Chapter 8
With the eyes of Eli darkening, Samuel sleeps in the temple of the Lord, and responding to the fourth calling of the Lord, he learns what is to come upon Eli, and recounts it to him in the morning, having also divined through a second divine revelation. (I Sam. III.) But the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord in the presence of Eli, etc. In this reading, the Lord shows by all means that the ceremonies of the legal priesthood, even before he himself completed them through his passion, having already been corrupted by the traditions of the Pharisees, must be changed, with Judea soon believing in him and confessing, because God has visited his people.
[1 Samuel 3:1] -- But the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli, etc. The boy who was born to us in the flesh, in the sight of the Jewish priests, was ministering his gifts to the early Church both personally and through his evangelizing disciples. And the word of the Lord was rare at that time, precious because of its rarity, for the harvest was indeed plentiful, but the workers were few (Matthew 9). Nor was there a Pharisee, Scribe, or priest who could unlock the hidden visions and the manifest sayings of the prophets for the people with exposition.
[1 Samuel 3:2] -- It happened on a certain day, Eli was lying in his place, etc. He designates the lamp of God according to the dignity of Eli's rank. But by signification, we correctly take the lamp to mean the old priesthood, necessary indeed in the night under the shadow of the serving people, but to be removed with the approach of the day of new grace. For just as the lamp shining only in houses during the night, closed off, is not sufficient to spread the rays of its brightness more widely, but the sun, when it rises, illuminates everything both outside and inside so thoroughly that even the light of the lamp becomes less useful or indeed extinguishable; rightly, this is compared to the knowledge of the law, which shone as if enclosed within one house of Judea, while the other nations outside were oppressed by the terror of blind night. To the Gospel, which, after enlightening Judea, also dispelled the far-reaching shadows of Gentilism. And just as the rising sun would hide or even extinguish the lamp, the Apostle shows, speaking of the letter and the spirit: "For what was glorified has no glory now in comparison to the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts" (2 Corinthians 3). Therefore, Eli was lying in his place, and his eyes had grown dim, and he could not see the lamp of God, before the dignity of the old priesthood and law he served was extinguished; which ought to have watched, stood firm in faith, acted manfully, and been strengthened at the time of the Lord's Incarnation, degenerating from the alacrity of its original state, was languishing as if worn out by old age; nor was it yet clear in the light of true sense, for it had been greatly deprived of this light by the secondary interpretations of the Pharisees, after the things perfected by Christ's blood.
[1 Samuel 3:3] -- But Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord, etc. The Lord, while instructing and ministering spiritual matters to mortals, would suspend the external vision of the mind to fix it in the contemplation of the supreme and innermost light. For they say that the temple, where the divine and heavenly sacraments are, is called a place of contemplation; where the ark of God is, that is, the glory of the supreme Trinity, solely conscious of the divine entire secret. Whence it is said in the Psalm: I kept the Lord always in my sight; because he is at my right hand, that I be not moved (Psalm XIII).
[1 Samuel 3:4] -- And the Lord called Samuel, etc. It’s a challenging mode of speaking, how from time to time a father calls his son to know the secrets of his judgment; and he responds that he is present, who was born before time from the Father and speaks: All things have been delivered to me by my Father (Matthew XI). And: All that the Father has is mine (John XVI). But often Scripture, according to human manner, speaks about God, or rather God himself in Scriptures speaks about himself, as in the Gospel: For I do not speak on my own, but as I hear I judge; and all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you (John XV). Likewise, in Genesis, God said: Let us make man in our image and likeness (Genesis I). Therefore, Samuel, called by the Lord, responded: Here I am.
[1 Samuel 3:5] -- And he ran to Eli, etc. Christ, called by the Father, who was always in him, to contemplate the miracles of his eternal majesty, responds that he will remain eternally with the Father by divine presence; and among these, suddenly appearing in human flesh, he speaks to the teachers of the Jews: And he himself, whom you sought for so long, and desired to come in the flesh, who was often called by the prayers and vows of the faithful for the salvation of the world, I myself have come, I who spoke, behold, here I am.
[1 Samuel 3:5] -- He said, "I did not call," etc. The Scribes and Pharisees deny that they sought the coming of Christ; at whose birth, upon hearing, not only King Herod was troubled, but also all Jerusalem with him. And they instructed to sleep again in the temple the one whom, having repulsed from their disbelief, they sent back to reveal the secrets of the father's child. However, when he was a young man, that is, after the thirtieth year of his age, some from their number believed him to be the Son of God. And this is similar to how Eli, after the third coming of Samuel to him, understood that the Lord was calling him; after the third decade of his years, the Jews knew and believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
[1 Samuel 3:6] -- And the Lord added to call Samuel again, etc. Let us not tire of repeating in our discussions what neither the Lord tired of saying, nor the historian of repeating in writing. God the Father calls God the Son, not as a man calls another man, by moving the air with words from one place to another; but showing Him, always remaining in His invisible presence, even when He bore man on earth through visible signs. And since Samuel means "God" or "name of God," we might rightly say that the Lord called Samuel when the Father demonstrated His incarnate Son with miracles as the true God, and he responded, "Here I am." To whom the same Son said: "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me" (John 14).
[1 Samuel 3:6] -- And he said, "Here I am," etc. Let the diligent reader note that the same allegorical interpretation is not always the same as the order of historical truth but alternates in a similar, unequal, or contrary manner. In a similar way, indeed, Samuel's simple youth and Eli's sluggish blindness signify the humility of the Lord Savior and the stubborn foolishness of the Jews. Unequally, however, the dubious words of Samuel saying, "Here I am, for you called me," prefigure the true and certain incarnation of Christ. Contrarily, as lower, David's sin in the matter of Uriah suggests the merciful grace of Christ, by which He condescended to save the nations.
[1 Samuel 3:7] -- Moreover, Samuel did not yet know the Lord, etc. Moreover, the Savior, whose name is God, was not yet recognized by the carnal as always knowing all the secrets of the Father, nor before He was baptized did John see and bear witness that the heavens were opened to Him, and that the voice of the Father was made upon Him from above. Thus, in the manner of Holy Scripture, the ignorance of the blessed Samuel in his childhood concealed demonstrates the wisdom of the Son of God in the infancy of the flesh. For it is not said in vain: Because in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom (Col. II), clearly to be manifested in the faithful, believing.
[1 Samuel 3:8] -- And the Lord added, and called again Samuel the third time. The Lord calls Samuel the third time, he himself rises the third time and comes to Eli and tells who has called him. The Father showed the Son visible in the flesh, signs of the invisible God, for the third time; namely, in infancy, in boyhood, and in youth. For in infancy, He shone through the angel to the shepherds and with the star to the Magi. In boyhood indeed, when He at twelve years old, showed divine wisdom in the temple, where He Himself said among other things: Because it is necessary for me to be in what is of my Father (Luke II). Moreover, in youth, when the Father Himself from the heavens marked Him after baptism with His voice, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Mark I). But in each of these moments, in which the Son of God is declared by God the Father, He Himself, offering Himself as a mortal man to mortal men, indicated that He was present, who had been long sought, awaited, and desired.
[1 Samuel 3:8] -- Eli understood that the Lord had called the boy, etc. Finally, after many great deeds and words done and spoken by the Lord, after John the Baptist's proclamations were fulfilled, the priests, scribes, and Pharisees understand that Jesus, who in the reality of the flesh was born as a boy to us, is the true contemplator of the highest mysteries of the eternal deity of the fathers; and soon, agreeing to the recognized faith, they desire to behold the divine joy, which is never absent, and wish to hear from God the Father in divinity what must be told to humans in a human way, and, like those who love and know what ought to be done, they admonish Him to do so, just as we often urge God Himself and the angels to show the devotion of our mind, as if agreeing when we know what will be done, to do it quickly and earnestly. For we say to people on earth: Arise, God, and defend your cause (Psalm 74). Stir up your power, and come (Psalm 79). Bless the Lord, all His angels (Psalm 103); and countless similar phrases.
[1 Samuel 3:11] -- And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I am doing a work in Israel, etc. What the prophet previously foretold to Eli about the judgment of his house, meaning its rejection and the substitution of Samuel in the priesthood, the same Samuel now understands through the oracle of God about himself, and he announces it to Eli; because what the prophets heralded by defining the old and introducing the new — that is, the priesthood of Christ's Church — the same Christ, having conversed in the flesh, clearly heard from the Father in secret, where mortals do not have access, reveals openly and plainly to the leaders of the Jews.
[1 Samuel 3:14] -- Therefore, I have sworn to the house of Eli, etc. The house of Eli according to the letter could not be cleansed by the blood of victims, which the iniquity of his sons polluted, but nevertheless, it was cleansed by the blood of martyrdom when so many priests of his lineage were innocently destroyed in the city of Nob for the sake of the grace of paternal hospitality (1 Kings 22). According to the consequence of allegory, the iniquity of the house of Eli, indeed of the whole house of Israel, could not be entirely cleansed by any kind of sacrifices or gifts of good action, until the Lamb of God came, who takes away the sins of the world. For only the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all iniquity (John 1).
[1 Samuel 3:15] -- Samuel slept until morning, etc. The Lord remained in secret rest with the Father, with whom he ceaselessly arranged and governed all things invisibly, waiting for when, with the night of vices dispelled by the host of virtues, the lights of evangelical truth would reveal themselves, when the shadow of the law departed. And immediately, wherever he saw the dawn of faith rising in anyone's heart by the breath of the Sun of righteousness, opening the more abundant gifts of his Spirit, he promised the hope of entrance to the eternal house in heaven. This happens not only then among the Jews but also among us to this day; for whoever has not yet received the grace of Christ, or having received it, has cast it away by the merits of sins, to this person placed in the night of blindness, Christ, who always watches in the saints, sleeps, and the entrance of the heavenly kingdom is closed to him. But when he receives the light of hoped-for and sought-for forgiveness, immediately the Lord, as if awakened from sleep, opens the doors of virtues, which he had closed at the coming of the evening of faithlessness. This sense agrees beautifully with another trope, that while the Lord sleeps, the sailors are in danger; while he awakens, they are freed (Matthew 8).
[1 Samuel 3:19] -- Samuel grew, etc. The preaching of the Gospel grew, and God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. The reputation of Jesus grew, and it spread throughout all Syria. Hence John said: He must increase (John 3); and concerning the passing away of the old law like Eli, he immediately added: But I must decrease.
[1 Samuel 3:19] -- And not a word from Him fell to the ground. You will find nothing earthly in the words of the Lord, nor will any of those who think earthly things understand His spiritual sayings. Or certainly it should be said that the Lord, while dwelling in the flesh, deferred the delivery of His word to the Gentiles, who, in comparison to the Jews, were like earth to heaven, yet later He deemed it worthy to call them to faith through the apostles.
[1 Samuel 3:20] -- And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized, etc. And the Catholic, that is, the universal Church, the spiritual Israel, which has been gathered from the beginnings of renouncing the devil to the font of baptism, knows that Jesus Christ, who is called "God with Us," is the preacher of faith. For Dan is interpreted as "judgment." It signifies that time for the Church, of which it is said: "Now is the judgment of this world, now the prince of this world will be cast out" (John 12). Beersheba, however, which is interpreted as "well of the oath," or "seventh well," or "well of satisfaction," signifies the full reception of baptism, when, with the devil exorcised, renounced, and expelled from the heart, each one enters the font of regeneration to be consecrated by the sevenfold grace of the Spirit and to be filled by the abundance of heavenly gifts. Even the very location of these places alludes not insignificantly to the sacraments of the Church, because the terminus of the land of Judea was Dan to the north and Beersheba to the south, a mystical distance well known to those who can sing with the spouse: "Awake, O north wind, and come, south wind, blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out" (Cant. 4). Dan, moreover, is a village about four miles from Paneas towards Tyre, from which place the river Jordan takes its name, as Jor means "river" or "stream" in Hebrew; this also not insignificantly points to the beginning of baptism. Furthermore, Beersheba is a city or village in the tribe of Judah, lying to the south, as we have said. Therefore, all Israel, that is, the people of Christians intent upon the vision of God, from Dan to Beersheba, from the north to the south, that is, from the catechumens to the faithful, from those who have just now expelled the harsh blasts of the ancient enemy, to those who have already been filled with the most radiant warmth of the Holy Spirit, recognizes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believers have eternal life in His name. In this reading, the person of blessed Samuel may well be referred to those very members of Christ, exalted by the merit of pure humility, about whom He Himself says: "Whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18). Those sleeping in the temple of the Lord, that is, who have turned away from the external cares of the world with the whole light of their heart directed solely towards contemplating the divine will above, are taught how the secrets of heavenly judgments are revealed in many ways which the old, blinded, and rejected Eli did not see, just as the Lord Himself, who speaks in the Gospel, says: "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes" (Matt. 11). In this context, the crowned humility of the penitents and the condemned impiety of the proud are presented as an example, so that by these things it is manifestly shown that the hidden things of the wise of the world and the revealed mysteries to the humble are spoken.