“CURSE GOD AND DIE”
We are all familiar with that infamous (and perhaps unsolicited) advice of a wife to her ailing husband. Often, when that is quoted, it is usually in derision for her perceived insensitivity but we forget that she too was suffering. She had lost her 10 children, her house, and her source of living; it wasn’t only Job. And although she was spared by Satan in inflicting her with a malady, surely as a wife, it was difficult to see her husband whom she knew to be godly to be in so much pain. She too couldn’t understand why these things were happening to them---all in less than 24 hours.
Keeping this in mind, perhaps we should be more compassionate in portraying her. I don’t think she spat those words in a nagging tone, standing beside her corpse-like husband with a bony finger, filled with hatred towards God. I see her as slumped beside Job with all strength failing her, wishing she could join her children when she let loose words born out of a heart that has lost all hope with only bitterness taking residence, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9, NIV)
Oh I may be wrong but it is curious that in the end, God called out Job for insisting on his innocence and his friends for misrepresenting Him but not the wife. In fact, we never hear from and about her again. But before she fades out, Job reacts to her despair: “You are talking like (emphasis mine) a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (v.10). He did not castigate her for being a foolish woman but for talking like one. This means she’s not the callous, insensitive, godless, impatient, and uncaring wife that she is remembered for today.
When Job spoke those words to her, I don’t see a scolding scene but in his pain, he consoles her who has become childless after giving birth to ten children and who is close to becoming a pariah, being married to a sinful man punished by God. If Job’s own friends thought of him that way, how much more those who did not know him? And if Job died, she will double her pariah status being the widow of a sinful man and being perceived as a sinful woman herself. She would have to live the rest of her life ostracized and penurious. Women during their time married young, so she would probably still be young around this time which means she was looking at a very long lonely life ahead of her, surrounded by malice and scorn.
After this episode, we don’t hear from her again. We don’t even know if she is the mother of Job’s ten new children but I would surmise it is the same woman if only because God never rebuked her. If He could restore and bless Job whom He rebuked, how much more the one He didn’t? I would go further that instead of the infamous wife that she is being preached today, she is the model wife for she remained at Job’s side, sharing in his pain while his own brothers, sisters, and friends abandoned them but were thick-faced enough to show up when God blesses Job again. Yes, Mrs. Job showed her weakness when she uttered those words but it only revealed she was human like the rest of us are. And just like her, we can be falsely accused and remembered wrongly by men but it doesn’t matter as much as knowing that God has not brought any accusation against us and remembers us when we are at our lowest.
We are all familiar with that infamous (and perhaps unsolicited) advice of a wife to her ailing husband. Often, when that is quoted, it is usually in derision for her perceived insensitivity but we forget that she too was suffering. She had lost her 10 children, her house, and her source of living; it wasn’t only Job. And although she was spared by Satan in inflicting her with a malady, surely as a wife, it was difficult to see her husband whom she knew to be godly to be in so much pain. She too couldn’t understand why these things were happening to them---all in less than 24 hours.
Keeping this in mind, perhaps we should be more compassionate in portraying her. I don’t think she spat those words in a nagging tone, standing beside her corpse-like husband with a bony finger, filled with hatred towards God. I see her as slumped beside Job with all strength failing her, wishing she could join her children when she let loose words born out of a heart that has lost all hope with only bitterness taking residence, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9, NIV)
Oh I may be wrong but it is curious that in the end, God called out Job for insisting on his innocence and his friends for misrepresenting Him but not the wife. In fact, we never hear from and about her again. But before she fades out, Job reacts to her despair: “You are talking like (emphasis mine) a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (v.10). He did not castigate her for being a foolish woman but for talking like one. This means she’s not the callous, insensitive, godless, impatient, and uncaring wife that she is remembered for today.
When Job spoke those words to her, I don’t see a scolding scene but in his pain, he consoles her who has become childless after giving birth to ten children and who is close to becoming a pariah, being married to a sinful man punished by God. If Job’s own friends thought of him that way, how much more those who did not know him? And if Job died, she will double her pariah status being the widow of a sinful man and being perceived as a sinful woman herself. She would have to live the rest of her life ostracized and penurious. Women during their time married young, so she would probably still be young around this time which means she was looking at a very long lonely life ahead of her, surrounded by malice and scorn.
After this episode, we don’t hear from her again. We don’t even know if she is the mother of Job’s ten new children but I would surmise it is the same woman if only because God never rebuked her. If He could restore and bless Job whom He rebuked, how much more the one He didn’t? I would go further that instead of the infamous wife that she is being preached today, she is the model wife for she remained at Job’s side, sharing in his pain while his own brothers, sisters, and friends abandoned them but were thick-faced enough to show up when God blesses Job again. Yes, Mrs. Job showed her weakness when she uttered those words but it only revealed she was human like the rest of us are. And just like her, we can be falsely accused and remembered wrongly by men but it doesn’t matter as much as knowing that God has not brought any accusation against us and remembers us when we are at our lowest.