September 13, 2020: The Scattered, Holy Stones – Del Phillips

When hard times hit nothing is at is should be. This is the point of this fourth elegy. Here we see a description of all that has befallen the city of Jerusalem as a result of it being utterly razed. Nothing is as it should be - even children who are a gift, now are seen as a burden. The priests and the anointed, those who once had the confidence of the people are no more. And they are the very ones who through their evil, were the cause of this calamity.

And the one who caused the calamity? Well that was God. Which raises the question, is this how God works? Does God really punish us for the bad things we or others do? Does it work the other way, where God blesses us for the good things we or others do? It is this hope that we find at the end of the chapter - that it won’t be this way forever in Judah. But for Edom, it will happen to them for the evil they have done. This can make God sound like a finicky deity who rewards and punishes based off what we do or fail to do. Is this really what God is like?