Uz

This was the land made memorable by the dwelling of Job. The name seems to be taken from Hetz, counsel.

LAND OF, the country of Job. As there were three persons of this name, namely, the son of Aram, the son of Nahor, and the grandson of Seir the Horite, commentators are divided in their opinion as to the situation of the country meant by the land of Uz. Bochart, Spanheim, Calmet, Wells, and others, place it in Arabia Deserta. Michaelis places it in the valley of Damascus; which city was, in fact, built by Uz, the grandson of Shem. Archbishop Magee, Bishop Lowth, Dr. Hales, Dr. Good, and others, with more reason, fix the scene of the history of Job in Idumea. This is also the opinion of Mr. Horne, who refers for a confirmation of it to Lam 4:21, where Uz is expressly said to be in Edom; and to Jer 49:7-8; Jer 49:20; Eze 25:13; Amo 1:11-12; Oba 1:8-9, where both Teman and Dedan are described as inhabitants of Edom. In effect, says Mr. Horne, nothing is clearer than that the history of an inhabitant of Idumea is the subject of the poem which bears the name of Job, and that all the persons introduced into it were Idumeans, dwelling in Idumea, in other words, Edomite Arabs.

Uz, a region and tribe named in Job 1:1; Jer 25:20; Lam 4:21; now generally supposed to have been situated in the south of Arabia Deserta, between Idumea, Palestine, and the Euphrates.

The land in which Job dwelt, Job 1:1 Jer 25:20 Lam 4:21 . The Seventy call it Ausitis. It appears to have been a region in Arabia Deserta, between Palestine, Idumaea, and the Euphrates, and most probably not far from the borders of Idumaea. It is uncertain whether its inhabitants were descendants of Uz the son of Aram, Huz the son of Nahor, or Uz the Horite, Gen 10:23 22:21 36:28. They appear to have had much knowledge of the true God and the principles of virtue and religion.\par

UZ, or more correctly Huz (Gen 22:21). A country and a people near the Sabeans and the Chaldees (Job 1:1; Job 1:15; Job 1:17); accessible to the Temanites, the Shuhites (Job 2:11), and the Buzites (Job 32:2). The Edomites once possessed it (Jer 25:20; Lam 4:21). Suited for sheep, oxen, asses, and camels (Job 1:3). From an inscription of Esarhaddon it appears there were in central Arabia, beyond the jebel Shomer, about the modern countries of upper and lower Kaseem, two regions, Bazu and Khazu, answering to Buz and Huz. Uz therefore was in the middle of northern Arabia, not far from the famous district of the Nejd. Ptolemy mentions the Aesitae (related to "Uz") as in the northern part of Arabia Deserta, near Babylon and the Euphrates. The name occurs

(1) in Gen 10:23 as son of Aram and grandson (as "son" means in 1Ch 1:17) of Shem;

(2) as son of Nahor by Milcah (Gen 22:21);

(3) as son of Dishan and grandson of Seir (Gen 36:28). Evidently the more ancient and northerly members of the Aramaic family coalesced with some of the later Abrahamids holding a central position in Mesopotamia, and subsequently with those still later, the Edomites of the S.

Uz (ŭz), light sandy soil? 1. A region and tribe in the northeastern part of Arabia deserta, between the Euphrates, Palestine, and Idumea, probably including part of Bashan; called by Ptolemy Ausitis. Job was an inhabitant of "the land of Uz," which was probably an extensive district, and subject to the Edomites. Job 1:1; Jer 25:20; Lam 4:21. 2. A son of Aram. Gen 10:23; 1Ch 1:17. 3. The son of Dishan, the Horite. Gen 36:28; 1Ch 1:42.

1. Son of Aram, a son of Shem. Gen 10:23; 1Ch 1:17.

2. Son of Dishan, a son of Seir. Gen 36:28; 1Ch 1:42.

3. The native land of Job, perhaps the district peopled by the descendants of one of the above, or of Huz the son of Nahor. Job 1:1; Jer 25:20; Lam 4:21. It is supposed to have been in the south-east of Palestine towards Arabia Deserta, which would lie open to attacks from the Sabeans and the Chaldeans.

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By: Emil G. Hirsch, Schulim Ochser

1. Son of Aram, and grandson of Shem, according to Gen. x. 23; but I Chron. i. 17 records him as a son of Shem.

2. Eldest son of Nahor by Milcah; nephew of Abraham (Gen. xxii. 21; A. V. has "Huz").

3. One of the sons of Dishan, and grandson of Seir the Horite (ib. xxxvi. 28; I Chron. i. 42).

4. Geographical name occurring three times in the Old Testament and connoting: (1) the native land of Job (Job. i. 1); (2) a country northeast of Egypt, which it separated from Philistia, being one of the lands to which, at the command of Yhwh, Jeremiah gave the wine-cup of fury to drink (Jer. xxv. 20); and (3) a country comprising part of Edom, summoned to rejoice over the destruction of the Temple (Lam. iv. 21).

According to modern investigators, who regard the names given in Genesis as geographical terms, the territory of Uz embraced the regions represented by the names of the persons mentioned above; and in like manner the brief notices in Jeremiah and Lamentations agree with those concerning the native country of Job's friends, as well as with other data concerning the land in the first chapter of Job. According to verses 15 and 17 of that chapter, the country was first invaded by the Sabeans from the south, and later by the Chaldeans from the north, which implies that the district lay on the northern edge of the great Arabian desert. Eliphaz, one of the friends of Job, was from Teman, a town of southern Edom; his companion, Bildad, came from Shuah (Gen. xxv. 2), which, according to the cuneiform inscriptions, lay south of Karkemesh (Carchemish); and Elihu was a native of Buz (comp. Jer. xxv. 23; Gen. xxii. 21). According to the cuneiform inscriptions, Shalmaneser II. received tribute from one Sasi, a son of the land of Uzza, from 859 to 831 B.C.; and the Midrash also identifies the name of Uz with the country, making Job a contemporary of Abraham (Yalḳ. Shim'oni, cii. 2; Gen. R. lvii. 3).

Bibliography:

Kautzsch, in Riehm's Handwörterbuch, s.v.;

Delitzsch, Wo Lag das Paradies ? p. 259.

UZ.—1. A son of Aram [Note: ram Aramaic.] , grandson of Shem (Gen 10:23 and 1Ch 1:17 [in emended text]). 2. A son of Nahor (Gen 22:21, AV [Note: Authorized Version.] Huz), whose descendants are placed in Aram-naharaim (Gen 24:10). 3. One of the Horites in the land of Edom (Gen 36:28 [v. 21 and v. 30], 1Ch 1:42). 4. A region which is called the dwelling-place of the daughter of Edom (Lam 4:21). 5. A district containing a number of kings, situated between Philistia and Egypt, or, with a different pointing of the consonants of one word, between Philistia and the country of the Bedouin (Jer 25:20: the name not in LXX [Note: Septuagint.] ). 6. Job’s country (Job 1:1). As the first three are probably tribal designations, all may be regarded as geographical terms. It is not certain that they all refer to the same region. Nos. 1 and 2 seem to point to Mesopotamia. Nos. 3 and 4, and perhaps 5, indicate Edom or its neighbourhood. The locality of No. 6 is obscure. Ancient tradition is threefold. In LXX [Note: Septuagint.] of Job 42:19 Uz is affirmed, on the authority of ‘the Syriac book,’ to lie on the borders of ldumæa and Arabia. In v. 23 it is located on the borders of the Euphrates. Josephus (Ant. I. vi. 4) associates the Uz of No. 1 with Damascus and Trachonitis. The evidence of the Book of Job itself about its hero’s home seems to favour the neighbourhood of Edom or N. Arabia. Teman (Job 2:11) was an Edomite district containing the city of Bozrah (Amo 1:12), and Eliphaz was an Edomite name (Gen 36:4). The Sabœans (Job 1:15; Job 6:19) were a S. Arabian people who had settlements in the north. Tema (Job 6:19) lay in N. Arabia, about 250 miles S.E. of Edom. The description of Job, however, as one of ‘the children of the East’ (Job 1:3) is most naturally understood to refer to the east of Palestine. The cuneiform inscriptions have a name Uzzai, which has been identified with Uz, but the identification is extremely uncertain.

Modern tradition, which can be traced back to early Christian times, locates Job in the Hauran, where the German explorer J. G. Wetzstein found a monastery of Job, a tomb and fountain and stone of Job, and small round stones called ‘worms of Job.’ Another German explorer, Glaser, finds Uz in W. Arabia, at a considerable distance to the N.W. of Medina. Decision at present is unattainable, both on the general question of the signification of Uz in OT and on the special question of its meaning in the Book of Job. All that can be said is that the name points to the E. and S.E. of Palestine, and that the Book of Job appears to represent its hero as living in the neighbourhood of the Arabian or Syro-Arabian desert.

W. Taylor Smith.

Counsel

uz (עוּץ, ‛ūc, עוּץ ארץ, ’erec ‛ūc; Ὤς, Ṓs, Ὤξ, Ṓx, Αὐσῖτις, Ausı́tis):

Biblical Data:

(1) In Gen 10:23 Uz is the oldest son of Aram and grandson of Shem, while in 1Ch 1:17 Uz is the son of Shem. Septuagint inserts a passage which supplies this lacking name. As the tables of the nations in Gen 10 are chiefly geographical and ethnographical, Uz seems to have been the name of a district or nation colonized by or descended from Semites of the Aramean tribe or family.

(2) The son of Nahor by Milcah, and older brother of Buz (Gen 2:21). Here the name is doubtless personal and refers to an individual who was head of a clan or tribe kindred to that of Abraham.

(3) A son of Dishan, son of Seir the Horite (Gen 36:28), and personal name of a Horite or perhaps of mixed Horite and Aramean blood.

(4) The native land and home of Job (Job 1:1), and so situated as to be in more or less proximity to the tribe of the Temanites (Job 2:11), the Shuhites (Job 2:11), the Naamathites (Job 2:11), the Buzites (Job 32:2), and open to the inroads of the Chaldeans (Job 1:17), and the Sabeans (Job 1:15 the Revised Version (British and American)), as well as exposed to the great Arabian Desert (Job 1:19). See the next article.

(5) A kingdom of some importance somewhere in Southern Syria and not far from Judea, having a number of kings (Jer 25:20).

(6) A kingdom, doubtless the same as that of Jer 25:20 and inhabited by or in subjection to the Edomites (Lam 4:21), and hence not far from Edom.