Uz & Buz




The unknown author of the Book of Job offers us clear hints as to the meaning and intention of this parable: from them we can infer that he was not Moses. The Pentateuch was clearly before his eyed, Genesis in particular. Moreover, his entire narrative fastens on the Aqedah, the story of the attempted sacrifice of Isaac, with which he tries to draw an analogy. The trial of Job is a duplicate of the trial of Abraham; both stories seek to teach the meaning of fear of God, which is attributed to Abraham after the Aqedah & is announced in the very first verse of the Book of Job. As the Sages themselves remarked, "That which Abraham said is what Job said." They further stated that "it is said of Job 'one that feared God,' and it is declared to Abraham 'thou ferrets God;' just as 'fear of God' with Abraham indicates love, so 'fear of God' with Job indicates love." The first conspicuous clue to this correspondence is found in the opening verse of Job in "the land of Uz." Now why Uz of all places, a land mentioned in the Bible only in passing, one whose imprint on the biblical world is nil?

It appears that the author placed Job in "the land of Uz" as an allusion ton the Uz whose name appears in the Book of Genesis in the verse immediately following the Aqedah episode: "And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Mikah, she also has born children to your brother Nahor: Uz his firstborn" (Gen. 22:20-21). This serves to apprise us that Job's trial is the continuation of the trial of Abraham.

At a later stage in the narrative the author of the Book of Job introduces an additional figure into the debate between Job & his friends, naming him "Habuzi" ("Elihu the son of Barakh'el the Buzite"knipoog. Surely he meant to follow up on the verse succeeding the Aqedah: "Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother." It is inconceivable that such parallels are accidental. They reflect a definite intention.

What is the common element in the trials of Abraham and Job, of whose fear of Heaven there could have been no doubt even prior to their trials?

We'll see: those stories [like all Bible stories] are about US, you, me and 'the others'.
That's how OUR cookies DO crumble TOO ...

sneaky engel cool! blozen
01 aug 2011 - bewerkt op 01 aug 2011 - meld ongepast verhaal
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