Job 2:9

Then said his wife to him,.... The Jews (g), who affect to know everything, say, that Job's wife was Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, as the Targum, but this is not very likely; however, we may observe

Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. Curse God - rather, renounce God. See the notes at Job 1:1-22; Job 5:1-27, (Umbreit.) Gesenius translates.

The devil spared his wife with cruel intent to be the instrument of his temptations, and the aggravation of Job’ s misery, by unnatural unkindness to him, which is declared , and elsewhere. Dost thou still retain thine integrity? art thou yet so weak to persist in the practice of piety, when it is not only unprofitable to thee, but the chief occasion of all these thy insupportable miseries, and when God himself not only forsakes and leaves thee in this helpless and hopeless condition, but is turned to be thy greatest enemy? Curse God, and die; seeing thy blessing of God availeth thee so little, it is time to change thy note, Curse God, and die, i.e. reproach him to his face, and tell him of his injustice and unkindness to thee, and that he loves his enemies, and hates his friends; and that will provoke him to take away thy life, and so end thy torments. Or, Curse God, though though die for it. But although this word sometimes signifies cursing, as , yet most properly and generally it signifies blessing; and so it may very well be understood here as a sarcastical or ironical expression, such as there are many in Scripture, as , and in all authors. And so the sense may be this, Bless God, and die; i.e. I see thou art set upon blessing of God; thou blessest God for giving, and thou blessest God for taking away, and thou art still blessing of God for thy loathsome and tormenting diseases, and he rewards thee accordingly, giving thee more and more of that kind of mercy for which thou blessest and praisest him. Go on therefore in this thy pious and generous course, and die as a fool dieth, and carry this reputation to thy grave, that thou hadst not common sense in thee to discern between good and evil, between thy friends and thy foes. Or rather, Awake out of this stupidity and lethargy, and give over this absurd and unreasonable practice; and as God gives thee no help nor comfort, let him lose thy praises and service. And this being her sense, it is not strange he reproveth her so sharply for it. And yet it seems hard to think that Job’ s wife should arrive at that height of impudence and impiety, as in plain terms to bid him curse God.

Job 2:9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.Ver. 9. Then said his wife] Was this Dinah, Jacob’ s only daughter? So the Jewish doctors say; and that Job had a fair daughter by her, whom Potipher married; and that of her came Asenaz, whom Joseph married. They tell us also (but who told them all this?) that she was hitherto spared, when all Job’ s outward comforts were taken away, for Jacob her father’ s sake. Moreover, the Septuagint here help her to scold, adding a whole verse of female passion: I must now, saith she, go wander, and have no place to rest in, &c. Job said nothing all this while; not because he was either insensible or sullen; but because it was God that did it, Psalms 39:2, and he had well deserved it, Micah 7:9. I will bear (thinks he) the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him. Yet, my soul, be silent to Jehovah, &c., Psalms 12:1. Satan therefore (who waited for his cursing of God, as a dog waiteth for a bone, but was defeated) cunningly setteth his wife awork, by her venomous words, to make him speak at least, and by her unseemly and sinful counsel, to draw him to do wickedly. Some think, saith Chrysostom, that the devil, in the shape of Job’ s wife, spake thus unto him; and surely their words agree: He will curse thee to thy face, saith he; Curse God, and die, saith she. Chrysostom himself thinketh that the devil (if he spake not in her, yet) spake by her, as he did once to Eve by the serpent, and that he borrowed her mouth, using her as a strong engine to a wall of adamant, as the choicest arrow in his quiver, to wound Job’ s righteous soul; and as a scaling ladder, whereby to get up into this impregnable tower, as Gregory hath it. He had tried this course before with Adam, and had singular success, Genesis 3:6; he had by his rib (as by a ladder) gotten up to his heart, Per costam tanquam per scalam ad cor Adami asceudit, Just as through a rib he scales the ladder to the heart of Adam, yea, with his rib broken his head, as one phraseth it, darting in death at the windows of his ears. This he assayed upon Job, but without effect; his ears were waxed up, his heart fixed, &c., although he could not but be vexed that his wife should do it; especially since hereby his servants and friends would be encouraged to do the like. O wives, saith one; the sweetest poison, the most desired evil, &c. (Greg. Moral. 1. 3, c. 8). Sir Thomas Moore was wont to say, that men commit faults often, women only twice, that they neither speak well, nor do well.

(9) Then said his wife.—Thus it is that a man’s foes are they of his own household (Micah 7:6; Matthew 10:36, &c.). The worst trial of all is when those nearest to us, instead of strengthening our hand in God and confirming our faith, conspire to destroy it.

Verse 9. Then said his wife] To this verse the Septuagint adds the following words: "Much time having elapsed, his wife said unto him, How long dost thou stand steadfast, saying, 'Behold, I wait yet a little longer looking for the hope of my Salvation?' Behold thy memorial is already blotted out from the earth, together with thy sons and thy daughters, the fruits of my pains and labours, for whom with anxiety I have laboured in vain. Thyself also sittest in the rottenness of worms night and day, while I am a wanderer from place to place, and from house to house, waiting for the setting of the sun, that I may rest from my labours, and from the griefs which oppress me. Speak therefore some word against God, and die." We translate ברך אלהים ומת barech Elohim vamuth, Curse God, and die. The verb ברך barach is supposed to include in it the ideas of cursing and blessing; but it is not clear that it has the former meaning in any part of the sacred writings, though we sometimes translate it so. Here it seems to be a strong irony. Job was exceedingly afflicted, and apparently dying through sore disease; yet his soul was filled with gratitude to God. His wife, destitute of the salvation which her husband possessed, gave him this ironical reproof. Bless God, and die - What! bless him for his goodness, while he is destroying all that thou hast! bless him for his support, while he is casting thee down and destroying thee! Bless on, and die. The Targum says that Job's wife's name was Dinah, and that the words which she spake to him on this occasion were בריך מימרא דיי ומית berich meymera dayai umith. Bless the word of the Lord, and die. Ovid has such an irony as I suppose this to have been: - Quid vos sacra juvant? quid nunc AEgyptia prosunt Sistra? ______ Cum rapiant mala fata bonos, ignoscite fasso, Sollicitor nullos esse putare deos. Vive plus, moriere pius; cole sacra, colentem Mors gravis a templis in cava busta trahet. AMOR. lib. iii., Eleg. ix. ver. 33. "In vain to gods (if gods there are) we pray, And needless victims prodigally pay; Worship their sleeping deities: yet death Scorns votaries, and stops the praying breath. To hallow'd shrines intruding fate will come, And drag you from the altar to the tomb." STEPNEY.

9. Then said his wife] The incident related of Job’s wife is not introduced for her sake, but for the purpose of exhibiting through it the condition of Job’s mind, around which the drama turns. The author did not indicate the impression which Job’s personal affliction produced upon him. What thoughts he had are concealed; he is represented as sitting silent in his seclusion. The full impression of his miseries is brought home to him reflected from the mind of another, that other being the one fitted to influence him most powerfully. It is probable that the episode of Job’s wife is brought in with a double purpose, first, to shew how all around Job, those nearest to him, gave way under the severity of his trial, and thus by contrast to enhance the strength of his faith and the grandeur of his character; and second, to shew how, though subjected to the keenest trial from the example and representations of his wife, he still remained true. The name Dinah given to Job’s wife by the Targum or Chaldee Translation most probably rests on no tradition, but is a mere child’s fancy. The Sept. introduces her speech, which it gives in a greatly amplified form, with the words “when a long time had passed.” The amplification is not unsuitable to the circumstances, but the curt phrases of the original are truer to art and nature, for grief is possessed of few words. Much animated dispute has taken place over the character and conduct of the woman. The Ancients were not favourably impressed by her. Augustine calls her roundly Diaboli adjutrix. The Geneva Version discerns a sad and universal principle in her conduct, “Satan useth the same instrument against Job as he did against Adam.” As was to be expected the present age has espoused her cause, and labours hard to put a face upon her words. The only question of importance is, what sense the Author intended her words to convey; and the key to this is found in the way in which her husband takes them up. He does not directly call her a “fool,” that is, a godless person (Psalms 14:1), but with mild circumlocution says that she speaks as one of the foolish women speaks. The Eastern writer lets the woman act in character (Ecclesiastes 7:26 seq.). He would have probably smiled at the elaborate analysing of the female mind to which Westerns devote themselves, thinking it a waste of time. As the weaker Job’s wife fell first into the snare of the Devil, and used her influence, as in the beginning of history, to draw her husband after her. Her story, however, is not told for her sake, but to shew how those around Job fell away, and to set in a strong light the strain to which his faith was put by such an example and the solicitations that accompanied it. curse God, and die] Rather as before, renounce God and die.

Then said his wife unto him - Some remarkable additions are made by the ancient versions to this passage.

9. His wife — There is an old tradition among the Jews, which also appears in the Chaldee Paraphrast, that his wife was Dinah, the frail daughter of Jacob.