Commentary on Job, part 6

The commentary now turns to Job 1:12, where God grants all Job has to Satan but demands that he not touch Job himself. Stepanos cites Zechariah 3:2 and Judah 9 to support the view that God speaks to Job through an angel. The Judah verse is interesting since it alludes to the dispute between the archangel Michael and Satan concerning the burial of Moses. According to Jewish tradition, Satan, accusing Moses of being a murderer, refused to allow Moses' body to be buried (see "Moses" in the Encyclopedia Judaica). This tradition is presented in the Assumption of Moses, an apocalyptic work from the first century.  

“Behold I give you all [that he has]…” (1:12)

 ...so that I may show to Satan that he is conquered by an earthly human. It is thought that God’s demand was given through an angel, as in the prophet Zechariah, where the angel says to Satan, “May the Lord who chose Jerusalem rebuke you” (Zechariah 3:2). Likewise, in the catholic epistle concerning the body of Moses, Michael said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you!” (Jude 9) One must understand it likewise here. Now the demand and response were not spoken in the manner of a human voice, but as an incorporeal being must speak to an incorporeal, that is, through the intellect.