NT Text: Luke 22:31
OT Source(s):
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Analogy + Longitudinal Theme
Significance: Jesus' warning to Peter — "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked (exēitēsato) to sift each of you like wheat" (Luke 22:31) — evokes the heavenly-court scene of Job 1:6-12, where haśśāṭān ("the Accuser") presents himself before Yahweh and requests permission to afflict Job. The Greek exaiteō ("to demand, to ask out") implies a formal request made before a superior authority — just as Satan in Job must receive divine permission before acting. The structural parallel is precise: Satan desires to afflict a righteous person; God permits it within limits; the purpose is testing that ultimately reveals faithfulness. Jesus' intercession ("I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail," Luke 22:32) corresponds to the role God plays in Job's story — the adversary operates within divinely set parameters, and the tested person, though pressed to the limit, ultimately emerges in faith. The Satan-as-accuser-before-God pattern is a consistent canonical motif (also Zechariah 3:1-2; Revelation 12:10).