Review by AbhyarnaAman -- The Legacy of Job's Wife
Posted: 10 May 2021, 18:58
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Legacy of Job's Wife" by Cynthia Koelker.]
The Legacy of Job’s Wife by Cynthia J. Koelker is a fantastically crafted fictional retelling of The Book of Job. It gives some sort of explanation and justice to the character of Job’s wife, who asked him to ‘curse God and die’. While I did not fully understand the problem of theodicy, even after reading this book, I believe someone would. This book is a step closer to understanding what the Bible intends to teach.
Ixi’ses is the protagonist, who is born to honest, hardworking, and loving parents. Her life since birth is depicted in detail, especially the childhood part where she first comes across the question of theodicy when her beloved lamb died accidentally. Job is her neighbor and his family is close to Ixis'es' family. Job’s and Ixi’ses’ fondness for each other appears to be predetermined. While two families keep prospering, the love story of our protagonist sees some ups and downs until she finally gets married to Job, who is a god-loving, polite and wise man. He is shown to have all the possible virtues and no faults. Amid their prosperity, Job and his wife are blessed with ten children, countless farm animals, and a vast land to feed anyone who seeks their help for survival. Job becomes the man of repute in the city, buys the most lavish house, and yet remains humble and committed to his earlier tendency of helping the unprivileged and being thankful to God.
Their lives turned upside down when the family loses all their children, farm animals, and many breadwinners of the families working for Job. Job also fell sick of some worm-infested skin disease. Soon, his image in society deteriorated to be the one who is cursed, who could bring bad luck to the whole city. Everybody including his childhood friends humiliated him. Even after such catastrophe he did not lose his faith in God and continued to believe that ‘God giveth and God taketh away’. The family survived the tough times to flourish again and enjoy a train of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The author’s writing style is commendable. Before every chapter, Koelker gave a paragraph about the unfateful times the Job’s family would face. It spiked the interest in the story. There was just one typological error in the book; editors certainly did their work well. The author is successful to give the perception of Job’s wife about the famous tale from the Bible.
Few things that left me intrigued about the story are questions like ‘why did Job stop giving sacrifices if his faith was unmoved?’, ‘How could there be such a flawless personality as that of Job?’. The story seemed too perfect to be true. Keeping these points in view, I rate this 3 out of 4 stars.
Whoever wants to know more about the book of Job should read this book. It might not appeal to the atheist audience. There are descriptions of animals being sacrificed though not in detail, reader’s discretion is advised. The book is free from obscenity and abusive words.
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The Legacy of Job's Wife
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The Legacy of Job’s Wife by Cynthia J. Koelker is a fantastically crafted fictional retelling of The Book of Job. It gives some sort of explanation and justice to the character of Job’s wife, who asked him to ‘curse God and die’. While I did not fully understand the problem of theodicy, even after reading this book, I believe someone would. This book is a step closer to understanding what the Bible intends to teach.
Ixi’ses is the protagonist, who is born to honest, hardworking, and loving parents. Her life since birth is depicted in detail, especially the childhood part where she first comes across the question of theodicy when her beloved lamb died accidentally. Job is her neighbor and his family is close to Ixis'es' family. Job’s and Ixi’ses’ fondness for each other appears to be predetermined. While two families keep prospering, the love story of our protagonist sees some ups and downs until she finally gets married to Job, who is a god-loving, polite and wise man. He is shown to have all the possible virtues and no faults. Amid their prosperity, Job and his wife are blessed with ten children, countless farm animals, and a vast land to feed anyone who seeks their help for survival. Job becomes the man of repute in the city, buys the most lavish house, and yet remains humble and committed to his earlier tendency of helping the unprivileged and being thankful to God.
Their lives turned upside down when the family loses all their children, farm animals, and many breadwinners of the families working for Job. Job also fell sick of some worm-infested skin disease. Soon, his image in society deteriorated to be the one who is cursed, who could bring bad luck to the whole city. Everybody including his childhood friends humiliated him. Even after such catastrophe he did not lose his faith in God and continued to believe that ‘God giveth and God taketh away’. The family survived the tough times to flourish again and enjoy a train of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The author’s writing style is commendable. Before every chapter, Koelker gave a paragraph about the unfateful times the Job’s family would face. It spiked the interest in the story. There was just one typological error in the book; editors certainly did their work well. The author is successful to give the perception of Job’s wife about the famous tale from the Bible.
Few things that left me intrigued about the story are questions like ‘why did Job stop giving sacrifices if his faith was unmoved?’, ‘How could there be such a flawless personality as that of Job?’. The story seemed too perfect to be true. Keeping these points in view, I rate this 3 out of 4 stars.
Whoever wants to know more about the book of Job should read this book. It might not appeal to the atheist audience. There are descriptions of animals being sacrificed though not in detail, reader’s discretion is advised. The book is free from obscenity and abusive words.
******
The Legacy of Job's Wife
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
