1 Puer autem Samuel ministrabat Domino coram Heli, et sermo Domini erat pretiosus in diebus illis: non erat visio manifesta.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 1. Since we were diligently seeking how the meaning of the sacred history might correspond to the conduct of the elect, we deferred revisiting the order of allegory by exposition.
Bede · AD 735 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.
2 Factum est ergo in die quadam, Heli jacebat in loco suo, et oculi ejus caligaverant, nec poterat videre:
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 6. For the boy Samuel is called by the Lord whenever the secrets of divine counsel are revealed to humble subjects, and they acquire by the merit of their humility the light of contemplation, which proud preachers lose as the recompense of their pride.
Bede · AD 735 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.
3 lucerna Dei antequam extingueretur, Samuel dormiebat in templo Domini, ubi erat arca Dei.
Theodore of Mopsuestia · AD 428 It says "The Lord is in his holy temple," as if it had been appropriate to say "The Lord is his help." For the Lord's name alone is commonly inserted as an indication of assistance. But here the psalmist intends to indicate that there is one who lives in the temple and is used for defense and protection, in whom it is able to stand firm securely in hope against all treachery.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 8. Now rightly the reprobate prelate is said not to sleep but to lie down, while the boy, a subject and one of the elect, is said not to lie down but to sleep, because "to sleep" is sometimes taken in a good sense, while "to lie down" is almost always taken in a bad sense. Hence also the Bride in the Song of Songs says: 'I sleep, and my heart watches' (Song 5:2).
Bede · AD 735 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.
4 Et vocavit Dominus Samuel. Qui respondens, ait: Ecce ego.
John Cassian · AD 435 And therefore by no means let the ignorance or shallowness of one old man or of a few deter you and cut you off from that salutary path about which we have spoken and from the traditions of our forebears. The clever enemy misuses their gray hairs to deceive the young.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 (Verses 4, 5.) Who answering, said: "Here I am." And he ran to Eli and said: "For you called me." Who said: "I did not call you, my son; return and sleep." 8. Why did the one who heard the Lord calling him run to Eli, unless because he thought he had been called by Eli?
Bede · AD 735 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).
5 Et cucurrit ad Heli, et dixit: Ecce ego: vocasti enim me. Qui dixit: Non vocavi: revertere, et dormi. Et abiit, et dormivit.
Bede · AD 735 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 wa…
6 Et adjecit Dominus rursum vocare Samuelem. Consurgensque Samuel, abiit ad Heli, et dixit: Ecce ego, quia vocasti me. Qui respondit: Non vocavi te, fili mi: revertere et dormi.
Bede · AD 735 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.
7 Porro Samuel necdum sciebat Dominum, neque revelatus fuerat ei sermo Domini.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 11. What is it that Eli commands the boy who was called to return to sleep, except that he shows preachers to prepare themselves through quietness of mind for receiving the gift of interior grace? And it should be noted that it says: "Return." For Samuel returns when the chosen preacher goes back from meditation on sacred Scripture to the secret of interior contemplation.
Bede · AD 735 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.
8 Et adjecit Dominus, et vocavit adhuc Samuelem tertio. Qui consurgens abiit ad Heli,
Philoxenus of Mabbug · AD 523 Now when Eli understood that it was the Lord Who had called him, he commanded him to make answer as unto the Lord, and not to run towards him; for "Eli understood that the Lord had called the boy." And old age sent youth to the Lord to learn His will, and cunning had need of simplicity that by means of it it might learn the Divine Will; for Eli entreated Samuel and begged him t…
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 15. For if he had not understood, he would by no means have ministered to him the counsels of salvation through the sacred Scriptures. For he understood, because he foresaw. For whatever almighty God arranged to do in the building of the future Church, this He revealed to the ancient Fathers through the holy spirit of prophecy.
Bede · AD 735 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 father…
9 et ait: Ecce ego, quia vocasti me. Intellexit ergo Heli quia Dominus vocaret puerum: et ait ad Samuelem: Vade, et dormi: et si deinceps vocaverit te, dices: Loquere, Domine, quia audit servus tuus. Abiit ergo Samuel, et dormivit in loco suo.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 But to him whom he understood was to be called, he also supplied counsel, saying: (Verse 9.) "Go and sleep, and if he calls you again, you shall say: Speak, Lord, for your servant hears." 16. Enough has already been shown, I believe, that the sleep of Samuel signifies the quiet of interior meditation.
10 Et venit Dominus, et stetit: et vocavit, sicut vocaverat secundo: Samuel, Samuel. Et ait Samuel: Loquere, Domine, quia audit servus tuus.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 16. And it should be noted that the Lord rouses the boy while he is resting, without Eli knowing, yet once roused, He by no means reveals the reason for his calling unless that same Eli instructs him, because He raises chosen subjects through hidden inspiration toward the desire for the heavenly homeland, yet through their rest He does not permit them to be called to the homela…
11 Et dixit Dominus ad Samuelem: Ecce ego facio verbum in Israël, quod quicumque audierit, tinnient ambæ aures ejus.
Philoxenus of Mabbug · AD 523 The Lord said to Samuel, "Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle," because Eli had heard of the iniquity which his sons were doing in the tabernacle, and had rebuked them not.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 19. For among sublime gifts, the elect mind is restrained from pride all the more cautiously, the more it perceives through the justice of almighty God that even those who seemed to be supported by more sublime gifts have been cast away. For this reason also, concerning the word which the Lord threatens He will accomplish, the ears of those who hear are declared to ring.
Bede · AD 735 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…
12 In die illa suscitabo adversum Heli omnia quæ locutus sum super domum ejus: incipiam, et complebo.
13 Prædixi enim ei quod judicaturus essem domum ejus in æternum propter iniquitatem, eo quod noverat indigne agere filios suos, et non corripuerit eos.
Basil of Caesarea · AD 379 Benevolence to such persons is like that mistaken kindness of Eli which he was accused of showing his sons, contrary to the good pleasure of God. A feigned kindness to the wicked is a betrayal of the truth, an act of treachery to the community and a means of habituating oneself to indifference to evil.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 And opening up this same word, He says: (Verses 13 and 14.) For I have foretold to him that I would judge his house forever for the iniquity, because he knew that his sons were acting unworthily, and he did not correct them. Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of his house shall not be expiated by sacrifices and offerings forever. 21.
Isaac of Nineveh · AD 700 For what reason did wrath and death come upon the house of the priest Eli, the righteous elder who was eminent for forty years in his priesthood? Was it not because of the iniquity of his sons [Hophni] and [Phinehas]?
14 Idcirco juravi domui Heli quod non expietur iniquitas domus ejus victimis et muneribus usque in æternum.
Bede · AD 735 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 2…
15 Dormivit autem Samuel usque mane, aperuitque ostia domus Domini. Et Samuel timebat indicare visionem Heli.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 21. For he sleeps until morning who rests in the conduct of a good work begun until the splendor of the coming Redeemer appears. He sleeps until morning who throughout the whole night of the present life waits through the purpose of justice begun, so that the brightness of the promised Redeemer may shine forth for him unto the joy of a merited reward.
Bede · AD 735 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.
16 Vocavit ergo Heli Samuelem, et dixit: Samuel fili mi? Qui respondens ait: Præsto sum.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 24. For he who is said to have been compelled to speak by such great urgency of entreaty is shown to have been bound by a great strictness of silence.
17 Et interrogavit eum: Quis est sermo, quem locutus est Dominus ad te? oro te ne celaveris me: hæc faciat tibi Deus, et hæc addat, si absconderis a me sermonem ex omnibus verbis quæ dicta sunt tibi.
18 Indicavit itaque ei Samuel universos sermones, et non abscondit ab eo. Et ille respondit: Dominus est: quod bonum est in oculis suis faciat.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 And he indeed responded, saying: (Verse 18) "It is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes." 26. By these words, indeed, what else is more clearly recognized than the faithlessness of the Jewish people? For he who calls the almighty God Lord still considers himself to be serving Him.
19 Crevit autem Samuel, et Dominus erat cum eo, et non cecidit ex omnibus verbis ejus in terram.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 27. What does it mean that after Eli explained the vision, Samuel is said to have grown, except that the order of our teachers, after it repelled the sons of the Synagogue by the word, found a glory of greater reverence among the Gentiles?
Bede · AD 735 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.
20 Et cognovit universus Israël, a Dan usque Bersabee, quod fidelis Samuel propheta esset Domini.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 30. For what is designated by Dan except the simple, and what by Beersheba except the wise? From Dan even to Beersheba Samuel is acknowledged as the faithful prophet of the Lord, when the life of a chosen preacher is set forth to the simple as an example of salvation, and to the wise the mysteries of Holy Scripture are revealed through his teaching.
Bede · AD 735 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.
21 Et addidit Dominus ut appareret in Silo, quoniam revelatus fuerat Dominus Samueli in Silo juxta verbum Domini. Et evenit sermo Samuelis universo Israëli.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 31. Above, concerning the time of the reprobate pastor, it is said: "In those days there was no open vision." When therefore the best preacher is shown forth from sacred Scripture, the Lord is said to appear again, because indeed the knowledge of the divine counsel, which is hidden from the reprobate, is revealed to the elect by the merit of purity.