the term used here, but Job was not sinless. After all, he was human and carried the sin nature as we all do.

Job knew of God. He knew of the fundamental principles of doctrine as we have them, even though the written scriptures did not exist then, in the form that we have them today.

Job respected God, His doctrine, and tried to live his life by those principles, which is the reference to blameless and upright.

He avoided evil as best he could. This simply means that he did not go out of his way to do harm to people. He was not a trickster, not a vindictive person, not a thief, not a murderer, not a con artist, he did not try to cheat people or take their property. Job was not a tyrant or king want-to-be. He was not an empire builder.

In other words, Job was just a nice guy. There is no basis for hating him. There is no reason that anyone would want to bring harm to him. There is no reason that anyone would be jealous of him, or envious of him.

There is no reason for any type of antagonism, or anything as his name meanings listed in the first paragraph suggest, against Job.

And thus, the stage is set.

Just as humanity began in the Garden and basically had nothing that anyone should desire, so too, Job led a life that should not have created waves in anyone else's life. Yet Satan comes along, an angel, the highest of the angels in his former days. Satan comes along, one who has had every privilege, every benefit, and every advantage in his lifetime, and Satan unleashes unbelievable misery on Job. Job, and humanity, who has done nothing whatsoever against Satan.

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