Was Job Jewish?

[aherrera5]

I noticed in Job 1:1 it said Job was the land of Uz. My NIV study bible also says that Job was a non-Israeli. Just curious to know if he was a descendant from Abraham because you dont usually hear many non-jewish bible characters in the Old Testament.

Thanks

 

[DeaconDean]

Actually, that is a very good question.

There is the belief that Job existed after the flood (cf. Job 22:15-16; 28:19; but before the law (cf. Gen. 46:13)).

Now whether it is the same Job, we can't say for sure, but there is a Job mentioned in the descendants of Issachar.

"And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron."

Job, appears to be a descendant of Jacob and Rachel.

Genesis 46:15 starts the line of descendants from Jacob and Leah.

Just making a guess here, I would say that yes, Job was a "Hebrew" therefore, he was Jewish.

God Bless

Till all are one.

 

[aherrera5]

Thanks alot for the reply!

I too have heard that Job was actually dated before the law. I found an interesting fact online and in my study bible that says the attacks in 1:15 by Sabean and 1:17 by Chaldean would actually be around 2000 BC. Which would mean it was before the law.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Blazer87]

The story of Job actually is believed to have taken place before God called Abram. So he was not a relative.

What I find fascinating is how Job and people in his day were able to measure what was sinful in God's eye because they did not have the law.

 

[eldermike]

The story of Job actually is believed to have taken place before God called Abram. So he was not a relative.

What I find fascinating is how Job and people in his day were able to measure what was sinful in God's eye because they did not have the law.

Romans 2 will help you understand how this all works. God created all men with a measure of law.

 

[BereanTodd]

It is actually widely held that he lived at a time concurrent to the patriarchs. Some believe he was related somehow to Rachel, Jacob's wife as I recall, though that was rather flimsy (again this is recollection from my studies).

 

[PrincetonGuy]

Job was not a Hebrew; Old Testament scholarship clearly fixes the scene of the story, based upon the names and terms used in the Book of Job, east of Canaan, most likely in either Edom or Hauran. Job 1:1 places Job in the land of Uz, but the precise location of that land is unknown. Eliphaz was apparently from Edom; Bildad was from a tribe that was probably from or near Edom; Zophar was from the tribe of Naamah, about which nothing is known. The description of Job’s home in Job 1:1-5, however, would favor the land of Hauran over the land of Edom.

 

[DD2008]

Interesting topic

I found the following on the Wiki:

"The main key to Job’s identity comes in Job 1.3, where we are told that he was “the greatest of all the men of the east.” Presumably it means that he lived somewhere east of Canaan: but what more can we conclude? To the Old Testament Jews, however, this would have been a very clear statement. In Genesis 25 (verses 5 and 6) we are told that Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, but gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away “eastward, unto the east country.” Isaac was the child of promise and the chosen heir in the sight of God. Therefore, the son of Hagar (Ishmael) and the six sons of Keturah (Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah) were sent away to the east so that they did not seek to usurp the inheritance of their brother. Thus the “men of the east” were the descendants of these sons of Abraham, and Job was the greatest of them all.
Job dwelt in the land of Uz. This was the ancestral home of the Edomites (see Lamentations 4.21), which they shared with the sons of Abraham. One of Job’s companions was called Eliphaz the Temanite. He was an Edomite, Teman having been himself the son of an earlier Eliphaz and the grandson of Esau (Gen. 36.11). Another of Job’s friends was Bildad the Shuhite, most likely a descendent of Shuah, one of the sons of Abraham by Keturah."


So, apparently Job was a decendent of the illegitimate offspring of Abraham.

According to the Wiki, if you trust that:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Job

 

[PrincetonGuy]

Actually, that is a very good question.

There is the belief that Job existed after the flood (cf. Job 22:15-16; 28:19; but before the law (cf. Gen. 46:13)).

Now whether it is the same Job, we can't say for sure, but there is a Job mentioned in the descendants of Issachar.

"And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron."

Job, appears to be a descendant of Jacob and Rachel.

Genesis 46:15 starts the line of descendants from Jacob and Leah.

Just making a guess here, I would say that yes, Job was a "Hebrew" therefore, he was Jewish.

God Bless

Till all are one.

The Job of Gen. 46:13 was NOT the Job of the Book of Job; he was Jashub, as can readily be seen by comparing Gen. 46:13 with Num. 26:22-25 and 1 Chron. 7:1.

Gen. 46:13. The sons of Issachar: Tola and Puvvah and Iob and Shimron. (NASB, 1995)

Num. 26:22. These are the families of Judah according to those who were numbered of them, 76,500.
23. The sons of Issachar according to their families: of Tola, the family of the Tolaites; of Puvah, the family of the Punites;
24. of Jashub, the family of the Jashubites; of Shimron, the family of the Shimronites.
25. These are the families of Issachar according to those who were numbered of them, 64,300. (NASB, 1995)

1 Chron. 7:1. Now the sons of Issachar were four: Tola, Puah, Jashub and Shimron. (NASB, 1995)

The Masoretic Text of Gen. 46:13 reads “Iob”; the Samaritan Hebrew Text reads “Jashub.” The Septuagint reads variously—some copies reading “Ιασουβ” (the preferred reading), and others reading “Ασουμ.”

The New Revised Standard Version reads,

Gen. 46:13 The children of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Jashub, and Shimron. A footnone at Jashub reads, “Compare Sam Gk Num 26.24; 1 Chr 7.1: MT Iob.

Jashub of Gen. 46:13 was a Hebrew; Job of the Book of Job was not. The serious error in the above quoted post is an excellent example of how a very wrong interpretation of a Biblical text can result when the text is carelessly read in an inadequate translation. Even if the Book of Job is fictional and has its roots in ancient Babylonian literature as many scholars today believe, the quality of the poetry (the prologue and the epilogue are written in prose; the speeches are poetry) is superb and the book deserves to be read with care and diligence. If the Book of Job is a portion of the Word of God, as I believe it is, it deserves to be read with all the more care and diligence. For those who may wish to study the Book of Job, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Job by Samuel Rolles Driver, D.D., and George Buchanan Gray, D.Litt., is an excellent place to start. It includes 65 pages of very valuable introductory material, 376 pages of commentary on the Hebrew text, and 350 pages of philological notes.

 

[Rhamiel]

interesting topic,
so he was of some other semetic people?
I have heard some secular scholars say the "story" of Job is older then the other books in the OT

 

[BereanTodd]

interesting topic,
so he was of some other semetic people?
I have heard some secular scholars say the "story" of Job is older then the other books in the OT

Many conservative scholars agree. Job surely lived at a time contemporary to the patriarchs. The question on the dating of the writting then is, was it written by Job (or at least around his life) or later? It could very well be the first book of the Bible to have been penned.

 

[AllSeeingEye]

maybe your a sinner in your alternate life

 

[AllSeeingEye]

maybe your a joker, maybe you deserve to die

 

[aherrera5]

Wow this turned into a really interesting topic. Thanks to everyone for all the info.