By Alan Dean, retired Seventh-day Adventist pastor
The book of Job is studied much to answer the question of why the innocent suffer. Satan is a cruel adversary, always seeking those whom he can destroy. Job is given much credit for his faithfulness through it all.
Not much is said about Job’s wife, who, of course, suffered greatly as well in the loss of their 10 children and their livelihood. Only one statement is recorded of her. She asks Job in his misery, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die.” And she has been criticized over and over for this statement.
Although the anguish in the book is described through Job’s eyes, we must remember how intense the grief was for his wife. Each precious child is a memory she will never forget, a future abruptly cut off. And when she watches her husband in agonizing physical and emotional pain, she is immersed in this pain as well. And the apparent silence of God becomes more than she can bear.
We must remember that she felt she was losing her husband as well. Studies show that the loss of a loving spouse is even harder on that person than losing children. The man who once protected and provided for her now sits disfigured in ashes, scraping his sores. She had no way to bring healing, her prayers were seemingly unanswered, and she is not shown as receiving visitors or counseling.
Her words to Job represent raw pain, anguish, and despair. She sees no end to the suffering. In her mind Job’s integrity has not protected the family. Their faith, as she understands it, has not brought relief. Death appears to her as the only escape from pain for Job and, perhaps, for herself.
Later God speaks sharply to Job’s friends for speaking wrongly about him, but Job’s wife receives no such rebuke or divine censure. There is no apparent judgment against her. This suggests that God recognizes the difference between defiant evil and grief-stricken speech. Her words arise from pain rather than malice.
God’s mercy is often revealed not only in what He says, but also in what He chooses not to say. At the end of the book when Job’s fortunes are restored, Job’s wife is implicitly included in the restoration. She continues life alongside Job.
In a way, Job’s wife stands as a quiet testament to God’s patience with the brokenhearted. God’s grace makes room for grief. And her suffering was no less than Job’s; she suffered differently. To see her husband’s condition was definitely very hard on her. Her sorrow overwhelmed her.
The lesson for us can be that we can endure our suffering knowing that God suffers with us and that He can bring us through it. Restoration will come. There awaits a restoration day for us too when Jesus comes to take His family home. Job’s wife stands as a witness to a God who remains present, even when faith breaks under grief.
