Doubtless you are the only people who matter, and wisdom will die with you! – Job 12:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 28, 2015): Job 12

On March 23, 2015, Soren Kam passed away of natural causes. For some, the death of Kam in this manner was unfortunate. They would rather that his life could have been stolen from him through his execution, rather than have him surrender it gently to nature. The problem was that Kam was a member of the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the Nazi Party’s Schutzstaffel – the SS. But specifically, Kam was wanted in Denmark for the murder of an unarmed Newspaper editor, Carl Henrik Clemmensen, on August 31, 1943 in the middle of the Second World War. But maybe what some have found most irritating about Kam is that he never seemed to understand that what he had done during the war was wrong. Besides the murder of Clemmensen, Kam has been accused of stealing the birth records of Jews in Denmark to make sure that the Germans files on Danish Jews was as complete as possible. But what placed Kam above others who have also been accused of War Crimes was that he didn’t see anything wrong in the events that had taken place during the war – or in any of his own actions. Where some others have felt guilty over the events that had taken place in Nazi Germany during the Second World War, Kam remained unrepentant. And what the families of the victims of his crimes needed, at the very least, was some sort of sign that he understood that his actions were wrong.

Job seems to be losing patience with his friends. They seem so sure of themselves; they have all the details on what has happened and they seem to know how they are innocent and that Job is the guilty one. But Job wants to push back. His friends think that they know, but they don’t. Job needs to fill in the blanks.

And so he reminds them that they don’t have all of the details. His remark is sarcastic. Job means the exact opposite of what he says – his friends are not the only reservoirs of wisdom – Job knows that he has some too.

Maybe what Job really needs to hear from his friends is an apology – an admission that they know that they have pushed too far, and that they are wrong. They have jumped to the wrong conclusion, and Job wants to set the record straight. Job understands that he is not perfect, but then again he also knows that no matter what it is that they are saying, his friends are not perfect either. And Job needs them to understand that, and know that they are wrong.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 13