Return to the Presence of Yahweh: 2:1–3  With only a few variations—and only one of real significance—these verses exactly repeat 1:6–8. Repetition and variation are part of the literary toolbox of ancient narrators and storytellers and may owe much to the oral tradition of telling and retelling these stories over the centuries. The similarity of language carries the hearer into the second conversation between the Satan and God and leads us to ponder what is to come. Will the Satan acknowledge the integrity of Job’s righteousness? How will God respond to the battered innocent sufferer now that his righteousness has been tried and proven? The variations introduce unexpected complications and suggest that final resolution still remains in the future.

The first significant variation comes towa…