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Response
The land of Uz in the Bible is where Job, the righteous man whose faith was tested through great suffering, lived: “In the land of Uz, there was a man named Job. He was blameless and upright, feared God, and avoided evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and many servants. He was the most significant man in the East” (Job 1:1-3).
The exact location of the land of Uz is uncertain. Apart from the mention of Uz in the opening verse of the book of Job as Job’s residence, the land is only referenced in two other Bible passages. Jeremiah 25:20 talks about the “kings of the land of Uz” being judged alongside many other kings and officials in the Lord’s wrath. In this context, the land of Uz is linked with Edom (verse 21). In Lamentations, the association with Edom is reiterated: “Rejoice and be glad, Daughter Edom, you who live in the land of Uz. But to you also the cup will be passed; you will be drunk and stripped naked” «Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, That dwellest in the land of Uz; The cup also shall pass through unto thee: Thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked. », (Lamentations 4:21).
The book of Job mentions that Job resided near the desert «and, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. », (Job 1:19), but the land was suitable for agriculture and animal husbandry (Job 1:3,14;42:12). These verses also indicate that Job was the most prominent among “the people of the East” residing in the land of Uz. Job 1:17 mentions that Job’s homeland was susceptible to Chaldean raiders. When considering all these details, it seems that the land of Uz was situated to the east of Israel and east of Edom in northern Arabia.
The New American Commentary: Job proposes Wadi Sirhan, a two-hundred-mile-long depression in the northern region of Saudi Arabia, as the most probable location for the land of Uz: “It serves as the drainage area for the waters flowing from Jebel Druz and can sustain large herds of livestock like those owned by Job. . . . It was near enough to Edom to have occasional connections with it, yet it was also within reach of Chaldean raiders” (vol. 11, p. 47).
Uz is associated with three individuals in the Old Testament. The first is the son of Aram and grandson of Shem (Genesis 10:22;1 Chronicles 1:17). The second is Abraham’s nephew, the son of Nahor and Milcah, and the brother of Buz «Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, », (Genesis 22:21). Lastly, an Edomite residing in Seir was named Uz. He was one of the sons of Dishan the Horite (Genesis 36:28;1 Chronicles 1:42). The link between Edom and the land of Uz strongly implies that Uz was inhabited by descendants of this Horite man from Seir. It is likely that the land of Uz derived its name from him.
