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 3rd 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 6th 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, 1st 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 3rd 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.
Bible Topic Exposition 