Mrs. Job – Revisited

I’m going to have an article repeat this week.  I once again have reached the book of Job in my daily reading & I started thinking about the article I wrote last year about this time when reading this book.  I just felt compelled to revisit it.  So with a couple of minor revisions, here it is:

I believe I have mentioned before that for my daily devotion time, I use a Bible written in chronological order.  It has suggested readings for each day so that you can read through the Bible in a year; and, I’ve done that for many years.  It always amazes me how I can read the Bible over and over again, yet suddenly “this time,” some verse or passage will just jump out like I’ve never even seen it before; or, it will hold a whole different meaning for me depending on what’s going on in my life at that time; or, it will cause me to think about it in a different light than I’ve perceived it in the past.

That is what happened a few days ago when I once again began reading the book of Job – which always fascinates me.  I got to chapter 2 and was reading about how Satan afflicted Job with horrible sores all over his body, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet – then comes verses 8-10 (CEV):  “Then Job sat on the ash-heap to show his sorrow. And while he was scraping his sores with a broken piece of pottery, his wife asked, ‘Why do you still trust God? Why don’t you curse him and die?’  Job replied, ‘Don’t talk like a fool! If we accept blessings from God, we must accept trouble as well.’  In all that happened, Job never once said anything against God.”

I had always read that verse with Mrs. Job speaking to her husband in what seems to be such a cruel & unloving way, and I thought – how could a wife suggest that her husband turn his back on the God that had helped him be such a successful provider?  But even worse, how could she suggest that he off himself?  (I could be mistaken, but to me, it seemed to be a suggestion of suicide.)

Normally when someone close to us is going through a difficult time we try to encourage them & support them. We respond with empathetic and/or sympathetic feelings regarding their circumstances.  We don’t want to make things worse with ridicule & hurtful words.  But it seems Mrs. Job didn’t get that merciful gene!  Those are the thoughts that were going through my mind as I read that passage this time.  Then as I thought about it again and reviewed what all had transpired, my mind started going in a different direction.  We have to remember that when difficult times strike, people will either reach out to God for strength & help, or cast blame on Him & reject Him.  It matters not how strong your faith is.     

If you go back to the beginning of the book, you read how Job is successful & respected.  He had 10 children that apparently were all successful as well.  (Job 1:1-3 (CEV):  “Many years ago, a man named Job lived in the land of Uz. He was a truly good person, who respected God and refused to do evil.  Job had 7 sons and 3 daughters. He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 pair of oxen, 500 donkeys, and a large number of servants. He was the richest person in the East.”)

But Satan, in order to try to prove to God that Job wasn’t all he seemed to be, wanted to challenge Job to show he would curse God given the right circumstances.  So you can read in chapter 1 starting in verse 13 how all of his livestock was either killed or stolen; and, almost every single servant that worked for him tending his fields & livestock were killed.  That was bad enough, but then the crushing blow came – a storm had blown through & all of his 10 children died.  How did Job respond to all of that?  Job 1:20-23 (CEV) says:  “When Job heard this, he tore his clothes and shaved his head because of his great sorrow. He knelt on the ground, then worshiped God and said:  ‘We bring nothing at birth; we take nothing with us at death.  The Lord alone gives and takes.  Praise the name of the Lord!’  In spite of everything, Job did not sin or accuse God of doing wrong.”  He was suffering great sorrow it tells us, but yet he knelt down & worshiped God & praised Him.

So as I reconsidered all of what had happened I took a new look at Mrs. Job.  She had also seen all of their wealth & status wiped out…she had lost all 10 children that she had birthed…she saw her strong, healthy, successful, respected husband sitting in a trash heap, with sores all over his body, scraping them with pottery & suffering great pain.  It caused me to consider the personal anguish she was also suffering.  That makes it a bit more understandable how she could’ve lashed out in such a way to her own husband.  It can be easy when you’re suffering personal pain to lose all sense of kindness & mercy toward others.

As I researched Mrs. Job, I discovered that there’s really nothing known about her.  She’s pretty much just an anonymous woman.  Ironically the names of his 10 children that died in the storm are mentioned by name in the Bible.  Then when all was restored to him we read in Job 42:12-14 (CEV) “The Lord now blessed Job more than ever; he gave him 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 pair of oxen, and 1,000 donkeys.  In addition to seven sons, Job had three daughters, whose names were Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren Happuch.”  How odd that the children were mentioned by name but his wife never was. There’s some speculation about who she might’ve been – but apparently no proof.  

But, I digress.  So was Mrs. Job speaking to her husband out of her own grief & pain?  Or, as one opinion I read questioned, was she possibly more of a temptress trying to pull her husband away from his faith in God?  Maybe her faith wasn’t as strong as her husbands?   

Then in chapter 19:17 (GNT) we have another reference to his wife where Job says:  “‘My wife can’t stand the smell of my breath, and my own brothers won’t come near me.’”  This is what one of the references I saw said about that verse:  “How sad that in the midst of his suffering, he had to deal with his wife pointing out his bad breath.  More evidence of her pettiness and lack of sympathy.”  The same site that made those comments said this about the only other reference to Mrs. Job.  “It’s interesting in chapter 31 that he talks about how painful it would be if his wife were unfaithful to him.  So even though she mocked him and insulted him he still loved her and remained faithful to her.”  *

As I read comments from others about Mrs. Job, the question came up about whether or not she was the mother to the 10 children Job was blessed with when all of his fortunes were restored to him.  The consensus was that since no mention was made of her death, of Job divorcing her, of Job marrying another woman, that she likely was still with him & birthed his new family.  If that is true, then that to me speaks highly of Job – that regardless of her ill treatment of him during the hard times, he was faithful to her to the end.

All of this caused me to think about how I might react if I faced such challenging times.  Would I be able to stand strong in my faith – continue to praise & worship God? Or, would I become petulant & strike out to those closest to me & to God?  I certainly would hope that it would be the former.  But, I believe it can be hard for us to predict that.  I know that there have been things that happened in my past that caused me to get angry with God to the point I did some yelling at Him & that for a period of time I turned away from Him – and those challenges were nothing compared to what Mr. & Mrs. Job faced.  

Thankfully, God loves us all enough that even through times of rejection or rebellion on our part, He waits patiently & is ready to forgive & receive us back with open arms.  Maybe that’s where Mrs. Job ended up – back in the loving arms not only of her husband, but of God.

Written by Karran Martin – September 16, 2023

Minor revisions – September 14, 2024

[Bold emphasis is mine]
*Quote from:  https://sharonwilharm.com/jobs-wife/