Uythage, Conrad Cornelis, a Dutch scholar of the 17th century, is the author of Tlpjn 11P5, Revela- tio Punctationis sive Dissertatio de Antiquorum sine Pundis Legendi Ratione deque Vocalium Novitate (Lugd. Bat. 1680) :— niTipS ^bs fTnp, De Ledione ScripturcB S. Scriplorunique Rahhinorum absque Pundis
(ibid. 1680) : — Ai-tificium Tnvesiigand. Radd. JJehr. Bre- viss. Praxepfis Coinprehensum Exemplisque IUust,alum et Coiisiliiun di' Studio Ridib., etc. (ibid. \.QS-2):—ArtiJi- chiin < 'oi/iiiisci iiddniin Radlcuni Ilebr. in Nominibus stu Deiirulis Absululis (ibid, eod.) : — K.cplicatio R. Mosis Mainiouidis super Patrum, s. Seniorum Judveor. Sen- tentias compkd. VIII Capita, vbi Prcedara Malta, cum in Theologia turn Philosophia doctissime Expli- cantur (ibid. 1683). All these writings are now very scarce. See Furst, Bibl. Jud. iii, 466 ; Steinschneider, Bibliog. Hundb. s. v.; INIiiller, lEOH n"^3, or Catalogue of Hebreio and Jewish ]VorIcs (Amst. 1868), p. 323. (B. P.)
Uz (Heb. Uts, Y^V, wooded), the name of three men, and also of a region.
1. (Sept. Ou'^ V. r. ''Qq, Vulg. Us or Hits.) First named of the four sons of Aram (Gen. x, 23), and grand- son of Shem (1 Chron. i, 17, where the lineage is con- densed). B.C. post 2500.
2. (Sept. Oy^:, Vulg. f/us, A. V. " Huz.") The oldest of the eight sons of Nahor by Milcah (Gen. xxii, 21). B.C. cir. 2000.
3. (Sept. ^Qg, Vulg. IIus.) First named of the two sons of Dishan the Horite chieftain (Gen. xxxvi, 28 ; 1 Chron. i, 42). B.C. post 1950.
4. The Land oe Uz was the country in which Job lived (Job i, 1; Sept. AixyJug.Yulg. Bus). As the ge- nealogical statements of the book of Genesis are un- doubtedly ethnological, and in many instances also geo- graphical, it may fairly be surmised that the coincidence of names in the above cases is not accidental, but points to a fusion of various branches of the Shemitic race in a certain locality. This surmise is confirmed by the circumstance that other connecting-links may be dis- covered between the same branches. For instance, Nos. 1 and 2 have in common the names Aram (comp. Gen. X, 23; xxii, 21) and Maachah as a geographical desig- nation in connection with the former (1 Chron. xix. 6), and a personal one in connection with the latter (Gen. xxii, 24). Nos. 2 and 4 have in common the names Buz and Buzite (vcr. 21 ; Job xxxii, 2), Chesed and Chasdim (Gen. xxii, 22 ; Job i, 17, A. V. " Chaldasans"), Shuah, a nephew of Nahor, and Shuhite (Gen. xxv, 2; Job ii, 11), and Kedem, as (he country whither Abra- ham sent Shuah, together with his other children by Keturah, and also as the country where Job lived (Gen. xxv, 6 ; Job i, 3). Nos. 3 and 4, again, have in common Eliphaz (Gen. xxxvi, 10; Job ii, 11), and Teman and Temanite (Gen. xxxvi, 11 ; Job ii, 11). The ethnolog- ical fact embodied in the above coincidences of names appears to be as follows : Certain branches of the Ara- maic family, being both more ancient and occupying a more northerly position than the others, coalesced with branches of the later Abrahamids, holding a somewhat central position in Mesopotamia and Palestine, and again with branches of the still later Edomites of the south, after they had become a distinct race from the Abra- hamids. This conclusion would receive confirmation if the geographical position of Uz, as described in the book of Job, harmonized with the probability of such an amalgamation. As far as we can gather, it lay either east or south-east of Palestine (Job i,3) [see Bene-Ke- DE.Ai] ; adjacent to the Saba;ans and the Chaldseans (Job i, 15, 17), consequently northward of the Southern Ara- bians, and westward of the Euphrates; and, lastly, ad- jacent to the Edomites of Mount Seir, who at one pe- riod occupied Uz, probably as conquerors (Lam. iv, 21), and whose troglodytic habits are probably described in Job XXX, 6, 7. The position of the country may further be deduced from the native lands of Job's friends, Eli- phaz the Temanite being an Idumsean, Elihu the Buzite being probably a neighbor of the Chaldaeans, for Buz and Chesed were brothers (Gen. xxii, 21, 22), and Bildad the Shuhite being one of the Bene-Kedera. Whether Zophar the Naamathite is to be connected with Naamah in the tribe of Judah (Josh, xv, 41) may be regarded as
UZA
688
UZZA
prublematical : if he were, tlie conchision would be fiir- tlier established. From the above data we infer thai tlie land of Viz corresponds to the Arabia Deserta of classical {geography, at all events to so much of it as lies north of the 30th parallel of latitude. This district ha^ in all ages been occupied by nomadic tribes, who roam from the borders of Palestine to tlio Euphrates, and northward to the conlinos of Syria.— Smith. See Job.
"The land of Uz" is mentioned only in two other pas- sages of Scripture. Jeremiah in one jiassage (xxv, '20; .Sept. Ous5Vulg. .4 usitis) groups it witii Egypt, Pliilistia, Kdom, and Moab; and in anodier he appears either to identify it with a portion of Edom, or to affirm that some of the Edoinites in his days inhabited Uz (Lam. iv, 21 ; Ois, f/us). These various statements show that I'/, was closely connected with Edom, and thus in gen- eral corroborate the above position. See Ipum.ea.