Job─Part 3: Job's Land of Edom

Following on from my identification of the prophet Job with Tobias, son of Tobit, and of Job’s wife with Sarah, the wife of Tobias, I now wonder might not the Book of Tobit also provide the identity of Job’s three elusive friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar? In this Part One I focus entirely upon Eliphaz the Temanite, and whether he may potentially have his ‘alter ego’ in the Book of Tobit as Raguel, the father of Sarah.

Sources, Composition, Historiography and Reception, 2010

Edom is known as a southern neighbor of Judah during the first millennium BeE. However, many points of its geography and history are still debated! since its study encounters many difficulties: 1. No original historiographic Edomite tradition is known so far. 2. Edomite epigraphy is still very limited. 2 3. The few archaeological excavations and surveys of Edom present numerous problems of interpretation, especially in dating. 4. The Biblical traditions about Edom are very difficult to interpret because there is very often confusion between "Edom" and "Aram" in the textual tradition: the first and third letters of these two country names are the same and the middle letters, dalet and resh, are very easily confused in Palaeo-Hebrew and square Hebrew scripts. Actually dalet and resh were identical in the Aramaic writing of the 5th-3rd c. BeE. Because of this textual confusion,3 the distinction 'between Edom and Aram is often only possible from the context.

Hebrew Union College Annual , 2018

2021

The essay “Edom in the Jacob Cycle (Gen *25–35): New Insights on Its Positive Relations with Israel, the Literary-Historical Development of Its Role, and Its Historical Background(s)” by Benedikt Hensel investigates the role of Edom within the Jacob narrative, which still constitutes a heavily disputed problem in reconstructing the formation of the Jacob Cycle. Furthermore, the question of Edom’s role is supplemented here for the first time with an inquiry raised by the most recent archaeological findings from territory of Edom. As opposed to the classic stance in the field still prevalent today, in which the relations between Israel and Edom as reflected in the Jacob Cycle are assigned to specific historical circumstances sometime between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE, the latest historical research has revealed that the kingdom of Edom was relevant for the history of the Southern Levant and the literary history of the Hebrew Bible beyond this short period of time. The history of Edom should be traced not only through the entire Iron Age I/II, but also into the Hellenistic period, especially since the history of Edom had a twofold trajectory following its fall in 552 BCE – one in Edom, and one in Idumea. This essay pursues three major objectives: 1) describing the historical Edom in light of the most recent archaeological and historical research; 2) investigating Edom’s role within the narrative of the first literary edition of the Jacob Cycle; 3) exploring the role of Edom throughout the various redactional processes of the Jacob Cycle during the exilic and Persian periods. The primary hypothesis is that Edom’s role in the Jacob Cycle underwent a particular series of developments throughout its literary growth. This resulted in a conception of “Edom” that developed alongside its conception of “Israel” in a process roughly spanning the 8th to the 5th/4th centuries BCE. Hensel proposes that the early Jacob Cycle (Gen *25, 27, 29–31, 32–33) should be understood as a post-722, yet still 8th century “exilic” tradition of Northern (and thus Samarian) origin. For the redactional processes, emphasizing positive Israel-Edom relations after 586 BCE, Hensel proposes that they represent a deliberate counter-image to the portrayal of Edom in other parts of biblical literature after 586 BCE, which is overwhelmingly negative. This notion of Edom could then either a) substantiate claims to Judean settlements in Idumea (“Edom”), or b) represent the integration of the (ex-)Judean settlements or individuals within the west-Edomite/Idumean regions in the 6th/5th centuries BCE (and continuing into the Persian and Hellenistic periods).

This paper will bring to the surface three oddities in the present shape of the Book of Job, and offer a proposal for removing them.

Witte Singe! 25 Postbus 9515 2300 RA Leiden, Nederland 'Elle souriait. J'ai perdu d'abord le souvenir de ses yeux, puis celui de son long corps. J'ai retenu, le plus longtemps que j'ai pu, son sourire et puis, il y a trois ans,

The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant c. 8000-332 BCE, 2014

This article describes the condition of Edom during the Iron Age II. It explains that it is hard to accurately reconstruct Edom archaeologically because most of the available evi dence and documents are surface surveys and excavations which were either published only in preliminary formor were technically problematic. The only firm evidence for Mesopotamian presence during the Iron Age in Edom is the relief at Sela near Busayra. The limited evidence indicates that at least certain sites in Edom continued to be occu pied beyond the traditional end of the Iron II period and through the Persian period, and that it is unlikely that Edom survived as an independent kingdom into the Persian period.

2019

In this second part on Job, we look at additional information from ancient sources. The Septuagint coda to The Book of Job is shown to be historical, telling us details of Job's lineage from Abraham and when Job lived. Job also appears in Egyptian and Near Eastern sources. Arguments from the concept of probability show that Job must have been Jobab, the second king of Edom, and a descendant of Abraham.

2015

The Book of Job is full of fascinating paradoxes: despite it is the oldest book of the Bible (Job 19:23), it is very badly known, despite the fact that many details, even insignificant, about the life of Job are known this character is merely regarded like the Good Samaritan (a parable), despite the main question all over the book is: "why evil prevails?" the answer would be: "please, look at the hippopotamus and the crocodile" (Job 40:1-42:6), which is poetic but quite absurd. However, as Maimonides had already understood a long time ago the Book of Job: it includes profound ideas and great mysteries, removes great doubts, and reveals the most important truths (The Guide for the Perplexed III:22). Indeed Job lived (1710-1500) near Bozra in Idumea and received a deep and detailed answer, when the Israelites were suffering in Egypt (the Hyksos), in order to know when and how the evil angel, Leviathan a.k.a. Satan, will be defeated by Behemoth the first creature of God (Job 40:19). In a surprising manner, archaeology has shown that all the geographical and historical details in the Book of Job are accurate and reliable. https://www.amazon.com/Book-Job-Chronological-Historical-Archaeological/dp/1329775651 https://www.lulu.com/shop/gerard-gertoux/the-book-of-job-chronological-historical-and-archaeological-evidence/paperback/product-18rj9pd6.html