Magdalene F.R. Job’s wife as a Hero: A Feminist-forensic Reading of the book of Job

Biblical Interpretation 14, 209-258, 2006.This article offers a new reading of the role of Job’s wife in the trial of Job, based on feminist hermeneutics, legal hermeneutics, and comparative legal historical analysis. The article proposes that the book of Job explores the problem of the violence and oppression of God’s law as manifested through human suffering. Mrs. Job offers Job the best means available for resisting a violent, oppressive legal system, that is, martyrdom. The article demonstrates that Mrs.Job is a more important and more powerful figure in the book than prior readings have allowed. She is both heroic and wise.