Job’s Wife – Balaam’s Wise Utterance

1. Job’s Wife – Introduction

Often Job’s wife was subjected to vituperative language, based on those six words (in Hebrew) she spoke in Job 2:9.

• The Geneva Study Bible remarks that Satan used the same instrument against Job, as he used against Adam – his wife.
• Matthew Poole in his commentary writes that the devil spared Job’s wife, so that she could be used as an instrument of temptation and the aggravation of Job’s misery.
• The Pulpit commentary says that she became Satan’s ally and Job’s worst enemy. That she was rather a hindrance than a help to Job.
• Matthew Henry suggests that she was spared by Satan so that she could be a troubler and tempter to Job.
• Augustine of Hippo called her Diaboli adjutrix. That is “Devil’s accomplice.”
• Calvin wrote that she was “an instrument of Satan” and as “a Diabolical fury.”
• Benson writes that it is Satan’s policy to send temptation by those that are dear to us, and thus used Job’s wife as his tempter.
• The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges comments that the weaker Job’s wife fell first into the snare of the devil and used her influence, like Eve did, to draw her husband after her.
• “All the Women of the Bible” has its title for Job’s wife as “The Woman who urged her husband to commit suicide.”

I am sure if I keep on digging I will get more and more adjectives, none of them flattering, I presume, to talk about Job’s wife. But, there is something of an anomaly in the last chapter of Job. Job himself confesses and repents for his words. God rebukes the three friends of Job, for they did not speak right of God. But the Lord God was not angry with Job’s wife at all. Not only that, she also enjoys the double blessings that Job receives after this. More importantly, she became the mother of Job’s 10 children – again.

So, we need to ask this question. If all of us are finding fault with what Job’s wife did, how come the Righteous Judge, Who did not spare Eve in the Eden Garden, did not find fault with her? How did she end up being a part of the blessings and how come the Lord used her to be a blessing to Job, by giving birth to 10 children?

Of course, it will be easy to dismiss this question as a feministic point of view. And yes, I am a feminist. But when it comes to the Bible, I do not support any –istic view point. It is the Word of God and it is congruous throughout. And that is all that must matter.

So, to understand Job’s wife, her words and how the Lord dealt (or did not deal) with her, we must take heed to the utterance of the man who knew the knowledge of the Most High, fallen, but having his eyes open… Balaam. And he says, “How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?” – Numbers 23:8 (NKJV). Yes, let us not be in haste to curse someone whom God has not cursed; let us not rush to denounce someone whom the Lord has not denounced.

Let the dark clouds surround us!

“If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth”
(Ecclesiastes 11:3, NKJV).

Why, then, do we dread the clouds which now darken our sky? True, for a while they hide the sun, but the sun is not quenched; he will be out again before long. Meanwhile those black clouds are filled with rain; and the blacker they are, the more likely they will yield plentiful showers.

How can we have rain without clouds? Our troubles have always brought us blessings, and they always will. They are the dark chariots of bright grace. These clouds will empty themselves before long, and every tender herb will be gladder for the shower. Our God may drench us with grief, but He will refresh us with mercy. Our Lord’s love-letters often come to us in black-edged envelopes. His wagons rumble, but they are loaded with benefits. His rod blossoms with sweet flowers and nourishing fruits. Let us not worry about the clouds, but sing because May flowers are brought to us through the April clouds and showers.

O Lord, the clouds are the dust of Thy feet! How near Thou art in the cloudy and dark day! Love beholds Thee, and is glad. Faith sees the clouds emptying themselves and making the little hills rejoice on every side.– C H. Spurgeon

The harlot in your bosom!

Blogged this one earlier, but just felt like re-blogging it!

“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1

There is usually one sin that is the favorite–the sin which the heart is most fond of. A godly man will not indulge his darling sin: “I kept myself from my iniquity.” (Psalm 18:23). “I will not indulge the sin to which the bias of my heart more naturally inclines.”
 
“Fight neither with small nor great–but only with the king.” (1 Kings 22:31). A godly man fights this king sin. If we would have peace in our souls, we must maintain a war against our favorite sin, and never leave off until it is subdued.

Question: How shall we know what our beloved sin is?

Answer 1. The sin which a man does not love to have reproved–is the darling sin. Herod could not endure having his incest spoken against. If the prophet meddles with that sin–it shall cost him his head! “Do not touch my Herodias!” Men can be content to have other sins reproved–but if the minister puts his finger on the sore, and touches this sin–their hearts begin to burn in malice against him!

Answer 2. The sin on which the thoughts run most–is the darling sin. Whichever way the thoughts go, the heart goes. He who is in love with a person cannot keep his thoughts off that person. Examine what sin runs most in your mind, what sin is first in your thoughts and greets you in the morning–that is your predominant sin.

Answer 3. The sin which has most power over us, and most easily leads us captive–is the one beloved by the soul. There are some sins which a man can better resist. If they come for entertainment, he can more easily put them off. But the bosom sin comes as a suitor, and he cannot deny it–but is overcome by it. The young man in the Gospel had repulsed many sins–but there was one sin which soiled him, and that was covetousness.

Mark what sin you are most readily led captive by–that is the harlot in your bosom! It is a sad thing that a man should be so bewitched by lust, that if it asks him to part with the Kingdom of Heaven–he must part with it, to gratify that lust!

Answer 4. The sin which men most defend–is the beloved sin. He who has a jewel in his bosom, will defend it to his death. The sin we advocate and dispute for, is the besetting sin. The sin which we plead for, and perhaps wrest Scripture to justify it–that is the sin which lies nearest the heart.

Answer 5. The sin which a man finds most difficulty in giving up–-is the endeared sin. Of all his sons, Jacob found most difficulty in parting with Benjamin. So the sinner says, “This and that sin I have parted with–but must Benjamin go! Must I part with this delightful sin? That pierces my heart!” A man may allow some of his sins to be demolished–but when it comes to one sin–that is the taking of the castle; he will never agree to part with that! That is the master sin for sure.

The besetting sin is, of all others, most dangerous. As Samson’s strength lay in his hair–so the strength of sin lies in this beloved sin. This is like a poison striking the heart, which brings death.

A godly man will lay the axe of repentance to this sin and hew it down! He will sacrifice this Isaac; he will pluck out this right eye–so that he may see better to go to Heaven.

– Thomas Watson

I will not doubt!

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15)
“For I know whom I have believed.” (2Timothy 1:12)

“I will not doubt, though all my ships at sea
Come drifting home with broken masts and sails;
I will believe the Hand which never fails,
From seeming evil worketh good for me.
And though I weep because those sails are tattered,
Still will I cry, while my best hopes lie shattered:
‘”I trust in Thee.”

I will not doubt, though all my prayers return
Unanswered from the still, white realm above;
I will believe it is an all-wise love
Which has refused these things for which I yearn;
And though at times I cannot keep from grieving,
Yet the pure ardor of my fixed believing
Undimmed shall burn.

I will not doubt, though sorrows fall like rain,
And troubles swarm like bees about a hive.
I will believe the heights for which I strive
Are only reached by anguish and by pain;
And though I groan and writhe beneath my crosses.
I yet shall see through my severest losses
The greater gain.

I will not doubt. Well anchored is this faith,
Like some staunch ship, my soul braves every gale;
So strong its courage that it will not quail
To breast the mighty unknown sea of death.
Oh, may I cry, though body parts with spirit,
“I do not doubt,” so listening worlds may hear it,
With my last breath.” Amen.

Be strong in the Lord

“Your God has decided you will be strong.” (Psalm 68:28, GW).

The Lord imparts unto us that primary strength of character which makes everything in life work with intensity and decision. We are “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.” And the strength is continuous; reserves of power come to us which we cannot exhaust.

“As thy days, so shall thy strength be”– strength of will, strength of affection, strength of judgment, strength of ideals and achievement.

“The Lord is my strength” to go on. He gives us power to tread the dead level, to walk the long lane that seems never to have a turning, to go through those long reaches of life which afford no pleasant surprise, and which depress the spirits in the sameness of a terrible drudgery.

“The Lord is my strength” to go up. He is to me the power by which I can climb the Hill Difficulty and not be afraid.

“The Lord is my strength” to go down. It is when we leave the bracing heights, where the wind and the sun have been about us, and when we begin to come down the hill into closer and more sultry spheres, that the heart is apt to grow faint.

I heard a man say the other day concerning his growing physical frailty, “It is the coming down that tires me!”

“The Lord is my strength” to sit still. And how difficult is the attainment! Do we not often say to one another, in seasons when we are compelled to be quiet, “If only I could do something!”

When the child is ill, and the mother stands by in comparative impotence, how severe is the test! But to do nothing, just to sit still and wait, requires tremendous strength. “The Lord is my strength!” “Our sufficiency is of God.” — The Silver Lining

MUSIC: WHY THE CONFUSION?

2017–புது வருடம், வாக்குத்தத்தம்

யூதாவே, உன் பண்டிகைகளை ஆசரி; உன் பொருத்தனைகளைச் செலுத்து; துஷ்டன் இனி உன் வழியாய்க் கடந்துவருவதில்லை, அவன் முழுவதும் சங்கரிக்கப்பட்டான்.  – நாகூம் 1:15

2017–a new year, a promise

O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, perform your vows; for the wicked one shall no more pass through you; he is utterly cut off. – Nahum 1:15.

Unless the Lord builds the house… a meditation

Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Psalm 127:1.

Luther on these words says, ” Let the Lord build and manage the house; meddle not with this work; it is his part, and not thine own to take care of it; therefore leave the care to him that is the supreme Landlord and husbandman. Is there much wanted to furnish and provide for a house?  The Lord is greater than a house. He that fills heaven and earth will Certainly be able to fill a house. No wonder that there is a great want in a house, if God is not the governor in it!   Because thou dost not see him that is to fill the house, surely all the corners must seem to be empty; but looking upon him thou wouldst never observe one corner to be empty, every one would seem to be full, and is really full.   If it is not, the fault is only in thy eye, as it is in a blind man who cannot see the sun.  To him that sees rightly, the Lord changes the word, and says not, there goes much into a house, but there goes much out of it.”

O Lord, give only faith, love, and knowledge of thy will, that I may not only expect all things confidently from thy hand, since a labourer is worthy of his hire; but also manage every thing afterwards as a faithful steward to such purposes thou hast granted it for, be it for my own use, or for the use of others.   That I may never be saving to thy dishonour, for my purse is thine, and consequently rich enough.

‘Tis all in vain, till God hath blest;
He can make rich, yet give us rest:
Children and friends are blessings too.
If God our sovereign makes them so.

– From “A Golden Treasury”

Sing, keep singing!–a poem

“Sing a little song of trust,
O my heart!
Sing it just because you must,
As leaves start;
As flowers push their way through dust;
Sing, my heart, because you must.

“Wait not for an eager throng
Bird on bird;
’tis the solitary song
That is heard.
Every voice at dawn will start,
Be a nightingale, my heart!

“Sing across the winter snow,
Pierce the cloud;
Sing when mists are drooping low
Clear and loud;
But sing sweetest in the dark;
He who slumbers not will hark.”

– From “Streams in the Desert” by Mrs. Cowman