Buz

BUZ. 1. A nephew of Abraham and the second son of Nahor (Gen.22.21). His family apparently settled in Arabia. See Jer.25.23, where Buz is mentioned with various districts of Arabia. The word means “contempt” and probably illustrates an Eastern superstition of giving a baby an unpleasant name so as “to avert the evil eye.” One belonging to this region was a “Buzite” (see Job.32.2, Job.32.6).

2. Head of a family in the tribe of Gad (1Chr.5.14), otherwise unknown.

1. The second son of Milcah and Nahor (Gen 22:21).

2. A man from the tribe of Gad (1 Chron 5:14).

3. A place (Jer 25:23).

4. Elihu’s father is called “Barachel the Buzite” (Job 32:2, 6).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

(1) Second son of Nahor (Ge 22:21). The word occurs again in Jer 25:23, by the side of Dedan (Ge 10:7) and Tema (Ge 25:15), and is probably, therefore, the name of a people living in the neighborhood of Edom. Buz and Hazo (Ge 22:22) are probably the countries of Bazu and Chazu (the former described as full of snakes and scorpions), which Esarhaddon invaded (KB, II, 131).

(2) A Gadite ((1Ch 5:14) (buzi), "an inhabitant of Buz"), a title given to Elihu, the fourth speaker in the Book of Job (Job 32:2).

Horace J. Wolf