Really four men came to visit Job, though the writer did not mention Elihu's presence until chapter 32. Eliphaz seems to have been the eldest for several reasons. His name occurs first (2:11; 42:9), he spoke before the others, his speeches are longer and more mature, and God spoke to him as the representative of the others (42:7). Eliphaz is an Edomite name (Gen. 36:4). He was probably either from Teman in Edom (cf. Jer. 49:7; Obad. 8) or from Tema in Arabia. Bildad may have been a relative of Shuah, Abraham's youngest son (Gen. 25:2). Zophar may have come from Naamah, a Judean town (Josh. 15:41), if it existed then.
Evidently the disfigurement that resulted from Job's disease prevented Job's acquaintances from recognizing him and led to their extreme grief that they manifested in ways common in their culture. The writer did not explain why they did not speak to him for seven days. This may have been traditional, or they may have spoken to no one out of respect for him. A week was the usual time of mourning for the dead (cf. Gen. 50:10; 1 Sam. 31:13; Sir. 22:12), so they may have been mourning for him as one already dead. Perhaps they discussed his condition among themselves but did not do so with him. Apparently they waited for him to speak first (ch. 3) before they addressed him directly, as was customary.
"For one of them to speak prior to the sufferer would have been in bad taste."30
In any case their commitment to him, as seen in their patient waiting to address him, shows their genuine friendship. How many friends do you have that would travel a long distance to visit you in an illness and sit with you silently for seven days out of respect for your pain?
The prologue (chs. 1-2) sets the stage for what follows by informing us, the readers, that Job's suffering was not due to his sins. None of the characters in the story knew this fact except God and Satan. We see the heavenly dimension and the spiritual warfare taking place that were also unknown to the human characters in this drama.
