Naamathite
1:
NAAMATHITE [Heb na˓ămātı̂ (נַעֲמָתִי)]. Zophar, one of Job’s three friends, is called a Naamathite, i.e., a man from Naamah (Job 2:11; 11:1; 20:9; 42:9). There were various places and tribes called Naamah; e.g., a town in Judah (Josh 15:41), a place in Nejd (central Arabia: Na˓âmah; Yaqut n.d., V: 293), and a Sabean clan (n˓mt, Harding 1971:594). Tentatively, one may favor a Sabean background for Zophar. In this case, the homelands of Job’s friends encircle the whole Arabian peninsula: Bildad is from Shuah, i.e., the middle Euphrates, NE Arabia; Eliphaz the Temanite comes from either Edom or Tayma, NW Arabia in either case; and Zophar comes from S Arabia (Knauf 1983: 25–26).
The S Arabian origin of Zophar is also assumed by the LXX, which makes him a Minaean (by metathesis m˓n- instead of n˓m-). This, however, reflects the Minaeans’ suzerainty over most of W Arabia, which they gained in ca. 400 b.c. See MEUNIM; MEINIM. Before 400 b.c., at the time of the book of Job’s composition, the Sabeans controlled the N Arabian trading cities (cf. Job 6:19). See TEMA (PLACE).
Bibliography
Harding, G. L. 1971. An Index and Concordance of Pre-Islamic Arabian Names and Inscriptions. Toronto.
Knauf, E. A. 1983. Supplements Ismaelitica 4. Ijobs Heimat. BN 22: 25–29
Yâqût ar-RûméÆ (d. 626/1228). n.d. Mu˒jam al-buldân. Vol. I–V. Beirut (reprint of the 1955–1957 edition).
Ernst Axel Knauf
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (4:968). New York: Doubleday.
2:
Naamathite — the designation of Zophar, one of Job’s three friends (Job 2:11; 11:1), so called from some place in Arabia, called Naamah probably.
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
3:
NAAMATHITE Resident of Naamah in northwest Arabia. Zophar, one of Job’s friends, was a Naamathite (Jb 2:11; 11:1; 20:1; 42:9).
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (928). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
4:
NA´AMATHITE (nāʹa-ma-thit). An epithet of Zophar, one of Job’s friends, found only in Job 2:11; 11:1; 20:1; 42:9 and always in the phrase “Zophar the Naamathite.” There are several towns from which it might have been derived, such as “Noam, a castle in the Yemen, and a place on the Euphrates; Niameh, a place belonging to the Arabs; and Noamee, a valley in Tihameh,” not to mention the common Naaman. The LXX calls Zophar the Minaean and the king of the Minaeans. But of the real meaning of the term nothing is known. w.h.
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
5:
Naamathite (Heb. na˓ămāṯɩ̂)
A gentilic attributed to Job’s friend Zophar (Job 2:11; 11:1; 20:1; 42:9; cf. LXX “the Minean”). It apparently derives from Naamah or Naameh, a city (or district) in northwest Arabia (possibly Jebel el-Na˓ameh) or Edom.
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (936). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
