The Hyksos, Kings of Egypt and the land of Edom

The second king of Edom was Jobab. He was not the son of the first king Bela, but, as mentioned previously, was the son of Zerah, the son of Ruel, a son of Esau. His reign is briefly recorded as follows:

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

The city of Bozrah has now been identified as being on the eastern side of Wadi Arabah. The site of Sela is very near to it. (see Nabataea.net site: Sela)

With this identification we can see that the Edomites now controlled country on the east side of the Arabah Valley. Esau, at first, appears to have lived, after leaving Canaan, on the west side of the Arabah Valley. This eastward expansion of the territory of Edom will be referred to again later. We will be noting a very great extension of Edomite dominion eastward from time to time.

The reference to King Jobab is indeed short, yet scanty as is our information, there is enough to open up a very lengthy investigation as to his identity. We cannot cover this in fullest detail here, but will set out a number of points which seem to indicate that this king was none other than the illustrious and patient Job. It seems strange that this apparent identification as not been noted before, so far as we can ascertain. The links between the two, Jobab and Job, are so numerous that the identification is very probable, to say the least, and would indicate that Job, the great example of suffering and patience, was elevated to the kingship at some time after his trying experience.

A careful reading of the Book of Job shows that even before his great testing, (with which alone the book is concerned,) Job was a person of very high rank amongst his contemporaries. The opening chapter tells of his great wealth and piety, and significantly adds:

"This man was the greatest of all the men of the east" (Job.l:1-3.). His high rank, then, cannot be doubted; but this is not all.

Further on in the Book of Job we find that Job occupied and held the leading position in the National Council with the sheiks of his people (Job 29:2, 7-9, 21-24). He sat "chief" and "dwelt as a king in the army" (vs.25). If he laughed at anyone's counsel, showing thereby that he esteemed it poor advice, then others at once rejected it too, and "believed it not" (vs.24). They all recognized that Job's intellectual ability, keen insight, and wide knowledge far exceeded all other members of the council, and they relied heavily upon him.

It is clear, that while Job was not then king, only "as a king," yet he must have been close to the king in honor and rank.

After his distressing trial was over, we are told that Job was greater and more blessed than even before (Job 42:12). That being so, it would be no surprise that upon the death of Bela, the first king of Edom, the National Council, composed of sheiks and other wise men, would elevate Job to the kingship. Indeed, we might well say it was a natural and logical step.

Points Assisting Job's Identity
Here is a brief summary of other-factors pointing to the identity of Job and Jobab.

1. Personal Name. The similarity of names is most obvious. There is only the addition of the syllable "ab" to "Job" to make "Jobab."

2. Same Country. It seems clear they lived in the same country. Job lived in the Land of Uz (Job 1:1). (15) Jobab was King of Edom, living at the City of Bozrah but Edom itself, we read elsewhere in Scripture, dwelt in the land of Uz (Lam.4:21). Evidently "Uz" is the name of a large area; that included within it the Land of Edom. Thus, if Jobab was living in Edom, he must also have lived in Uz; and by this we find both Job and Jobab in the Land of Uz - both lived in the same country.

3. Local Geographical Features. Jobab lived at Bozrah, not so very far south from the Dead Sea, into which the Jordan River empties. The Jordan River was the largest river in that vicinity. Job, too, was definitely acquainted with the Jordan River, and it is referred to as symbolical of a very large flow of water (Job 40:23).

4. Lived About Same Time. Both lived after the time of Ishmael's leaving Abraham, and the establishing of the Ishmaelite tribes in the Northern Arabian Desert. Esau's descendant's, as we know, lived later in time than did Ishmael. Jobab belongs to the fourth generation from Ishmael's age. Job speaks of "the troops of Tema" (Job 6:l9) Assuming that Tema one of the tribes descended from Ishmael (Gen. 25:l5), we would then have positive proof that Job also lived after the time Ishmael. At the same time Job speaks also of "the companies of Sheba" who would be descendants of Sheba, a half-brother to Ishmael (Gen. 25:3). (see Founding of the Nations) The orthodox view has been that the Book of Job belongs to the era before the Exodus. (16) This puts the story of Job right into the same general period of history as the time of the early kings of Edom, when Jobab reigned.

5. Occupation. Jobab belonged to and reigned over a pastoral people, laying much stress upon possessions of flocks and herds. Job, too, was a pastoral person possessing flocks and herds.

6. Contemporary Persons. Granting to Eliphaz, Esau's eldest son, a normal life-span as common in the family and descendants of Abraham, we find that this Eliphaz would be an old man, about 100 years of age or more, before Jobab could begin to reign.

Job's chief friend was a man named, Eliphaz the Temanite. He was evidently an old man, much older than Job's father. Eliphaz speaks of himself and his two companions as "aged men," saying, "With us are both the gray headed and very aged men, much elder than thy father." (Job 15:10).

From this it would seem that Job's father was still living. Also, Elihu, a young man listening to Job and his three comforters, waited until these three were exhausted in their arguments, "because they were elder than he." He then commences his discourse with the words, "I am young, and ye are very old" (Job 32:4, 6)

This aged and very old friend of Job's named Eliphaz, is called "a Temanite." This description of him as a Temanite greatly assists the identifying of Jobab with Job, for Eliphaz, Esau's son, was actually, the progenitor of the Temanites through Teman his son, as we have noted before (Gen. 36: 11, 15). Probably living with the family or tribe of sheik Teman, he would naturally come to be called "a Temanite." As a man of great age, and distantly related to Job, he would be expected to visit Job in his calamity. We consider thee to be one person. And Eliphaz, through his father Esau, and his grandfather Isaac; would possess much knowledge of God, such as is displayed in his discourses with Job.

Again, if the young man Elihu the Buzite of the kindred of Ram in Job 32:2 is to be linked with Abraham's relatives "Buz" and "Aram" in Gen. 22: 21, then the ties linking king Job with Jobab, a descendant from Abraham, are strengthened.

There is, therefore, abundant reason for thinking that Jobab, King of Edom, and Job, the Patient One, may well be one and the same person.

Further Indications of Expansion
Accepting the identification of Jobab with Job, several very important factors to our contention follow there from. The power and influence of the new Kingdom of Edom was still spreading and becoming more firmly established. From the original starting point on the west side of the Arabah, (that deep valley stretching from the Dead Sea southward to the Gulf of Aqaba,) the Edomites had expanded eastward into and across this valley. The city of Bozrah is on the east side of the valley, and was held by them; and they were overrunning and occupying the Arabian Desert to the east of that.

There is evidence that the Arabian Desert used to be better watered and was much more habitable than it is now. With slightly higher moisture content than now it would have been very suitable for grazing sheep. As it is, to this very day Bedouin shepherd take their flocks of sheep deep into the deserts covering all the area from the mountains of Petra to as far as Wadi Sirhan.

Job (or Jobab), during the reign of Bela, his predecessor, was the greatest of the men of the east (Job 1:3, Bene-Kedem). There were clashes with the ancient Chaldeans, who belonged to the region nearer the Euphrates River on the opposite or eastern side of the desert (Job 1:17). Indeed, there is a tradition that Job drank of the waters of "Job's Well" at the Haran Gate of the city of Orfah, situated on the south bank of the Euphrates River. If this be so, Job (or Jobab) in his later days as King, must have made his power felt far to the east. Perhaps he raided and punished the Chaldeans, who had slaughtered his servants and stolen his camels.

There were clashes, too, with the Sabeans who raided the land and stole Job's oxen and donkeys (Job 1:14-15). Now archaeological research has shown that the Sabeans migrated southward through Arabia about 1200 B.C. In Southern Arabia they established a very powerful kingdom centered at Saba. (See Southern Arabia) Prior to this migration the Sabeans (people of Sheba, Gen. 10:28), evidently lived somewhere in Central or Northern Arabia. A moment's reflection will give us reason to suspect that the Kingdom of Saba lay much too far south (over 1,000 miles away), to harmonize readily with raids on cattle and donkey herds near Edom. Thus we have here the strongest type of evidence that the story of Job antedates the Sabean migration southward. It would be perfectly natural, if the Edomites were expanding eastward into Northern Arabia prior to 1200 B.C. to come into conflict with the Sabeans. The story of Job here fits the earlier picture.

(On the other hand, if Saba had already migrated into Southern Arabia, the Edomite kingdom might have been very large indeed. While living in Yemen I had opportunity to visit what is known as Job's grave in Yemen. It is located several miles outside of the city of Sana'a. ed.)

Job's enormous wealth is a factor of evidence not to be overlooked. It indicates an era of prosperity amongst the Edomites. Later, when he became king of Edom, Job would be a very wealthy ruler.

Putting all this information together we begin to catch a glimpse through the haze of the years of a young, flourishing, nomadic kingdom, spreading and pushing outward and extending its sway. By the time of its second king the Edomites already held control over a more or less wide strip of the Arabian Desert easterly from Edom.

From this extensive area could be drawn the swarming manpower for the later Hyksos invasion of Egypt.

As we continue, we shall discover still further evidences of Edomite expansion, and what appears to be the secret of its sudden rise to power.

End of Chapter Four