Harsh winds strip the vegetation from the eastern desert basins. Outcasts gather salt herbs and chew the bitter roots of the white broom shrub to survive. These arid expanses stretch into the territories southeast of the Dead Sea. Men driven from established communities find shelter in the steep gullies and dark holes cut into the earth.
The earth in this region forms the land of Uz along the border of Edom and northern Arabia. Nomadic tribes controlled the trade routes that moved spices across the 150 miles of barren wilderness separating the Gulf of Aqaba from the southern Judean outposts. Travelers crossing this territory faced a rugged terrain of steep wadis dropping hundreds of feet into dry riverbeds prior to 500 b.c.
These dry riverbeds also provided hiding places for men afflicted with blackened skin and burning fevers. Medical records from early Mediterranean societies document necrotic skin conditions that caused chronic pain and severe tissue discoloration. Afflicted individuals scraped their sores and sat among the refuse dumps outside the settlement walls. Their cries joined the howling of desert jackals and the shrieks of ostriches to declare a harsh reality.
Physical decay strips away human dignity and leaves a man completely isolated in his agony.
This agony forces the sufferer to confront the absolute silence of God. A former leader of the community now stands in the public assembly only to weep for help. He begs for relief from the pain but receives no answer from him. The days of affliction grip the man tightly and turn his existence into an endless cycle of mourning.