Job 2:11

2:11-13 The friends of Job seem noted for their rank, as well as for wisdom and piety. Much of the comfort of this life lies in friendship with the prudent and virtuous. Coming to mourn with him, they vented grief which they really felt. Coming to comfort him, they sat down with him. It would appear that they suspected his unexampled troubles were judgments for some crimes, which he had vailed under his professions of godliness. Many look upon it only as a compliment to visit their friends in sorrow; we must look life. And if the example of Job's friends is not enough to lead us to pity the afflicted, let us seek the mind that was in Christ.

(11) Eliphaz the Temanite. —Teman was the son of Eliphaz, the son of Esau, to whose family this Eliphaz is probably to be referred ( Genesis 36:4 ; Genesis 36:10-11 ). If so, this may roughly indicate the date of the book. The inhabitants of Teman, which lay north-east of Edom, were famed for their wisdom ( Jeremiah 47:7 ). Bildad the Shuhite probably derived his origin from Shuah, the son of Abraham by Keturah (Genesis 25:2). Of the district from which Zophar the Naamathite came nothing is known. It probably derived its name from a Naamah or Naaman, of which there were several (e.g., Genesis 4:22; 1Kings 14:21; Genesis 46:21; Numbers 26:40; 2Kings 5:1), as names of persons or places called after them.

Job 2:11 . When Job’s three friends heard of all this, &c. — Who were persons eminent for birth and quality, for wisdom and knowledge, and for the profession of the true religion, being probably, as has been observed on Job 1:1 , of the posterity of Abraham, akin to Job, and living in the same country with him. See that note. The preserving so much wisdom and piety among those that were not children of the promise was a happy presage of God’s grace to the Gentiles, when the partition wall should, in the latter days, be taken down. Esau lost the birthright, and when he should have regained it, was rejected, yet it appears many of his descendants inherited some of the best blessings.

11 . for they had made an appointment ] Or, and they met together . They came each from his own place and met at one point to go to visit Job together. to mourn with him ] Or, condole with him, and shew their sympathy with him in his sufferings. 11–13. Job’s three friends, having heard of his misfortunes, come to condole with him How long time intervened between Job’s second affliction and the arrival of his friends cannot be accurately ascertained. From the allusions in chaps. 7, 19, and 30, it is probable that a considerable time elapsed. A man of Job’s rank would not choose his friends from the men of inferior station around him; they would be, like himself, Eastern princes, all but his equals in rank and influence. Their abodes would therefore be distant from one another, and more distant from his, and travelling in the East is slow. The tone of Job’s mind, too, as reflected in ch. 3, has undergone a change, the effect, no doubt, of protracted sufferings. Eliphaz is an old Idumean name ( Genesis 36:4 ), and Teman, the place of his abode, is frequently mentioned in connexion with Edom. The place was famed for the wisdom of its inhabitants ( Amos 1:12 ; Obadiah 1:8 ; Jeremiah 49:7 ; Ezekiel 25:13 ). Shuah was a son of Abraham by Keturah. The descendants of this wife were sent by Abraham to the East ( Genesis 25:2 ; Genesis 25:6 ). Bildad may be connected by the Author with this family.

Naamah, the dwelling-place of Zophar, means, perhaps, pleasant abode ( Beauséjour , Reuss). A place of this name is mentioned, Joshua 15:41 , but this, being in Palestine, can hardly have been the home of Zophar. The place is doubtless supposed by the Writer to lie east of the Jordan.

Now when Job's three {p} friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. (p) Who were men of authority, wise and learned, and as the Septuagint writes, kings, and came to comfort him, but when they saw how he was visited, they conceived an evil opinion of him, as though he was a hypocrite and so justly plagued by God for his sins.

Verse 11. - Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him . It is not to be supposed that Job had no more than three friends - indeed, Elihu the Buzzite appears later on as one of his friends ( Job 32:2-6 ) - but he had three contemporaries with whom he was especially intimate, old men ( Job 32:6 ), with whom he was probably accustomed to confer from time to time, and who were in the habit of giving him their advice. All three, apparently, lived at a distance; and it seems to have been some weeks before the news of his misfortunes reached them. When the news came they held communication one with another, and agreed to pay him visits of condolence at a certain definite time, which was determined upon between them. Some months - at least two - seem to have elapsed between the date of Job's latest affliction and the time of their arrival ( Job 7:3 ). They came every one from his own place . They had separate homes, and probably lived at some considerable distance from one another. Eliphaz the Temanite. There was an Eliphaz, the son of Esau by his wife Adah, who had a son Teman ( Genesis 36:4 ; 1 Chronicles 1:35, 36 ); but it is not supposed that this can be the person here intended. The name Teman did not become geographical until the descendants of this Eliphaz's son had multiplied into a tribe, when they gave name to the portion of Arabia which they inhabited.

This tract seems to have been either a part of Edom, or in its immediate vicinity ( Genesis 36:42, 43 ; Jeremiah 49:7, 8, 20 ; Ezekiel 25:15 ; Obadiah 1:8, 9 ), but cannot be located with accuracy. The Temanitee were celebrated for their wisdom, as we learn from Jeremiah, who says ( Jeremiah 49:7 ), "Concerning Edom, thus saith the Lord of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?" Job's friend was probably among their wisest men at the time; and his discourses certainly show a considerable knowledge of human nature. They do not, however, solve the riddle of the universe. And Bildad the Shuhite . Bildad is a name which does not occur elsewhere in Scripture, neither is there any other mention of Shuhites. Conjecture has identified the Shuhites with the Saccaei of Ptolemy ('Geograph.,' 5:15), whom he places in the neighbourhood of Batanaea and Trachonitis. But the Saccaei are unheard of till Ptolemy's time, and seem to be a tribe of very small importance. Perhaps Bildad belonged to the people known to the Assyrians as the Tsukhi, or Sukhi ('Records of the Past,' vol. 1. p. 14), who dwelt on the Middle Euphrates from about Anah to Hit ('Ancient Monarchies,' vol. 2. pp. 66, 67). And Zophar the Naamathite . Zophar, or rather Tsophar, is another unknown name. There was a Naamah, a city, in south-western Judaea ( Joshua 15:41 ), to which Zophar may have belonged, though probably a region, rather than a city, is here intended.

11. Eliphaz—The view of Rawlinson that "the names of Job's three friends represent the Chaldean times, about 700 B.C.," cannot be accepted. Eliphaz is an Idumean name, Esau's oldest son (Ge 36:4); and Teman, son of Eliphaz (Ge 36:15), called "duke." Eusebius places Teman in Arabia-Petræa (but see on [494]Job 6:19). Teman means "at the right hand"; and then the south, namely, part of Idumea; capital of Edom (Am 1:12). Hebrew geographers faced the east, not the north as we do; hence with them "the right hand" was the south. Temanites were famed for wisdom (Jer 49:7). Baruch mentions them as "authors of fables" (namely, proverbs embodying the results of observation), and "searchers out of understanding." Bildad the Shuhite—Shuah ("a pit"), son of Abraham and Keturah (Ge 25:2). Ptolemy mentions the region Syccea, in Arabia-Deserta, east of Batanea. Zophar the Naamathite—not of the Naamans in Judah (Jos 15:41), which was too distant; but some region in Arabia-Deserta. Fretelius says there was a Naamath in Uz.

Now when Job's three friends heard - It would seem from this that these men were his particular friends. They came every one from his own place - His residence. This was the result of agreement or appointment thus to meet together. Eliphaz the Temanite - This was the most prominent of his friends. In the ensuing discussion he regularly takes the lead, advances the most important and impressive considerations, and is followed and sustained by the others. The Septuagint renders this Ελιφὰζ ὁ Θαιμαινῶν βασιλεὺς Elifaz ho Thaimainōn basileus - Eliphaz, the king of the Themanites. The Hebrew does not intimate that he held any office or rank. The word rendered "Temanite" תימני têymânı̂y is a patronymic from תמן têmân, meaning properly "at the right hand," and then "the South." The Hebrew geographers are always represented as looking to the East, and not toward the North, as we do; and hence, with them, the right hand denotes the South. Teman or Theman was a son of Eliphaz, and grandson of Esau; see Genesis 36:15, where he is spoken of as "duke" or prince אלוּף 'alûph a head of a family or tribe, a chieftain. He is supposed to have lived on the east of Idumea. Eusebius places Thaeman in Arabia Petrara, five miles from Petra (see the notes at Isaiah 16:1), and says that there was a Roman garrison there. The Temanites were cclebrated for wisdom. "Is wisdom no more in Teman?" Jeremiah 49:7.