The Life and Times of Job (Part 3): When was Job?

When was Job?

Dating Job is a much more difficult affair:

First, outside of the book of Job, no other character named Job appears in scripture.  (There is a possible exception of Jashub, Issachar's son, in Gen 46:13.  The Samaritan Pentateuch (Torah) and some versions of the Septuagint render the name Jashub where the Masoretic records Job or Iob.  Because of the uncertainty and that Issachar appears to have gone with his father and grandfather into Egypt and is counted among the 70, I exclude a priori him from consideration here.)

It is still possible, however, that Job is in fact one of the several Jobabs that is mentioned.  Barry Setterfield makes a case here: http://www.setterfield.org/Jobab.html that this is in particular Eber's grandson, six generations down from Shem, Noah's son.  As a side-note, each of the three Jobabs mentioned in the bible are descendents of Shem, and two are descendants of Isaac and Abraham.

When I read Setterfield's explanation, along with his views on the time of Peleg, I was very intrigued.  However, while the name association (Job-Jobab) may be correct, I'm not convinced that this is the right Jobab, principally considering genealogies.

First, narrowing down Uz:

The two most likely Uz's are either 1) the grandson of Shem, via Aram, and 2) the nephew of Abraham (brother of Lot), via Nahor.  The third Uz mentioned, the Horite comes perhaps several generations after Esau where his grandfather, Seir, appears to be a contemporary of Esau.  If the land of Edom (Esau) is in the land of Uz (Lam 4:21), and Edom displaces/replaces/comingles with the grandfather of Uz, Seir, in the land of Seir, then this is probably not the right Uz and, as is often the case, this Uz is named for an earlier one.  Also possible is that this Uz is a descendant of Nahor's son, Uz, through another Hori (not the uncle of this younger Uz), which would explain how it was that you had the descendants of Esau and Seir mixed together, in the land, where Seir chiefs are listed just after Esau's, and there is a recent blood relation.

Here are the lineages given in scripture for the two most likely candidates.

UZ #1	UZ# 2
Noah	Noah
Shem	Shem
Aram	Arphaxad
Uz	Cainan (?)
	Selah
	Eber
	Peleg
	Reu
	Serug
	Nahor
	Terah
	Nahor
	Uz

So which Uz?

Referring to a Setterfield article above, a few pieces of the puzzle do fit well if the Uz is the earlier one, the grandson of Shem.  This Uz, and was the cousin of Selah (if we accept the OT we are familiar with) or of Selah's father, Cainan, if Luke (in Acts) and the Septuagint are correct.  Uz is therefore two to three generations earlier than Selah's grandson, Peleg so named because "in his days the earth was divided" which has become somewhat a point of discussion between those who imagine that this must refer to nations separating and going their way which happened apparently during the generation of Noah's grand- or great-grandsons, a couple generations before Selah.  We know that Noah's grandson Javan (through his son Japheth) had sons who moved away to their respective coastlands according to their respective languages, indicating that the Babel event had already occurred, either in their lives, or the lifetimes of their father and Noah's grandsons.

The other side of the argument is that, given the time delay between, from two to even four generations, the division mentioned for Peleg must have been different and likely refers to an actual division of the land.  I won't go further into this, except to mention that it would explain a number of unusual passages in the book of Job which until now I consistently glossed over.

If it is the earlier Uz, then the land of Uz is established three generations before Peleg, whose nephew is a certain Jobab.  If the later, he is a distant descendant of Abraham, as below:

JOBAB:1	JOBAB:2
Noah	Noah
Shem	Shem
Arphaxad	Arphaxad
Cainan	Cainan
Selah	Selah
Eber	Eber
Joktan	Peleg
Jobab	Reu
	Serug
	Nahor
	Terah
	Abraham
	Isaac
	Esau
	Reuel
	Zerah
	Jobab

Further, one piece of information that differs from our standard Old Testament version of the book of Job is the dating information at the end.

First, from the familiar, Old Testament (translated based on the Masoretic Hebrew text):

^{Job 42:16-17} After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. ¹⁷ And so Job died, an old man and full of years.

Now from the Alexandrian Septuagint:

Job 42:16-17 And Job lived after his affliction a hundred and seventy years: and all the years he lived were two hundred and forty: and Job saw his sons and his sons’ sons, the fourth generation. And Job died, an old man and full of days: and it is written that he will rise again with those whom

the Lord raises up.

Here we apparently have a choice: which Old Testament account is correct?

To make a decision we need to consider how long the patriarchs lived, as well as at what age did they have their first son of significance (presumably their eldest and true firstborn son).

Patriarch	Reference	Masoretic Text		Alexandrine LXX
		Lifespan	Age at Son	Lifespan	Age at Son
Adam	Gen 5:5	930	130	930	230
Seth	Gen 5:8	912	105	912	205
Enos	Gen 5:11	905	90	905	190
Cainaan	Gen 5:14	910	70	910	170
Mahalaleel	Gen 5:17	895	65	895	165
Jared	Gen 5:20	962	162	962	162
Enoch	Gen 5:23	365	65	365	165
Methusaleh	Gen 5:27	969	187	969	187
Lamech	Gen 5:31	777	182	783	188
Noah	Gen 9:29	950	502	950	502
Shem	Gen 11:10-11	600	100	600	100
Arphaxad	Gen 11:12-13	438	35	535	135
Cainan				460	130
Salah	Gen 11:14-15	433	30	460	130
Eber	Gen 11:16-17	464	34	404	134
Peleg	Gen 11:18-19	239	30	339	130
Reu	Gen 11:20-21	239	32	339	132
Serug	Gen 11:22-23	230	30	330	130
Nahor	Gen 11:24-25	148	29	208	179
Terah	Gen 11:32	205	70	205	130
Abraham	Gen 25:7	175	100	175	100
Isaac	Gen 35:29	180		180	60
Jacob	Gen 47:28	147		147	91
Levi	Ex 6:16	137		137
Kohath	Ex 6:18	133		133
Amram	Ex 6:20	137		137
Moses	Deut 34:7	120		120
		120

Examining according to the familiar Masoretic text readings.

If Job is the nephew of Peleg, then he lives 140 years beyond however old he was when his afflictions started, which is compatible with the general lifespans recorded for Peleg, Reu and Serug.  Additionally, assuming the four generations encompasses at least the families of his eldest, when people had their children at 30, that comes to 4x 30 years where 120 years is well within Job's remaining 140 years.  So that works.

If Job is the great-great-grandson of Abraham, he may well have been a contemporary of Moses' father/forefather Amram.  However, by Amram's day the average lifespan had already dipped below 140.  Job might have beaten the curve handily.  Generations back the average child-bearing age was 30, even prior to the journey to Egypt with the peak of civilization, food and for a time even privileged lifestyle.  Job had multiple children after his affliction, seven sons and three daughters, the same as he had had prior.  Assuming he was also 30 when he had the children, as with his forefathers, 10 children requires a minimum of 40 years from his birth to his affliction.  After that he lived another 140 years, putting him at 180 years, a figure that had not been reached in his family since his great-great-grandfather Isaac.  I wonder if that is why the scripture emphasizes that he saw the fourth generation of his progeny.  But then both texts also emphasize that he lived full of days/years.

This is a phrase that is used for Abraham (Gen 25:8), Isaac (Gen 35:29), King David (1 Chron 23:1), King Jehoida (2 Chron 24:15, who lived to a 130 years, the same age as Moses' father), seemingly to confirm that they lived to their generation's full life expectancy.  However, here, Jobab would have clearly exceeded it.

If Job is in fact neither Jobab, then a lifespan of a minimum of 180 years would put him in the generations of Terah, Abraham and Isaac: not much later.

From the Septuagint, analyzing the same:

If Job is Peleg's nephew then we immediately see that this will fit, perhaps not well, but not badly either.  At 248 years, Job would have fallen short of the lifespan of Peleg's son Reu and grandson Serug, but fared much better than his great grandson Nahor (grandfather of Nahor, Abraham's brother).  This is not incompatible.  We further know that he lived 170 years after his affliction, that he lived 240 years in total, and this was considered "full of days".  This puts the start of his affliction at age 70, and assuming still only one wife, no concubines mentioned, etc. puts the birth of his firstborn at age 60 or before.  Probably before since his children were old enough to eat and drink wine (partying) without parental supervision and one of them maintained his own house.  Assuming more than one was of a responsible age, say the eldest was 20 instead of 10, then Job had his firstborn at age 50.  Although the lifespan of Job in this period falls considerably under his (assumed) contemporary, the age at which he began to have children falls would become more common at least six generations past his own.

This is strange, although if Setterfield is right, there may be other factors at work which mitigate these things.  Too, it has been suggested that one verse in the Book of Job, may indicate that his generation did not expect the same lifespan as his predecessors.  More on that later.

As with the Masoretic text before, if Jobab is a descendant of Abraham, then we have an even more significant issue where he outlasts his peers for more than a century, with more than enough time for four generations if not five, maybe six.

If Job is the same as neither Jobab, then his lifespan according to the Septuagint would place him about the lifespan of Serug and Nahor, perhaps before (which is consistent with assuming he's Peleg's nephew anyway).  So as a contemporary of Reu, this may fit well, especially considering the details of what is said throughout the book.  More on that (again) later.

So working theory is that Job is about the generations of Peleg's nephew Jobab, when in the days of his father (and likely him as well) the world was being divided.  High probability, then from the lifespan analysis that he does not live too much after Abraham's time.

Updated: another point. Job lives either 140 (MT) or 170 (LXX) years after his tragedies. He sees his descendants up to the fourth generation. I'm relatively convinced this means he saw four generations, not counting his own/himself. This may yield more data (maybe) in that, assuming Job had children immediately after his tragedies, you have a maximum generational average of 140/3=47 years and 57 years, respectively. Job may have an extended lifespan by God's gifts, but his descendants are likely to mirror the averages of the time. Job may have waited longer to have children, so the generational times may be still shorter. But not longer.

Unfortunately, the earlier table does not yield as much along these lines as would be hoped. If the MT is the better genealogy for numbers, then Arphaxad has children MUCH earlier (at 35 years) than his father had him (100). If the Septuagint is correct, then this suggests very tenuously that he lives at or after the time of Abraham. However, not too much after an he's a contemporary of Moses. This calls into question the common assumption that the book of Job was written of times still ancient to the Hebrews of the Exodus. From the scriptures, Ezekiel considered him ancient but how ancient is the question.

In any case, the LXX gives a much smoother declination of the ages of fathers upon the births of their firstborn (presumed) than the MT.

We can further analyze the time period using the genealogies that can be put together for various players in this story:

1) SHEBA and TEMA (Caravans are coming from Sheba and Tema.)

Sheba has three competing genealogies (a fourth is omitted as being unlikely):

SHEBA:1	SHEBA:2	SHEBA:3
Noah	Noah	Noah
Ham	Shem	Shem
Cush	Arphaxad	Arphaxad
Reemah	Cainan	Cainan
Sheba	Selah	Selah
	Eber	Eber
	Joktan	Peleg
	Sheba	Reu
		Serug
		Nahor
		Terah
		Abraham
		Jokshan
		Sheba

If Job is about the timeframe of Peleg's nephew, then the first Sheba lineage allows plenty of time for a city, perhaps an empire to be developed and trade routes forged by a Sabean/Sheban kingdom.  As a contemporary of the second Sheba, this arrangement seems improbable.

If Job is the contemporary of Moses' father/forefather Amram, then all three Shebas could be valid potentially.

As for Tema, the only Tema mentioned is a grandson of Abraham, through Ishmael, who could well have settled at the site that even today is named Teyma in Saudi Arabia, and sits on ancient trade routes.  But if this is the Tema, that put him well after the days of Peleg.  The makes the later Jobab more probable, but amplifies the question of lifespans whichever text you read.

2) CHALDEANS

No lineage of the Chaldeans is given, though some attempt to link it to Abraham's grand nephew Chesed.  However, since Abraham's brother Haran father Lot in Ur of the Chaldees, the Chaldeans were already an established people by this time.  Little more can be determined for this exercise.

3) ELIPHAZ and ZOPHAR

Zophar is a Namaathite, either from an unknown ancestor, or the city of Namaath which existed.

Eliphaz is a Temanite.  Only one geneology is given for Teman (distinct from Tema).

ELIPHAZ

Noah

Shem

Arphaxad

Cainan

Selah

Eber

Peleg

Reu

Serug

Nahor

Terah

Abraham

Isaac

Esau

Eliphaz

Teman

… (unknown number of intervening generations, perhaps none)

Eliphaz

This Eliphaz appears to be a descendant of Abraham through Teman.  This also may put him in Amram's time frame or later.

4) BILDAD the SHUITE and ELIHU the BUZITE

Their geneologies are as follows:

BILDAD	ELIHU
Noah	Noah
Shem	Shem
Arphaxad	Arphaxad
Cainan	Cainan
Selah	Selah
Eber	Eber
Peleg	Peleg
Reu	Reu
Serug	Serug
Nahor	Nahor
Terah	Terah
Abraham	Nahor
Shua	Buz
…	…
BILDAD	Ram
	…
	Barachel
	Elihu

Both appear to descend from Abraham, and also appear consistent with the time of Moses' father, but slightly or well after the time of Jacob.

So, considering lifespans, the days of Peleg see consistent at the expense of genealogies.  Comparing genealogies, the time of the later Jobab seem possible at the expense of a dramatically increased lifespan for his days.  If Job lived in the days of Peleg, then a good number of the genealogies must be considered inapplicable for use in dating.  That is, Bildad might be a Shuite, but from an earlier Shuite than Abraham's son.  Elihu might be a Buzite from not a descendant of Nahor.  This has the unhappy consequence of rendering useless these genealogies for any sort of validation for Job and having to explain names that occur in the book, without any corresponding counterpart in scripture.  Who was a Buzite if not descended from Nahor's son, Buz?  This brings me some discomfort, perhaps more than having to consider that Job vastly outlived his contemporaries in Moses' day.

If Job lived just before Moses, this would lend some explanation as to how the story came to the Israelites in that Moses, while living in Midian, could well have either received an account of the story or perhaps even come into contact with such an important and Godly man as Job, possibly introduced through his father in law, a priest of Midian.

If Job lived during or after Peleg's days, some other questions internal to the text may have answers.  I'm not convinced a conclusion as to which period Job lived can be resolved here, nor can we determine from the above whether the Septuagint or the Masoretic texts hold a superior reading here.  One interesting side note is that Job's friends are simply introduced in our standard text, where the Septuagint names Eliphaz and king over the Thaemens/Temans, Baldad sovereign over his people, and Zophar is king of the Minaeans (Namaathites?).

Whenever Job did, then, live, I'm presented with a problem where any solution seems to suggest I'm wrong on some point.