Members of the Heavenly Court

NLT Job 1:6

One day the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them.

Artwork Contributed by Aya & Nicole Velasquez

Why is this ponderable?

Most English Versions translate this  as "the Sons of God" or "the Angels" In this scenario, the members of the heavenly court obtain orders from the Lord in Heaven then depart to the Earth to do  work the Lord has assigned them. When this work is completed they return to Heaven. At the appropriate time they assemble before the Lord to give an account of what they have done, and to receive new orders from Him. At one such rendezvous, Satan happens to come before the Lord with them. Although he is persona non grata to the loyal Angels, Satan nonetheless is allowed to provide his accusations before the Lord.

Although this scenario fits the storyline Job 1:6 alludes to, it does not fit other facts we know about Satan. Was he not cast down to the Earth when he rebelled against God? Does not Michael, God's Number One minister, make it his personal vendetta to keep Satan out of the heavenly court? 

Most English translations render the Hebrew as "the sons of God" or Angels.  Nowhere else in the Old Testament are angels called "the sons of God".  We may call them servants of God's people, but that does not make them sons of the same family, or fellow heirs in Christ. Besides they always stand in the presence of God, and behold His face.There is no particular day assigned for them to hold court with God. They have no rest night nor day, but continually serve God, and glorify him, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty: so if this presentation of themselves to God is supposed to take place in heaven,  it is not possible for Satan to show up there with them. He is banished from heaven, and forbidden to ever stand in the presence of God.

What Satan can do, and does quite well, is to mingle with the people serving God on Earth. We can assume that Job and his family were not the only earthly servants of God at that time. So it is also likely that Job and others like him would on occasion, assemble together to present themselves, their bodies and souls, before the Lord. Together they would pray and praise God, offer sacrifice, and perform every religious exercise prescribed in those times.

 On one of these occasions, Satan infiltrated their group conscience intending to snatch away the prayerful attention of the assembly. He would do this by directing their thoughts to purely material matters, and suggesting to the members assembled together, that they did not deserve God's blessing. The storyline running throughout Job supports this scenario. Even Job's closest friends are convinced that he must have gravely offended God to have suffered such terrible consequences. Job's dear wife is not much help either. She is so weary of his suffering that she would prefer he die and let her move on.

Perhaps we are all members of the Heavenly Court--the Kingdom of Heaven. Some of us must still serve the Court here on earth as we try to discern God's will and watch for His return. Satan watches with us but has a more sinister motive. He wants to accuse us of neglect and dereliction of our duty to serve God. He wants God to reject us just as God rejected him. As firmly as we pray for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, Satan wants his will done in heaven as it is on earth.

One of the advantages of being a Catholic is that it confers a complete intellectual freedom to examine any and all phenomena with the absolute assurance of their intelligibility.--J J Zavada