Was Eliphaz in Genesis related to Eliphaz in Job?

Question

Genesis 36:10-11:

These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

Job 2:11

When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.

Is there any evidence that the Eliphaz in Job was supposed to be related to Eliphaz and Teman in Genesis?

Answer 1

Teman is located in the land of Edom:

According to bibleatlas.org and author W. Ewing, Teman or te'-man (תימן) means "on the right," i.e. "south" (Thaiman) and it is the name of a district and town in the land of Edom, named after Teman the grandson of Esau, the son of his firstborn, Eliphaz. [a]

In Genesis (Genesis 36:15), the name Teman is referred to a son of Eliphaz, Esau's eldest son. On the other hand, Job's friend Eliphaz is said to have been from Teman.

From this we could say that

• Job’s friend was actually probably a descendant of this Eliphaz because he is deemed a “Temanite,” or a descendant of Teman, the son of Elipaz, the son of Esau. [b]

Answer 2

In Job, Eliphaz is identified as "the Temanite." (Job 4:1) Ordinarily, this would indicate that Eliphaz was descended from Teman. It may be argued, however, that in this case Eliphaz is identified as part of his son's lineage rather than his father's, because Esau had a bad reputation while Teman did not.

Arguing against a close association is the fact that the Temanites were referred to elsewhere in the Bible as persisting long after the time of Esau's grandson. "Teman" was also a town and geographical location, and thus anyone coming from that territory might be called a Temanite.

Conclusion: Other than the coincidence of their names, a close connection between the Eliphaz of Job and the Eliphaz of Genesis is tenuous at best. It is possible, however, that Job's Eliphaz was a descendant of the Teman (son of Eliphaz) mentioned in Genesis.