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JOB: Arabian Sheikh or Israelite Sage? by Damien Mackey
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INTRODUCTION It is apparent from reading old and new commentaries on the Book of Job [010] that, after all this time, the holy man has still not been firmly located to any specific historical era. Job comes across as being, like Melchizedek, profoundly mysterious; someone who just appears 'out of nowhere', without a known beginning. The Rev. Frank Knight summed it up when, referring to the book's historical details, he wrote [020]: The authorship, date, and place of composition of the Book of Job constitute some of the most keenly contested and most uncertain problems in Biblical Criticism. There is perhaps no book in the Canon of Scripture to which more diverse dates have been assigned. Every period of Jewish history, from BC 1400 to BC 150, has had its advocates as that to which this mysterious and magnificent poem must be relegated, and this criticism ranges over 1200 years of uncertainty. In this article I shall be attempting to narrow down dramatically that "1200" year period "of uncertainty", to a specific era, using a combination of Syrian legends about Job and the apocryphal book of Tobit. Because, to give the story away right at the start, I shall be identifying Job as Tobit's son, Tobias (c.700 BC), in the latter's more mature years. This identification will, in turn, necessitate my dating Job's life to the neo-Assyrian era of c.720-680 B.C. It will also necessitate my identifying Job's wife as Sarah, wife of Tobias. My identification of Job with Tobias will be made on the basis of:
(a) personal or biographical similarities (e.g. wealth, fame, children); and By positively identifying Job in this way, and filling in his missing biographical details, I shall be hoping to lift some of the thick veil of mystery that presently enshrouds the man and his circumstances; thereby making it far easier to come to grips with this very enigmatic book. What I hope to demonstrate in this article is that: The details about Tobias's life are nothing other than those pertaining to the first part of Job's extraordinary life; whilst those events described in the Book of Job constitute his later years. I intend to show that Syro-Arabic traditions, such as Abufelda, Jâkût el-Hamawi and Ibn er-Râbi, converge with certain versions of the much-copied Book of Tobit [030] in locating the holy man's dwelling and burial place "in the land of Uz" to Bashan in Transjordania. The problem of the historicity of Job appears to be an age-old consideration; for we find that at least as far back as the C13th AD the question was being hotly debated in the Schools. Thomas Aquinas [040] was one who had insisted that Job, and those who engaged in debate with him, were genuine historical persons. In this he was opposing himself to the likes of Moses Maimonides [050], who had expressed a contrary view. Aquinas referred, in the Prologue to his "Expositio" on Job, to what he deemed to be the clear references to Job in the Old and New Testaments (i.e. Ezekiel 14:14,20 & James 5:11). He also, in the course of his commentary, pointed to certain details of an historical nature in the text of Job itself that he believed to confirm this view; for example that very first verse of the Book of Job: "There was a man in the land of Uz by the name of Job, ..."(1:1), in which Job is described with respect to his native land and his name. These two items of information, Aquinas maintained, had been provided to show that this story is not a parable but a real occurrence [060]. Again, later on in the Book of Job, the young Elihu is introduced into the story as "Elihu, the son of Barachiel the Buzite, of the line of Ram" (32:2). From this precise information we learn about the young man's name, his origin, his native land, and his race. This Elihu, incidentally, is the only character in the Book of Job who is accorded a patronymic (a father's name). So, in the case of Job's father, for example, and the father of his wife, we must search elsewhere for the information. I think that we can find these detailed in the Book of Tobit. Biographical detail is one of the major differences between Tobit and Job. Whereas the Book of Tobit provides us with immense personal detail about the lives of its central characters, the Book of Job by comparison is significantly lacking in that regard. The author of Job does not offer even the tiniest clue as to the identity of Job's father, or mother, or who might have been their ancestors; nor are we told where Job was born, nor to which race he belonged. Similarly, we do not learn anything there about the family origins (tôlêdôt) of Job's wife. And it is probably due to the fact that the Book of Job provides no specific Israelite ancestry for its main character - plus the fact that Job himself is described as living in the "east", in the "land of Uz" (cf.1:1&3) - that commentators have invariably concluded that he must have been a non-Israelite, a 'gentile'. Thus Augustine of Hippo (354 AD) said of Job that: "He was neither a native of Israel nor a proselyte (that is, a newly admitted member of the people of Israel) ...", but an Edomite foreigner [070]. What I am here proposing, though, is that the Book of Tobit has already provided all such personal detail as is lacking from the Book of Job. According to this view, we would already know from the opening verses of Tobit all about Job's paternal ancestry, his tribe, his country and town of origin. In those verses we read about Tobias' father, that he was: ... Tobit, the son of Tobiel, son of Ananiel, son of Aduel, son of Gabael, of the descendants of Asiel and the tribe of Naphtali .... And that he was "from Thisbe, which is to the south of Kedesh Naphtali in Galilee above Asor" (1:1-2). That already is comprehensive biographical information! Moreover, we would know from the Book of Tobit that Tobias's mother was "Anna", the wife of Tobit (1:9). We would know such similar details too about Tobias's own wife; that she was named "Sarah" and was "... the daughter of Raguel" (3:7) and "Edna" (7:2), who lived "at Ecbatana in Media" (3:7), and that she married Tobias (7:13). Hence if this reconstruction is correct, that Job is Tobias, there would be no need for the Book of Job to repeat all of this biographical information. Perhaps those readers who are already familiar with these two books might by now be shaking their heads and saying that there is no possible chance of one's converging the geographical details for the final years of the Job and Tobias; that by no stretch of the imagination can Job's "land of Uz" be the same as the "Ecbatana in Media" where Tobias is said to have been buried. That these two places are worlds apart. And, in a sense, they would be right! It is, I believe, a problem created by copyists.
The problem certainly does not lie with the Book of Job. There is no reason for us not to accept the specific Syro-Arabic traditions that firmly and unequivocally locate Job's native dwelling-place of "Uz" to the fertile Hauran valley of Bashan in Transjordania. And to a very precise place in that region. As we shall see, Job's tomb has long been venerated there in that region. No, the problem lies rather with the geography of the Book of Tobit as it stands in most versions, which locate Tobias' final abode in Median Ecbatana. It is this incorrect insertion of Ecbatana into the text which, I believe, could well be the reason why no one has ever before (to my knowledge) suggested an identification between Job and Tobias, despite the incredible similarities. |
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| But quite a different perspective comes over the situation when one discovers that certain versions of Tobit give, instead of Ecbatana, "Bathania"; and, instead of Media, "Midian" [080]; that is to say, the province of Batanæa (or Bashan) in Midian. And what adds some confirmation to this is the direction that the young Tobias is said to have travelled, in company with the angel Raphael, to reach so-called Ecbatana. That he must have set off from Nineveh in a westerly direction is apparent from the fact that he and the angel |
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arrived at the Tigris River by evening. The Tigris, as we know, is to the west of Nineveh. [0907] If Tobias had really been heading for the classical Ecbatana, he would have been required to head eastwards from Nineveh. This locating of the final dwelling of the mature-aged Tobias to Batanæa ("Bathania"), rather than Median Ecbatana, is exactly what was needed to break the deadlock. We shall return to the geography later on, and in more detail. But let us first look at other, perhaps more easily grasped similarities between Job and Tobias.
I. Some Obvious Comparisons
What initially got me thinking that Job might have been the same person as Tobias - apart from the obvious name similarity between Job and Tob - were:
(a) the respective descriptions - even itemisations - of their wealth and possessions; coupled with;
Let us consider these three points in turn.
We find that the fortunes of the once-impoverished Tobias took a quantum leap upwards by the conclusion of his successful first visit to Ecbatana when, as we read: "... Raguel ... gave Tobias half his wealth, menservants and maid-servants, oxen and sheep, donkeys and camels, clothes and money and household things" (10:10. The Jerusalem Bible version). Moreover, Tobias had retrieved for Tobit, from nearby Rages, the ten talents of silver that his father had "left there in trust with Gabael", one of his kinsmen (v.14), some 20 years before (cf. 4:20 & 9:5). Interest on this sum (equivalent to many thousands of dollars) must have greatly accumulated during that period of time. Later, Tobias would benefit further from family inheritances. We read that "Tobias inherited [the] property [of his parents-in-law] and that of his father Tobit" (14:13).
Thus the wealth that he had accumulated by the time that he had reached mature age would compare most favourably with the description of the wealth of Job, who "had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and very many servants ... (1:1,3). Note that the very same types of livestock are listed in both accounts: "oxen", "sheep", "donkeys" (she-asses) and "camels", plus the abundance of human "servants". In Job 29:6 we are given a further elaboration on the holy man's prosperity. Job, now in the midst of his affliction, reflects back to what he calls those halçyon "days of old", when, as he says, "I washed my feet with butter and the rock poured out streams of oil for me".
Money
According to one version of Tobit [090], a large party accompanied the bridal pair, Tobias and Sarah, a day's journey homewards; and "... everyone gave a ring of gold ... and a piece of silver" (11:1). We can compare this to what we read at the end of the Book of Job, where, to console Job "each [of his relatives] gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold" (42:11).
Though the Book of Tobit does not offer any specific details about Tobias's status in society, except to say that he "grew old with honour" (14:13), we can infer a lot from his father Tobit's own claim to have been held in such "favour and good appearance in the sight of Shalmaneser" that the king had made him "his buyer of provisions"(1:13). Again, under Esarhaddon, the family's fame probably grew because Tobit proudly boasts of his nephew, Ahikar, that: |
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Esarhaddon ... appointed Ahikar ... over all the accounts of his kingdom and over the entire administration. Ahikar interceded for me, and I returned to Nineveh. Now Ahikar was cupbearer, keeper of the signet, and in charge of administration of the accounts, for Esarhaddon had appointed him second to himself. He was my nephew (vv. 21-22). |
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This "Ahikar", according to the abundant Syro-Arabic legends about him, was formerly Sennacherib's Cupbearer, or 'Rab-shâkeh' (meaning, 'the great man').
We should expect that young Tobias, like his father, also prospered during this time. If this reconstruction is correct, Job 29 tells us just how mighty Tobias became: |
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'... when I proceeded to the city gate and in the street they put a chair for me. The youths saw me and hid themselves, and the old men, rising in my presence, stood. The chief men stopped speaking and laid their hand on their mouth. The generals checked their voices and their tongues stuck to their throat' (vv.7-10). |
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Since in those days judgments were handed down at the city gates, Job apparently had the authority of judging. The fact that "a chair" was provided for him, shows that he was not a petty judge, but a man of singular dignity. Furthermore he had authority, not only over recalcitrant youths, but even over old men, who "stood" in his presence. Even the chiefs did not dare to interrupt Job when he was speaking. And the generals, who are usually bolder and more prompt to speak, "checked their voices", by speaking humbly and plainly, and sometimes they were so dumbfounded that they dared not speak at all. At this time Job describes himself as "sitting like a king with the army standing round about ..." (v.25). In Job 19:9, we are told that he had worn "a crown". These words of Job may well be applicable also to Tobias, given the esteem in which his cousin Ahikar was held in Esarhaddon's kingdom, and given his father Tobit's high standing also. Now, if it can be shown that Tobias eventually moved from Nineveh to settle in "Uz", to Job's final dwelling - as I hope to do - then it would not be surprising that Tobias could be called, like Job is in 1:1,3, "... the greatest of all the people of the East" (1:1,3). (c) Family (Seven Sons) and Generations The other easily grasped comparison between Tobias and Job is that 'both of them' had seven sons. Compare the following:
Tobit: "[Tobit] called to him his son Tobias and his children, seven young men, [Tobit's] grandsons" (Tobit 14:5). One can search the Scriptures practically in vain, I think, to find any other example of a famous man of whom we are told that he had seven sons. Generations
It appears that Tobias was already a grandfather by the time of his father's death, because old Tobit - we are informed - lived to see "the children of his grandchildren" (14:1). When finally Tobias fled Nineveh, he took with him "his wife, and children, and children's children, and returned to his father and mother-in-law" (14:14). Perhaps a clue to how many of his generations Tobias lived to see is to be found in the 'prophetical' blessing of his cousin Gabael, who, having come from Rages to the wedding of Tobias and Sarah, exclaimed: "... may you see your children, and your children's children, unto the third and fourth generation" (Tobit 9:11). (Might not this blessing have been tactfully omitted from the Book of Tobit had its hopes never been realised?). In the context of this reconstruction, Gabael's blessing had the desired effect, for subsequently, at the end of the Book of Job, we read that the holy man did in fact live to see "his children, and his children's children, unto the fourth generation" (Job 42:16).
This sentence [in color] really reads like a catch-line, taken directly from the Book of Tobit, and inserted into the Book of Job!
Tobias's wife, Sarah, most likely died not long after her husband's (and indeed her own) fiery ordeal, because she is not mentioned at the end of the story. Tobias - like Abraham who, even after he "was old" (Genesis 24:1), took another wife (Keturah) after the death of Sarah (25:1) - may, though old, have taken another wife after the death of his own Sarah.
So already, it seems, we have some very obvious and striking comparisons between Job and Tobias in wealth and possessions - having seven sons; having a reputation for righteousness before God; profound charity - leading to being greatly loved; a very high standing in society; and living to a goodly old age in great honour.
II. Further Comparisons
When Tobit had become blind, he called his son and imparted to him certain wise counsels (based on Mosaïc Law), reinforcing what he had taught him from his infancy (1:10). The description of these ethical maxims occupies chapter 4 of the Book of Tobit. The counsels cover a variety of devout practices, such as honouring one's mother (4:3-4), keeping the commandments (v.5); giving alms (vv.7-11); avoiding immorality (v.12); marrying a woman who is not foreign (v.12); avoiding idleness (v.13); being just in the payment of wages (v.14); practising sobriety (v.15); seeking wise advice (v.18); and blessing God on every occasion (v.19).
Obviously Tobias was a most obedient son, because in "Media" he took a wife from his own tribe (ch's. 7 & 8); purely, not out of lust (8:7); and he blessed God for giving him such a good wife (8:5-6). Moreover, he was eager to return home to Nineveh, out of concern for his mother (10:7). Later, he buried her with honour, as Tobit had asked (cf. 4:4 & 14:12).
Now, by the time that Tobias had become the more senior Job, his father's maxims, having fully matured in him, should have been bearing fruit. And that is exactly what we find. The evidence for it is especially apparent in Job's famous protestation of his innocence to Eliphaz, after the latter had accused him of all kinds of immoral practices (cf. Job 22 & 31). Compare the following, which I think show how the maxims of Tobit had become very much embedded in Tobias's own psyche.
Tobit: "Give of your ... clothing to the naked"(4:16).
Tobit: "Give of your bread to the hungry ..." (4:16).
Tobit: "Beware, my son, of all immorality" (4:12).
Tobit: "Do not hold over till the next day the wages of any man who works for you, but pay him at once ..." (4:14). "What you hate, do not do to anyone" (4:15).
Tobit: "Remember the Lord our God all your days, my son ... live uprightly ... and do not walk in the ways of wrongdoing" (4:5).
Examples could be multiplied. After all, wasn't Job's God-fearing righteousness the very thing of which God boasts about him before Satan? (1:8 & 2:3).
Tobit: "Bless the Lord God on every occasion ..." (4:19).
Tobit:"And Tobias began to pray, 'Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers, and blessed be Thy holy Name for ever" (8:5).
Again, it is almost as if the above protestations of innocence by Job were catch-lines, gathered up from the Book of Tobit, and inserted into the Book of Job. For, to each accusation made against him by Eliphaz, Job asserts his innocence as if he had the very counsels of his father, Tobit, ringing in his ears.
(b) Especially Favoured by God
Job, who could speak of himself as: "I, whom God has fostered father-like, from childhood, and guided since I left my mother's womb" (31:18), had also spoken of some mysterious being who might act as his "witness" and defender in heaven (16:18-21); who, upon hearing of his fate, would intervene to vindicate him.
Most are agreed that this reference obviously cannot be intended of some earthly friend or companion.
Who therefore might this "witness" be?
Once again I suggest that the Book of Tobit aids us in making the correct identification. Had not a heavenly intercessor, namely the angel Raphael, already figured largely in the story of Tobias, fulfilling the very same role of intercession before God on behalf of Tobit and Sarah? It must have given Job no little consolation, in the midst of his trials, to have been able to recall how the angel had personally befriended him, having served as his sure guide to and from Ecbatana (5:4-12:22). Tobias was indeed - as Job says of himself - under God's special care and guardianship.
The angel could not but act as his "witness" in heaven.
III. "Rages" & "Ecbatana"
We must now identify both the "city of Rages" - to which Tobit sent his son to procure the ten talents of silver - and the "Ecbatana", in whose mountain this "city of Rages" is said to be located. Since Tobias died and was buried in "Ecbatana" (Tobit 14:13, The Jerusalem Bible version), it should necessarily follow - if my overall reconstruction is correct - that "Ecbatana" is the same as the "land of Uz", where Job ended his days. [Note: Nowhere does Tobit say that this particular "Ecbatana" was a city, which classical Ecbatana surely was].
The various versions of Tobit, when combined, provide us with quite a clear description of the topography of "Rages" and "Ecbatana". In the Vulgate, for instance, we are told that "... Rages ... is situated in the mount of Ecbatana'" (5:8). The Jerusalem Bible by no means contradicts this when it says that: "[Rages] lies in the mountains, and Ecbatana is in the middle of the plain" (5:6). And it adds the important note that: "It usually takes two full days to get from Ecbatana to Rages" (5:6). This last point will be crucial.
Since these two locations, "Rages" & "Ecbatana", are said to be "in Media", or "in the land of the Medes", commentators instinctively turn to the famous Median capital of Ecbatana east of Nineveh, and the Rhaga (Rages) that is a bit less than 200 miles distance from that Ecbatana [110]. But they then very quickly become aware that something is quite wrong with this scenario; that, to quote The Jerusalem Bible, "the geography is inexact" [120]. Fr. MacKenzie, in The Jerome Biblical Commentary [130] goes so far as to say that: "[The angel] Raphael knows the journey of life far better than the route to Media!"
With Ecbatana of Tobit here re-identified as Batanaea, then the nearby "city of Rages" can only be the city of Damascus, which corresponds perfectly with the topographical details of Tobit; being 700 metres above sea level, and in the slopes of a mountain; being overshadowed by the majestic Mt. Hermon. The Psalmist says of that mountain: "O mighty mountain, mountain of Bashan; O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!" (Psalm 68:15). Clearly, Tobit's Ecbatana, in whose mountain lay this "city of Rages" (5:8, Vulgate), must be the fertile region of Bashan, lying in a plain (viz. of Hauran).
Confusion has apparently arisen with the original place-names having been translated into other languages. "The popularity of the story of Tobit", wrote Marshall [160], "is attested by the number of variations in which it exists in several languages" (e.g. Greek, Latin, Chaldean/Aramaic and Hebrew). Not surprisingly, there are considerable variations from one text of Tobit to another.
We have now noted the differences in certain key place-names that is fascinating from the point of view of this reconstruction; with the usual "Media" being replaced by "Midian" [that occurs in the Heb. Fagii version of Tobit]; and "Ecbatana" by "Bathania" [that occurs in the Heb. Londinii version]. "Midian" is certainly a much more satisfactory description of the northern Transjordania than is "Media". Scripture links both Job (1:3) and the Midianites of this region (Judges 6:33) as, or with, the "people of the east" (Heb. 'bene qedem').
Obviously the original name "Bathania" was mistaken for "Ecbatana" [170] by later translators and/or copyists, who would then naturally have identified "Ecbatana" with the famous Median city of that name. But that there was also an "Ecbatana in Syria" was known to Herodotus, who distinguished it from the Median city of the same name [180].
Some facts that further greatly strengthen my above conclusions about "Rages" and "Ecbatana" are that:
All of the Arabic and Syrian traditions identify the province of Batanaea as Job's "land of Uz".
The central part of this province of Batanaea, which tradition identifies as Job's precise home, is perfectly situated in relation to Damascus, being about 50 miles distant [190]. Indeed, Jâkût el-Hamawi says of Batanaea's most central town of Nawâ [200]: "Between Nawa and Damascus is two days' journey ...".
Now, if one enquires with the locals particularly for that part of Batanaea in which Job himself dwelt, he is directed to the district between Nawâ and Edrei, which is accounted the most fertile portion of the country. This region of Job's traditional home in central Batanaea - in the plain of Hauran [210] - corresponds both geographically and topographically with the "Ecbatana" of Tobit, as already shown.
Eusebius, writing at circa 310 AD, was even more specific about the location of Job's home [220]: "Astaroth Karnaim is at present a very large village beyond the Jordan, in the province of Arabia, which is called Batanaea. Here, according to tradition, they fix the dwelling of Job".
Here, though, we encounter a problem common to the geography of this part of the world: namely, the repetition of names from one place to another. There are two places called Ashtaroth in the region of Batanaea. Delitzsch's choice was the Ashtaroth that lies close to the "Tomb of Job" (Makâm Êjûb) [230]. In the vicinity of the Makâm, one sees the low and somewhat precipitous mound of Tell 'Ashtarâ - likely Job's true home.
What adds further confirmation to this new scenario is that the Vulgate actually places a "Charan ... in the midway to Nineveh" (Tobit 11:1), in relation to Tobias's journey. This "Charan" would have to be the city of Haran, which is more or less halfway between Nineveh and Damascus. (Tobit is obviously speaking here as a rough approximation, as one does when directing another person on a journey). The Book of Tobit is actually pointing the reader straight to the land where tradition says that Job had dwelt. Thus, contrary to what Fr. MacKenzie of The Jerome Biblical Commentary had imagined, the angel Raphael knew his geography intimately. It was the later copyists who got lost along the way! When old Tobit told Tobias: 'Go to Media [read "Midian"], my son, for I fully believe what Jonah the prophet said about Nineveh, that it will be overthrown' (14:4), he was actually bidding his son to return to the land of his forefathers.
This new realisation that "Ecbatana" is meant to refer to Batanaea provides us, I believe, with that real 'clincher' that we have been looking for, to bind together the books of Tobit and Job.
Whilst the Syro-Arabic traditions are emphatic that Job had dwelt in Batanaea, it has been common down the ages for biblical scholars to conclude that Job was a non-Israelite from the land of Edom. This conviction by scholars has undoubtedly been due to the fact that various names referred to in the Book of Job pertain to that part of the world (or to Esau's line); names such as "Eliphaz" and his home of "Tema", also "Buz", and even "Uz" itself. A perplexing double occurrence of names appears to have contributed to this confusion.
Clearly, though, the "Uz" referred to as the land of Job (1:1) could not pertain to Edom for the simple reason that, whereas Edom lay to the south of Palestine, Job is referred to as "the greatest of all the people of the east" (1:3). We meet these "people of the east" in the Genesis account of Jacob's journey to Syrian Mesopotamia (Genesis 29:1), where the description refers to Jacob's Aramaean kinsfolk in Haran. The territory of the 'Bene qedem' extended from the Arabian desert, lying to the east of Palestine, northwards to the countries of the Euphrates.
Delitzsch [240] gave emphatic reasons why Job's "Uz" could not be associated with Edom, why one could not "transfer the cornfields of his hero to the desert; for there, with the exception of smaller patches of land capable of culture ... there is by no means to be found that [farmer's] Eldorado, where a single [farmer] might find tillage for five hundred [Job 1:3], yea, for a thousand [Job 42:12] yoke of oxen".
The poem's description though fits perfectly the fertile region of Batanaea.
The Septuagint version of Job translates "of Uz" as "of Ausitis", and adds at the close of the book that this land was "north-east from [Edom] towards the Arabian desert". This determination of the position of "Uz" is supported by Josephus [250], who claimed that a person called "Ousos" [i.e. Uz] was the founder of Trachonitis and Damascus.
Again, this Damascene region is the very one in which the Syro-Arabic traditions place the home of Job.
The Jâkût el-Hamawi and Moslem tradition generally mention the east Hauran fertile tract of country north-west of Têmâ and Bûzân, el-Bethenîje (i.e. Batanaea), as the district in which Job dwelt. According to Abufelda [260]: "The whole of Bethenije, a part of the province of Damascus, belonged to Job as his possession".
The Syrian tradition also locates Job's abode in Batanaea, where lies an ancient "Monastery of Job" (Dair Êjûb), built in honour of the holy man.
All the larger works on Palestine and Syria agree that "Uz" is not to be sought in Edom proper. In these works we also find it recorded that Batanaea is there called Job's fatherland. In Batanaea itself the traveller hears this constantly. If any one speaks of the fruitfulness of the whole district; or of the fields around a village, he is always answered: 'Is it not the land of Job (bilâd Êjûb)?'; 'Does it not belong to the villages of Job (diâ Êjûb)?'.
It seems that Batanaea (Hauran) and the land of Job are synonymous.
Job's Tomb and other Relics
Regarding Job's tomb, we read from Ibn er-Râbi that [27026]: "To the prophets buried in the region of Damascus belongs also Job, and his tomb is near Nawa, in the district of Hauran".
Delitzsch [280] notes, in favour of Batanaea, that the "heap of ashes" (Job 2:8) upon which Job sat in his misery is variously translated as "dunghill", and that only in a Batanaean context is there no contradiction, since the two were "synonymous notions". There the dung, being useless for agricultural purposes, is burnt from time to time in an appointed place before the town; while in any other part of Syria it is as valuable as among any farmer. This distinctive fact, he concludes, is yet another indication that Job's "land of Uz" cannot refer to the land of Edom.
The Homes of Job's Friends, and of Elihu
Now that we have found exactly where Tobias dwelt, after his having fled Nineveh, we can the more easily locate the homes of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, and the young Elihu.
Eliphaz the Temanite. We no longer have to go to distant Edom to find Tema(n). We now know that there was also a Têmâ in east Hauran.
Bildad the Suhite. We no longer have to go looking for a Suhi (Suhu) for example on the Euphrates north of Babylon. We now know that there was also a place of that name just south of where Job lived. William of Tyre, in his history [290], wrote that the crusaders, on their return from a marauding expedition in the Hauran valley (the Nukra), had wished to reconquer a strong position, the Cavea Roob [Rahûb], which they had lost a short time before. "This place", said the historian, "lies in the province of Suite, a district distinguished by its pleasantness, etc.; and that Baldad [Bildad], Job's friend, who is on that account called the Suite, is said to have come from it".
Delitzsch [300], commenting on this passage, was able to pinpoint Bildad's home thus: "This passage removes us at once into the neighbourhood of Muzêrîb and the Monastery of Job, for the province of Suete is nothing but the district of Suwêt ...".
Zophar the Naamathite. The Septuagint has "Sophar the Minæan".
"Naamath" was also a common place name in Syria. Presumably, we do not have to go looking for the "Naamath" of the Book of Job below Edom; for, since Job's other friends lived in Job's own approximate neighbourhood, it is reasonable to expect that Zophar would have too. I suggest that "Naamath" stands for the now familiar place of "Nawâ" (also called "Naveh", "Neve"). It is the "Nebo" (Neba) of Numbers 32:38.
Elihu the Buzite. We already noted that there was a Bûzân near Têmâ in east Hauran.
Thus we discover that all of the geographical names associated with Job and his friends - "Uz", "Tema", Suhi", "Naamath" (likely) and "Buz" lie in close proximity the one to the other. These regions must originally have been settled by Abraham's relatives; for we find that Abraham's brother, Nahor, had "Uz" the first-born, Buz his brother ..." (Genesis 22:20,21); that Abraham's own wife, Keturah, bore to the Patriarch: "... Midian, ... Shuah ..." (25:2); and that the first-born son of Abraham's son, Ishmael, was "Neba-ioth" (25:13).
Thus the friends, plus Elihu, did not have to travel any long distance to visit their afflicted friend.
There have been all sorts of guesses as to the identity and status of Job's three friends: whether these were kings, or priests, or magi. We can no longer agree with the common verdict, as referred to by Fr. MacKenzie [310], that: "The three are professional wise men from different localities, but all are connected with Edom, the proverbial home of sages (cf. Ob 8; Jer 49:7, etc.)". Rather, they were all from regions in or near Batanaea. Since Job was their superior, a lord and judge, the friends may well have been fellâhin kism, "participating farmers", who worked for him whilst staying within their own community.
Elihu, too, was a local. The Septuagint even adds the information that Elihu's home of "Buz" was in "Ausis" (that is, "Uz").
The likely implication of all of this is that Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, far from having been a bunch of Arabian wise men, or foreign kings, had been fellow-captives with Tobias and his wife, fellow-Naphtalians, during the Assyrian empire. The Book of Tobit is replete with allusions to Tobit's brethren and relatives (e.g. 1:1,3,5,8,11,21; 4:12; 5:18; 6:11, etc.).
Elihu, on the other hand, is said to have been "of the family (race) of Ram". This name, "Ram", is perhaps a reference to "Aram", who was the nephew of both "Uz" and "Buz" referred to above; who were in turn the nephews of Abraham. If so, then this would mean that Elihu was a Syrian (Aramaean).
JOB was not an Edomite sheikh, but a true Israelite from the tribe of Naphtali. He was TOBIAS, the only son of Tobit and Anna.
[010] What is one of the themes of the Book of Job? It was generally believed by the Jews that sin is punished in this life. Every affliction was regarded as the penalty of some wrongdoing, either of the sufferer himself or of his parents. It is true that all suffering results from the transgression of God's law, but this truth had become perverted. The evil of looking upon disease and death as proceeding from God,--as punishment arbitrarily inflicted on account of sin, led for the Jews to reject Jesus. He who "hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows" was looked upon by the Jews as "stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted;" and they hid their faces from Him. Isa. 53:4, 3. God had given a lesson designed to prevent this. The history of Job had shown that suffering is inflicted by Satan, and is overruled by God for purposes of mercy. But Israel did not understand the lesson. The same error for which God had reproved the friends of Job was repeated by the Jews in their rejection of Christ. |
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