UZ

[counsel, plan].

1. A son of Aram and great-grandson of Noah through Shem.—Gen. 10:22, 23; 1 Chron. 1:17.

2. Firstborn son of Nahor and Milcah; nephew of Abraham.—Gen. 22:20, 21.

3. Son of Dishan and descendant of Seir the Horite.—Gen. 36:20, 21, 28.

4. Homeland of Job (Job 1:1), likely settled by the Shemite Aram’s son Uz and his descendants. (Gen. 10:22, 23) Its exact location is unknown. According to Josephus, “Uz founded Trachonitis and Damascus.” (Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, chap. VI, par. 4) Some geographers would therefore locate Uz in the Hauran, but most now favor a location more to the S. Uz seemingly was near Edom, allowing for a later extension of Edomite domain into Uz, or for some later Edomites to be dwelling in the “land of Uz,” as indicated at Lamentations 4:21. Jeremiah was commissioned to pass the cup of God’s wrath to “all the kings of the land of Uz,” and the immediate context includes references to Philistia, Edom, Moab and Ammon. (Jer. 25:15, 17, 20, 21) Job’s homeland was vulnerable to attack by Sabeans (from the S) and Chaldeans (from the E). (Job 1:15, 17) Taken together, these factors would indicate a location E of the Promised Land and near Edom, somewhere in N Arabia.