Eliphaz ( "My

Elohim ''Elohim'' (: ), the plural of (), is a Hebrew word meaning "gods". Although the word is plural, in the Hebrew Bible it usually takes a singular verb and refers to a single deity, particularly (but not always) the God of Israel. At other times ...

is gold",

Standard Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved t ...

Elifaz,

Tiberian Hebrew Tiberian Hebrew is the canonical pronunciation of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) committed to writing by Masoretic scholars living in the Jewish community of Tiberias in ancient Galilee under the Abbasid Caliphate. They wrote in the form of Tiberian ...

ʾĔlîp̄az / ʾĔlîp̄āz) was the first-born son of

Esau Esau ''Ēsaû''; la, Hesau, Esau; ar, عِيسَوْ ''‘Īsaw''; meaning "hairy"Easton, M. ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', (, , 2006, p. 236 or "rough".Mandel, D. ''The Ultimate Who's Who in the Bible'', (.), 2007, p. 175 is the elder son o ...

and his wife Adah. He had six sons, of whom Omar was the firstborn, and the others were Teman,

Zepho In the Hebrew Bible, Zephon ( ''Ṣāp̄ōn'', ''Tsāfōn''; also ''Zepho'') was a son of Eliphaz ( Esau's eldest son). According to the book of Genesis, his brothers were Omar, Teman, Gatam, Kenaz and Amalek. He is mentioned in Genesis 36:11. A ...

, Gatam,

Kenaz Kenaz ( he, ''Qənāz'', "hunter") is the name of several persons in the Hebrew Bible. * A son of Eliphaz, and a grandson of Esau. He was an Edomite leader. ( Genesis 36:11, 15, 42). He may have been the ancestor of the Kenezites. * Caleb's you ...

and finally

Amalek Amalek (; he, עֲמָלֵק, , ar, عماليق ) was a nation described in the Hebrew Bible as a staunch enemy of the Israelites. The name "Amalek" can refer to the nation's founder, a grandson of Esau; his descendants, the Amalekites; or th ...

, who was born to his

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

Timna. The people of Amalek were the ancestral enemy of the

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

ite people (

Book of Exodus The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through ...

;

Book of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_ ...

). The

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...

relates that when

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. ...

escaped from Esau and fled to his uncle Laban in

Haran Haran or Aran ( he, הָרָן ''Hārān'') is a man in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. He died in Ur of the Chaldees, was a son of Terah, and brother of Abraham. Through his son Lot, Haran was the ancestor of the Moabites and Ammoni ...

, Esau sent Eliphaz to pursue and kill Jacob, his uncle, who was his

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

also. When they met, Jacob implored Eliphaz not to kill him, but Eliphaz challenged that he had his father's instructions to fulfill. Jacob gave everything he had with him to Eliphaz and said, ”Take what I have, for a poor man is counted as dead." Eliphaz was satisfied and left his uncle and rabbi poor, but still alive: (

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

to the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...

) According to

Louis Ginzburg Louis Ginzberg ( he, לוי גינצבורג, ''Levy Gintzburg''; russian: Леви Гинцберг, ''Levy Ginzberg''; November 28, 1873 – November 11, 1953) was a Russian-born American rabbi and Talmudic scholar of Lithuanian-Jewish des ...

Legends of the Jews The ''Legends of the Jews'' is a chronological compilation of aggadah from hundreds of biblical legends in Mishnah, Talmud and Midrash. The compilation consists of seven volumes (four volumes of narrative texts and two volumes of footnotes with a ...

, Eliphaz was a prophet.The Legends of the Jews .pp.421-423
/ref>

References

{{Reflist Books of Chronicles people Torah people Esau

See also

References