A Bible Question

[toyota1155]

Who were Job's Comforters?

[sarumite]

Three friends of Job who visited him in his affliction and offered him a way of making sense of his troubles: namely, that he was getting what he deserved. Job�s friends maintained that misfortunes were sent by God as punishments for sin, and thus despite Job�s apparent goodness, he must really be a terrible sinner. Job persistently disputed them, saying that God is supreme and mysterious�that God can send misfortunes to both good and wicked people and may not be second-guessed.

A �Job�s comforter� now refers to someone who apparently offers consolation to another person but actually makes the other person feel worse.

[shaneystar2]

They were his so called friends three of whom were Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar amongst others. It's become a saying that a Jobs Comforter is a person who, in trying to offer help or advice, says something that simply adds to the distress as they did when counselling Job .