Abraham and Job: Horite Hebrew Rulers

Alice C. Linsley

Job was an historical person, as the genealogical information in the Bible makes clear. He was the great grandson of Nahor, Abraham's older brother. Job's maternal grandfather was Nahor's son, Uz the Elder. The Book of Job begins, "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job". In the ancient world, territories typically were named for the man who ruled over them.

According to I Chronicles 1:42, the elder Uz's daughter married Dishan, a Horite Hebrew chief. She named their firstborn son Uz after her father, according to the cousin bride's naming prerogative.

Uz the Younger was Seir's grandson. This diagram shows the relationship between Seir's Horite Hebrew family and that of Elon, a Hittite chief. The Hittites were descendants of Heth, a Hebrew chief named in Genesis 10:15. Heth was a grandson of Noah the Hebrew. This diagram shows that the Hebrew married only members of their Hebrew ruler-priest caste.

Job was of the Horite Hebrew clan of Uz. The Horite Hebrew and their counterpart, the Sethite Hebrew, were a caste of ruler-priests who exercised great influence in the ancient world. Their influence extended from Lake Chad (Noah's homeland) to Anatolia where the Hittites had shrines dedicated to Horus, the son of God. As devotees of Horus, the early Hebrew venerated Hathor who conceived by divine overshadowing of the Sun, the Creator's symbol.

The early Hebrew (4000-2000 BC) controlled the major waters systems at a time when the Sahara, Arabia, and Mesopotamia were wetter. They served as shrine and temple attendants, interceded for others, and offered sacrifice. Job offered sacrifice daily for the sins of his own family. At the end of the book, God tells Job to pray for his kinsmen Eliphaz, Zophar and Bildad. This is reminiscent of Abraham praying for Abimelech and his whole household (Gen. 20:17,18).

Job's clan were associated with donkeys, the beasts of burden that make trade possible across vast regions. Job 30:3-7 portrays Job's people as "donkeys braying among the bushes". According to Genesis 36:24, Anah, the son of Zibeon and grandson of Seir the Horite, pastured his father's donkeys in the wilderness.

There is a very old tradition that the God of the Hebrews "came from Teman. This is reflected in Habakkuk 3:3 which states, "God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran." This is one reason that Frank Moore Cross believes that the God of Israel is the God of the Horites.

Horite Hebrew priests shaved their heads (Jeremiah 25:23), as was the custom of Horite priests in Egypt. (See Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 2007, p.37.)

Esau the Younger had a son named Korah which means shaved one. This suggests that this was a confederation of Horite priestly families. Genesis 36 confirms this, listing Uz's grandson Dedan as a Horite ruler. Here we also find reference to Huz or Husham of the land of Tema (Gen. 36:34).

The people of Uz belonged to a 3-clan Horite confederation. The confederation is identified as Uz, Huz and Buz, and also as Dedan, Tema and Buz. The Dedanites and the Temanites. were kin. The clan of Teman descended from the elder Esau's son Teman (Gen. 36:11). The Temanites were known for their wisdom. Job's friend Eliphaz was a Temanite. Jeremiah 49:7-8 speaks of the wisdom of Teman and links the Temanites with the Dedanites.

 
The largest collection of texts in the oldest Arabic script come from Tema and Dedan in the Hijaz. Tema is known by Arabs as Taima and lies about 70 miles north-east of Dedan. Tema, Dedan and Dumah were caravan stops along the trade route from Sheba to Babylon. According to Genesis 10:7, Dedan the Elder was descended from Kush, the son of Ham. According to Genesis 25:3, Dedan the Younger was a descendant of Abraham and his cousin wife, Keturah. Dedan's father was Abraham's firstborn son Joktan. Isaiah 21:13 speaks of the "caravans of Dedanites" in Arabia, and Ezekiel 27:20 speaks of Dedan as supplying Tyre with precious things. Dedan is associated with Uz in the hill country of Edom, Job's homeland. This is Uz the Elder, son of Nahor, whose grandson (by his daughter) was Uz, the son of Dishan, shown in diagram above.

NOTES

Moses had a half-brother named Korah. The diagram below shows the typical marriage pattern of high-ranking Hebrew rulers. Amram had two wives. 

Many Hebrew rulers had two wives. Among them were Lamech the Elder, Terah, Abraham, Isaac, Esau the Elder, Amram, Jesse, Elkanah, Ashur, and Joash. Abraham's two wives were Sarah (his half-sister) and Keturah (his patrilineal cousin). They resided in separate settlements in Hebron and Beersheba.

In 1 Chronicles 4:5, we read that "Ashur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives, Helah and Naarah."

1 Chronicles 4:17-18 states that Mered had two wives, and one was "Pharaoh’s daughter Bithiah, whom Mered had married."

Related reading: Chiefs of Edom and Seir; Righteous Job and His Hebrew Kin; The Horite Hebrew Ancestry of Jesus Christ; Job's Friends and Their Contributions to the Message of Job; The Horite Confederation of Uz, Buz and Huz