Prologue (1:1–5)

In the land of Uz … Job (1:1). The main character of the story is an “Oriental” (1:3), who is placed in the land of Uz. The exact location of Uz is unknown (cf. Gen. 36:28; Lam. 4:21), but a region south of Palestine in Edom or Northwest Arabia has been proposed. The name Job (Heb. ʾiyyôb) was a common name in the second millennium B.C., meaning “Where is father?”15

Edom

Todd Bolen/www.BiblePlaces.com

Seven sons and three daughters (1:2). The wealth, prosperity, and happiness of the blameless and upright Job are described with reference to his seven sons and three daughters and his many possessions. The number “seven” often occurs in ancient Near Eastern literature; it indicates the ideal family (1 Sam. 2:5; Ruth 4:15) and is therefore retained in Job 42:13. The gods Baal and Mot have seven assistants (“lads”), and Baal has three daughters called Pidray, Tallay, and Arsay.16 The epic of King Keret from Ugarit, which has been compared to the book of Job, deals with the king’s calamities and states that he lost everything when a “seventh” son fell by the sword.17

Holding feasts (1:4). Job’s children attended feasts organized by his sons, where they ate and drank wine for seven days (v. 18). These feasts were not religious since such occasions would have been celebrated at the house of their father, Job; some of them may have been birthday parties. The banquet motif was well known in ancient times and is often depicted in art.18 Egyptian paintings depict lavish banquets where males and females mingle, are treated with delicacies, and are entertained by music and dance. Mesopotamian banquets appear on cylinder seals, on Assyrian reliefs, and on the “standard of Ur.”19 In the Old Testament itself it occurs in Psalm 23:5, where the Lord is the host. The Ugaritic hero Danʾel also gave the deities food.20

Standard of Ur pictures Sumerians in variety of domestic activities.

Caryn Reeder, courtesy of the British Museum

Burnt offering (1:5). Because he is afraid his children may have sinned and cursed God, Job as the patriarchal priest repeatedly sacrifices a burnt offering (Heb. ʿōlâ) in the morning on their behalf. He takes care of the welfare of his children, bringing expiatory offerings for their sins. In the Old Testament the burnt offering or “holocaust”21 means that everything was burnt (Ex. 29:38–41; Lev. 1; 6:8–13; Num. 15:1–16). In Job 42:8 Job’s friends are ordered by God to sacrifice seven bulls and seven rams as a burnt offering. Such a holocaust altar was found at the site of Arad.22