Chapter 7
The Philistines gathered against him, Saul seeks the oracle of Samuel, raised through a witch at Endor, and learns of the adversities to come upon him and his people. (I Samuel XXVIII.) It happened in those days, etc., until it is written: When they had eaten, etc. This reading signifies that the Jews, because of the complete fulfillment of all prophetic ministry in Christ, after the faith of the nations has been confirmed, and against both their perfidy and that of the heretics spiritually aroused, are no longer to save the Lord’s Church, but to frequent the synagogue of Satan and perish; nor to hope and believe in the dispensation made by Christ in the flesh, but in the future kingdom of the Antichrist. In this, it is first to be noted, that not always the same things or persons hold the same significance; but sometimes evils can be represented by the good, just as goods can be figured by the evil. For the Philistines, who almost always are accustomed to be placed in evil, signify here, because they have David with them, the believers from the nations. On the other hand, the people of Israel, because they expelled him by persecution, figuratively denote the present perfidy of the Jews or the wickedness of the heretics. Conversely, Israel, prepared for battle against the gathered forces of the Philistines, with collected councils of learned men, signifies believers from the nations who propose to overcome the craftiness of the heretics or the perfidy of the Jews, so that they may be corrected entirely, or at least be less likely to prevail against the good in disputation. If anyone considers it absurd that the faithful should be signified by the infidel Philistines, thinking them only to prefigure the gentiles, let him know that the gentiles themselves, worshipers of many gods, are accustomed to battle against the Jews and the heretics alike, because both these groups glory in the worship of the one true God and in the name of Christ; yet let him understand most certainly that Achish, who is interpreted as "brother of a man," who kindly received David in exile, who gave him a place to reside, and who trusted so much in his power and friendship that he summoned him to go out with him to the battle, signifies the faithful from the nations. Finally, it follows:
[1 Samuel 28:1] -- And Achis said to David: Knowing now, know, etc. Which is clearly that all Catholics propose to combat the erring by reproving, reasoning, or remembering the words of Scripture, to say to the Lord: God, you know our foolishness and weakness (Psalm LXVIII), for without you we can do nothing, provide us with aid as we struggle, may your holy ones grant us the help of their intercession; and whoever of them authored the holy Scriptures by your inspiration, may they provide us with the secrets of spiritual knowledge by which we may overcome the carnal.
[1 Samuel 28:2] -- And David said to Achis: Now you will know, etc. It is clear according to the letter, because David, promising aid to the king, also promises to be his guardian, whether in the battle or after the victory. But according to the spiritual sense, the head of the strong brothers and those acting manfully is Christ. To whom, he saying, And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew XXVIII); they respond: And we have learned that no one should be our guardian of the grace leading us, by which you remain in us, other than yourself, not only on all the days of this age, but also in the future, where one day in your courts is better than thousands (Psalm LXXXIII).
[1 Samuel 28:3] -- Now, Samuel was dead, etc. Josephus narrates that this happened two years before the death of Saul, writing thus (Antiq. VI, 14): "Saul reigned, with Samuel living for eighteen years, and for another two years after his death." Indeed, earlier in the order of history, the death and burial of Samuel are described in nearly the same words; but it is recapitulated here so that the necessity that prompted Saul to seek out the necromancer might be recalled to the readers. However, mystically, the death of Samuel, with the Lord suffering, indicates the cessation of the legal figures as well as the prophets, which foretold His future incarnation. The mourning of Israel signifies that not without great sorrow could the carnal ones be separated from the old institutions of the Lord. I believe that all of Israel, which was able to see the desolation of the temple of Jerusalem and the land of promise—both of which were given to the fathers as a type of heavenly grace—could not at all withhold their lamentation and tears. The burial, which took place after the death and mourning, signifies that time when the faithful Jews altogether ceased from the observation of legal shadows. For it is known that for a considerable time the early Church observed Jewish customs, until the evangelical doctrine gradually prevailed, and it itself completely abstained from legal observation. And fittingly, Samuel is buried in Ramah, his city where he was born, which is interpreted as "exalted": because the same Church of Christ, which once gave forth the beginnings of prophecy, concluded the fulfilled figures of prophecy with honorable devotion, as if they were the limbs of the dead Samuel.
[1 Samuel 28:3] -- And Saul removed all the magicians, etc. Magicians and soothsayers, the first of whom, commonly called sorcerers, use blood and sacrifices, and often touch the bodies of the dead, following (whom other translations call enchanters) accomplish their work with words; all these soothsayers and idolatries of the Gentiles are mystically designated, whom the people of the Jews, although more wise in earthly things than heavenly, removed completely at this time. For no one now dares to worship Baalim, or Astaroth, or any other monsters of the Gentiles, although they are not perfectly faithful to the Lord.
[1 Samuel 28:4] -- And the Philistines gathered together, etc. The Philistines in this place, inasmuch as they seek the aid of David and his men, represent the faithful from the Gentiles; but inasmuch as they scorn and reject him, they represent the unfaithful who oppose Christ. For they oppose both the unfaithful Jews and the heretically unfaithful, and the Catholics, Christians and pagans alike. Therefore it is fitting that the Philistines are said to have been encamped in Sunam, which is interpreted as 'crimson'. For crimson holds the appearance of fire. Indeed, the faithful, fervent with the love of Christ, and the pagans, raging with the fire of persecution, do not hesitate to fight against their adversaries. For the good fight against the evil; the evil fight among themselves; but the good cannot fight among themselves at all. Moreover, Israel, because it gathered under Saul who was dying and impious, not under David who was just and destined to rule, either signifies the present blindness of its own people, as we said above, or the heretical depravity; and thus rightly it is described to have gathered on the mountain of downfall, which the name Gelboe signifies, and to have fallen there.
[1 Samuel 28:7] -- And Saul said to his servants: Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit, etc. Denied an answer by the Lord, Saul sought a woman with an unclean spirit, through whom he might inquire; and with the cessation of the prophets and the ceremonies of old after the Lord's passion, the people of the Jews consult and frequent the synagogue of Satan, such as today is their synagogue, having a familiar spirit, which in their language signifies the mouth of the abyss. Nor is anything understood better than entrance into eternal punishments. But even the name itself, customary from the meaning of the perfidious faction, does not differ. For it is said to be derived from Apollo Pythius, who was a diligent practitioner of these arts, who himself is said to have borrowed such a name from that place, because he struck the serpent Python in vengeance for his son being killed by him.
[1 Samuel 28:7] -- And his servants said to her, etc. Correctly it is narrated that the woman with a familiar spirit, whom some call a ventriloquist, lived in Endor, which means in the fountain or eye of generation, so that the very place of her habitation bears witness to the already lost Synagogue, which, deceived by the serpent's conversation, feigns to give light and the cup of wisdom to its listeners.
[1 Samuel 28:8] -- He therefore changed his appearance, etc. The people of the Jews, having changed their habit in worst either of their earthly kingdom or of faith and works, by which they ought to have been spiritually adorned and loved, came to the hearing of such a Synagogue, which the woman with a familiar spirit signifies, in the blindness of a darkened heart; with those who, transgressing the unity of the true faith or charity, have by no means come to the knowledge of the holy Trinity. For he knows that the number two is sometimes placed in evil, who knows on what account the work of the second day alone in the creation of the world did not deserve the blessing of divine vision, and that unclean animals entered the ark under this number, and he rightly understands innumerable other things of this kind in the Scriptures.
[1 Samuel 28:11] -- And the woman said to him: Whom shall I raise up for you? etc. And the people of the Jews, entering their synagogue, through the prophecies once summarized and completed in Christ, desire as if to be raised up from the dead for themselves, namely practicing so as to serve anew the shadows of sacrifices, the Sabbath, new moons, leprosy of houses and clothes, and the other literal observances.
[1 Samuel 28:11] -- And the woman said to Saul, etc. She calls one seen in the plural, as is very customary in Scripture, where often many are designated by the singular, and singular individuals by the plural number. Finally, when one calf was made, the people said: These are your gods, O Israel (Exodus 32). And not one frog or fly was sent against the wicked, but it is said: He sent among them the dog-fly, and it devoured them; the frog, and it destroyed them (Psalm 77); and countless others of this kind.
[1 Samuel 28:15] -- But Samuel said to Saul: Why have you disturbed me? etc. And the books of the Old Testament, very full of the grace of prophecy, openly testify to readers that after the passion of the Lord they should not be raised again to the symbolic observance of the letter, but rather that the very ministers of prophecy are disturbed when they see what they wrote understood differently than they themselves sensed.
[1 Samuel 28:15] -- And Saul said: I am greatly distressed, etc. The Jews, abandoned by God, possess the gift of prophecy not by merit, attacked by all nations, follow, so to speak, a dead shadow of the law and the prophets under blind night. This, beset by miseries, they think should be consulted as to what should be done with them. Indeed, those same legal ceremonies, now celebrated in vain and in corners, signify that which was once shown publicly by the command and gracious acceptance of God, namely that the old things were to pass away, and all things were to be made new, that the kingdom of the Jews was to be utterly destroyed and the kingdom of Christians to be spread throughout the whole world, just as Samuel, though dead, but raised through impious art, revealed everything about the change of kingdom which he had foretold while alive. If anyone is indeed troubled by how a woman with demonic art could disturb and raise a prophet after death, let him know for certain either that the devil showed then a false shade to those seeking it, or if Samuel truly appeared, that the devil could only do as much as the Lord permitted. Nor is it surprising that such things are allowed to a malign spirit for certain secret reasons, since he set the Savior on the pinnacle of the temple, and asked for and received Job to tempt. But if we believe that it was rather the fantasy of an unclean spirit that appeared, this should not disturb as to how such a one could speak true and prophetic things. For we know that the devil often can foretell many future things which he has learned from holy angels, but thereby one ought to listen to his words the less, because all that he speaks or does among men, he does with the intention of deceiving. And what was said among other things:
[1 Samuel 28:19] -- Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me, whether Samuel said it, or an evil spirit, it is understood no otherwise than without a body, that is, in another life. For by no means could wicked Saul be there after death, where good Jonathan could be received, indeed a great chasm is established between them, where one is received into the bosom of Abraham with Samuel, the other buried in the flame of hell with the devil. However, both are taken from the conversation of this life, which the devil always lacked. Nor does anything hinder the understanding, if we believe these things fantastically said and shown by the devil, that the evil one wanted to mix falsehoods among the truths he would speak; and saying under the person of Samuel to the wicked one, You and your sons will be with me. To secretly persuade sinners that after death, even the worst sins being put to sleep and dismissed, they can then live blessedly with those who lived well before death.
[1 Samuel 28:20] -- And immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, etc. Reading the words of the prophets, the people of the Jews celebrating vain sacrifices, indeed the wretched suffer terror, but they do not have the strength of faith by which they may be blessed, because the grace of evangelical preaching has been shining around the world for such a long time, and they did not know how to eat the living bread that came down from heaven.
[1 Samuel 28:21] -- Therefore that woman came in to Saul, etc. And that faithless people, oppressed by so many calamities among the nations today, is troubled on all sides, so that not even the very words of sacred reading, which they still perceive in the darkness of ignorance, would delight it, though perceiving by reading or hearing them, compelled by its own synagogue.
[1 Samuel 28:24] -- But that woman had a Paschal calf in her house, etc. The most tender and excellent calf, and fine flour bread, which Abraham and Sarah prepared to refresh the Lord during the fervent midday sun (Gen. XVIII), implies the faith in the Lord's incarnation and the perfection of devout humility, with which the holy Church, together with its spiritual teachers glowing with the light of love and wisdom, placates the Lord. But on the other hand, this Paschal calf, and the flour which the demon-possessed woman cooked for Saul who was about to die, and presented for his servants to eat in the middle of the night, express the birth and reign of the Antichrist, and the breaking of the hearts of those who serve him with foolish humility: which the synagogue of Satan, enveloped in the darkness of impiety, suggests to its hearers who are wretched and condemned to eternal death as things to be believed and hoped for, as if it refreshes them with sweet feasts from the fear of surrounding troubles; so that the hearts nourished with this food, progressing in wickedness, go darkly through the shadow under the solitary night.