UZ
UZ a district of Western Asia, to which the prophet Job belonged. (
Job, 1.1.)
It cannot be certainly determined where it was; hence, learned men have placed it in very different localities. Winer, who has examined the question, inclines to place it in the neighbourhood of Edom, adjoining Arabia and Chaldaea. (
Biblisch. Realwörterb. s. v. Uz.) The people are perhaps represented in classical geography by the
Αὐσῖται or
Αἰσῖται of Ptolemy (
5.19.2), a tribe who lived on the borders of Babylonia. In
Genesis 10.23, Uz is called the son of Aram: hence Josephus says,
Οὖσος κτίζει τῆν Γραχωνῖτιν καὶ Δαμασκόν (
Antiq. 1.6.4); but there is no sufficient evidence to show that the “land of Uz” of Job is connected with Northern Mesopotamia.
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