Rarely is she mentioned in the pages but mostly maligned in human memories, yet she ‘lives’ on. That single emotionally-charged interaction with her husband, down in the depths of his life’s hells, in Job 2:9-10, has mostly defined what we think of her: a bad wife, making mockery of her husband’s tragic station in life. One can posit that this serves a generational warning about the importance of choosing a godly wife, who will stand by you through life’s sunny and gloomy days; afterall, that’s what till death do us part means.
But I want us to have a re-think about Job’s wife. Is she really deserving of this infamy? Was she really a bad wife? Is there more in the Bible that we can learn about who she was and what may ultimately have happened to her? I think there is. I’ve been pondering this for the past fortnight and having discussed my thoughts about her possible lived experience with some friends last night, I’m finally putting down some of my thoughts.
To start, some context.