Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied. – Job 4:1

Today's Scripture Reading (August 15, 2024): Job 4

Is the story of Job true? It is a question that has plagued us since the moment we began to read this strange story. I tend to hedge on the question. I am probably one of the few who believe that Job really did live but that, at some point after his death, the story was developed and likely embellished so that the story's central message would come through to all who read the story. Job existed, but the same might not be true of his friends. Oh, I am sure that friends came and tried to give Job unwanted advice, but the friends we have in the story likely represent the advice of many friends who came to Job during the day of his affliction.

As a result of all of this, these friends were intended to speak to a generation that lived long after the suffering of Job had taken place. And maybe a good place to start is with Eliphaz the Temanite. Not surprisingly, Eliphaz has a significant meaning. Eliphaz means "God is Gold." It is likely a comment about the value that Job's friends placed on God. They may have promoted a wrong theology, but the friends of Job had their hearts in the right place; they served a God who was a crucial part of all of their lives. Their criticism of Job was motivated by their knowledge of the value of God.

Eliphaz was a Temanite. Teman was a clan within the nation of Edom. It was also a city in ancient Edom. And Edom, as a nation, was a nation well-known for its wisdom. Obadiah, in his prophecy against the nation of Edom written in the ninth century B.C.E., wrote:

"In that day," declares the Lord,
    "will I not destroy the wise men of Edom,
    those of understanding in the mountains of Esau (Obadiah 1:8).

Jeremiah, writing in the final days of the Kingdom of Judah, added;

Concerning Edom:

This is what the Lord Almighty says:

"Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
                                 Has counsel perished from the prudent?
                              Has their wisdom decayed (Jeremiah 49:7)?

The message of the tale of Job is that Job lived in a day when man's wisdom, represented by Edom, failed against the author of the story, God. By the way, the same logic applies to us. God's wisdom doesn't always match the advice of the wisest who walk with us on our journey.  

But all of this leads us to another problem. Job lived at approximately the same time as Abraham. Esau, the father of Edom, was Abraham's grandson, Eliphaz was his great-grandchild, and Teman would have been Abraham's great-great-grandchild. At the time of Job's suffering, there wasn't a nation called Edom or a clan called the Temanites. There may have been a historical Eliphaz, but he was not an Edomite. In fact, Esau may have taken the name out of Job's story and used it as his son's name. But it would be impossible to work it the other way around.

Therefore, we are left with a historical impossibility in the story. However, the use of the name would have been clear to the audience for which the story was intended in the years of the Kingdom of Israel. So, the author of the story made use of the name to get his point across: God's wisdom is always better than our own.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Job 5

Personal Note: Happy Anniversary (43 years) to my wife, Nelda.