Job 2:9,10

7. Job refuses to curse God. (Job 2:9-10)

TEXT 2:9, 10

(9) Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still hold fast thine integrity? renounce God, and die. (10) But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What: shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

COMMENT 2:9, 10

Job 2:9Not Job, but his wife reacts as Satan intended. Here the Septuagint inserts a long speech from Job's wife. (The Qoran also refers to Job's rebuke of his wife in 38:43.) But the lean and spare simplicity of our text proceeds to set the stage for the dramatic dialogue. This situation must not be psychoanalyzed, especially now that we are deeply involved in women's liberation mentality. Psychoanalysis of dead people is a most precarious scientific pastime. We accept it as a matter of fact. Curse Elohim and die. Resignation is not the chief attribute of Job's wife. She, like many of us, are only prepared for good not evil in God's universe.

Job 2:10The sufferer responds to his wife's mindless suggestion. He calls her foolish. This is not a reflection on her intelligence, but rather on her moral character. Nabal (1 Samuel 25:25masculine form) is the masculine form of the same word and means one who is both morally and intellectually obtuse. David describes a fool (same word) as one who says there is no GodPsalms 14:1. This fool is one who wants to live as though there is no God before whom we will give an account of every thought and action. Job has accepted the loss of property and family. He here accepts his illness, in hope of resurrection. Death is not our greatest enemy as the Buddhist mentality of the 20th century seeks to say; live it up, for today may be all that you have.