Who were Job's friends in the Bible? His three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, console him. The friends do not waver in their belief that Job's suffering is a punishment for sin, for God causes no one to suffer innocently, and they advise him to repent and seek God's mercy.
Full Answer
How many of jobs friends were named in Scripture?
Thus the friends of Job learnt simultaneously of his misfortune, and they hastened to his assistance. The four friends were related to one another, and each one was related to Job. Eliphaz, king of Teman, was a son of Esau; Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu were cousins, their fathers, Shuah, Naamat, and Barachel, were the sons of Buz, who was a brother of Job and a nephew of Abraham.
Who are the three friends of job in the Bible?
Three of Job's friends were Eliphaz, from the city of Teman, Bildad, from the land of Shuah, and Zophar, from the land of Naamah. When they heard how much Job had been suffering, they decided to go and comfort him. GOD'S WORD® Translation.
What did jobs friends tell him?
- 2. They came Job’s friends traveled to meet him. ...
- 3. They coordinated with each other The Bible says they “made an appointment together to come and mourn.” In short, they reached out to one another and coordinated their journey. ...
- 4. They showed appropriate emotion The Bible tells us that when they saw Job they couldn’t recognize him. ...
- 6. ...
- 7. ...
Were jobs friends believers?
Job’s friends were God’s children. Their subsequent repentance and forgiveness here show that they were God’s children. But the strongest biblical language is used here against them. God says, “My wrath is kindled against thee and thy two friends.”
Who are the friends of Job in the Bible?
The lessons I learned from Job's friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar: Get to know your friends. The Book of Job mentions more than once that Job was a righteous man in the eyes of the Lord. His friends apparently did not know and understand Job and his relationship with God.
What are Job's three friends names?
Davidson argues that the "friends" or companions in this verse are not his three friends Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar, but "most probably Job is considered here the centre of a circle of persons who cherished the same irreligious doubts in regard to God's providence as he did".
How many friends were with Job in the Bible?
Three FriendsJob's Three Friends (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) in the Book of Job.
Who was Zophar Job's friend?
the NaamathiteIn the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Book of Job (c. 6th century BCE?), Zophar (Hebrew: צוֹפַר Ṣōp̄ar, "chirping; rising early"; also Tzofar) the Naamathite is one of the three friends of Job who visit to comfort him during his illness. His comments can be found in Job 11:1–20 and Job 20:1–29.
Who is the fourth friend of Job?
Elihu, also spelled Eliu, in the Hebrew Bible, a comforter of Job, the biblical prototype of undeserved suffering.
What was Eliphaz the temanite message to Job?
In three speeches of increasing severity, Eliphaz attempts to reconcile Job to God and induce him to repent. In the first speech he recounts a mystic vision that informed him of the universal sinfulness of man—proof that suffering is never unmerited.
Who came visiting jobs?
Three of Job's friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, come to visit him, sitting with Job in silence for seven days out of respect for his mourning.
How long did Job's friends sit with him?
seven daysEver. What really impressed me in Job's story was the seven days his friends sat with him and gave him comfort.
What does Eliphaz mean in Hebrew?
El is pure goldEliphaz (Hebrew: אֱלִיפָז 'Ělīp̄āz, "El is pure gold") is called a Temanite (Job 4:1). He is one of the friends or comforters of Job in the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible.
What does the name Elihu mean?
my God is heOrigin of Elihu From the Hebrew word ĕlīhū literally, my God is he.
What does the name Zophar mean?
In Biblical Names the meaning of the name Zophar is: Rising early, crown.
Why did Bildad believe Job's children must have sinned?
Bildad believed that Job’s children must have sinned because they died suddenly. Sinners can expect nothing but suffering in life and dishonor in death. Zophar was the harshest of the three friends. He said Job deserved even more suffering that he was experiencing and told Job he needed to repent.
What did Bildad believe about Job?
Bildad believed that Job’s children must have sinned because they died suddenly. Sinners can expect nothing but suffering in life ...
What does God say to Job after Elihu?
When God finally speaks after Elihu, he doesn’t explain to Job why the sufferings had come to him. Instead he calls on Job to admit how little he understands about who He is and how He works. The climax of the book comes in Job 42:2-6 where Job confess that God alone is sovereign and repents of his own folly.
Why was Elihu angry at Job?
Elihu was a younger man who waited for all the speeches to end. He was angry at Job and at the three friends. At Job for trying to justify himself. At the friends because they condemned Job unfairly. Elihu argued that Job’s sufferings were instructive, meant to draw him to a deeper knowledge of God. When God finally speaks after Elihu, he doesn’t ...
Who were Job's four friends?
The four friends were related to one another, and each one was related to Job. Eliphaz, king of Teman, was a son of Esau; Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu were cousins, their fathers, Shuah, Naamat, and Barachel, were the sons of Buz, who was a brother of Job and a nephew of Abraham.
What did the four friends say to Job?
When the four friends arrived in the city in which Job lived, the inhabitants took them outside the gates, and pointing to a figure reclining upon an ash-heap at some distance off, they said, “Yonder is Job. ” At first the friends would not give them credence, and they decided to look more closely at the man, to make sure of his identity.
What did Bildad want from Job?
Bildad desired to have information from Job also concerning the movements of the heavenly bodies. Job had but one answer to make to these questions: man cannot comprehend Divine wisdom, whether it reveal itself in inanimate and brute nature or in relation to human beings.
What did Job say to the soldiers?
The command was issued to the soldiers accordingly, but Job said, “Do not put yourselves to trouble for naught. My children will not be found, for they are safely bestowed with their Lord and Creator. ” Again his friends were sure that Job was bereft of his senses.
How many miles apart did Job's friends live?
The friends of Job lived in different places, at intervals of three hundred miles one from the other. Nevertheless they all were informed of their friend’s misfortune at the same time, in this way: Each one had the pictures of the others set in his crown, and as soon as any one of them met with reverses, it showed itself in his picture.
What did Eliphaz do to the poor woman?
Eliphaz, however, took his royal mantle of purple, and laid it about the shoulders of the poor woman. Zitidos asked only one favor, that the three kings should order their soldiers to clear away the ruins of the building under which her children lay entombed, that she might give their remains decent burial.
Who is Job's second friend?
Job’s second friend, Bildad, says much the same. “See, God will not reject a blameless person nor take the hand of evildoers” ( Job 8:20 ). The third friend, Zophar, repeats the refrain. “If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, do not let wickedness reside in your tents. Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
What is Job's friend's devastating error?
Job’s friends’ devastating error is to apply a generalization to Job’s situation, without knowing what they’re talking about. Anyone who has spent time with a suffering friend knows how hard it is to remain present without trying to give answers.
How arrogant to imagine we know God's plan?
How arrogant to imagine we know God’s plan. How foolish to think we know the reason for anyone else’s suffering. We don’t even know the reason for our own suffering. It would be more truthful — and far more helpful — to admit, “I don’t know why this happened to you. No one should have to go through this.”.
Can Job's friends lament?
Job’s friends can’t lament with Job or even acknowledge that they lack a basis for judging him. They are hell-bent (literally, given Satan’s role) on defending God by placing the blame on Job. As the friends’ speeches continue, their rhetoric becomes increasingly hostile.
Does God always work that way?
However, God does not always work that way. Jesus himself pointed out that disaster is not necessarily a sign of God’s judgment ( Luke 13:4 ). In Job’s case, we know the theology of divine retribution is not true because God says that Job is a righteous man ( Job 1:8, 2:3 ). Job’s friends’ devastating error is to apply a generalization ...
What did Job experience in the Bible?
Job then experiences ultimate human suffering at the hand of Satan but allowed by God. The Sabeans attacked and stole all of Job’s oxen and donkeys and killed a portion of his servants ( Job 1:14-15 ). Fire fell from the sky “and burned up the sheep” and more of Job’s servants ( Job 1:16 ).
What does the Bible say about Job?
Other than being from Uz, the first thing the Bible tells us about Job is that he was righteous and godly, “blameless and upright, ” a man who “feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:2). Job was not only righteous, but also wealthy. We also know Job was a man greatly tested by God and even more greatly blessed by God. Kristi Walker Author.
What did Job do in chapter 1?
Job, however, as we learned in chapter 1, feared God and shunned evil. Certainly, his suffering was not the result of a sin he had committed against God. He was even careful enough to make sure his children were pure before God.
What does God say about Job?
God Answers Job and Restores His Fortunes. Ultimately, Job gets his conversation with God. God reminds Job of His deity and authority, of His eternality and power over creation, of His wisdom and omnipresence, of His understanding and supremacy ( Job 38-41 ). Job’s response to the character of God is:
How many chapters does Job talk about suffering?
Don’t say much, if anything, just be there, and pray. Unfortunately, Job’s friends finally start talking. For 34 chapters, Job and his friends discuss suffering. Job’s suffering must be the result of his sin, his friends assume. Job, however, as we learned in chapter 1, feared God and shunned evil.
What does Job say about the first four tragedies?
Following the first four tragedies, Job mourns (“tore his robe and shaved his head ”) and then worships ( Job 1:20-21) uttering the words of this famous passage of Scripture: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”.
What does Job 1:4-5 mean?
Job 1:4-5 tells us that Job’s sons were also rich and would annually, on their birthdays, invite their sisters to partake with them in lavish feasts lasting for days. Job served as the family priest.
What is Job's greatest sorrow?
Indeed, the gospel faith that Job had (19:25) is centered on the searing pain of the Father watching his own Son suffer and die. The loss of his children was Job’s greatest sorrow. The boils on his flesh and the bitter curse of his now child-deprived wife merely represent the awful pain of his loss.
Who spoke in the third person in the Bible?
But at least Eliphaz spoke in the third person. Bildad, who speaks next, strikes directly at Job’s training of his children and what he believes regarding their spiritual state in the opening words of his salvo. If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression” (8:4).
What does Eliphaz say about the wicked?
In being the first to address Job, Eliphaz said of the wicked (which he is implying Job must secretly be ), His children are far from safety; they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them” (5:4). Remember, it has only been days since Job learned he had lost all of his children.
What does Job's chest beat?
In Job’s chest beat the heart of a loving father. As we know, on one fateful day not only was all of Job’s wealth stolen and destroyed, but a strong wind came and struck a son’s home where the children were all gathered and killed them (1:18-19). Of all that Job lost, the deaths of his children had to be the most painful.
Did Zophar get into the act?
Zophar also got into the act, though his comment regarding children shows more of a complete insensitivity to the context than the direct accusation of Eliphaz. This is often true of those waxing philosophical when compassion is needed.
Did Satan come to Job 2nd time?
Some may argue that in Satan coming a second time before God and asking to harm Job himself that his own health was most dear to him. No, that was Satan’s wicked, selfish logic (2:4) that any loving parent will tell you is untrue, for you would rather suffer yourself than see your own child suffer or die.
Why is Job's story so famous?
Job’s story is famous for its treatment of the universal themes of personal suffering, enduring hope, and God’s sovereignty. Job suffered tremendously and endured his trials with patience. However, while he was going through his darkest days, three of his friends arrived to “comfort him” ( Job 2:11 ).
What is Job's miserable comforter?
Job’s “miserable comforters” are echoed in the modern teaching that God rewards the righteous if they believe hard enough, but those with weaker faith or secret sin will reap calamities.
What does the Bible say about the righteous?
The Bible does say that we reap what we sow ( Galatians 6:8; James 3:18) and that God blesses the righteous ( Psalm 5:12; 32:10 ).
Does the blessing of the righteous always take material form?
But the blessing given to the righteous does not always (or usually) take material form. If it did, we would have no way to explain the anguish and deprivation suffered by the apostles, martyrs, or faithful Christians around the world ( Hebrews 11:35–40 ).
