ELIPHAZ ĕl’ ə făz (אֱלִיפַ֥ז, God is victorious). An Edomite from Teman and friend of Job.

As one of the three of Job’s friends he was wise, rich, and a ruler of men. He was their leader (42:7) and prob. the eldest. He is marked out by the courtesy with which he at first addressed Job (chs. 4, 5). Like his friends, he took for granted that Job must have committed some major sin, for only so could he explain his sufferings. But dominated, as he was, by a dream he had had of man’s sinfulness before God (4:12-21), he tried to make it as easy as possible for Job to repent. In his second address (ch. 15) one senses the note of irritation caused by Job’s rejection of his advice; the colors are darkened, and the applicability to Job heightened. The third address (ch. 22) is in many ways the bitterest of all addressed to Job, for Job had virtually denied the basis of his theology. He accused him without evidence of all the worst sins according to the concepts of the time. Even then his kindliness breaks through in a final offer of hope to Job of God’s mercy. See [http://biblegateway/wiki/Job JOB, BOOK OF].