Misunderstood

A friend recently pointed me to a fascinating article titled, The Most Misunderstood Woman in the Bible : Why Job's wife may have gotten a bad rap. Much of the article is speculation, but gives some wonderful historical and cultural perspective and food for thought such as,

Imagine the grief that overwhelmed her soul as she looked down in disbelief at ten freshly dug graves...

Clearly God chose to record her thoughts in Scripture, yet sometimes I wonder how fair it is to define an entire life based on one conversation. Nowhere before or after this incident are we given any indication that Job's wife was a perpetually bitter, unhappy wife...

Yet, if you listen to Job, you almost hear admiration. "You speak as one of the foolish women." He didn't say his wife was foolish. He didn't even say her words were foolish. He said, "She sounds like one of the foolish women."

In other words, "You don't sound like yourself." You might read these words like this: Sweetheart, that's not you talking. This doesn't sound like the woman of God I know and married. That is not you talking, my wife. Let's remember God's promises. Let's remember his goodness...

I would encourage you to read this powerful post!