Chapter 1
Aging Samuel appoints his sons judges over Israel. However, as they deviate from the right path, the people request a king for themselves; and although, by the Lord's command, he expounds the law of the king, he is still unable to dissuade them from their wicked intent. (1 Samuel 8.) Now it came to pass, when Samuel was old, etc., up to Let every man go to his own city, etc. This lesson, understood both literally and typologically, reproaches those who, neglecting the holy command they have learned, desire rather to serve their own lusts: which can be understood both generally of all false believers, and specifically of the Jews; who either, after the Savior's incarnation, rejected the preachers of the heavenly kingdom out of love for an earthly kingdom; or who, once disdaining the very peaceful governance of the judges, against the counsel of the Lord, desired to be exalted by the royal scepter’s lineage. Now it came to pass, he says, when Samuel was old, he appointed his sons judges over Israel. The name of old age in the Scriptures, when used mystically, sometimes signifies maturity of wisdom and the gravity of counsel, and sometimes the sluggishness of a mind growing cold from the new fervor of a nascent virtue. For it was said of the just judge, whose wisdom no conscience can deceive: And the Ancient of Days sat. And it was said of his members: The glory of old men is their gray hair, that is, the gravity of wisdom. Again, in a negative sense, one who felt himself growing cold in the pursuit of virtues said: I have grown old among all my enemies (Psalm 6). To both interpretations, however, what is said can be applied: Samuel, growing old, appointed his sons judges over Israel. For when faith and love of Christ had grown old among the Jews, with some indeed growing cold as if with old age, and others mature with the long habit of living, the Lord Himself appointed the Scribes and Pharisees as judges of this people, who ought to discern the right way of life and show it to those subject to them: who are called sons of God, according to what He said in Exodus, Israel is my firstborn son (Exodus 4). As said, this can equally refer both to the time of the Lord’s incarnation and to the times when judges were first appointed by the Lord among the same people. For even then, as the prophet testifies, the just lived by faith (Habakkuk 2). Without a doubt, this about which Peter said: But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they (Acts 15).
[1 Samuel 8:2] -- The name of his firstborn son was Joel, etc. Joel means 'beginning' or 'was of God', Abia stands for 'father', and Beersheba means 'well of the oath'. It is indeed a place, as the name itself proves, where Abraham and Isaac made a covenant with Abimelech by swearing; this signifies that very fountain of salvation, which, united in the pact of one and the same faith, washes those circumcised and uncircumcised; in which the aforementioned brothers are appointed as judges so that they may both offer and drink the fountain of life. But they according to their name began but did not persevere to the end, to be saved, and though once belonging to God and worthy of the name of the patriarchs, now changed to the contrary, they preferred their own traditions and crimes over both the law and grace. And when any of us, cooling with the spiritual fervor he had begun, places base and earthly thoughts before his mind, it is as if the aging Samuel set the degenerate sons as judges in Beersheba; for the perverse senses are subject to the mystery of baptism.
[1 Samuel 8:4] -- Therefore, all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel, etc. Therefore, after the ascension of the Lord, all the elders of carnal Israel gathered together against him, and sent out to follow him into Ramah, that is, into the heights of heaven, where whatever we do on earth is quickly revealed, saying: 'We do not want this man to reign over us' (Luke 19); and as if speaking to him who can hide nothing, they said: 'Behold, they said, your faith and love in us have grown old, and the sons whom you have nurtured and lifted up, they have despised you' (Isaiah 1). Therefore, we preferred, like the nations that did not know you, and the kingdoms that did not call on your name, to remain strangers to your leadership rather than be deprived of the kingdom, faith, and homeland of your grace. For if, leaving the skill of fighting, we follow the simplicity of your doctrine, the Romans will come and take away our place and our nation. This indeed the Jews, though not in voice, at least in their depraved mind and intention, spoke against the Lord and against His Christ.
[1 Samuel 8:6] -- The speech was displeasing to the eyes of Samuel, etc. The infidelity of the Jews was displeasing before the wise in Christ, who are the eyes of the Church, because in choosing the lowest for the highest, although ignorant, they said to the Lord, "Give us an earthly kingdom that will perpetually damn us." For of the heavenly kingdom, which you promise to the poor in spirit, we have no care, for whose salvation the Savior prayed either by himself while he was in the world, or through his members even after the ascension. This is specially narrated in the ecclesiastical history concerning James, the brother of the Lord (Matthew V), because he prayed for the people attending the temple with such insistence and diligence that his knees were believed to have taken on the hardness of camels'.
[1 Samuel 8:7] -- But the Lord said to Samuel: “Listen to the voice of the people,” etc. Do not take away their free will, but give the power to become children of God, to those who were unwilling to believe, and do not grieve the reproach of men resulting from the rejection of the people. For they have not rejected your teaching in the person speaking, but my divine teaching operating through you, so that I may not grant them an eternal kingdom in you. This is similar to what he himself said: "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me" (John VII).
[1 Samuel 8:8] -- “As they have forsaken me and served other gods,” etc. That is, just as they will also forsake the grace of the Gospel and serve rituals alien to God.
[1 Samuel 8:9] -- Now therefore listen to their voice, etc. And these most fittingly apply to the person of the Father speaking to the Son: "Let them go according to the desires of their hearts, and they will go in their own wills" (Psalm LXXX). However, testify to them through the Gospel, and preach to them what temporal misery before men, what eternal torment in hell those will suffer who, neglecting service, or rather spiritual freedom, preferred to reign over themselves, saying: "For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, and your house will be left desolate" (Luke X), and similar things, and he said:
[1 Samuel 8:11] -- This will be the law of the king who will rule over you. It does not explain what a moderate and just emperor should be like, whose perfection is taught in many places of the Holy Scriptures and especially in Deuteronomy; but rather it intimates a wicked ruler, by whose harshness the subjects will be oppressed, in order to persuade the people to withdraw from their stubborn request. Figuratively, the Scripture that speaks of a good king signifies Christ: about whom it is sung under the figure of Solomon, "O God, give your judgment to the king" (Psalm 71). But what is said of a bad king refers to the devil: according to Ecclesiasticus, "A foolish king destroys his people" (Eccl. 10). And rightly so, because he belongs to the devil, while the other is a member of Christ.
[1 Samuel 8:11] -- He will take your sons, etc. You, he says, were called to freedom, brothers, only do not use freedom as an opportunity for the flesh (Gal. 5). Therefore, whoever gives the freedom into which he was called as an opportunity for the flesh, will soon, under the power of an impious king, that is, the devil whom he has chosen as his lord, suffer all these servitudes in himself which Samuel spoke to the people about. For what was once said specifically of one people but has for a longer time and with historical and typical truth been practiced, should generally be applied to all mortals who cast off the sweet yoke of the Lord; whose sons the wicked king takes and places in his chariots, when the ancient enemy, taking their glorious deeds, such as modesty, patience, kindness, almsgiving, and other similar things, corrupts them with hypocrisy, vainglory, pride, or any other vicious plague, he binds them to the works of the faithless, in whose hearts, constrained by the bridle of iniquity, the very worst charioteer freely and proudly rides around in his chariots. And because now the impious enemy falsely associates those whom he considers faithful among the faithful by their works, the strict Judge will associate them in the end through punishments; of such it is rightly written: “The lord of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect, and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful” (Matt. 24).
[1 Samuel 8:11] -- And he will make for himself horsemen, etc. So much, he says, has the devil also subjected your stronger endeavors to himself, that through these he may strive to correct others with the bridle of error, to tame them, and to lead them to the path of impiety, and to make the offspring of virtue a herald of vices. For just as in good the chariots of virtues minister, bringing prudence, fortitude, justice, and temperance into the hearts of neighbors; so on the contrary, the chariot of the worst king is preceded by one who, to his followers, prefigures examples of vices contrary to these virtues.
[1 Samuel 8:12] -- And he will appoint for himself tribunes and centurions, etc. And from your great deeds, as if from sons born from the womb of a good conscience, the ancient corrupter will appoint others for himself to this office, as if certain tribunes to lead a hostile army against the camps of truth; others to promise the great perfection of eternal life to those who follow them as centurions; those who, sowing in the flesh, will reap corruption from the flesh; according to what Hosea says, "You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped iniquity, you have eaten the fruit of lies" (Hosea X). Others whom the fraudulent arranger distributes to strengthen fabricators of errors with dialectical snares and worshippers of perverse doctrines against the truth. We can also perceive the plowers of the devil's fields to be those who cultivate the hearts of the wretched with the exercise of wicked doctrine. The reapers, indeed, who, as if perfect in the smaller fruits of their hearers, lead them to the contemplation of their more secret mysteries as cleaners to the barns; this is proper to heretics, and especially is usually the invention of the Manicheans. For the sons of the rebellious people, whom we have interpreted over the diverse acts of one person, can also be referred to diverse persons, defiled by different errors but from the same adversary.
[1 Samuel 8:13] -- He will also make your daughters his ointment-makers, etc. He will make your synagogues, or the souls of the deceived, or certainly thoughts once free from pure chastity, to favor his depraved iniquities with wicked flattery; the prophet who abhors this worst kind of ointment prays: "But let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head" (Psalm 140). Contrary to this is the ointment-maker of the good king, Mary Magdalene, who says: "While the king was on his couch, my spikenard gave forth its fragrance" (Song of Songs 1). He will also make those who serve his furnace of vices: about which the prophet testifies, "All of them adulterers, like an oven their hearts" (Hosea 7). Contrary to this is the furnace of heavenly love, of which those who have received the word of truth say to one another: "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, and explaining the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24). He will also make bread-makers, who call those madmen to the abominable feasts of heresies, saying: "Eat bread in secret with pleasure: stolen waters are sweeter, and hidden bread more delightful" (Proverbs 9:17). Concerning which bread, it is also said elsewhere: "Sweet to a man is the bread of lies, but afterwards his mouth will be filled with gravel" (Proverbs 20:17). Contrary to this is the bread of truth, which strengthens the heart of man. Of which knowledge, because neither flesh nor blood shall reveal, but the Father who is in heaven: rightly it is sung under the figure of a strong woman of the Church, "She is like the ships of the merchant, bringing her bread from afar" (Proverbs 31).
[1 Samuel 8:14] -- He will also take your fields and vineyards, etc. Also taking from you the most abundant stores of your spiritual virtues, and the fruits of fervent love, not to mention the sweetest gifts of shining mercy, he will subject them rather to the pleasures of unclean spirits.
[1 Samuel 8:15] -- But he will also tithe your fields and the incomes of your vineyards, etc. But the ancient corrupter will wholly deprive you of your works, almost brought to the perfection of nature, and the hope of all your life with heavenly reward, which is signified by the number ten, so that he may restore the insatiable desires of those wicked spirits serving him, whom, once stripped of angelic virtue, he made to hunger for human destruction, by the damage of these things.
[1 Samuel 8:17] -- Your male and female servants also, etc. Even the improper motions of mind or flesh, for example, anger, jealousy, gluttony, lust, and other such things, which must be restrained and curbed by the discipline of wise men; but even the other duties of right intention, the cruel deceiver will instead claim for his own jurisdiction, and in the rich flocks of virtues, in which you have long served in vain, lacking the perfection of ten, the enemy himself will receive the palm of pasture in the end. Thus, you will finally bewail yourselves made servants under the adversary, whom it had previously wearied you to live as free under the Lord.
[1 Samuel 8:18] -- And you will cry out on that day from the face of your king, etc. This prophecy is clear, and until today, it continues to be fulfilled among the Jews; who, as it is written in the seventeenth Psalm: They will cry (and there is no one to save them) to the Lord, and He did not hear them. To whom the Lord says: I will not hear your prayers. For your hands are full of blood (Isa. I). Namely, the blood that they were calling down upon themselves in the choice of this wicked king by saying: His blood be upon us, and upon our children (Matt. XXVII). Let them wash this off with the water of baptism, and they will cry out to the Lord from their tribulation, and He will deliver them from their necessities (Psalm CVI). Otherwise, they hear from the apostle James: You ask, and do not receive, because you ask wrongly (Acts IV). But even in the moral understanding, vices are difficult and conquered late, which for a long time lying down willingly, and voluntarily casting themselves down, had oppressed.
[1 Samuel 8:19] -- But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, etc. This obstinacy of the disobedient people asking for a king instead of the Lord does not only pertain to the time of proclaimed grace, but also before the celebrated mysteries of the Lord's incarnation. It occupied the Synagogue, indeed nearly the entire human race, from the first parent, when he put the words of the serpent before God. For always the obstinate ones endeavor to place their free will's decision before the governance of divine grace. But the good children of the Father, supplicating in spirit, do not say 'our kingdom' or 'our will'; rather, they say, 'Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven' (Matthew 6).
[1 Samuel 8:22] -- And Samuel said . . . Let each one return to his city. Even today, the divine word teaches that all who are obstinate and rebellious against the Lord should return individually to the heart's council from the public scene of obstinate contention; so that each, more freely within his own heart, may diligently examine what he has done against the will of your heavenly ordination, and what sentence he is to receive from the strict judge.
[1 Samuel 9:1] -- And there was a man from Benjamin named Kish, son of Abiel, etc. In this Saul the king, who was chosen by the people instead of Samuel, who persecuted David, committed other crimes, rejected David, and dying received a successor to the kingdom: he signifies the wickedness of the Jews, who, despising and persecuting both the prophets and the Lord, preferred to reign by themselves; therefore they left the kingdom of God, from which they were expelled, to a nation producing its fruits. Now, in that he was anointed with holy oil, delivering Israel from the enemy, he figuratively announces the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, the present reading, which contains the history of the anointing of Saul, but no mark of reproof: designates the high mysteries of the Lord Savior's descent from heaven for us men, and for our salvation, his reception of baptism from John, and the other lofty mysteries of the temporal dispensation. And primarily, the sense that is concerning the Lord, helps, because Saul came from Benjamin, who is said to be chosen and good; whether because Benjamin is interpreted as 'son of the right hand,' or because it is the smallest tribe in Israel; for grace is always generated in Christ by the humble in spirit, to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs.
[1 Samuel 9:2] -- And he had a son named Saul, etc. For he who is of the earth is from the earth, and speaks of the earth: he who comes from heaven is above all; who did not commit sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth (John III; 1 Peter II). But also the name Saul, which means "desired" or "petition," most fittingly applies to Christ, who is always implored with great desire by the saints and is asked to be present. Likewise, the name of his father Cis, that is, "stern," also alludes to mysteries; whether it signifies God the Father, or David, or Abraham, or any other of the fathers, from whom Christ is according to the flesh. For that nature is stern, which not only cannot be conquered or changed, but also cannot be comprehended by any created nature. It is stern in the strictness of judgment to the reprobate, but through the grace of mercy is kind to the good. For it is said of these: “How good is God to Israel, to those who are pure in heart” (Psalm XXII)! But of those, it is said: “Your almighty word leapt down from heaven, from the royal throne, as a stern warrior into the midst of the land of destruction” (Wisdom XVIII); and in temptations, the faithful hearts of the good are stern, to whom under the guise of Ezekiel it is said: “Behold, I have made your face stronger than their faces, and your forehead stronger than their foreheads; like adamant, harder than flint have I made it” (Ezekiel III).
[1 Samuel 9:3] -- But the asses of Cis, father of Saul, had wandered off, etc. The souls that belonged also to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ had wandered off; because although they lived justly, before the Son of God descended to the earth, they could not receive the first robe. And God the Father said to His only Son: Join to your company the unanimous saints who adhere to you obediently, noble desires, and following you by their own virtue, begin the work of human salvation. But if it is agreeable to accept Cis, father of Saul, as the assembly of the ancient fathers, it is apparent that he carried the care of the souls of the faithful, and earnestly prayed to Christ that He would deign to come in the flesh for their salvation, saying: “O Lord God of hosts, restore us, and show the light of your face, and we shall be saved” (Psalm LXXII), and similar things.