Olympiodorus of Alexandria

Late Patristic · AD 500–800 · d. AD 600 · 48 passages across 2 books

Commentary

41–48 of 48

He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.

The spiritual weapons [of humans], he says, are unable to kill him, and [the devil] considers as straw and rotten wood those weapons that cannot inflict a lethal wound on him.

Job 42:1-3

Then Job answered the LORD, and said,

[Job] openly declares that he had not learned these things before but had come to know the unconquered power of God. And since God penetrates the decisions of people and understands the thoughts of all, there is nobody who can hide from his eye, which sees everything. Who is he, he says, who being sparing of words, can hide the secrets of his mind in silence, because they have not been expressed in words?

Ecclesiastes 1:5

The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

The great sun, when compared with the Sun of righteousness, is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 1:6

The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.

According to the narrative he calls the sun wind, due to the speed of its movement.

Ecclesiastes 1:8

All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

All writings, both of secular and of divine wisdom, yield instruction when effort is applied.

Ecclesiastes 2:3

I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

It is not the acuity of the mind but rather the disposition of the soul, being employed beneficially or shamefully in making use of the gift, which is to be praised or condemned.

Ecclesiastes 3:19

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

Ecclesiastes teaches us from this not to attend to our physical needs but to our spiritual existence.

Ecclesiastes 3:21

Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

Ecclesiastes, instructing us through enigmas, guides us to the other life.

All writers

Who was this?

Olympiodorus of Alexandria was an author active around AD 600. He produced exegetical works focusing on the Old Testament, specifically leaving behind commentaries on the books of Job and Ecclesiastes. No further biographical details are recorded concerning his life or ecclesiastical office.

This summary is drawn only from the dates and works recorded in these passages. The passages are quotations from published English texts, with a link to the source where there is one.

Wikipedia

Works cited

Commentary on Job 41
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 6