Eliphaz is called a Temanite (Job 4:1). He appears in the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible.
Eliphaz appears mild and modest; in his first reply to Job's complaints, he argues that those who are truly good are never entirely forsaken by Providence, but that punishment may justly be inflicted for secret sins. He denies that any man is innocent and censures Job for asserting his freedom from guilt. Eliphaz exhorts Job to confess any concealed iniquities to alleviate his punishment. His arguments are well supported but God declares at the end of the book that Eliphaz believed an erroneous view of divine dispensations. Job offers a sacrifice to God for Eliphaz's error.
Eliphaz, the first of the three visitors of Job (Job ii. 11), surnamed "the Temanite"; supposed to have come from Teman, an important city of Edom (Amos i. 12; Obad. 9; Jer. xlix. 20). Thus Eliphaz appears as the representative of the wisdom of the Edomites, which, according to Obad. 8, Jer. xlix. 7, and Baruch iii. 22, was famous in antiquity.
The name Eliphaz "for the spokesman of Edomite wisdom may have been suggested to the author of Job by the tradition which gave this name to Esau's son, the father of Theman (Gen. xxxvi. 11; I Chron. i. 35, 36). In the arguments that pass between Job and his friends, it is Eliphaz that opens each of the three series of discussions. His one thought is that the righteous can not perish; the wicked alone suffer, and in measure as they have sinned (Job iv. 7-9).