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Ancient Mysteries & Interpretations

Was Job Jobab of Edom?

The Greek ending of Job identifies Job with Jobab son of Zerah of Bozrah, an early king of Edom, and calls his land Ausitis on the borders of Edom and Arabia. Aristeas the Exegete and the Testament of Job also call him Jobab. The Hebrew book gives no genealogy. The identification is ancient interpretation based on similar names and Edomite clues, not independent historical evidence.

Identification: ancient interpretation · Historical Job: not attested outside the Bible

The mountains of Edom
Site or place photographThe mountains of Edom (Dana) seen across the Wadi Araba, south of the Dead Sea.Image credit

1 What Scripture says

Job 42:17 (Greek)

"And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead" (Genesis 36:33).

2 What evidence we might expect

  • An inscription naming Job or Jobab; an independent Edomite king list.

3 What ancient sources survive

Greek Job 42:17a–e

Language
Greek
Composed
c. 2nd–1st century BC
Oldest surviving copy
Septuagint manuscripts (4th century AD)
Status
Part of the Greek Bible

"Formerly his name was Jobab."

Aristeas the Exegete, On the Jews

Language
Greek
Composed
c. 2nd century BC (?)
Oldest surviving copy
Quoted in Eusebius, Praep. Ev. 9.25
Status
Hellenistic Jewish history

Job = Jobab, a son of Esau.

Testament of Job

Language
Greek
Composed
c. 1st century BC–1st century AD
Oldest surviving copy
Medieval manuscripts
Status
Not scripture

"Job, who is called Jobab."

4 What discoveries exist

No inscription names Job or Jobab. Bozrah (Buseirah) in Edom has been excavated; its remains are Iron Age II, later than a patriarchal date.

5 How interpretations compare

Traditional reading

Job was Jobab

Held in the Greek tradition and by some later Christian writers.

Traditional reading

Job as parable

One Talmudic sage: "Job never existed, but was a parable."

Source: Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 14b–16b (authorship and date of Job; "Job never existed, but was a parable")

6 The strongest supported reconstruction

The identification arose in Hellenistic Jewish interpretation; whether a historical Job lived is unknown.

7 What remains possible or unknown

  • Whether Job was a historical person.
  • What "the Syriac book" was.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedGreek Job identifies Job with Jobab.
  • Not independently verifiedJob and Jobab were the same historical person.

Where this connects