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Where Job Lived
The first sentence of the book of Job gives the location of where Job takes
place. The Land
of Uz is a region of land
that covers a considerable amount of territory. The name is derived from a
person of the same name. It would be reasonable to assume that this person
would have been one of the first to have settled there and was well known. The
word Uz means light, sandy soil. The area known as Uz has just that type of
ground and terrain. Uz can be placed in what is now known as the Arabia Desert.
It is located in the northern part, between Palestine
and the Euphrates River on the southwestern coast of the Dead Sea. This would place the Land
of Uz in the area of modern day Yemen, the
western part. We know from history that many of the tribes mentioned in the
book; i.e., the Temanites, the Sabeans, and the Chaldeans, were known to reside
in this area. The Land
of Uz is mentioned also
in the book of Lamentations. In Lamentations 4:21 we find that the
Edomites are residing there. Uz was a land that the Edomites conquered. From Jeremiah
25:20 we learn that Uz came under the authority of many kings or governors.
This information places Uz right in the heart of the modern day Middle East.
The Time Period of Job
The period of time in which the book of Job takes place is during the time of
the patriarchs. A fair estimate would be about 1,800 years before the time of
Christ. This places the book between the time of Terah, Abraham's father and
Jacob of the book of Genesis. This information is gathered from within the
book. Three things place this book during this time period. First is the fact
that Job's life span is older than 140 years. The second is that Job acted as
the high priest for his family. The last is that Eliphaz is a descendant of
Esau's eldest son. This can be found in Genesis 36:10-15. This raises
the possibility that Job knew Jacob.
From the traditions of the area we can learn much about the times of Job. Job
is recognized as having lived by the Arabs of today. There are memorials,
statues, and gates in his honor. There are several other writings that contain
information concerning Job. In the Septuagint, and in Arabic writings he is
mentioned often. Eusebius' writings, place him in time two ages before Moses.
These writings enable us to understand the customs and life styles of the time.
Information that is missing from the book helps to place the time and place of
this writing. We can determine that this book was written before the great
Exodus of the Bible because there is no mention of the Mosaic Laws. There is no
direct allusion to this event or the series of the wonders that would have
accompanied it. The friends of Job would have mentioned the exodus in their
discourses with Job. The events of the exodus caused a need for a recording
thus this event produced many writers. Yet the writings that take place around
this time period do not mention the exodus. The Bible takes three books to
cover the religious practices of the Old Testament and the foundation of those
rites. In the book of Job there is no mention of any thing similar to those
writings. The religious practices of Job appear similar to those of the Book of
Genesis. The practices of Job are like those of Abraham. Job is the religious
leader of his family. We learn in the first chapter that Job was offering burnt
offerings both morning and night for his family. The lack of Jewish rite places
this book before Moses' time.
The book itself is a good teacher of what the people knew and believe. It
reveals much knowledge on several topics. A quick look at these will lead the
reader to know that these people were not uneducated but rather very intelligent
people.
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