Land of Uz

The land of Uz (Hebrew: אֶרֶץ־עוּץ – ʾereṣ-ʿŪṣ) is a location mentioned in the Old Testament, most prominently in the Book of Job, which begins, "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job".[1] According to Rashi, Uz is actually Aram. (As Uz, the firstborn son of Abraham's brother - as noted in Genesis 22:21 - was of the children of Nachor, which is Aram.) See Rashi's comment on Job 1:1.

According to the War Scroll, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the land of Uz existed beyond the Euphrates, possibly in relation to Aram. In Column 2 verse 11, it is noted, "they shall fight against the rest of the sons of Aramea: Uz, Hul, Togar, and Mesha, who are beyond the Euphrates."

Uz is sometimes identified with the kingdom of Edom, roughly in the area of modern-day southwestern Jordan and southern Israel.[2] Lamentations 4:21 reads: "Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz." Other locations proposed for Uz include more southern Arabia, especially Dhofar, said to be the home of the original Arabs;[3] Bashan in modern-day southern Syria/western Jordan; Arabia east of Petra, Jordan;[4] and even modern-day Uzbekistan.

The name Uz is mentioned several times in the Bible. In Genesis, Uz is the son of Aram, a direct descendant of Shem.[5] In Genesis 36:28 and 1 Chronicles 1:42, Uz is a son of Dishan, and in 1 Chronicles 1:17, Uz is a son of Shem.

In 20th-century Israel, when The Wizard of Oz was translated to Hebrew, the translators chose to use Land of Uz for the book's Land of Oz. Thus, to modern Hebrew readers, "Land of Uz" assumed a new layer of meanings unrelated to its Biblical ones.