Job 4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

Eliphaz was the great grandson of Abraham. That alone might lend some legitimacy to his words. He was the grandson of Isaac, this might increase his value in that he was not of the line of Ishmael. He was the son of Esau, OK so Jacob was his uncle. Uncles have influence in children’s lives. Maybe his words have some weight to them.

Did you know this of Eliphaz? No? Then you might not know that he came from a region named after his son Teman. We all want our children to do better than we do, so his son’s fame might indicate he was a good father who raised a good son, his reputation might be well earned. Perhaps his words are worthy of hearing.

V17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?

There is wisdom, is it not? I can agree with this. Adding a little wisdom to his speech does give some weight unto his words.

V18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

Wow it didn’t take this Eliphaz long to go wrong. From all I know about scriptures about my God, this is error most foul. Now what am I to think of this character Eliphaz? If I were to tell you the meaning of his name up front, would you still have given anything he said any weight at all? Eliphaz means my god is fine gold.

We name our children without much thought as to what that name means. Some might, most do not. Here in the bible names have meaning. We do not look them up very often. We give more weight to a man’s words and actions but those too can belie the true intensions of a man’s heart.

The words of Eliphaz are poison to Job’s soul because Eliphaz’s first love is not Jehovah.