Jobab ben Zerah
{{short description|King of Edom}}
Jobab ben Zerah ({{Langx|he|יובב בן־זרח}} Yōḇāḇ ben-Zerah) was a king of ancient Edom, according to Genesis 36. He succeeded Bela ben Beor in the apparently elective kingship{{cite web | url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07638a.htm | title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Idumea }} of the Edomites. He ruled from Bozrah. He was succeeded by Husham.
Jobab has traditionally often been identified with the biblical figure Job.{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3268592 | jstor=3268592 | last1=Reed | first1=Annette Yoshiko | title=Job as Jobab: The Interpretation of Job in LXX Job 42:17b-e | journal=Journal of Biblical Literature | year=2001 | volume=120 | issue=1 | pages=31–55 | doi=10.2307/3268592 | url-access=subscription }} Job was said to live in the "land of Uz", which was where Edom was located. Job was one of the wealthiest people in the world, and this wealth could easily be explained with his status as royalty. The book of Jasher stated that the Edomites had disallowed themselves from choosing a descendant of Esau for kingship. Jobab began to reign after Bela's 30-year rule. [https://sacred-texts.com/chr/apo/jasher/index.htm The Book of Jasher] Sacred-texts Apocrypha
Identity as Job
The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, identifies Job as Jobab.{{cite web | url=https://levendwater.org/companion/append62.html | title=The Septuagint Ending of the Book of Job. - Appendix to the Companion Bible }} Also, the oldest English-language Catholic Bible, the Douay-Rheims, identifies Job as Jobab. The Challoner Revision of the Douay-Rheims speculates that Job could have written the book of Job,{{cite web | url=http://www.catholic-bible.org/job/ | title=Job }} but the original 1610 Douay-Rheims says that Job himself wrote the book in the Arabic language, which was then translated into Hebrew by Moses.{{cite web | url=http://philologic.northwestern.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.9:1:20:0.bie | title=Philologic Results }} This claim could be supported by St. Jerome, who wrote that the book of Job was written in "Hebrew and Arabic and sometimes Syrian".{{cite web | url=https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_preface_job.htm | title=Jerome, Prologue to Job (2006) }}
Church Slavonic versions of Book of Job and Russian Synodal Bible include a postscript in which Jobab is identified with Job, the anonymous author of the postscript refers to a "Syriac book".[http://www.patriarchia.ru/bible/iov/42/ Ветхий Завет: Книга Иова. Глава 42. // Русская Православная Церковь. Официальный сайт Московского Патриархата] Many Bible scholars, such as Douglas Wilson,{{cite web | url=https://dougwils.com/the-church/s8-expository/surveying-the-text-job.html | title=Surveying the Text: Job | date=18 January 2015 }} agree with the identification, though Methodist theologian Adam Clarke maintained a different position.{{cite web | url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/clarke/job000.htm | title=Commentary on the Bible by Adam Clarke: Job: Job Introduction }}{{cite web | url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=30772 | title=SermonIndex.net Audio Sermons - Sermon Index }} David J. Gibson{{cite web | url=http://atlantisonline.smfforfree2.com/index.php?topic=1550.0;wap2 | title=Hyksos, Kings of Egypt and the land of Edom }} in his book Whence Came the Hyksos, Kings of Egypt defends the identification based on numerous passages from the Book of Job, personal names, geography, occupation, and contemporaries.
{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before=Bela ben Beor}}
{{s-ttl|title=King of Edom|years=}}
{{s-aft|after=Husham}}
{{s-end}}
External links
- [http://www.antikforever.com/Egypte/main_egypte.htm Kings of Egypt]
- [http://www.antikforever.com/Syrie-Palestine/Divers/edomite.htm Land of Edom]
- [http://www.nabataea.net/hyksos.html The Hyksos, Kings of Egypt and the land of Edom] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804212815/http://nabataea.net/hyksos.html |date=2011-08-04 }}