Hesychius of Jerusalem
Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · d. AD 450 · 56 passages across 7 books
Commentary
Job 1:3
His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
You see the greatness of Job’s external wealth; but his internal wealth was even greater. The visible riches were splendid, but the invisible riches were even more splendid because they last; visible riches grow old, lose their value and continually collapse into the most pitiful corruption and destruction.
Job 1:6
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Was there ever a time when the angels did not stand before the Lord? Was it not written about them that “a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him”? But this coming, in our opinion, is that of the angels who had been sent to serve human beings. Paul actually says, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”
Job 1:16
While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Who is “the fire”? The enemy himself, about whom David said, “You will throw burning coals at them.” In fact, he could not, as some people believe, cast thunderbolts, nor brandish lightning, nor set in motion any element. Therefore it is the devil in the semblance of fire who fell on the herds of sheep, with the intention of forcing Job to blaspheme God, as if it were he, who from heaven had destroyed the riches of the righteous.
Job 1:22
In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
“Job did not sin” before God. That is, he was pure from sins committed with his tongue or in his thoughts, and he praised God by means of words in accordance with his thoughts. Actually “he did not charge God with insanity,” that is, Job does not accuse the will of God or scorn the economy of the Creator, and he does not perceive insanity in the events that had occurred. He did not believe that the righteous are abandoned into the hands of sinners.
Job 2:9
Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
Now, since the betrayer had been defeated in every battle, had failed in all his attempts, had been hindered in all his hunts, had been deprived of all his schemes, and all his traps had been broken, after destroying Job’s wealth, after the death of his numerous children, after ripping Job’s body with his blows, as a last, and in the betrayer’s opinion, most compelling resource, he leads his wife against Job. - "Homilies on Job 4.2.9"
Job 3:3
Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
“Let the day perish in which I was born,” not the day in which I was formed but that “in which I was born.” … God, in fact, forms me into goodness, but Eve, who transgressed, conceives me into sadness. And David himself did not ignore that, but after learning it from the Spirit, he introduces the concept into a prophetic psalm with these terms: “For, behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother conceive me.” How? To be sure, Eve began to conceive and give birth after the fall in paradise and after the transgression due to the miserable nourishment of the tree.
Job 3:13
For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
To enjoy the beauty of God’s creation is desirable. It is a good thing to become a human being and to receive the image of God. It is not good to linger in an impure life. Many people are fascinated by an impure life, but not the righteous. Therefore, the departure from this world is no reason for sadness, for death is rest and deliverance from pain. Death is sleep. To depart from one’s body is rest.
Job 4:18-19
Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
In truth, to be faultless is not easy for human beings. Faultlessness is beyond human possibilities. The order of the angels is itself subject to such weakness. This is what Eliphaz says, “Even in his servants God puts no trust.” It is evident that God “puts no trust” in the righteous—like you, who have trusted yourself—because he knows the weakness of their nature and how easily their flesh falls. The fallen angels give God a reason not to trust in them, those whom “he charges with error.” He has driven them away from the former honor of their rank and has reduced them to a lower position because they had evil thoughts against God. But if it is so for them, who even though they have a weak nature live nonetheless in the heights among the virtuous powers, and if it is so for angels who in their own nature were above us, what will we say about our own human condition, one even more subject to sin?
Job 5:8
I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
Eliphaz says, “You did not devote yourself to prayer. As for me, I would commit my cause to God. You have reassured yourself and ceased from invoking ‘the Lord of all things.’ This is why the present afflictions befell you.” After speaking, Eliphaz glorified God and aroused Job’s anger.
Job 5:12-13
He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
What do these words mean? Eliphaz insults Job, who should be a crafty man. He has a desire for justice, without doing anything for which he boasts with real justice. However, God does not stand still without penetrating such schemes, and “the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.”
Job 5:20
In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.
Without doubt Job possesses happiness. You see that, by necessity or willingly, while Job starves and keeps away from all the tables of this world, he cries, “Sighing is my nourishment.” Yet Job does not die and confirms with force this word of God, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out from the mouth of God.”
Job 6:27
Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend.
“You would even attack the orphan,” that is, me, for I am deprived of any human assistance. And since God is “the Father of the orphans,” you make him angry by offending me. “And you would trample your friend underfoot” with your words. You trample him even more violently than with your feet, and you scorn the laws of friendship. But God takes these faults into account. He, who not only commands us to love our neighbor like ourselves, also wants to be called “love.”
Job 7:1-4
Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
Not only is this life painful, but it is also frightful, because, after being wounded, I am now in the condition to fear the blows of the Lord. This is why I jump from one place to another in fright, like those slaves who are threatened by their master. In addition, every day, like laborers who wait for their wages—and the wages are all their wealth and hope for nourishment—I also wait for the reward of my endurance, but I never meet it, because a long time and many months have passed. In those days I have exhausted myself in waiting for an empty hope.
Job 7:17-18
What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
It is necessary, actually, to call that time “morning,” because it is entirely light and drives the night away from this life. “You judge them for the time of rest,” that is, not for the torments but for the delights and the reward. He, who is now constantly worthy of the “visit” of God, will receive then his judgment “for the rest.” He is judged with the righteous, that is, is received [in heaven] together with the righteous, so that it may be known, in accordance with them what part is assigned to him and what is his destiny. Must he be placed with the patriarchs, or the prophets, or the apostles or the martyrs?
Job 8:13
So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish:
Job has not really forgotten God. Being still subject to the test, Job has offered blessings and praise. That is why the final condition of the righteous is not comparable to the grass dried up by heat. But he “is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaves do not wither.” Indeed, by preserving the fruit of virtue, Job has caused the abundant foliage of this world’s goods to bloom.
Job 9:20-21
If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
“If I think I have attained purity in my actions, I will be proved perverse in my words. If I am found blameless in my words, I will be reproached for my actions.” In the same manner, if one is righteous in his actions and proclaims that loudly with ostentatious words, his mouth commits impiety, because he has fallen into pride, a pride appropriate to the betrayer, the real impious one. If one is blameless but ignores the source of his purity, and as a consequence places his trust in himself and becomes proud and arrogant, he will become perverse. Evidently, the hand of God has abandoned him.
Job 10:16-17
For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.
A human being is called “lion” with good reason, because he is a royal animal, and even more so the righteous, because, by preserving the honor of God’s form, he is dreadful to his enemies. That is why he has been properly called so in Proverbs, “the righteous is as bold as a lion.” Yet if he stoops down to the lustful temptations presented by his enemies, he is “caught in the hunt like a lion for slaughter” and becomes an object of mockery for his hunters, like a lion, who, after being deluded by them, “has been caught in the hunt.”
Job 10:18-22
Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!
In order to avoid scandalizing many who see his life end in affliction and sadness, it is not without reason that the righteous man asks for the termination of his ordeals. That is why [Job] said, “Before I go, never to return,” evidently, to his human life, as if to say “In fact, if I return down here and receive here the reward of my toils, I will not be worn out and will not renounce the fight to the death in my ordeals. Those who are here, knowing my justice, will see that I receive my reward by coming back here. But if they see me die now in my ordeals, they will either think that Job is wicked or will believe that nothing useful comes from justice.”
Job 11:4
For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.
Previously Job had already said, “If I am ungodly, why have I not died?” Did he not define himself as “blameless”? These words do not belong to Job but to God. It is God, in fact, who designated Job as blameless in his actions and as a man “who turns away from evil.” Therefore you (i.e., Zophar) refuse the testimony of God himself.
Job 12:1-2
And Job answered and said,
Job speaks in an admirable way. Instead of briefly saying, “You would not be able to be men,” he questions them, and what does he ask? “So are you really men, and shall wisdom die with you?” This means, “Is the honor of rational beings really intact within you? Do you know the decisions that God forms with regard to sinners and righteous people?” It is convenient, in fact, that people are aware of this. Know that God tests the righteous and shows tolerance with sinners. That is why the latter are wealthy and the former in the ordeal, because for sinners God’s long tolerance will be the reason for a return to repentance, while to the righteous the long battle will offer the occasion to be crowned. If you knew that, you would not condemn the righteous person who is in the ordeal, and you would not consider the sinner who is wealthy, as the righteous.