Chapter 9
Saul adjures the people not to eat before the enemy is destroyed, and not to eat with blood after the enemy is destroyed. He forbids building an altar, and he does not deserve the oracle of the Lord which he seeks because of Jonathan's fault; whom, however, the people rescue so that he does not die. Thus Saul adjured the people, saying: Cursed be the man, etc., to what is written: Furthermore, the Philistines went to their places. This reading instructs teachers of truth, just as from the other allurements of the world, so also from seeking the sweetness of secular eloquence, and from every corruption of former life on the rock of faith. So Saul adjured the people pursuing the fleeing Philistines, that no one should eat until the victory over the enemy was complete: who, fearing the oath, abstained from bread diligently, and from honey which he saw flowing in the forest. The excellent teacher commanded that whoever contends in the contest of faith should abstain from all allurements of the world: and, inciting others by his own example, he says, "I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." For whether the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, or whether the heretic contradicts the catholic, or the Jew or gentile against the Christian, or any unclean spirit opposes, all the efforts of temptations are better overcome by the effort of continence: the virtue of which extends so widely that it is also fitting to abstain from loving too much and following the sweetness of secular eloquence, which flows like a forest of proud and uncultivated philosophers. For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb.
[1 Samuel 14:27] -- Jonathan, however, had not heard, when his father adjured the people, etc. He speaks of eyes being illuminated, refreshed, and renewed for gazing, which had already begun to fade due to the customary long fasting or toil. Therefore Jonathan, who had previously conquered the teeth of the rocks and the blows of swords, who, with the boldness of the enemy suppressed, had provided his people with victory and safety, is suddenly distressed by the unforeseen fault of flattering gluttony. And often, noble masters of the Church, although victors of great contests, incur a fault they had not foreseen by reading books of the gentiles with more pleasure than is fitting: to the extent that one of them writes that he was punished in a vision for this very thing, and that it was hurled at him by the Lord among the blows that he should be considered not a Christian, but a Ciceronian. But also many of the faithful listeners endowed with the grace of virtues do not cease to be tempted by lesser vices, which does not escape divine dispensation: so that those who cannot overcome the smaller battles by themselves may learn to thank only the Father of lights in the greater ones they have, attributing nothing to themselves. Jonathan, moreover, dipped the tip of the rod, which he used either for the horse or as an aid for the journey, in wild honey: and thus he turned it with his hand to his mouth. And any teacher sometimes, while taking care to govern subordinates with the authority of power or to conduct himself without offense, believes that he is aided by the arguments or opinions of the gentiles: and thus, so to speak, by the honeyed mouth derived from these, the eyes of the mind are indeed illuminated by the honeycombed composition of words for declaring what they know rightly more sharply; but often the progress of that same mind is delayed, recalling the vanity of the senses from pursuing the worshipers of depraved acts or doctrines. The Psalmist, singing, says, “The iniquitous recounted to me fables, but not as your law, O Lord, all your commandments are truth” (Ps. 118).
[1 Samuel 14:28] -- Your father bound the people by an oath, etc. He troubled, because he interdicted everything; had he interdicted in part and granted in part, the matter would have seemed to be conducted more conveniently. But because in these kinds of matters the commands of spiritual Fathers must be obeyed, Jonathan was apprehended by lot, and the oracle of the Lord was withdrawn from Saul consulting that very day, manifestly showing. For if the power of a worldly king prevailed so much with God, how much do you think the command of a spiritual master prevails? But even in the typological sense, it disturbs earthly hearts if someone commands these heavenly matters solely to be carried out, since the Lord testifies that new wine is not to be put into old wineskins. It troubles the sharpness of readers and compels them to falter, who believe that they must be prohibited entirely from reading secular literature, which wherever found, it is lawful to take useful things as if they were their own. Otherwise, neither Moses nor Daniel would have been allowed to be instructed in the wisdom or literature of the Egyptians and Chaldeans, although they abhorred their superstitions and indulgences. Nor would the master of the Gentiles himself have inserted some verses of poets in his writings or sayings: but it is much more cautious to grasp the rose amidst thorns than to gather the lily among the soft leaves; much safer it is to seek salutary counsel in apostolic writings than in Platonic pages. For even the bees themselves, which make honey of this kind, indeed present sweet sayings with their mouth which soothe, but in their rears they keep venomous stings that strike.
[1 Samuel 14:29] -- You yourselves have seen that my eyes have been enlightened, etc. These words are fitting for the person who thinks that the reading of gentile literature is not harmful in the Church, whether for the learned or the teachers. You see, he says, that I have become more effective, sharper, and more ready to speak appropriately because I have tasted a little of the flower of Ciceronian reading; how much more if the Christian people had learned the sects and doctrines of the gentiles, would they not much more confidently and surely ridicule and simultaneously refute their errors, and rejoice much more devotedly in their sound faith, and give thanks to the Father of lights for this grace? For it should not be thought for any other reason that Moses or Daniel would have wanted to learn secular wisdom except that they might better destroy and conquer it once known.
[1 Samuel 14:31] -- So on that day they struck down the Philistines, etc. Ajalon signifies great humility. In all the things the Church rightly does, it strikes at the Philistines; because through the good it does, it diminishes the powers of evil spirits; because they must be struck down beginning from humility, up to the breadth of perfected virtue, from the beginning of faith up to the fruitful amplitude of charity. Of which it is said: Your commandment is exceedingly broad (Psalm 119). But even the very state of the universal Church, beginning from the humility of a single Judean nation, has reached to the ends of the whole world through growth. Of which the Psalmist sings to the Lord: And your fields will be filled with abundance, the fattened edges of the desert (Psalm 65).
[1 Samuel 14:31] -- The people were exceedingly weary, etc. That the people were said to have eaten with blood should not be thought to mean they ate bloody and raw flesh, which is not at all human but is the nature of beasts; rather, that after slaying the animals, before the blood was fully drained, they cooked or roasted the unsanctified meat and then ate it. However, this signifies the lazy teachers, who, as we often see today, exhausted by the long labor of catechizing, hasten to incorporate some whom they had rescued from demonic errors by preaching, educating them in Gentile rites; attempting to imitate him to whom all kinds of animals destined from heaven were said: "Kill and eat" (Acts 10). But they almost kill on earth and eat with blood those whom they imperfectly detach from earthly senses and the allurements of flesh and blood, either by teaching or by their own living. They hasten to incorporate into the members of the Church those who are still accustomed to vices and not yet engaged in practicing virtues; contrary to the example of the first pastor of the Church, who, placed in the upper room, that is, in the highest place of living or teaching, is ordered to kill the offerings and eat what was purified by God. And it is noteworthy that, although the perfection of the human mind is perfect and weak, Jonathan, the perpetrator of so many great deeds and the author of such a triumph, unsuspectingly succumbed to the deception of gluttony. The entire people, after observing the appointed time for diligent continence, after laying low so many adversaries in one day, are themselves overcome by the victorious gluttony. But because the temptation of gluttony is manifold, it led one to eat before the allotted time and persuaded the other to consume less lawful things even within the allotted time.
[1 Samuel 14:33] -- They reported to Saul, saying that the people had sinned against the Lord, etc. The diligent leaders, knowing the negligence of idle teachers, wherein the people sin against the Lord, baptizing those who have not yet been purified from carnality nor fully instructed in faith, immediately rebuke such transgressors and command that the rule of heavenly life be openly proposed with Catholic authority; and they order the idle teachers, who had so far been vexed by common ignorance, to lead all those they have undertaken to instruct up to the model of life which they themselves had learned from their forefathers, and by catechizing them according to the most robust example of Catholic perfection, bring to an end their former way of life inherited from their fathers, and by baptizing, incorporate them into the members of the Church. Thus, they would no longer sin against the Lord, binding those who are ignorant of faith and heavenly life to the unity of His body, that is, the Church of Christ. Understand that the ox and the ram delivered from the Philistines, slaughtered and eaten by the people of God upon the intellectual rock, symbolize any foolish and arrogant person, renewed from deadly custom into spiritual life; as also mentioned above, sheep and calves together with the oxen taken from them signify movements of soul or flesh devoted to irrationality and lust, but saved through the Lord.
[1 Samuel 14:35] -- Saul built an altar to the Lord. He built an altar to offer a holocaust upon it and to intervene for the sin of the people, which they had rashly committed. Every perfect teacher builds in the hearts of the hearers the faith in the Lord's Passion, where on the altar of the living cross that precious blood was shed for the remission of sins, clearly instructing all by this example; for if the end of the Lord was death, much more should the servants mortify their members which are on earth; fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry (Colossians III), and such things that are works of the flesh and blood, clearly cannot be associated with the fruit of the Spirit. But also, daily revisiting the sayings or acts of the old fathers and the people, and desiring through these to be spiritually refreshed while struggling against enemies, as many of us who perceive only according to the letter of such great authority we feel, as if killing oxen and sheep on the earth, we eat with the blood; because handling heavenly matters with a carnal and earthly eye. But whoever recognizes that all things are spiritually summed up in Christ and the Church, upon that great rock, which was cut from the mountain without hands and grew, destroying the empire of the world, and filled the whole earth, we kill without harm and feast, constructing an altar of our devotion and pious sense pleasing to the Lord.
[1 Samuel 14:36] -- And Saul said, "Let us go down after the Philistines by night," etc. Saul, planning to attack the Philistines by night and to destroy them completely, consults the oracle of the Lord but is not answered; and seeking the cause of the sin, he discovers it by lot and adjudicates Jonathan, who confesses, to death; however, since he had brought great salvation to Israel, the people rescue him from the judgement of death. Good leaders often desire to expel all the snares of demons and to eradicate the tares sown among the good seed from the field of this world if possible, yet they receive no answer from the Lord through the Scriptures that this can be done; upon seeking the cause, they hear nothing more than that human frailty and ignorance are to blame; for even the most eminent teachers and leaders of the faithful, in the good works they do, cannot stand immune to the suggestions of sin, but all offend in many ways; nevertheless, lest they suffer eternal death because of these, they are helped by the merits of the good deeds they have done and by the prayers of the Churches they fought to strengthen.
[1 Samuel 14:46] -- And Saul withdrew, not pursuing the Philistines, etc. Indeed, teachers, conscious of their own frailty, realize they are not able to track or expel all the wiles of demons; but woe to those hearts to which the repelled and cast out unclean spirits return as if to their own places.