Job's Wife

If like me, you grew up in a church going house, then you have most likely heard the story of Job. You heard how he was a rich man who was “blameless and upright” before God. You would have also heard how Satan prowled the earth as a lion seeking whom he may devour. That he then went before God and claimed that because God had put a hedge of protection around Job, Job had good reason to walk with God. That if He, God took away that hedge of protection, Job would curse God. Long story short, God removed the hedge of protection one step at a time. First, Job lost his herds of animals. The primary source of his wealth. Then his twelve children were killed by a wind that blew in the house they had all gathered in, which was their custom. Even after the loss of his children, Job didn’t curse God. In fact, he worshipped God instead saying, “Naked came I forth from the womb of my mother and naked must I return thither. . .” Job 1:21 (Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible)

As we read further, we learn that eventually Job was so covered in boils that the only place he could sit was in the ashes. Think about that. He lost everything that made him rich. His land, his animals, and his children and now he’s sitting in the ashes completely covered in boils from head to toe with only a piece of pottery to scrape at his boils. Yet, he never stops praising God. He doesn’t curse Yahweh for any of his losses or the fact that he’s unable to move from the pile of ashes.

Now in Job 2:9 it reads, “Then said his wife unto him, ‘Art thou still holding fast to thine integrity? Curse God and die!’”

I’ve heard this story most of my life and read it in more than one translation for myself. I’ve read the King James, New American Standard, and The Amplified versions of the Bible. Every time I read the above passage, I’ve thought, “Who does she think she is telling Job to ‘curse God and die?’ He’s the one covered from head to toe in boils sitting in the ashes!”

Then I read this story again in the Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible and got a shock. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say I got hit over the head with a brick. In all the years I’ve heard the story of Job or read it, no one wrote anything about why Job’s wife would have said what she said. In Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible there’s a footnote about “. . .the offspring of my womb and my pains for whom I toiled vainly in distress. . .”

That’s when I realized that I’d been judging Job’s wife. Unjustly judging her for years. Job’s children didn’t just spring from his loins alone. They were her children as well as his. His loss was hers. I felt awful. That poor woman. I can’t imagine losing one child, but all of your children all at once? That’s a parent’s worst nightmare.

Then to make matters worse for this poor woman, Job is completely unable to work to support them. Again Rotherham’s footnotes read “I am wandering and serving from place to place and from house to house; longing for such time as the sun shall go in, that I may rest from my wearying toil and from my pains which are wont to seize me now . . .”

This means that after living for who knows how many years with servants to do her bidding, she was now a servant in other’s households to earn enough money to support herself and Job. Then of course after work she’d have to come home and prepare it herself.

Until I read those footnotes, I’d never even considered the possibility that she had as much right to complain as he did. If I’d been in her shoes, I’d have probably grumbled sooner than she did. Like when the children were all killed at once.

After Job’s reply to her, that’s it for her part in the story beyond the fact that they went on to have ten children, seven sons and three daughters again. Even then, she’s not mentioned directly. Just the fact that Job had the children, but you know she’d have carried them for him. I wouldn’t mind knowing more about her, but the Bible is silent beyond their one conversation.

In some respects, I feel sorry for her, but ultimately, I think she was a strong woman. Possibly stronger than she realized till they lost everything. She did what needed to be done with no servants and her husband in the ashes unable to do anything. That makes her a strong woman to me.