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Check the meaning of this idiom here.
Yep. (Job's friends possibly gave rise to the expression With friends like those who needs enemies?)So I was right, then?
A Job's comforter is someone who discourages you. Am I right?
- we're a site primarily for non-native learners, so meaning is more important than derivation. ;-)(heck, maybe this post alone will encourage editors here to post links for where these idioms came from, and not just what they mean to us today)
First I must say I agree that the comforters are false. But it would be inaccurate to say that God tested Job because the narrative states that God allowed Satan to put Job under trial. This book further states at James 1:13, that God cannot be tested by evil nor will he test man by evil. So you are correct that the comforters are of no comfort, but the tests do not originate with God, but with Satan as directly stated.Job is a biblical figure.
Satan thought Job's affection for God is not Genuine.
To prove that the opposite was true, God tested Job, whom he put through bitter physical anguish.
Although Job was a man of great virtues, the four friends of his who visited him said he was actually a sinner, which was the reason for God putting him to much trouble.
They expressed false sympathy and were insinuating rebukes to him.
I would say Job's comforter is somebody who pretends to be a friend, therefore is a false friend.
Svartnik
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