After the lord allowed satan to afflict job, three of his friends, eliphaz, bildad, and zophar, came to comfort him. Eliphaz in the bible, jobs friends in the bible tpf. Indeed i waited for your words, i listened to your reasonings, while you searched out what to say. God, job, bildad, elihu, satan, eliphaz, and zophar. At one point job, weary of their unhelpful rhetoric, told them, you are miserable comforters, all of you.
This time, job is afflicted with horrible skin sores. The book of job has long been praised as a masterpiece of literature. He is called the shuhite, probably as belonging to shuah, a district in arabia, in which shuah, the sixth son of abraham by keturah, settled genesis 25. Kjv 11 now when jobs three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place.
The force of jobs protest is all the greater because it is set against the conventional pieties of his comforters, eliphaz, bildad, and zophar, who respond to each of his laments with blind insistence that, if god punishes job, job must deserve it somehow. Three of jobs friends, eliphaz, bildad, and zophar, come to visit him, sitting with job in silence for seven days out of respect for his mourning. At the end of job 2, eliphaz, bildad, and zophar enter stage left. Job had three friends visit him, eliphaz, bildad and zophar. King james 2000 bible so eliphaz the temanite and bildad the shuhite and zophar the naamathite went, and did according as the lord commanded them. After eliphaz and bildad, zophar spoke third in offering advice to job.
Eliphaz the temanite, bildad the shuhite, and zophar the naamathite, and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him. They thought god was punishing job for any sins and could not see that god uses suffering also to refine and to teach believers. Giving the strongest of the three initial speeches, zophar declares that job deserved even worse than what he got. Elihu knew that it isnt right to accept any mans person, or to give flattering titles unto man job 32. Job and his friends eliphaz, bildad, zophar, and elihu divisions of the book description of jobs trials ch. Each man urged job to repent so that god would have mercy on him. At this point, we hope that you have read the whole book 23 times. It takes about 75 minutes to read it through aloud. Jobs wife tells him to curse god, but job says he must accept adversity as well as prosperity from the lord. This begins a third and shortened round of debate between job and his three friends eliphaz, bildad, and zophar. Kjv king james version nasb new american standard bible neb new english bible. Elihu is identified only as the son of barakel the buzite, of the family of ram job 32. E be like sey na im old pass among the three people wey come try make job happy, and na im dey do like oga pass. Bildad the shuhite one the first three, then four friends of job, who discuss with him the finer points of existence.
They dont seem to believe that mans righteousness ultimately makes any difference because mans sins completely eclipse any good that a man might do see job 25. Through these three rounds, a certain movement can be detected. Contextual overview 11 now when jobs three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place. Now when jobs three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him. The friends do not waver in their belief that jobs suffering. It is unwise to pull an isolated verse from the book of job and use it to. He appears in the book of job in the hebrew bible eliphaz appears mild and modest. Therefore i say, listen to me, i also will declare my opinion. Not only do they incur the indignation of job and his other friend elihu, but god himself rebukes them, saying to eliphaz, i am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant job has. Eliphaz is identified as the temanite because he was from the city of teman in idumea edom, a city known as a home of sages and wise men see jeremiah 49. What did jobs three friends have wrong, and what did they.
In speaking with job, his intent was consolation, but he became an accuser, asking job. In the land of uz there lived a man whose name was job. He took part in each of the three controversies into which jobs friends entered with him job 8. Eliphaz article about eliphaz by the free dictionary. Eliphaz, bildad and zophar 1 ancient pagan religions prescribed three treatments for those in jobs condition. Eliphaz shows that a mans goodness profits not god. But they didnt actually comfort him at all, when we see the way they spoke to him later on. Eliphaz was the oldest and considered the wisest of the three. In the book of job, it becomes clear that the first three of jobs friends eliphaz, blidad, and zophar speak wrongly. So eliphaz the temanite and bildad the shuhite and zophar the naamathite went, and. However, all three wrongly assumed that jobs suffering was the result of some hidden sin. Eliphaz bases on human experience in all three speeches chap.
Now when job s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place. King james version 1611 view 1611 bible scan so eliphaz the temanite and bildad the shuhite and zophar the naamathite went and did as the lord told them. Bildads arguments with job reveal him to be a sage who looks to the authority of tradition. Interpretations of elihu in job biblical hermeneutics. Now when jobs three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place. Eliphaz thought that job must have sinned and that was why he was suffering. What did jobs three friends have wrong, and what did they have. Jobs three friends eliphaz, bildad and zophar were not able to understand these ways of god. Addressing the problem of theodicy the vindication of the justice of god in the light of humanitys suffering it is a rich theological work setting out a variety of perspectives. As eliphaz speaks to job, he does so as a temanite,that is, as a. Jobs three friends eliphaz, bildad and zophar by zac poonen when jobs three friends eliphaz, bildad and zophar heard of his adversity, they came to visit him, saying they wanted to comfort him job 2.
Naked i came from my mothers womb, and naked i will depart. Eliphaz, bildad, and zophar all question the necessity of mans righteousness in relationship to his salvation. He was a descendant of shuah, son of abraham and keturah genesis 25. Like the other two comforters, bildad and eliphaz, zophar emphasizes an old hebrew conceptsuffering is the inevitable lot of the evil man. Here the poetic portion of the book ends, and yahweh, in prose, chastises eliphaz, bildad and zophar for not speaking the truth about him, as job did. In the first cycle the friends are content to talk generalities, without venturing to apply their doctrine directly to job.
Eliphaz the temanite, bildad the shuhite, and zophar the naamathite visit job, and stay with him seven days in silence while he is afflicted. So eliphaz the temanite, and bildad the shuhite, and zophar the naamathite went, and did according as the lord commanded them. See, god will not reject a blameless person nor take the hand of evildoers job 8. If you remove wickedness far from your tent 24 and assign your nuggets to the dust, your gold of ophir to the rocks in the ravines, 25 then the almighty will be your gold. Jobs three friends, eliphaz, bildad, and zophar, have historically been known for offering lengthy speeches that resulted in their being condemned by god job 42. His three friends, eliphaz the temanite, bildad the shuhite and zophar the naamathite, console him. Tomorrow, if all literature was to be destroyed and it was left to me to retain one work only, i should save job. In job 3237 elihu offers a response to job that lifts up the lord, condemns jobs three friends, and rightly confronts job. Ask questions on any bible verse and get answers from real people. Why was god angry about what eliphaz, bildad, and zophar said to. In job 32 elihu focuses his response on rebuking jobs three friends, eliphaz, bildad, and zophar.
Elihu knew that god disapproved of accepting mens persons and was strongly against. Eliphaz the temanite, and bildad the shuhite, and zophar the naamathite. Bildad, in the old testament, one of the three principal comforters of job. Lets see how this main point plays out in the debates between job and his three friends. Job s three friends, eliphaz, bildad, and zophar, have historically been known for offering lengthy speeches that resulted in their being condemned by god job 42. Jobs three friends, eliphaz, bildad and zophar used similar arguments in attempting to answer job. In his first reply to jobs complaints, he argues that those who are truly good are never entirely forsaken by providence, but that punishment may justly be inflicted for secret sins. Jobs buddies eliphaz, zophar, and bildad come to visit and chill with him while he rolls around in ash and sackcloth. All three friends believed that the unrighteous suffer. Jobs friends accuse him of doing evil job 423 bible. Friend number four is a young man named barachel, who waits to speak until the other three are done, and that takes thirtyone chapters it seems plausible that the book of job is more than a. The play unfolds as each man gives a long speech, and job responds to each with a speech of. Eliphaz, bildad, and zopharpeople wey blame job bible. Victor hugo the greatest poem, whether of ancient or modern literature.