Eliphaz redirects here.
This article is about the Temanite. You may be looking for Esau's son.
Eliphaz the Temanite was one of Job's three friends and so-called comforter. He likely is a descendant of Esau's son Eliphaz, though his son Teman. Eliphaz was initially more sympathetic in his counseling than Job's other two friends, Bildad and Zophar. But he too wanted Job to admit that his suffering was a result of a sin that Job had committed, which was not the case.
Visiting Job[]
When he and his friends heard how Job had suffered, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar came to visit him.[1] This is in contrast to all Job's other relatives and associates, who abandoned him when he was no longer prosperous. When Eliphaz and his friends saw the extent of Job's suffering they tore their clothes and wept.[2] For seven days the three friends stat with Job in silence.[3]
Dialogue with Job[]
After the commendable week in which the friends attempted to comfort Job, Job spoke and lamented the day of his birth, showing how much he was suffering. After this, Eliphaz and his friends took turns speaking to Job in an attempt to explain why all of this had happened to Job.
Eliphaz spoke first, and he began by affirming how Job had largely lived a righteous life.[4] But he said that Job must have sinned for all of his suffering to happen, saying that such suffering would not happen to an innocent person.[5] He urged Job to confess his sin, saying that if he repented his suffering would relent.[6] Job, however, refused to acknowledge that his suffering was a result of punishment for some sin he had committed, while Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar continued to give speeches saying that it was. As the conversation went on, Eliphaz and his friends began to lose all sympathy for Job and spoke harsher and harsher to him, accusing him of more and more serious sins. They also became more and more presumptuous as they continued speaking, claiming to know exactly the nature and character of God, and the reasons He has for his acts.
Rebuke from God[]
At the end of the dialogue between Job and his friends, God spoke to Job through a whirlwind. God emphasized how His ways and knowledge are so far above even the wisest of human knowledge. God then spoke directly to Eliphaz, telling him that His anger burned against the three friends. Eliphaz and his friends did not speak truthfully about God like Job had.[7] God commanded Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar to offer seven bulls and seven rams as a burnt offering in repentance for their folly, and to ask Job to pray for them in intercession.[8] Eliphaz and his friends did as God commanded, and Job graciously prayed on their behalves, and God accepted Job's prayer.[9]