Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>]

Dear Isaac,
> I think it is East Africa because Job 28:5 "As for the earth, out of 
> it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire" contains 
> what appears to be a reference to volcanic activity. The flora and 
> fauna also betoken an African background. I think that  HA-QODRIYM 
> MINI QARAX is "wreathed [crowned] by ice".

Job 6 is not Job 28. Are you claiming that the setting for the whole 
book is East Africa, that Job lived in East Africa? If so, you need to 
read a good introduction of Job. There are clear markers putting it on 
the continent of Asia in the Middle East to the east of Israel. There 
are raids of Chaldean tribes (1:17). Job is described as one of the 
"sons of the East" (1:3). This could not mean East Africa to a Hebrew 
author. The phrase referred to people east of Israel. The phrase "sons 
of the East" ("eastern peoples," "people of the East," or "men of the 
East" in NIV) occurs in a lot of verses, always with that meaning:

Gen. 29:1  Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of 
the eastern peoples.
Judg. 6:3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, 
Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.
Judg. 6:33  Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples 
joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of 
Jezreel.
Judg. 7:12 The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern 
peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could 
no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.
Judg. 8:10 ¶ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with a force of about 
fifteen thousand men, all that were left of the armies of the eastern 
peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand swordsmen had fallen.
1Kings 4:30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men 
of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.
Is. 11:14 They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west; 
together they will plunder the people to the east. They will lay hands 
on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them.
Jer. 49:28 ¶ Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which 
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked: ¶ This is what the LORD says:  
“Arise, and attack Kedar and destroy the people of the East.
Ezek. 25:4 therefore I am going to give you to the people of the East as 
a possession. They will set up their camps and pitch their tents among 
you; they will eat your fruit and drink your milk.
Ezek. 25:10 I will give Moab along with the Ammonites to the people of 
the East as a possession, so that the Ammonites will not be remembered 
among the nations;
Job 1:3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five 
hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of 
servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard