Chapter 7
Jonathan and David renew their covenant, and with Saul intending to kill David, Jonathan informs him to flee by the shooting of arrows. (1 Samuel 20.) David, having therefore fled from Naioth, etc., up to the point where it says, But Jonathan went into the city. In this reading, the Lord, having suffered persecution from the Jews, strengthens the Church more completely gathered from among them by His grace; signifying what is proper to be done concerning those same Jews, and concerning the Gentiles to be called to faith. But those reprobate Jews, feasting on the meals of the Scriptures without faith in Christ, plan equally to destroy Him along with His distinguished members, that is, the apostles, and having driven Him away from themselves, they compel Him to hasten to save the Gentiles. We have said, however, that Naioth in Rama, which means beauty in the high place, is a symbolic representation of the joys of the heavenly kingdom, which the Lord deigned to promise and to open to us by ascending corporeally. We have said that the words of Holy Scripture, in which the same kingdom is foretold, indicate this. But in both of these exalted beauties, the Lord always remains and appears to His faithful; from the unfaithful and the proud, however, He turns Himself away and withdraws, because they neither believe when hearing from the teacher that He reigns in heaven, nor do they read in the prophet themselves, that as He ascended on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men (Psalm 68, Ephesians 4). And, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool (Psalm 110); or understand other similar sayings about Him. And this is what it means for David to flee because of Saul’s plots. About the beauty set on high, the Lord Savior, who is at the right hand of God, is not believed by the proud who hear Him saying that He ascended to heaven, the mysteries of which prophecy abounds with, and cannot be found at all in the Prophetic reading by impious seekers, who are always wholly present everywhere, but when absent from the wicked, He departs; let us see where He comes and is present.
[1 Samuel 20:1] -- He came and spoke before Jonathan, "What have I done?" etc. Expelled because of disbelief in the Lord by the reprobate, He often returns more sweetly to the hearts of those who love Him, reminding them frequently of His incarnation, innocent life, and unjust persecution, so that rejoicing in Him, they may confess to the memory of His holiness.
[1 Samuel 20:3] -- Moreover, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, etc. He was separated from death by only a single step, that is, by the wall of the house in which he was staying, when (as the title of the fifty-eighth psalm also contains) Saul sent and watched him, seeking to kill him. But immediately slipping from death through a window, he was rescued and fled away, saved completely, so that by the Lord's mercy, what was foretold in the same title might happen: "Do not destroy David," in the title's inscription. This should likewise be understood also of the Lord Savior, as He was separated from death by only a single step, so to speak, due to the temerity of men, when the chief priests sent and watched over His tomb, trying to block His resurrection, by denying the entrance to it, drawing His disciples away from the faith, and erasing all memory of His name from the midst if His disciples were retracted from faith. But according to the testimony of the mentioned inscription, just as neither the title written by Pilate, "This is the King of the Jews," nor the kingdom of the same King could ever be corrupted.
[1 Samuel 20:11] -- And Jonathan said to David, "Come, let us go out into the field," etc. A marvelous way of speaking, as if he began to speak to God, which yet he completed in speaking to a man; but this was due to the incomparably ardent affection between the young men, mutually commending each other in virtue; this as a sign of faith, always and everywhere to be kept with God as witness; which grammarians call the figure paraprosdociam in Greek, that is, an unexpected outcome. Therefore, Jonathan and David, first secretly in the city, then also going out into the field, make a covenant of the Lord, so that Jonathan would not hide from David anything that his father might think good about him; he would not introduce him to his father unless perhaps converted to piety; but also Jonathan himself, if he lives, would receive mercy from David; if indeed he dies, David would show mercy to his house forever. Because the primitive Church at its beginning was to no small extent judaizing, but soon, going out into the fruitful breadth of Christian liberty, entered into a covenant with the Lord of perpetual love; it was agreed that if any of the Jewish persecutors of Christ wished to recognize goodness and turn to him, their faith and conversion would immediately be made known to his faithful members, that is, to the Church itself, so that they might obtain full salvation by its association, and not cast pearls before swine, not profane its sacraments to the unbelievers, but rather believe that they should be piously received by those who would rejoice to live in peace. And if indeed among the Jews the state and life of the Church would remain intact, they would not be crowned by their own merit as believers, but by the compassion and mercy of their Author. And if, by their scorning, the way of life turned to themselves, nevertheless, to any believing among that people individually until the end of the age, and to all converted remnants together at the end, entrance to mercy would not be denied.
[1 Samuel 20:5] -- And Jonathan said to him: Tomorrow is the New Moon, etc. The holy Scripture does not denote those unequal beginnings of the months, which the Romans have annually, twelve in number, but the new moons, which are called Neomenia by the Greeks; which the Hebrews solemnly celebrated according to the institution of the law, with sacrifices, feasts, and the rest of the Sabbath, that is, of rest. This is signified by the Holy Spirit, as often as Christ sprinkles the Church, as often as any faithful soul, like the sun, with the new light of his grace, immediately spiritual sacrifices of life are to be offered more solemnly to God, immediately sweetly indulging in the feasts of divine sayings, immediately all the commotions of external cares must be put aside in happy rest. Wherefore Jonathan now speaks to David about coming tomorrow on the Calends.
[1 Samuel 20:13] -- Descend therefore quickly, etc. That is, on the day when it was allowed to work up to the Kalends, he would go; so that through the Kalends, on which he said all should be silent, he would sit quietly. Jonathan therefore says to David that the Kalends will be tomorrow, and that he will be sought by Saul until the day after tomorrow. The early Church, having learned from him what to say to him, says to Christ; that the time is at hand when the Sun of righteousness will renew in the light of truth those believing or about to believe from the Jews; and that unbelievers will seek him, and in the rising of the new light, which happens through the hearing of the word, and in the increase of the same light, which happens through the operation of the heard word. For to those listening in the Church, and to those performing the commandments of the Gospel, they contrived deceits, of which the Lord speaks: Let my enemies be confounded and ashamed, who seek my soul (Psalm 35, 36, and 69). Jonathan was advising David to descend quickly, and come to the place where he should be hidden, and that on the day when it was allowed to work; and he should sit next to the stone Ezel, which is interpreted as departing, or going. The elders of the early Church were praying to the Lord that by the grace of his inspiration he would descend quickly into the hearts of the faithful, that is, into the place always receptive to his love, of which it is sung in the Psalms, And his place has been made in peace (Psalm 75). Where he should be hidden by faith from those who, disbelieving in Christian peace, would resist, and being given over to external things, would not deserve to view the mysteries of their Creator. The devout were also praying that he would deign to make his dwelling among those strong in faith, who were ready in spirit either to always advance to virtue or, having been perfected in virtues, to depart to behold the joys of heavenly life. But they desired these things in the light of grace for those present, at a time namely of doing good to all, and of running in the way of light, lest anyone be unknowingly overtaken by exterior darkness. These things also today as then, and as long as today is called today, the desires of the saints wish the Lord Savior to accomplish with insatiable prayers.
[1 Samuel 20:20] -- And I will send three arrows near him, etc. And I, the Church says to the Lord, with you dwelling in the hearts of the perfect, will send preachers of the holy and undivided Trinity, who, with wings of virtues, will be quick-flying, penetrating with the sharpness of their speech, stirred by the bow of diligent reading, to strike with the word of faith those who are more fragile and still, and almost earthly, yet remaining in the vicinity of the strong, held by the friendly bond of love, so that, touched by the salutary wound of charity, they may be compelled to bear all visible things gravely, to rest in the memory of their Creator alone, and to have His sole vision as sweetness. But I will send them, not as if they would end the uncertain course of the word, but as if training me to the sign of true and singular salvation, as if following only the look of divine will, directing all the blows of my doctrine to the intended target, I will pursue to the prize of the heavenly calling of God in Christ Jesus. I will also send listeners eager to obey the faith; who, diligently seeking through all the spiritual teachings or deeds of the doctors, may piously relate to the glory of my state, by following it devoutly. To these listeners, indeed, if I show them capturing these same teachers who are near them, and placed among them by living well, if you deign to visit me, I will show that the usual blessing from the Jews is to be increased because peace is yours, with the arms of the hateful at rest meanwhile. But if I show that the same teachers, humbled by me, being further cast out and pursued from Judea, go and tend to visit all nations; because this is the will and providence of the eternal Father, that, blindness coming upon Israel, the fullness of the nations may enter the gates of life. Of the single word of the Father, which we shall have spoken, I confessing, and you teaching, let God the Father almighty Himself alone be the eternal witness between me and you; and rightly, because the Father alone knows the secrets of the Son, and only to those whom the Father has deigned to reveal them. Of these, the same Son speaks to the Father: And you revealed them to little children (Matthew XI). Who decreed that this God, begotten before the ages, should be incarnate at the end of the ages, and that they should be saved by the same incarnation. But speaking these things, the Church does not instruct the Lord as if He were ignorant of what He should do, nor does she teach what she herself shall do as if He were unaware; but she prays devotedly that He accomplish these things quickly, which she has learned mercifully to be done by Him. What she should do rightly, having received through Him, she ceaselessly praises herself for this by giving thanks.
[1 Samuel 20:24] -- David therefore hid in the field, etc. Christ is hidden in Christians by faith so that He might not be seen by those who have learned only to know, believe, and love earthly and temporal things; and times have come in which the splendor of the Church would more and more increase through the touch of the new Sun of righteousness: and the people of the Jews sat among those who rejoiced more in the pride of an earthly kingdom than in being humbled for a heavenly one, to enjoy the feasts of sacred readings.
[1 Samuel 20:25] -- And the place of David appeared empty, etc. To unbelievers, the place of Christ appears empty in the Scriptures; because although they recount the entire series of the Old Testament, they do not deserve to find Him whom the learned scribe in the kingdom of heaven knows to find nearly everywhere in the divine pages. Thus Saul, as a type of the Jews, sitting to eat the bread of Scripture, cannot have Christ present, whom he had driven from his table by hating Him. But Cleophas, with his companion, although not yet fully recognizing Him, but already loving Him, invited Him to the table; and therefore immediately recognized Him in the breaking of the bread (Luke XXIV). We also do both today while reading, as some, perverse, try to turn even clear sayings about Christ to something else; others, piously and soberly seeking Christ in the dishes of divine letters presented, begin to have Him present, though not immediately recognized, until He Himself gradually reveals to us what was previously closed mysteries, as if we recognize Him in the offering of bread which He broke for us. Yet not all who in the Scriptures they read, cannot understand Christ, can immediately also stir up questions or persecutions against Christ; because the human mind is accustomed to gradually decline into vices just as it progresses in virtues. It can also be understood thus, that while Saul was dining, the place of David appeared empty: the Lord called His members, namely the Church, from celebrating the carnal sacraments of the law to engage in more spiritual ones. But to both senses, what follows is appropriate:
[1 Samuel 20:26] -- He was thinking that perhaps it had happened to him, etc. For the Jews thought that Jesus was neither clean nor purified from sins because he had violated the Sabbath and done other things contrary to the decrees of the law or rather of their own traditions, and taught them as well. Therefore, they rightly found nothing in the Scriptures that could be recorded about him. They thought that the disciples of Christ were not clean because they saw that they placed the righteousness of faith before the works and purifications of the law. And so they did not consider it significant that they had not come with them to sacrifices, for they utterly detested them in their hearts due to their lifestyle differences, or even had excommunicated them from the synagogue.
[1 Samuel 20:27] -- And when the second day after the Kalends dawned, etc. When in the hearts of the faithful the radiance of new grace happily grew after the silence of listening to the word until the time arrived to act on what was taught, nevertheless, the brazenness of the unfaithful celebrated empty sustenance without Christ and the rites of the flesh blindly performed sacred rituals. Traitorous parents of those chosen for Christ sought from their children, of whom it is said: “By whom do your sons expel them?” (Luke 11:19). Why did the Christians not flock to the carnal works of the law, I mean circumcision, sacrifices, and various solemnities, to hear or perform them along with the others? Why could Jesus himself, whom they believed incarnate from the root of Jesse, dead, and resurrected, as Christ God, not be found anywhere in prophetic reading?
[1 Samuel 20:28] -- And Jonathan answered Saul: He earnestly requested me that he might go to Bethlehem, etc. It indeed seems strange according to the letter, why he should think and inquire about David in this manner, or Jonathan should respond, when the very obvious cause of royal jealousy had occurred, by which David should rightly seek his own safety, or even life: unless perhaps Saul ought to be supposed to have done or said many things under the frequent invasion of the demon, which, like those possessed, he was neither able to premeditate beforehand nor to remember afterward: and among these, also, the matter regarding David is believed to have occurred rather in the spirit of one enraged than one listening. Even Scripture seems to support this view, which, with David absent from Saul’s table, says that Saul did not reconsider the previously inflicted injury, but only thought that he might be unclean, either due to nocturnal sleep, or intercourse, or some touch of a funeral or something defiled, by which he would be kept from the company of the pure according to the edict of the law. Moreover, it supports what is written at the beginning of this entire reading: And the evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul (1 Samuel 19). However, whatever may be the case, the mystical sense is clear. For the dove-like simplicity of the chosen ones of Christ answered the ruling Synagogue that persecutes: Jesus Christ, whom you ask about, my God and Lord, earnestly requested me, that, by sending teachers for this very purpose and in every direction, I might bring Him into the heart of the New Testament of those rejoicing in grace, where there is no blood of victims, no Mosaic manna, but according to the order of Melchizedek, the living bread which came down from heaven is celebrated in a mystery. Hence the assembly of such people is most rightly called by the sacred name of Bethlehem, that is, house of bread. Let me go, he says, to such people, believing in the mystery of the same baptism, and also the companionship of your catholic peace. And what is first and last becomes fitting, the guardianship of the word by which they are catechized and perpetually confirmed is to be entrusted to them; for the solemn sacrifice is the very life of the converted in the city of our God, on his holy mountain (Ps. 47). The unity of my chosen ones, who are my brothers and coheirs by grace, beseeches me with frequent prayers that I may always deign to multiply their number with a new generation of believers. Now if you love me with all your heart, also allow me to make others future brothers of mine by visiting through you for this cause. Nor did he longer care to seek the typical table of the law with its own; nor in the Scripture, which you do not understand by reading carnally, do you find him who is to be sought spiritually.
[1 Samuel 20:30] -- But Saul, angry against Jonathan, etc. The elders of the Synagogue, angry against the assembly of spiritual people, call his mother the Church by the name of an adulteress, because she has nobly taken Christ instead of Moses, the bridegroom instead of the friend of the bridegroom, the Lord instead of the servant, to be governed. "Do we not know," they say, "that you love Jesus to your own confusion, and to the confusion of Christian doctrine?" Which is deservedly called disgraceful, because, carrying the sacred law, it gleefully abandons even the most august and widely glorified gathering of the temple, and prefers to gather its congregations in secret places despised. For as long as faith in Jesus is on earth, you will not be stable, nor will your kingdom. So now, send teachers, and even those who believe and confess Jesus Christ as God, let them rather listen to us, follow our teachings, because the assembly serving this name is the son of death. Indeed, these things were said by the perfidious; yet it turned out far otherwise than they complained, because those who, out of love for an earthly kingdom, were persecuting the citizens of heaven wandering on earth, lost both the earthly kingdom and the heavenly kingdom together: both of which they could have had if they preferred not to impiously drive away the one Lord of both by persecuting, but to piously receive by following.
[1 Samuel 20:32] -- But Jonathan answering his father Saul, said, etc. The assembly of the faithful in Christ, answering the unbelievers, said: Why does the Christian religion perish? Why is Christ Himself torn apart by you with a rapid bite, whom the governor himself, who gave Him over to death, first confessed to be innocent and just? Whom the thief, who also received the same sentence of death, testified to have done no evil? Indeed, co-heirs of Christ, persisting in the defense of the faith, the perfidious took up arms to conquer them; and because, after the glory of the resurrection, they could not reach Christ, nor lay hands on Him a second time, they struck His members in His place.
[1 Samuel 20:34] -- Therefore Jonathan rose from the table in a fit of anger, etc. When persecution arose because of the word, the apostles and the foremost teachers of the Church gradually withdrew from the very custom of Judaizing, which they had maintained for some time to avoid scandalizing the persecutors, as both the Epistle to the Galatians and the Acts of the Apostles bear fuller witness. And to those who did not refuse to listen to the words of the law that sounded carnally (which is, as we have explained above, the beginning of intellectual new moon), they neither wished to agree nor be absent in observing these things carnally. For there was great sorrow and continuous grief over Christ in their hearts, because their brothers and kinsmen, who did not believe in Him, did not listen to them when they taught. He, who was blessed God over all forever, had been born among them according to the flesh and had deigned to become a curse for the good of others, in order to rescue us from the curse of the law.
[1 Samuel 20:35] -- And when the morning dawned, Jonathan came into the field, etc. When, after the teaching and glorious operation, even the exhibition of virtues began to rise like the third day of the Kalends in the Church, the harmonious society of spiritual teachers came, having left the table of literal observance for the fruitful liberty of grace, according to the disposition of the Lord Savior; and the chorus of humble listeners followed, to whom she herself instructing said: "See that you grow with the steps of good deeds, and understand that all the ministers of the word whom I disperse near or far are to be preserved in my catholic peace, and do not be disturbed by the seeming harsh outcome of anyone at present, although untimely death may snatch away, although a fierce Indian, although a savage and barbarous Scythian may separate by mutual theft, the integrity of all my state unites with one heart and soul, having granted the same reward of life in heaven. Or certainly gathering the boy saying thus, and bringing Jonathan the arrows he shot, recognizing the good disciples who diligently captured both the words and deeds of their masters, and these were to be piously and soberly referred back for the confirmation of the universal Church. And when the attentive listeners had persisted in saying and doing the word together, that dove-like unity of the saints, customarily called the Church, sent other teachers, who, progressing beyond the first listeners, even committed the word to the external towns of the nations. Therefore, humility of learners came, and to observe the deeds or teachings of those whom the wretched Church sent, for suddenly from the very mission a new voice of the fervent faith of the Church struck, which the humility of the lesser ones could not foresee, showing that they who would wound hearts healthily with the sharpness of the word like arrows, were to be destined among the nations; the first and prominent arrow struck the heart of Cornelius the centurion, expelling the deadly filth, wounding better to receive new life. And the Church cried out to its listeners still ignorant of the heavenly disposition; which is behind the boy, lest anyone delay to follow the path of virtue in the time of growing grace.
[1 Samuel 20:36] -- The boy Jonathan collected the arrows, etc. The humble discipleship of the pious learned the deeds in order, learned also the sayings of the teachers, and attributed all praise to the Church; or, as we expounded above, he saw the disciples of Christ, whether still vigorous with life or already snatched by death, widely dispersed from Jerusalem, from where the word of the Lord had gone out, and recognized that all should be gathered into one heavenly Jerusalem; yet he could not know the divine secret, that salvation was to be given to the nations through repentance. For only those greater in the Lord, to whom it is said; But I have called you friends, because all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you (John 15), and he himself, strong in hand, and desired by all nations, knew this secret thing.
[1 Samuel 20:40] -- Jonathan therefore gave his weapons to the boy, etc. He gave examples of the learned, he gave the rules of good conduct to be imitated by his disciples in the Church, and said to them: Go, advancing from strength to strength, compare these things with the testimonies of the law and the prophets, and see that we do nothing different under the teaching of Christ than what Moses and the prophets have spoken about the future.
[1 Samuel 20:42] -- And when the boy had gone, David arose from his place, etc. When the disciples, obeying the command of their elders, went to compile the events of their times according to the writings of their predecessors, the grace of Christ appeared more abundantly, shining forth from the virtues of the saints, those, of course, who kept their hearts open to receive the gifts of the most fervent charity given by the Holy Spirit with humble submission. For this is the most splendid diversity of the growing Church, which the forty-fourth Psalm sings, so that some manifest Christ’s presence in themselves by shining with miracles; others, still intent on sacred writings, consider how the old and new harmonize with each other; others perform various services of the same faith; and still others embody what the following words signify, that divine love suddenly coming to earthly hearts provokes them with diligent contrition to adore more fervently the glory of the Holy Trinity; which our strong and desirable Lord Himself is said to do when He kindles His saints inwardly to act. As it is also said about the Holy Spirit: "The Spirit helps our infirmities (for we do not know how to pray as we ought), but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspeakable groanings" (Romans VIII); that is, He causes; this figure of speech is very common in sacred Scriptures, called "metonymy" by grammarians in Greek, that is, transnaming, while through the efficient the effect is intended to be understood. Just like the lawgiver's words: "The Lord your God tests you to know whether you love Him or not" (Deut. XIII); that is, to make it known. And they kissed each other and wept. Not in vain; for the more mutual love, which inward virtue nourished, sweetly incited those very holy youths to embraces and kisses, the more the everlasting separation, which they now saw impending for them, provoked them more sharply to tears and lamentations. But in the typological sense, it must be said that our Lord bestowed His holy gifts of His mouth on those believing in Him from among the Jews; for the non-believers and those expelling Him by persecution, He did not refuse to weep, saying: "If you too had known." For David and Jonathan kissing each other signifies the Lord bestowing to the Church the salutary gifts of His word, and the Church responding devoutly to the Lord with the same word’s confession or teaching. They weep together, and this signifies the Lord, in our flesh, shedding tears both for awakening the elect to life and for the reprobate remaining in eternal death; one proven in the resurrection of Lazarus, the other in seeing and lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem; and His saints even now, inspired by Him, mourn many who sin and have not cared to return to salvation through repentance. For the believers could not see without pain and sorrow the Lord Christ leaving their compatriots in unbelief to convert to the salvation of the Gentiles. They wept together, he said, but David even more; because whatever the Church works for either her growth, in which she rejoices, or her loss, in which she grieves, it is far less indeed in comparison to what God could do in the flesh for her.
[1 Samuel 20:42] -- Then Jonathan said to David: Go in peace, etc. However, the Lord rose from the midst of the unbelieving Synagogue, saying: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you, how often I have wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing? Behold, your house is left to you desolate (Matthew 23); and He went to seek a Church for Himself from the Gentiles. But even the more perfect returned to the teachers in the primitive Church from the consideration of the aforementioned right hand of the Most High, to complete the new peaks of the city descending from God out of heaven. If the city, as seen above, is pleasing to be understood as the fortification of prophetic reading, from which it is said: And we have the more sure prophetic word, to which you do well to attend, as to a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the day star arises in your hearts (2 Peter 1); and it is very pleasing for the afflicted and sorrowful to enter this, so that under its protection each one may either more secretly indulge in tears or more wisely wipe away the tears.