Job's innocence is questioned after Satan convinces God to allow him to test Job's faith. Satan takes his family, health, and possessions away from him. His friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, who have come to Job's house to console him, all doubt his innocence and believe that he has probably done something to deserve this punishment.
At Job's house, the first of his friends to speak is Eliphaz the Temanite. He begins to comfort Job by telling him, " you have strengthened the weak hands" (Job 4:3). He tells Job that he has helped others in the past. However, Eliphaz then asks, " who that was innocent ever perished?" (Job 4:7). Eliphaz says the innocent are never punished and the wicked perish by the wrath of God. In his statement, Eliphaz subtly questions the innocence of Job himself. By saying the innocent are not punished, he suggests Job isn't free of sin as he is one suffering by the punishment of God. Eliphaz tells Job to seek God and repent his actions before him. He defends God's actions, while questioning Job's pureness and righteousness, and says everything he does is for a good reason. .
Eliphaz is not the only friend of Job's to defend God's actions. The next friend to speak to Job, Bildad the Shuhite, also rebukes Job and supports God. He asks Job, "Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?" (Job 8:3). He rhetorically asks Job whether God is a just judge. He states that Job's kids were killed because they have sinned against God. Furthermore, he says, " if you [Job] are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and reward you with a rightful habitation" (Job 8:6). By saying this he implies that if Job is truly innocent, God will bring Job out of his misery and give him all he deserves. "Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers" (Job 8:20). Although God will revive Job if he is innocent, He will not aid Job if he has truly sinned.
