I must add a short follow-up to my previous posting.
Usoos with his brother Samemrumos as adorated in Tyre are, at least the first
of them, eponymous heroes of Tyre. Usoos name bearing resemblances to (akkad.
and Neo-Assyrian) Ushu, that is mainland Tyre. The native name may have been
Usu/Uzu.
A second Uz is reported by the bible as a part of Edom (Job, Lamentations, I
Moses 36:28).
It is therefore understandable when a biblical redactor should have pasted
together the two Uzes (Uzzis), applying the Phoenician myth to Edom and
falsely reconstructing an amusing family story regarding Jacob.
Best regards,
Bányai Micahel
Stuttgart
[b-hebrew] Amalekites followup!,
Michael Banyai, 08/15/2004