Job & Buddha

Discussion about the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, pseudepigrapha, Philo, Josephus, Talmud, Dead Sea Scrolls, archaeology, etc.
Post Reply
Ethan
Posts: 978
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:15 pm
Location: England
Contact:

Job & Buddha

Post by Ethan »

In the Greek version of the Book of Job, Job is identified with Jobab [יובב], a name that first appears in Genesis 10:29. Josephus, commenting on this passage, places him in India but transliterates the name as Ἰόβηλος (Ióbelos).

Josephus AJ 1.147
Now Joctan, one of the sons of Heber, had these sons, Elmodad, Saleph, Asermoth, Eira, Edōram, Ouzal, Daēlēs, Ēbal, Abimaēl, Sáphas, Ophirēs, Euilēs, and Ióbel. These inhabited from Cophen, an Indian river, and in part of Seres adjoining to it.
Ἰούκτᾳ δὲ τῶν Ἑβέρου παίδων ἦσαν υἱοὶ Ἐλμόδαδος Σάλεφος Ἀζερμώθης Εἰράης Ἐδώραμος Οὐζάλης Δαήλης Ἤβαλος Ἀβιμάηλος Σάφας Ὀφίρης Εὐίλης Ἰόβηλος. οὗτοι ἀπὸ Κωφῆνος ποταμοῦ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς καὶ τῆς πρὸς αὐτῇ Σηρίας τινὰ κατοικοῦσι.

Σῆρες (Seres) is the ancient Greek name for China.

The first part of Josephus AJ 1.147 matches Genesis 10:29 but he additionally writes "These inhabited from Cophen, an Indian river, and in part of Seres adjoining to it" which seems to omit the clause in Genesis 10:30 "their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east."
Ethan
Posts: 978
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 1:15 pm
Location: England
Contact:

Job & Buddha

Post by Ethan »

Genesis 10:30
MT ויהי מושבם ממשא באכה ספרה הר הקדם
LXX καὶ ἐγένετο ἡ κατοίκησις αὐτῶν ἀπὸ Μασση ἕως ἐλθεῖν εἰς Σωφηρα ὄρος ἀνατολῶν
"Their dwelling was from Mesha that goes towards the Sophera, a mountain of the east"

Josephus 1.147
οὗτοι ἀπὸ Κωφῆνος ποταμοῦ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς καὶ τῆς πρὸς αὐτῇ Σηρίας τινὰ κατοικοῦσι
"These live from the river Kophēnos of the Indus and towards the Sēres

This would conclude Sophera (ספרה) is China and "mountain of the east" is the Himalayas.

Job 4:1 Eliphaz the Temanite

In Genesis 36:11 one of the sons of Eliphaz is Gatam (געתם) which resembles Gautama (गौतम), the name of Buddha, another son of Eliphaz here
is Zepho, but in the Septuagint, the name is written Σωφαρ which resembles the Σωφηρ in Genesis 10:30.

The mother of Eliphaz is Adah (עדה) which appears in Genesis 4:9, the wife of Lamech and mother of Jabal (Ιωβελ) and Jubal (Ιουβαλ) that resembles the name Ἰόβηλος (Ióbelos) in Josephus for Jobab, a name for Job.

Lamech (למך) resembles Lumbinī (लुम्बिनी) the place where, according to Buddhist tradition, queen Maya gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha) at around 566 BCE.

Eliphaz (אליפז)
/ Polypystos (πολύπυστος) "much heard of, far-famed"
/ ho Pystos (ό πυστός) ; πυστός is a cognate of Budh (बुध् ) "learn" (πυνθάνομαι).
Post Reply