Job’s wife

Job’s wife

I don’t know about you but I do have some biblical themes that “follow me”, no they are simple for various reasons, and they are not even described very well, and even more they stimulate us to reflect. A few days ago, after reflecting on various topics, I was touched by a conversation, a very brief, by the way, Job with his wife, full of tragedy and unclear premises, what this woman said gave me a lot to think about.

Hannah Arendt said in a movie called “Hannah Arendt” in one of the scenes – “Thinking is a dialogue with yourself.” And it seems that Job had had such a dialogue most of the time. With some exceptions for his wife and friends, until the Lord came and revealed himself to him. I will not, however, deal here with the entire book of Job, but only with the behavior of our hero’s wife and her statements. The philosopher mentioned by me, in the context of the extermination of Jews, called the evil that was going on and the Nazi attitudes of responsibility towards what they did – “the banality of evil” (link to the entire film here – https: // www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPxbjxhAkrs) , the problem of evil is also dealt with by figures such as Philip Zimbardo, the American psychologist, for example in the book The Lucifer Effect or “Theory of Evil” in the study Simon Baron – Cohen.

Undoubtedly, what happened to Job’s family was also bad, they lost their property, children and Job additionally lost his health. He had to leave his home because of the stench, from his festering, non-healing wounds and ultimately sit in the ashes or as the author of Jewish biblical legends (2009) Micha Josef Bin Gorion – Ijow sat on a pile of dung p. 480. As that the devil’s conversations with God are about Job, we can forget that his wife undoubtedly also benefited from the experiences that fell on the house of Job. It was also her fortune, these were her children. It was her husband. In the aforementioned book we learn that the lifetime of Ijow is unknown but he claims that the duration of the experiment was 12 months p. 481.

We can find various interpretations of Job’s wife’s behavior, ranging from the scornful that when it was good she was with him, and how bad it was began to do, it encouraged him to curse God and die. Certainly, there are many reasons in this, we like when we are successful, when everyone speaks well of us, when we have many guests and we can afford hospitality, but when poverty and disease touches us, there are fewer and fewer of these friends. Cop, exactly did Job’s wife say?

Brest Bible –

Gdansk Bible –

Warsaw Bible –

Millennium Bible –

2. 9 His wife told him : «Are you still firmly in your righteousness? Curse God and die! » 10 Job replied: «You sound like a mad woman. We accepted the good from the hand of God. Why cannot we accept evil? » In all this, Job did not sin with his mouth .

I looked at Job’s statement – as you say crazy women say – the context of this statement is that back then in Israel there were, as we know, settlements lepers, where those suffering from leprosy were outside the city and were estates dedicated only to them, so that they would not infect anyone. When, for example, a leper recovered, then he might come to show himself to the priest. Likewise, the mentally ill, those who were not threatening to others, lived in groups to make it easier for them. And Job, when speaking to his wife, you say, like mad women, he meant exactly like women who are out of society because of their illness. And his explanation for her was that we accept good from God and do not want bad. Such behavior is the domain of mentally ill people.

Oh, if we were to preach such truths today in our consuming world of taking, we wouldn’t be having a bad drive. Our generation is not immune to experiencing evil, be it in the form of loss of property, death of loved ones or loss of health. On the one hand, a lot is being done for the disabled and the sick, but on the other hand, they are unfortunately stigmatized. For me personally, it is a bit like Jesus accused the Pharisees of how they treated their loved ones, what is owed to you as protection is my tithing or offering. So even then everything was converted into profit. Today, nobody wants to look after their own disabled or sick parents for free, but expects benefits, support, etc. We have become addicted to institutions, we are not self-determining. We cannot deal with pure heart, laying down our lives for others.

Job’s wife is a character who emotionally could not stand the test, some women explain that it was out of pity for Job, because she could not bear his suffering, and it would have been better for him to die, but what would it mean, “curse God”? Did she think that they owe their condition to God and that they should no longer be worshiped, but only cursed in order to die in peace? She saw God as a strict judge waiting only for an unwise move, perhaps that was the way Job saw God at the time. It is not for nothing that the apostle Peter speaks of the weaker kind of women in order to deal with them with understanding and worship them as heirs of eternal life. 1 Pet. 3,7 and Paul proves that women are to be submissive to their husbands as the Church is to Christ. Job’s wife did not have a problem with this, the only thing that bothered her was stress, mourning, misfortune and this made her unable to endure, perhaps she blamed Job for these misfortunes in her heart, perhaps she thought, maybe he had painted something before God, and do I have to suffer for it now? We know it was not so, but these are our human thoughts.

We know very well, that the overtone of this legend about Job is similar to that of Jacob’s letter, that not always what they do well do getting good, not always bad is the result of sin, but it can be an experience, a trial. We also learn, based on the words of Job’s wife and his friends, that people will always look for our guilt in misfortune, so a man has to blame someone, but he avoids self-criticism. Job bravely endured the experience in the end, someone would say, and would he have another way out? Perhaps he had to take advantage of his wife’s encouragement. All in all, his marriage survived, too, after all, after the blessing was restored, none other than Job’s wife gave him three of the most beautiful women in the world.

The author’s final statement is astonishing, and Job died, old and full of days. We do not know how old he was, but he saw his children and grandchildren and enjoyed his life so that he finally missed the home of the Father in heaven, whom he met during the greatest tragedy in his life, which God turned into a blessing. Hannah Arendt’s “banality of evil” may have had its basis in Job’s experience, after all, she knew the Bible, after all, she was a Jew herself, and the figure of Job was of great importance to her people.

I also looked at the artistic output of the situation I am writing about, it is not great, but it still surprised me that even painters whether sculptors devoted so much energy and time. I believe that none of the biblical stories is irrelevant, but we can draw life from each one, because Christ is the eternal Word of God and by accepting the Word, we accept life.

Yours in Mr. Kazik J.

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