Sometime ago my sister saw a clip of Tim Hawkins talking about Job’s wife. She didn’t save the clip so I didn’t see it then, but she told me about it. A short time passed and I saw it on one of my social media pages. I laughed because hello it was funny, but then my sisters and I started talking about why didn’t Satan harm Job’s wife? This is my thought and my thought alone, I am not saying I’m right, it’s more of a I wonder if kind of statement, but could it be because they were one? When God said you can’t take Job’s life to Satan, it included his wife because they were one flesh? Again, it’s just a thought. Then again maybe Tim Hawkins joke was spot on and Satan basically says naw, I can use her leave her alone. If you’d like to watch the short clip here it is: Tim Hawkins Job’s Wife
Let’s talk about Job’s wife for a moment or three. She is often painted as a villian, but can we take a second and put ourselves in her shoes? The book of Job focuses on Job obviously, but those were her children that died too. Those servants that are gone they helped with her life too. The livestock that provided for the family well it was her that was being provided for too. Job wasn’t the only one suffering. Have you ever watched a family member suffer and wanted so badly to help, but you couldn’t? That’s how she must have felt. It’s easy to badmouth her for saying why don’t you curse God and die, I hear people belittle those in the Bible often, but are we not the same? Put yourself in her shoes. Job’s wife wasn’t some weird side piece of the story, she was an integral part of Job’s story.
9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. 10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. Job 2:9-10
Was she wrong for telling him to curse God? Obviously! You won’t hear me say she was right. However, I believe many people can understand the frustration she had. I think that many can understand the desire to say this has gone on long enough just give up already, it’s not worth it anymore, you proved your point. As evil as the world likes to paint her, consider what happens to her if Job dies. She had nothing, no children, no husband, no money, nothing yet she tells him to give up and die. What does she gain from that? It is possible that as twisted as it is and yes I believe it is twisted, but I believe that she loved him and wanted his pain to cease. At the end of Job’s story he had more children. No where does it say that his wife died or left so it looks like although we don’t hear her mentioned again she was still there standing by him even though she did not understand his beliefs.
As much as I say we should put ourselves in her shoes for a moment, I’m not a complete moron, I understand it’s easy to simply look at a situation from the outside and judge. That’s exactly what we’ve done with Job’s wife and what we do with the situations around us. We should probably give Job’s wife a bit more grace than we do, but on the flip side, maybe she just shouldn’t have said such stupid things. No matter how much grace we should give the fact is she was wrong and that brings me to my next rant. You ready? This is specifically for those of you that are married. Like it or not you will be judged by people for your actions with your spouse. If you put yourself first people will notice and they probably won’t like you all that well.
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Philippians 2:3-4
I remember a family from when I was growing up, the woman worked her tail off to support the family, the husband well he did not. He was a stay at home dad of sorts, but I went to their house and he was more of a kept husband that did what he wanted. I was friends with their children and I can’t recall a single time that the dad made any decision. The mom was always the one that ran things. If she was busy at work then it waited until she got home. You can image the thoughts people had regarding the family. When you are like Job’s wife and do or say stupid things then you will be judged for them. When you are lazy you will be judged for it. When you put yourself first because getting off your tail and getting a job to help support your family just isn’t something you want to do, you will be judged. Maybe people should give you a bit of grace, but like Job’s wife maybe you just shouldn’t do stupid things.
24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth. 1 Corinthians 10:24