- Land of Uz
The Land of Uz is a place mentioned in the
Old Testament , most prominently in theBook of Job , which begins, "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job." [Job 1:1]Name
The name may refer to one of the three men named Uz who are mentioned in the Bible. [Gen. 36:28; Gen. 22:21; Gen. 10:23]
The word may also be related etymologically to the word "oz", meaning 'east'. In the Book of Job (1:3), Job is described as "the greatest of all the people of the East."
Location
Uz is sometimes identified with the kingdom of
Edom , roughly in the area of modern-day southwesternJordan and southernIsrael . [ [http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/uzthelandof.html "The Land of Uz"] WebBible Encyclopdia]Lamentations 4:21 reads, "Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz." [ls. 4:21]Other locations proposed for Uz include
Bashan in modern-day southernSyria /western Jordan,Arabia east ofPetra , [ [http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/20021230.htm "Where Was Uz?"] by Wayne Blank, Daily Bible Study] or even modern-dayUzbekistan . [ [http://dancingfromgenesis.wordpress.com/2007/09/15/uzbekistan-is-book-of-job-land-of-uz-where-ice-age-climate-explains-the-environment-described/ "Uzbekistan Is Book of Job Land of Uz Where Ice Age Climate Explains the Environment Described"] by James I. Nienhuis, "Dancing from Genesis"]However, some scholars caution against the idea that Uz refers to a specific real-world location. Writes Thomas G. Long of
Princeton Theological Seminary ::Efforts to locate Uz on the map are vain, for this is not a historical chronicle. The narrative effect of the opening lines, like the opening credits of the movie "
Star Wars ", is to say this is a story which happened "long ago and far away". [ [http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/apr1988/v45-1-article1.htm "Job: Second Thoughts in the Land of Uz"] by Thomas G. Long, "Theology Today", Vol. 45 No. 1 (April 1988)]References
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