Chapter 7
The people having dispersed from him, Saul offers a burnt sacrifice; and for acting foolishly, is rebuked by Samuel, and it is shown that another will be anointed in his place as king. While Saul was still at Gilgal, etc. This lesson under Saul and David shows the figure of the Synagogue and the Church, with some falling away from faith, while others receive the promised rewards of the heavenly kingdom. But for the sense of the allegory to shine more clearly, let us first, according to the historical account, inquire how Saul sinned and deserved to lose the kingdom. It is clear, then, that with the imminent danger of war, as even the history of antiquities reveals, Saul sent and called upon Samuel, so that in a time of such necessity he might be helped by his prayers and counsel, who had instructed him to wait there and prepare sacrifices, promising to come to him on the seventh day so that they might then sacrifice and thus join in battle. But although Saul indeed waited seven days as Samuel had commanded, he did not keep the command perfectly. For when he saw that Samuel delayed and that he himself was being deserted by his soldiers, he offered a burnt offering; which, when Samuel arrived and found out, he testified that Saul had acted foolishly because he had preemptively offered prayers and sacrifices which should have been made by the will of God for the people. Therefore, as often explained, Saul represents the teachers of the Jews, and the seven days awaited by Samuel signify the time of the law which taught the mystery of the Sabbath; Samuel signifies prophecy, or the Lord Himself speaking in the prophets. Saul in Gilgal, that is, in revelation, is commanded to wait for Samuel, who was to offer sacrifices and pray for the people for seven days. And the Pharisees and the doctors of the Jews, being testified to by the prophets, were commanded to remain in the observation of the revealed and given law until more manifest and clear prophecy should show how to live and how to meet hostile enemies. Indeed, until the Lord Himself, the head of the prophets, coming to conquer aerial powers, should offer Himself as a sacrifice to the Father for the world. But while Saul was still at Gilgal, the people who followed him were terrified. Those skilled in the divine knowledge of the law were placed in the recognition of God's will; those who followed them, the listeners of the law, were terrified, and, either by the incursions of tempting sins, by the harshness of legal precepts, or certainly by the examples of their teachers, they began to tire of the law they heard. For it is rightly said that those skilled in the law are placed in Gilgal, that is, in revelation, in comparison, of course, with the gentiles, who did not even perceive the words of the law, having no understanding obscured by darkness; although the same themselves, in comparison with the clarity of the Gospel, have a veil over their heart, and can only with a revealed face contemplate the glory of the word if they turn to Christ. Nor does it differ that Gilgal, in which Saul was, is also interpreted as a rolling place, in the sense of a heart still weak and not yet reaching the fountain of living water; of such it is said: And the sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mud (II Peter II).
[1 Samuel 13:8] -- And he waited seven days according to Samuel’s appointed time, etc. The assembly of legal scholars, together with their listeners, waited for the advent of Christ in the flesh throughout the entire time that the Sabbath was observed in the law, knowing that He would come in the last days of legal observance; but as He delayed, so that He might come at the fullness of time which He had predestined, a considerable portion of their listeners, having slipped away, deserted the camp of the spiritual army. And indeed, concerning those who waited well, the prophet says: “But My just one lives by faith” (Habakkuk 2). But concerning those who fell away, he adds: “But if he draws back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him” (Hebrews 10).
[1 Samuel 13:9] -- So Saul said: Bring me the burnt offering, etc. Seeing that the people had slipped away from him, but not seeing Samuel approaching, Saul offered the burnt offering. The legal scholars of that time, greatly degenerating from the perfection of the early leaders, saw the people slipping away from adherence to the law, and, not knowing that the time of the Lord's incarnation was near, established their own traditions to be observed, as if they would be pleasing to the Lord in every way. This interpretation is supported by what follows, when Saul replied to Samuel rebuking him for his foolish rashness, saying:
[1 Samuel 13:11] -- Because I saw that the people were slipping away from me, etc. The mystical sense of these words, as is clear from what was explained above, is easily understood. He immediately added, and said: Moreover, the Philistines were gathered together at Michmash, which means in humility; for unless they were deprived of humility, they would by no means prefer themselves to the Lord; nor unless the spirits of pride besieging the gates of the heart, would they, who dwell in high places and yet observe the humble, arrogantly despise Him.
[1 Samuel 13:12] -- I said: Now the Philistines will come down upon me to Gilgal, etc. The Pharisees and scribes, fearing that they might be either submerged by demons or in the mire of vices, or rendered useless in the revelation of the given law, began to have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge; and as the Psalmist testifies, “There they were in great fear, where no fear was” (Psalm 52).
[1 Samuel 13:13] -- And Samuel said to Saul: You have acted foolishly, etc. And the Lord Himself in the Gospel, and the prophets, in their respective times, rebuke those who, as though sacrificing without Samuel, neglecting the help of the divine word, worship God in vain, teaching doctrines and commandments of men.
[1 Samuel 13:13] -- But if you had not done this, the Lord would have now prepared your kingdom, etc. This should not be understood as if God had established an eternal kingdom for Saul and later did not want to preserve it because he sinned, whom He had foreseen would sin; but He had prepared his kingdom in which there would be a figure of the eternal kingdom. But also every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven, bringing forth from his treasure new things and old, reigns over Israel forever (Matthew 11). Namely that Israel, which he made to be spiritual by teaching and ruling; to such people the apostle says, "For what is my crown or joy? Is it not you in the presence of our Lord Jesus?" (1 Thess. 2). Hence, to the servant who, trading well, that is, acquiring many through his teaching, it is said as he enters into the joy of his Lord: "You shall have authority over ten cities" (Luke 9); that is, from the merits and knowledge of those whom you have instructed spiritually from the law, you will shine more gloriously in the kingdom. But if some teacher has preferred his own understanding to the words of Scripture, and through those doctrines which he himself has composed, has led his listeners to carnal things rather than spiritual things; which is as Saul offering sacrifices without Samuel, sanctifying his army for battle, the foolish one will lose the kingdom. But if he had not done this, he could have had an eternal kingdom over Israel. About such people, the Savior in the Gospel: "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5). For such a person is the least in the present kingdom of the Church, entirely foreign to the future one.
[1 Samuel 13:14] -- But your kingdom shall not arise anymore. For every plant, He says, which My heavenly Father has not planted, shall be uprooted.
[1 Samuel 13:14] -- The Lord sought for Himself a man after His own heart, etc. Under the persona of David, he signifies Christ and the leaders of the Christian people; hence he specifically mentions his own people, and does not add Israel; so that even the Gentiles might be shown to belong to this leader’s command. However, the Lord did not seek as if He did not know, speaking to men in a human manner, even thus speaking, He seeks us. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19). We were already known to Him, so that we existed in Him before the foundation of the world. Therefore, the Lord sought for Himself a man after His own heart, that is, one who would recognize the counsel of His will with a pure mind, and who would follow it with pious devotion. This is rightly understood of David, who, understanding beyond all his teachers, recognized the uncertain and hidden things of divine wisdom by manifest revelation, and sang of them with wonderful sweetness (Psalm 51). But it is much better and perfect to understand it of the angel of great counsel, who alone is the conscious revealer of the Father’s secrets. For it is not to be believed that the heart of God, according to the Anthropomorphites, is a member of a human body, but rather signifies the inner secret of divine counsel and wisdom. As indeed it was said above, when the new priesthood of Christ and the Church, as well as here the kingdom, was prophesied to come, with the old one put aside, as the man of God said to Eli: And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to My heart and soul (1 Samuel 2).
[1 Samuel 13:15] -- But Samuel rose up and went up from Gilgal, etc. The prophet demonstrates the same change of the kingdom which he had predicted by word also by changing the place. For even the Lord, who said of the unbelievers: "Arise, let us go from here" (John 14); having left the Synagogue, ascended the hill of the Son of the right hand, that is, the high hearts of that people; who wished to be the Son not of any earthly, but of heavenly and eternal blessedness; and the prophetic word illuminated by the dispensation of the Savior, through the literal revelation, by which rough minds were imbued, taught those perfected in the higher and more sacred mysteries of Christ and the Church. Indeed, what was said about the two peoples, we see carried out daily in individual persons. For the people set in Gilgal by Saul are terrified, while each of the faithful, either in the revelation of knowledge, which he received as less strong; or in the mire of vices, in which he shamefully fell, weakly fixed, the soul conscious of its frailty is troubled, and for the sake of seeking its own salvation, usefully stirs up itself, lest perhaps the spiritual adversary Machmas, that is, humility, which he especially desires, be overcome; lest the revelation of heavenly doctrine be taken away; lest the walls of the other virtues be broken through by the deceitful victor. Saul waits seven days, according to the agreement of Samuel, while someone in tribulation, with faith and diligent action, seeks the promised help of the Lord. For seven consists of three and four; three pertains to faith because of the confession of the Holy Trinity; four to works, because of prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice; by which four as corners the whole structure of spiritual virtues is established. But when someone perfectly completes these seven days, that is, the light of sevenfold devotion, according to what the Psalm advises: "Wait on the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage" (Psalm 27); the Lord will come into the heart, and making his abode in it, will immediately destroy all the snares of the hostile army by the illumination of his coming. But he who has less of this perfection, less patient in adversity, less confident in the regard of divine aid, having forgotten that of Ecclesiasticus: "Do not delay in the time of distress" (Ecclesiasticus 10); loses all at once the ranks of virtues in which he had congratulated himself, by despairing; just as Saul, because on the seventh day not yet well completed, he despairs of Samuel’s promised arrival, is abandoned by the people as they slip away; who, if he had completed the appointed time, would not have lacked the promised aid of the prophet: "For the Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth" (Psalm 145). But Saul increased his sin, not only by wavering about the promises of the prophet, but also by offering the burnt offering himself, which was fitting for the priest. Pelagius increases blasphemy, another so-called faithful increases it, while less diligent about divine grace, he confidently believes he can be saved by his own strength; and what is the gift of the high priest alone, he foolishly thinks to acquire by the decision of his own will. Therefore, according to the Apocalypse of John: Another comes, and receives the promised kingdom and the crown of life and blessing from such people. This change was signified not by the counsels of supernal beings, but by the human affairs themselves, as Samuel himself, when with the rejection of the unfaithful, and the election of the most faithful king foretold, he rose up and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. Because the word of God sent into the world will not return to him void, but will accomplish whatever he wills, and will prosper in those to whom he sent it (Isaiah 55). And having left behind the hypocrites and cunning ones, who provoke the wrath of God, he seeks the simple and faithful, whom he may elevate to the heavenly kingdom, as hearers.