Charles Ellicott Commentary Job 2

And Satan came also. —See Job 1:7. St. Peter applies to Satan the verb from which we have peripatetic.

Skin for skin. —This is a more extreme form of the insinuation of Job 1:9. He means Job takes care to have his quid pro quo; and if the worst comes to the worst, a man will give up everything to save his life. If, therefore, Job can save his life at the price of subservience to God, he will willingly pay that price rather than die; but his service is worth no more than that selfish object implies.

But save his life. —God’s faithfulness cannot fail even if, as Satan hints, Job’s should do so (2 Timothy 2:13). There was one who cared for Job’s life more than he cared for it himself.

Sore boils. —Supposed to be Elephantiasis, an extreme form of leprosy, in which the skin becomes clotted and hard like an elephant’s, with painful cracks and sores underneath.

Then said his wife. —So it is that a man’s foes are they of his own household (Micah 7:6; Matthew 10:36, and other similar passages). The worst trial of all is when those nearest to us, instead of strengthening our hand in God and confirming our faith, conspire to destroy it.