According to
the Bible, Job was the wealthiest man of the East, at the time. His affluence
was incomparable, and he had the most beautiful children too. He was also a
righteous man, serving his God faithfully and offering sacrifices as needed.
Job’s children were also well-to-do; they organized parties regularly on the
day of their birth. After each of the parties, righteous Job would offer
sacrifices to God on their behalf in case they had sinned against God during
their celebrations. Job had many friends, the closest being four men. He was
blessed with a wife too.
All was well
with Job until Satan insisted to God that Job was faithful to Him because He
was protecting him. On two occasions, God permitted Satan to test Job’s
integrity and faithfulness. First, Satan struck Job’s businesses; foreigners
raided his caretakers and his livestock and he lost everything. Immediately he received
the news, he worshiped God. Then, Job lost all his children at once in a
disaster. He fell down and worshiped when he heard that, despite the
heartrending news.
The second
strike was to his person. Satan struck Job such that boils broke out on his
skin. According to scripture, it was so bad that he took off his clothes, sat
in the rubble, and scraped himself with potsherds. Then Job’s wife, after
seeing her husband’s plight, and believing it was from God, asked her husband
why he maintained his integrity, and if it wouldn’t be better for him to curse
God and die. At least that would save Job from the misery he was in. Job
rebuked his wife, and we never hear of her again until the end of the entire
story.
Now, here’s
what I find curious: in Satan’s attempt to disprove Job’s integrity to God, he
struck everything, including Job’s ten children, but he left Job’s wife. Job’s
wife was neither killed nor struck with any disease. Why?
Many
theologians and lay Christians believe Job’s wife was instrumental to Satan
hence she was spared to make Job’s life more miserable. Satan left her to
complete his work of destruction on Job: to make him curse God and finish him
completely. But that begs the question: how much more miserable could one get
after all that had happened to him? What more could his wife have done to Job
to topple him over, after all that he was already going through? He was already
down; how much farther down could his wife have pushed him?
Let’s go to
the beginning of everything: Genesis. After Yahweh fashioned Eve out of Adam’s
rib and brought her to him, Adam declared that Eve was the bone of his bone and
the flesh of his flesh. At last, he had a companion among all the creations of
Yahweh. And Yahweh approved. Christians believe this was the institution of
marriage.
“Therefore shall a
man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they
shall be one flesh.” – Genesis 2:24.
In that case, Adam
and Eve were no longer two individuals, but one in the sight of God. That means
that when God sees Adam, He sees Adam and Eve; when God sees Eve, He sees Adam
and Eve. That is not to say that they didn’t have unique personalities and
qualities. In fact, their uniqueness solidified their union – the weakness of
one was the strength of the other. Each of them covered the other up where they
fell short. In their differences lay their strength.
Based on the above, I daresay that Job
and his wife had become “one flesh”. So, in dealing with Job, Yahweh saw his
life as joined to that of his wife. Therefore, in instructing Satan to not
touch the life of Job, Yahweh was telling Satan to stay away from Job’s wife as
well because Job was joined to his wife to be one. And if Satan touched Job’s
wife, Satan touched Job too. If Satan had killed Job’s wife in his destruction
spree, he might as well finish Job off there and then. What would he be living
for without his wife to whom he is joined?
Before you argue about whether Job’s
wife was deserving of such favour or not, remember that it is not by your
standards that Yahweh exists. Our society has redefined men and women and their
relationships so much so that it no longer resembles what our loving Yahweh
created in the beginning. In the beginning, marriage between a man and woman
was supposed to be a strengthening bond, even a covering for the woman.
Remember in Genesis 3 when Yahweh got
disappointed and cursed everyone? Did you know that Adam was not cursed? If God
had cursed Adam, He would have cursed Himself because Adam came from Him.
Rather, God cursed the ground that Adam worked on and put his wife under his
authority. This should be beautiful. To that effect, whoever submits to the
authority of her husband enjoys certain immunities and blessings. You’ll agree
with me that aside from the societal snide remarks that marriage does not
benefit a man, men have attested to open doors after marriage to their Eve.
Women have also attested to open doors after connecting with their Adam. (That
does not mean unmarried people are not blessed; they are also blessed in their
own right.)
Here is my unpopular opinion: Satan did not touch Job’s wife because spiritually, she was one with her husband, Job. What lessons can we learn from Job’s wife?
1. A wife’s submission to her own husband can save her from many things.
2. In times of crisis, be a voice of comfort, not of scorn.
3. Keep your vow of sticking with each other ‘for better or worse’.
4. When all is said and done, the wife is blessed just as much as her husband.
Comments
Post a Comment