1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Uz

UZ. The “land of Uz” (ארץ עוץ) is best known as the scene of the story of Job. Its precise location is a matter of uncertainty, opinion being divided between a position N. of Palestine (“ Aram Naharaim ”) and one to the S.E., in the neighbourhood of Edom. In favour of the former are the references in Gen. x. 23, xxii. 21, the inclusion of Tob among “the children of the East,” the possibility that Bildad the Shuhite (cf. Gen. xxv. 2, 6) belonged to the Sūḥu, a people living on the right bank of the Euphrates, and the description of Elihu as a Buzite (xxxii. 2). Whether the name Uz is found or not in the cuneiform inscriptions is disputed. In favour of the S.E. position we have the description of Elihu as of the family of Ram^[1] which (1 Chron. ii.) was a distinctly southern people, the fact that Eliphaz was a Temanite (i.e. he came from Edom, cf. Gen. xxxvi. 4) and the references in Gen. xxxvi. 28 and Lam. iv. 21. The mention of Uz in Jer. xxv. 20 is probably a gloss. While Edom and Uz are not to be identified, the traditional association of “wisdom” with Edom may incline us to place the Uz of Job in its neighbourhood rather than in that of the Euphrates. The tradition which places Job's home in Hauran has no value. It is worth noting that the Septuagint the adjective Αὐσῖτις, which points to a pronunciation Auṣ =Arabic Auḍ, the name of a god whose worship was widely spread and might therefore be readily borne by tribes or attached to districts in several regions.

1. Perhaps a mistake or an abbreviation for Aram.