Commentaire sur Job 1:1

There was a man in the land of Uz This means in the land of Aram, as it is written (Gen. 22: 21): “Uz, his firstborn,” of the sons of Nahor.

From the portrait of the man Job with which the story opens, it is clear that no rational explanation can be given for his afflictions; no interpretation by which their occurrence was a normal event. For when poverty and suffering befall a person, it is normally for one of six reasons:

and that man was Although that is a future expression, that is the style of the Hebrew language, and the proper expression for it is “Now that man was greater than all the children of the land of the East”; the children of the land of the East, for Aram is in the east of the world, as it is stated (Num. 23:7): “From Aram has Balak, king of Moab, brought me, from the mountains of the East.” Another explanation: Uz is Job. Buz is Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite. This is what Job said (31:34): “and the most contemptible of families shatters me.” This one (the Buzite) who shatters my words is of my family. This is what people say: “From the very forest, the ax handle is formed.” Another explanation: in the land of Uz In the land whence they take evil counsels against the Holy One, blessed be He. As it is stated (Gen. 10:11): “Out of that land Asshur went forth.” Now what counsel did they take? “He has no right to take the upper worlds and to give us the lower world.” Instead, come to the land of Shinar, where there are many gods, concerning which it is stated: “for it is a land of graven images” (Jer. 50:38): “And let us make a tower whose top shall reach to the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves” (Gen. 11:4). The word “name” stated here refers only to idolatry, as it is stated (Exod. 23:13): “You shall not make mention of the name of other gods.” What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He sat in judgment over them and stood up witnesses against them, as it is stated (Gen. 11:5): “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower.” Now does the Omnipresent have to come down to see? Is it not written: “The eyes of the Lord are roving to and fro throughout the entire earth”? Rather, it is to teach a ruling to future generations, that judges may not pass judgment except with eyewitnesses, as it is stated (Lev.5:1): “Having seen or known.”