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Eliphaz [Ĕl'iphăz]—god is fine gold or god is dispenser.
Teman was noted for its wisdom and this Temanite descendant was a law unto himself. His name means “refined gold” but his fine gold was that of self-glory and of self-opinion from which he would not budge. As a wise man he gloried in his wisdom, and represented the orthodox wisdom of his day. This wise man from the East declared that God was just and did not dispense happiness or misery in a despot fashion, committing people to what He deemed best.
Eliphaz was a religious dogmatist, basing all his deductions upon a solitary remarkable experience he had had, namely that of a spirit passing before his face, causing his hair to stand up (Job 4:12-16). As the result of this weird occasion he felt he had a message of divine justice to declare (Job 4:17-21). Thus his speeches, delivered with a sacerdotal pathos are hard, cruel and rigidly dogmatic. His folly was that he tried to press Job into the mold of his own experience.
In his first speech (Job 4, 5), Eliphaz begins by informing Job of all his affliction, namely, sin. Approaching Job in a courteous yet cold manner, Eliphaz seeks to prove that all calamity is judgment upon sin. The crux of his argument is: “Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?” (Job 4:7).
In his second speech Eliphaz reveals a spirit wounded by Job’s sarcastic remarks (Job 15:2). He then proceeds to maintain his argument that Job is suffering because of his sin (Job 15:16).
In his third speech, Eliphaz definitely charges Job with sin (Job 22:5) and seeks to point out to him the pathway of restoration (Job 22:21).