Another look at Job's wife

[nebula]

Job 2

9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity ? Curse God and die !" 10 But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity ?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Throughout my life, I have always considered, as pretty much everyone else I've heard, Job's wife to be one of the "villains" of the Bible. Many preachers have even speculated that Satan spared Job's wife on account of her adding to his misery.

As I've grown older, though, I've had reason to re-look this woman.

One thing I've learned about the Hebrew narrative is that it does not concern itself with character development and relationship building the way we do in our stories and reports. Truly the only "character" the Bible is interested in the reader knowing is God, and the only relationship it seeks to build is God's relation to man (corporately and individually), and man to God.

In the story of Job, the focus is Job's relationship with God. Job's wife here is merely a sideline to the main story. And what we see here is one snap-shot of her in a moment of distress. We don't even know her name! Her only insertion at this point is to note how Job responds to the challenge, not to dwell on her failure.

Not to say that she didn't fail. But in our judgment of her, we seem to forget two things.

One: We are basing our opinions of her on just one moment of her life. Now, how many of us had a bad moment of which we've needed to repent of? What if our "bad moment" was recorded down in history and passed on to the generations, and that one moment is all any of them knew of us? Would we not want them to cut us a little slack, grant us the grace to believe that this one moment was not the sum of our character?

So in this re-evaluation, I am choosing to grant this grace to her, that perhaps she wasn't all the villain we've all made her out to be. That perhaps this was a moment of weakness rather than the sum of who she was.

Two: When we read the account, we see Job losing his oxen, his donkeys, his servants, his sheep, his camels, his children, and then his health. Then to add insult to injury, his wife smacks him upside the head and yells at him to curse God and die, with her nose up in the air. But is this a true picture of her?

Let's re-wind and look at her as a person, a character in her own right. She just lost all the provision her husband had been providing for her, she just lost her children, and then when she needs her husbands comfort and encouragement he probably can't because he's so sick. In essence, what we see at this point is a broken woman, a grieving mother, and a heart-broken wife.

So what if her words were not spoken in anger and snobbery, but rather passionate grief? What if she was crying as she spoke those words? What if her words were not rebuke so much as projecting depression? I feel this way, why don't you?

She was angry at God, that's clear enough. Notice how it was this that Job addressed to her.

He didn't rebuke her for being mean and unsupported to him. He rebuked her for turning away from the Lord rather than running to Him.

Notice that?

Sure, if this was one of our stories it would have been nice to know how she took the rebuke. But we do know that the Lord granted new children to Job. Since there is no mention of Job having other wives or concubines, then perhaps we can assume that perhaps she did repent and restored her own walk with the Lord.

We won't know, of course, this side of Heaven. After all, the Scriptures are more concerned with what you learn from the experiences of these people than what happened to them in the end.

But, in the face of heart-ache, do you have a "Job's wife" moment? And if so, do you repent of it?

That is the question!

[traveller]

Great points Neb! And good thread too.

Job 2

9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity ? Curse God and die !" 10 But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity ?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

I have always considered the part that I bolded as said like a contradiction to the way she normally spoke. Else, why would he phrase it that way? I don't think Job thought she was foolish, and questioned why she was acting so at this time. Like you said Neb, this was a snapshot of her in a moment of great despair. Afterall, she lost everything too.

good thread.

[nebula]

I have always considered the part that I bolded as said like a contradiction to the way she normally spoke. Else, why would he phrase it that way?

Thank-you, Trav! I was thinking that, too, but forgot to mention it in my write-up.

Good on ya!

[Isaiah 6:8]

I agree with both.

[BlindSeeker]

Nice insight Nebula . . . but I really don't have too many "foolish women" moments to share . . . .

[Botz]

Nice insight Nebula . . . but I really don't have too many "foolish women" moments to share . . . .

Ahhhh go on.

[~candice~]

Interesting thread .

I agree, she probably isn't the villian that she is often painted to be.

Just a thought....

I realise she probably spoke wrongly in v9, maybe out of passionate grief, maybe despair. Lot was technically correct in his reply to her. But if she was grieving, is this what she needed to hear? I know at times I have spoken out of despair or frustration or grief, and I already know I am wrong, and my attitude is wrong.

If you are Lot, how do you respond to your wife?

[Matthitjah]

Nebula,

I think we can look to Sarah as an anchor for your line of thought.

After all, she did laugh.

I don't think she was foolish or ignorant as we often suppose of Lot's wife. Sarah walked through everything Abraham did and right alongside of him.

I think that you could even say that these women might be a foreshadowing of the Church at times.

Good post sister.

Peace,

Dave

[nebula]

I realise she probably spoke wrongly in v9, maybe out of passionate grief, maybe despair. Lot was technically correct in his reply to her. But if she was grieving, is this what she needed to hear? I know at times I have spoken out of despair or frustration or grief, and I already know I am wrong, and my attitude is wrong.

If you are Lot, how do you respond to your wife?

I think you meant Job, not Lot?

As for his response . . . well, he is a male, you know.

But seriously, one can imagine that he was responding in grief as well. Hearing his wife telling him to "curse God and die" must have struck a very hard core in him - telling him to turn his back on the Lord? His rebuke could have as much been his rebuking the thought from germinating in his own spirit as it was getting her back on track with her faith in the Lord.

[~candice~]

I realise she probably spoke wrongly in v9, maybe out of passionate grief, maybe despair. Lot was technically correct in his reply to her. But if she was grieving, is this what she needed to hear? I know at times I have spoken out of despair or frustration or grief, and I already know I am wrong, and my attitude is wrong.

If you are Lot, how do you respond to your wife?

I think you meant Job, not Lot?

As for his response . . . well, he is a male, you know.

But seriously, one can imagine that he was responding in grief as well. Hearing his wife telling him to "curse God and die" must have struck a very hard core in him - telling him to turn his back on the Lord? His rebuke could have as much been his rebuking the thought from germinating in his own spirit as it was getting her back on track with her faith in the Lord.

I meant Job, oops. I even just typed lot again, smacks forehead trying to turn brain on....

But you are right, we are witnessing a conversation between two hurt and frustrated people.