Job's Wife's Advice

To Old Testament readers, Job is a popular figure. And what's so noticeable among other many things in the story was job's wife's advice to him: Curse God and die! Wow! That's so revealing! It gives us possible insights (hey, I said possible insights, not sure insights. Okay?) into what kind of marriage they had, what kind of husband Job was, and what kind of wife his wife was. 

First, their marriage. It was probably rough sailing. A good marriage won't have the wife saying, "Curse God!" to his husband--perhaps, "pray God" is more like it. And imagine losing your kids and your properties, and all the wife could say was "curse God!" The wife could have been spoiled by all the wealth and exuberance that a rich husband had provided her with, and add to that what being a member of the high society of the rich could have turned the wife out to be. Wealth isn't bad, but letting it mold you is the pits. 

Second, Job was a good father but probably (again, probably) was a weak husband. He offered prayers daily to counter the possible follies of his children, and that was being a good father. Well, on second thought, if all he could do about his kids' follies was pray for them, that was also a sign of weak fathering. And his wife not submitting to him was a surefire sign of being a weakling husband. Job sure was of a high spiritual caliber, but he wasn't able to pull his wife and kids up with him. He had weak influence over his family.

See the disadvantages of being rich, even if you're spiritual? Now, this does not mean being rich and spiritual is wrong. It only means the more we should have wisdom with family matters when wealth starts pouring in. Money can be a cruel master, though it is an excellent servant. 

Finally, we all have that propensity to blame God for all tragedies in life. Well, there are a few Jobs among us who blame themselves or the day they were born. Blaming God is simpler and gives comfort to the flesh. And some people are suicidal in their blame for God--they know that cursing God results to death--and yet they still do it. Amazing. At least, that's valuable lesson for us all---cursing God leads to death. And Job's wife's advice reminded us of that. 

Now, what if---what if Job were a strong husband and father? Would've things been different? I don't think so. The properties would still be crashed, his children would still be killed. Being a righteous husband and father doesn't make you immune to tests for spiritual promotion. The only difference would be that Job's wife's advice would've been very different. And that would have spelled all the difference!

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