Job and the Land Of Uz (2)

This topic was begun in “Job and the Land of Uz (1)”.  This Part 2 is a continuation.  Most of the material that was presented in (1) to identify the land of Uz won’t be repeated here in (2).

Let’s now look to identify the ancestry of Job’s four visitors, and associate the time period when Job lived.  The lineages of the four visitors differ, although it seems their common ancestor is Térah, father of Abraham.  All four are gentiles, descending from: Nahór, Abraham/Keturáh, Ishmaél, probably Esau.

Jb.2:11 LXX “When Job’s three friends heard of all the evil that had befallen him, they came each one from his own country: Elipház king of the Temanítes, Bildád king of the Shuhítes, Sophár king of the Mináeans.”  The LXX refers to these three friends as kings of their respective peoples.

Yet Job was the “greatest of the men of the East” (Jb.1:3), greater than his kingly friends.  Job had more wealth, power, authority and influence.  He said in Jb.29:25, “I dwelt as a king among his troops”.

After the three kings had conversed or argued with Job, Job’s fourth friend speaks up.  He is Elihú, Job’s younger countryman.  We’ll identify Elihu first.

Jb.32:2 LXX “Elihu the son of Baráchiel, the Buzite [Strongs h940 Hebrew], of the kindred of Ram [Arám?], of the land of Ausítis [Uz].”  In the Greek LXX, Uz is called Ausitis.  Job too was from Ausitis/Uz.  Jb.1:1 LXX “There was a man in the land of Ausitis [Uz] whose name was Job.”  Job, in the land of Uz/Ausitis, was one of the “men of the East”.  His fellow Uzite Elihu was too.

The Buzites probably descended from Buz, the son of Abraham’s brother Nahor (Nahor was discussed in Part 1).  Ge.22:20-23 “Milcáh has born children to your [Abraham’s] brother Nahor, Uz [h5780] his firstborn and Buz [h938] his brother, and Kemuél the father of Aram…and Bethuél.”  Ellicott Commentary Ge.22:21 “Buz – probably he was the ancestor of Elihu (Job 32:2).”  Benson Commentary Jb.32:2 “[Elihu] of the posterity of Buz, Nahor’s son.”  Book of Jasher 22:21 “The sons of Buz [Nahor’s son] were Barachiel….”  Elihu is descended from a Barachiel (Jb.32:2).  Pulpit Commentary Jb.32:2 “By ‘Ram’ we are probably to understand ‘Aram’, the son of Kemuel, a brother of Uz and Buz.”  In 2Chr.22:5, Araméans/Syrians are “Ram-mée (h7421 Ramites).  So Job and Elihu, dwelling in Uz/Ausitis, were probably Arameans geographically.  Both may descend from Abraham’s nephew Uz.  Nahor, the father of Uz, had dwelt in Arám-naharáim/Mesopotámia (Ge.24:10).

Job’s friend Bildad was king of the Shuhites (h7747, Jb.2:11).  Ellicott Commentary Jb.2:11 “Bildad the Shuhite probably derived his origin from Shúah, the son of Abraham by Keturáh.”  Shuah was one of the six sons had by Abraham and his concubine wife Keturah.  Ge.25:1-2 “Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. She bore to him Zimrán, Jokshán, Medán, Midián, Ishbák and Shuah [h7744].”  (Moses’ wife Zipporáh descended from Midian.)  JFB Commentary Ge.25:2 “From Shuah, Bildad seems to be descended, Job 2:11.”

So Bildad too descended from Terah and Terah’s son Abraham.  Jasher 25:5 “The sons of Shuach [son of Abraham] were Bildad….”  Barnes Notes Jb.2:11 “The country of the Shuhites,’ says Gesenius, ‘eastward of Batanea.”  Batanea was the ancient land of Bashán, which lay NE of the Jordan River.

Job’s friend Sophar/Zophar was king of the Minaeans or Naamathites (Jb.2:11).  The Minaean region was in Arabia; they did extensive spice trade.  TimeMaps: History of Arabia “There is evidence for Minaean trading activity as far north as Gaza (in Palestine), and indeed as far afield as Egypt, and even Greece.”  The boundaries of the territory ruled by Sophar are uncertain.

ISBE: Naamathite “A dweller in Naaman’; ho M(e)inaion basileus.”  The king of Naaman/Minaean.  Smith’s Bible Dictionary: Naamathite “Probably the Naamah where he lived was on the Arabian borders of Syria.”  (Also, a Naamah was a town in the land which later was allotted to the tribe of Judah, Josh.15:41, “toward the coast of Edom southward”.)  Zophar’s territory & ancestry isn’t certain.

Some sources tie Zophar to Esau’s grandson Zephó.  Ge.36:15-16 “The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau, are chief Temán, chief Omár, chief Zepho (Sophar LXX)….chief Amalék. These are the chiefs descended from Eliphaz in the land of Edom.”  Wesley’s Notes Jb.2:11 “Zophar is thought to be the same with Zepho (Ge.36:11), a descendant of Esau.”  W.H. Bennett Genesis “Zepho is Zephí in Chronicles [1Ch.1:36], or according to the LXX, Zophar, which is probably the original form, cf. Zophar in Job.”

Ge.36:11-12 “The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho [LXX Sophar], Gatám, Kenáz…and Amalek”  An Eliphaz was a son of Esau (Jacob’s twin brother).  A Sophar/Zepho was Esau’s grandson.  Job’s friend Zophar was perhaps this individual, the grandson of Esau.

If King Zophar of Jb.2:11 was the Zepho of Ge.36:11, then most likely the King Eliphaz of Jb.2:11 wasn’t the Eliphaz of Ge.36:11.  It would be unusual for a father and his son Zophar (of Ge.36:11) to be ruling two different kingdoms simultaneously.

Jasher 64:6, 25 “Zepho reigned over all the children of Chíttim [Italy or Cyprus]….Zepho the son of Eliphaz [Ge.36:11] the son of Esau king of Chittim, and Hadád the son of Bedád king of Edom [Ge.36:35], encamped together.”  This traditional book says Zepho (Zophar Ge.36 LXX) was a king and son of Eliphaz.  But it doesn’t indicate that his father Eliphaz (Esau’s son) reigned over any peoples.

Was Job’s friend Eliphaz, king of the Temanites (Jb.2:11)…a descendant of Esau, or Ishmael?  There’s no Eliphaz in Genesis before Ge.36:4 (a son of Esau).  But Temá occurs earlier in Genesis:

Tema h8485 “desert”; of foreign derivation.  5 usages: Ge.25:15, 1Ch.1:30, Jb.6:19, Is.21:14, Je.25:23.  Strongs Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary “Tema, a son of Ishmael, and the region settled by him.”

Tema h8487 “south”.  11 usages: Ge.36:11, 15, 42, 1Ch.1:36, 53, Je.49:7, 20, Ezk.25:13, Am.1:12, Ob.1:9, Hab.3:3.  These verses relate to Esau/Edom.

Temanite h8489 “south to the right”.  8 usages: Ge.36:34, 1Ch.1:45, Jb.2:11, 4:1, 15:1, 22:1, 42:7-9.

“Tema” first appears in Ge.25:13-16, “The names of the sons of Ishmael are Nebaióth [the Nábateans], Kedár…Tema [h8485].”  Ishmael (son of Abraham & Hagar) had 12 sons, one of whom was Tema.  The tribe of the Temanites descended from this Tema, the son of Ishmael and grandson of Abraham.

Jb.6:19a “The caravans of Tema [h8485] looked for them [streams].”  Ishmael fathered Tema.  JFB Commentary Jb.6:19 “N of Arabia Déserta, near the Syrian desert, called from Tema son of Ishmael (Gen.25:15).”  Barnes Notes Jb.6:19 “This was the country of Eliphaz, and the image would be well understood by him. The caravans from Tema, journeying through the desert, looking for those streams.”

Is.21:11-17 is the oracles concerning Edom, Arabia, the caravans of Dedanítes (Ge.25:3), the land of Tema (Ge.25:15), and Kedar (Ge.25:13).  These were 5 different tribes of peoples, all descended from Abraham.  e.g. Edomites weren’t Temanites originally.  Je.25:23-24 “Dedán, Tema, Buz.”  These are 3 different tribes.  Eliphaz was a Temanite (Elihu was a Buzite, Jb.32:2).

Pulpit Commentary Jb.2:11 “There was an Eliphaz, the son of Esau, who had a son Teman (Ge.36:4; 1Ch.1:35-36); but it is not supposed that this can be the person here intended [Job’s friend Eliphaz].”  Fathers precede their sons.  In Ge.36:11, Eliphaz was the father, Teman his son (not vice versa).  To refer to King Eliphaz as a Temanite, carrying his son’s name, isn’t patrilogical.  That’s backwards.  Whereas, the son Teman might be called an ‘Eliphazite’ or ‘Eliphazian’, after his father.

Christopher Schwinger Origin of the Book of Job “Eliphaz the Temanite is obviously not Eliphaz the father of Teman in Gen 36’s Edomite genealogy [Ge.36:11], unless the father is living in the city of Teman which his son established.”  But in Jb.2:11 LXX, Eliphaz was king of his “own country”.

Nave’s Topical Bible: Tema “A people of Arabia, probably descendants from Tema, Ishmael’s son.”  Easton Bible Dictionary: Tema “South; desert, one of the sons of Ishmael and father of a tribe so-called (Ge.25:15), some 250 miles SE of Edom in the N part of the Arabian peninsula, toward the Syrian desert; the modern Teymá.”  Wikipedia: Tayma “Tayma or Tema, located in NW Saudi Arabia, about 400 miles N of Medina. The Biblical eponym is apparently Tema, one of the sons of Ishmael.”

Ge.36:34b circa 1767 BC, Hushám from the land of the Temanites became king of Edom (for 20 years, Jasher 58:29).  He was from the land of Tema, the son of Ishmael (Ge.25:15).  Wikipedia: Land of Tema “The place where descendants of Ishmael’s son Tema dwelt. The Land of Tema was most likely in N Saudi Arabia, and has been identified with the modern Teima, an oasis. Noted people associated: Husham, Eliphaz the Temanite.”  They were both from the land of Tema, the son of Ishmael.

So Job’s friend Eliphaz probably was a Temanite descended from Ishmael, not an Edomite descended from Esau.  Jash.57:9 whereas Eliphaz the son of Esau as military leader was killed ca 1810 BC at age 83 in Rameses, Egypt.  That Eliphaz, an Edomite from Esau, wasn’t a Temanite.

Another people in the book of Job are the Sabéans.  Jb.6:19b “Travelers from Shebá [Sabeans LXX] search for them [streams].”  Joseph Jacobs Sabeans “In Job 6:19 the Sabeans are mentioned in close association with the Temeans, an Ishmaelitish stock (Gen.25:15) that dwelt in Arabia (Isa.21:14, cf. Jer.25:23-24). Sheba must be carefully distinguished from the Cushite or African Seba (Gen.10:7).”

Sheba, from whom the Sabeans are thought to have descended, was a son of Jokshan and a grandson of Abraham by his concubine wife Keturah (Ge.25:1-6).  JFB Commentary Jb.1:15 “Sabeans, descending from Sheba, grandson of Abraham and Keturah.”  Sheba’s brother Dedan was a grandson.  Shuah, from whom the Shuhites (Bildad) seem to be descended, was a son of Abraham & Keturah.  So was Midian.

The Sabeans (from Sheba) and Minaeans were Arabian peoples.  Joseph Jacobs op. cit.  “Sabeans territory was situated between those of the Mineans and Cattabanes [of Arabia].”  Catholic Encyclopedia, Arabia, p.665 “The two most important kingdoms of ancient Arabia are that of the Minaens and that of the Sabeans, whence the Queen of Saba [Sheba] came to King Solomon.”

To recap…The above sources indicate that Job’s four visitors most likely descended from: Nahor (Elihu), Abraham/Keturah (Bildad), Esau (Zophar/Zepho), Ishmael (Eliphaz).  And all are from Terah.

Let’s now turn our attention to dating the time period in which Job lived.  Job lived for 140 years or so after his ordeal (Jb.42:16).  The Lord blessed Job double afterwards (cf. Jb.1:3 & 42:12).  So God extended Job’s lifespan to perhaps 200 years (indicative of a patriarch).  Also, Job’s wealth was measured in livestock…reflective of the patriarchal age (see Part 1).  Jb.42:11 the qeesetáw (Hebrew) piece/weight of money is ancient…the term occurs elsewhere in scripture only in Ge.33:19 & Jsh.24:32.

Job lived in the land of Uz long after the Noachian Flood.  Cambridge Bible Jb.22:16 “The reference is probably to the Deluge.”  Job fathered 20 children (Jb.1:2, 42:13), in two families.  He was a patriarch.

Uz & Buz, and Ishmael were all three of the same generation.  From Dr. Martin Anstey’s chart in The Romance of Bible Chronology, p.8, Ishmael lived from 2031–1894 BC.  (see the topic “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.)  Ishmael’s son Tema, progenitor of the Temanites, would’ve been alive in the 1900s BC.  So would Nahor’s son Buz, progenitor of the Buzites.  The Temanite (Jb.2:11) and Buzite (Jb.32:2) clans grew in the 1800s BC.  They had become peoples by the time Job lived.  So Job’s trials wouldn’t have been prior to the 1800s BC (before the Temanites & Buzites emerged as tribes).

Hyksos, Kings of Egypt and the Land of Edom: “Job speaks of ‘the troops of Tema’ (Jb.6:l9). Assuming that Tema is one of the tribes descended from Ishmael (Gen. 25:l5), we would then have positive proof that Job also lived after the time of Ishmael. At the same time Job speaks also of ‘the companies of Sheba’ [Jb.6:19] who would be descendants of Sheba, a half-brother to Ishmael. The orthodox view has been that the Book of Job belongs to the era before the Exodus.”  So Job lived sometime between the time of Ishmael (died 1894 BC) and Israel’s exodus from Egypt (ca 1612 BC).

In the Old Testament, the name “Job” (h347) appears only in the book of Job and in Ezk.14:14, 20.

Ge.10:23 the first Uz was a son of an earlier Aram.  Ge.10:26-29 & 1Ch.1:19-23: Jobáb (h3103) and a Sheba were 2 of the 13 sons of Joktan.  Jobab was a name similar to Job.  Joktan and Peleg were the two sons of Eber (the first “Hebrew”).  Joktan is considered the ancestor of many southern Arabian tribes.  This Jobab was the same generation as Peleg’s son Reu.  (Jobab and Reu were 1^st cousins.)  Reu was great-great-grandfather to Abrám.  That would place Reu and Jobab four generations before Abraham!

But since there were no Buzite, Ishmaelite, or Temanite tribes until at least a few generations after Abraham… it’s highly unlikely that the early Jobab (h3103) of Ge.10:29 is the man in the book of Job.

There may have been a Iob who was an Israelite, a grandson of Jacob.  Ge.46:13 lists the sons of Issachár (born ca 1870 BC) who went to Egypt with Jacob (ca 1827 BC), “Tolá, Puváh, Iob [h3102, Asum in LXX], Shimrón”.  Cambridge Bible Ge.46:13 “Observe that Iob is a different name than Job in Jb.1:1.”  And in Nu.26:24 & 1Ch.7:1, Issachar’s 3^rd son is named “Jashúb”, not Iob.  In Ge.46:13, “Iob” may be a transcription error (according to Strongs).  Whatever this man’s correct name, he could have been alive in the 1700s BC.

But Iob/Jashub the son of Issachar, having gone to Egypt with Jacob ca 1827 BC, would’ve died in Egypt prior to the exodus of ca 1612 BC.  Even if he was an infant in 1827 BC, and lived for 200 years, he wouldn’t have lived much past 1627 BC.  That’s before the exodus.  Also, Job was the “greatest of the men of the East”.  Job probably lived many years in “the East” to attain such status.  The tribe of Issachar (later) was allotted territory west of the Jordan River in the land of Canáan (Israel/Palestine).  They weren’t “men of the East”.  The land of Canaan itself wasn’t “the East” from the land of Canaan.

Catholic Encyclopedia: The Characters of the Poem “Job evidently didn’t belong to the chosen people [Israel]. He lived, indeed, outside of Palestine. Job belonged to the ‘people of the East’. Job seems to have been an Aramean.”  (see Part 1 for Aramean detail.)

So it’s unlikely that the book of Job is about an Israelite, a descendant of Jacob/Israel.

Next, a postscript which was added to the Septúagint version of the book of Job will be considered, as well as names & chronologies from the (supposed) Book of Jasher.

This topic is concluded in “Job and the Land of Uz (3).

Job and the Land Of Uz (1)

The book of Job is said to contain more questions than any other book of the Bible.  The struggle and patient endurance (Ja.5:11 & Jb.7:16 LXX) of the man Job argues the question of justice.  After reading through the book, we see it is the pride of man which questions an act of God in judging that man.  We are to trust God’s wisdom, regardless of our circumstances (cf. Ec.7:12-14, Jb.28:12-28, 42:1-2).

However, the purpose of this topic isn’t to discuss the lesson or message of the book of Job.  My intention is to locate the ancient land of Uz, and place the patriarch Job in the Bible timeline.

Jb.1:1 “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless, upright, fearing God, and abstaining from evil.”  Job was a righteous man (Ezk.14:20), an ancient gentile/non-Jew Godfearer.  (see “Ten Commandments in Genesis & Job”.)  The Lord questioned the adversary in Jb.1:8, “Have you considered My servant Job? There is none like him.”  Job was God’s servant.  The book of Job shows that Job practiced the Golden Rule.  Jesus said in Mt.7:12, “However you want people to treat you, so treat them.”  Job cared for others (ref Jb.31:16-23).

{Sidelight: Jb.1-2 is one of the adversary’s three main appearances in the Bible canon.  The other two are Ge.3 and Mt.4/Lk.4.  He’s in Zec.3:1-2 (to a lesser extent), and in many New Testament references.}

There isn’t consensus among Bible historians as to who wrote/compiled the book of Job.  Rabbinic tradition ascribes the book of Job to Moses (though the writing style is said to be dissimilar).

Chuck Swindoll: Job “The author of the book of Job is unknown. Several suggestions have been put forth as plausible authors: Job himself, who could have best recalled his own words; Elihú, the fourth friend who spoke toward the end of the story; various biblical writers and leaders; or many editors who compiled the material over the years. It was most likely an eyewitness who recorded the detailed and lengthy conversations found in the book. In Old Testament times, authors sometimes referred to themselves in the 3^rd person, so Job’s authorship is a strong possibility….Though we cannot be certain, Job may have lived during the time of Jacob or shortly thereafter.”  The time of the patriarchs.

The Aramaic Peshítta is the Bible of the church in the East.  Stephen Vicchio Job in the Ancient World, p.202 “The Peshitta’s Job is to be found immediately after the Toráh and before the historical works; between Deuteronomy and Joshua.”  p.215 “This position in the canon must have seemed appropriate as a 6^th book about early patriarchs.”  That places Job sometime prior to Joshua’s conquest of Canáan.

Elon Gilad Who Really Wrote the Book of Job? “The language in Job is unlike any other found in the Bible, or outside it. True, the book is written in Hebrew, but it is very strange Hebrew indeed. It has more unique words than any other book of the Hebrew Bible. The language is archaic, which would indicate that it was very ancient.”  Bible scholars are unsure as to who completed the book of Job.

The Reese Chronological Bible, p.19, puts Job’s birth during “The Age of the Patriarchs, ca 1967 BC”.

Job lived in the “land of Uz”, and was “the greatest of the men of the East” (Jb.1:1-3).  Evidently Uz was located E of the ancient land of Canaan/Palestine.  Uz is called Ausítis in Jb.1:1 LXX/Septúagint.

There are places today which traditionally claim to be the city or region of Job.  Many Bible readers think the land of Uz where Job lived was located SE of Canaan, in Edom or Arabia.  Edom, Arabia and Midian were the land areas E of the Gulf of Áqaba and the Sinai Peninsula.  Midian was E of the Gulf of Aqaba, in the NW of the Arabian desert.  Edom lay N of Midian, and across the Sinai Peninsula E of Egypt.  (Moab was N of Edom, Ammon was N/NE of Moab.)  However, Edom and Midian weren’t part of Mesopotámia (located E of Canaan).  Rather, both Edom and Midian lay south of the land of Canaan.

Jb.1:3 Job was the greatest of the “men [Strongs h1121, or sons] of the East [h6924]”.  What land areas were in the East, where “men of the East” lived?  The expression “men of the East” occurs 10 other times in the Old Testament: Ge.29:1, Jdg.6:3, 33, 7:12, 8:10, 1Ki.4:30, Is.11:14, Je.49:28, Ezk.25:4, 10.

Ge.29:1 Jacob went to the land of the “men of the East”, to Labán the Araméan/Syrian (Ge.28:5).  Nu.23:7 Balák king of Moab brought Balaám “from Arám [Mesopotamia LXX], from the mountains of the East”.  Is.9:12 “Arameans [h758] from the east, Philistines from the west.”  Arameans or Syrians were “men of the East”.  Jdg.6:3 men of the East.  Cambridge Bible Jdg.6:3 “Bedouins from the desert E of Moab and Ammon.”  Ezk.25:4 the Lord would allow men of the East to settle on Ammonite land.  Ellicott Commentary Ezk.25:4 “The various nomadic tribes inhabiting the eastern deserts.”  The desert lay E of Ammon.  This desert of Syria/N Arabia was inhabited by “men of the East”.

In the Old Testament (OT), “men of the East” refers to Arameans/Syrians; also to nomads or Bedouins of the north Arabian & Syrian desert (east of Moab and Ammon); and to Chaldéans.

Pulpit Commentary Jb.1:3 “Men of the east’ seems to include the entire population between Palestine and the Euphrates”.  Fairbairn’s Bible Dictionary “The East [Jb.1:3] denotes not only the countries which lay directly E of Palestine, but those which stretched also toward the N and E – Armenia, Assyria, Babylonia, Parthia, as well as the territories of Moab, Ammon, and Arabia Déserta.”

“Men of the East” didn’t refer to peoples to the South, such as Edomites, Midianites, Amalekites.  Barnes Notes Is.11:14 “Edom – Idúmea; the country settled by the descendants of Esau, that was south of Judea.”  Ge.36:8 “Esau lived in the hill country of Seir; Esau is Edom.”

Since Job was the greatest of the “men of the East”…the land of Uz/Ausitis was in the East.  Uz wasn’t in Edom (inhabited by descendants of Esau and Seir the Horite); Uz wasn’t in Midian (where Moses dwelt when he fled Egypt).  Descendants of Esau, and the Midianites, mostly lived to the south of Canaan.

In the OT, the word Uz (h5780, Hebrew) appears 6 or 8 times, depending on the Bible version.  Uz is a man’s name in Ge.10:23, 22:21, 36:28, 1Ch.1:17, 42.  Uz is a land in Jb.1:1.  Uz as a land also appears in the Masoretic text Je.25:20 and Lam.4:21; but Uz isn’t in the LXX Je.25:20/32:20 or Lam.4:21.  We understand that Jeremiah wrote ca 1,000 years after the time of the patriarchs; peoples migrate and boundaries change over the centuries.

In Ge.10:23 & 1Ch.1:17, the man Uz, the son of Aram, was a grandson of Shem (and a great-grandson of Noah).  Ge.22:21 another man Uz was the firstborn son of Abraham’s brother Nahór.  In Ge.36:28 & 1Ch.1:42, yet another Uz is a grandson of Seir the Horite.  However, in the LXX Ge.36:28 & 1Ch.1:42, the name of Seir’s grandson is Os/Hos (not Uz).  Whereas in the LXX Ge.10:23 & Ge.22:21, the name is Uz.  So the name is questionable in Ge.36:28 & 1Ch.1:42…Uz, or Hos?

Ge.22:20-23 “Milcáh has born children to your [Abraham’s] brother Nahor, Uz [h5780] his firstborn and Buz [h938] his brother, and Kemuél the father of Aram…and Bethuél.”  This Uz was Abraham’s nephew.  Térah, Abram, and Nahor (later?) moved from Ur to Harrán (Ge.11:31) in NW Mesopotamia.  Terah died.  Nahor stayed in Harran.  (God had told Abram to go on to Canaan, Ge.12:1-5.)  The city of Nahor (Ge.24:10) was in Padán-Arám in upper Mesopotamia (h763 Aram-naharáim).

{{Sidelight: Aram and Arphaxád were two of Shem’s sons after the Flood (Ge.10:22).  According to scripture, Terah and his sons descended from Arphaxad (Ge.11:10-26), not Aram.  They weren’t blood Arameans.  But they lived in Harran in the (Syria-Turkey) area originally settled by Aram, son of Shem.  (Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:4 “Aram had the Aramites, which the Greeks call Syrians.”)}}

Gill Exposition Ge.22:21 “Uz his [Nahor’s] firstborn…gave name to the land of Uz where Job dwelt, and who seems to be a descendant of this man, Job 1:1.”  Perhaps Job did descend from Abraham’s brother Nahor (in the lineage of Shem’s son Arphaxad)!  Cambridge Bible Ge.22:21 “Uz as a locality in the Syrian region. It may denote a branch of an Aramean tribe. It appears as the birthplace of Job.”  Uz, the firstborn son of Nahor, was the uncle of “Laban the Aramean [h761]” or Syrian (Ge.31:24).

The city of Nahor was Harran in Mesopotamia (Ge.24:10, 27:43).  bible–study.org “Nahor, whom he [Abraham] had left in Ur of the Chaldees, when he departed from thence. And who afterwards came and dwelt in Harran of Mesopotamia. Genesis 22:21 ‘Uz his [Nahor’s] firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram.’ The first of these gave name to the land of Uz, where Job dwelt, and who seems to be a descendant of this man (Job 1:1). The latter, was the father of the Buzites, of which family Elihu was, that interposed between Job and his friends (Job 32:2).”

Nahor (Ge.24:10), Balaam (De.23:4), also the Syrians with whom David fought (1Ch.19:6)…lived in Mesopotamia (h763 Aram-naharaim).  They lived NE of the land of Canaan towards the area of the Upper Euphrates.  (In the New Testament Greek, “Mesopotamia” g3318 occurs only in Ac.2:9, 7:2.)

Ge.31:53 “The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor.”  Abraham’s brother Nahor was uncle to Ishmael & Isaac.  Ge.22:21 Nahor’s sons Uz & Buz & Bethuel were Abraham’s nephews, 1^st cousins of Ishmael & Isaac.  Bethuel was the father of Laban and of Isaac’s wife Rebekah (Nahor’s granddaughter); this Uz & Buz were uncles to Rebekah and Laban.

Laban had idols.  Perhaps his father Bethuel did too?  However, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob came to Laban in a dream (Ge.31:24, 29).  Laban knew of the true God YHVH (Ge.24:31)!  Laban may have practiced polytheism.  Yet Abraham wanted a wife for Isaac taken from Nahor’s descendants, not from heathen Canaanites.

Job in the land of Uz had heard of YHVH and believed He was God (Jb.42:1, 5).  Elihu the Buzite (h940), from the family of Ram, may have descended from Buz and Aram the nephew of Buz (Jb.32:2, Ge.22:20-24).  More on Job’s four visitors is in Part 2 of this topic.

So the land of Uz most likely was the territory where one (or both?) of those ancients had lived…Uz the son of Shem, Uz the son of Nahor.  That land of Uz became known as Ausitis (Jb.1:1 LXX).

Josephus op. cit. “Of the four sons of Aram [Ge.10:23], Uz founded Trachonítis and Damascus; this country lies between Palestine and Cele-syria.”  (ref Lk.3:1 the Trachonitis province.)

R.N. Coleman The Poem of Job “Josephus identifies the land of Uz with the territory of Damascus and Trachonitis. The habitual residence of Job was in some portion of ancient Bashán. Ephráem Sýrus, who died AD 379, recorded that the patriarch Job resided in Bashan, having been the predecessor of Og [De.3:10]. He describes Job as a king, a priest, and a prophet of the Gentiles 140 years.”  Bashan was east of the Jordan River.

ISBE: Uz “A kingdom of some importance somewhere in Southern Syria and not far from Judea, having a number of kings.”  Trachonitis was NE of the Jordan (Smith’s Bible Dictionary).  Auranitis was in SW Syria, S of Batanea and Trachonitis.  Some think the Ausitis in the LXX book of Job was Auranitis or Hauran.  (Abraham’s brother Nahor, the father of an Uz, had dwelt in the Syria-Turkey Harran).

Wikipedia: Bashan “After the [Babylonian] Exile, Bashan was divided into four districts: Gaulonitis, the most western; Auranitis, the Hauran (Ezk.47:16); Trachonitis; Batanaea.”

Jsh.21:27 Golan (part of the modern day Golan Heights) of Bashan was part of the eastern half of Manasséh’s territory.  e.g. De.4:43 “Golan in Bashan of the Manassites.”

Wikipedia: Hauran “Auranitis (Hauran) is a volcanic plateau, a geographic area, and people located in SW Syria and extending into the NW corner of Jordan. It includes the Golan Heights to the west; also includes Jabál al-Drúze in the east and is bounded there by more arid steppe and desert terrains.  The Yármouk River drains much of Hauran to the west and is the largest tributary of the Jordan River.”

And the Jordan River is mentioned in the book of Job!  Jb.40:23 “The Jordan rushes to his mouth.”  Therefore, the land of Uz probably wasn’t all that far from the Jordan River.  Ancient Bashan was east of the Jordan.

Also, the LXX book of Job mentions Phoenícians.  Jb.40:25 LXX “The nations [or races] of the Phoenicians.”  (Jb.40:25-ff isn’t in the Masoretic text.)  There were Phoenicians living in coastal NW Canaan.  ATS Bible Dictionary “The Canaanites, whom the Greeks named Phoenicians.”  Chief cities of Phoenicia (Ac.15:3) were Tyre & Sidon (Ezk.28, Mt.11:21, Jg.10:12), and Byblos.

Ezk.27:23 “Harran [h2771], Canneh, Eden, the traders of Sheba, Asshur, Chilmad traded with you [Tyre of Phoenicia].”  Harran (h2771) in: Ge.11:31, 12:5, 27:43.  LXX Ge.27:43 Rebekah said to Jacob, “Depart quickly into Mesopotamia to Laban my brother in Charan.”  Harran in upper Mesopotamia.

Cambridge Bible Jb.1:1 “The land of Uz probably lay E of Palestine and N of Edom. An interesting tradition places the home of Job in the Nukra, the fertile depression of Bashan at the southeast foot of Hermon. Near the town of Nawa, about 40 miles almost due south of Damascus, and about the latitude of the north end of the sea of Tiberias, there still exist a Makâm; that is, place, or tomb, and monastery of Job. Wetzstein assigns the building to the end of the 3^rd century.”  Pulpit Commentary Jb.1:1 “Arabian tradition regards the region of the Hauran, northeast of Palestine, as Job’s country.”

Franz Delitzsch The Book of Job Commentary “Au’sos [Uz], in Josephus Ant. 1, 6, 4, is described as founder of Trachonitis and Damascus; that the Jakut Hamawi and Moslem tradition generally mention the East Harran fertile tract of country northwest of Têmâ and Bûzân, el-Bethenije, the district of Damascus in which Job dwelt. All these accounts agree that Uz is not to be sought in Idumea [Edom] proper. In later times the territory of Edom extended [e.g. Lam.4:21].”

Stephen Vicchio Job in the Modern World, p 202 “Mugir el-Hambeli says, ‘Job came from the Damascan province of Batanea.’ Moslem tradition suggests that after the death of his father, Job journeyed to Egypt to marry Rahme, the daughter of Ephráim [or Manasseh?], who had inherited from her grandfather Joseph his beautiful robe. Later, Job brought her back to his native Hauran.”  p.203 “The tradition of ‘Job’s well’ or ‘Job’s spring’ is to be identified entirely with the land north and east of the boundaries of Israel and Arabia.”  p.204 “The Hauran Valley of Bashan in the Transjordan. Job’s tomb has been venerated in that region for many years. Almost all Syro-Arabic sources identify the province of Bathania as Job’s ‘land of Uz.’ Bathania also contains a Monastery of Job.”

Again Gill Exposition Ge.22:21 “Uz his [Nahor’s] firstborn…gave name to the land of Uz where Job dwelt, and who seems to be a descendant of this man, Job 1:1.”  Uz is thought to be Job’s ancestor.

This topic is continued in “Job and the Land of Uz (2)”.  In it, we’ll look to identify the ancestry of Job’s four visitors and tribes of peoples in his book, as we associate the time period in which Job lived.