There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
Uz - north of Arabia Deserta, lying toward the Euphrates; it was in this neighbourhood, and not in that of Idumea, that the Chaldeans and Sabeans who plundered him dwelt. The Arbas divide their country into the north, called Sham, or 'the left:' and the south, called Yemen, or 'the right:' for they faced east, and so the north was on their left and the south on their right. Arabia Deserta was on the east: and so Job is called (Job 1:3) "the greatest of all the men of the east;" Arabia Petraea on the west and Arabia Felix on the south. (See Introduction, 'Where Job lived.')
Job. The name comes from an Arabic word meaning "to return (namely, to God), to repent", referring to his end (Eichhorn): or rather from a Hebrew word х 'aayab (H340), in the passive 'ayob] signifying one to whom hostility was shown, greatly tried (Gesenius). Significant names were often given among the Hebrews from some event of the after-life (cf. Isaiah 8:3-4, Mahar-shalal-hashbaz). So the names of David, 'Beloved,' and Solomon, 'Peaceful,' are names marking respectively the leading characteristic of their history, given presciently through God's overruling providence. The name Job may have been thus given at his birth, or else after his trials. So the emir of Uz was by general consent called Job, on account of his trials. The only other person so called was a son of Issachar (Genesis 46:13).
Perfect - not absolute or faultless perfection (cf. Job 9:20: "If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall prove me perverse." Ecclesiastes 7:20), but integrity, sincerity, and consistency on the whole, in all relations of life (Genesis 6:9; Genesis 17:1; Proverbs 10:9; Matthew 5:48). It was the fear of God that kept Job from evil (Proverbs 8:13).