Job and the Land of Uz: A Biblical Mystery? Part 1

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Authored By  :
Bill Kochman

Published On :
September 16, 2003

Last Updated :
January 3, 2009


NOTE: This article or series has not been updated recently. As such, it may possibly contain some outdated information, and/or ideas and beliefs which I no longer embrace, or which have changed to some degree.

Introduction, Location Of Land Of Uz, God's Judgments By King
Nebuchadnezzar, Edom Ammon And Moab, Genealogies Of Uz, Mount
Seir Esau And Edom, Are Edom And Land Of Uz Synonymous?, Time
Frame Of Book Of Job, Geographic Perspective Of Writer Of The
Book Of Job, Genealogy And Location Of Sabeans, Abraham's
Bitter Sons, Scope Of Land Promised To Abraham, Nature Of The
Jew, Jewish Arab Family Feud, Was Job An Israelite?, Chaldean
Bandits, Sojourn Of Terah Abraham And Lot, TransJordan Spice
Route, Eliphaz the Temanite, Cities Named After Sons, Did Job
Possibly Live During The Same Time As Esau?, Edom And Idumea


Recently, someone wrote to me concerning something I had
mentioned in an article I wrote about six years ago; that
is, "Satan: Origin, Purpose And Future". In that article, I
noted that some people believe that the story of Job, and
thus the Book of Job, is older than the Book of Genesis.
This person was wondering what my source was for this piece
of information. As I explained to him, being as I heard, or
possibly read, this information so long ago, at this current
time, I can't really remember its source. But, in order to
not disappoint this person, and to provide him with the best
answer possible, I decided to do a bit of Biblical research,
and following is what I discovered:

In the Book of Job, in the very first verse in the very
first chapter, we are told that the Patriarch Job lived in
the land of Uz, as we see here:

"There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and
that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God,
and eschewed evil." Job 1:1, KJV

I reasoned that if we could determine the location of the
land of Uz, we might possibly gain a better understanding of
the time frame in which the Book of Job was written. As you
will see by the following verses, in warning of the Lord's
coming judgments by the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar, the
Prophet Jeremiah begins with Jerusalem and Judah, and then
expands outward, beginning with the nations and cities which
immediately bordered Judah, until he includes the entire
known world of the Middle East, as well as the eastern area
of the Mediterranean region, and the northeastern sector of
Africa. All of this was to be conquered by Nebuchadnezzar:

"Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,
saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my
servant, and will bring them against this land, and against
the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round
about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an
astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the
voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the
voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the
light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a
desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall
serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come
to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will
punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD,
for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will
make it perpetual desolations. And I will bring upon that
land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even
all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath
prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and
great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will
recompense them according to their deeds, and according to
the works of their own hands. For thus saith the LORD God of
Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand,
and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of
the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup
at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto
whom the LORD had sent me: To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities
of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to
make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a
curse; as it is this day; Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his
servants, and his princes, and all his people; And all the
mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all
the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and
Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, Edom, and Moab,
and the children of Ammon, And all the kings of Tyrus, and
all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are
beyond the sea, Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are
in the utmost corners, And all the kings of Arabia, and all
the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,
And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and
all the kings of the Medes, And all the kings of the north,
far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the
world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of
Sheshach shall drink after them." Jeremiah 25:9-26, KJV

"Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in
the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee:
thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked."
Lamentations 4:21, KJV

As I explained a moment ago, in the previous verses, after
mentioning Jerusalem and Judah, Jeremiah then works his way
outwards, and includes the coastal towns and cities of the
Philistines, (which today corresponds to the Gaza Strip and
the Mediterranean coast of Israel), as well as Tyrus and
Zidon, (which today correspond to cities in modern Lebanon),
and Arabia, (today known as Saudi Arabia due to the Saud
dynasty being in power), and Elam and the land of the Medes,
(which roughly corresponds to the Caspian Sea region near
the northwestern corner of modern Iran), and Egypt.

But what I want to call to your attention is the fact that
the Prophet Jeremiah mentions the kings of the land of Uz,
as well as Edom, Ammon and Moab, and then states in his
Lamentations that the daughter of Edom dwells in the land of
Uz. That word "daughter", which is derived from the Hebrew
"bath", isn't always used in a literal sense. Sometimes it
is used as a personification, or to represent daughter
villages. As I point out in other articles, such as in "The
Woman In The Wilderness And The 144,000", the three ancient
nations of Edom, Ammon and Moab roughly correspond to the
modern nation of Jordan. Edom was located in the mountainous
region to the south/southeast of Judah and the Dead Sea;
therefore, this must have also been the land of Uz, being as
the Lord says through Jeremiah, that the daughter of Edom
dwells in the land of Uz.

The next question is to determine exactly who Uz was. Upon
looking at the genealogies of Genesis and the first Book of
Chronicles, we discover that there were apparently several
men by the name of Uz, pronounced "oots". The first of these
was one of the sons of Aram. Aram was the son of Shem, who
was one of the three sons of the Patriarch Noah, as we see
here:

"Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the
brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children
born. The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad,
and Lud, and Aram. And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul,
and Gether, and Mash." Genesis 10:21-23, KJV

"The sons of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud,
and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech."
1 Chronicles 1:17, KJV

The second Uz mentioned in the Bible, who was also known as
Huz, was the first son of Nahor, who was brother of the
Patriarch Abraham, as we see by the following verses:

"And it came to pass after these things, that it was told
Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children
unto thy brother Nahor; Huz his firstborn, and Buz his
brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,"
Genesis 22:20-21, KJV

Please note that the Aram mentioned in the previous verses
is not the same Aram mentioned earlier as the grandson of
Shem. This Aram was the father of the Aramean people; that
is, the Syrians. You may recall that in the article "The
Children Of God And Politics", I mention that Abraham left
his father, Terah, in Padanaram, a region of Syria, in order
to travel southwestward, and claim God's promises in the
land of Canaan.

The third Uz we find mentioned in the Bible was the son of
Dishan. Dishan was a descendant of Seir, whose offspring
inhabited Mount Seir prior to the arrival of Esau. The Bible
does not make Seir's ancestral line very clear. In reading
chapter one of the first book of Chronicles, it appears that
Seir may possibly have been a descendant of Abraham through
his second wife Keturah, or else he may have been related to
Ishmael, who was Abraham's son by his Egyptian handmaiden,
Hagar. In fact, because of the way the verses are ordered in
that chapter, there is even a possibility that Seir may have
been a grandson of Esau. Whatever the case may be, Seir was
the father of Lotan, who in turn had a son named Hori. Hori
in turn fathered Dishan, who then had Uz. These descendants
of Seir became known as the Horites, which just so happens
to mean "cave dweller". Following are some verses from the
books of Genesis and 1 Chronicles which confirm these facts:

"These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who inhabited the
land; Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah, And Dishon,
and Ezer, and Dishan: these are the dukes of the Horites,
the children of Seir in the land of Edom. And the children
of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister was Timna.
And the children of Shobal were these; Alvan, and Manahath,
and Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. And these are the children of
Zibeon; both Ajah, and Anah: this was that Anah that found
the mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon
his father. And the children of Anah were these; Dishon, and
Aholibamah the daughter of Anah. And these are the children
of Dishon; Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran. The
children of Ezer are these; Bilhan, and Zaavan, and Akan.
The children of Dishan are these; Uz, and Aran. These are
the dukes that came of the Horites; duke Lotan, duke Shobal,
duke Zibeon, duke Anah, Duke Dishon, duke Ezer, duke Dishan:
these are the dukes that came of Hori, among their dukes in
the land of Seir. And these are the kings that reigned in
the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the
children of Israel." Genesis 36:20-31, KJV

"And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is
by the wilderness." Genesis 14:6, KJV

"The sons of Ezer; Bilhan, and Zavan, and Jakan. The sons of
Dishan; Uz, and Aran." 1 Chronicles 1:42, KJV

While we cannot determine with one hundred per cent certainty
after which Uz the land of Uz received its name, one point
which does become evident, is that all three of these men
lived prior to the time of Moses by at least several hundred
years, or earlier.

Being as the Prophet Jeremiah does tell us that Edom dwelt in
the land of Uz, I strongly suspect, but can't conclusively
prove, that this area of land may have been named after the
final Uz; that is, the son of Dishan. My reasoning behind
this speculation is rather simple. As you will already know,
Jacob and Esau were the two sons of Isaac and Rebekah, which
would make them the grandsons of the Patriarch Abraham. All
of these genealogies are fully explained in my article "The
Children Of God And Politics". The Bible makes very plain
that the Lord gave Esau Mount Seir for an inheritance. Esau
was later known as Edom, and thus his descendants became
known as the Edomites. Thus the land of the Horites, or the
land of Uz if you prefer, became the land of Edom; exactly
as the Prophet Jeremiah states above. Following again are a
few verses which substantiate these points:

"And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters,
and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all
his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the
land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of
his brother Jacob. For their riches were more than that they
might dwell together; and the land wherein they were
strangers could not bear them because of their cattle. Thus
dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom. And these are the
generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount
Seir:" Genesis 36:6-9, KJV

"Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by
the way of the Red sea, as the LORD spake unto me: and we
compassed mount Seir many days. And the LORD spake unto me,
saying, Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn
you northward. And command thou the people, saying, Ye are
to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of
Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you:
take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore: Meddle not with
them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much
as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau
for a possession." Deuteronomy 2:1-5, KJV

"And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD
God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the
flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and
the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took
your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and
led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied
his seed, and gave him Isaac. And I gave unto Isaac Jacob
and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it;
but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt."
Joshua 24:2-4, KJV

As I said a moment ago, the previous verses seem to offer
some convincing proof that the land of Uz, and the land of
Edom, which included Mount Seir, may be one and the same. At
the very least, it seems that the land of Uz became a part
of Edom, the inheritance of Esau.

But, this still does not solve our problem regarding trying
to determine which book came first, Job or Genesis. Why?
Because so far, we don't have a clue regarding at what time
in Biblical history Job and his family lived in the land of
Uz; thus, it is difficult to say with exactitude, when the
events in the Book of Job took place. Obviously, the events
must have taken place after the land became known as the
land of Uz. If Edom is in fact the land of Uz spoken of in
the Book of Job as I suspect, then we have a time period
spanning from the days of Esau, all the way to about twelve
hundred years into the future to the time of Jeremiah.

To further complicate this issue, there arises the slight
possibility that there may have been more than one place
known as the land of Uz; after all, there are three men by
the name of Uz mentioned in the Bible. If we take this point
into consideration, this stretches our time period back even
further to the time of the Patriarch Shem, when the first Uz
is mentioned. But, for the sake of simplicity, let's assume
that there was only one placed referred to as the land of
Uz; that is, Edom.

Well, being the Biblical investigator that I tend to be, I
wasn't about to stop my research here, so I decided to look
into a few other clues found in the Book of Job. The first
thing that came to my mind is the fact that the writer of
the Book of Job refers to the place as the land of Uz. Is
this possibly a clue that Job and his family lived there
before Esau's descendants took it over, and it became known
as Edom? Possibly so, but not necessarily, being as Jeremiah
likewise referred to Edom as the land of Uz.

In the third verse of the very first chapter of the Book of
Job, there is a small hint which suggests that the writer
may be talking about Edom, when he speaks of the land of Uz.
This verse states:

"His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three
thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five
hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this
man was the greatest of all the men of the east."
Job 1:3, KJV

Please notice that Job is associated with the men of the
east. Logic dictates that the writer may have been writing
from the perspective of one who lived in the land of Israel,
and Edom, or the land of Uz, was most certainly just to the
southeast of the Judah/Dead Sea region, as we have already
seen. Of course, this doesn't exclude the possibility that
Job and his family may have lived even further east than
Edom.

We are given another clue regarding the location of the land
of Uz in verse fifteen of the very same chapter, which says"

"And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea,
they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and
I only am escaped alone to tell thee." Job 1:15, KJV

According to my Hebrew lexicon, the Sabeans were the
descendants of Sheba. As with Uz, the Bible mentions three
men by the name of Sheba. The first was the son of Joktan,
who was the son of Eber. Eber, (the father of the Hebrews),
was the grandson of Arphaxad, who was the son of Shem, one
of Noah's three sons. In other words, their genealogy looks
like this:

Noah
Shem
Arphaxad
Salah
Eber
Joktan
Sheba

The second Sheba we find mentioned in the Bible was the son
of Raamah, who was the grandson of Cush. Cush was the son of
Ham, (also a son of Noah), which would make Cush another one
of Noah's grandsons.

The third Sheba we see mentioned in the Scriptures, was the
son of Jokshan. Jokshan was one of Abraham's sons by his
wife Keturah. The Hebrew lexicon also states that Sheba was
a nation in southern Arabia. The geographical location of
this nation would seem to add weight to the idea that the
land of Uz was Edom; and thus the Sabeans could have easily
come up from the south in order to attack and steal Job's
flocks.

Similar to the Midianites, (who were also descendants of
Abraham by his second wife Keturah), who sold Jacob's son
Joseph in Egypt, apparently, the Sabeans also dealt in human
slave trade; because in the Book of Joel, where the Lord is
prophesying against those who have divided up the land of
Israel, and sold the children of Israel into slavery, we are
also told:

"The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem
have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them
far from their border. Behold, I will raise them out of the
place whither ye have sold them, and will return your
recompence upon your own head: And I will sell your sons and
your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and
they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off:
for the LORD hath spoken it." Joel 3:6-8, KJV

While it is only speculation on my part, I suspect that the
Sabeans were descendants of this third Sheba; that is, the
son of Abraham by Keturah. From the information I've shared
with you thus far, it is easy to see that the nations which
were descended from Abraham through Hagar's son Ishmael,
through Keturah's sons, and through Esau's sons, seem to
have settled for the most part in this same general area,
which now constitutes modern Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The
fact that Abraham chose Isaac above all of these other sons,
according to God's promise, and then Isaac blessed Jacob
above Esau, would obviously leave bitterness and resentment
in the hearts of some of his other sons, who were sent away,
as we see here:

"Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.
And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian,
and Ishbak, and Shuah. And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan.
And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and
Leummim. And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and
Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children
of Keturah. And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But
unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham
gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he
yet lived, eastward, unto the east country."
Genesis 25:1-6, KJV

Please notice that Abraham sent his other sons "unto the
east country". This phrase is referring to the land which
was located to the east of the Jordan River, which was the
geographical boundary of the land which God had promised to
Abraham. The Euphrates River, which originates in Armenia,
and runs through Syria, was the northern boundary. It was
not the part of the Euphrates which runs through modern-day
Iraq, as some Jews, and even certain misguided Christians,
have claimed. God never promised Abraham land extending all
the way over to Iraq. That is a modern Jewish deception. If
the truth be told, they are trying to get much more than
what God originally promised them; but that has always been
their nature; and it has gotten them into trouble time and
time again down through history. As I have pointed out
before, this is why they have been kicked out of country
after country for millennia. They are simply never content
unless they control everything; beginning with a country's
financial purse. Some may view that as being anti-Semitic,
but it is simple historical fact which anyone can verify.

But getting back to our main point, what were we told about
Job? The writer of the Book of Job states that he "was the
greatest of all the men of the east". So here again is
another strong indication that the story of Job's struggles
with his enemies may have taken place in Edom and the
surrounding region which now comprises Jordan and Saudi
Arabia. Job apparently settled there, and so did the other
half of Abraham's family, who ultimately became loosely
known as the Arabs.

While initially, the Lord told Moses and the Israelites to
leave these nations alone when they passed by them on their
way to the Promised Land, we discover later in the Bible,
that all of these nations turned against, and fought against
the Israelites; so much so that the Lord pronounced certain
judgments against all of them. You will find all of these
prophecies in the books of the Old Testament. Having said
that, it is easy to understand why these nations would even
engage in selling the Israelites as slaves when they caught
them; and this family feud between the Israelites and the
Arab nations has continued to this day, as I also point out
in "The Children Of God And Politics". If Job was a wealthy
Israelite living in the land of Edom, it also makes its
easier to understand why the minute the Lord lifted His Hand
of protection from Job, his enemies came in and either stole,
killed or destroyed all that he possessed.

You may question why I speculate that Job was an Israelite.
Well, as I noted earlier, the Book of Job appears to have
been written from the perspective of one who was living in
Israel; and this is why the writer refers to the land east
of the Jordan River as "the east country". Furthermore, if
we consider the main thrust of the story, it is about the
sufferings of a man who considered himself righteous before
God. Now, it seems to me that the theoretical Jewish writer
of the Book of Job would not consider any of his enemies to
the east to be righteous; but such a person would certainly
seem to argue that a fellow Jew living in that region would
be righteous before God. That is my personal reasoning.

Returning to the Book of Job, in verse seventeen of chapter
one, we find yet another clue regarding the geographical
location of the land of Uz. This verse states:

"While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and
said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the
camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the
servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped
alone to tell thee." Job 1:17, KJV

First poor Job was attacked by the Sabeans coming up from
the south, and now we are told that he is attacked by the
Chaldeans as well. As I point out in other articles, the
Bible tells us that the Chaldeans, who were also known as
the Chaldees, dwelt in the area of Mesopotamia, which in our
modern day comprises southern Iraq, where the Tigris and the
Euphrates rivers meet to form the Shatt-al-Arab river. The
Shatt-al-Arab then empties into the Persian Gulf. As you may
recall, the Scriptures tell us that Terah took his family
and left Ur of the Chaldees, in order to sojourn to the land
of Canaan, as we see here:

"Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram,
Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. And Haran died before
his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the
Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of
Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife,
Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the
father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no child. And
Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's
son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife;
and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go
into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt
there." Genesis 11:27-31, KJV

At any rate, it seems that perhaps there were some marauding
bands of Chaldeans who apparently made it their occupation
to travel through Arabia, and attack the caravans which
travelled the famous spice trade route which stretched from
Arabia to Damascus, and passed through Edom, or the land of
Uz. Perhaps it was Job's strategic location there which
allowed him to became so rich, with the blessings of God, of
course.

In looking for additional clues regarding the location of
the land of Uz, I next considered the origin of Job's three
friends. We are told that when Job lost everything and
became afflicted by the Lord's Design, his wealthy friends
from the surrounding area, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the
Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite came to visit and console
him in his troubles, as we read here:

"Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that
was come upon him, they came every one from his own place;
Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the
Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to
come to mourn with him and to comfort him." Job 2:11, KJV

First, we have Eliphaz the Temanite. In looking at the
ancestry of Teman, and the location of the land of Teman,
we quickly discover that it fits perfectly into my theory
concerning the land of Uz being located in, or a part of
Edom. The Bible tells us that Teman was a grandson of Esau
through his father Eliphaz, (Esau's first son), and a duke
of Edom, as we see here:

"These are the names of Esau's sons; Eliphaz the son of Adah
the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Bashemath the wife of
Esau. And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and
Gatam, and Kenaz. And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau's
son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek: these were the sons of
Adah Esau's wife. And these are the sons of Reuel; Nahath,
and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah: these were the sons of
Bashemath Esau's wife. And these were the sons of
Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon,
Esau's wife: and she bare to Esau Jeush, and Jaalam, and
Korah. These were dukes of the sons of Esau: the sons of
Eliphaz the firstborn son of Esau; duke Teman, duke Omar,
duke Zepho, duke Kenaz, Duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke
Amalek: these are the dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land
of Edom; these were the sons of Adah." Genesis 36:10-16, KJV

It is interesting to note that there are no other men by the
name of Eliphaz mentioned in the entire Old Testament. This
leads me to assume that Job's friend Eliphaz may very well
have been Esau's son Eliphaz. The fact that he is referred
to as the Temanite is really not confusing if we consider
the possibility that Eliphaz may have simply chosen to honor
his son by naming the land in which they dwelt after him.
This was a common practice in those days. For example, we
know that Hamor named the city of Shechem after his son of
the same name. Cain too, after he had fled from the face of
the Lord, named his city after his son Enoch, as we see in
the Book of Genesis:

"And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch:
and he builded a city, and called the name of the city,
after the name of his son, Enoch." Genesis 4:17, KJV

If there is any validity to my speculation regarding Eliphaz
the Temanite actually being the son of Esau, then with this
piece of information, we have also acquired a specific time
frame regarding when the events described in the Book of Job
may have taken place. In other words, it would seem that the
story of Job may have taken place during the same time as
the stories of Jacob and Esau, and their immediate families.

To further substantiate this possibility, consider the fact
that according to the Hebrew lexicon, the land of Teman was
located to the east/southeast of Idumea, that is, Edom.
Idumea is merely another name for Edom, which, as we have
already seen, was the inheritance of Esau. So once again, we
see that all of these events center around the same general
region; that is, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, right next to the
border with Israel. Abraham kicked out all of his other sons
and gave the inheritance to Isaac, and so his sons settled
nearby. In fact, they settled right on the other side of the
Jordan River and the Dead Sea. They settled "in the east
country".

As we continue our discussion in part two, we will take a
look at the possible genealogies of Bildad the Shuhite, and
Zophar the Naamathite. In addition to this, we will also
learn of the origin of the ancient nations of Moab and
Ammon. I will then offer some closing remarks concerning
everything we have been discussing here. I trust that you
will join me.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .


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