John Trapp on Job 2:9

Verſe 9. Then ſaid his wife] Was this Dinah, Jacobs onely daughter? ſo the Jew-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 Jobs outward comforts were taken away, for Jacob her fathers 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, Pſalm 39.2. and he had well deſerved it, Mic. 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. Pſal. 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 venemous words, to make him ſpeak at leaſt, and by her unſeemly and ſinful counſel, to draw him to do wickedly. Some think, ſaith Chryſoſtome, that the divel in the ſhape of Jobs wife, ſpake thus unto him; and ſurely their words agree; He will curſe thee to thy face, ſaith he; Curſe God and die, ſaith ſhee. Chryſostome himſelf thinketh, that the divel (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 Jobs righteous ſoule; and as a ſcaling-ladder, whereby to get up into this impregnable tower, as Gregory hath it.Per coſtam tanquam ſer ſcalam ad cor Adami aſcendit. Greg. Moral. l. 3. c. 3. He had tried this courſe before with Adam, and had ſingular ſucceſſe, Gen. 3.6. he had by his rib (as by a ladder) gotten up to his heart; yea, with his rib broken his head, as one phraſeth it, darting in death at the windowes 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 poyſon, the moſt deſired evil &c. Sir Thomas Moore was wont to ſay, that men commit faults often, women only twice, that they neither ſpeak well, nor do well. This may be true of bad wives, ſuch as Jezebel who ſtirred up Ahab (of himſelf forward enough) to do wickedly with both hands earneſtly, 1 King. 21.25. This in Jobs wiſe might be a particular failing, though a foul one. Women are the weaker veſſels, and naturally more paſſionate: they muſt have their allowance, as light gold hath. Shee in the text had no ſmall trials, and he is a perfect man that offendeth not with his tongue.

Doſt thou ſtill retain thine integrity?] Cuibono, as he ſaid: what getteſt thou by it? Is not this thy fear, thy confidence; the uprightneſſe of thy wayes, and thy hope? Lo Eliphaz (who ſhould have had more grace and government of his tongue then Jobs wife) ſcoffeth religious Job. as ſome ſenſe that text, chap, 4.6. rendring the words thus; Is not thy fear (or religion) become thy folly? Where is now thine uprightneſſe, and hope of reward? It is an ancient and an ordinary ſlurre and ſlander caſt upon the waies of God, as if they were unprofitable, as if God were an auſtere man, an illiberall Lord: as if there were no gain in godlineſſe, nothing to be got by it but knocks, croſſes, loſſes, &c. whereas God is a rewarder of all thoſe that diligently ſeek him, Heb. 11.6. He recompenſeth the loſſes of his people, as the King of Poland did his noble ſervant Zeliſlaus, to whom having loſt his hand in his warrs, he ſent a golden hand inſtead thereof. He rewardeth the ſufferings of his Saints, as Caius the Emperour did Agrippa, who had ſuffered impriſonment for wiſhing him Emperour. The Hiſtory ſaith, that when he came afterwards to the Empire, the firſt thing he did, was to preferre Agrippa, and gave him a chaine of gold, as heavy as the chaine of iron that was upon him in priſon. The divel could have told this peeviſh woman, that Job did not ſerve God for nought, chap 1.9. See Mal. 1.10. and 3.14. with the Notes.

Curſe God and die] What curſed counſel was this? and from her who ſhould have adminiſtred conjugal help to him? How well might Job have turned her off with Get thee behind me Satan, thou art an offence unto me? Theſe were the divels words and not the womans, ſaith Chryſostome; it was her tongue, but the divel tuned it, ſaith Origen. Curſe God and die, for he will not endure thee to live, having once ſo ſet thy mouth againſt heaven, but will quickly ſet thee packing by a viſible vengeance: or, Curſe God, and then dye by thine own hands; having firſt ſpit thy venome in his face for having handled thee ſo hardly, after ſo good ſervice done him. Hacket did thus at the gallows, Anno 1591. threatning to ſet fire on heaven,Camd. Eli. 403 to pluck God out of his Throne, if he would not ſhew ſome miracle out of the clouds to convert thoſe infidels that brought him to execution, and to deliver him from his enemies: having the rope about his neck, he life his eyes to heaven, and grinning, ſaid, Doſt thou repay me this for a Kingdome beſtow'd? I come to revenge it &c. O wretch I By the way obſerve, that Satan is a [non-Latin text not transcribed] (as Hegeſias the Philoſopher was called) a perſwader of people, that death is an end, at leaſt an eaſe of outward troubles, when as to the wicked death is but a trap-door to hell: we ſilly fiſh, ſee one another jerked out of the pond of life, but we ſee not the fire, and the frying-pan whereunto thoſe are caſt that die in their ſins, to whom all the ſufferings of this life are but a typicall hell, the beginning of thoſe terrors and torments which they ſhall hereafter ſuffer, without any the leaſt hope of ever either mending or ending.