The patriarch of whom we read in this most interesting and instructive book was a Gentile of the land of Uz which, according to Lamentations 4:21, became the dwelling place of Edom. Job appears to have lived in Uz before the sons of Edom had established their hold on the country, and his age suggests that he was perhaps contemporaneous with Jacob. Another clue as to the time of Job's life comes from the reference to Elihu, "the son of Barachel, the Buzite" (Job 32:2), for Buz was the son of Nahor, the brother of Abraham (Gen. 22:21).
Job lived to the age of 140 years, and Jacob to 147 years. The ages of men, as recorded in the Book of Genesis, decline from Noah, who lived for 950 years, Shem, his son, died at 600, Shelah, the grandson of Shem, at 433, and Peleg, the grandson of Shelah, at 239. After three generations comes Abraham, who lived to be 175 years old, and after another three there is Joseph, who died at 110. Moses and Joshua, who died at 120 and 110 years respectively, seemed to have lived longer than their contemporaries, for Moses, in Psalm 90 writes, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten," showing that by his time the normal span of human life had been brought down to what it is now.