LIBER I REGUM

VERS. 1.-- Ramathaim Sophim, of the mount, etc. (ORIG., hom. de Elcana.) Or Armathaim, which is found in other codices, etc., as far as in which the nobility of all the virtues is discerned to bear fruit.

(ID.) He had two wives, etc., as far as let us also pray for this offspring in imitation of Anna, as she herself did.

(RAB., in lib. Reg.) First the generation of the historical prophecy is to be told, etc., as far as while her sister rejoiced in the great number of her offspring.

(HIERON., lib. de Nom. Heb.) Elcana is allegorically the possession of God, who is the Son of God, saying: The Lord possessed me: who is rightly one man, not in number, but because he is never changed, nor is God made otherwise from himself. Armathaim Sophim, the heights or the watchtower, this is the 539CJerusalem above; coming from which he taught contemplation, and by his death made [men] to possess it.

Jeroham, merciful.

Eliu, my God.

Thohu, sealed.

Suph, pouring out, because coming to us through mercy, sealed in the passion, he saith: My God, my God (Matth. XXVII), where, emptying himself, he poured himself out, whence: Thy name is ointment poured out (Cant. I), [Vulg. Ct 1:2 Oleum effusum, "oil poured out"] poured out from his own invisible things to our visible ones.

Ephrathaeus, fruit-bearing, because he abounds in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Ephrathaeus from Ephrata the wife of Caleb, or from Ephrata the city, which afterwards was called Bethlehem, or from Ephraim (as some say), because he was from Ramatha, a city of Ephraim, which is situated on mount Sophim, 539Dwhich mount is in the tribe of Ephraim

(GREG., in lib. Reg.) Phenenna is the synagogue, which, being the second, at first begot sons to God through the law, but now on account of unbelief remains unfruitful. Anna the barren is the Church of the Gentiles, which was once barren of spiritual offspring, now redeemed by the grace of Christ. For Anna, which is interpreted grace, begets sons to God through baptism and the Holy Spirit.

Silo. It is at the ninetieth milestone from Neapolis, in the Athabitan region.

VERS. 3.-- The priests of the Lord (GREG., ibid.). How are they priests of the Lord, who below are called sons of Belial? 540BAt that time they were called priests of the Lord, when the priests of idols were reckoned by the names of false gods, so that by this mark they might be distinguished from those. For by these words their faith is proclaimed, not their life, because they both practised depravity of work, but did not err in the faith of the Creator.

Ophni, unshod, or the madness of conversion.

Phinees. (ORIG., hom. de Elcana.) A dumb mouth, it signifies the scribes and Pharisees, etc., as far as deservedly therefore were they sent away and forsaken by God.

VERS. 4.-- The day therefore came, and Elcana offered sacrifice and gave to Phenenna, etc. (HIER., l. de tradit. Heb.) These portions are understood to be garments, which on the three feasts, namely of the Pasch, and of Pentecost, and of Tabernacles, according to the custom of that nation, were given to the wives, 540Cand to the children, and to the servants

But to Anna he gave one portion, sorrowful, because he had no sons to whom he might give more. To Phenenna, that is, to the synagogue, and to her sons he gave portions, that is, temporal goods, according to that: He gave them the regions of the nations (Psal. CIV). And because the oracles of God were first entrusted to them, to Anna, that is, to the Church of the Gentiles, he gave one portion, namely natural wit. Well doth he say.

Sorrowful, because the Lord had closed her womb for the time of having mercy upon her had not yet come, that she might be made fruitful with spiritual grace. As Phenenna despised Anna, so the synagogue despised the Gentile world. Many of the Gentiles awaited the coming of the Redeemer, as we find in Job, and because they persevered in prayer, at length the Redeemer applied consolation to 540DAnna, who wept and took not food, saying:

VERS. 8.-- Anna, why weepest thou? Better to the Church is her own husband, that is, Christ, than the ten sons whom she brought forth from the synagogue, who sometimes loves Christ more, that is, his grace, than those whom she bore carnally.

VERS. 14.-- And he said to her. The Septuagint, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ παιδάριον Ἡλί.

How long wilt thou be drunken? Man seeth in the face, God in the heart. Heli reckoned her drunken, who looked only upon the mouth: but the Lord had regard to her prayer, who saw her heart. Here, moreover, a form of praying is handed down to us, that we should pray not in much speaking, but in compunction 541Aof heart and in the pouring forth of tears: because a sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit, a contrite heart, etc.

VERS. 17.-- Heli said, Go in peace, etc. And the woman went away, etc. Dost thou see the woman's faith? Before she received what she had asked, she trusted just as though she had already received it. The cause was that she had prayed with much fervour, without any hesitation. She went away with a mind at peace, as though she had obtained the whole. Moreover God had already shaken all her anxiety out of her mind, being about to bestow what she was asking. Let us imitate this woman, and in all afflictions let us flee to God. If we have no children, let us ask them of him, and if we receive them, let us bring them up with much care, etc.

VERS. 18.-- And her countenance was no more changed into 541Bdifferent things. (RAB. in lib. Reg.) Another translation: Her face fell no more, because most certainly she believed herself to have been heard.

(ID.) For in no wise was the Church changed away from the faith and love of the Redeemer by turning aside into different things.

VERS. 19.-- And the Lord remembered her. (ID.) Because Anna devoutly petitioned the Lord, she conceived and bore. So the Church, praying through natural understanding, conceived the mystery of the incarnation in the heart, and brought it forth with the mouth of confession.

VERS. 20.-- And she called his name Samuel. That is, God. The firstborn of Anna, a prophet. Who is this but the Lord's man?

(RAB.) Samuel, the petition of God, or his name: 541Cthe author, namely, of his birth is God, because to the barren woman praying he granted a son, who all his days should serve him in the temple.

(ID.) The Church from the nations, etc., as far as with perfect faith in the incarnation she joined herself to the primitive Church from among the Jews.

VERS. 23.-- And I pray that the Lord may fulfil. What thou hast vowed, or his own which he promised through Heli. when he saith: God give thee thy petition, etc.

The woman therefore remained, and gave her son suck, until she should take him from the milk. And she brought him. Anna will not bring the boy to the house of God before he be weaned: because the Church promotes none to the priesthood while he is a partaker of the milk of infancy, not capable of solid food and of spiritual understanding.

541D(HIERON., lib. de Trad. Hebr. in lib. Reg.) In the Hebrew: With a measure of flour, but it has been corrupted by the fault of the copyists. For if he offered three measures of flour with three calves, he acted against the law, in which it is said: One calf of the herd, one ram, seven unspotted little lambs, in their sacrifices three tenths of fine flour sprinkled with oil for each calf, two tenths for the ram, one tenth for the lamb. But this tenth was the tenth part of an ephi. Whence it is understood that Elcana did not offer three measures of flour with three calves, but nine tenths.

VERS. 19.-- And they adored. (ORIG., ubi supra.) Praying is not found in this canticle, etc., as far as but if he shall have let [them] down, Amalec the enemy of God conquers

• 542A

VERS. 1.-- It is enlarged. (RAB.) Because the word of God is not bound in tribulations, not bound in its heralds.

(ID.) Unto Christ, whom the aged Simeon embraces as a child and knows to be great, saying: Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace. Because my eyes have seen thy salvation (Luc. II). If I shall have rejoiced in the salvation of God, then shall my mouth be enlarged. Namely, through meditation upon the word of God one comes to the lifting up of the heart, whence: Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged (II Cor. V). Out of the breadth of the heart wisdom is ministered to the mouth.

VERS. 2.-- There is none holy. (RAB.) Beside thee, O Lord, because none is made holy save by thee, and though there be those that are called 542Bmany gods and many lords, yet none of them is by nature that which God is; because he alone is he who saith: I am who am (Exod. III). For a shadow, in comparison with a body, is not, nor smoke in comparison with fire.

As the Lord is. (ID.) He saith not, save the Lord: But none is as the Lord, holy and sanctifying, just and justifying.

VERS. 3.-- Multiply not to speak lofty things, glorying. He reproves the Jews and the wise of the world, who exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. Solomon: Seek not the things that are too high for thee, and elsewhere: God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: let thy words be few.

Old things, etc. Which pertain to the old man, that is, to carnal converse, seek ye knowledge, which is not save from God: because he himself is the 542CLord of knowledges, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom.

Unto him thoughts are prepared. Because he withdraws himself from thoughts which are without understanding, or thoughts are prepared for him, that is, are made manifest. Whence: The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men.

The God of knowledges. (RAB., ubi supra.) He himself knoweth you, etc., as far as and they are not from him from whom men are.

VERS. 4.--(RAB.) That is, the intention of those who seem to themselves to be mighty, so that without God's help they may be able to fulfil the divine commandments.

And the weak. (RAB.) They who trust in the goodness of God say: Have mercy on me, O God, for I am weak (Psal. VI). Weak was the Gentile people, when it was estranged from the testament of God, but now, girt about with strength, 542Dwhen it is clothed with the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, it will be able to quench the fiery darts of the devil.

VERS. 5.-- They that were filled before hired themselves out for bread. The Jews, filled before, namely with the mysteries of the oracles, hired themselves out for bread, that is, they separated themselves from God: or they tore themselves away from their own seats, lest they should receive the Gospel that treats of the bread which came down from heaven. Filled were those same who were also the mighty, that is, the Israelites to whom the oracles of God were entrusted, but sons of the bondwoman, were made less, who withdrew themselves and believed not in the Saviour, and in those very loaves, that is, in the divine oracles, savoured only earthly things. But the nations, to whom the law was not given, after through the New Testament they came 543Ato those oracles, passed over the earth by much hungering, because in them they savoured not earthly but heavenly things. In the Greek thus: They that were full of bread were made less, and they that were hungry passed over the earth.

And the hungry. That is, the Gentiles, before in want, now taste the bread of the word of God, since it is sweet. So long have they been fed with the knowledge of God.

The barren hath borne. In the number seven the universality of the Church is designated, whence John also writes to seven churches, showing that he writes to the fulness of one; whence: Wisdom hath built herself a house, and hath propped up seven pillars (Prov. IX). [Vulg. Pr 9:1 excidit columnas septem, "she hath hewn out seven pillars"] Barren was the Church among the nations, before this offspring which we behold arose. We behold too the earthly Jerusalem fruitful, now made weak: because whosoever were free sons in her were 543Bof her strength: but now, since the letter is there, the spirit is not: her strength being lost, she is made weak.

(RAB.) Many in the Hebrew and in the LXX stands seven. The Jews say that when Samuel was born the firstborn son of Phenenna died: and that at the birth of each of Anna's sons one of Phenenna's died. But Phenenna had seven: and Anna five. Yet the Hebrews reckon the two sons of Samuel among the sons of Anna.

(ID.) The barren woman, etc., as far as by this his poverty we have been enriched.

VERS. 7.-- The poor, etc. Jesus, who for our sakes was made poor, and the Lord enriches the same with the glory of the resurrection.

VERS. 8.-- Out of the dust. Christ out of corruption, whence: Nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption (Psal. XV).

543COut of the dunghill. (RAB., ubi supra.) Out of the Jewish people, in which, when the Apostle had said that he had persecuted the Church, the things, saith he, that were gain to me, those I have counted for Christ dung [detrimenta] (Philip. III).

With princes. (ID.) To whom it is said: You shall sit upon twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matth. XXV).

The throne of glory. By sitting in the equity of the Father, and because the Father hath given all judgment to the Son, and because of his kingdom there shall be no end (Joan. V).

The poles of the earth. Namely the four quarters of the world, in which he has enlarged the globe of the Church, which from the rising of the sun unto the going down praise the name of the Lord (Psal. CXII). [Vulg. Ps 112:3 laudabile nomen Domini, "the name of the Lord is worthy of praise"]

Mystically, the preachers, upon whom the globe, that is, the 543DChurch, is made firm by their faith, of whom it is said: Under whom they stoop that bear up the world (Job. IX).

VERS. 10.-- They shall fear the Lord. Because he will make his adversary weak. It can also be understood, from the ambiguous Greek, as his own adversary. For when the Lord begins to possess us, our adversary becomes his own; and he is conquered by us, not by our strength, because a man is not mighty in his own power. They shall fear the Lord. The Jews, his adversaries, over whom the Lord thundered in the heavens, that is, in the apostles, when he terrified them by threatening hell, confirming his threats by signs: whence many were converted. Or they shall fear in the judgment him whom here, opposing him, they despised, over whom he will thunder, saying: Go into everlasting fire (Matth. XXV). 544AAnd lest this befall all, the Lord thunders daily in the heavens, that is, in the Scriptures and the doctors.

In the heavens. (RAB.) Because the just retribution is to come in the day of judgment, but meanwhile he thunders out of his clouds, which he filled with the Holy Spirit after he ascended the heavens.

The ends. The last things of a man: because those things will not be judged which in the meantime are changed for the better or for the worse, but the last things in which he shall have been found.

And he will give. That is, to Christ

Dominion. That is, the Church, whence: I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance. Or dominion, that is, the power of judging, because he hath given all judgment to the Son.

To his king. (RAB.) To the Christian people, to whom he gives strength to rule the flesh, that in it he may overcome the world, who for its sake shed his own blood.

544BOf his Christ. (RAB., in lib. Reg. ) Of the Christian people, anointed with chrism: yet the whole body with its head is one Christ. These things Anna the mother of Samuel prophesied, in whom the change of the old priesthood was then figured, and now fulfilled, when the fruitful woman was made weak, that the barren might have a new priesthood in Christ.

VERS. 12.-- Heli. (ID.) He is interpreted a stranger, for he is estranged from God who does not correct those under him. Ophni, the infamy of conversion, and deservedly is he so called who defers to be converted to the better. Phinees, the hardening of the mouth, or sparing the mouth. We read of two priests named Phinees: the one just, the son of Eleazar, the other unjust, the son of Heli. The priests who keep their mouth, lest anything depraved go forth thence, are signified in the son of Eleazar. 544CBut they who have their mouth stopped, either by unskilfulness or by the consciousness of sins, are figured by the son of Heli.

(RAB.) Josephus relates, etc., as far as and the fault of those under them will be imputed to them.

VERS. 19.-- A tunic. The tunic which Anna, that is grace, made and delivered to the boy; it is the beginning doctrine by which the faithful receive the first rudiments, whence: I gave you milk to drink, not meat (I Cor. III). But the linen ephod signifies chastity and continence together with good works. For he who desires to minister to the Lord must needs live chastely and continently, and exercise himself in good works.

VERS. 25.-- If he shall have sinned. (HIERON., ubi supra.) It is not sinned against a man in that manner in which it is sinned against 544DGod, because to sin against a man, that is, against a neighbour, is lighter and more pardonable. But to sin against God, that is, to depart from his worship: it is the sin of impiety, which is more hardly punished and more slowly remitted. And when one sins against a man, the man being appeased, he makes God appeasable to himself. But when one sins against God, who shall pray for him? that is, through whom shall he make God propitious to himself? Not that no pardon is to be hoped for by those who sin in the divine office: but greater is the penalty, and slower the pardon, for those who offend in things consecrated to God, than if they had injured a neighbour by word or deed, because the greater the glory, the graver the offence

VERS. 27.-- Of thy father, etc. Aaron, namely. For who else was there in the Egyptian servitude who after the deliverance 545Awas chosen unto the priesthood? For whosoever is of his stock, when he sees the priesthood of the Christians flourishing throughout the world, but withdrawn from himself, pines away with grief and sorrow.

VERS. 32.-- Thy rival. (RAB.) The rival of the house of Heli was Sadoch the priest, who, Abiathar having been cast out by Solomon, took up the priesthood. Whence: Solomon cast out Abiathar, that he might not be priest of the Lord, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled which he spoke over the house of Heli (III Reg. II).

VERS. 33.-- That they may fail. (RAB.) That there may always, namely, be one of the house of Heli in the house of the Lord, who, seeing another substituted in the dignity of the priesthood and himself left destitute, may fail in mind and pine away. But this change of the priesthood was fully accomplished in Christ, which 545Bwas figured by Samuel: for after Samuel there were priests of the stock of Aaron, Sodoch, and Abiathar, and others until the time of Christ.

VERS. 35.-- And the soul. (ID.) God has not a soul, but is tropically said to have a soul, etc., as far as whence: And the house of Israel rested after the Lord (I Reg. VII).

VERS. 36.-- It shall come to pass. (ID.) This is not said properly of the house of Heli, but of the house of Aaron, of whose stock even to this day they come and are converted.

A morsel. (RAB.) The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world (Joan. VI). Because he had said that he had given food to the house of Aaron from the victims of the old testament, which were the sacrifices of the Jews, he says that a morsel of bread is to be asked for the eating, which is the 545Csacrifice of the Christians and the food of souls.

(RAB., in lib. Reg.) Whence in those days there was no manifest vision. For on account of the sins of the people and of the prelates the Lord did not appear by visions or by angelic answers, as he appeared to the fathers.

VERS. 3.-- The lamp. (ID.) Which burned in the tabernacle before the light of day. For under the light of day it was quenched, but it shone until the morning; or this signifies that Heli should remain in blindness until he were utterly quenched together with his offspring, that is, should die.

But mystically the blindness of Heli signifies the blindness of the Jews, who acknowledged not the Saviour present, 545Dnor the brightness of his miracles, nor his teaching, until the priesthood together with the people and the temple was overthrown.

VERS. 11.-- They shall tingle. (RAB.) It is the threatening of God upon Heli and upon his house, because, namely, for the sin of the sons of Heli the house of the Lord was deprived of the priesthood, whence the ears of them that hear shall tingle with a vehement astonishment.

VERS. 17.-- These things. It was a proverb among the Hebrews. And the sense is: If thou shalt hide from me the evil which the Lord hath spoken to thee concerning me, let it come upon thy head.

VERS. 18.-- And he hid not. (RAB., in lib. Reg.) Because nothing of those things which the Lord spoke, etc., as far as he did this for a sure reason of their profit.

546AVERS. 20.-- From Dan. (ID.) By the boundaries of Judaea he comprehends the whole body of the people. Dan is a small village at the fourth milestone from Paneas, which even to this day is so called: the boundary of the province of Judaea toward the North, from which the Jordan, bursting forth, has taken its name from the place. For the Hebrews call a river or a stream Jor. Dan is interpreted judgment or judging.

Bersabee. In the tribe of Juda or of Simeon there is a great village at the twentieth milestone from Hebron, inclining toward the South: in which a garrison of the Romans is placed: from which the foolish [insipientes; read incipientes, "beginning"] boundaries of Judaea are stretched as far as Dan. Nor ought anyone to wonder if he find cities of Juda in the tribe of Simeon or of Benjamin. For the tribe of Juda, strong and warlike, often overcoming its adversaries, held the chief place among all the tribes, 546Band therefore the lots of the other tribes are reckoned within its measuring line, and besides, the Scripture makes manifest that Simeon dwelt in the midst of the tribe of Juda.

VERS. 1.-- And it came to pass. Israel, a man seeing God, or strong with God, these are the believers. The Philistines, falling by the cup, namely the demons, who, made drunk with the cup of pride, themselves also fell, and hasten to pervert men. Against whom Israel, that is the faithful, that they may not yield but may overcome, encamp beside the stone of help, that is the law of Christ, where the stone, that is Christ, is found, of whom: The stone which the builders rejected. But while the faithful meditate in the law of the Lord, that they may find God their helper, 546Cthe Philistines came into Aphec, that is, into a new fury, then, because the unclean spirits behold the faithful pressing yet more upon the divine laws, they therefore devise sharper and newer contests, whence the unclean spirits easily lay low, as it were four thousand, those trusting in their own strength and glorying in human wisdom and by this despising the grace of the Gospel.

Beside the stone. The stone of help which afterward Samuel set up for a sign, when first the Lord helped him.

Aphec. (RAB.) It is a place beside the village Esron of the city of Israel, where Saul fought in the lot of Aser, and it is interpreted a new fury, or one that lays hold; for they who deserved the anger of the Lord were laid hold of by their enemies.

546DVERS. 4.-- And they took. The children of Israel took the ark, where it was captured. And the faithful from among the Jews carried over the two testaments to the nations.

Sitting upon. For there was a table above the ark which the Cherubim covered with their wings, where the Lord appeared through an angel and spoke. The Cherubim, the fulness of knowledge, which is found in Christ and in the two testaments.

VERS. 5.-- With a shout. A great shout, the voice of the preachers strengthened by miracles, brought forth out of the two testaments.

And it resounded. At the voice of the preaching the wise of the world, and the demons also, groaned, believing themselves to be overcome.

547AVERS. 8.-- Out of the hand. The Jews worship one God, but the nations speak after their own manner.

VERS. 11.-- And the ark. The ark taken by the aliens signifies that the testament was to pass over to the nations.

VERS. 13.-- And when. (RAB.) These things Josephus so relates, etc., as far as they received them anew out of the house of Eleazar.

VERS. 18.-- He fell. And when Heli falls from the seat, the chair of the high priest remains empty, and the glory of the priests is quenched.

Dead. Heli dies, his sons also die, because the high priesthood fails together with the old priesthood.

VERS. 19.-- The wife. The wife of the priest did not perish before she brought forth a man child; nor did the synagogue wholly perish before the primitive church which was of her 547Bbelieved.

VERS. 20.-- In that very. By an evident sign it is figured that, when the carnal priesthood of the Jews was quenched, the carnal synagogue which cleaved to it carnally is quenched.

Fear not. The believers console the synagogue, but despairing she by no means takes heed, nor does she account the new offspring unto glory, but unto ignominy. Whence there follows:

VERS. 21.-- And she called. Cabhod, glory; Icabhod, the glory is fallen. For the glory was carried over when the ark was taken, whence: The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof.

547CVERS. 1.-- (RAB., ubi supra.) Which is also Asdor, one of the five cities of the Palestines, decreed indeed to the tribe of Juda, but not retained, because it could not drive out the natives. And it is interpreted the fire of the father, or a burning. And rightly is that place so called where the idol Dagon was, because the coming of the ark into Azotus was the burning of the devil, the father of all enemies or of all the wicked. Dagon, who is interpreted the fish of sadness, signifies the devil who in the sea of this world devours sinners, who in Job also is named Leviathan and Beemoth (Job. XL).

Azotus. It is the place in which Samuel set the stone (I Reg. VII), as is shown in what follows.

VERS. 4.-- The head. The pride of the devil, which is the beginning of all sin (Eccle. X).

547DUpon. (RAB.) It signifies the appointed end, in which idolatry should cease. For the threshold is the end of a journey.

VERS. 5.-- The stump. They found the back only, all the members being broken, which expresses the flight of idolatry. For he who flees gives his back to him that puts him to flight, whence: For thou shalt make them turn their back (Psal. XX).

VERS. 7.-- And he smote. They who take up the testament of God and love the hinder things of this life shall justly be tormented by those same things in the hinder parts, which they ought to esteem as dung. For they who take up the testament of God, and looking back to the hinder things, strip not off from themselves the old vanity, are like to those who set the ark of the testament beside their idols. And the old things indeed 548Afall even when they are unwilling, because all flesh is grass. But the ark remains for ever, that is, the sure testament of the kingdom of heaven, where is the word of God for ever.

VERS. 8.-- Let it be carried about. That if, whithersoever it go, the smiting follow it, we may know the plague to be from God, which by the will of God was done through their counsel, that the plague might be common, since the fault was common.

VERS. 5.-- Five golden emerods, etc. (RAB.) Five golden emerods, etc., as far as is true sadness and perpetual barrenness.

VERS. 7.-- A cart. The cross of Christ, the ark Holy Scripture.

548BTwo kine. (ISID.) The kine bearing the ark signify the saints, who renounce the world, who have drawn no yoke of transgression. For as the kine, in their affection for their calves, turn not aside from the straight way, so the holy fathers with such affection stray not from their good purpose.

VERS. 12.-- Which leadeth, etc. (RAB.) By the king's way, namely, going to Bethsames, that is, into the house of the sun, namely the heavenly Jerusalem, where the sun of justice ever shines.

Bethsames. (ID.) It is a priestly city in the tribe of Benjamin, which even to this day is shown to those going from Eleutheropolis to Nicopolis, at the tenth milestone toward the East: another Bethsames is in the tribe of Nephthali, in which the ancient inhabitants have remained.

548CVERS. 13.-- And they turned not aside (ID.). That is, neither were they lifted up by prosperous things, etc., as far as let it be relaxed in weeping.

Bethsames. The house of the sun. This is the Church, enlightened by the sun of justice. For the Bethsamites to reap the corn in the valley is for the doctors of the Church to handle the provision of the word of God in humility. The stone in the field of Josue, Christ in his Church. The wood of the cart, the cross of Christ. To sacrifice the kine upon the stone is to mortify those converted from the world in the imitation of Christ.

VERS. 17.-- Azotus one. (HIERON., ubi supra.) Five cities gave five emerods and five mice. But the remaining cities of the provinces, and the villages which were without a wall, gave mice only, whence: From the walled city unto the village which was without a wall, etc.

548DVERS. 18.-- Abel. It is a city in the border of Israel, which was formerly called Bethsames, and is now called Abel: either because of the mourning made there over the men of Bethsames, or for the distinguishing of the city from Bethmaca, of which the wise woman cried out to Joab: They that ask, let them ask in Abela (II Reg. XX).

VERS. 19.-- He smote, etc. Who, since they were not Levites, dared to look upon the ark. That the people might not suffer this, in Exodus it stood afar off, and Moses alone went up to the Lord. He smote, etc. (HIERON.) In the Hebrew it stands: And he smote of the people seventy men: and fifty thousand men, seventy men, judges.

(SEPTUAG.) The Hebrews say that it was lawful for none to look upon the ark uncovered save for the high priest: they were smitten therefore, for 549Athat they were unworthy, or had approached unworthily, or had not kept the ark.

VERS. 21.-- And they sent. (RAB.) There is signified the carrying over of the testament of the Lord from the Jews to the nations, because, when they were defiling the law by carnal observance and by the superstitions of the Pharisees, they refused the teaching of Christ and of his disciples; whence: To you it behoved first to speak the word of God, but because you have judged yourselves unworthy, behold we turn to the Gentiles (Act. XV).

Cariathiarim. (ID.) It is interpreted the village of the woods, of which it is said: Until I find out a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. Behold we have heard of it in Ephrata, we have found it in the fields of the wood (Psal. CXXXI). For the place of the Lord is the tabernacle of the breast of the Christian people. For the city of the woods, that 549Bis, the assembly of the nations, is a place fit for receiving the ark. In the house of Aminadab, who is interpreted: my father spontaneous, and he is able to say, namely voluntarily, to thee.

(ID.) Cariathiarim is a city of the forests, one of the cities of the Gabaonites belonging to the tribe of Juda, at the ninth milestone as one goes from Elia to Diospolis: of this was Urias the prophet whom Joachim slew in Jerusalem, as Jeremias writes.

VERS. 1.-- Gabaa. (RAB.) The hill of the soul of the humble, whence: Let the mountains receive peace for the people, etc., that is, the mountains the greater souls, the hills the lesser. Or else Gabaa is interpreted loftiness, where Eleazar 549Cthe priest is appointed.

Eleazar. (ID.) The help of God. And rightly is he who is called by this name chosen to keep the ark of the Lord, because holy men attribute whatsoever good they have to God, not to themselves. Whence: Our sufficiency is from God, who hath made us fit ministers of the New Testament (II Cor. III).

VERS. 2.-- The twentieth year it was, when in the seventh year of the reign of Saul it was brought into the camp from Cariathiarim.

The twentieth year. (RAB.) It is not so to be understood, etc., as far as because there is no fellowship of light with darkness.

VERS. 6.-- Masphath. It is a city in the tribe of Juda beside Cariathiarim.

(RAB.) Masphath. Watching, or contemplation, 549Detc., as far as and shall have perceived them to be intent upon the love of the heavenly country.

And they drew water, etc. That as water poured out returns not, so neither should they themselves return to idolatry.

VERS. 9.-- A sucking lamb. The lamb offered for the people of God affords victory, and, the demons being overcome through the passion of Christ, peace was given to the faithful.

(RAB.) An innocent life kindled with the fire of charity.

(RAB.) When the Lord thunders through the preachers of the Gospel, the spiritual enemies are turned to flight before Israel, that is, the people of God, and they pursue them even into the house of acknowledgment: that is, until every error be purged away and God be truly known.

550AVERS. 11.-- Betchar. (ID.) The house of acknowledgment, or the house of the lamb.

VERS. 12.-- And he set it. Another edition: between Masphath the new and the old, and he called the name thereof Abenezer, or Abongener, that is, the stone of help. This is the middle place of the Saviour, through which one must pass over from the old Masphath to the new, that is, from the intention by which a false blessedness is looked for in a carnal kingdom to the intention by which through the New Testament a true blessedness is looked for in the kingdom of heaven, than which, since there is nothing better, God helps hitherto. Masphath, the intention of them that sit. The stone between these, Christ set between the intention of the Old Testament and the preaching of the Gospel: he himself the stone because of the firmness of his help, because he helps his own 550Bas they fight against the demons.

Hitherto he hath helped. Because they who overpass these bounds, as the heretics do, do not deserve the help of God.

VERS. 14.-- And there was. Christ is our peace, who hath made both one, through whom they were made nigh who were afar off.

VERS. 16.-- Galgala. It is the city where Josue circumcised the people the second time, and celebrated the Pasch, and, the manna failing, Israel used wheaten bread, where also the stones were carried over from the channel of the Jordan, where the tabernacle of the testimony was for a long time. This fell into the lot of Juda: and even to this day the place is shown at the second milestone from Jericho, to be venerated by the men of that region. But some suspect another Galgala beside Bethel.

550CGalgala is interpreted a rolling, or a revelation. Rightly therefore did the prophet judge Israel in Bethel and in Galgala and in Masphath, and returning to Ramatha to his own house he judged Israel there; and he built there an altar to the Lord, giving an example that judgment is to be made in the house of God, not indiscreetly or with a malevolent mind, but according to what the Scripture shall have revealed, and with good intention and with brotherly love, and that so one must return to Ramatha to our own house, that is, to the inward parts of the breast, that we may be free for contemplation, and may offer upon the altar of faith the acceptable victims of work and of truth.

VERS. 17.-- He built also there, etc. The law commanded that an altar be not built save where the Lord should have chosen; but lest they should sacrifice to gods he built an altar, in which he is not reprehended.

• 550D

VERS. 1.-- It came to pass, etc., he set his sons. (RAB., in lib. Reg., tom. II.) Because according to Josephus he set the one in Bethlehem, the other in Bersabee.

VERS. 2.-- Abia. (ID.) The father the lord, or the father was. Rightly therefore they who remained not in the justice they had begun, and neglected the fatherhood of the Lord. God was, or the Father was, they were named, that they might be signified unworthy of the fatherhood of God.

VERS. 3.-- And they walked not. Because for a bribe they oppressed justice, turning aside to feasts and costly banquets.

• 551A

VERS. 2.-- By name Saul. (RAB., in lib. Reg., tom. II.) Saul, who, God being offended, was made king over Israel, etc., as far as and from being peaceable he was made turbulent.

(ID.) Because Saul, seeking his father's she-asses, came to the prophet by whom he was anointed, it signifies that the Jews, following the folly of carnal sense, seek out the luxury of the world through devious errors; for the ass is a brute and lustful animal. And coming to the prophet, that is, to Moses, they hear that the she-asses have been found, that is, that the goods of the earth are owed to them, by whom also the oil of anointing and the government of the kingdom is promised, in which for a time they might snatch their brethren from the hand of their enemies.

551B(ID.) According to the justice of the present life.

(ID.) This pertains rather to Christ, of whom it is said: Behold my chosen servant whom I have chosen (Isa. XLIV). And elsewhere: Who is like to God among the sons of God (Psal. LXXXVI) ?

Staters. The stater is a sicle which has twenty oboli, that is, ten denarii.

VERS. 7.-- That we may give to the man. Although they had determined to give, we do not read that Samuel received it, yet if he had received it, it would not be reckoned as the reward of divination, but as the wage of a prophet.

VERS. 9.-- Formerly in Israel. As Bede says, they are not the words of the historian, but of Esdras.

A seer. He is called a prophet, because through the Spirit he foreknows things to come.

VERS. 11.-- The hill, etc., going forth to draw 551Cwater. A hill is the winding ascent of a mountain.

VERS. 16.-- And thou shalt anoint him ruler. Saul anointed signifies Christ, who himself also was called Christ; whence, Why wast thou not afraid to put forth thy hand against the Christ of the Lord (II Reg. I)?

VERS. 19.-- All things which. (RAB.) The Hebrews hand down that it was in the heart of Saul that he was to be king, when he had seen in a vision that he was set on the top of a palm tree, which is the sign of one about to reign.

VERS. 22.-- Taking therefore. That Samuel led Saul into the high place and gave him refreshment signifies the prophets calling forth the people of the Hebrews by their teaching to higher things, that, refreshed with spiritual knowledge, he may stand on the summit of the virtues, and not slip back into 551Dvices.

A dining-room. A supper-room, so called from the three couches of them that recline.

VERS. 24.-- Of set purpose, that is, of Providence, it is given to be understood that he had already eaten, though not fully, because, the Lord revealing that Saul would come, the banquet was deferred.

VERS. 27.-- And when they were going down. They went down from the high place, that in some more secret spot he might speak concerning the kingdom and anoint him.

VERS. 1.-- And he took. A vial is a four-cornered earthen vessel, having a hole in its side, by which the frailty of the kingdom is designated.

552AVERS. 6.-- And thou shalt prophesy with them. The Jews hand down that he prophesied concerning the world to come, concerning Gog and Magog, concerning the rewards of the just and the punishments of the wicked.

VERS. 7.-- When therefore. As if to say, by these signs thou shalt be able to know that God has willed thee to be king. Therefore in all things act royally, because the Lord is with thee.

VERS. 8.-- Seven days, there is understood, in the consecration of thy kingdom, as in the consecration of the priests victims were offered for seven days.

VERS. 10.-- And they came. It signifies that to the Jews all things which Moses and the prophets had foretold came to pass. But they themselves, holding the books of the law and of the prophets, seem to divine, when they are known to pronounce the mysteries to come concerning Christ and the Church that are written therein.

552BVERS. 12.-- And who. As if to say, who is greater than he in dignity and wisdom? He can therefore move among the prophets as a father and a master. And who is their father that is, of the prophets, there is understood, save God.

Mystically, the elders of Israel, Samuel being rejected, asked a king for themselves, and the Scribes with the Pharisees, Christ the true priest being cast off, cried out: We have no king but Caesar (Joan. XIX), whence Samuel is interpreted: his name is God; Saul, asked for, or a petition, who was demanded by the people, is understood to be Barabbas. Cis, hard or vomiting; Abiel, my father is God, for the Jews, hard and vomiting, while confessing God the Father, deny the Son; but he who denies the Son denies also the Father who sent him (I Joan. II). Saul, seeking his father's she-asses, was taken up into the kingdom. The Saviour, sent by the 552CFather to the sheep that had perished of the house of Israel, was appointed king over the whole people. For there are as many she-asses as there are sheep. Saul received the shoulder, and Christ the principality (Matth. XV). Saul was anointed by Samuel, and the Only-begotten was anointed by the Father with a spiritual unction. Saul rose high above the number, [numero; read humero, "from the shoulder"] because our head above us is Christ (I Cor. XI).

VERS. 1.--(RAB.) Jabes, sense: Galaad, the heap of testimony. Naas, that is, the serpent, namely the devil, goes up against the sense instructed by the testimony of Scripture.

VERS. 2.-- And he answered. The war of Naas signifies the war of the heretics against the Church. Naas is interpreted a serpent, Ammon, pressing hard or straitening, 552Dor the people of sorrow. Jabes, dried up; Galaad, the heap of testimony; Naas therefore signifies the old serpent, who is the prince of the Ammonites, that is, of the heretics. For this is the people of sorrow, which has not the joy of the Holy Spirit, which makes a covenant with the people of the Church, that it may pluck out their right eyes, that is, the sight of the sound orthodox faith. It leaves the left eye, namely that it may perceive only what is depraved. But the mind of the faithful, dried up from the filth of vices, heaps up the heap of testimony, that is, the knowledge of holy Scripture, wherewith it may manfully resist the enemy.

VERS. 8.-- In Bezech. (RAB., in lib., Reg., tom. II.) The city, namely, of Adonibezec, etc., as far as the Church may spread abroad throughout the whole world.

553AVERS. 11.-- They were scattered. Because the congregation of the depraved is not joined by the unity of charity and of faith, it is separated one from another by dissension; whence: Thy enemies, O Lord, shall perish and shall be scattered (Psal. XCI).

VERS. 17.-- The wheat harvest. (RAB.) The gathering, namely, of the Gentile people unto the faith.

Voices. That is, thunders and rains. It is not the custom of Judaea to rain in the time of summer.

VERS. 1.-- A son of one year, etc. (RAB.) By anticipation he speaks of Isboseth the son of Saul, etc., as far as and he had not judged the people for the whole time of his life as the others did.

553BVERS. 2.-- Gabaa. (ID.) It is the city of Phinees the son of Eleazar, etc., as far as the men remaining with Saul, catholics firmly cleaving to Christ.

VERS. 6.-- They hid themselves in caves. (ID.) In hidden places, namely, etc., as far as they joined themselves with their own in the battle.

VERS. 13.-- Thou hast done foolishly, nor. (ID.) It seems to some that Saul sacrificed blamelessly, etc., as far as and therefore he is deservedly blamed and convicted of folly.

But if thou hadst not done so. (EUCH. in lib. Reg. ex Aug.) It is not so to be taken as though the Lord had prepared Saul to reign for ever, and had been unwilling to keep this for him when he sinned: for he knew that he would sin. But he had prepared his kingdom, in which there should be a figure of the eternal kingdom, whence he added: And now thy kingdom shall not 553Cstand to thee. [Vulg. 1Rg 13:14 sed nequaquam regnum tuum ultra consurget, "but thy kingdom shall no more rise up"] That therefore has stood and shall stand which was signified in him; but it shall not stand to this man, because he was not to reign for ever; nor his offspring; that at least through his descendants, one succeeding another, that might seem to be fulfilled which was said, for ever.

VERS. 14.-- But by no means. The reprobation of Saul, the taking away of the kingdom of the Jews. David surviving him, Christ about to succeed to the people of the Jews.

He hath sought for himself. Not as though not knowing where he is, but he speaks through a man after the manner of men, because even by so speaking he seeks us. For not only to God the Father, but also to the Only-begotten himself, who came to seek that which had perished, we were already not such that we should be chosen in him before the constitution of the world. He will seek therefore for himself, he said: he shall have his own, whence in the Latin tongue this 553Dverb takes a preposition, and is said acquirit; which is plain enough. Even without the preposition quaerere is understood as acquirere, from which gains are called quaestus.

A man according to the heart. It signifies David, or the mediator himself of the New Testament, who was figured in the chrism wherewith David was anointed, and his offspring. (RAB.) The devil also through the pagans, etc., as far as but we seek that which is to come.

VERS. 1.-- Jonathas. The gift of the dove. These are they who are filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit, through whom the Lord scatters the assemblies of the heretics, and turns them to 554Aflight. His armour-bearer, the disciples of spiritual men, who take their way not through level places but through steep: because priests cannot go against the enemy, if they do not, walking by the narrow way, advance between both Testaments and between prosperity and adversity, as between two crags on the right hand and on the left, and climb up to the heights of contemplation with the whole effort of the mind. Jonathas does not pass over to the enemy unless provoked: because catholics do not stir up contention against heretics, unless they be first provoked to the contest. Jonathas therefore lays the enemy low in the field of tillage: and the doctors overcome the heretics in the meditation of Scripture.

VERS. 27.-- But Jonathas. The gift of the dove. Here he signifies those who, having received the grace of the Holy Spirit, make ready to spurn the allurements of the world. For he is not able 554Bto fight manfully against the spiritual aliens, that is, the demons, who knows not how to turn aside the sweetness of the world.

They were enlightened. (RAB. ex Euch.) Not for seeing, etc., as far as and to stand in need of the prayers of the brethren.

VERS. 33.-- The people had sinned against the Lord, eating. (RAB.) To have sinned against the Lord, etc., as far as and to have eaten with the blood.

VERS. 34.-- Kill them upon this, etc. That the blood may flow to the ground. Or he ate with the blood, because they ate before the evening sacrifice, which after the slaughter was wont to be made before food. Or in this they sinned (as it seems good to some) that they did not lead their victims to the door 554Cof the tabernacle.

And they killed. The killing of the animals is baptism, in which the old man dies. The huge stone upon which the killing was done is faith, without which the old man dies not. The slaying upon the ground is the baptism of the heretics. Whose blood they eat, when without the purification of sins they gather to themselves men washed. These animals taken from the Philistines signify either those brought back from the heretics or those converted from heathenism: the unskilful rebaptize the former; the latter they baptize otherwise than the Church hands down. Whom Christ, as Saul did, commanded to be baptized upon his own faith as upon a great stone, as oxen and sheep to be slain, that is, the indifferences of men.

VERS. 35.-- Then first he began to build an altar to the Lord, etc. Because obediently and rightly. But above, 554Dwhen he was rebuked by Samuel, he is not said to have built to the Lord, because he built disobediently.

VERS. 38.-- Bring hither all the corners of the people He calls the princes the corners of the people, to whom on this side and on that the peoples clung as walls to corners.

VERS. 44.-- These things may he do. An oath of the Hebrews, which is understood by contraries, as though he should say: Let the evil which is due to thee be imputed to me, if I shall not have slain thee.

VERS. 45.-- Who hath wrought. Past good deeds profit much. For unless his past goods had helped Jonathan, he would not have escaped the impending evils. For God is not unjust, that he should forget good deeds.

• 555A

VERS. 1.-- And he said, etc. The ox, etc. (RAB. in lib. Reg., tom. II.) Therefore the Lord commands the cattle of Amalec to be destroyed, etc., as far as they cast up their derision of God into heaven.

VERS. 6.-- Saul said to the Cinite. (ID.) The Cinite is Jethro himself, the kinsman of Moses, etc., as far as the multitude of the people.

VERS. 11.-- It repenteth me. (GREG. in lib. Reg.) By this rebuke the pride of the king is cast down, etc., as far as that we may ascend to greater things and always out of humility.

VERS. 17.-- When thou wast. (GREG., lib. XXXIV Moral., et apud Euch.) He is little in his own eyes, etc., as far as whence: They have made thee a leader, be not 555Blifted up, but be as one of them.

VERS. 22.-- Better is, etc. (RAB. in lib. Reg.) Because through victims another's flesh, etc., as far as but Paul boldly says: I am ready not only to be bound in Jerusalem, but even to die (Act. XXI).

VERS. 26.-- I will not return. (ID.) Another edition, etc., as far as here he threatens and does not abide.

VERS. 27.-- But he. As in the passion of the Lord the high priest rent his garment, so also Saul the garment of the prophet. For through each power, namely the royal and the priestly, the rending that was made shows that the kingdom of the Jews and the priesthood could not stand, because they had been unwilling to receive the true king and priest, that is, Christ.

(RAB. ex Aug.) He to whom he said, etc., as far as not 555Caccording to one and the same nature of the human race.

VERS. 28.-- He hath rent. Although he reigned afterwards forty years, yet then he deserved that it should be rent from his stock and delivered to a better, that is, to David, and from Saul, that is, from the Jews, the kingdom is taken away and delivered to Christ. He corrects the king for his disobedience, because he did not fulfil the commandment of the Lord, and he foretells the loss of the kingdom. Deservedly does he lose the kingdom who knows not how to hold it. But he rules well who obeys his superior and sets his own authority before his inferiors.

VERS. 33.-- And into pieces. When some read in the Scriptures that the saints spare none of their enemies, they call them cruel, and understand not the mysteries shadowed in these words: namely, that fighting against vices 555Dwe should leave none at all. For if we shall have spared, it will be reckoned to us for a fault, as it was to Saul, who kept the king of Amalec alive. But the saints, like Samuel, leave no sin unpunished.

VERS. 7.-- Look not. The elder sons of Isai being rejected, the least is chosen to the kingdom, because, the Jewish priesthood and the kingdom of the former people being despised, Christ was made the head of the lesser people, king and priest.

VERS. 11.-- The little one. From the office of the flocks David was made king of men: but Christ was carried over from the sheepfold of the Jewish people to the kingdom of the nations. (GREG., lib. I Moral., cap. 6; lib. XVIII, cap. 6.) 556AThe devil, although he ever seeks the affliction of the just, etc., as far as there is no power but from God.

VERS. 16.-- One that knoweth how to play, etc. (RAB. ex Euch.) David was skilled in the songs of music, etc., as far as as though by the sweetness of the harp he might be called back to the tranquillity of our speech.

VERS. 23.-- Saul was refreshed. For before he was vexed by the demon even to suffocation. Boethius relates that a certain philosopher by the touch of the harp drove a demon from a body possessed.

VERS. 1.-- Gathering together. (RAB. in lib. Reg.) Azeca. It is a city of the Chananites in the tribe of Juda, as far as which Josue pursued the five kings, and to this day a village is called Azeca between Eleutheropolis and Helia, which 556Bis interpreted strength and a snare.

Dommim. It is a village in the tribe of Juda in the borders of Eleutheropolis, distant from it seven and twenty miles. Dommim is interpreted silence or joy.

VERS. 2.-- Of the turpentine tree. The turpentine tree is in Sichem, under which Jacob hid the idols, beside Neapolis.

VERS. 4.-- Baseborn. Because he had been born of an ignoble father, but of a noble mother.

VERS. 12.-- Eight sons. (HIERON., quaest. Hebr., tom. III.) In Paralipomenon only seven are named, etc., as far as Isidore says that Nathan the prophet also was of the Gabaonites.

VERS. 14.-- David. And the eighth, who is chosen to the kingdom, this is Christ, who emptied himself, taking the form 556Cof a servant (Philip. II), because through the glory of the resurrection also he obtained a kingdom among the nations.

VERS. 21.-- For Israel had set his army in array, but the Philistines. The battle of the Philistines against Israel can be taken as the battle of the demons against the Church. But Goliath signifies the pride of the devil: which David, that is Christ, laid low in single combat, and delivered the people of God. He who slew the lion and the bear, namely the devil and Antichrist, the one now secretly lying in wait, the other afterwards openly raging. Pride provoked humility, the devil Christ. David took the arms of war which for his age and little stature he could not carry, and cast them off. He took five stones from the river and put them in a shepherd's vessel: armed with these he conquered. So Christ, at the time of the revealing 556Dof the New Testament, when grace was to be brought in and commended, laid down the bodily sacraments of the law, which are not imposed upon the nations, which we read in the old law and do not observe, but understand to have been set forth and laid down for some signification: these he laid down as burdens of the law, and took the law itself. For the five stones signify the five books of Moses. He took five stones from the river, that is, from this world. For the mortal world glides away. The stones were as in a river among the first people. There they lay idle, and profited nothing. The stream passed over them. But David took grace, that the law might be profitable which without grace cannot be fulfilled. For the fulness of the law is charity (Rom. XIII). Because therefore grace causes the law to be fulfilled, 557Afor grace is signified by milk, for this in the flesh is gratuitous; but where the mother does not seek to receive but to give, she gives freely, and is saddened if there be none to receive. David showed that the law cannot work without grace; when, wishing to join to grace those five stones by which the law in five books is signified, he put them in a shepherd's vessel, in which milk was wont to be milked. Armed with these he went forth against the proud one. He took one stone, and cast down one, he struck him in the forehead, and he fell from that place of the body where he had not the sign of Christ. Five he took, one he sent. Five books are chosen, but unity conquers. The fulness therefore of the law is charity, as the Apostle says. Bearing with one another in love, careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. IV). When he was cast down, he took away his sword, cut off his head. 557BChrist slew the devil out of his own members, when the magicians believed, whom he held in his hand, and by whom he butchered others, turning their tongues against the devil, and so Goliath's head is cut off with his own sword.

VERS. 28.-- I know thy pride, and the wickedness of thy heart, because. (RAB.) He thought there was a swelling in him because of Samuel's anointing, as though he had taken boldness from it, and he feared lest, if he engaged with the Philistine, he should be slain. Whence he adds, thou art come down to see the battle, that is, in this thou appearest proud, that, though thou hast not the custom of fighting, thou inquirest after the doings of the battle like a soldier.

VERS. 29.-- Is it not a word? (ID.) As though he should say, it is, because it is not the will of fighting, but that 557CI might know what I knew not. Yet he had taken boldness from this, that he had received the Holy Spirit; having proved the help of God in the lion and the bear, and therefore he boldly offered himself to single combat, not so much desirous of victory as an avenger of the blasphemies against God and of the injuries of the people.

VERS. 41.-- And he went. (RAB. in lib. Reg.) Allegorically, the Philistines are demons, etc., as far as they behead the uplifted Goliath, as it were, with his own sword.

VERS. 51.-- And he took. (RAB. ex Greg.) The catholic man also gathers the testimony of Scripture, etc., as far as we overcome the heretics by their own opinions.

The head. David carried the head of the Philistine into Jerusalem, that he might terrify them, who trusted themselves to be unconquerable by the firmness and height of their walls, that they might not disbelieve that they were to be overcome by 557Dhim.

VERS. 55.-- Of what. (AUG.) That Saul and Abner do not know David, who had stayed a long while among them, the beard brought about, which had grown upon the youth while he had been absent.

He liveth. (RAB.) Like to this is that: Naboth hath blessed God and the king. That thy soul may not live, O king, if I know, or, may I see thy death if I know. The conjunction If also is sometimes put for not, according to that: If they shall enter into my rest (Psal. XCII), that is, they shall not enter, whence it appears that it is thus to be expounded: If I know, that is, I know not.

VERS. 1.-- And it came to pass, etc., and he loved, etc. 558A(RAB. in lib. Reg.) Jonathas loved David: a warlike man, namely, a youth apt for fighting. Jonathas signifies those who from among the Jews believed in Christ and, having received the grace of the Holy Spirit, having left all things for Christ followed him. Whence Peter: Behold we have left all things, and have followed thee (Matth. XIX). For so Jonathas gave David his own garments from the tunic even to the belt, when believers conferred all that they had had upon the service of Christ.

VERS. 7.-- Saul slew, etc. This was the seed-plot of hatred against David. So the Jews, hearing Christ, whom they had crucified, preached in the churches, and the victory whereby he overcame the ancient enemy, and believers rejoicing in his praise, took it grievously.

Saul a thousand. Namely those who were slain as they fled.

558BDavid ten thousand. Namely the Philistine who, when one was cast down, put them all to flight.

VERS. 10.-- And he held. So, when Christ was preaching the Gospel, the Jews strove to bring death upon him. But while he withdraws to the salvation of the nations, they only harmed themselves.

VERS. 17.-- And he said. (ISID. in lib. Reg., tom. V, cap. 11.) Saul, a crafty dissembler, was eager to bind David to Michol his daughter, etc., as far as he may be called back by the tranquillity of speech.

VERS. 27.-- He slew, etc., and he brought, etc. (RAB.) So Christ was first glorified among the nations, when he should join the Synagogue to himself, and first among the nations he cut away uncleanness. For when the fulness of the nations shall have come in, then all Israel shall be saved (Rom. XI).

• 558C

VERS. 3.-- In the field, etc. Whither he had been wont to come for the sake of consoling him, where it had been agreed that David should be slain.

VERS. 11.-- He sent therefore. (RAB.) This pertains not to the cross of Christ, but to the passion, etc., as far as they persecute him as a sinner.

VERS. 13.-- The skin. Thence a little cushion was sewn which, with the hairs unshorn, might counterfeit the head of a man wrapped up in the bed.

VERS. 18.-- In Ramatha. It is the city of Saul in the tribe of Benjamin, at the sixth milestone from Helia toward the northern quarter over against Bethel, another Ramatha is in the tribe of Aser. Well do these names agree with the deeds 558Dthemselves, because the sayings of the prophets have both the loftiness of knowledge and the beauty of eloquence.

VERS. 21-22.-- He sent a third time, etc. He went, etc. (RAB.) Saul also and his messengers signify the Jews, who, while they desire to oppose Christ, have in their mouth the sacraments of the law and of the prophets unto the testimony of Christ, and dispute with the Church out of the Scriptures as with the prophets, as those men prophesied with the prophets.

VERS. 24.-- He prophesied. These prophets were religious men, called Nazarenes, who drank no wine, and were always at leisure, singing hymns and psalms.

Naked. The Jews also, stripped of faith and of priesthood and of kingdom, have the law and the prophets in their mouth.

Is Saul also. It is called a proverb, which is often turned about in the mouth 559Aof speakers. For it seemed a marvellous thing that so profane a man should prophesy. And we, when we see the unlearned teaching, rightly say, Is Saul also among the prophets?

(RAB.) A great question arises here, etc., as far as but it is to be understood of the royal ones only.

(ID.) Again it is asked, etc., as far as by how much they used not those gifts well.

VERS. 3.-- By one only. (RAB.) He calls the wall a step, with which in the midst between himself and the enemies, he escaped through the window of the house, where they that besieged him were.

VERS. 16.-- And he sought. (ID.) It is a prolepsis, that is, an anticipation, etc., as far as but with the Lord 559Bavenging on his behalf.

VERS. 17.-- And he added. (ID.) That David might be shown free from the destruction of his enemies, because he loved him according to the law of God. Who, although, prevented by death, he could not have the earthly kingdom with him as he hoped, yet without any doubt he received the fellowship of the heavenly kingdom with him whom he loved for his virtues, since he himself also was a man of virtues.

Do I not know: as though he should say, Thou lovest my enemy, opposing me, wherein thou showest thyself to have been conceived in adulterous intercourse. For they that are born lawfully love their fathers more closely.

(RAB.) What is it that Jonathas, wishing to save David, etc., as far as but him whom Moses and the prophets had foretold he knew not.

• 559C

VERS. 1.-- Achimelech. (RAB.) That is, my brother is king, etc., as far as the apostles were sanctified by faith from the contagion of the Jews.

VERS. 5.-- The way. (ID.) In the Hebrew, etc., as far as and that with the peril of life pressing he should not eat of them.

VERS. 6.-- He gave therefore. (ID.) So far as pertains to the prophecy, etc., as far as whence: If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you (Joan. XV).

VERS. 7.-- In the tabernacle of the Lord. (RAB.) In Heb. bound in the sight of the Lord, for perhaps he had vowed that for some days he would abide in the tabernacle of the Lord and be free for prayers.

Doeg the Idumaean. (ID.) Who was the keeper of the camels, that is, 559Dof an unfruitful and crooked flock, etc., as far as because none can hurt Christ the prince of priests, who as victor ascended the heavens.

(RAB. ex Isid.) Achis is interpreted, etc., as far as within, the divine power lay hid as a beard.

VERS. 1.-- And when. (RAB.) He signified that our Redeemer, the passion and the redemption of the human race being accomplished, first set the Church among the people of Israel in Judaea, of which he also took flesh. Where his brethren, that is, the apostles, and the house of his father, that is, they who believed of the Jews, came to him, and there came together to him all who were 560Aset in distress, etc. To whom, namely, he says: Come to me, all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you (Matth. XI).

VERS. 2.-- With another's money. (ID.) Namely with the tax of sins which they pay to the devil, while they yield their members to serve iniquity unto iniquity; it is necessary that such do penance in bitterness of soul, and come to David, that is, to Christ desired by all the nations, that he may become their prince. For he is the judge of the living and of the dead, and the prince of peace, of whose kingdom there shall be no end.

VERS. 5.-- And Gad said. (ID.) Gad is brought in unexpectedly. For no mention is made of him in what goes before, as also of Elias, where it is said: And Elias the Thesbite of the inhabitants of Galaad said (III Reg. XVII). Out of the mouth therefore 560Bof the Lord Gad the prophet said to David that he should not tarry among the nations in a polluted land, but should return into the land of Juda, where according to the will of the Lord he might endure persecution.

VERS. 11.-- He will come down. (RAB.) If thou shalt stand here Saul will come down, and the men of Ceila will deliver thee into his hands: therefore he made known their will. But the men of Ceila, ungrateful for the benefits of David, whom he had delivered from the hands of the Philistines, signify the unbelief and inconstancy of the Jews, who, ungrateful to their Redeemer, lie in wait for him before the powers of the world. And Ceila is interpreted cast at the sling, or excelling itself. The wicked walk round about (Psal. XI). And, The fool is changed as the moon (Eccli. XXVII).

560CVERS. 14.-- Ziph. (RAB.) They betrayed to Saul David lying hid among them, and treated with him concerning his death. And the Ziphites are interpreted flourishing or budding, and they signify those Jews who, seeking the flower of an earthly kingdom, treated with their princes concerning the slaying of Christ, how they might lay hold of him through his lost disciple, and deliver him to the governor to be put to death; and, flourishing in the world, they betray Christ in his members, namely to the powers of this world.

VERS. 4.-- And there was there, etc. (RAB. ex Euch.) The king, taken by unforeseen ambushes, etc., as far as Samuel says: The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel out of thy hand.

(GREG., Moral., tom. II.) What is signified by Saul but evil 560Drulers? etc., as far as whence Moses, when he had learned that the people murmured against himself and Aaron, said: For what are we (Exod. XVI)?

He liveth, etc. Josephus supplies what is defective in the letter: they that were with him rebuked him. For he was sparing an enemy who wished to destroy him, and he calmed them, saying: The Lord liveth, etc.

VERS. 1.-- Pharan. (RAB. in lib. Reg., tom. II.) It is a town in Arabia neighbouring upon the Saracens, who were in the wilderness: through this the children of Israel passed, when they had moved their camp from mount Sinai. And it is toward the southern quarter, and is distant from Haila toward the East by a journey of three days. In the desert of Pharan 561AScripture records that Ismael dwelt, from whom come the Ismaelites, who are now called Saracens. We read also that Chodorlaomor smote those who were in the desert of Pharan.

VERS. 3.-- Nabal, etc. (RAB., ibid.) A hard and very wicked man, etc., as far as whence: There shall be joy in heaven over one sinner doing penance (Luc. XV).

VERS. 18.-- Measures. A satum is a kind of measure containing a peck and a half. Polenta is the finest meal. That grape is called a raisin which before it ripens is long dried in the sun, and so is kept. Masses of dried figs, that is, bundles of the fruits of fig trees.

VERS. 29.-- The soul shall be, etc. (RAB., ex Euch.) By a most beautiful comparison, etc., as far as or they have been taken away from human affairs.

VERS. 37.-- When he had digested. (GREG.) The wrathful 561Bwe better correct if we turn aside in the very stirring of their anger; for being disturbed they know not what they hear. But when they come back to themselves, they receive the words of exhortation the more gladly, the more they blush that they were the more quietly borne with. But to a mind drunk with fury everything right that is said seems perverse: whence also Abigail laudably kept silence to the drunken Nabal about his fault, which, when the wine was digested, she laudably told him. For the evil which he had done was able to hurt, because being drunk he heard not.

VERS. 44.-- To Phalti the son. (RAB.) As the Hebrews hand down, Phalti knew her not, because if he had known her, David would not afterwards have received her back, because it is forbidden in the law. For Phalti was of Gallim, that is, of cleansing, that is, of the law. For he was a doctor of the law, of Baurim, that is, of the elect, when Michol was given him. For Phalti is called going. when she is taken away; Phaltiel, 561Cthat is, escaping from God, he is called: because God kept him from touching her, lest he should become a transgressor of the law: yet he followed her weeping as far as Baurim for joy, because he had not touched her.

VERS. 1-5.-- And the Ziphites came, etc., Sleeping, etc. (RAB. in lib. Reg., tom. II.) The Jews persecute Christ, etc., as far as he ascended the height of heaven.

VERS. 8.-- They took prey of Gessuri and of Gerzi, etc. (HIERON., quaest. Hebr. in Reg.) These villages were not under the power of Achis. They are said to have been inhabited in the land of old, because quiet and secure they had 561Ddwelt, and had endured the entreaties of no enemy.

VERS. 3.-- But Samuel. (RAB. in lib. Reg., tom. II.) Samuel is read above to have died: but the cause of his raising up is repeated, unto the damnation of Saul, who, having forsaken God, against the law consulted a python.

VERS. 6.-- And he consulted the Lord. (RAB.) As 562Athe Hebrews hand down, an oracle was sought from God by fasting and praying: and God revealed things to come to them through dreams, which Saul is not read to have done.

Nor by the priests. (ID.) In Heb. nor by urim, that is, doctrine, nor by the ephod, namely that which the priest bore upon his breast, on which was written: doctrine and truth.

VERS. 9.-- Magicians. Magicians use human blood, and the touching of the dead in sorceries and divinations, soothsayers divine by words alone, that is, by incantations. Apollo, the practiser of these arts, is called Pythius, from whom the Pythonissae, that is, the diviners: these Saul destroyed as it were out of zeal for the law, because, as they say, being compelled by demons they proclaimed that David was to be king.

VERS. 11.-- Whom shall I raise up. (AUG., epist. ad 562BSimplicianum, tom. II.) Thou askest whether a malignant spirit could raise up the soul of a just man, etc., as far as that it may be referred to the equal condition of death, that each was a man and could die, being already dead he foretold death to the living.

VERS. 5.-- Saul slew. Those envying the glory of David say that he fought only among ten thousands, as of lesser power, but Saul among thousands, as innumerable, and they add not how many he smote, envying their praise, or lest they should terrify their own. In the most ancient books it does not stand thousands: but only as a thousand, and ten thousand.

VERS. 1.-- And when the Amalecites. (GREG., lib. XXIX 562CMoral.) It is to be considered what it is that the Amalecites invade Siceleg and take spoil, etc., as far as whom the world in common has despised to have.

VERS. 21.-- They had stayed behind. The two hundred weary men who were left with the baggage signify the weak of the Church, who cannot run in the way with spiritual men, but because they have faith and keep good work, they take beforehand from Christ the reward of blessedness together with the perfect.

VERS. 2.-- They slew Jonathan, etc. (RAB. in lib. Reg. tom. II.) Jonathan, Abinadab, etc., as far as he should perish with his sons.

VERS. 4.-- He took therefore. With the sword wherewith he spared the Amalecites 562Dagainst the commandment of God, he deservedly slew himself: so he who, having received power for the common good, either uses it not or abuses it, doubtless pierces himself with his own sword, and whereby he ought to have been defended from the enemy, he rather helps the enemy.

VERS. 11.-- The inhabitants. They whom Saul had defended from their adversaries repay what they can. Let us also, as far as we can, snatch our benefactors, slain by the sword of sin, from the reproach of the Philistines.