2:11 his own place. Job was a famous man, and the news concerning his calamity spread rapidly, reaching three nearby tribal kingdoms, and apparently the three men who occupied similar positions to that held by Job in Uz. These three “friends” gathered as quickly as they could to learn what had happened and to “comfort” him.

2:11 Temanite. Eliphaz, the chief spokesman of the three, was from Teman, an ancient city later prominent among the Edomites who eventually took over that whole region.

2:11 Shuhite. Bildad was from Shuhu, an Aramaean city south of Haran, on the middle Euphrates.

2:11 Naamathite. Zophar was from Naamah, a city believed to be in Arabia.

2:13 grief was very great. The scene defies imagination. Job had been living on the ash dump outside the city for a long time before his friends could arrive. He was no longer welcome in the city in which he had formerly been its chief citizen, so ugly and foul was his presence. His former friends and colleagues could not even recognize him (Job 2:12). The most godly man in the world seemed now to be forsaken and repudiated by the God he had loved and served for many years, and he was grief-stricken to a degree probably no one else in the human family has ever experienced. He still trusted God, but Satan was far from finished with his experiment.