2:1–7a · The scene: the heavens. We are whisked up again to the assembly of divine beings in council, where, in almost precise repetition of the previous heavenly scene, God and the Adversary contemplate Job.One can imagine God reveling somewhat in his dialogue with the Adversary. Begrudgingly, the latter must agree with God that Job, devastated by the turmoil of the previous scene, has nevertheless maintained his “integrity” (from the same Hebrew root as “blameless”; cf. 1:1), his spotless character (2:3). It is possible to see confident gloating through the last few words of verse 3: “You incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” In the Hebrew, the term is a recurrence of the Adversary’s own term at the opening of his rhetorical question in Job 1:9 (“Does Job fear God for …