The Book of Job Bible Study - May 27, 2008

The Book of Job
Session IV
May 27, 2008


Job 2
Attack on Job’s Health
One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. 2The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.’ 3The Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.’ 4Then Satan answered the Lord, ‘Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. 5But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.’ 6The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.’
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.’ 10But he said to her, ‘You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.


Review Chapter 1 and 2. Find a partner and then continue the dialogue between Job and his wife with your partner. One person is Job and the other person is Job’s wife. After a few minutes, switch roles and try continuing the dialogue again.




Read the commentary by Bill Long and then consider the discussion questions:

1. What word should the translation use? Bless or Curse?

2. How does using the word “Bless” change or not change your understanding of what Job’s wife was telling him to do?

3. What does it mean to have integrity in this situation? For Job? For his wife?



Other discussion questions:

In a play about Job, there is a line that says we can only see God from the Ash heap. What do you think this means? Do you think it is true?




How does our suffering affect those around us?




Who do you think has the harder road? Job or his wife?












The Reaction of Job's Wife by Bill Long
After she and Job have suffered the loss of their ten children and their wealth, and after Job's body breaks out in sores, she is quoted as saying (according to the NRSV):
"Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die (2:9)."
A footnote in the NRSV after "curse" tells us that the Hebrew word actually says "bless." Thus the literal translation of 2:9 is "Bless God, and die." But what might this mean? And why have the translators changed the word "bless" to "curse?" What is Mrs. Job really trying to say to her husband?
The Scholars Weigh In--Total Confusion
The major reason why most translations and all scholars render the verse "Curse God, and die," is that the verb "bless," used here, is also used in 1:5; 1:11 and 2:5 and, in all of those cases it seems to be used euphemistically. For example, in 1:5, Job is seen as the efficient (and officious) parent, sacrificing for his children "lest they bless (i.e. 'curse') God in their hearts." It is almost as if the word "curse" was too unholy a word for Job to utter; hence he uses the opposite word "bless" with the understanding that "curse" would be meant. For why would he sacrifice for his children if they were literally "blessing" God? Using this example and the others in 1:11 and 2:5 (where the Satan is speaking), scholars have argued that Job's wife's use of "bless" in 2:9 should also be rendered as "curse." Thus, she would be saying to Job, 'Stop being so holy and righteous and pure by blessing God all the time. Curse him. That is really the only way to show your integrity. You will die, but that is your condition anyway. Your integrity, therefore, means that you must curse God now."
With this kind of understanding, most scholars have therefore been either critical of Job's wife (she is a "temptress" who is, possibly like Eve, trying to take her husband's faith from God) or cautiously supportive of her (by telling Job to curse God, she has recognized far earlier than he has that blessing God in this instance is incompatible with personal integrity). But I would like to suggest another interpretation, which takes the word "bless" seriously as "bless" and not "curse," such as it is used in 1:21 where Job says, "the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
Keep "Bless God" in 2:9
If we take seriously the fact that "bless" in 2:9 should be translated as it is in the Hebrew ("Bless God, and die"), and if we take seriously the fact that the second verb ("die") is in a Hebrew construction that can be rendered "you will die," then our translation of 2:9 is "Bless God, and you will die." [The Hebrew word "die" is in the imperative mood, but most scholars believe that the action contemplated by the command is meant to follow the first verb. Hence, "bless God and die," is really "bless God, and you will die.] The meaning of Job's wife's words would then be as follows:
'Job, if you continue to bless God as you have been doing, when you said, 'the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord,' it will be too much for you. Your words will contradict your heart. They will be nothing more than the mechanical utterances of a man who has experienced devastating loss. Thus, if you continue on your path of blessing God, you simply will die. There will be such a tension, an inconsistency, between your confession of faith and the way life has hit you that the dissonance will be fatal. Thus, 'bless God, and you will die.'
Seen in this light, Job's wife is not only portrayed as a person who has deep insight into her husband's character and practices, but one who can see that if he persists in his current method of blessing God it will kill him. It is sort of like the advice we have all heard many times from our mothers--'if you continue to do that, it will kill you.' By giving this example, I do not mean to trivialize Job's wife's advice. I think she is giving him clear-headed insight into his current plight.
Conclusion
If we adopt this interpretation of Job's wife's words, she then becomes not a shadowy character who is given one throw-away line before exiting from the stage never to return, but she assumes a more major role in the Book of Job.