Patriarchs’ Bronze Age Languages

This topic discusses languages of the Bronze Age (approximately 3300–1200 BC) in the Ancient Near East (ANE), relative to the time of the Biblical patriarchs.

We don’t know what the language of Adam was (cf. Ge.2:19-20).  Many historians think Sumérian is the oldest written language.  Sumerian is called an isolated language, with no ancestor tongue.  But loan words have been identified in Sumerian writings.  So Sumerian as the first language is questioned.  Encyclopaedia Brittanica “The Sumerian language…first attested about 3100 BC in S. Mesopotamia.”

Wikipedia: Writing System “The Sumerian archaic cúneiform script closely followed by the Egyptian híeroglyphs are generally considered the earliest writing systems, both emerging out of their ancestral proto-literate symbol systems from 3400 to 3200 BC with earliest coherent texts from about 2600 BC.”

Dating from pre-3000 BC Súmer, pictograph was pictures that represent a word or idea.  Cuneiform script was wedge-shaped marks or symbols, on clay tablets.  Cuneiform was adapted from pictograph.

The sons of the patriarch Noah were Shem, Ham and Jápheth (Ge.9:18).  The family survived the Flood.  The Septúagint/LXX dates Noah’s Flood circa (c) 3200 BC.  After the Flood, his descendants migrated from old Armenia (Ge.8:4), to Shinár (Ge.10:10), and so on.  The Ge.10–11 account, with the tower of Babél zíggurat, coincides with the development of language families from a primitive root language.

Post-Flood, Ge.11:1-9 “The whole earth was of one language [lip, shore, Strongs h8193 Hebrew]. They found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said, ‘Let us build a city & tower whose top is in heaven.’ Its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language [lip/shore], and scattered them over the whole earth.”  Wikipedia: Tower of Babel “The Akkadian name of the city was Babilim, meaning ‘gate of God.”  Shinar (Sumer, or Sínjar?) was an area in Mesopotamia (Ac.2:9, 7:2; it included ancient Babylonia).  Shinar means ‘two rivers’.  Mesopotamia (Greek) means ‘land between the rivers’, the Tigris and Euphrates.  Mankind spread out over the land; other languages emerged.

Language families developed through Noah’s descendants (ref Ge.10:1, 5, 20, 31).  Carlos Quiles From Adamic or the Language of the Garden of Eden Until the Tower of Babel “The language spoken by Noah and his descendants, whether the original Adamic language or the derived Chaldáic [?], split into 70 or 72 languages, according to the different traditions.”  People dispersed upon the earth through extended family lines, clans, languages.  It is said that 14 major language families exist today (e.g. Indo-European, Áfro-Asiátic the oldest).  Dialects developed within the major language groups/tree models as humanity spread geographically; numerous dialects of descent are within each.

Ge.10:6 “The sons of Ham were Cush, Mízraim [Egypt], Phut and Canáan.”  The Egyptian people descended from Ham.  Ge.10:22 “The sons of Shem were Elám, Asshúr, Arpachshad, Lud and Arám.  These were grandsons of Noah.  Semític languages are named from Shem.  (The Aramaic language would be named from Aram.)  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:4 “Elam…the Elamites, ancestors of the Persians [Iranians]. Asshur lived at the city Nineveh, and named his subjects Assyrians. Arpachshad named…the Chaldéans. Aram…called Syrians. Lud…Lydians [W Turkey].”  (see the topics “Aramaic in the Bible” and “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”.)  Aram & Arpachshad were brothers.

Wikipedia: Arpachshad “Arpachshad was understood by many Jewish and Muslim scholars [pre-1920] to be an area in northern Mesopotamia. This led to the identification of Arpachshad with Urfa-Kasid, a land associated with the Khaldis.”  Wikipedia: Chalybes “The Chalybes and Chaldoi were…peoples living in N. Anatolia [Turkey]. Their territory was known as Chaldia.”  (Later they’d move south.)

Ge.10:24 LXX “Arphaxad begot Kaínan (not Canaan), Kainan begot Shélah, Shelah begot Éber.”  (The Hebrew people would be named after Eber, Josephus ibid.)  Eber was the great-grandson (or grandson) of Arphaxad.

Sumerian of Iraq is an extinct linguistic isolate.  At Ur in S Mesopotamia, the writings on the mud-brick walls of the Great Ziggurat (2000–2100 BC) are Sumerian cuneiform.  The ancient Elamite language of SW Iran, dating from c 2600 BC and now extinct, is also considered a language isolate.  Although Elamite was named from Shem’s son Elam (Ge.10:22), it isn’t considered a Semitic language.

There were multilinguals in Mesopotamia, speaking Sumerian, Akkádian…then other dialects.  Akkadian is an extinct E Semitic Afro-Asiatic language.  Ge.10:10 Akkád was in or near the land of Shinar (the exact location hasn’t been discovered).  Akkadian names are seen in Sumerian writings, dated c 2500 BC.  Wikipedia: Akkadian Empire “Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere around 2000 BC.”  Near the commencement of the Middle Bronze Age.

Ge.11:10-27 Abrám descended from Arphaxad.  v.31 Abraham (born c 2100 BC) likely came from Ur/Urfa/SanliUrfa/Edessa, or Urkesh, in N Mesopotamia.  He migrated approx 25 miles S to Harrán (Akkadian ‘Harránu’, ‘crossroads’) in far S Turkey, 10 miles above the N Syrian border.  The region of Aram in Upper Mesopotamia.  Ancient Urkesh (Tel Mozan today) in NE Syria was 100+ miles E of Harran.  Abram later would migrate SSW through Damascus; cf. Ge.15:2 his “Eliézer of Damascus”.

Ge.11:16-27 the names of early Hebrews (descendants of Eber and ancestors of Abraham) are seen in the names of towns located in the vicinity of Harran, Turkey.  Péleg, the city of Paliga; Serúg, the city of Sarugi; Nahór, Nakhur in the valley; Abraham’s father Térah, Til-Turakhi (‘mound of Terah’).

Rudolph Klein Abraham’s Chaldean Origins and the Chaldee Language “He must have been literate & fluent in Sumerian, Akkadian, various other Semitic languages (e.g. Amorite), probably Egyptian as a trade language. His descendants would adopt the language of…Canaan [Phoenícian/old Hebrew].”

Mark D. Kaplan The Languages of the Bible “One of the earliest ancient cities was Akkad in Mesopotamia (Ge.10:10). Perhaps Abraham originally spoke an Akkadian dialect in Ur. Abraham went south to Canaan…the Canaanites were descendants of Ham [Ge.10:1, 6 Noah’s son]. In Canaan Abraham picked up the local language. His clan’s version of Canaanite became known as Hebrew [much later].”  (Hebrew is classed as a Canaanite NW Semitic Afro-Asiatic language.)

Eblaite, named after the city Ebla (Tel Márdikh today] in N Syria, is an extinct E Semitic Afro-Asiatic language dating from the (latter) 2000s BC.  Ebla was approx 90 miles SW of Harran & 190 miles N of Damascus.  Wikipedia: Ebla [3000–1600 BC] “At its greatest extent, Ebla controlled an area half the size of modern Syria, from Ursaum in the north [S Turkey] to around Damascus in the south, and from Phoenícia and the coastal mountains in the west to Haddu in the east. It is probable the inhabitants of 3^rd kingdom Ebla [2000–1600 BC] were predominantly Amorites, as was most of Syria at that time.”

Wikipedia: Eblaite Language “Similarity to Hebrew, Ugarític, or Phoenician.”  Eblaite is an E Semitic sister language to Akkadian.  Jeff Benner The Archives of Ebla and the Bible “The tablets were written [2300 BC at Ebla] with a cuneiform script, like Úgarit [N Syrian coastal city]. The Eblaite language shares many similarities to the Hebrew language.”  Kevin Drendel The Ebla Tablets Confirm Biblical Accounts “The tablets include Sumerian Eblahite vocabularies with thousands of translated words. Also an ancient language…related to [the later] Hebrew and Phoenician.”

Abram was also possibly familiar with Hurrian, an extinct N Mesopotamia language dating from 2300 BC.  And Elamite (cuneiform).  Ge.14:1-17 Abram defeated Chedorlaómer, the powerful king of Elam.  Bible patriarchs knew Akkadian, maybe Eblaite & Hurrian.  And Amorite too, an extinct NW Semitic Afro-Asiatic language (and an ancestor of Ugaritic?).  Ge.10:15-16 the Amorites descended from Ham’s son Canaan.  Abram dwelt in the plain of his ally Mamré the Amorite (Ge.14:13), near Hebron.

Ge.12:10-20 while in Egypt, Abram perhaps spoke Middle Egyptian (an Afro-Asiatic language) with Pharaoh.  Ge.20:1-18 Abraham and an ancient Abimélech, king of Gerár (capital city), dialogued SE of Gaza (Ge.21:32-34).  There they possibly spoke an early form of Proto-Sináitic?  So-called “Philistine” territory was the SW coast of Canaan.  Those Philistines descended from Mizraim/Egypt, son of Ham.  Ge.10:13-14 “Mizraim begot Pathrúsim and Caslúhim, from whom came the Philistines, and Caphtorím.”  Josephus op.cit. 1:6:2 “All the children of Mizraim, eight in number, possessed the country from Gaza to Egypt; though it retained the name of one only, the Philistim.”  Ge.21:34 “Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.”  Gill Exposition “For many years.”

Later the Israelites would say of their ancestor in De.26:5, “My father was a wandering Araméan [Arammíy h761, Syrian]”.  Referring to Abraham or Jacob.  Ge.14:13 “Abram the Hebrew” (Ibríy h5680) and grandson Jacob were from Eber’s line.  Abraham and Jacob (born c 1950 BC) had spent years in N Syria; both would have known Akkadian, Amorite, and Jacob the developing Proto-Aramaic.

Abraham told his servant, Ge.24:1-4 “Don’t take a wife for my son from the Canaanites, among whom I live; but go to my country to my relatives and take a wife for Isaac.”  v.10 “He went to Arám-of-the-two-rivers, the city of Nahór.”  Wikipedia: Aramaic “Ancient Aram…Syria”.  The city of Abraham’s brother Nahor was in N Mesopotamia, Syria-Turkey, 400 miles distant.  The servant brought back Rebekah for Isaac.  Ge.25:20 “Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuél the Aramean of Paddán-Arám, the sister of Labán the Aramean [Arammiy].”  Ge.22:20-23 Bethuel, the son of Nahor, was Abraham’s nephew.  90 years later, Ge.28:5 “Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-Aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean.”  A form of primitive Aramaic was likely the dialect at the ‘plain of Aram’.  Jacob brought his wives Leah & Rachel from the old country to the Land of Canaan.

Laban was an Aramean.  Pre-Aramaic and pre-Hebrew are reflected in the same verse in Ge.31:43-48. “They took stones and made a heap, and ate there. Laban called it Jegár sahaduthá, but Jacob called it Galéed.”  They made a “heap of witness” c 1865 BC at Mizpáh of Gilead, E of the Jordan River.  Laban called the memorial by a proto-Aramaic name, but Jacob called it by a precursor of Hebrew.  Barnes Notes “Here is the first specimen of Aramaic, as distinguished from Hebrew.”  Jacob would’ve learned both dialects in Canaan, Proto-Canaanite pre-Hebrew and his mother’s primitive Paleo-Syrian.

Codex 99 Proto-Sinaitic “Around 1900 BC the Proto-Sinaitic script began to appear in Egypt, the Sinai and the Levánt. Associated with hieroglyphic or hierátic signs. It was adopted by the Canaanites (hence Proto-Canaanite) and later by the Phoenicians.”  Omniglot: Proto-Sinaitic/Proto-Canaanite “Proto-Canaanite is a version of the Proto-Sinaitic script as used in Canaan, modern Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and parts of western Syria. It is also used to refer to an early version of the Phoenician script as used before 1050 BC, or an ancestor of Phoenician.”  Phoenicia was a 150-mile coastal region, Lebanon today.  (cf. Mk.7:26 “The woman was a Syrian-Phoenician.”)  Phoenicia included the cities of Tyre, Byblos, Sidon.  Ge.10:15 Sidón was the firstborn son of Canaan.

Ge.40:15 Jacob’s son Joseph was from the “land of the Hebrews”, peoples racially disliked by the Egyptians (Ge.43:32).  Descendants of Eber lived in N Syria and then Canaan.  After Pharaoh made Joseph a ruler in Egypt, Jacob/Israel and his sons’ families moved from Canaan to Egypt c 1827 BC.  see “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.  Ge.42:23 an interpreter was necessary, since the Middle Egyptian language and the Proto-Canaanite (and the Akkadian of the Old Assyrian period) differed.

Joseph died in Egypt c 1757 BC.  The Amorite Hammurabi (1810-1750 BC) wrote his famous law Code between 1755–1750 BC in Akkadian cuneiform text at the ancient Babylon city-state.  He was the 6^th king of the First Babylonian Empire (1894-1595 BC), ruling Mesopotamia.  (Later, after Israel exited Egypt, two Amorite kings in NE Canaan c 1575 BC were Sihon and Og. ref De.31:4.)

While in Egypt, the descendants of Jacob/Israel became slaves and learned Middle Egyptian.  Ac.7:22 “Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians; he was mighty in words and deeds.”  Ex.2:16-19 Reuél’s daughters (1600s BC) in the land of Midián thought Moses was Egyptian, from his speech & dress.  Moses spent years in Midian near Mt Sinai, where he was called by God (Ex.3:1-ff).

Ex.31:18 after the Israelite exodus from Egypt, the Decalogue at Mt Sinai was written by the finger of God.  In Canaano-Akkadian, Proto-Sinaitic/Canaanite script, Eblaite, hieroglyphic or hieratic scripts?  The Lord’s Old Covenant too.  F.F. Bruce Who Wrote Genesis? “A man [Moses] ‘learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians’ would have been conversant with the Egyptian hieroglyphic and hieratic.”

John C Lennox Seven Days That Divide the World, p.126 “The scribal use of cuneiform script spread from Mesopotamia as far as Canaan, Hazor [in Upper Galilee], and even Hebron [between Jerusalem and Beershéba] by the 17^th century BC.”

In the Land of Canaan after 215 years in Egypt, the Israelites/‘mixed multitude’ (Ex.12:37-38) of 1550 BC likely took on Proto-Canaanite.

Andre H. Roosma The Written Language of Abraham, Moses and David “The Paleo-Hebrew script developed from a script that was used in the W Semitic area during the 2^nd millennium BC. It is often referred to as Proto-Canaanite or Proto-Sinaitic script.”  The Israelites would then use the developing Old/Paleo Hebrew (and Phoenician) in the Land of Canaan.

The Amarna Letters (1360-1332 BC) are 382 tablets found in Upper Egypt, but written in Akkadian cuneiform script (not in Egyptian).  They’re correspondence between the kings of Canaanite cities and Pharaoh.  Wikipedia: Amarna Letters “The letters, though written in Akkadian, are heavily colored by the mother tongue of their writers, who probably spoke an early form of Proto-Canaanite.”  Not long before the time of Gideon in the book of Judges (6:11-ff).  see “Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel”.

There’s no indication that Paleo-Hebrew was spoken in Mesopotamia.  Cambridge Bible Ge.11:1 “That Hebrew was the primitive language….has been disproved by the scientific comparative study of languages, and of Hebrew and the Semitic languages in particular.”  Wikipedia: Canaanite Languages “Hebrew, Phoenician…derived from the Proto-Canaanite alphabet to record their writings.”

That brings us to the approaching end of the ANE Bronze Age, c 1200 BC.  Further archaeological findings may bring to light other ancient dialects and/or revisions to those discussed here in this topic.

The Paleo-Hebrew (Old Hebrew alphabet) script would become the language of south Canaan.  Is.19:18 “language of Canaan”.  Language historians say the Phoenician language was spoken in NW Canaan.  Old Hebrew and Phoenician were very similar; both contained the same 22 letters.  (Aramaic too has 22.)  Wikipedia: Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet “Like the Phoenician alphabet, it is a continuation of the Proto-Canaanite script, which was used throughout Canaan in the Late Bronze Age. There is no difference in Paleo-Hebrew vs Phoenician letter shapes.”

For more on Aramaic & Hebrew in the ensuing centuries of the Iron Age, see “Aramaic in the Bible”.

Levites and the Exodus Multitude (1)

This topic traces the ancient Israelites – starting with Jacob’s relocation from the Land of Canáan to Egypt, their population growth…into the exodus & wilderness with the mixed multitude.  My focus here is on the growth of the Levites and, in detail, the descendants of Levi’s son Koháth, the Kohathites.

The Bible characters in this topic lived far back in history.  Dating for their births & deaths is inexact.  The dates used are approximate, to place the Levite lineage in historical perspective.  The chronological framework is taken from Dr. Martin Anstey The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2.

The patriarch Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel (Ge.32:28), had 12 sons (Ge.35:23-26).  Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, etc…Joseph, Benjamin.  The descendants of those 12 became the 12 tribes of Israel.  (also see the topics “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus” and “Israelites Identification”.)

Jacob’s 3^rd son was Levi.  Levi himself had 3 sons.  Ge.46:11 “The sons of Levi: Gershón, Kohath and Merarí.”  These 3 sons and their descendants became the Levites, descended from Levi.

Moses and his brother Aaron descended from Levi & Kohath.  They were Kohathites.  Moses was a priest (Ex.24:6, 29:26, Nu.7:1, Ps.99:6).  Later, only Aaron and his descendants among the Levites were priests.  Not all Levites or Kohathites became priests (Nu.4:17-20, 16:1-3); only the clan of Aaron did.

Ge.41:41 Jacob’s 11^th son Joseph became ruler of Egypt under Pharaoh.  Ge.46:5-27 Jacob, his sons and their families, went to join Joseph in Egypt circa (c) 1827 BC.  Ge.41:27 Septúagint/LXX “The sons of Joseph, born to him in Egypt, were 9; all the souls of the house of Jacob who came with Joseph into Egypt, were 75.”  Ac.7:14 has “75 souls”.  (Males, not counting wives.)  Ge.47:9 Jacob was 130 years old then.  His son Joseph was 39 or 40 (cf. Ge.41:46-47 with Ge.45:6), having been born c 1867 BC.

Ge.46:8, 11 Levi’s young 2^nd son Kohath and his two brothers (Gershon & Merari) went to Egypt with their father Levi & grandfather Jacob.  Joseph, age 40, would live on for 70 more years, until age 110 (Ge.50:26), until c 1757 BC.  Kohath was in Egypt during those 70 years that Joseph was still alive.

Nu.26:57-59 “Kohath became the father of Amrám…Jochébed bore to Amram: Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriám.”  Kohath was Moses’ grandfather!  Kohath wasn’t a distant ancestor.  So Moses wasn’t born all that long after Joseph’s death.

Ex.2:1 “A man [Amram] from the house of Levi married a daughter of Levi.”  This may reflect the line of Levi as ancestral, not Levi as her immediate father.  Ellicott Commentary “A descendant of Levi, not a daughter in the literal sense.”  However, cf. Zec.1:1 “Zecharíah, the prophet, the son of Berechíah, the son of Iddó”, versus Ezr.5:1 “Zechariah the son of Iddo”.  Ezra’s account skipped one generation.  Moses’ Exodus account could’ve skipped generations, but it seems unlikely (as we’ll see below).

In scripture, Moses & Aaron were the great-great grandsons of Jacob.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 2:9:6 “Moses….Abraham was his ancestor, of the 7^th generation.”  Philo On the Life of Moses 1:2:7 “Moses is the 7^th generation from the original settler in the country [Abraham].”

Abraham–Isaac–Jacob–Levi/Joseph–Kohath–Amram–Moses/Aaron…the 7 generations.  No skips.

1Ch.23:15 Moses had 2 sons, Gershóm (not Gershon) and Eliézer.  Ex.6:23 Moses’ brother Aaron had 4 sons: Nadáb, Abihú, Eleazár, Ithamár.  When Aaron later died in the wilderness, Eleazar replaced him as the high priest (Nu.20:28).  Eleazar’s son was Phinehás (Ex.6:25).

(Kohath)–Amram–Aaron/Moses–Eleazar–Phinehas…that’s only 4 generations of Kohathites, born after Jacob or Israel moved to Egypt.  Ex.18:1-6 soon after the exodus, Moses’ Midianite wife Zipporáh and their 2 sons rejoined Moses in the wilderness.  Moses’ sons Gershom & Eliezer were half-Midianite.

After the exodus, Nu.3:27-28 is early in the wilderness. “Of Kohath…the number of all the males from one month old and upwards, was 8,600.”  What!?  That’s an astounding increase in so few generations!

Here’s a question: How could the branch of Kohath (Levi’s son), reckoned from that 1 man, increase to 8,600 male descendants…after only 4 generations?!  Continuing with the Levite Kohathites….

Ex.6:18, 20 “The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhár, Hebrón, Uzziél. The years of Kohath’s life were 133 years….Amram married Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses.”  Moses’ mother Jochebed was a relative (LXX 1^st cousin) of her husband Amram.  “The years of Amram’s life were 137 years [LXX NETS 136].”  Levi/Joseph–Kohath–Amram–Moses…that’s 4 generations.  1Ch.6:1-3 confirms those 4.

Humans were longer-lived in those days than now.  Of Kohath’s 133 years, again, 70 of them were spent with Joseph in Egypt (c 1827–1757 BC).  The traditional (supposed) Book of Jasher 68:29 indicates that elderly Kohath was still alive in the 1690s BC (when Moses was named)!  So perhaps Kohath was born c 1830 BC.  If so, he would’ve been age 3 when they went from Canaan to Egypt c 1827 BC.  That would make Kohath age 73 when his uncle Joseph died c 1757 BC.

Kohath’s firstborn son Amram (Moses’ father) may have been born c 1811 BC, when Kohath was 19.  If so, Amram’s death at age 136 or 137 was c 1675 BC (still decades prior to the exodus).  Amram would’ve been age 54 when Joseph died c 1757 BC.  Pulpit Commentary Ex.6:18 “Amram would have been contemporary with Joseph for above 50 years.”

Dead Sea Scrolls 4Q545 “The writing of the words of the vision of Amram, son of Qahat [Kohath], son of Levi, all that he has explained to his sons…on the day of his death in the year 136 – the year of his death [Amram’s]. In the year 152 of the exile of Israel in Egypt. Also it came to him to call Uzziel, his younger brother, and gave him Miriam his 30-year-old daughter for wife. He sent to call Aaron his 20-year-old son [3 years older than Moses]…I will explain to you your names that he wrote for Moses.”  Accordingly, 152 years after the 1827 BC relocation from Canaan to Egypt was 1675 BC.

The birth of Moses, Amram’s youngest child, c 1692 BC, was only 65 years after Joseph died (c 1757 BC)!  Philip Mauro The Wonders of Bible Chronology, p.40 “The interval between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses was 64 years.”  Calculating the above 4Q545 elapsed time, Amram would’ve been age 106 when Miriam was born, 116 at Aaron’s birth, 119 at Moses’ birth!  Miriam was around 13 when she spoke with Pharaoh’s daughter at the Nile River regarding baby Moses, Ex.2:1-10.

For those ancient Levites to father children at such advanced ages seems too old by today’s standards.  But people lived longer in those days, and could maintain their life force.  Jacob died at age 147, Levi at age 137 (Ex.6:16), Kohath at age 133, Amram at 136 or 137, Aaron at 123 (Nu.33:39).  De.34:7 “Moses was 120 years old when he died; his eye was not dim nor his vigor abated.”  Even at age 120, Moses didn’t experience the infirmities of age that are prevalent today.  He maintained his vigor!  For that matter, Isaac was 60 when his twins Jacob & Esau were born (Ge.25:26).  Jacob was 90 when he fathered Joseph, and near 100 when he fathered Benjamin!  (ref Ge.47:9 Joseph was near 40 when his father Jacob, at age 130, came to Egypt.)

Ex.12:40 LXX “The children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, was 430 years.”  The Masoretic text omits “and the land of Canaan”.  But the accounts in the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Talmud and Josephus all agree with the LXX.  Josephus op. cit. 2:15:2 “They left Egypt 430 years after Abraham came into Canaan, but 215 years only after Jacob removed into Egypt. It [the exodus] was the 80^th year of Moses.”  They stayed 215 years in Canaan and 215 years in Egypt.

Gill Exposition “Certain it is, that Israel did not dwell in Egypt 430 years.”  JFB Commentary “The period of sojourn in Egypt did not exceed 215 years.”  Mauro op. cit., p.34 “The 430 years began with God’s promise to Abram, made at the time he entered into Canaan at the age of 75 (Gen.12:1-4).”

Since lives were longer back then, producing 4 generations over 215 years may be believable.  But producing only 4 generations over 430 years is unbelievable!

If Abrám was born c 2117 BC, he arrived in Canaan in 2042 BC at age 75 (Ge.12:4-5).  At age 100, Abraham fathered Isaac (Ge.21:5), c 2017 BC.  At age 60, Isaac fathered Jacob & Esau (Ge.25:26), c 1957 BC.  When Jacob was 130 (Ge.47:9), he and his moved from Canaan to Egypt, c 1827 BC.

Abram’s arrival in Canaan (c 2042 BC) until Jacob’s departure from Canaan (c 1827 BC) = 215 years in Canaan.  And Jacob/Israel’s arrival in Egypt (c 1827 BC) until the exodus (c 1612 BC) = 215 years in Egypt.  The total of both = 430 years…2042–1612 BC.  (see “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.)

Also, 4 generations of Kohathites lived during the 215 years in Egypt.  Kohath–Amram–Aaron/Moses–Eleazar (and into the wilderness).  Returning to the Levite/Kohathites….

Nu.3:19 “The sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.”  Besides Amram (the father of Moses & Aaron), Kohath had 3 other sons.  Kohath’s 2^nd son was Izhar (uncle to Moses & Aaron).

Nu.16:1-4 also confirms 4 generations.  (No skips.)  “Now Kórah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi…incited rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and said, ‘Why do you exalt yourselves?”  Izhar’s son Korah was Moses’ 1^st cousin!  Korah, being a near relative, thought he should have more input or authority.  But because of his insurrection, Korah died in an earthquake or sinkhole (Nu.16:32).

Nu.3:27-29 “Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, the family of the Izharites, the family of the Hebronites and the family of the Uzzielites.”  To repeat, Kohath’s 4 sons (born in Egypt) were: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, Uzziel.  Kohath’s grandsons, which include Moses & Aaron, were also born in Egypt.  Kohath’s great-grandsons, which include the 6 sons of Moses/Aaron, also were born before the exodus.

Again, the (priestly) line in 1Ch.6:1-3 confirms the generations of descent from Levi & Kohath. “The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath and Merari.  The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. The children of Amram were Aaron, Moses and Miriam. And the sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.”  The Kohathite Aaron and his descendants became the priests in Israel.

So these genealogies in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, 1Chronicles agree.  It appears that no generations were skipped in those scriptural accounts.

Early in the wilderness, the Kohathites from the ages of 30 to 50 totaled 2,750 men (Nu.4:34-37).  And Kohathites from the age of one month and up totaled 8,600 men (Nu.3:27-28).  Again, Kohath’s branch (which included Aaron & the priests) had increased from 1 to 8,600 males after only 4 generations!

Tracing further the Levite Kohath’s descendants…Ex.6:20-21 Moses/Aaron’s uncle Izhar had 3 sons; Korah (Nu.16:1), Népheg, Zichrí.  Ex.6:22 & Le.10:4 Moses/Aaron’s uncle Uzziel had 3 sons; Mishaél or Micháh, Elzaphán, Sithrí.  Perhaps a 4^th son of Uzziel was Issiáh (1Ch.23:20)?  I’ll include him in the count.  1Ch.23:19 Moses/Aaron’s uncle Hebron had 4 sons; Jeriáh, Amariáh, Jahaziél, Jekámeam.

So Moses & Aaron had 11 male paternal first cousins, most or all of whom lived into the exodus.

Including Moses & Aaron, this would result in only 13 male Kohathites in Moses/Aaron’s generation!  Kohath was their grandfather.  The 13 male first cousins were: Moses, Aaron, Korah, Nepheg, Zichri, Mishael or Michah, Elzaphan, Sithri, Issiah (possibly), Jeriah, Amariah, Jahaziel, Jekameam.

Female paternal cousins, daughters of one’s father’s siblings, would become part of whatever clan they married into (unless she married her own cousin, a grandson of Kohath).  Female maternal cousins, daughters of one’s mother’s siblings, wouldn’t be Kohathites (unless an aunt married one of Kohath’s four sons).

The Bible uses patrilineal reckoning from the fathers (not the traditional Jewish matrilineal reckoning from mothers).  Nu.1:18 “They registered by ancestry in their families, by their father’s households, according to the number of names.”  Not according to the mothers.

Again, the Kohathite generation previous to Moses/Aaron consisted of Amram, Izhar, Uzziel, Hebron.  Those 4 brothers most likely died in Egypt; none of them living into the exodus & wilderness.

The 13 male Kohathites in Moses & Aaron’s generation had sons.  1Ch.23:15 Moses had 2 sons; Gershom, Eliezer.  Ex.6:23 Aaron had 4 sons; Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, Ithamar.  Ex.6:24 cousin Korah had 3 sons; Assír, Elkanáh, Abiasáph.

The cousins Moses, Aaron, Korah had 9 sons between them.  Scripture doesn’t tell us the number of sons had by the other 10 first cousins.  We can speculate or estimate that 10 other cousins had maybe 40 sons between them?  If so, there were close to 50 males in the next generation of Kohathites.

Possibly the 13 males in Moses/Aaron’s generation all lived into the wilderness.  (Nu.16:32 Korah died in the wilderness earthquake or sinkhole.)  Add to the 13 the perhaps 50 sons they had…the males still alive from 3 generations of Kohathites then totaled only 63.  Amram’s generation = 0; Aaron/Moses’ generation = 13; Eleazar/Gershom’s generation = est. 50.  Total = est. 63.

We don’t know how many grandsons Moses, Aaron and the other 11 first cousins had.  Ex.6:25 Aaron’s son Eleazar had a son named Phinehas.  Nu.25:7 “Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest.”  Only a few grandsons of the 13 Kohathite cousins are identified in scripture.

Even if the 13 first cousins had 50 sons who had 350 sons of their own (7 sons each!)…that’s only 413 total Kohathites.  413 = 8,187 less than the 8,600 male Kohathites of Nu.3:28, early in the wilderness!

Let’s now look at the other two Levite branches, besides the Kohathites.  Again, Ge.46:11 Kohath had two brothers…Gershon (not Gershom) and Merari, sons of Levi.  There were 3 branches of Levites.

{Sidelight: The 3 branches of Levites later had specific duties in the wilderness.  The Gershonites were on the west side of the tabernacle and carried its tapestry (Nu.3:23-26).  The Merarites camped on the north side and transported the tabernacle frames & support system (Nu.3:35-37).  The Kohathites were on the south side and transported the holy furnishings (Nu.3:29-31).  Moses and the priests (Aaron and his sons) camped to the east and served the sanctuary (Nu.3:38).}

Nu.3:18 “These were the names of the sons of Gershon by their clans, Libní and Shiméi.”  Gershon had  2 sons.  Nu.3:20 “The sons of Merari by their clans, Mahlí and Mushí.”  Merari also had only 2 sons.  Nu.3:19 again, Kohath had 4 sons.  All the Levites named here in Nu.3:17-20 died prior to the exodus.

I won’t trace the lesser lineages of Gershon and Merari.  (ref e.g. 1Ch.23:6-24.)  Yet early in the wilderness the total male Gershonites were 7,500 (Nu.3:21-22).  And the total male Merarites were 6,200 (Nu.3:33-34).  Adding in the 8,600 Kohathite males…there were 22,000 (or 22,300) total Levite males.  Nu.3:39 “All the numbered men of the Levites…from a month old and upward, were 22,000.”

Another question: How did the tribe of Levi, tracking from his 3 sons, become 22,000 or 22,300 males from age one month and up, during that same period (215 years)?!  What an increase from only 3 men!

Furthermore, during the same period of time, the 75-85 males (Ge.46:27 LXX) who were in Egypt with Jacob/Joseph increased to 603,550 non-Levite warriors age 20 and up, early in the wilderness (Nu.1:45-47)!  Josephus op. cit. 2:15:1 “The entire multitude of those who went out [from Egypt], including the women and children, that were of a fit age for war, were 600,000.”  Philo On the Life of Moses 1:27:147 “The men of age to bear arms were more than 600,000 men.”

So a related third question: How could the 75-85 males increase to more than 600,000 after only 4 generations?!

Were there strong aphrodisiacs in Egypt to heighten libido?!  Did each woman have dozens of children?

This topic about the Levites/Kohathites and the number of mixed multitude who comprised the exodus from Egypt is continued in “Levites and the Exodus Multitude (2)”.

 

Aramaic in the Bible (1) – Old Testament

Our Bible books were written in (at least) three ancient languages; Hebrew, Aramáic, koine Greek.  This two-part topic is about Aramaic.  Part 1 discusses Aramaic in Old Testament (OT) times, BC. 

Noah and his family survived the Flood (Ge.7:13, 8:15-16).  Ge.9:18 “The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Jápheth; and Ham was the father of Canáan.”  Ge.10:22, “The sons of Shem were Elám, Asshúr, Arphaxad, Lud and Arám.”  Aram and Canaan were grandsons of Noah.

Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1:6:4 “Asshur lived at the city of Nineveh, and named his subjects Assyrians. Arphaxad named…the Chaldéans. Aram…called Syrians.” 

Semític languages are named from Shem.  The Aramaic language is named from Shem’s son Aram.  Cambridge Bible “The people denoted by Aram were destined to exercise great influence. The Araméan language gradually prevailed over the other Semitic dialects, even Hebrew.”

Ge.10:24 Septúagint/LXX “Arphaxad begot Kaínan [not Canaan], Kainan begot Shélah; Shelah begot Éber.”  The Hebrew people were named after Eber.  Josephus ibid “Eber, from whom they originally called the Jews, Hebrews.”  Eber was the great-grandson (or grandson) of Aram’s brother Arphaxad.

Much later, a language in the “Land of Canáan” Holy Land would be called Hebrew.  Tel Aviv’s Bar-Ilan Univ: Daf Parashat Hashavua (No.112) “It’s clear from extant epigraphic material that Hebrew is a Canaaníte language.”  Aramaic and Canaanite are classed as NW Semitic languages.  Hebrew and Phoenícian are sub-classed as NW Semitic Canaanite languages.  All four are primary-classed as Áfro-Asiátic languages.  Aramaic would become widely used geographically in the Near East.

Wikipedia: Aramaic “Ancient Aram, now called Syria, is considered the linguistic epicenter of Aramaic, the [later] language of the Arameans who settled the area during the Bronze Age. Aramaic is a Semitic language. By around 1000 BC, the Arameans had a string of kingdoms in what is now part of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the fringes of southern Mesopotamia [Ac.2:9, 7:2] and Anatólia [Turkey]. Aramaic rose to prominence under the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC), under whose influence Aramaic became a prestige language after being adopted as the língua fránca [common tongue] of the empire. Its use spread throughout Mesopotamia, the Levánt and parts of Asia Minor. At its height, Aramaic, having gradually replaced earlier Semitic languages, was spoken in several variants all over what is today Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, E. Arabia, Bahrain, Sinai, parts of SE and south central Turkey, and parts of NW Iran.”  Aramaic became the language of Mesopotamia.

Wikipedia: History of Mesopotamia “Mesopotamia literally means ‘between the rivers’ in ancient Greek. The oldest known occurrence of the name Mesopotamia dates to the 4^th century BC, when it was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria. Later it was more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris, thereby incorporating not only parts of Syria but also almost all of Iraq and SE Turkey. The neighboring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the western part of the Zágros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is usually made between Upper or N. Mesopotamia and Lower or S. Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jazíra, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad. Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf.”

Prior to Aramaic, the main language of the ancient Near East was Akkádian, an East Semitic Afro-Asiatic language, now extinct.  Holman Bible Dictionary: Akkadian “Akkadian was the international language of diplomacy & commerce in the Near East before 1000 BC.”  Wikipedia: Akkadian Language “Its gradual replacement by Akkadian-influenced Old Aramaic among Mesopotamians.”  The ancient Old Aramaic period was c 1000–700 BC.  (Historians differ some in their period designations/dates.)

The OT term for “Aramaic language”, Aramíth Strongs h762 Hebrew (rendered “Syrian language” in the LXX), occurs 4 times: 2Ki.18:26, Is.36:11, Da.2:4, Ezr.4:7.  The term for a Syrian/Aramean person is Arammíy h761, 11 occurrences.  Aram h758 is both a man’s name and the Syrian region, occurring over 100 times.  Mesopotamia/Arám Naharáyim h763 (Aram-of-the-two-rivers, rendered Mesopotamia in the LXX), occurs 6 times: Ge.24:10, De.23:4, Jdg.3:8, 10, 1Ch.19:6, Ps.60:1.

Ge.12:5 Abrám (born c 2100 BC) migrated to the land of Canaan from Harrán (Akkadian “Harránu”), which was in the region of Aram.  Harran is in far south Turkey, 10 miles from the north Syrian border.

Abraham told his servant in Ge.24:2-4, “Don’t take a wife for my son from the Canaanites, among whom I live; but go to my country to my relatives and take a wife for Isaac”.  v.10 “He went to Aram-of-the-two-rivers, the city of Nahór.”  The city of Abraham’s brother Nahor was in N. Mesopotamian Syria, 400 miles distant.  The servant brought back Rebekah for Isaac.  Ge.25:20 “Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuél the Aramean of Paddán-Arám, the sister of Labán the Aramean [Arammiy h761].”  Bethuel, the son of Nahor, was Abraham’s nephew (Ge.22:20-23).  Then Ge.28:5 “Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-Aram,to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean.”  Jacob later brought back his wives, daughters of Laban on the Syrian “plain of Aram”…to the land of Canaan.

Of the Israelites’ ancestor, De.26:5 “My father was a wandering Aramean”.  Referring to the semi-nomad Abraham, or Jacob.  Abraham and grandson Jacob (born c 1950 BC) had spent several years in Aram/Syria.  Ge.14:13 Abram the “Hebrew” (Ibríy h5680) descended from Eber.  The term “Hebrew”, Ibriy h5680, occurs 34 times in the OT.  But that OT term always meant a people, not a language!

Circa 1865 BC, Laban and Jacob made a “heap of witness” at Mizpáh of Gilead, E. of the Jordan River (Jephtháh later lived there, Jg.11:34).  Ge.31:44-47 “They took stones and made a heap, and ate there. Laban called it Jegár–sahaduthá, but Jacob called it Galéed.”  Laban the Aramean called the memorial by a pre-Aramaic word, but Jacob called it by a pre-Hebrew word.  Jacob had learned both developing dialects growing up in Canaan, pre-Hebrew and his mother Rebekah’s pre-Aramaic.

Later, God’s nation of ancient Israel knew the developing Old Hebrew dialect (and Phoenician) in the Land of Canaan.  In 1954 AD, Solomon Birnbaum coined the term “Paleo-Hebrew alphabet” for the Old Hebrew.  The Old Hebrew script would be used from c 1000–500 BC to record Biblical texts.

There’s no evidence that Old/Paleo Hebrew was spoken in Mesopotamia.  Cambridge Bible Ge.11:1 “That Hebrew was the primitive language….has been disproved by the scientific comparative study of languages, and of Hebrew and the Semitic languages in particular.”  The ‘Old Hebrew’ alphabet script became a Canaanite language of (south) Canaan.  Is.19:18 “language of Canaan”, Israel’s language. 

Historians say the Phoenician language was spoken in north Canaan.  Phoenícia was a 150-mile coastal region.  (cf. Mk.7:26 “the woman was a Syrian-Phoenician”.)  Phoenicia included the cities of Tyre, Byblos, Sidón .  Ge.10:15 Sidon was the firstborn son of Canaan.  Old Hebrew and Phoenician were very similar; both contained the same 22 (consonantal) letters.  Aramaic too has 22.  Wikipedia: Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet “There is no difference between Paleo-Hebrew vs Phoenician letter shapes.”

Wikipedia: Old Aramaic “Emerging as the language of the city-states of the Arameans in the Levant in the early Iron Age [c 1000 BC]. From the 10^th century BC, the alphabet seems to be based on the Phoenician alphabet. From 700 BC, different dialects emerged in Assyria, Babylonia, the Levant and Egypt. The Akkadian-influenced Aramaic of Assyria, and then Babylon, started to come to the fore.”  Circa 800 BC, Aramaic was becoming the trade language of the Near East.  It generally was spoken by Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, etc., E. of the Euphrates.  (cf. “Patriarchs’ Bronze Age Languages”.)

encyclopedia.com aramaic-language “Aramaic is the general name for various dialects often difficult to classify.” 

Canaanite is the general name/class for the Hebrew, Phoenician, Moabite, Edomite, Ammonite dialects; these developed gradually and were ‘mutually intelligible’. 

Presently, no Old Aramaic or Old Hebrew inscriptions have been discovered that predate 1000 BC; all are more recent!  No evidence has been found yet as proof either script existed prior to 1000 BC.

Ancient Jews called their language Judahite (Jehudíth h3066), not “Hebrew” (Ibriy h5680).  Jehudith occurs 6 times in the OT: 2Ki.18:26-28, Is.36:11-13, 2Ch.32:18, Ne.13:24.  2Ki.18:26-28 Jewish officials in Jerusalem wanted the threatening Assyrian commander Rabshakéh to speak to them in Aramaic (Aramith h762), not Judahite/Judean, so as not to frighten people on the wall.  In King Hezekiah’s day, 700 BC, common Jews in Judah didn’t speak Aramaic.  However, the Jewish officials understood Aramaic, the language of diplomacy in the Near East from c 800 BC (after Akkadian).

Nowhere in the OT is the language of Israelites/Jews called the ‘Hebrew language’!  James F. Driscoll Hebrew Language and Literature “The name Hebrew [Hebraistí g1447, Greek] as applied to the language is quite recent in Biblical usage, occurring for the first time in the Greek Prologue of Ecclesiásticus [Wisdom of Sirách], about 130 BC.”  Not occurring until that book in the Apócrypha.

In 721 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel was deported to Assyria.  2Ki.17:23-24 “Israel was exiled from their land to Assyria.”  Aramaic-speaking foreigners from Babylon etc. were brought into north Israel.  They’d assimilate as the “Samaritans”.  (see the topic “Israelite Deportations By Assyria”.)

In 597 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah was taken captive to Babylon, the next empire.  Je.10:11 is in Aramaic…Jeremiah was telling his Jewish people what to say to their Aramaic-speaking captors. 

Aramaic was the lingua franca of both the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) empires.  Israelites and Jews learned to speak Aramaic in their places of captivity beyond the Euphrates.  The Aramaic language was also called Cháldee (a misnomer?).  Easton’s Bible Dictionary “Chaldee is the Aramaic dialect, as it is sometimes called, as distinguished from the Hebrew dialect.”  Aramaic was also the official language of the Persian/Achaeménid Empire (559–333 BC), which followed.  The period of Old Aramaic (c 1000–700 BC) evolved into the period of Imperial/Official Aramaic (c 700–300 BC).

Wikipedia: Biblical Aramaic “King Darius the Great declared Imperial Aramaic to be the official language of the western half of his empire in 500 BC, and it forms the basis of Biblical Aramaic.”   

God inspired some scriptures of the OT from this time to be written in Aramaic.  The following chapters were written in Aramaic: Da.2:4b-7:28, Ezr.4:8-6:18, 7:12-26.

Of the total verses comprising Daniel & Ezra, 56% are written in Hebrew, 44% in Aramaic.  Jews then knew Aramaic.  Da.2:4 “The Chaldeans spoke to King Nebuchadnézzar in Aramaic [Aramith h762].”  Ezr.4:7 “The text of the letter was written in Aramaic [Aramith].”  To Artaxérxes, king of Persia.

{Sidelight: The Divine Name or Tetragrámmaton YHVH (h3068) occurs 6,500 times in the OT.  But the Name never occurs in any of the OT Aramaic chapters.  It seems that Daniel and Ezra weren’t ‘sacred name’ advocates who thought that God’s (Old Hebrew) Name must be commonly used!}

The hand from God even wrote in Aramaic the “handwriting on the wall” (539 BC)!  Da.5:24-28 “This is the written inscription: ‘MÉNE, MÉNE, TÉKEL, UPHÁRSIN.”  The words are monetary weights.  The wise men of Babylon spoke Aramaic, but Daniel could decipher the writing.  Wikipedia: Belshazzar’s Feast “The Chaldean wise men are unable to…interpret it. As Aramaic was written with consonants alone, they may have lacked any context in which to make sense of them.” 

Jews began returning to the Land of Canaan from captivity in 538 BC.  They returned with Zerubabbél, Ezra, Nehemiah.  These returnees brought the Aramaic language with them to the Land of Canaan. 

By the time of Nehemiah (450 BC), many Israelites and Jews no longer knew Judahite.  Ne.13:24  “As for their children…none of them was able to speak in the language of Judah [Jehudith h3066].”

The Holman Christian Standard Bible indicates they “could not speak Hebrew”.  Benson Commentary Ne.13:24 “The language which the Jews then spoke was Chaldee; this language they learned in their captivity, and after their return never assumed their ancient Hebrew tongue.”  Commoners didn’t resume the lip of Canaan or Judahite in Judea.  Pulpit Commentary Ne.13:24 “All the children [450 BC] spoke a jargon half Ashdódite and half Aramaic.”  (Áshdod was on the old Philistine coast.)

Ne.8:1-8 Ezra the priest-scribe read publically the Hebrew scriptures in Jerusalem on Rosh Hashánah.  v.8 “They read from the book of the law of God, translating so the people could understand.”  The returnees no longer could read the Judahite scriptures.  Pulpit Commentary Ne.8:8 “They translated the Hebrew words into the popular Aramaic or Chaldee.”  Ellicott Commentary “They naturally translated into the vernacular Aramaic dialect.”  Aramaic was the trade language of the then Persian Empire.

Some Bible scholars think that Ezra translated (or redacted) OT books into Aramaic/Chaldee.  Talmud: Sanhedrin 21b “In the times of Ezra, the Torah was given in Áshuri [Neo-Assyrian] script and Aramaic language.”  Juanjo Gabina How Similar Was the Phoenician Language to the Hebrew Language? “The ‘Paleo-Hebrew’ language is a Canaanite Phoenician language with writing. As evidenced by the Samaritan Torah that preserves these ancient [Old Hebrew] texts. According to tradition, Ezra adopted the square script of the Aramaic alphabet instead of the Canaanite Phoenician, nicknamed the Paleo-Hebrew [1954 AD], during the post-exile restoration of Israel in the 5^th century BC. When the Aramaic alphabet became the Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew parchments were written mainly in Aramaic characters.”

{{Sidelight: The Jewish philosopher Philo (c 20 BC – 50 AD) lived in Alexandria, Egypt.  Philo On the Life of Moses 2:5:26 “In olden time [450 BC?] the laws were written in the Chaldean language, and for a long time they remained in the same condition as at first, not changing their language.”  Then prior to 132 BC, Jewish scholars translated the OT into the old Greek version.  ibid 2:7:38-40 “In the case of this translation of the law, exactly corresponding Greek words were employed to translate literally the appropriate Chaldáic words, being adapted with exceeding propriety to the matters which were to be explained. If Chaldeans were to learn the Greek language, and if Greeks were to learn Chaldean, and if each were to meet with those scriptures in both languages, namely, the Chaldaic and the translated version, they would admire and reverence them both as sisters, or rather as one and the same….to go along with the most pure spirit of Moses.”  ibid 2:41:224 “The Passover is celebrated, which in the Chaldaic language is called páscha.”  Philo On the Embassy to Gaius 1:4 “This nation of the suppliants is in the Chaldaic language called Israel.”  Marg Mowczko The Septuagint “Philo refers to the original language of the Old Testament as Chaldean rather than Hebrew.”  Ezra had translated the OT into Chaldee?  (And Philo didn’t use the Greek term Hebraís, “Hebrew” g1446 noun, to refer to Aramaic.)}}

Omniglot: Paleo-Hebrew “By the 6^th century BC the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet was gradually replaced by the Imperial Aramaic alphabet, which developed into the Hebrew square script.”  The Ashuri script.

In 330 BC, Greece conquered the Persian Empire.  Greek became the trade language for the Grecian Empire.  No longer was it the Aramaic of the Persian Empire.  Koine/common Greek, a (Hellénic) Indo-European language, was now spoken.  Many Jews in the diáspora (dispersion) accepted Greek culture, becoming Héllenized and speaking Greek.  Some continued to speak Aramaic.  Most Jews in Judea kept speaking Aramaic.  During this period, regional dialects of Imperial Aramaic began to emerge.

Most Jews everywhere no longer knew the lip of Canaan, Old Hebrew Judahite.  So Jews translated all the OT scriptures into koine Greek.  This old Greek version was completed before 132 BC.  Literate Greek-speaking Jews in the diaspora could then read the OT text!  The old Greek version later became our Septuagint/LXX.  The LXX wouldn’t have been so needed if most Jews still knew Judahite.

The Grecian Empire lasted until the 1^st century BC.  The Roman Empire followed. The Greek language continued as the commercial language of the Roman Empire too.  (Latin would become the language of the Roman army and higher administration.)  Many Jews, Hellenists, spoke Greek.

This topic is continued and concluded in “Aramaic in the Bible (2) – New Testament”.  It notes the Aramaic Tárgums, Aramaic words seen in the gospel accounts, and traces Aramaic to the present day.

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.

 

 

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.

Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel

In this topic, Bible chronology is traced from the exodus out of Egypt until the judgeship of Samuel.  Earlier chronology is addressed in “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus” and “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”.  My basic position is the so-called maximalist view, that Bible history is correct unless archaeology clearly proves it wrong.

However, exact dating cannot be done for Israel’s exodus, or for the years of the many judges which followed in the Land.  Also there’s no consensus among Bible historians regarding the dates when Saul, David, and Solomon were kings.  Their years cannot be pinpointed by dates from ancient histories.  (There’s no ‘BC’ or ‘BCE’ dates written in scripture.)  The dates in this topic are approximate.

A date of 1612 BC for the exodus of Israelites & the mixed multitude from Egypt was taken from Dr. Martin Anstey’s The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2.  I use that date, 1612 BC.

Moses was born around (circa or c) 1692 BC.  Moses is the son of Amrám and the grandson of Koháth (who’d gone to Egypt with Jacob c 1827 BC, Ge.46:8, 11).  Moses’ father Amram was born in Egypt, while Joseph was still alive.  see “Levites and the Exodus Multitude (1)”.

Moses fled to Midian at age 40 (Ex.2:15, Ac.7:22-29), c 1652 BC.

Caleb was born in Egypt c 1651 BC.  (cf. Nu.13:25-30, the 2^nd year of the exodus…with Jsh.14:6-10.)

Moses is 80 when he returns to Egypt from Midian (Ac.7:30-34), c 1612 BC.  Ex.7:7 “Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron 83, at the time they spoke to Pharaoh.”  The exodus occurred then (Ex.12:39-41).

When they exited Egypt c 1612 BC, Joshua is a young man, compared to Moses (Ex.33:11, Nu.11:28).  Joshua is 44 or so.  Caleb is 39 (born c 1651 BC).

The Israelites left Egypt, and then had to spend 40 years in the wilderness (Nu.32:13), until c 1572 BC.

{Sidelight: Ge.41:51 Joseph fathered Manasséh.  Ge.50:23 Manasseh fathered Machír.  Machir’s son Gileád was the same generation as Moses/Aaron.  Joshua’s father Nun was the same generation as Gilead & Moses/Aaron.  Zelophehád, Hépher’s son, was Gilead’s grandson (1Ch.7:14-27, Nu.26:28-37, 27:1, Jsh.17:3).  Zelophehad’s daughters are seen in the 40^th year of the exodus (Nu.27:1-ff, 36:1-ff).}

Nu.21:23-26 & De.3:12 in the 40^th year Israel took Heshbón and Aroér, and began to dwell in that area east of the Jordan River.  (Nu.25:7 Phineás’ bold action occurred in the 40^th year in the wilderness.)

The Israelites entered the Promised Land c 1572 BC.  De.34:7-9 Moses died that year at age 120.

Jsh.11:15-19 Joshua then waged war with the kings in the Land for 5 years at least, and defeated them.

Jsh.13:1 Joshua is old, near 90.  Cambridge Bible Note Jsh.13:1 “The Hebrew leader was now about 90 years of age.”  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 5:1:19 “The 5^th year was now past, and not one of the Canaanites remained.”  Josephus implied there were 5 years of conquest.  The supposed Book of Jasher 89:54, “For 5 years did Joshua carry on the war with these kings…the land became tranquil”.  The land of Canáan became relatively tranquil for a while.

Jsh.14:6-11 indicates there were 5 years of conquest.  Caleb says he’s 85.  45 years have passed since he was age 40 in the 2^nd year of the exodus (c 1611 BC), when he and Joshua spied out the Land.  Ellicott Commentary Jsh.14:7 “Caleb would be 40+38=78 years old when they crossed the Jordan. He was 85 when they began to divide the country.”  Joshua allotted the Land among the tribes of Israel c 1566 BC.

Jsh.23:1, 14 “a long time” (19-20 years) after the Land division, Joshua knows it’s his time to die.  Jsh.24:29 Joshua dies at age 110, c 1546 BC.  (Joseph previously also had died at age 110, Ge.50:26.)

Joshua was in the Land for around 25-28 years: 6-7 years of conquest/settlement, 19-20 years of ‘rule’.

Josephus op. cit. 5:1:29 “Joshua…became their commander after his [Moses’] death for 25 years.”  Jasher 90:32 indicates that Joshua died 28 years after crossing the Jordan, 68 years after leaving Egypt.  Eusebius Chronicles, p.111 “The Hebrews say that he [Joshua] was leader for 27 years, as so he was 43 years old when Moses went out of Egypt.”  Elihu Schatz “The traditional interpretation assumes that Joshua ruled for 28 years (Seder Olam Rabbah, ch. 12), which means that he was 83 when he began to rule, since he lived to be 110 years old (Jsh.24:29).”  Again, Joshua was 4 or 5 years older than Caleb.

Jsh.24:31 & Jg.2:7-10 the elders who outlived Joshua continued to serve the Lord…for several years.

Josephus op.cit. 6:5:4 “After the death of Joshua, for 18 years in all the multitude had no settled form of government, but were an anarchy; after which they then permitting themselves to be judged by…the best warrior…the Judges.”  The magistrate was usually a champion who delivered them from enemies.

bible.ca/archeology/chronology-of-judges “The 8 year oppression of Arám-naharáim (Jg.3:8) began…15 years after Joshua died.”  Jasher 91:12 “The elders judged Israel after the death of Joshua for 17 years.”

So Joshua and the elders who outlived him led the Israelites for 40 years or so in the Land, prior to the series of judges.  (6+19+15=40)  From c 1572 BC until c 1532 BC.

Jg.2:16 “Then the Lord raised up judges [shaphát Strongs h8199, Hebrew] who delivered them from those who plundered them.”  These judges were warriors, military leaders, or ad hoc rulers in the early loose confederation of Israel.  Succeeding Joshua, there are no ruling judges before this verse.  Barnes Notes Jg.2:16 “This is the first introduction of the term judge, which gives its name to the book.”

How long did the judges lead Israel (prior to the people asking Samuel for a king to rule them, 1Sm.8:4-5)?  Before we identify those judges, a pertinent passage was spoken by the apostle Paul in retrospect:

Ac.13:16-21 “The God of Israel chose our fathers…with a mighty arm He led them out from it [Egypt]; for 40 years He put up with them in the wilderness. When He had destroyed seven nations in the Land of Canaan, He divided by lot to them their Land, about 450 years. After this He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul…for 40 years.”  Our translations of the passage differ.  Barnes Notes “This is a most difficult passage, and has exercised all the ingenuity of chronologists.”  To what centuries was Paul referring?

Most commentaries interpret the 450-year period as…from when God chose the “fathers” until Joshua divided the Land.  The Land was divided in c 1566 BC.  Isaac the son of promise was born c 2017 BC.  That’s 451 years earlier.  Abram was called at age 75, c 2042 BC.  That’s 476 years earlier, perhaps still close enough to the “about 450 years” Paul indicated. (see “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”.)

Ellicott Commentary Ac.13:20 “The 450 years in this case referred to the interval between the choice of ‘our fathers’, which may be reckoned from the birth of Isaac.”  Benson Commentary Ac.13:19 “The apostle is not to be understood as signifying how long God gave them judges, but when he gave them….computed from the birth of Isaac….it will be 448 years.”

But some commentaries interpret the 450-year period as…from when the judges began until the days of Samuel.  Joshua and the elders had died by c 1532 BC.  Samuel was living 450 years later, c 1082 BC.

Meyer’s NT Commentary Ac.13:20 “Until the end of the series of judges.”  Eclectic Notes Ac.13:20 “Judges characterized the period of 450 years.”

I’ll leave it to the reader to decide which of the above two interpretations better fits the history.

Let’s now look at the period of the several judges/deliverers, until Samuel the prophet-judge.

After the deaths of Joshua and the elders who outlived him, c 1532 BC, the Israelites began to do evil.  Jg.2:10 “There arose another generation after them [Joshua and the elders] who did not know the Lord.”  Jg.3:7 they served heathen gods and angered the Lord.  So He allowed an oppressor to subjugate them.

Jg.3:8 the first oppressor was Cushán-rishatháim of Aram-naharaim for 8 years, until c 1524 BC.

Jg.3:9-11 the people cried out to the Lord.  He was merciful and raised up Othniél (Caleb’s nephew, the son of his younger brother Kenáz, Jsh.15:17) as warrior-judge.  Othniel prevailed, and the Land had rest 40 years, from c 1524 BC to c 1484 BC.

A pattern will repeat throughout the time of the judges:  Israel would disobey the Lord, come under foreign domination, the people will cry out to God, God mercifully raises up a judge to defeat the oppressor, the Land has peace.  Then the people disobey again, God allows them to be subjugated, they cry out to God, He sends a deliverer, the Land has rest again, etc.  The same cycle, over and over again.

Jg.3:12-14 Israel does evil.  So they must serve Eglón king of Moab for 18 years, c 1484 BC – c 1466 BC.  Jg.3:15-30 Ehúd of Benjamin subdues Moab, and the Land has rest 80 years, until c 1386 BC.

Jg.3:31 Shamgár saved Israel from Philistines.  Josephus op.cit. 5:4:3 said Shamgar died in his 1^st year.

Jg.4:1-3 Jabín of Canaan oppresses Israel for 20 years, c 1386 BC – c 1366 BC.  Barák, Deboráh and Jaél defeat Jabin and his general Siserá (Jg.4:4–5:31), and the Land has peace 40 years, until c 1326 BC.

Jg.6:1-ff Israel does evil again, so the Lord gives them over to the Midianites for 7 years, until c 1319 BC.  Gideon is called; he defeats Midian.  Jg.8:28 the Land has peace 40 years, until c 1279 BC.

Jg.9:1-22 Abimélech, Gideon’s son, rules over Israel 3 years, until c 1276 BC.  After Abimelech dies, Tolá of Issachár judges Israel 23 years (Jg.10:1-2), until c 1253 BC.  After Tola, Jaír the Gileadite judges Israel 22 years (Jg.10:3-5), until c 1231 BC.

Jg.10:6-8 Israel does evil, so God gave them over to the Philistines and Ammonites for 18 years, from c 1231 BC – c 1213 BC.  Jg.11:8-11 Jephtháh the Gileadite warrior became Israel’s deliverer.  Jg.11:12-28 the king of Ammón wanted back old Amorite land east of the Jordan River, which Israel had taken possession of over 300 years previously.  It seems that land had belonged to the Ammonites before it became the Amorites’.  The Israelites had taken possession of that land from Sihón king of the Amorites at the end of the 40 years in the wilderness (again Nu.21:23-26 & De.3:12, also Jsh.12:1-2), c 1572 BC.

Jephthah’s messengers said to the king of Ammon in Jg.11:26-27, “While Israel lived in Heshbon and in Aroer and in the towns that are on the banks of the Arnón [LXX Jordan], 300 years, why didn’t you recover them within that time? I therefore have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by warring against me.”  However, 340 years had elapsed from c 1572 BC to the oppression of c 1231 BC.

Matthew Poole Commentary Jg.11:26 “300 years; not precisely, but about that time.”  ESV Study Bible “300 years’ may be a round number giving an approximate date.”

Also, some judgeships possibly had overlapped since Joshua divided the Promised Land of Canaan, or were concurrent in different tribal areas of the Land.

Jg.12:7 having ended the Ammonite war in c 1213 BC, Jephthah judged Israel 6 years, until c 1207 BC.

Jg.12:8-10 Ibzán of Bethlehem succeeds Jephthah as judge, for 7 years, until c 1200 BC.  After Ibzan, Elón the Zebulunite judges Israel 10 years (Jg.12:11-12), until c 1190 BC.  Then Abdón judges Israel 8 years (Jg.12:13-15), until c 1182 BC.

Jg.13:1 “Israel again did evil, so the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines 40 years.”  Actually, the Philistines warred against Israel on & off for hundreds of years (2Ki.18:1 even 8 years in King Hezekiah’s day).  This 40-year period of Philistine oppression was from c 1182 BC – c 1142 BC.

Jg.13–16 is the account of Samson fighting against the Philistines during this time.  Jg.16:30-31 Samson sacrifices his life, having judged Israel for 20 years.  This ended Philistine oppression temporarily.

Jg.15:20 “He [Samson] judged Israel 20 years in the days of the Philistines.”  It is thought by some that Samson’s heroic judgeship was during the latter 20 years, c 1162 BC – c 1142 BC, of that 40-year Philistine oppression.  Anstey op. cit., p.18 “The judgeship of Samson, 20 years, is included in the 40 years of the 6^th servitude under the Philistines.”

James Jordan Puzzling Out the Era of the Judges “The Philistine oppression lasted 40 years (Jg.13:1). Samson was born about this time. Samson judged for 20 years, and in his death killed all five Philistine kings as well as a large number of the Philistine nobility and priesthood (Jg.15:20; 16:27). It is unlikely, if not impossible, in the light of Nu.1:3, that Samson began judging before he was 20. Thus, his 40 years seem to be the same as those of the Philistine oppression.”  Samson died at age 40, c 1142 BC.

{{Sidelight: Jg.17–21 these ending chapters of Judges are a flashback to events which occurred earlier in the book, but weren’t inserted then (to not interrupt the timeline).  Henry Commentary Jg.17:1 “What is related in…the rest of the chapters to the end of this book, was done soon after the death of Joshua.”  Pulpit Commentary “Two detached histories [Jg.17–21], which fill up the rest of the book…are long prior to Samson.”  Josephus op. cit. 5:2-3 places them before Othniel’s early judgeship of Jg.3.}}

Again, it is possible that some judgeships were contemporaneous, or they began within the years listed as foreign servitude (such as Samson’s judgeship).

Generally the book of Judges was a period of less restraining authority.  The final verse in the book is Jg.21:25. “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  The syndrome was ‘I did it my way’, not God’s way.  Israelites didn’t want to be governed by the Lord or His laws.  It was a time when self-will ruled, for the most part.  But Pr.28:26 says, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool”.  Benson Commentary Jg.21:25 “There was no supreme governor, such as Moses and Joshua were…none that had power sufficient to punish public wrongs…and thereby check the progress of vice and profaneness, and keep the people in order. ”  Most didn’t have the Holy Spirit.  Wrong covetousness was the norm.  This is a lesson we can glean from the book of Judges.

1Sm.4:15-18 Eli judges Israel for 40 years til age 98, c 1142 BC – c 1102 BC.  Samuel is judge after Eli.

Recap: The exodus from Egypt was c 1612 BC.  After 40 years of wilderness wandering under Moses, the Israelites entered the Promised Land under Joshua c 1572 BC.  After Joshua’s wars of conquest, the Land was divided to the tribes of Israel by lot c 1566 BC.  That was approximately 450 years after the birth of Isaac in c 2017 BC, and 464 years before the time Samuel succeeds Eli as judge c 1102 BC.

My other topics in the timeline are “Chronology: Samuel to Rehoboam”, “Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus”, “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”.

 

Chronology: Abraham to the Exodus

Knowing the time when Biblical events occurred and the chronology of Bible characters helps us see the word of God in its historical context.  Also we learn the time frame of His ancient people in their generations.  My basic position is the so-called maximalist view, that Bible history is correct unless archaeology clearly proves it wrong.  This topic traces Bible chronology from Abraham to the exodus of ancient Israel from Egypt.  (For pre-Abraham, see “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”.)

Exact dates for the births and deaths of the Bible patriarchs are unknown.  The dates for the birth of Abrám/Abraham and the exodus from Egypt are taken in part from Martin Anstey’s The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2.  His chart placed the birth of Abram in 2117 BC, the exodus in 1612 BC.

If Abram was born in 2117 BC, he moved from Harrán to Canáan at age 75 (Ge.12:4-5) in 2042 BC.  Ex.12:40 LXX “The children of Israel sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan for 430 years.”  The Masorétic text omits “and the land of Canaan”.  But the accounts in the Samaritan Péntateuch, the Talmud and Josephus agree with the LXX.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 2:15:2 “They left Egypt 430 years after Abraham came into Canaan, but 215 years only after Jacob removed into Egypt. It was the 80^th year of Moses.”  They stayed 215 years in Canaan and 215 years in Egypt.

John Gill Exposition “Certain it is, that Israel did not dwell in Egypt 430 years.”  JFB Commentary “The period of sojourn in Egypt did not exceed 215 years.”  Philip Mauro The Wonders of Bible Chronology, p.34 “The 430 years began with God’s promise to Abram, made at the time he entered into Canaan at the age of 75 (Gen.12:1-4).”  And the apostle Paul confirms a period of 430 years (Ga.3:16-17).

A date of 1612 BC for the exodus…that’s 430 years after 2042 BC (when Abram was age 75).

He.11:8-9 “By faith he [Abraham] sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country.”  Ge.15:1-7 after Abram had sojourned in Canaan for around 10 years to age 85, God promised him a son, Isaac.

But before Isaac, Abram’s son Ishmaél was born when Abram was 86 (Ge.16:16), around 2031 BC.

Ge.17:24-25 around (circa or c) 2018 BC, Abraham is circumcised at age 99, Ishmael at age 13.

Ge.21:5 Abraham is 100 years old when his promised son Isaac is born, c 2017 BC.  Ge.17:17 Isaac’s mother Sarah is 90 (born c 2107 BC).  Ishmael is 14.

The Lord said to Abram in Ge.15:13, “Your seed will be sojourners in a land not their own; and they shall afflict them 400 years”.  Ge.21:8-9 after Isaac was weaned, he was mocked by Ishmael.  If Isaac was around 5 years old at the time of the mocking, it’s 2012 BC (Ishmael was 19).  The exodus from bondage in Egypt was 400 years later, c 1612 BC.  Benson Commentary Ge.15:13 “This persecution began with mocking, when Ishmael, the son of an Egyptian [Hagár, Ge.16:3], persecuted Isaac.”

This 400–year period doesn’t contradict the 430 years of Ex.12:40.

Again, if Abram was born c 2117 BC, he arrived in Canaan at age 75 in 2042 BC.  Isaac was born when Abraham was 100, c 2017 BC.  At age 60, Isaac fathered the twins Jacob & Esau (Ge.25:26) c 1957 BC.  Then when Jacob was age 130 (Ge.47:9), he and his moved from Canaan to Egypt c 1827 BC.

Abram’s sojourn in Canaan (c 2042 BC) until Jacob’s move from Canaan (c 1827 BC) = 215 years in Canaan.  And Jacob’s move to Egypt (c 1827 BC) until the exodus (c 1612 BC) = 215 years in Egypt.  The total of both = 430 years…2042–1612 BC.  As per the LXX/Septúagint, Josephus, Eusebius, etc.

Following is the chronology from Abraham and the persecution of Isaac (c 2012 BC), in more detail:

Ge.23:1-2 Abraham’s wife Sarah dies c 1980 BC at age 127.  Abraham is 137, Isaac is 37, Ishmael 51.

Ge.25:20 Isaac marries his cousin Rebekah c 1977 BC.  Isaac is 40, Abraham is 140, Ishmael 54.

Ge.25:25-26 Isaac is 60 when his sons Jacob & Esau are born c 1957 BC.  Abraham is 160, Ishmael 74.

Ge.25:7 Abraham dies at age 175, c 1942 BC.  Ishmael is 89, Isaac is 75, Jacob & Esau are 15.

Ge.26:34 Esau marries two Hittite wives c 1917 BC.  He and Jacob are age 40, Isaac is 100.

Ge.25:17 Ishmael died at age 137, c 1894 BC.  Isaac was age 123, Jacob & Esau were 63.

Ge.28:5 Isaac sends Jacob to Padán-Arám in Mesopotámia, to escape from Jacob’s twin brother Esau.  This was sometime around 1886 BC.  Jacob & Esau are age 70 or 71, Isaac is 131.

It is uncertain at exactly what age Jacob left the land of Canaan for Padan-Aram, fleeing from Esau.  There, Jacob would marry his first cousins Leáh & Rachél, daughters of his uncle Labán (Rebekah’s brother).  Jacob served Laban for at least 20 years (Ge.31:38-41), part of which was the bride price for Leah & Rachel (Ge.29:16-ff).  Initially, Jacob contracted to work only 7 years…for Rachel (Ge.29:18).

Jacob worked for Laban for 7 years, and in return was given…Leah, not Rachel!  Jacob then agreed to work 7 more years for Rachel.  Ancient sources differ in regards to when Rachel actually became his wife.  Josephus op. cit. 1:19:7, Philo The Works of Philo p.211, the Orthodox Bible LXX Ge.29:27 Note…they indicate that Rachel became Jacob’s wife after he’d worked the entire second 7-year period.  But the more recent Hebrew Masoretic text Ge.29:27-28, the (supposed) Book of Jasher 31:12-13, the traditional Book of Jubilees (Jub) 28:8-9…they indicate that Rachel became Jacob’s wife only one week following Leah, before he worked the second 7-year period.  The historical sources differ.

Jacob fathered 12 sons (11 born in Padan-Aram), Ge.35:23-26.  Their descendants would become the 12 tribes of Israel.  God changed Jacob’s name to Israel (Ge.32:28).

Ge.29:31-35 Jacob/Israel’s first 4 sons…Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah…were born to Leah.  see the topic “Levites and the Exodus Multitude (1)” for the lineage chronology of Jacob’s 3^rd son Levi.

Ge.30:4-8 Dan and Naphtalí are born to Rachel’s maidservant Bilháh (Jacob’s concubine wife).

Ge.30:9-13 Gad and Ashér are then born to Leah’s maidservant Zilpah (Jacob’s other concubine wife).

Ge.30:16-20 Leah resumes childbearing; she gives birth to Issachár, then Zebulún.

Ge.30:21 a daughter, Dinah, was also born to Leah.  Some think Zebulun and Dinah were twins (the scripture doesn’t say Leah ‘conceived’ for Dinah’s birth).  Written c 150 BC, Jub.28:23 “She [Leah] conceived, and bare two children, a son and a daughter. Zebulun and Dinah in the 7^th of the 7^th month.”

Ge.30:22-24 Rachel finally gives birth to her first child, Joseph, c 1867 BC.  Jacob (and Esau) was 90, Isaac 150.  Joseph is called the son of Jacob’s old age (Ge.37:3), and Jacob loved him the most.

Ge.30:25, 31:20-21 Jacob & family flee Laban/Padan-Aram, having been there 20 years or more.

Ge.33:1-16 while returning to Canaan, Jacob meets his twin Esau en route.  They’re in their early 90s.  Isaac is over 150.  v.17-20 Jacob journeys to Succóth, and afterwards settles in the town of Shechém.

Ge.34:1-31 Dinah, near age 12 (ref Jub.30:3), is taken by Shechém the son of Hamór.  Her brothers Levi, age 18 (ref Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (T12P) Levi 12:5), and Simeon, age 20, kill every male in the town and loot it.  Jacob is near age 100.

Ge.35:1-15 as a result, Jacob must then depart Shechem.  He goes to Bethél and elsewhere.

The time frame in which Jacob’s 13 children were born (12 in Padan-Aram) is a narrow fit.  Having returned to Canaan c 1865 BC, Jacob’s daughter Dinah wasn’t taken at age 3 or 4!  Enough years must have elapsed for her to be at least 10–12.  And her brothers Levi & Simeon weren’t only age 8 or 10 when they killed the men of Shechem!

Ge.35:16-20 Rachel dies near Ephráth (Bethlehem) while giving birth to Jacob’s 12^th son, Benjamin, c 1857 BC.  Jacob is 100 or so, his son Judah is 16, Joseph is close to 10, Isaac is near 160.

Ge.37:1-2, 26-36 Joseph’s older brothers sell him into slavery at age 17, c 1850 BC.  Joseph is taken to Egypt.  Judah is near age 23, Jacob age 107, Isaac 167.

Ge.35:28-29 Isaac will die at age 180, c 1837 BC.  Jacob & Esau are 120, Judah is 36, Joseph 30.

Ge.38:1-30 after Jacob had returned to Canaan c 1865 BC, Judah at age 20 married Shúa c 1853 BC.  (ref T12P Judah 7:10, 8:1-2, 9:1-3.)  Judah fathered 3 sons – Er, Onán, Sheláh.  Er and Onan (successively) married Tamár, and each died shortly thereafter.  Then Judah fathered the twins Pérez & Zérah (v.29-30) by his daughter-in-law Tamar.  Ge.46:12 Perez later fathered Hezrón & Hamúl, probably in Egypt, near 1827 BC.  Barnes Notes Ge.46:12 “Hezron and Hamul may have been born at the arrival of Jacob’s household in Egypt.”  Poole Commentary “Hezron and Hamul seem to have born in Egypt.”  Jacob and his descendants go to Egypt c 1827 BC.

Only 40 years elapsed from the birth of Judah’s brother Joseph (Jacob’s 11^th son) in Padan-Aram, c 1867 BC, until Judah went to Egypt with Jacob c 1827 BC.  Judah must have been close to 6 years older than Joseph.  And Jacob had fathered 3 sons prior to Judah (in Padan-Aram)!  Benson Commentary Ge.38:1 “This chapter must here be placed out of the order of time.”  JFB Commentary Ge.38:1-30 “Judah was married some years before the selling of Joseph. Judah was now about 20 years old when he married, and the 3 first years he hath 3 sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah. The two first marry each when they were about 17 years old. Three years after both their deaths, and when Shelah had been marriageable a year or two, and was not [levirate marriage] given to Tamar, Judah lies with Tamar and begets upon her Pharez.”  T12P Judah 12:1 she conceived Pharez two years after she became a widow.

Ge.41:38-46 in the year Isaac died, c 1837 BC, Pharaoh made Joseph prime minister of Egypt at age 30 (cf. Jub.40:12).

Ge.41:47 for the first 7 years that Joseph was prime minister, Egypt experienced great abundance.  This period would be followed by 7 years of famine (Ge.41:29-30).  Ge.45:6 by this time, 2 years of famine had elapsed.  Joseph is now age 39, Jacob is 129.

Ge.47:9 then Jacob/Israel, at age 130, goes to Egypt to join Joseph c 1827 BC.  Levi was age 48 (T12P Levi 12:5), Judah age 46 (T12P Judah 12:11-12).  Ge.41:46-47 & 45:6 Joseph was age 39 or 40.  That places Joseph’s birth c 1867 BC, when Jacob (and Esau) was age 90 or 91.

Jacob’s move to Egypt culminates the 215 years he and his ancestors spent in the Land of Canaan.

Recap: Ge.12:4 Abram is age 75; Ge.21:5 he’s age 100 when Isaac is born…25 years had elapsed.  Ge.25:26 Isaac is age 60 when Jacob and Esau are born…60 years more.  Ge.47:1, 9 Jacob is age 130 when he and the family all went to Egypt…130 years more.  25 + 60 + 130 = 215 years in Canaan.

Now follows the 215-year period during which the Israelites dwelt in Egypt, until the exodus:

Again, when Jacob moved to Egypt at age 130, c 1827 BC, Joseph is 40 (Ge.41:46-47, 45:6, 47:1, 9).

Ge.46:1-34 lists Jacob’s seed who went with him to Egypt.  v.8-12 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah are age 46–51.  Levi’s son Koháth (Jacob’s grandson) had been born.  (Kohath is Moses’ grandfather!)  v.21-22 Benjamin must be at least 30 (John Gill “10 sons are in his loins”).  All go to join Joseph in Egypt.

Ge.47:28 Jacob lived 17 years in Egypt.  Jacob dies in Egypt at age 147, c 1810 BC.  Joseph is age 57.

Twin Esau was slain in Canaan at the time of Jacob’s burial there, traditionally (Jasher 57:64-66)!

Amrám, the son of Kohath and the father of Moses & Aaron, is born in Egypt sometime between c 1827 and c 1757 BC (1Ch.6:1-3); perhaps around 1811 BC.  cf. Ex.6:18-20.

Ge.50:26 Joseph dies in Egypt at age 110, c 1757 BC, 70 years after Jacob & family moved to Egypt.

Ex.1:8 “A new king [pharaoh] arose who didn’t know Joseph.”  Joseph had been dead for some years.

Aaron, the son of Amram and elder brother of Moses (Nu.26:57-59), is born in Egypt c 1695 BC.

Moses is born c 1692 BC.  P.J. Wiseman Ancient Records and the Structure of Genesis, p.99 “He was born 64 years after Joseph had died.”  Moses is the son of Amram and grandson of Kohath (young Kohath had gone to Egypt with Jacob).  Amram was born in Egypt, while Joseph was still alive!

Moses fled to Midian (at age 40, c 1652 BC; ref Ex.2:15, Ac.7:23-29).  Josephus ibid 2:10-11 adds an account of Moses as general of the Egyptian army against Ethiopia/Cush, and his marriage to a Cushite princess.  Jasher 73:1-2 traditionally says that Moses even then reigned for a few decades in Cush.

Caleb was born in Egypt c 1651 BC…cf. Nu.13:26-30 (the 2^nd year of the exodus) with Josh.14:7-10.

Moses is age 80 when he returns to Egypt from Midian, c 1612 BC.  The exodus from Egypt occurs then.  Ex.7:7 “Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron 83, at the time they spoke to Pharaoh.”

Ex.12:40 LXX “The children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, was 430 years.”  Breakdown of the 430 years: 215 years in Canaan til Jacob’s move (with Moses’ grandfather Kohath) to Egypt, 70 years til Joseph’s death, Moses’ age of 80 at the exodus…65 years remain.  So Moses was born nearly 65 years after Joseph died.  Mauro op. cit., p.40, “The interval between the death of Joseph and the birth of Moses was 64 years.”  70 + 65 + 80 = 215 years in Egypt.

{Sidelight: The original Ípuwer Papýrus recorded calamities that were occurring in ancient Egypt.  In it, Ipuwer was speaking to the Lord of All, ‘a term used for the king and the creator god’.  Free-online-bible-study.org “The Ipuwer Papyrus is a single papyrus holding an ancient Egyptian poem, called The Admonitions of Ipuwer. It describes the affliction of Egypt by natural disasters and by a state of chaos in which the poor have become rich, and the rich poor; violence, famine and death are everywhere. A symptom of this chaos is the lament that servants are leaving their servitude and acting rebelliously. The probable date of the composition of the Papyrus, 1850 BCE and 1600 BCE.”  Egyptology.org.uk “The date for the Ipuwer Papyrus is not certain. Van Seeter dated it to around the end of the Middle Kingdom (c 1600 BCE). Most scholars generally agree to this dating.”

The enormous Minoan volcano eruption of Thera (now called Santorini) anciently happened 120 miles SE of Greece in the southern Aegean Sea.  Some geologists think it was the most powerful explosion on earth.  It altered the course of the Mediterranean Sea.  Wikipedia “Radiocarbon dates, including analysis of an olive branch buried beneath a lava flow from the volcano gave a date between 1627 BCE and 1600 BCE (95% confidence interval).”  Live Science: How the Eruption of Thera Changed the World “The eruption has also been loosely linked with the Biblical story of Moses and the exodus from Egypt. The effects of Thera’s eruption could have explained many of the plagues described in the Old Testament, including the days of darkness and polluting of the rivers, according to some theories.”

Whether or not the Ipuwer Papyrus and the Santorini eruption do directly relate to Israel’s exodus from Egypt, is beyond the scope here.}

Eusébius (265–340 AD) was a bishop and church historian. Chronicle [30] “All versions agree that 505 years transpired from Abraham until Moses and the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. It is calculated as follows. When Abraham was 75 years of age, God appeared to him and said that He would give the promised land to his descendants. For it is written [Ge.12:4-5]: ‘Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Harran.’ In the same passage, further on [Ge.12:7] it states: ‘Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ Thus 75 years of Abraham plus 430 years [from God’s promise] until the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. The Apostle Paul confirms this [Ga.3.17-18]: ‘The law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.’ Then he adds: ‘God gave it to Abraham by a promise.’ When Abraham was 100 years of age his son Isaac was born, 25 years after God’s promise.  405 years transpired from that event until the exodus from Egypt. Consequently, from the promise [until the exodus] 430 years elapsed.”  75 + 430 = 505 years.

Placing the birth of Abram in 2117 BC…505 years later is 1612 BC for the exodus from Egypt.

In this topic, the ages of the patriarchs and the sequence of their lives are according to scripture.  The chronological dates are approximate.  Exact dates cannot be proven as of now.

My other topics about the timeline are “Chronology: the Exodus to Samuel”, “Chronology: Samuel to Rehoboam”, “Chronology: Septuagint versus Masoretic Text”.