Your punishment will end, Daughter Zion; he will not prolong your exile. But he will punish your sin, Daughter Edom, and expose your wickedness. – Lamentations 4:22

Today's Scripture Reading (August 7, 2023): Lamentations 4

The story of Job is an interesting one. We, the readers of the story, are told in the preface of the story what is hidden from the other characters in the tale. Job is a righteous man, and God is pleased with his servant. In fact, God holds Job up as the ideal to which we can reach as humans. We know this bit of truth, but no one else in the story does. And so, Job's wife encourages Job to "Curse God and die" (Job 2:9). The comment is essentially, "Why do you maintain your righteousness? Obviously, God is not pleased with you. If he were, these things wouldn't be happening." It was a lie, but the readers are the only ones who know that. We get a "God's level" view of the story. Something that we often wish we had for our own lives, especially during times of stress.

The first of the friends to speak to Job is Eliphaz the Temanite.

Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?
    Where were the upright ever destroyed?
As I have observed, those who plow evil
    and those who sow trouble reap it.
At the breath of God they perish;
    at the blast of his anger they are no more (Lamentations 4:7-9).

Again, the message of Eliphaz is clear. Job, you may be able to profess your innocence, but right now, you are reaping what you have sewn. We all know that is the way that the world works.

We sometimes miss the importance of the fact that Eliphaz is a Temanite. The men of Teman were known for their wisdom. If you wanted wisdom, you wanted to hear what the wise men of Teman would say. And part of the story of Job is that God's wisdom is different from ours. It is not that Eliphaz is not filled with worldly wisdom. One of the Book of Job's messages is that worldly wisdom often fails.

Another thing is that Teman was an Edomite village. And Jeremiah reminds his audience that even the wisdom of Edom is not absolute. Edom had ridiculed Israel when Babylon attacked them, but Edom would be attacked next. While Israel would return from her time of punishment, Edom would be destroyed entirely. Edom's wisdom would vanish from the earth because they could not recognize God's wisdom when confronted with it.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Lamentations 5