Abraham’s Birthplace and Siblings

Abrám/Abraham is one of the most renowned characters in our Bible.  Much has been written about the faith of Abraham.  The apostle Paul wrote of Abraham as the prototype of faithful believers (Ro.4:16).  Also, Abraham’s obedience to the Lord was exemplary.  Ge.26:5 “Abraham obeyed Me, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”  (All that, without having a codified Law of Moses, so-called!  see the topic “Abraham Obeyed Which Commandments?”.)

However, this topic isn’t about Abraham’s faith or obedience.  Rather, it’s about the disputed place of his birth and his siblings.  We’ll look at the pertinent Old Testament (OT) verses, with the traditional (supposed) Book of Jasher.  For Abram’s first 75 years, ref Jash.7 – 13.  He lived circa (c) 2117–1942 BC.  Moses wrote or compiled the book of Genesis 500 years after Abraham lived.  (also see the topics “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus” and Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”.)

Abraham’s ancestor Noah & family survived the Flood (Ge.7:11-13, 8:13).  Ge.9:18-19 “The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Jápheth; and Ham was the father of Canáan.”  Then Ge.10:22 “The sons of Shem were Elám, Ásshur [Assyria], Arphaxad, Lud and Arám [Syria].”

Ge.10:24 “Arphaxad begot Shélah [Septúagint/LXX, ISV, NHEB “Kaínan”]; Shelah begot Éber.”  The Hebrew people were named after Eber.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:4 “Eber, from whom they originally called the Jews, Hebrews.”  Eber/Heber was the great-grandson (or grandson) of Arphaxad.

Eber was Abram’s great-great-great-great-grandfather.  Josephus Antiquities 1:6:5 “Abraham was born in the 292^nd year after the Deluge. Térah begat Abram in his 70^th year [Ge.11:26]. Abram had two [older] brothers, Nahór [2] and Harán [Hawráwn Strongs h2039, Hebrew]. Haran left a son, Lot; also Sarai and Milcáh his daughters, and died. These married their nieces. Nahor married Milcah and Abram married Sarai.”  1:7:1 “Abram adopted Lot, his brother Haran’s son & his wife Sarai’s brother.”

Jash.7:51 “Terah was 70 years old when he begat him, and Terah called the name of the son that was born to him Abram.”  Jash.9:4 “Haran was 42 years old when he begat Sarai, in the 10^th year [Ge.17:17] of the life of Abram.”  So Haran was 32 years older than Abram, according to Jasher.  Haran & Nahor 2 were twins?  Jash.7:22, 12:16, 9, 27, 24:27 Nahor 2 died at age 172 when Isaac was 40, Abraham 140.  Both Nahor 2 & Haran were born when Terah was age 38, 32 years before Abram’s birth.

Jash.12:44-45 “Nahor and Abram [age 50] took wives, the daughters of their brother Haran. The wife of Nahor was Milcah and Abram’s wife was Sarai [Sarah].”  Targum Jonathán Ge.22:20 “Sarah arose and cried out….And it was told Abraham, ‘Behold, Milcah also has borne; she has enlargement through the righteousness of her sister [Sarah], to bring forth sons unto Nahor your brother.”

Ge.11:29 “Abram’s wife was Sarai; Nahor’s wife was Milcah the daughter of Haran; the father of Milcah and Iscáh.”  Was Iscah, Sarah?  Wikipedia: Iscah “Rabbinical scholars [Talmudic]… claim that Iscah was an alternate name for Sarah.”  JFB Commentary Ge.11:31 “Sarai…the same as Iscah.”  Targum Jonathan, Jasher, Josephus, Talmudists indicate that Abraham’s niece Sarah (Lot’s sister) became his wife.  If Terah adopted Sarai when his son Haran died, then Abram married his legal sister.  Decades later in Ge.20:2, Abraham said of Sarah his wife to king Abimélech, “She is my sister”.

Núzi in N. Iraq ‘tablets of sistership’ were contracts written in Akkadian cúneiform (1400 BC); a man’s wife could legally be his sister.  Dr. Scott Stripling The Nuzi Tablets “The city of Nuzi, E of ancient Asshur and [9 miles] W of Árrapha in S Kurdistan. ‘Sister’ and ‘wife’ could be used interchangeably in documents. Thus, Abraham and Isaac [Ge.26:9] were being deceptive in calling their wives their sisters, but not strictly dishonest. In ancient Egyptian love poetry, brides are frequently referred to as ‘my sister.”  Ge.12:17-19 Pharaoh asked Abram regarding Sarai, “Why did you say, ‘She is my sister”?

BAS: The Patriarchs’ Wives As Sisters “Harran and Nuzi were of the same ethnic and cultural milieu, both centers of Hurrian society.”  Leon Mauldin Nuzi Tablets and the Patriarchs “In the society of the Hurrians, a wife enjoyed greater protection and a superior position when she also had the legal status of a sister [2 separate documents].”  Earlier, Abram moved to Harrán [Kawráwn h2771] in far S Turkey.

Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered: 4Q252, col.2 “Terah was 140 years old when he left Ur of the Cháldees and came to Harran. Abram was 70.”  (Terah was age 70 when he’d fathered Abram.)

“Ur of the Chaldees” was Abram’s birthplace or area of residence during his early decades.  Ge.11:28 it was also the place of brother Haran’s ‘nativity’ (moléhdeth h4138, or ‘kindred’).  Ne.9:7 “You are the Lord God who chose Abram and brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name Abraham.”  Where was Ur of the Chaldees located…in northern Mesopotamia, or in southern?

In the OT, the term Ur (h218) occurs in Ge.11:28, 31, 15:7, Ne.9:7.  Ur meant ‘flame’, according to the BDB Hebrew-English Lexicon.  Flame or fire.  Could “Ur” and “fire” be switchable?

Douay-Rheims 2Esdras 9:7/Ne.9:7 “You chose Abram and brought him forth out of the fire of the Chaldeans.”  Jash.12:1-43 traditionally, king Nimrod cast Abram into a flaming furnace in Casdim, v.21-23.  God saved Abram (age 50) from the furnace, but his brother Haran died at age 82 in that “fire of Casdim”, 12:37.  Jash.13:1-6 “The Lord appeared to Abram, ‘I am the Lord who delivered you from Ur Casdim.”  Abraham et al left Ur/fire Casdim for Harran; later he settled in the land Canaan (13:26).

‘Ur’ doesn’t occur in the Greek OT (today our Septuagint/LXX) or New Testament (NT).  In the 4 OT verses above, the LXX reads “land of the Chaldéans” (not ‘Ur’).  The term rendered “land” is chórah g5561.  Ac.7:4 Luke used the Greek term “ge” g1093 for “land of the Chaldeans”; NHEB has “land of the Kasdím”.  Ne.9:7 LXX “You did choose Abram and brought him out of the land of the Chaldeans.”

Chaldeans/Chaldees (Kasdíy h3778, Kasdim plural, ‘clod-breakers’) occurs 80 times in the OT; 3 times in Genesis (11:28, 31, 15:7).  Ge.11:28 “Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his nativity, Ur of the Chaldees [Kasdim].”  (Da.2:5 “Chaldeans” in Aramaic is Kasdáy h3779.  For ancient linguistic background relative to Abraham’s time, see “Patriarchs’ Bronze Age Languages”.)

Cambridge Bible Ac.7:4 “The extent of the country signified by the ‘land of the Chaldeans’ must have varied at different periods.”  Southern Mesopotamia would become known as Cháldea in the future.

Mic.5:6 Assyria is called the “land of Nimrod”.  Pulpit Commentary Mi.5:6 “The term [‘land of Nimrod’] is better explained as a synonym for Assyria.”  Ge.10:6-11 Nimrod’s kingdom included Assyria, where “Asshur” (LXX, KJV, Josephus; others read “Nimrod”) had built Nineveh.  Descendants of Shem’s son Asshur lived in Assyria, but that land became ruled by Ham’s descendant Nimrod.

Wikipedia: Chaldea “The ancient Chaldeans were…West Semitic Levant [Syria] semi-nomadic tribes who seem to have migrated between 940–860 BC into the SE corner of Mesopotamia, at the head of the Persian Gulf. The first written attestation of Chaldeans occurs in 852 BC, in the annals of the Assyrian king Shalmeneser III, who mentions…the SE extremes of Babylonia, and subjugating the overall leader of the Kaldu [Akkadian language] tribes.”  Over the centuries, the Chaldean peoples migrated into various land areas.

Gen.11:27-31 Did Moses have in mind the area Chaldeans occupied 500 years earlier at Abram’s birth, or the area Chaldeans occupied at the time Moses wrote, or does our Genesis reflect the Babylonian area Chaldeans occupied when scribes (Ezra?) centuries later updated Gen. with current place names?

Britannica: Ur “Important city of ancient southern Mesopotamia (Sumer) situated about 140 miles SE of Babylon and 10 miles west of the present bed of the Euphrates River. Modern Tell Muqayyar, Iraq.”

Some Bible historians think Abram’s nativity was in southern Mesopotamia, at that famous Sumerian Ur.  Abram’s time corresponds to that of the Ur III Dynasty (c 2112–2004 BC) Neo-Sumerian empire of SW Mesopotamia.  But is southern Mesopotamia the most likely place of his birth?

Wikipedia: Ur of the Chaldees “In 1862, Henry Rawlinson [Assyriologist] identified Ur Kasdim with Tell Muqayyar. In 1927 Leonard Woolley [archaeologist] identified Ur Kasdim with the Sumerian city of Ur (founded c 3800 BC), in south Mesopotamia, where the Chaldeans settled much later (around the 9th century BC); Ur lay on the boundary of the region later called Kaldu (Chaldea, corresponding to Hebrew Kasdim [?]) in the first millennium BCE. Woolley’s identification was challenged with the discovery of the city of Harran in north Mesopotamia, near the present-day Altmbasak in Turkey (archaeological excavations at Harran began in the 1950s). The Chaldean dynasty didn’t rule Babylonia (and thus become the rulers of Ur) until the late 7^th century BC.”  Not in Abraham’s time.

Josh.24:2-3 LXX “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Your fathers at first dwelled beyond the River [Euphrates], Terah the father of Abram and Nahor, and they served other gods. And I took your father Abram from beyond the River and guided him in all the land [of Canaan].”  Initially they lived east of the Euphrates.  Ge.24:10 the city of Nahor was in Arám Naharáyim, Syria in northern Mesopotamia.

But the southern Ur of Sumer was located on the west bank of the Euphrates, not “beyond the River”!

Christopher Eames Has Abraham’s Father, Terah, Been Discovered? “Which of the northern, ‘beyond the River’ Ur options is the best fit? Urartu wasn’t established until a millennium after Abraham. Urfa is a possibility. But Urkesh is also a good fit—and even more so in name. ‘Ur of the Chaldees’ isn’t a transliteration of the original Hebrew. The Hebrew title is Ur Kasdim (‘im’ is a Hebrew plural ending). Thus, a parallel between Urkesh – more properly titled in inscriptions Urkeš.Ki, and the biblical Ur Kasd[im].”  Urfa and Urkesh are both in north Mesopotamia, “beyond the River”, east of Euphrates.

Perhaps the epicenter of the Flood was within the broad area of the Mediterranean toward the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, Lake Van in Turkey, including the upper Euphrates & Balikh Rivers.  Ge.8:4, 9:18-20 Noah’s Ark rested in the Ararat mountains of old Armenia, and he planted vineyards in the valleys.

Descendants of Noah’s son Shem migrated south, to what would become known as Urartu (cognate with Ararat) in the region of: Lake Van, Lake Urmia in NW Iran, Urkesh in far NE Syria, Urfa (today Sanliurfa) 10 miles N of the Turkey-Syria border and 70 miles east of the Euphrates.  Wikitravel.org: Urfa “Urfa (also Sanliurfa, formerly Edessa).”  Abraham migrated from an Ur, likely heading south, to Harran (where he intermittently spent a total of 8 years [?], Jash.13:1-26); then SW to Canaan land.

Josephus Antiquities 1:6:4 (93 AD) “Arphaxad named the Arphaxadites, now called Chaldeans.”  Gill Exposition Ge.10:22 “Arphaxad, from him part of Assyria, which lay northward next to Armenia, was called Arphaxitis. Josephus says, he gave name to the Arphaxadaeans, whom he ruled over, now called Chaldeans. Indeed the name of the Chaldeans may well be derived from the latter part of Arphaxad’s name, ‘Chashad’…the Chaldeans were called Chasdim before Chesed [Abraham’s nephew, Ge.22:20-22] was born, and were a nation when Abraham came out of Ur, before Chesed could be old enough to build towns and found a nation; see Ge.11:31.”  So its likely Kasdim didn’t relate to Chesed the son of Abraham’s brother Nahor 2, since Chesed was younger than Abraham.  Instead, Ur-Ka/esh?

Pulpit Commentary Ge.10:22 “Arphaxad. A region in the north of Assyria; the Arrhapacitis of Ptolemy (Rosenmüller, Keil, Kalisch).”  Barnes Notes Ge.10:22 “Gesenius renders it [Arphaxad’s country] border or stronghold of the Kasdim [?].”  Wikipedia: Arrapha “(Akkadian) An ancient city in NE Iraq, at [today’s] Kirkuk. A part of Sargon’s Akkadian empire [2300 BC].”

In the Jewish traditional (150 BC) Book of Jubilees 8:1-6, an earlier Kesed was Shelah’s uncle; Kesed & Kainan (Shelah’s father, LXX) were brothers, Arphaxad’s sons.  Jub.11:3 “Ur, the son of Kesed, built the city of ‘Ara of the Chaldees’, and called its name after his own name and the name of his father.”  Ur Kesed = Ur Kasdim?  Wikipedia: Arpachshad “Some ancient Jewish sources point to Arpachshad as the immediate progenitor of Ura and Kesed, who allegedly founded the city of Ur Kasdim (Ur of the Chaldees).”  Wikipedia: Ora, Daughter of Ur “The Book of Jubilees implies that Arphaxad is the grandfather of Ur, son of Kesed.”  Jub.9:4 “For Arpachshad came forth the third portion, all the land from the region of the Chaldees to the east of the Euphrates…all the land of Lebanon and Sanir [De.3:9 LXX, Mt Hermon] and Amana [SSol.4:8 LXX, a river by Damascus] to the border of the Euphrates.”

Job.1:17 CEV “Three gangs of Chaldeans [LXX “horsemen”] attacked and stole your camels.”  It is thought that Job (c 1800–1600 BC) lived in Bashan NE toward Syria.  (see “Job and the Land of Uz”.)  Barnes Notes Job.1:17 “The Chaldees or Casdim were a warlike people who originally inhabited the Carduchian mountains, north of Assyria, and the northern part of Mesopotamia.”  Keil and Delitzsch Ge.11:28 “Ur of the Chaldees is either in the Ur between Hatra and Nisibis [N Iraq and far S Turkey], near Arrapachitis, or in Armenian Urrhai, the old name for Edessa, modern Urfa [Sanliurfa].”  Urfa (Urha in Armenian) was 7 miles SW of the ancient Gobékli Tepe site of the oldest known temple.

TimesofIsrael.com Urkesh: Abraham’s Ur of the Chaldees? “The Hurrians came to be the dominant group in S Anatolia, N Mesopotamia, and NE Syria. Their capital and largest city was Urkesh at the base of the Taurus mountains. Nearby, in the heart of Hurrian territory was Harran. Could Urkesh be Ur of the Chaldees? In Hebrew it is called Ur Kasdim, with Hebrew consonants U-R-K-E-S. Josephus, Maimonides, and other early Jewish sages claim that Abraham’s birthplace was in north Mesopotamia.”

It is said that the general area of Abraham’s ancestors is witnessed by the names of ancient sites below Armenia in south Turkey.  ref the names in Gen.11:21-32.  Bet Yeshurun: Who Was Abraham? “Dr. Douglas L. Esse, Assoc. Director of the Harran Expedition of the Oriental Institute in Chicago wrote, ‘The biblical account clearly made a strong association between the patriarchs, the city, and the surroundings of Harran in N Syria (today SE Turkey). Abraham’s father, Terah, was named after the town of Til Turahi; Abraham’s grandfather Nahor [1], was named after Nahuru or Til Nahiri; Abraham’s great grandfather Serug, was named after Sarugi (modern Suruc); Abraham’s brother Nahor [2], was named after Nahuru or Til Nahiri; Abraham’s brother Haran, received the name of the Haran (also spelled Harran [?]) district, but was born and died in Ur of Chaldees. These were all place-names in the ancient Balikh Valley area of Aram. Harran, in SE Turkey…is east of the great northern bend of the Euphrates (just north of Syria). It is known by three names in the Bible (Gen 25:20, 28:2-7, 48:7; Hos 12:12-13): Harran, Paddán-Arám, Aram-Naharaim. This area was a crossroads of trade & civilization.”

There was more than one ancient ‘Ur’ (‘fire’ ?)!  readyforeternity.com Which Ur is Abraham’s Ur? “There were several ancient cities called Ur or a variation of Ur. The Mari tablets (dating to the time of Abraham) and later Assyrian sources mention cities such as Nahor and Serug in the vicinity of Harran. Modern Suruc is 35 miles east. Harran wasn’t on the route between Sumerian Ur and Canaan. A caravan traveling from southern Mesopotamia heading for Canaan would have followed the Euphrates in a northerly direction and then turned west at Mari [200 miles SSE of Haran!]…before turning south toward Canaan. Going directly west from Sumerian Ur to Canaan wasn’t a viable route because the Arabian desert would have proven an impractical, or perhaps impossible, challenge.”

TheTorah.com Ur Kasdim “A more attractive suggestion is that Abraham’s hometown is the city of Ur in northern Mesopotamia, modern-day Urfa [Sanliurfa] in SE Turkey, 44 km north of Ḥarran.  Most likely, this city is the one mentioned as Ura in cuneiform tablets from Úgarit (14th–13^th centuries BCE), where it is associated with the Hittite realm. A journey from Urfa to Canaan would indeed pass directly through Ḥarran. Local (Turkish) Jewish, Christian, and Muslim tradition identifies this city as biblical Ur, the birthplace of Abraham.”  ‘Abraham’s Cave’ is a pilgrimage site in Sanliurfa.

OT Professor Tony Cartledge Have We Erred On Ur? “Cyrus Gordon, who dug at the Sumerian Ur with Leonard Wooley, never accepted Wooley’s identification of the southern Ur as Abraham’s ‘Ur of the Chaldees’. He consistently argued for a northern location. I’ll point to the more likely possibility that Abraham grew up in Anatolia [Turkey], not Sumer.”  Not in southern Mesopotamia.

Ge.11:31 Amplified Bible Harran was 550 miles NNW of the Sumerian Ur!  JFB Commentary Ge.11:31 “They came unto Harran, two days’ journey SSE from Ur [Sanliurfa].”  It is understood, a caravan couldn’t travel 550 miles north from the southern Sumerian Ur to Harran in only two days!

Jub.12:31 Nahor [2] too was in Harran.  Antiquities 1:6:5 “Nahor…Abram…Terah …they all moved to Harran.  Jash.22:15 “Abraham’s brother Nahor, his father, and all belonging to them dwelt in Harran.”  Keil and Delitzsch Ge.11:31 “Nahor must also have gone to Harran.”  Ge.24:10 Abraham’s servant “went into Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.”  Jash.24:27 “Nahor…died and was buried in Harran”.  Ge.24:4 LXX, CEV, GN Abraham said, “Go to my country where I was born, find a wife for my son [Isaac].”  Cambridge Bible Note Ge.24:7 “Land of my nativity’; the land of Harran is clearly intended.”  Jash.24:32 “The servant [Eliezer] answered his master Abraham, ‘I go to your birthplace and to your father’s house to take a wife for your son from there.”  Abram “was born” in that northern region.

Professor Cyrus Gordon Where Is Abraham’s Ur? “Sumerian Ur is never called ‘Ur of the Chaldees’ in  the countless cuneiform tablets that mention Ur. The biblical evidence is conclusive in placing Ur of the Chaldees in the Urfa-Harran region…rather than in southern Mesopotamia. The designation ‘Ur of the Chaldees’ distinguishes it from other cities called Ur, including Sumerian Ur. Gen.24:7, 10, 29 tells us that Abraham’s birthplace was in Aram-Naharayim where Laban lived.”  Laban, grandson of Nahor 2.  Ge.31:21 leaving Laban in the east, Jacob crossed over Euphrates heading west on his way into Gilead.

The Ebla Tablets, dated c 2350 BC, were discovered in NW Syria in 1974.  Jonas Manske The Ebla Tablets (2005) “The Ebla tablets also speak of the city of Ur…as being in the territory of Harran.”

Ac.7:2 “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Harran.”  Meyer NT Commentary Ac.7:2 “The land of Ur (Gen.11:28) was situated in northern Mesopotamia.”  Cambridge Bible Ac.7:2 “…the site of Ur, the most probable opinion seems to be that which places it at Edessa [Sanliurfa], called Orfah…Orrha in early times.”  Smith’s Bible Dictionary:Ur “It has been identified by the most ancient traditions with Orfa in the highlands of Mesopotamia.”

Israel-a-history-of.com Ur of the Chaldees: The Forefather of the Hebrew Race “The traditional site of Abraham’s birth according to Islamic tradition is a cave in the vicinity of Edessa. Edessa is now named Sanliurfa and…is the site of a mosque called the ‘Mosque of Abraham’.”

Derek Gilbert Second Coming of Saturn, p.64 “For most of the last 4,000 years most people assumed that Abraham came from northern Mesopotamia. Until Wooley, Bible scholars generally believed the patriarch had come from southern Turkey.”  (Urkesh, now Tell Mozan, was 100 miles east of Harran.)

But since the 1920s, many have thought Abraham’s birthplace was the Ur in southern Mesopotamia (west of the Euphrates).  Yet the OT LXX and most other evidence to date indicates his birth was east of the Euphrates in northern Mesopotamia, near Urfa/Sanliurfa or Urkesh.  Perhaps future archaeological findings will more conclusively identify an exact location, be it northern or southern Mesopotamia.

 

Watchers and Gen. 6 ‘Sons of God’ (2)

This is the conclusion to “Watchers and Gen. 6 ‘Sons of God’ (1)”.  Part 1 identified the “Watchers” (Da.4:13-17, 23), and tied the Watcher angels that sinned in the intertestamental book of 1Enoch to 2Pe.2:4 & Jude 1:6, 14-15.  Material from Part 1 isn’t repeated here in Part 2; Part 1 should be read first.

Part 2 mostly focuses on the expression “sons of God”, as seen in the Old Testament (OT) scriptures.

Ge.6:2 “The sons of God saw the daughters of men were beautiful, and took wives for themselves.”

Who were those very ancient “sons of God”?  Some commentaries interpret them as human men.  But earlier sources interpreted them as supernatural beings (also reflected in various Bible translations).

The OT Septúagint/LXX is older than the Masoretic text.  Ge.6:2 Alexandrian LXX “The angels of God, having seen the daughters of men were beautiful, took to themselves wives of all they chose.”  Ge.6:2 Good News Trans “Some of the heavenly beings saw that these young women were beautiful.”  Ge.6:2 ISV “Some divine beings noticed how attractive human women were.”  Ge.6:4 CEV “The children [the giants] of the supernatural beings who had married women became famous heroes and warriors.”

Let’s examine the occurrences of “sons of God” in the OT, and then cite early interpretive views.

The expression “sons of God”, bene haElohím (Strongs h1121 h430, Hebrew), is also found in the OT Job 1:6 and 2:1. “There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.”  Ellicott Commentary Ps.89:6-7 “Sons of God’ – i.e. angels. For a picture of the court of heaven see Job 1:6.”  The Job.1:6 & 2:1 “sons of God” refers to heavenly beings.

The Lord questioned Job in Jb.38:4-7. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth…When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”  The Jb.38:7 “sons of God” didn’t mean humans.  No humans were created yet when God “laid the foundation of the earth”.  Pulpit Commentary Jb.38:7 “Sons of God’ here must necessarily be the angels, since there were no men as yet in existence.”  Jb.38:7 LXX “…All My angels praised Me with a loud voice.”

Da.3:25 King Nebuchadnézzar perceived four men (not three!) in the blazing furnace and exclaimed, “Behold! The appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods [h426, Aramaic]!”  v.28 God’s angel.

In the OT, there are no human individuals named who were called “sons of God/god”, bene haElohim.  Rather, the expression referred to supernatural beings…created, unbegotten.

Ps.89:6 “Who in the skies can compare with the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord?”  Some older translations literally read “sons of the mighty”.  1599 Geneva Bible Ps.89:6 note “Meaning, the angels.”  Gill Exposition Ps.89:6 “None of the angels [can compare].”  Cambridge Bible Ps.89:6 “Denotes angels….Synonymous with Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7.”  Celestial beings, not human beings.

Ps.29:1 “Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, glory and strength.”  Some older translations literally read “you sons of the mighty.”  JFB Commentary Ps.29:1 “Sons of the mighty’. Heavenly beings, as angels.”  Barnes Notes Ps.29:1 “The allusion is undoubtedly to the angels, as being in an eminent sense the sons of God.”  (also see the topic “Heavenly Host Authorities and Powers”.)

Ho.1:10 “Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sands of the sea….It will be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.”  However, Hosea’s prophecy refers to Israelites becoming sons of God in the future.  Poole Commentary Ho.1:10 “God will bring it about in His time.”  Barnes Notes Ho.1:10 “Sons of the living God.’ God adopts us as sons (Rom.8:15).”  Gill Exposition Ho.1:10 “The Jews will be converted, and all Israel saved, Rom.11:25.”  According to the apostle Paul, humans become adopted sons of God now via the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  But only Jesus is Son of God conceived by the Holy Spirit (Mt.1:20)!  Other celestial spirit beings were created sons of God.

The New Testament Lk.3:38 indicates Adam the first human was a “son of God”.  But Adam was a created son of God (Ge.1:27); he wasn’t begotten.  And God is the Father of created spirits, He.12:9.

Again, there are no humans named in the OT who are called “sons of God”, bene haElohim (Hebrew).

The Book of Jubilees (also known as Little Genesis) was written in Hebrew ca 150–100 BC.  It told of the very ancient “sons of God” who had relations with the “daughters of men” in Ge.6:1-4.  Jub.4:15, 22 “Jared [Enoch’s father, Ge.5:18-19]. In his days the angels of the Lord descended on the earth, those who are named the Watchers….He [Enoch] testified to the Watchers who had sinned with the daughters of men.”  Jub.7:21-22 “The Watchers, against the law of their ordinances, went whoring after the daughters of men and took themselves wives. They begat sons the Naphidim, and they devoured one another…the Giants.”  This ancient Jewish work says that some angels/Watchers sinned and fathered evil giants.  See “Watchers and Gen. 6 ‘Sons of God’ (1)” about the Watchers in the book of 1Enoch.

The term incubus relates to a spirit lusting after and having sex with a human woman.  (also cf. Tobit 6:14 “A wicked spirit loves her”; Ge.19:1, 4-7 sex with a different kind of being.)

The fragmentary Book of Giants is an apocryphal Jewish work, dated ‘before the 2^nd century BCE’.  Aramaic copies were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) at Qumrán.  It tells of the birth of the hybrid giants.  Wikipedia: The Book of Giants “This book tells of the background and fate of these ante-diluvial giants and their fathers, the Watchers, the ‘sons of God’ or ‘holy ones’ (Dan.4:13, 17) who rebelled against heaven when…they commingled, in lust, with the ‘daughters of men’. Their even more corrupt offspring, the giants, were variously called thereafter nephilim, gibborim, rephaim, being the earthly half-breed races that fought against God and His followers.”  Interestingly, one of the giants named in this work is Gílgamesh.  That may be a polemic against the Epic of Gilgamesh; it is uncertain.

Also part of the DSS is the Damascus Document (4Q271), dated ca 100 BC. “The watchers of heaven fell. And their children whose height was like the loftiness of cedars fell [cf. Amos 2:9]. All flesh that was on dry land perished.”  That alluded to Noah’s Flood.

The Jewish philosopher Philo Judaeus of Alexandria (c 25 BC – c 50 AD) used the Alexandrian Codex version of the Greek OT text (forerunner of our LXX/Septuagint).  Philo quoted Ge.6:2 in his On The Giants (De Gigantibus) 2:6. “When the angels of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, they took unto themselves wives of all them who they chose.’ Those beings whom other philosophers call demons.”  In Philo’s view, those fallen angels who fathered the giants/Nephilim were demons.

Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:3:1 “Many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength. The tradition is that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants.”  Josephus’ translator William Whiston added, “That the fallen angels were, in some sense, the fathers of the old giants, was the constant opinion of antiquity”.  Most ancients thought it to be so.

Both Philo and Josephus thought the “sons of God” in Gen.6 were (fallen) angels of God.  But it seems that Josephus thought demons were the spirits of deceased wicked humans.  Josephus Wars of the Jews 7:6:3 “Demons…are the spirits of the wicked which enter into men which are alive, and kill them.”

Some people think demons are the earthbound spirits of deceased evil humans, malevolent ghosts.  Others think demons are fallen angels.  Or they’re spirits of the hybrid Nephilim offspring of Watchers (1Eno.15:8).  Or demons are aliens created by God who came here from other worlds, trespassers.

Justin Martyr (ca 100–165 AD) was a gentile Samaritan Christian.  He wrote in Second Apology, Chpt 5 “Angels transgressed this appointment, and were captivated by love of women, and begat children who are those that are called demons”.  This prominent early martyr believed angels were the fathers.

Irenáeus (ca 130–202 AD) was a leading early Greek bishop (in Lyons) who developed Christian theology.  He wrote in A Discourse in the Demonstration of Apostolic Preaching, 18 “Illicit unions took place upon the earth, since angels were united with the daughters of the race of mankind. And they bore to them sons who for their exceeding greatness were called giants”.  This prominent early theologian too believed that angels fathered those giants.

The Aramaic Targum Neofití and Targum Jonathán also indicate that fallen angelic beings mated with human women.  Legend ties the Watchers or their giant offspring to the Titans of Greek mythology.

Natan Lawrence The ‘Sons of Elohim’ and ‘the Giants’ “The idea that fallen angels were the fathers of the giants is the general opinion of antiquity.”  Belief that those fathers were human men is more recent.

The pseudepigráphical Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (T12P, the sons of Jacob) is a late 2^nd century BC Jewish biographical work, thought to also now contain early ‘Christian additions’.  Testament of Reuben 5:6-7 “They [women] allured the Watchers who were before the flood; they lusted after them and conceived the act in their mind. For they changed themselves into the shape of men, and appeared to them when they were with their husbands. And the women lusting in their minds after their forms, gave birth to giants, for the Watchers appeared to them as reaching even to heaven.”  Deliriums Realm: Watchers/Nephilim comments, “He says the real fathers were humans, but giants were conceived from mutual passions of angels and women.”  Testament of Naphtali 3:5 “The Watchers also changed the order of their nature, whom the Lord cursed at the flood.”  Wikipedia: Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs “A copy of the Testament of Naphtalí was discovered at Qumran among the DSS taken from Cave 4 (4Q215).”  It is thought the original T12P possibly was an Essene writing.

However, the (supposed) Book of Jasher differed on who were those Ge.6:1-4 very ancient “sons of God”.  Jash.4:18 “Their judges and rulers went to the daughters of men and took their wives by force from their husbands according to their choice.”  In Jasher, those “sons of God” were human men, not angels.  This view differs from that of more ancient sources.  Ken Ammi Book of Jasher on the Nephilim “The fact that this text doesn’t offer an Angelic interpretation of the Gen.6 affair is evidence that it isn’t an ancient text, as the earliest Jewish (as well as Christian for that matter) interpretation was that the sons of God weren’t humans in any capacity, but were Angels (see Jude 6-7 and 2Peter 2 specifically).”  The Book of Jasher we have today dates from only a few hundred years ago.

Biblical Archaeology Society: The Nephilim and the Sons of God “Though centuries of rabbinical and church tradition would say otherwise, the audience to whom the text [Ge.6:1-4] was intended would have understood the ‘sons of God’ to be members of the divine assembly mentioned throughout the literature of the ancient Near East, including the Bible. In the Biblical texts, the ‘sons of God’ are usually described as lesser heavenly beings in the service of the Most High.”

International Bible Standard Encyclopedia: Sons of God “Most scholars…interpret ‘sons of God’ as referring to supernatural beings. The intent of the original writer [of Ge.6:1-4] was to account for the rise of the giant race of antiquity by the union of demigods with human wives. This interpretation accords with Enoch [1Enoch] chapters 6-7, etc., and with Jude 1:6.”  (again, see Part 1.)

ReasonsForHopeJesus: Who Were the Nephilim & Sons of God in Genesis 6? “Fallen Angels. This interpretation is probably the most probable and credible, but it is also the most controversial.”

This is a controversial topic.  My focus hasn’t been on what may or may not seem logical to our modern minds, or accord with our church’s belief.  In OT verses, “sons of God” always meant supernatural beings, not humans.  The bulk of surviving applicable ancient writings reflect that the “sons of God” or Watchers who sinned were celestial beings…falling in their illicit desire for human women.

Skins Made For Adam Were Passed Down?

This topic tells, according to tradition, the history of those original animal skins God made for Adam.  There are two versions of the legend; they differ in regards to who those skins were passed down through.

Adam & Eve’s first sin and its ramifications are discussed in the topic “Tree Symbolism in Scripture”.  Ge.3:1-7 after the first humans sinned they tried to cover themselves with fig leaves.  v.7 “Their [Adam & Eve’s] eyes were opened and they knew they were naked; they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings.”  Nakedness can be physical, being unclothed…and/or symbolic of sin and shame.  Their sin also brought guilt and shame to their psyche.

But the fig leaves they sewed, indicative of human devices/ways, are inadequate to cover sin.  So….

Ge.3:21 “The Lord God made garments of skin [owr Strongs h5785, Hebrew] for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.”  God Himself covered them with animal skins, perhaps leather garments of kidskin or calfskin.  (In so doing, the Lord showed that to cover the nakedness symbolic of sin and their fallen condition, humans must be “clothed” by means of the death of another.  see the topic “Sacrifices and Burnt Offerings”.)  Ge.3:22-24 the Lord cast them out of the garden of Eden.

Adam died at age 930 years (Ge.5:5).  But what happened to the skins the Lord made for him?

Presumably, those skins were passed down through succeeding generations…to eventually come into the possession of Isaac’s son Esau!

Isaac’s sons Esau and Jacob were twins.  Ge.25:21-26 is the account of Esau and Jacob striving together while in the womb of Isaac’s wife Rebekah.  They were rivals even before birth.  Benson Commentary Ge.25:22 “The children struggled within her’ – in an unusual and painful manner; a presage of these two sons and their posterities.”  The firstborn son customarily inherited the birthright.  (cf. Ge.43:33 “The firstborn according to his birthright.”)  Esau and Jacob striving in the womb preluded the twins vying for the birthright (and the blessing).

Esau came out first.  Then Jacob came out, with his little hand holding onto the heel of brother Esau the firstborn.  Jacob’s name means ‘supplanter’ (Ge.27:36).  And Jacob would supplant or supersede Esau.

Ge.25:27-34 Isaac loved Esau more, but Rebekah loved Jacob.  Esau sold his birthright to Jacob.  JFB Commentary Ge.25:31 “Jacob said, ‘Sell me your birthright’. That is, the rights and privileges of the firstborn, which were very important, the chief being that they were the family priests [cf. Ex.24:5] and had a double portion of the inheritance (De.21:17).”  Esau disrespected his birthright.

Ge.27:1-7 Isaac had become nearly blind.  Before dying, Isaac wants to eat and bless his firstborn son Esau in the presence of the Lord (v.7 NASB).  Ge.27:8-17 but while Esau was out hunting game for Isaac…v.15 “Rebekah took the desirable [chemdáw h2532] garments of Esau her elder son, which were in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.”  v.16 garments of skins (owr h5785).  She wants her favorite son Jacob (not Esau) to receive Isaac’s blessing.  Rebekah hopes that Jacob wearing the skin garments of Esau will cause blind Isaac (age 120?) to think he’s Esau…and bless him/Jacob.

The Hebrew term chemdaw h2532 is used in v.15 to describe those particular skins.  It means desirable, choice, goodly, precious, valuable, beloved!  The root term is chamád h2530, desire or covet.

Let’s compare the use of chemdaw h2532 in other Old Testament (OT) verses:  Da.10:19 “O Daniel, a man greatly beloved [h2532 chemdaw].”  2Ch.32:27 NASB “Hezekiah had immense riches…and all kinds of valuable [h2532 chemdaw] articles.”  2Ch.36:10 ESV “King Nebuchadnézzar brought him [King Jehoiachín] to Babylon, with the precious [h2532 chemdaw] vessels of the house of the Lord.”  The term chemdaw h2532 was even used here to describe the holy vessels of God’s temple!  Ezr.8:25-27 utensils for the house of the Lord, were as “precious [h2532 chemdaw] as gold”.

Book of Jubilees 26:11 (written pre-100 BC) reads, “Rebecca took the goodly raiment of Esau, her elder son, which was with her in the house, and she clothed Jacob, her younger son, (with them)….”

So Isaac thought Jacob was Esau (Ge.27:21-24).  Ellicott Commentary Ge.27:15 “Evidently the clothing was something special, and such as was peculiar to Esau. For ordinary raiment, however handsome, would not have been kept in the mother’s tent.”  Cambridge Bible Ge.27:15 “Goodly,’ lit. ‘choice, desirable.’ By this is meant the clothes worn by Esau on festivals and solemn occasions.”  Poole Commentary Ge.27:15 “Either the sacerdótal garments which the eldest son wore in the administration of that office which belonged to him; or rather some other suit better than ordinary.”  Not Esau’s usual attire.  As the firstborn son, Esau might have later assumed the role of family priest, after the death of his father Isaac.  Pulpit Commentary Ge.27:15 “The firstborn didn’t serve in the priesthood while his father lived.”

But how had Esau come into the possession of those desirable special garments or vestments?

According to traditional sources, those skin garments were passed down from Adam to his descendants!  Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (Palestinian), sec.6 “Rebekah took the pleasant vestments of Esau her elder son which had formerly been Adam’s; but which that day Esau had not worn, but they remained with her in the house, and (with them) she dressed Jacob her younger son. And the skins of the kids she laid upon his hands and the smooth parts of his neck.”  Benson Commentary Ge.27:16 “Goats’ hair is very like the human.”  It resembled human hair.

Antiquities scholar Louis H. Feldman of Yeshiva University wrote, “Even the fact that Rebekah took the special garments of Esau (which he had inherited from Adam by virtue of his being the eldest son) and gave them to Jacob was justified by the rabbis”.  They excused the deception.

Louis Ginzberg Legends of the Jews, v.2, pp.96-97 “She [Rebekah] dressed him [Jacob] in them, for those garments were the garb of the priesthood, and the Holy One, blessed be He, had clothed Adam in them, for he was the glory of the world; and prior to the construction of the Tabernacle, sacrificial worship was performed by firstborns. Primordial Man bequeathed them to his firstborn, and so they passed from firstborn to firstborn until they reached Noah. Noah gave them to his son Shem [Shem the firstborn?], Shem passed them on to Abraham [the firstborn?]; Abraham to Isaac, and Isaac to Esau, who was his firstborn. Since Esau had sold his birthright to Jacob, Rebekah considered that henceforth it was proper for Jacob to wear these garments, because he now had the status of firstborn.”

The above version of the skins legend is…Esau inherited those skins, Adam’s original garments, by line of descent.  But there’s a second version, which follows:

Louis Ginzberg adds op. cit., “These were the garments that Esau coveted from Nimrod, and killed him and took them.”  Midrash Rabbah 65:15 “Rebekah then took the best [Heb. ha-hamudot] clothes of her older son Esau, which he had coveted [chamad] from Nimrod.”  In this second version, Esau got Adam’s garments of skin…from Nimrod.

Gill Exposition Ge.27:15 “They were, as some Jewish writers say (Targum Jonathán), the garments of Adam the first man, which Esau seeing on Nimrod, greatly desired them, and slew him for them; and hence called desirable garments.”  Esau’s wrong covetousness resulted in murder.

But how had the skins come into Nimrod’s possession?  Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer, Higger ed., ch.24 (written ca 833 AD) “Rabbi Hakhinai says Nimrod was mighty in strength, as it is said, ‘Cush also begot Nimrod’. Rabbi Judah says the garment that the Holy One, blessed be He, made for Adam and his wife were taken by Noah and his sons into the ark. When they came out of the ark, Noah’s son Ham took it with him [cf. Ge.9:20-23] and passed it on to Nimrod; when he wore them, any beast or animal that saw the writing would prostrate themselves before him. Human beings believed it was due to his might and therefore they made him king over them. Hence the saying, ‘Like Nimrod a mighty hunter by the grace of the Lord [cf. Ge.10:9].”  Earlier, Nimrod’s ancestor Ham had those skins.

Ge.9:22 “Ham, the father of Canáan, saw the nakedness of his father [Noah], and told his two brothers [Jápheth and Shem] outside.”  According to this second version of the legend, Ham stole the skins from the sleeping Noah (the priest).  Adam’s (priestly) garments then came into the possession of the line of Hamites…Ham → Cush → Nimrod.  Traditionally, that’s how Nimrod got his power and might.

Ge.10:8 “Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on earth.”  Nimrod’s kingdom was in ancient Mesopotámia.  (In Mic.5:6, Assyria is called the “land of Nimrod.”)

Jewish Encyclopedia: Nimrod “His great success in hunting was due to the fact that he wore the coat of skin which God had made for Adam and Eve (Ge.3:21). They were stolen by Ham.”

Supposedly the desirable skin garment (which became Nimrod’s and Esau’s) contained special powers!  Targum Neofití Ge.3:21 “The Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of glory, for the skin of their flesh, and He clothed them.”  Those (glorious) leather garments were unlike any coats made since!

Our Bibles mention the Book of Jasher in Josh.10:13 and 2Sa.1:18 (LXX “Book of Right”).  The (supposed) Book of Jasher today contains this second version of the skins legend regarding Nimrod and Esau:

Jash.7:23-32 “Cush the son of Ham, the son of Noah, took a [another] wife in his old age, and she bare a son, and they called his name Nimrod. And the garments of skin which God had made for Adam and his wife [Eve] were given to Cush. For after the death of Adam, the garments were given to Enoch; he gave them to Methusélah his son. And at the death of Methuselah, Noah brought them to the ark. And in their going out, Ham stole those garments from Noah his father, and hid them from his brothers [Japheth and Shem]. And when Ham begot his firstborn Cush, he gave him the garments in secret. When Cush had begotten Nimrod, he gave him those garments, and when he was 20 years old he put on those garments. Nimrod became strong when he put on the garments, God gave him might and strength….And he reigned upon earth.”  In the Book of Jasher, Nimrod is contemporary with Esau.

Jash.27:3-14 “Jealousy was formed in the heart of Nimrod against Esau [both were hunters]. On a certain day Esau went in the field to hunt, and he found Nimrod walking in the wilderness. Esau concealed himself from Nimrod. Esau started suddenly from his lurking place, drew his sword, ran to Nimrod and cut off his head….And Esau took the valuable garments of Nimrod, which Nimrod’s father [Cush] had bequeathed to Nimrod, and with which Nimrod prevailed over the whole land. And he [Esau] ran and concealed them in his house. He came into his father’s [Isaac’s] house exhausted and was ready to die through grief. He approached his brother Jacob and said, ‘Behold I shall die this day, and why then do I want this birthright?’ Jacob acted wisely in this matter, and Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, for it was so brought about by the Lord. And Jacob wrote the whole of this in a book, and sealed it.”  Jash.27:15-16, “All the days that Nimrod lived were 215 years and he died. Nimrod reigned upon the people 185 years.”

Traditionally, Nimrod was empowered by those skins of Adam’s!  Esau took the skins from Nimrod.

Isaac was deceived by Esau’s garments, worn by Jacob (Ge.27:18-end).  Isaac blessed Jacob.  Those weren’t just any skins smelling of leather…God’s Presence was there (Ge.27:7)!  They were unique.

Book of Jasher says Nimrod was the son of Cush’s old age.  But there may be chronological problems with this second version of the skins legend.  Again, in Jasher, Nimrod and Esau are contemporaries.

Noah had three sons, born prior to the Flood…Japheth, Shem, Ham.  Ge.10:6-9 LXX Nimrod was the 3^rd generation after Noah.  Noah → Ham → Cush → Nimrod.  But Esau was the 12^th/13^th generation after Noah (Ge.11:10-26, 21:3, 25:21-25)!  Noah → Shem → Arphaxad → Cainán (cf. Lk.3:36) → Shélah → Éber → Péleg → Reú → Serúg → Nahór → Térah → Abraham → Isaac → Esau.  Quite a disparity!

{Sidelight: According to the LXX chronology, the Flood occurred ca 3189 BC.  Noah lived on after the Flood for 350 years, until ca 2839 BC.  Shem lived for 600 years; 502 of his years were after the Flood.  Correspondingly, Shem lived ca 3287–2687 BC.  And Shem’s son Arphaxad lived for 565 years.  Arphaxad (born 2 years after the Flood) lived ca 3187–2622 BC.  ref Ge.11:10-13 LXX NETS.  Perhaps Ham’s son Cush lived a much longer life than Shem’s son Arphaxad’s 565 years?  (Seems doubtful.)  And Ham’s son Cush fathered Nimrod very late in life? ref Jash.7:23, 9:21.  Genesis doesn’t say.  Noah, Japheth, Shem, Ham, and Ham’s son Canaan (Cush’s younger brother) are all alive in Ge.9:18-28.

Later, Esau, born ca 1957 BC, at age 40 married two Hittite wives (Ge.26:34), ca 1917 BC.  Esau sold his birthright prior to marrying (Ge.25:27-34).  If Esau was age 16 when he killed Nimrod and took the skins, it occurred ca 1942 BC.  Jash.27:15 Nimrod lived for 215 years.  That would place his birth ca 2157 BC, 215 years before his death in 1942 BC.  For the LXX chronology to fit, Cush lived a very long life (living past 2157 BC), and Nimrod was born late in Cush’s life.  The Hebrew OT Masoretic Text chronology fits this more easily.)  Or, Moses’ account in Ge.10:1-20 skips some of Ham’s generations.  see “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”, “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.}

Gill Exposition Ge.10:8 “Probably this [Nimrod] was his [Cush’s] youngest son.”  Pulpit Commentary Ge.10:8 “Cush begot’ – not necessarily as immediate progenitor.”  Ellicott Commentary Ge.10:8 “This does not mean that Nimrod was the son of Cush, but only that Cush was his ancestor.”  So there may have been more generations, not recorded in Genesis, between Cush and Nimrod.

Moses’ Genesis narrative summarizes thousands of years.  His compilation shows historical highlights.  Other ancient writings, e.g. Jasher, Jubilees, Targums… add details and convey traditional beliefs.

The New Testament (NT) too refers to earlier traditions, some not recorded in the OT.  Such as….

In 2Ti.3:8, Paul wrote of a Jannes and Jambres tradition.  Jánnes and Jambrés aren’t mentioned in the OT.  Perhaps Paul was referencing Jash.79:27; it notes Jannes and Jambres, and Pharaoh.  Jewish Encyclopedia: Jannes and Jambres “According to rabbinical tradition they were the two chiefs of the magicians at the court of Pharaoh who foretold the birth of Moses, ‘the destroyer of the land of Egypt,’ thereby causing the cruel edicts of Pharaoh (Soṭah 11a; Sanh. 106a).”

Jude 1:9 tells of Michael the archangel having disputed about the body of Moses.  That dispute isn’t recorded in the OT.  Life Application Bible Jude 1:9 “Here Jude may have been making use of an ancient book called the Assumption of Moses.”  The dispute was a traditional belief in the 1^st century.

In He.11:37, “They were sawn asunder” refers to the Martyrdom of Isaiah tradition.  Jewish Encyclopedia: Isaiah “Isaiah, fearing Manasséh, hid himself in a cedar-tree, but his presence was betrayed by the fringes of his garment, and Manasseh caused the tree to be sawn in half (Jerusalem Talmud Sanh. X).”  Also see the Ascension of Isaiah 5:1-ff, dating from the early 1^st century AD.

The above three ancient historical incidents, recorded in traditional sources, but not in our OT…are nonetheless incidents mentioned in our NT.  (Needless to say, the OT doesn’t show every single incident regarding God’s people that occurred between the creation of Adam and Jesus’ birth!)

However, several dozen miracles are recorded in the OT.  For example: Ex.4:1-5, 17 the Lord did miracles through Moses’ rod/staff.  Ex.34:28-35 Moses’ face shined after he’d been in God’s presence to receive the Decalogue.  2Ki.13:20-21 a dead man revived and stood up when his corpse came into contact with the bones of the prophet Elisha.  2Ki.2:7-8 the Jordan River parted when the prophet Elijah struck the waters with his mantle garment.  Also, in the NT, God performed healing miracles through cloths touched by the apostle Paul, Ac.19:11-12.

From the beginning, the Lord has done amazing things… sometimes even through garments and cloths!

The skins legend may not seem credible enough for us to believe?  However, the Biblical truth of all the wonders God has done…perhaps adds feasibility and credence to the legend that the skins God made for Adam were empowered, desired, and passed down to Adam’s descendants.

Job and the Land Of Uz (3)

This topic was begun in “Job and the Land of Uz (1)”, and continued in “Job and the Land of Uz (2)”.  In Part 1, the probable location of the land of Uz, where Job lived, was discussed.  In Part 2, Job’s four visitors were identified.  From both parts, the time period in which Job lived is being determined.  Most of the material presented in (1) and (2) won’t be repeated here in the concluding Part 3.

Jb.1:1-3 Job dwelt in the land of Uz (Ausítis LXX), and was the greatest of the “men of the East”.  Barnes Notes Jb.1:3 “East – The country which lies east of Palestine.”  Old Testament (OT) scripture shows that the general area of the “East” wasn’t the lands of: Canáan, Egypt, the Philistines, Edom, the Midianites, the Amalekites.  Egypt and Philistines were to the West; Edom and Midian to the South.

In the OT, the name Job (Strongs h347, Hebrew) appears only in the book of Job and in Ezk.14:14, 20.  In no other verses.  The name Jobáb (h3103) is a different name from Job (h347).  Jobab is seen in Ge.10:29, 36:33-34, Jsh.11:1, 1Ch.1:23, 44-45, 8:9, 18.  The name Iob (h3102) in Ge.46:13, also is a different name from Job (h347).  This Iob is Jashúb in Nu.26:24 & 1Ch.7:1.   (see Part 2 of this topic.)

The (supposed) Book of Jasher refers to the Jobab of Ge.10:29, and to the Iob of Ge.46:13.  Jasher 45:5-7 “Jobab the son of Yoktan [Joktán, Ge.10:29] had two daughters…Adinah and Aridah….Issachár took Aridah and came to the land of Canaan…And Aridah bore unto Issachar four sons, Tolá, Puváh, Job [Iob or Jashub, Ge.46:13, Nu.26:24, 1Ch.7:1], and Shomrón.”

However, the Job in the book of Job had three daughters, Jb.1:2…not two.  All Job’s children died, Jb.1:19.  JFB Commentary Jb.1:19 “Including the daughters.”  Later after his ordeal, Job had three more daughters, named: Jemimáh, Keziáh, Karenhappúch, Jb.42:13.  The Jobab (h3103) of Ge.10:29, traditionally having only two daughters (as per Jasher), is a different man from the Job (h347) in Job.

The Iob/Jashub/Job of Ge.46:13 & Jasher lived in the land of Canaan and then in Egypt.  That wasn’t the “East”.  But the Job in the book of Job was the greatest of the men of the “East” (Jb.1:3).  So Iob/Jashub (Nu.26:24 & 1Ch.7:1), the son of Issachar in Ge.46:13, isn’t the Job of the book of Job.

A postscript based on the Syriac version was added later to the Septúagint version of the book of Job.  This postscript appears immediately after Jb.42:17 in our Septuagint/LXX book of Job.  The postscript states that the Jobab (h3103) of Ge.36:33-34 was an Edomite and he was the Job (h347) of the book of Job.  The postscript to the LXX Jb.42:17 follows (scripture references are inserted by me [in brackets]):

“It is written that he [Job] will rise with those whom the Lord resurrects.  This man is described in the Syriac book as living in the land of Ausitis, on the borders of Edom and Arabia.  Previously his name was Jobab.  He took an Arabian wife and begot a son named Ennon.  But he [Job] himself was the son of his father Zare [LXX Ge.36:13, 17.  Zara v.33 name differs], one of the sons [or grandsons] of Esau [Ge.36:10, 13], and of his mother Bosorra.  Thus, he was the 5^th son from Abraham.  Now these were the kings who reigned in Edom, over which country he [Job] also ruled.  First, there was Balak the son of Beor [Ge.36:32], and the name of his city was Dennaba.  After Balak, there was Jobab, who is called Job [Ge.36:33].  After him, there was Asom [Ge.36:34], ruler out of the country of Teman.  After him, there was Adad the son of Barad [Ge.36:35], who destroyed Midian in the plain of Moab; the name of his city was Gethaim.  Now his [Job’s] friends who came to him were: Eliphaz, of the children of Esau, king of the Temanites [Ge.25:15]; Bildad, ruler of the Shuhites [Ge.25:2]; and Zophar [LXX Ge.36:15], king of the Mineans.”  That concludes the postscript/appendix and our LXX book of Job.

There are problems with this additional paragraph to the LXX book of Job…it ignores or contradicts other verses of the OT.  For example, in Ge.36:33 & 1Ch.1:44, Zara from Bozrah (LXX Bosorrha) was Jobab’s father.  Bozrah/Buzrah was east of Bashan near the Hauran and edge of the Syrian desert, 60-80 miles S of Damascus (People’s Dictionary of the Bible).  Another Bozrah became the capital city of Edom (ca 1000 BC?).  But in the LXX postscript to Jb.42:17, Bosorrha is Job’s mother, not a place!

Barry Setterfield Job and Jobab: “About the ending of the Book of Job in the Septuagint…we note that the LXX ends with chapter 42 verses 16 and 17 where we are given Job’s age. This is part of the Alexándrian Septuagint. However, there is a rather lengthy paragraph which is NOT numbered that appears separately after the close of verse 17. This is an addition, and we are plainly told where this addition came from. The opening of this additional paragraph reads ‘This man [Job] is described in the Syriac book as living in the land of Aúsis on the borders of Iduméa and Arabia…’ This, and all that follows, is clearly an editorial comment about the Syriac version of Job.”

Setterfield continues: “The first Syriac version of the Old Testament originated about 180 AD, which is well after the Council of Jamnia in 100 AD where the Masoretic Text originated. It therefore has nothing to do with the Alexandrian Septuagint Text which originated about 280 BC or over 450 years earlier. This inclusion therefore originates with the later Septuagints. This term Septuagint has come to mean any Hebrew to Greek translation. That is why we specify the Alexandrian LXX which was the most ancient. The time of 180 AD was about the time of Origen when he produced a number of Greek versions that conformed to the Masoretic Text of 100 AD.”

Setterfield indicates that the postscript to Jb.42:17 LXX is an insertion based on what the 180 AD Syriac version contained about Job.  The postscript wasn’t in the previous old Greek version (or Alexandrian) of the OT.  It was added over 400 years later to the Septuagint.

The Jobab of Ge.36:33 wasn’t the Job of the book of Job (neither was the Jobab of Ge.10:29).  This understanding also can be ascertained from internal evidence of the actual text.

In the text of LXX Ge.36:13, 17, the name of Esau’s grandson is Zare.  But in the LXX Ge.36:33 the name of Jobab’s father is Zara…not Zare.  Similarly, LXX 1Ch.1:37 Zare vs LXX 1Ch.1:44 Zara shows the same discrepancy.  Zare and Zara were two different individuals!  The LXX postscript addition to Jb.42:17 confuses the names found in the actual LXX text.

In the Book of Jasher: Jasher 36:23 “The sons of Eliphaz the son of Esau were Teman, Omar, Zepho…and the sons of Reuel [son of Esau] were Nachath, Zerach.”  Jasher 58:29 “Jobab the son of Zarach died.”  In Jasher, the name of Esau’s grandson is Zerach, but the name of Jobab’s father is Zarach…not Zerach.  Again, Zerach/Zera and Zarach/Zara were two different individuals.

Ellicott Commentary Ge.36:33 “Jobab – The LXX identifies him with Job, but on no probable grounds.”  Gill Exposition Ge.36:33 “Jobab…this king some have thought to be the same with Job, but neither their names, nor age, nor country agree.”  Pulpit Commentary Ge.36:33 “Jobab – identified with Job, an opinion which Michaelis declares to be insinis error.”

Catholic Encyclopedia: Characters of the Poem “The appendix to the book of Job in the Septuagint identifies Job with King Jobab of Edom (Gen.36:33). Nothing in the book shows that Job was ruler of Edom; in Hebrew the two names have nothing in common.”  King Jobab wasn’t Esau’s grandson.

The postscript which was added to the LXX Job has errors.  Gerard Gertoux The Book of Job, p.10 “This late comment (c. 160-150 AD) has many errors….Jobab died many years before Job’s death.”

And 1,000 years later, Ezekiel still referred to Job as Job, h347 (Ezk.14:14, 20)…not as Jobab, h3103.

Jasher 58:26-29 “The children of Esau took a man from the people of the east; Jobab the son of Zarach from the land of Botzrah. Jobab reigned in Edom over all the children of Esau ten years. At the end of ten years, Jobab died.”  The King Jobab from Bozrah (Ge.36:33) died.  That was circa 1767 BC.

{Sidelight: Here’s a brief chronology of the (foreign) kings of Edom from Ge.36:31-39 and the Book of Jasher:  Bela ruled ca 1807–1777 BC (Jash.57:41-45).  Jobab ruled ten years, ca 1777–1767 BC (Jash.58:26-28).  Hushám/Chushám ruled ca 1767–1747 BC (Jash.58:29).  Hadád the son of Bedád ruled ca 1747–1712 BC (Jash.62:3).  Samláh ruled ca 1712–1690 BC (Jash.66:1-2).  Shaúl ruled ca 1690–1640’s BC (Jash.69:1-3).  BáalHanán ruled ca 1640’s–1614 BC (Jash.74:1-2).  Hadár/Hadad (an Edomite) ruled ca 1614–1567 BC (Jash.78:1-3, 90:6-9).  Moses sent messengers to this Hadar in the 40^th year after the exodus, Nu.20:14-21; Moses died during his rule (ca 1572 BC).  Joshua allotted the land of Canaan among the tribes of Israel ca 1567 BC.  Dates are approximate.  also ref my topics “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus” and “Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel.”}

Annette Yoshiko Reed Job As Jobab “In one of his letters, Jerome states that, in contrast to the Christians, the Jews of his time denied that Job was “of the descendants of Esau” (Letter 73; ca 398 CE). Arguing explicitly against the LXX Job appendix, Jerome then asserts that Job’s lineage should be traced through Uz, the son of Abraham’s brother Nahór (Quaest. In Gen. ad Ge.22:20-22) – apparently following a rabbinic tradition about Job’s identity (see Gen. Rab. 57:4).”  See Part 1 for Nahor detail.

Time elapsed after the death of the Jobab of Ge.36:33-34 & Jash.58:26-28.  Later in Jasher 66:15, Job is a counsellor to Pharoah. “Job, from Mesopotámia, in the land of Uz.”  This was ca 1702 BC, or 65 years after the death of Jobab king of Edom.  Then Jasher 67:24 “The king [pharaoh] sent and called his two counsellors, Reuél the Midianite and Job the Uzite.”  That was ca the 1690s BC.

This Job the Uzite from Mesopotamia, summoned by Pharaoh, isn’t the Jobab who’d ruled in Edom and died 70 years earlier!  (The man Reuel/Jethró later became Moses’ father-in-law, cf. Jasher 67:41.)

Approximately 1,000 years later, Jeremiah wrote of the “kings of the land of Uz” in Je.25:20 (not in LXX).  Also Lam.4:21 (not in LXX), “Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, who dwells in the land of Uz”.  Cambridge Bible Jb.1:1 “These words do not imply that Uz is identical with Edom, but they imply that Edomites had possession of Uz….”  Jeremiah indicated that Edomites, Esau’s descendants, dwelt in the land of Uz ca 600 BC.

Again, Jasher 66:15, the land of Uz in Mesopotamia was Job’s home.  Mesopotamia was in the East.  “Men of the East” dwelt there.  Jb.1:3 Job was in the “East”.  But Edom wasn’t in Mesopotamia nor part of the “East”.  Jasher 67:24 Job is called a Uzite.  see Part 1 about Mesopotamia.

ISBE: Uz “A kingdom of some importance somewhere in Southern Syria and not far from Judea.”  Ancient Syria/Arám was in upper Mesopotamia.

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.”  Catholic Encyclopedia: op. cit. “Job seems to have been an Araméan.”  Pulpit Commentary Jb.1:1 “Arabian tradition regards the region of the Hauran, northeast of Palestine, as Job’s country.”  The plain of ancient Hauran, towards SW Syria.

R.N. Coleman The Poem of Job “Josephus identifies the land of Uz with the territory of Damascus [Syria] and Trachonitis. The habitual residence of Job was in some portion of ancient Bashán.”

The book of Job refers to the Jordan River!  Jb.40:23 “The Jordan rushes to his mouth.”  So the land of Uz probably wasn’t all that far from the Jordan.  Ancient Bashan was NE of the Jordan River.

Og was an Amorite king of Bashan after the time of Job.  Moses recounted in De.3:13-14, “The rest of Gileád, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasséh. Jaír the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argób as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites”.  Gill Exposition De.3:13 “The region of Trachonitis, in Bashan.”  Pulpit Commentary De.3:14 “Geshuri and Maachathi were small Syrian tribes located to the east of [Mount] Hermon.”

It was ca 1572 BC when Moses/Israel conquered Og king of Bashan.  Job was probably dead by then.  R.N. Coleman op. cit. “The patriarch Job resided in Bashan, having been the predecessor of Og.”

In Job, there’s no mention of the nation of Israel dwelling in Canaan.  Jewish Encyclopedia: Job “Jose b. Ḥalafta said that Job was born when Jacob and his children entered Egypt and that he died when the Israelites left that country.”  Jacob and his descendants went down to Egypt ca 1827 BC.  The exodus was 215 years later ca 1612 BC.  Chuck Swindoll: Job “Though we cannot be certain, Job may have lived during the time of Jacob or shortly thereafter.”  Jb.42:16 Job’s lifespan was 200 years or so.

The book of Job refers to the Temanites, Shuhites (Jb.2:11), Buzites (Jb.32:2), Sabeans (Jb.6:19b LXX).  Temá was a son of Ishmaél (Ge.25:13-16), son of Abraham.  Shúah was the son of Abraham by his concubine wife Keturáh (Ge.25:1-2).  Uz & Buz were sons of Abraham’s brother Nahor (Ge.22:20-22).  Shebá, from whom the Sabeans probably descended, was a grandson of Abraham & Keturah (Ge.25:3).

From Dr. Martin Anstey’s The Romance of Bible Chronology, p.8, Ishmael lived from 2031–1894 BC.  Uz & Buz, Shuah, and Ishmael were all four of the same generation.  These four would’ve been alive in the 1900s BC.  Tema and Sheba were of the next generation (as was Jacob & Esau).  Ishmael’s son Tema, progenitor of the Temanites, would’ve been alive in the 1900s BC.  So would Abraham’s grandson Sheba, progenitor of the Sabeans.  The Temanite and Sabean tribes also 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 Temanite, Shuhite, Buzite, and Sabean clans 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 the patriarch Job lived sometime between the time of Ishmael (died ca 1894 BC) and Israel’s exodus from Egypt (ca 1612 BC).

Stephen Vicchio Job in the Modern World, p 202 “Mugir el-Hambeli says, ‘Job came from the Damascan province of Batanea.’ [Batanea was the ancient land of Bashan, which lay NE of the Jordan River.] 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.”

Joseph’s sons Ephraim & Manasseh were born in Egypt ca 1833 BC (cf. Jash.50:15).  Their children would’ve been born in the (early) 1700s BC.  Jasher recorded that Job spent time in Egypt as counselor to Pharaoh as late as the 1690s BC (Jash.66:15, 67:24).  So Job and the daughter of Ephraim (or Manasseh) feasibly could’ve met in Egypt during the 1700s BC, and married.

Conclusion: Considering the several sources…they indicate that Job lived from approximately 1800–1600 BC.  His land of Uz was most likely located NE of the Jordan River in Bashan, towards the Hauran of Mesopotamia and the Syrian desert.