Job’s Wife
Job 2: 9-10
After Job removes himself to the ash heap, we get a brief cameo from an unexpected supporting role: Job’s wife.
I have questions. Is this Job’s wife from before, or is this a new wife? Come to think of it, why wasn’t Job’s wife (or wives) affected in the first round of calamities? Was she so insignificant that her loss wouldn’t matter? That seems kind of harsh.
Until we hear how she treats Job: His wife said, “Still holding on to your precious integrity, are you? Curse God and be done with it!”
It would appear they might not have the healthiest relationship.
And they sound like they might be chronic bickerers. Listen to Job’s response in verse 10: “You’re talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God—why not also the bad days?”
They are not treating each other with the most generous assumptions. Not by a long shot.
There are some interesting things in those couple of lines, though. The wife seems to assume that cursing God would cause (or allow) Job to die. If that was the general train of thought in the day, then Satan really did have a good explanation for Job’s persistent integrity. It also seems like his wife would prefer it if Job did just die. Maybe he’s a really bad patient.
But then look at the way he talks to her. Is that blameless and upright? I just don’t see a lot that says that Job was actually caring to people, much less pleasant to be around. I think sometimes maybe we can be so concerned with being right or being perfect or being righteous that we actually become selfish and inconsiderate. If we’re more concerned with keeping a perfect record of following every rule, we could end up ignoring folks around us, treating them poorly as long as we don’t mar our record. I’m having a hard time making all of this add up. What matters? Following rules or taking care of each other?
And of course, the text explicitly states that “not once through all this did Job sin. He said nothing against God.” I think Job might be getting on my nerves a little bit.