Job 1:1, Job 1:8 ESV

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 1:1

There was a man - This has all the appearance of being a true history. Many have regarded the whole book as a fiction, and have supposed that no such person as Job ever lived. But the book opens with the appearance of reality; and the express declaration that there was such a man, the mention of his name and of the place where he lived, show that the writer meant to affirm that there was in fact such a man. On this question see the Introduction, Section 1.In the land of Uz - On the question... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 1:1

Job 1:1. There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job We have observed in the argument, that the firstborn son of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, was called Uz. It appears also from Genesis 10:23, that a grandson of Shem bore the same name, but it does not appear whether any country was named from either of these. But we find in Lamentations 4:21, that Edom was called Uz, probably from a grandson of Seir, the Horite, of that name. See Genesis 36:20; Genesis 36:28; 1 Chronicles 1:38; 1... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Job 1:1-22

1:1-2:13 SATAN TESTS JOBFrom prosperity to ruin (1:1-22)A popular belief in ancient times was that prosperity and well-being were proofs of godliness, but poverty and suffering were proofs of ungodliness. They were signs that God was either rewarding or punishing a person, according to whether that person’s life was good or bad. The book of Job contradicts this belief. Yet the prosperous and contented Job was indeed a godly person who was blameless in all that he did. He was concerned also for... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Job 1:1

There was a man = A man came to be. This settles the question as to the historical fact. was = came to be. See note on p. 666. man. Hebrew. 'ish. App-14 . Uz. In Genesis 22:20 , Genesis 22:21 , immediately after the offering of Isaac, Abraham hears that his brother Nahor has eight sons, and among them two named Uz and Buz, and Kemuel the father of Aram. Uz gives his name to the land. Buz and Aram are connected with Elihu (Job 32:2 ). See App-62 . The land of Uz is mentioned in Jeremiah... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Job 1:1

JOB 1WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE SAINTS COME TOGETHER TO WORSHIP?SPECIAL INTRODUCTION FOR THIS CHAPTERWe have read twenty commentaries on this chapter and find no help in any of them; nor have we seen any other chapter in the whole Bible where we are any more certain that the interpretation of a chapter of God's Word by current scholars is any more erroneous and absolutely unacceptable than is the case here. Apparently, none of the scholars whose writings we have consulted thus far on Job have been... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Job 1:1

THE BOOK of JOB. THERE is, perhaps, no book of Scripture, that has so much divided interpreters, and afforded such a field of controversy, as the book of JOB: some supposing it of the remotest antiquity, written by Moses or Job himself; others bringing it down to a very low date; supposing it written by Ezra, at the time of the return from the Babylonish captivity. I shall not trouble my reader with a discussion of these various opinions: but, having given the matter the most impartial and... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Job 1:1

1. Uz—north of Arabia-Deserta, lying towards the Euphrates. It was in this neighborhood, and not in that of Idumea, that the Chaldeans and Sabeans who plundered him dwell. The Arabs divide their country into the north, called Sham, or "the left"; and the south, called Yemen, or "the right"; for they faced east; and so the west was on their left, and the south on their right. Arabia-Deserta was on the east, Arabia-Petræa on the west, and Arabia-Felix on the south. Job—The name comes from an... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Job 1:1-5

A. Job’s Character 1:1-5Uz (Job 1:1) was probably southeast of the Dead Sea (cf. Job 1:3; Job 1:14; Job 1:19; Job 42:12). [Note: See Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, s.v. "Uz," by G. Frederick Owen.] Some scholars place it in Bashan south of Damascus, but the writer of Lamentations (probably Jeremiah) associated the land of Uz with Edom (Lamentations 4:21). References to customs, geography, and natural history elsewhere in the book support this general location (cf. Jeremiah... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Job 1:1-22

The PrologueJob 1, 2, which form the Prologue to the book, describe (a) the prosperity and piety of Job; (b) a scene in heaven in which the Satan questions the motives of his piety; and (c) his subsequent trials, which are permitted by God in order to test and confirm His servant’s righteousness, and to show to angels and men that a man may serve God for His own sake and not from self-interest. So far from being dependent on outside conditions the true servant of God will endure the severest... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Job 1:1

(1) There was a man in the land of Uz.—The first mention of this name is in Genesis 10:23, where Uz is said to have been one of the sons of Aram, who was one of the sons of Shem. (Comp. 1 Chronicles 1:17.) Another Uz (in the Authorised Version spelt Huz) is mentioned in Genesis 22:21 as the firstborn of Nahor, the brother of Abraham. A third form of this name is mentioned in Genesis 36:28 among “the sons of Seir the Horite. who inhabited the land” of Edom. (Comp. 1 Chronicles 1:42.) It is... read more