Silent Comfort: Job’s Three Friends: 2:11 The appearance of Job’s three friends after the apparently successful completion of the double test marks a new departure in the narrative. Having witnessed the second exoneration of Job’s righteousness, the reader anticipates some resolution to his suffering. The immediate question that arises is what role these friends will play in that resolution. There is an element of surprise for the reader as the answer to that question unfolds.

The three friends support the Edomite connections already established in the story. One of Esau’s sons, listed among his Edomite descendants in Genesis 36:10–11, is also called Eliphaz. This Eliphaz’s designation as the Temanite indicates that he lived in Teman, an Edomite city south of the Dead Sea. Zophar and Bildad…