Some of you who read this blog know that I am preaching through the book of Job on Sunday mornings at the church I pastor. It is a challenging book to study and preach from – and to apply! There exists a vast historical distance between a twenty-first century Westerner like me and a Bronze Age man from the East like Job (Job. 1:1). That is only the first reason that I have been extremely careful to read widely and think slowly as I have prepared the lessons and sermons from Job that I pass on to my congregation.
In reading widely, I have discovered something that I did not expect: Job’s wife is a controversial figure.
In both academic commentary and in more popular, literary retellings of Job’s story, there are two very different women who play the role of Job’s wife. Some authors and scholars strive to present her sympathetically and make her out as a tragic heroine of sorts. Others cast her in a far less favorable light. For instance, writing in the late fourth century, Augustine called her diaboli adjutrix, the ‘devil’s handmaiden.’ Not a flattering appellation.
So, what is the deal with Job’s wife, and, perhaps more importantly, does it even matter how we interpret her role in Job’s story?
The ancient text shares very little about this unnamed woman. We can easily deduce from the text that she was a significant person – she had ten children and was married to one of the principal men of his time. And we know that together with her husband, she lost everything – all ten of her children, her material wealth, and the attendant social station those things conferred upon her. But beyond that, we don’t know anything about her apart from the one brief conversation recorded in Job 2:9-10.
In that short exchange, Job’s wife says, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” To which her husband Job replies with a rebuke: “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak…” And we are immediately informed that “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” Job was correct – his wife was being foolish – denying God and being morally and religiously in the wrong. Indeed, she has urged Job to do precisely what Satan was hoping he would do – curse God.
That is certainly not the end of the story for Job’s wife. But we are not told the details of her story and how God worked in and through her mixed experience of living! We are told Job’s story. And in the interaction between Job and his wife, to the extent that it is recorded in scripture, we have an example that bluntly contradicts a tendency I have seen in Christian marriages.
I have heard on many, many occasions that “behind every great man is a great woman.” Dear friends this is not true. There exist great men behind whom no great women exist. There also exist mediocre and mean men behind whom great women do in fact exist. Men, your ‘greatness’ is in no way dependent upon the qualities of the women in your life. This is important to note. As a pastor, I have heard men bemoan their difficulties in spiritual faithfulness and progress by pointing at the faults of ‘the woman God put them with.’ Sound familiar? See Genesis 3. Similarly, I have heard women suggest that they could be so much more if it weren’t for ‘him.’ The example of Job refutes all such nonsense. Job is described by God himself as being preeminent among men in his godliness; “there is none like him on the earth,” the Lord says in Job 1:8. And there is not a single iota of biblical evidence to suggest that his wife was a positive encouragement to his godliness.
Men, your walk with God is not in any way limited by your wife’s commitment to the Lord. Women, your walk with God is not limited by your husband’s faithfulness. As married couples we have been playing the blame game since Eden. It is time to stop.
While it is true that as spouses we are a great influence upon one another, it is not true that we are determining factors in one another’s spiritual lives or maturity. Bless one another as spouses. In your own weak moments and painful experiences do not permit yourself to echo the desires of the devil himself. And always remember that in whatever marital context you find yourself – whether your spouse is spiritually flourishing or floundering, you are free to experience and respond faithfully to the limitless grace of Job’s almighty, sovereign God.
Your Pastor,
Bob Bjerkaas
N.B. The image is cropped from the masterpiece, “Job Taunted by His Wife,” painted by the 17th century French artist Georges de La Tour.
It’s hard to get a good picture of a person from such little evidence. Lot’s wife could have been the epitome of the Proverbs 31 woman and the short mention of her could have been a moment of weakness and grief (losing 10 children in one day, couldn’t be easy!). Or she could have a regular harpy, and we are given a glimpse of her usual attitude. There’s no way to know for sure.
Absolutely! And again, the scriptures are focused on telling us Job’s story – not hers. What we are told, however, is that she responded in a foolish manner – which is a moral statement in the biblical world (however understandable her response was). According to the text itself, she plays no role in comforting or encouraging her husband. Alas, we are all sinners in need of amazing grace. I am quite sure that she has her own story of God’s dealing with her – but I think that imagining what that story might be can often pull me away from the facts that the biblical text itself deems salient. As spouses, in our sinfulness, we often utterly fail one another – and sometimes serve quite well as the devil’s handmaids and butlers. As a student of the scriptures, it intrigues me that we are only shown the failure of Job’s wife – yet Job maintained his integrity. The implicit lesson that we can faithfully follow God through even the worst suffering – even when our own spouses fail us – is the pastoral point I am trying to draw out here.