Job 1:16-17

עוֹד זֶה מְדַבֵּר וְזֶה בָּא וַיֹּאמַר אֵשׁ אֱלֹהִים נָפְלָה מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם וַתִּבְעַר בַּצֹּאן וּבַנְּעָרִים וַתֹּאכְלֵם וָאִמָּלְטָה רַק אֲנִי לְבַדִּי לְהַגִּיד לָךְ

16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

In this second tragedy, all of Job's seven thousand sheep are killed by "the fire of God." This could be a reference to lightning (as in 1 Kings 18:38), or to a storm of burning sulfur from a volcanic fissure such as that which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. This kind of an event is also used in the Bible as an example of the judgment of the Last Day (Psalm 11:6; Isaiah 30:33 and 34:9; Ezekiel 38:22 against Gog; several times in Revelation, and even once later in Job 18:15). Because of the early date of Job, some might see a possibility that if Job's sheep were grazing close to the shore of the Dead Sea, they might actually have been destroyed in the very same lava-storm that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah just after sunrise one day, along with the towns and vegetation of the area (Genesis 19:23-25). However, we can only leave that as a possibility, and not a certainty.

עוֹד זֶה מְדַבֵּר וְזֶה בָּא וַיֹּאמַר כַּשְׂדִּים שָׂמוּ שְׁלֹשָׁה רָאשִׁים וַיִּפְשְׁטוּ עַל הַגְּמַלִּים וַיִּקָּחוּם וְאֶת הַנְּעָרִים הִכּוּ לְפִי חָרֶב וָאִמָּלְטָה רַק אֲנִי לְבַדִּי לְהַגִּיד לָךְ

17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” (NIV)

In this third tragedy, a Chaldean raid is described. Ur, a city in Chaldea, had been the birthplace of Abram. At this time, the Chaldeans occupied cities along the banks of the Tigris River, the eastern edge of modern Iraq. The three raiding parties are similar to the tactics of Gideon (Judges 7:16). The purpose for the three groups was perhaps (a) one group to create a diversion to draw away the servants, (b) one group to drive the camels in a certain direction, and (c) a final group to surprise and kill the servants. Later the Chaldeans would become renowned as magicians; their name is the word used for "wise men" or "magi" in other parts of the Bible, but here, the only place when the "wise men" even are mentioned with camels, they are mere thieves and bandits.

Were these raids by the Sabeans and the Chaldeans nothing but singular events, stirred up by Satan to persecute Job, or did the devil use some bigger events to stir up the pot all around the countryside? It is possible, perhaps even probable, that the raids that are going on in this chapter are part of a larger world scene at this time; that the lawless destruction going on was caused by fear of such "fire from God" that we see here and in Genesis 19. Canaan looked inviting, "well-watered, like the garden of the Lord" (Genesis 13:10), but if such firestorms made agriculture a gamble at best, then the emerging bands of thieves would be something we would expect to find.

These are not the last of Job's troubles, but his losses are starting pile up. So far, of the possessions he had, this is what has taken place:

7,000 sheep          -    destroyed by fire
3,000 camels         -   stolen by Chaldeans
500 yoke of oxen  -   stolen by Sabeans
500 donkeys         -   stolen by Sabeans

In addition, all of the servants that were guarding and keeping his herds and flocks were killed; so far, only three have survived to tell the tale.

Paul says, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Cor. 4:8-9). But all of these things come only with God's permission. The devil cannot strike any one of us if God does not permit it. When we have troubles, as Christians we can see them as tests or challenges, and we have to recognize that God works out everything for the good of those who love him, and sometimes my head cold might simply put me into a place where I can be of service to somebody else in need.