Job Was Not an Edomite
Edom refers to Esau son of Isaac; the descendants of Esau; and the land where Esau's descendants settled (also called Idumea). This land extended south of the Dead Sea toward Egypt. Job did not descend from Esau nor did Job ever live in the ancient region called Edom or Idumea.
A simple critical thinking can resolve that Job was not an Edomite. Edomites were enemies of Israel. There is no conceivable way that the Israelites would be interested in an Edomite or in preserving an Edomitic script. The Edomites had their own deities that they supposedly worshiped, and not the One God, the Lord. Another point is whether or not Edomites had their own script not to mention read and write. I doubt it. And so it is irrational, inconceivable and impossible that Job could have been an Edomite.
The confusion with the history of Job arises from the evolution of the Book of Job and the fact that Job was an ancient---lost to memory. The history of Job, his sayings and his dialogues were originally written on bark. They were copied. In this process words were added, removed and rearranged first in the time of Moses and the Israelite's passage through the wilderness; second in the time of Solomon. Solomon rearranged the scripts of Job into a wisdom literature. Over the generations people forgot about Job and did not understand that Moses and Solomon reformed the scripts that came to be known as the Book of Job.
Did Job Exist?
The dispute over Job's existence has been a topic of debate since the time of Jesus. Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich relates an episode of Jesus teaching in a Jewish boy's school:
At the moment of Jesus' entrance into this school, the boys were making some calculation connected with Job . . . He explained much of the Book of Job. Some of the rabbis at this period attacked the truth of the history therein contained, since the Edomites, to which race Herod belonged, bantered and ridiculed the Jews for accepting as true the history of a man of the land of Edom, although in that land no such man was ever known to exist. They looked upon the whole story as a mere fable, gotten up to encourage the Israelites under their afflictions in the desert. Jesus related Job's history to the boys as if it had really happened. He did so in the manner of a Prophet and Catechist, as if He saw all passing before Him, as if it were His own history, as if He heard and saw everything connected with it, or as if Job himself had told it to Him. His hearers knew not what to think. Who was this Man that now addressed them? Was He one of Job's contemporaries? Or was He an angel of God? Or was He God Himself? (Mysteries of the Old Testament)
The rabbis described by Blessed Anne in this episode remind me of some modern scholars. Their brains cannot conceive of ancient concepts or their limited sensory systems cannot find evidences of a story written in the Sacred Script thus they write it ALL off as fiction. They cannot unlock the mystery of the Sacred Script thus they assume the Sacred Script is wrong. This is the way of some. Man are they in for a surprise!
Sure, Job and the Book of Job can take on an indirect spiritual level of meaning where Job represents the Church and her sufferings. However this interpretation is firmly rooted in history. Job literally existed, lived, suffered and ended up happy in this unique relationship he had with God.
Job Was Not
Clearly, Job is a nickname of Jobab. In the Bible there is Jobab, an Edomite King:
These were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king ruled over the Israelites: Bela son of Beor; the name of his city was Dinhabah. When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah, succeeded him. (1 Chr 1:43-44)
Job was not this Edomite king nor was he from Bozrah. Job lived an ancient patriarchal-pastoral way of life. In Job's time there was no such concept as Edom or Israel since Esau and Jacob had not yet to be born.
There was another Jobab, King of Madon:
When King Jabin of Hazor heard the news, he organized a coalition, including King Jobab of Madon, the king of Shimron, the king of Acshaph, (Judges 11:1)
Obviously, our Job was not this King of Madon. Madon was a city in Canaan. Joshua and the Israelites defeated this Jobab with God's help.
Two other Jobabs are listed in the Book of Chronicles as descendants of Benjamin son of Jacob.
I assume that these above were named after THE Jobab who in his time was the greatest among all the ancient sons of the East; not the Israelites or Edomites. A comparison of naming a child Jobab could be Saint Nicholas. I am named after Saint Nicholas as are many others. Once upon a time Nicholas of Myra was a renown and holy man who lived in Asia Minor. He performed a lot of great deeds. Today many are named after him but not everyone knows all the details of his life. He has become something of a legend. Similar with Jobab. He was famous and some were named after him but the details of his life eventually were forgotten since he lived long before the Jews.
Job's Lineage
Job was not a Jew, but perhaps he could be called a Hebrew if the word Hebrew is defined as a descendant of Heber, son of Shelah in Shem's line.
Job was a holy ancient patriarch, a grand uncle of Abraham. Job lived not long after the confusion of tongues at the Tower Babel. Job lived around the time Babylon was first founded by Nimrod using the stones of the halted Tower Babel project. He lived at the time the morphemes and alphabet of the holy and ancient Hebrew language were first traced by the patriarch Heber. Job was a descendant of Heber.
Job descended from Noah via Shem. Shem was the father of Arphaxad. Arphaxad was the father of Shelah. Shelah was the father of Heber. Heber had two sons: Phaleg and Joktan. Job was the thirteenth and youngest son of Joktan. In the tenth chapter of Genesis all thirteen sons are listed and Job's full first name is given as Jobab:
Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
The first concept I'd like to convey about this specific verse is that these names first and foremost refer to real sons of Joktan and not simply to nations or regions. Real fathers established families, settled in lands, had jurisdiction over the lands and cultivated them. Joktan was a great leader of nations. From him sprung up various peoples via his sons who migrated and settled throughout the East. For the purposes of this article, East is defined as the lands extending from the Levant to India.
The last son of Joktan was Jobab. This Jobab of Joktan IS one and the same as the Job whose story and sayings are traced in the Book of Job. The next verse from Genesis describes the lands of the sons of Joktan and perhaps other children of Shem:
Their dwelling place was from Mesha all the way to Sephar in the eastern hills.
Mesha and Sephar are unidentified by modern scholarship. They assume that these names refer to places of Arabia. I was not able to figure out their exact location. These names could have been conceived prior to the confusion of tongues at Babel and the establishment of the ancient proto-Hebrew via Heber. I assume that Mesha refers to a land, probably somewhere in the Caucasus. Sephar, I assume, is a highland far into the East, perhaps even Pakistan or India. In Genesis Sephar is referred to as in the 'eastern hills' or a 'mount of the east'.
I do not doubt that some of Joktan son's and descendants migrated down to Yemen but I also think that other sons migrated far into the East. I am biased toward the idea posited by modern scholars that Ophir was a kingdom in the East, on the shores of Pakistan or India. Perhaps there is some relation to the Indus Valley Civilization. I assume that Ophir, son of Joktan migrated far into the East perhaps to Pakistan or India and eventually a kingdom perhaps took its name in memory of him. Later Solomon would acquire primary goods from Ophir (see 1 Kings 9:26-28). They sailed the navy around the southern tip of Arabia and up to the shores of modern day Pakistan or India. In the Sacred Script under Job's dialogue the gold of Ophir is used to signify the value of wisdom:
It cannot be measured out for purchase with the gold of Ophir, with precious onyx or sapphires. (28:16)
After the Flood, Noah landed somewhere in the Armenian Highlands and settled nearby, perhaps down in the plains toward Lebanon. From there his descendants migrated in all directions. Not all of his descendants migrated to the Tigris-Euphrates river system to work on the Tower. These were mostly families of Ham and a few families of Japheth. Other families migrated north and east to what we would call the Caucasus. These were some families of Shem and Japheth. Shem's descendants took no part in the Tower Babel project.
Joktan was given jurisdiction over lands situated in what we call the Caucasus. The Caucasus, or Caucasia is a region that extends up from northern Iran, eastern Turkey, and Armenia between the Black and Caspian Seas, includes the Caucasus Mountains and ends north of the Black Sea in modern day Russia. Some of Abraham's close forbears eventually migrated down to Mesopotamia from southeastern ring of the Black Sea. Abraham a descendant of Phaleg migrated from Mesopotamia to Canaan (roughly modern Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, West Jordan, Southwest Syria). But Joktan, son of Heber ended up in the Caucasus. The Caucasus is from where Job hailed at least for the first developments of his life.
Job was born somewhere in the Caucasus perhaps off the North Eastern shores. Job was Ophir's little brother. So now rounding off the thought from the Job verse cited above, I would assume that either Jobab knew that his brother Ophir found gold or that this verse was added by Solomon for it refers to wisdom and understanding. I’m inclined to think the latter.
The Caucasus is a region extending between the Red Sea and Caspian Sea. There is a mountain range extending across from Sea to Sea called the Caucasus Mountains. I assume the Black Sea and Caspian Sea formed in the Flood of Noah.
Interesting Corollary: Of all the Christian Churches the one that holds a calendar feast day in honor of the astonishingly holy Jobab is the Armenian Apostolic Church. Armenia is a country located in South Caucasus.
The Land of Uz
In the Book of Job it is said that Job was in the land of Uz:
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And that man was pure and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
I assume that the land of Uz refers to a region due east of Jericho, perhaps in the land that would later be occupied by the Ammonites and Moabites, and then divided to the two and a half tribes of Israel (half Manasseh, Reuben and Gad). So this would correspond to modern day Jordan, or in more past days, Northern Arabia, Southern Syria, or classical Transjordan. I assume that this land was under the jurisdiction of Uz or his descendants. Uz was a grandson of Shem via Aram, and brother of Arphaxad. Some of Shem's descendants migrated to these lands north and east of Canaan. Various families close to Shem were spread out around the Caucasus, the Levant, and Northern Arabia, Mesopotamia and perhaps other lands.
Job began his life in the Caucasus and ended his life in Uz [a land east of Jericho and the River Jordan] because of his misfortunes. After each of his afflictions he had to start over which, of course, was difficult to do in ancient times let alone our times. After his second affliction he moved south from the Caucasus down to Uz, a land under the jurisdiction of Uz's descendants which would have been Job's cousins. It was in the land of Uz where Job built a tent city founded on stone over a fertile plateau. Job was not a nomad. He lived a pastoral way of life that in the its last phase was centered around his tent castle/city. Prior to his final residence in Uz his moves were because of his misfortunes.
It was there in the land of Uz that he prospered and yet suffered his final affliction which was the loss of his camels to the Chaldeans (Babylonian raiders), his children, leprosy and a grievous temper. Only after was he given more than he ever had including three daughters who were the most beautiful women in the world. Job gave them the names transliterated roughly Jemimah, Kezia, and Keren-Happuch translated in English via the the Septuagint and Jerome's Vulgate as Daylight, Cinnamon, and Horn of Cosmetics.
Jobab's Appearance
Job was a redhead! Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich relates Job's appearance:
Job was a large, powerful man of agreeable appearance; he had a yellowish-brown complexion and reddish hair. (Mysteries of the Old Testament)
Red hair can still be found in the Caucasus and the nations surrounding the Black Sea. It is interesting that Job's ancient parents must have carried the gene for red hair.
Jobab's Character
Blessed Anne also relates his character:
Job was unspeakably gentle, affable, just, and benevolent. He assisted all in need. He was, too, exceedingly pure and very familiar with God, who communicated with him through an angel, or "a white man," as the people of that period expressed it.
Without prejudice Job helped everyone in need using his store of wisdom and goods. In the grievous temper Job underwent, he relates how he helped everyone around him and this was a source of confusion for him during his sufferings. Here are some examples taken from the Book of Job:
for I rescued the poor who cried out for help, and the orphan who had no one to assist him; (29:12)
I was a father to the needy, and I investigated the case of the person I did not know; (29:16)
If I have seen anyone about to perish for lack of clothing, or a poor man without a coat, if his sides have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; (31:19)
Of course Sacred Scripture also bestows upon Job rare accolades as in the first verse of the Book of Job or in the Prophecy of Ezekiel where God honors him aside Noah and Daniel. And the Apostle Saint James holds the person Job up as an example of patience.
Job was certainly a Saint and he had followers. He had an intimate relationship with the Lord God, helped those in need and even was stimulated to understand coming of Jesus and Mary in some Divine prophetic manner.
The Misfortunes of Jobab
The misfortunes of Job, described in the Book of Job did not all happen at once. They fell upon him in sets, at different times and in three different abodes. After each set of affliction was some period of time, maybe even a decade. And in between Job moved, and started over. The words used in the first chapter of the Book of Job: 'While this one was still speaking. . ." refers to a general figurative expression meaning "And while this was still the talk of men, etc.' I assume Job was fairly young when he suffered his first affliction. Maybe in his late twenties or thirties.
In our version of the Book of Job the afflictions are traced in an abbreviated manner. Why? The ancients were terse with their words even if they enjoyed figures. In addition this particular book was originally traced into bark. They were not effusive with their words nor did they have the luxury of Microsoft Word.
After Blessed Anne's words I have Job's afflictions imagined in three different abodes.
1. A marshy region of the Caucasus
2. Higher up a mount in the Caucasus
3. Land of Uz
Job suffered his first affliction in a marshy region of the Caucasus which he moved too after deciding to separate from his parents. There are some circumstantial descriptions of his first land in the Caucasus in the Sacred Script:
By the brush they would gather herbs from the salt marshes, and the root of the broom tree was their food. (30:4)In connection to this verse Blessed Anne relates that
"No grain was cultivated in those marshy districts; but they raised a large sedge, which grows also in water, and whose pith was eaten either boiled or roasted. . . They planted many species of gourds for food." (Mysteries of the Old Testament)
Eventually he found himself prospering with children, and followers who he originally helped out of charity. They cultivated the land and dwelt in tents. But Sheba stole his animals and killed some of his followers. This Sheba refers to a raiding party that consisted of members from the tribe of Sheba, great grandson of Ham, son of Cush, son of Raamah. The raiders were descendants of Sheba. At that time just like in other times certain bands got together and raided across nations. These impious raiders probably heard of Job's prosperity and holiness. They discovered his location, attacked, killed, stole, etc. Job did not have warriors to protect his goods.
After this first affliction Job moved somewhere higher up in the Caucasus Mountains. There he struggled to recover with his remaining family and followers. And there again he eventually prospered.
After Blessed Anne I assume that about a decade passed between his first affliction and second affliction. In that interim he was sent on a mission to Egypt in order to deliver one of his relatives as bride to some shepherd kings originally from the Caucasus. The shepherd kings assigned to him a land which incidentally was the same place where Jesus, Mary and Joseph would later flee to from Herod's persecution. There he had visions about man's salvation and even was shown a well that later Mary, the Mother of God would use when she lived in Egypt. In Egypt, Job fought against the sacrifices of living children. Those beastly ancient Egyptians would burn children alive on the apparatus of idols shaped (but smaller) as a sphinx. This is something they don't tell you in the museum exhibits. Job vehemently spoke out against those who practiced this and I think he was able to stop the practice at least for a time. This is hinted at in the Sacred Script under Job's dialogues:
I broke the fangs of the wicked, and made him drop his prey from his teeth. (29:17)
The prey figuratively refer to the innocent children killed in sacrifice to idols or demons.
Eventually, Job returned to his native land in the Caucasus and suffered his second misfortune where the fire of God, perhaps lightning or a meteor, fell from the sky and burned his herds and some of his servants. After this he moved to the land of Uz and eventually suffered his final set of afflictions:
When Job had returned to his native country, his second misfortune overtook him; and when, after twelve years of peace, the third came upon him, he was living more toward the south and directly eastward from Jericho. I think this country had been given to him after his second calamity, because he was everywhere greatly revered and loved for his admirable justice, his knowledge, and his fear of God. This country was a level plain, and here Job began anew. On a height, which was very fertile, noble animals of various kinds were running around, also wild camels. They caught them in the same way as we do the wild horses on the heath. Job settled on this height. Here he prospered, became very rich, and built a city. The foundations were of stone; the dwellings were tents. It was during this period of great prosperity that his third calamity, his grievous distemper, overtook him. After enduring this affliction with great wisdom and patience, he entirely recovered, and again became the father of many sons and daughters. I think Job did not die till long after, when another nation intruded itself into the country. (Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, Mysteries of the Old Testament)
Renown Descendants of Jobab
Abraham was a descendant of Job. Via Blessed Anne, Abraham's mother was a great grand daughter of Job. In the last verse of the Book of Job it is written that Job lived to see his children to the fourth generation. So for example Job's beautiful daughter Daylight (first generation) could have married and had a daughter (second generation) who got married and had another daughter (third generation) who married Terah and together they had Abraham (fourth generation). Job may have still been alive when Abraham was born.
At least one of the Three Kings who visited Jesus after his birth descended from Job. His name was Mensor. The names of the other two were Seir and Theokeno. The names of the Three Kings that some Christians are familiar with today are symbolic. I do not know if all three descended from Job, but the three did descend from Shem via Arphaxad. Mensor was from northern Arabia. He lived in a tent castle and tent city founded on stone. Seir was from the South Caucasus. Theokeno was from the north and east of the Caspian Sea, perhaps modern day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, or Turkmenistan. The Three Kings inherited the prophecy of the Star from their forebears. The prophecy of the Star was given to ancients descended from Arphaxad, prior even to Abraham.
Jesus visited the tent city of Mensor not long prior to his Death. By that time Seir had passed away but Jesus taught Mensor that Seir had the baptism of desire. Later Mensor and Theokeno were baptized by the Apostle Saint Thomas who later traveled to India. The events of Jesus visiting Mensor's tent city are not written in the Gospels since Jesus decided not to take the future Apostles and Disciples with him for this journey. No one knew of what Jesus did there hence no script.
Prophecies of Job
Job was close with God and underwent prophetic experiences. He alludes to this in the Script:
O that I could be as I was in the months now gone, in the days when God watched over me, when he caused his lamp to shine upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness; just as I was in my most productive time, when God’s intimate friendship was experienced in my tent . . . (29:2-4)
Job himself knew of the coming of the Savior, Resurrection and perhaps even a proto-concept of the Beatific Vision:
As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God, whom I will see for myself, and whom my own eyes will behold, and not another. (19:25)Job also knew that he would gather with others after death:
I know that you are bringing me to death, to the meeting place for all the living. (30:23)
Job was very wise and understood the nature of the Universe and secrets about Earth's history that not even the modern scientists have been able to figure out due to his intimacy with God recorded in the dialogues of Job. I get the feeling we moderns tend to think that ancients such as Job were naive and excluded. They were not. Job understood the coming of the Redeemer. Enoch knew of primal concepts of the Second Coming. Adam knew of the promised Virgin who thankfully turned out to be Mary. The problem was that concepts got confused, misunderstood, or forgotten over many generations. But of course God revealed much more to the Jews via the prophets and wise men.
Evolution of the Book of Job
My justification for this plea is this:
his work, the parable of Job, the man from Uz,
is a work of miraculous talent and prophecy,
that alone earns Solomon a place of honor in
the ranks of God's defenders.
Hence, it is acceptable to plead for him rather than
speak ill of him. --- St. Gregory of Narek, Prayer 48
Scholars have long thought the Book of Job underwent an evolution from the original tracings. I agree. In addition to translating and copying various persons added words and clauses, subtracted them, and rearranged them. Here is an excellent note from the NET Bible scholars:
Most of it is written in poetic parallelism. But it is often very cryptic, it is written with unusual grammatical constructions, and it makes use of a large number of very rare words. All this has led some scholars to question if it was originally written in Hebrew or some other related Semitic dialect or language first. There is no indication of who the author was. It is even possible that the work may have been refined over the years; but there is no evidence for this either. The book uses a variety of genres (laments, hymns, proverbs, and oracles) in the various speeches of the participants. This all adds to the richness of the material. And while it is a poetic drama using cycles of speeches, there is no reason to doubt that the events represented here do not go back to a real situation and preserve the various arguments. Several indications in the book would place Job’s dates in the time of the patriarchs. (NET Notes)Now compare this with what Blessed Anne says:
The history of Job, together with his dialogues with God, was circumstantially written down by two of his most trusty servants who seemed to be his stewards. They wrote upon bark, and from Jobs own dictation. These two servants were named respectively Hai and Uis, or Ois. These narratives were held very sacred by Jobs descendants. They passed from generation to generation down to Abraham. . . In the school of Rebecca, the Canaanites were instructed in them on account of the lessons of submission under trials from God that they inculcated. Through Jacob and Joseph, they descended to the children of Israel in Egypt. Moses collected and arranged them differently for the use of the Israelite's during their servitude in Egypt and their painful wanderings in the wilderness; for they contained many details that might not have been understood, and which would have been of no service in his time. But Solomon again entirely remodeled them, omitting many things and inserting many others of his own. And so, this once authentic history became a sacred book made up of the wisdom of Job, Moses, and Solomon. One can now only with difficulty trace the particular history of Job, for the names of cities and nations were assimilated to those of the land of Canaan, on which account Job came to be regarded as an Edomite. (Mysteries of the Old Testament)
The Book of Job is an excellent example of how the Spirit can inspire successive holy writers to complete a sacred book in an evolution. The script began by Job dictating to his followers who wrote on bark. Job had recorded his dialogues with God, his thoughts and words for the duration of his grievous temper and confusion. And he had recorded the words of his friends, relatives and surrounding people who visited him. They probably used a dialect of Job's grandfather Heber, a proto-Hebrew. So these scripts were able to be more or less understood by the Abraham and his descendants. The NET Bible notes say that the Job script uses strange grammatical constructions and rare words that perhaps only Job, his family and followers conceived of and understood.
Moses removed many details that would be of no service to the Jews who lived at a later time. And Moses may have added a few verses. For example:
He will not look on the streams, the rivers, which are the torrents of honey and butter. (20:17)
This is a variation of "the land flowing with milk and honey" that God promised the Jews found in Exodus, Numbers, etc.
It is easy to imagine that Solomon worked on the Book of Job. Solomon omitted even more words because he and his people were more distant relative to ancient Job. For Solomon and his people the Job script would have been to them what the works of Shakespeare, Chaucer, or the poem Beowulf are to us in the English speaking world. It is not always easy to understand all the words written by Shakespeare because he lived in a different world than ours. However one can readily identify his style and perhaps mimic it.
I can just imagine Solomon reading the exotic Job script with all these characters and thinking to himself:
There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them. (Ecclesiastes 1:11)
I assume Solomon gave the Book of Job its current structure so as to make the Book more of a cycle of dialogues between Job and his friends. He conceived the idea to organize the writings into a dialogue. I assume the scripts were disorganized into Job's dialogues, and that of various friends, family, etc. I assume that Eliphaz, Baldad, Zophar and Elihu's dialogues do not all strictly belong to them. They may have been a collection of quotes taken from various friends and relatives of Job and then new additions from Moses. Solomon may have added the family titles to Job's friends in order to help delineate the dialog and communicate some concepts relevant to the people of his time.
Solomon imitated the terse style of the ancient poetic parallelism so as to add some of his own wisdom as well as smooth out some sequences and put on some finishing touches thus revising the Text into a masterful and potent Wisdom literature retaining all that God desired to have traced.
It is easy to see that some verses from the Book of Job bear a resemblance to verses from the Proverbs of Solomon and the Book of Ecclesiastes. Here are some examples from Job that may have been written by Solomon:
And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight, thinking, ‘No eye can see me,’ and covers his face with a mask. He passes through houses in the nighttime, just as they had agreed among themselves in the daytime; and they are ignorant of the light. (Job 24:15-16)
These verses are similar to the adultery themes in the early chapters of Proverbs.
Summary
Job was a real person, an ancient of the family of Heber via Joktan. He lived a long time ago not long after the Flood. His lineage is in the Bible and certain details about his life can be drawn from the Book of Job. The Book of Job underwent an evolution via the work of Moses and Solomon.
* Please note that for the most part I used the NET Bible version. The quotes from Blessed A.C. Emmerich are from her works published in English in the early 1900s. I'm not ashamed to say I relied heavily on Blessed Anne, but I also put some of my own work into this.
