Shalom and thank you for your questions. You want to gain clarity regarding the timing of certain events in Genesis and further on.
The events concerning the fallen angels happen in Genesis 6:1-4, before the story of the flood. The earth had become very corrupt, and the L-rd was beginning to think of wiping out the sinful population. (Before the flood.) According to the Midrash (stories that interpret the Torah text, taught by the Sages of the Talmud,) two angels by the name of Shamchazai and Azael complained to G-d about the sins of mankind. Thereafter the Heavenly Attribute of Mercy came and requested of G-d that the human race should be forgiven, since the trials and tribulations they face on earth are so great! The angels however, claimed that it is not at all so difficult to stand up to the challenge. G-d knew that they would not be able to withstand temptation once they would descend to the material world, but nevertheless He sent them down to see for themselves. Indeed, they sinned grievously. (There are various interpretations of the term ‘bnei Elohim’ in the context of this story in Genesis. Although it seems to translate literally as ‘sons of G-d’ the consensus is that, based on comparisons with terminology used in other parts of the Torah, it means people of authority, or the ‘fallen’ angels, or people who had been spiritually great but fell seriously to moral depravity.) Their immoral relationships with women resulted in the birth of giants, called in the text ‘nephilim’. (Descendants of these nephilim, according to certain interpretations, were the giants that the spies were intimidated by when they came from the Sinai desert to scout out the Land of Israel.)
G-d had forseen this turn of events and forewarned the angels. The main point of the various interpretations is the descent from a high spiritual level to a very low one. This is of course a thought provoking message for us. We must steer ahead and beware of divergent courses.
Satan by the way was not cast out of Heaven as far as I know. In truth the Satan is an angel whose job is to oppose good so that we will utilize our free choice and overcome the challenges he presents us with.
Talking about jobs. Job, (called in Hebrew Iyov,) lived, according to certain commentaries, during the period of the 210 years that the Jewish people spent in Egypt. There is alot of discussion in the Talmud about who he was and when he lived.
There is much that we learn from Job, who is considered in the Talmud to be among the most righteous of the nations. One mistake that he made was when he worked as an advisor to Pharoah in Egypt and kept quiet when Pharoah brought up his plans for ‘solving the Jewish problem.’ There is an opinion that suffering was brought upon him for this reason.
The purpose though of the book of Job is to teach us how to have faith despite adversity. As opposed to the angels who descended and become demoralized, Job used his free choice to retain his faith in G-d despite losing his 10 children all in one go, in addition to losing his wealth, and then his health!! Job and the friends who came to visit him explored issues of faith and trust together. Job became weakened in his faith only when his suffering increases to the extreme. At that point he lost trust in his heart, although he didn’t say so expressly. Nevertheless he became strengthened again and merited to have his health and wealth restored as well as having more children born to him.
The passage about the Satan walking the earth does not mean that he fell from Heaven. It reflects the idea that everything that happens in the world has the potential for good or for evil. As mentioned above, there is free choice and the job of the Satan is to test us. He may do this in an external manner, setting up external obstacles for us, or internally, by planting within us thoughts which lead us to negative behavior. We are not responsible for a thought coming in to our head, but we are responsible for ‘hosting’ that thought longer than necessary. There are thoughts that we should dwell on and develop, and there are thoughts that we need to push away. The best way to do that is by keeping ourselves so busy with carrying out G-d’s wishes and living meaningful lives chock- full of kindness and reaching out to others, that we have no time to dwell on negativity.
The Satan in the story of Job was ‘turning up for work’ as it were, having surveyed carefully where on earth he could be ‘needed’.
We hope this has been helpful!
