Eliphaz

Eliphaz was the foremost of Job's three friends who came to comfort him in his suffering. He was called the Temanite, suggesting he was from Edom. Eliphaz was also the name of Esau's firstborn son. In the book of Job, Eliphaz the Temanite argued that suffering is the result of sin, and he encouraged Job to repent, though God ultimately rebuked this theology.

Etymology & Roots

The Hebrew name אֱלִיפָז (Eliphaz) is most likely a compound of אֵל (El, God) and פַּז (paz, refined gold or pure gold), yielding My God is pure gold or God is my strength/treasure. The word paz appears in Psalm 19:10 and 119:127 for gold of the finest quality, distinguished from ordinary zahav (gold). Some scholars alternatively derive the second element from the verb פוּז (puz, to be agile, to leap) or from a foreign element.

The name may reflect Edomite naming conventions as much as Israelite ones, since both biblical Eliphazes — the son of Esau and the Temanite friend of Job — are connected to Edom or its environs.

Biblical Bearers

Two men named Eliphaz appear in the Old Testament. The first is Eliphaz, eldest son of Esau by his wife Adah (Genesis 36:4), father of Teman and ancestor of several Edomite clans. The second and far more prominent bearer is Eliphaz the Temanite, the first and most authoritative of Job's three friends who came to comfort him in his suffering (Job 2:11). He delivered three speeches (Job 4–5, 15, 22) arguing that suffering is invariably the result of sin and urging Job to repent.

At the book's conclusion, God rebuked Eliphaz and his companions for not speaking truth about Him (Job 42:7).

Theological Significance

The theological irony of Eliphaz the Temanite is profound. His name — My God is pure gold — suggests a refined, precious understanding of God, yet his theology proved dross under divine scrutiny. His retributive framework — that the righteous prosper and the wicked suffer in this life without exception — contained real truth but applied it mechanically and without pastoral sensitivity, ultimately slandering both God and Job.

God's verdict, "you have not spoken the truth about me" (Job 42:7), stands as a warning against systematizing divine justice into a rigid formula. Yet Eliphaz is not entirely wrong: his visions, his praise of divine majesty, and his call to repentance contain genuine theological insight misapplied to an innocent sufferer.

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