CHAPTER II. For the divine word follows, and says: (Verse 11.) And Elkanah went to Ramah, to his house.
1. We have shown that this man indeed designates the Redeemer of the human race; Anna his wife, His Church; the boy Samuel, the people of believers from the nations; and Ramatha the city, the heavenly homeland. What then does it mean that after his wife's canticle Elkanah is said to have gone away to Ramatha his city, since Anna sang her canticle to God after the boy was born, and the Redeemer ascended to heaven before the holy Church had begotten the gentile people in faith? This question is raised only by those who are known to understand only the bodily presence of our Lord. For did not Paul, who had ascended to the Father, have Him with him when he said: "Do you seek proof of Christ who dwells in me" (2 Cor. 13:3)? He likewise declares, saying: "As from God, before God and Christ we speak" (2 Cor. 2:17). What does it mean, then, that He was sometimes present to the holy Church through the grace of His gift, and sometimes withdrew Himself from her through the dispensation of trial? For He was present so that in the acquisition of the Gentiles He might abundantly pour forth the words of life; but sometimes, as though absent, He hid Himself, so that, with the gift of the word taken away, she might recognize what she was without His presence. Therefore, after the end of the canticle it is said: "Elkanah went to his house," because the holy Church preaches lofty things from His presence, and He who withdraws Himself from mortals through dispensation continually presents Himself to the eternal citizens. For His house is that eternal fellowship of the heavenly citizens, which the Lord inhabits by loving, filling, and uniting Himself to them. He goes to it, therefore, when He leaves Anna, because He who beneficially withdraws Himself from us who are still making progress, unceasingly joins and shows Himself to the perfected and consummated citizens of the eternal homeland, for whom it is no longer necessary to be tested by His absence, since they have already been proven. Fittingly, therefore, after Anna's canticle it is said: "Elkanah went to his house," because the holy Church, which teaches the elect such sublime things, just as she is always left by the Lord's loving dispensation, so also she does not always have those lofty things to teach. But many hear the words, detest their past wickedness, and resolve upon works of amendment of life; yet when they cease to hear, they return to iniquity as if they had never heard those same words of life. The gentile people, as hearers of the holy Church, were devout in listening and ready in acting. Fittingly, therefore, it is added: The boy Samuel was ministering in the presence of the Lord, before the face of Eli the priest.
2. As if it were openly said: From what he heard, he strove to please Almighty God. He is fittingly called a boy, because even though he had undertaken great things to be done in defense of our faith, nevertheless in that same generation of faith he was still new. And because he rendered a pleasing ministry to Almighty God, he was a minister in the sight of the Creator. For he is in the sight of the Lord whom divine favor gladly looks upon in the offering of his services. Fearing greatly to be cast out from this sight of the Lord, someone prays, saying: "Cast me not away from your face" (Psalm 50:13). Likewise, ardently desiring to be received into it, he considers with himself the delay of his waiting, saying: "When shall I come and appear before the face of God?" (Psalm 41:3). Hence Elijah boasts and says: "As the Lord lives, in whose sight I stand" (3 Kings 17:1). Samuel therefore was a minister in the sight of the Lord, because in the services of the new religion the Gentile people was greatly accepted by Almighty God. By this word indeed the rejection of Judea is also secretly intimated, since Samuel alone, in whom the faithful people of the nations is represented, is said to minister before the Lord. He alone therefore was in His sight, because indeed the Jewish people had ceased to please Him. The Lord speaks both of these things through Malachi. For intimating the rejection of Judea, He says: "I have no pleasure in you, and I will not accept a sacrifice from your hand" (Malachi 1:10). But He who cast Jewish faithlessness from His face, adding whom He gladly beholds, says: "From the rising of the sun to its setting, my name is great among the nations, and in every place a pure offering is offered to my name" (ibid., 11). But it must be carefully observed that it is said: "Before the face of Eli, Samuel ministered to the Lord," because the order of the ancient teachers long before recognized by foreseeing, and proclaimed by prophesying, that the ministry of the holy Church's preachers would bring about the conversion, love, and reverence of the Gentile people concerning service to the Redeemer. For he who said the following knew this people would be devoted in the Lord's service: "All kings of the earth shall adore him, all nations shall serve him" (Psalm 71:11). Hence Haggai speaks, saying: "The desired of all nations shall come, and the house of the Lord shall be filled with glory" (Haggai 2:8). Hence Isaiah says: "There shall be a root of Jesse, who shall rise to rule the nations; in him the nations shall hope" (Isaiah 11:10; Romans 15:12). Hence the Psalmist says: "Praise the Lord, all nations, and praise him together, all peoples" (Psalm 116:1). Hence the patriarch Jacob says: "He shall be the expectation of the nations" (Genesis 49:10). Before the face of Eli, therefore, the boy Samuel was a minister of the Lord, because what the Gentile people afterwards worthily offered to God, the order of the ancient teachers foresaw through the spirit of prophecy. And immediately concerning the rejected ones it is added: (Verses 12, 13.) Now the sons of Eli, not knowing the Lord, and the office of the priest to the people.
3. Supply "were." For who else are the sons of Eli, if not the Israelites according to the flesh, who knew the Sacred Scripture published by the fathers, and yet did not know the one whom Scripture had promised? Whom indeed Truth itself rebukes in the Gospel, saying: "Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56). And again: "If you believed Moses, you would certainly believe me also, for he wrote about me" (John 5:46). Therefore they did not know the Lord, who spurned the Redeemer coming in our flesh. Whence He complains through Isaiah, saying: "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's manger; but Israel has not known me" (Isaiah 1:3). As if to say: I opened to him the ways of my incarnation long before through the prophets, and yet he did not accept what I had promised when it was presented. For this reason he also did not know the duty of the priests toward the people. For he would have recognized the priestly office if he had preached that the one who had been promised by the law and the prophets had already come for the redemption of the human race. Because indeed he not only did not believe in Him, but even raged in persecuting Him, he neither knew the Lord nor the duty of the priests toward the people. Yet his malice would have been less if he who refused to benefit the lesser ones by preaching the coming of the Redeemer had at least feared to do harm. It follows therefore, and says: 67 (Verses 13, 14.) But whenever anyone had offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest would come while the flesh was being cooked, and he had a three-pronged fork in his hand, and he would thrust it into the basin, or the kettle, or the pot, or the cauldron, and whatever the fork brought up, he would take for the priests.
4. For what is it to immolate a victim, except to offer the confession of true faith to almighty God? And what are the vessels in which the flesh is cooked for the sacrifice, except the minds of the faithful? For when they believe that the Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, is the true Only-begotten of the most high Father, surely in them the flesh is cooked which is to be immolated to God through the service of inmost devotion. Who is the priest's servant other than the people subjected through obedience to the faithless pastors of the Synagogue? He is fittingly called a servant, because while he preferred to hold to the weak things of the law according to the letter, he refused to grow into a perfect man through the Gospel. But what does it mean that he is assigned to seize the portions of food by force? What again does it mean that he is said to hold a three-pronged fork in the violence he inflicts? The food of the chosen soul is the person of the Redeemer. This food is indeed cooked in the sacred vessels, while through the heat of the Holy Spirit it is prepared for the sweetness of refreshment in the minds of the elect. For the flesh is cooked when, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, we both firmly believe and effectually confess that the Lord's humanity was assumed into the nature of divinity. Hence also through Moses he suggests that the flesh of the Paschal Lamb is to be eaten, saying: "You shall not eat any of it raw, or cooked in water" (Exodus 12:9). To eat it raw is, apart from the grace of the Holy Spirit, to believe our Redeemer to be a mere man. It is cooked in water when the essence of the Redeemer is sifted through human wisdom. The Jews therefore eat it raw, the heretics cooked in water, because the former deny his divinity, while the latter, through human wisdom, empty out the mysteries of both his divinity and his humanity. The priest's servant is therefore sent to take away the food of the faithful, because the Jewish people, expelled from faith in the Redeemer, strove vehemently to tear away the love of faith in him from the hearts of the faithful. He is fittingly said to have held a three-pronged fork in his hand, with which he might prevent from being cooked whatever portion of flesh he could pierce and draw out. For the fork thrust by the hand of the servant is the persecution of the Jewish people against holy Church. And because he tried to harm the faithful with enticements, punishments, and terrors, the fork indeed had three prongs. But it is rightly said that what the fork lifted up, the servant took for the priests, because it was a great feast for the wicked prelates if the crowd of their fawning or raging attendants could overthrow someone whom they had recognized as standing firm in the height of our faith through confession. There follows: (Verses 14, 15.) "So they did to all Israel who came to Shiloh, even before they burned the fat."
5. Fat indeed is the internal richness, in which that devotion of mind is expressed by which the minds of the elect are joined to their Creator in more perfect charity. They rightly offer sacrifice with meat already cooked, because no one will be able to rise to the sublimity of charity unless he first loves the mysteries of the incarnate divinity which he believes. For to believe through the Holy Spirit that the humanity of the Lord Jesus was assumed into divinity is to cook the flesh that is to be offered to God. Therefore, before the fat could be burned, the boy hastened to seize the flesh in all Israel, because the officers of the Synagogue thought to overthrow the new confessors of Christ before perfect charity could unite them to almighty God. This the very words of the sacred history indicate more plainly, where it says: "While the flesh was being cooked." By which words, certainly, not the completion of the cooking but the preparation is indicated. But the order of this wicked extortion is shown through what follows: (Verse 15.) "The priest's boy would come and say to the one offering sacrifice: Give me flesh to cook for the priest; for I will not accept cooked flesh from you, but raw."
6. He would give raw meat to the boy, who before the persecutors would assert the pure humanity of Christ, and the boy would cook it for the priest, because through the fire of malice the Jewish people would think this: that their leaders would willingly receive it in the refreshment of their mind. Therefore the priest's boy came and demanded raw meat, when the Jewish people, serving the letter of the law, urged the faithful to deny the divinity of the Redeemer. Coming therefore he says: "I will not accept cooked meat from you, but raw." Because the one whom the faithful person was compelled to confess as a mere man, he did not even wish to hear was God. The importunity of this people is indeed shown when sacrilegious words are doubled in wicked exaction. For it follows: "I will not accept cooked meat from you, but raw." Because he greatly desired to hear that Jesus our Lord and Redeemer was not Lord and man, but only a mere man. But those whom he tested as if imperfect in the flesh, he found perfect. For those who were compelled to deny the divinity of the Redeemer not only refused to deny the Redeemer, but took care to draw their very compellers to life. Whence it also follows: (Verse 16.) And the one sacrificing would say to him: "Let the fat be burned first according to custom today, and take for yourself as much as your soul desires."
7. Indeed, he who promises him cooked meat at his pleasure strives to turn away the one demanding raw meat from a bestial appetite. As if the holy Church were giving an answer to the badly hungering Jews, and in place of the simple humanity which they desire to devour through craving, were promising back the food of divinity, saying: First allow to be cooked what you may have as understanding in the Holy Spirit for the refreshment of life. Did not the priest's servant then seek raw meat, when it was said to the one who had been born blind and was enlightened by the Lord: "Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner" (John 9:24)? What is it to say, "Give glory to God," except: do not attribute the praises of your healing to this man, because he is not God? And he who is declared a sinner is not only denied to be God, but even a righteous man. To him indeed the blind man refused to offer the raw meat that was sought, and offered cooked instead, because by firmly declaring him the author of his salvation, from the displayed sign of such great wonder, he showed him to be not only a holy man, but true God. But the people, who had begun to follow beasts, having lost reason, importunately demanded that raw meat be served to them. For it follows: (Verse 16.) "You will give it now, otherwise I will take it from you by force." It follows: (Verse 17.) "For the sin of the servants was exceedingly great before the Lord." And he adds the reason by which this sin was shown to be great, saying: (Verse 17.) "Because they were drawing men away from the sacrifice of the Lord."
8. The sin is recognized to be exceedingly great which is not washed away by the tears of repentance. For the prophet, beholding this exceedingly great sin of the Synagogue, says: "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond" (Jeremiah 17:1). Or certainly the sin was exceedingly great before the Lord because it was dragging others into sinning. Wherefore it is also added: "Because they were drawing men away from the sacrifice of the Lord." They were indeed drawing men away from the sacrifice, because they were preventing the hearts of the weak from advancing to the confession of the true faith. And it should be noted that those who are drawn away from the sacrifice are called "men," because surely if they had persisted in the true confession of our faith, the divine word would have marked them with the title of sons of God. To whom indeed the Lord says through the Psalmist: "I have said, you are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High; but you shall die like men" (Psalm 82:6–7). And there follows: (Verse 18.) "But Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy girded with a linen ephod."
9. A linen garment is known to be finer than a woolen one. And fittingly Samuel is said to have been clothed with a linen ephod, by whom the order of priests chosen from the nations is designated. For in comparison with the life under the Law, the new manner of life of the Gospel is the fineness of linen. For there something carnal was commanded; there everyone is cursed by whom no seeds of offspring are left in Zion. But in the New Testament, because all things are more refined, whoever follows its precepts is adorned as if with a more delicate linen garment: there indeed abstinence from marriage is condemned, here it is honored with wondrous praises; there priests beget carnally, here they bring forth the fruit of spiritual offspring all the more abundantly, inasmuch as they cannot suffer any loss of chastity even through the good of marriage. And fittingly, when Samuel's garment is described, it is reported to have been linen, so that it might openly show the glory of the new priesthood, which would shine with the splendors of a new chastity. But when Samuel is said to be a minister in the sight of the Lord, he is recorded as girded with a linen ephod, because divine services are then well performed when the person performing them is not defiled by the filth of carnal pleasure; and the gift of ministry is then acceptable to God when, through the purity of holy living, the person of the minister is pleasing to God. And because he was advancing in the beginnings of his newness, there follows further: (Verse 19.) And his mother made him a little tunic, which she brought to him when she went up with her husband to offer the solemn sacrifice to the Lord.
10. To offer a sacrifice of the Holy Church is to kindle the hearts of one's hearers in love of the Creator through the words of preaching. At that time, therefore, a small garment is said to have been brought to Samuel, because while he was still advancing through the growth of his newness, he received from the Church tokens of righteousness suited to his smallness, with whose splendor he might shine. There follows: (Verse 20.) And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, saying: May the Lord grant you offspring from this woman, in return for the loan which you have entrusted to the Lord.
11. Because in the person of Eli the priest the good teachers of the ancient people are also signified, he is known to have blessed Elkanah and his wife, since indeed the order of those same ancient teachers foresaw the spiritual union of Christ and the holy Church, and preached with devotion that the future offspring of those elect ones would be worthy of heaven. Although this was done long before, nevertheless it then became known that he had thus blessed them, when, with the grace of our redemption now revealed, each faithful person was able to believe that our ancient fathers proclaimed so many good things about this renewal. And so that the order in which this happened may be recognized, it is added: (Verse 20.) And they went to their own place.
12. For her to go away to her own place with her husband is for the holy Church to flee at times from the troubles of the active life and to devote herself through contemplation to the joys of the heavenly life. For that mother had left her child for a time, she who said: "I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ" (Phil. 1:23). Was she with the child when the force of love had carried that distinguished teacher up to the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2–4)? Was she then with the child when, received into paradise, she heard words that it is not permitted for man to speak, and was caught up to her own place, because he showed this, saying: "We have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come" (Heb. 13:14)? But maternal affection compelled her, who was going away to her own place with her husband, to return to her son. For she spoke and said: "To remain in the flesh is necessary for me on your account" (Phil. 1:24). There follows: (Verse 21.) Therefore the Lord visited Anna, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters.
13. By the three sons are designated all the more perfect members of the holy Church, who are known to have always done mighty deeds for the faith of the Trinity. But if the holy Church were to bring forth only the perfect, our weakness could not attain the rewards of eternal life. Therefore the frailty of the two daughters follows the strength of the sons, because although the holy Church has brought forth strong ones against the proud enemy of the human race, nevertheless even her weak members are led to the joys of the eternal homeland through the two precepts of charity. And because whoever had at that time begun to be trained for the priestly ministry did not always remain in the initial stages of his beginning, there follows: (Verse 21.) And the boy Samuel grew great in the sight of the Lord.
14. In this passage it is very much to be noted that the boy Samuel is said to have been both a boy and magnified. But when he is declared to be magnified, this praise of his virtue is said to have been held not in the sight of men, but in the sight of the Lord. Why then is he called a boy, unless because he had been raised to the height of perfection? Samuel is therefore called both a boy and magnified in the sight of the Lord, because the new order of preachers, even if it has attained to the height of great conduct, has not lost the virtue of its humility. Indeed, to be magnified before God would be of no profit if one ceased to be a boy, because having lost humility, one would be unable to please almighty God by the loftiness of one's conduct. For they had already been magnified who were casting out demons from the possessed in the name of Jesus; but because they had lost the good of their childhood, the Truth rebuked them, saying: "I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18). Hence again, making a pronouncement, He says: "Unless you are converted and become like little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). Because, therefore, the life of the new preachers is both sublime in merit and lowly through humility, Samuel is fittingly declared to be both magnified and a boy. And because on both accounts they are greatly acceptable to God, he is said to have been magnified not simply, but in the sight of the Lord. There follows: (Verse 22.) Now Eli was very old, and he heard all the things that his sons were doing in all Israel, and how they slept with the women who kept watch at the door of the tabernacle.
15. In the person of Eli, not only the old priesthood but also the teachings of the ancient fathers are prefigured, because from the fact that he presided with spiritual dignity, he undertook this office: that he should instruct with saving preaching those for whom he would offer pleasing sacrifices to the Lord. What then does it mean that Eli is said to be old, except that in the hearts of the reprobate Jews the force of the heavenly commandments is weakened? Indeed Eli was young as long as Sacred Scripture maintained the force of great authority among the elect of the Synagogue, because evidently it had received the promises of the coming Redeemer and awaited him with great desire. Eli therefore grew old when Judea lost the devotion of observing the promise, so that it beheld the Redeemer desired by its fathers proving himself by miracles before it, and, utterly blind in so great a light of his, doubted the presence of truth. He is also said to have been very old, so that it might be taught that all the force of faith in the Synagogue had withered away. And we truly say that if Eli was very old, he lived altogether feebly. For what was it then for the aged Scripture to live, except to minister a very feeble aspiration of faith to the Synagogue? Indeed he could be very old and yet live, since the hearts of the Jews wavered so that they neither believed the Lord Jesus to be the true Redeemer, nor openly condemned him as a blasphemer. For the evangelist John shows the weakness of this old age, saying: "Some said, 'He is good,' but others said, 'No, but he deceives the crowds'" (John 7:12). Hence the Jews themselves, bringing forth the cunning of their craftiness, say: "How long do you hold our souls in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly" (John 10:24). Hence likewise they say: "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you" (Matthew 12:38).
16. But Eli, very old, heard all the things that his sons were doing to all Israel. He certainly heard these things, because he knew them. For what we have come to know, we hold enclosed within the halls of memory. Indeed, the sacred eloquences, when consulted, bring forth from within themselves all the perfidy of the Jews written outwardly, and display it as if long preserved in memory. Amos, as it were ascribing this knowledge of hearing to Eli, says: 'The Lord God will do nothing upon the earth, which He has not revealed to His servants the prophets' (Amos 3:7). Hence Habakkuk confesses to God the Only-begotten, saying: 'O Lord, I have heard your report, and I was afraid; I considered your works, and I was astounded; in the midst of two animals you shall be made known' (Hab. 3:1, from the interpretation of the LXX). For the ancient teachers of the Synagogue to hear of the crimes of the sons is to foreknow them. But he sets forth what he foreknew, because it says: 'All the things that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they were sleeping with the women who kept watch at the door of the tabernacle.' For to sleep with Jewish women is to be defiled by various heresies. And fittingly those same women are reported to keep watch at the door of the tabernacle. For what is the door of the tabernacle, if not the letter of the spiritual law? But when the Jews understand sacred Scripture according to the letter alone, they established heresies at the very place from which they could have entered into the secret of the true faith. For just as one enters through the door into the interior of the tabernacle, so through the letter of sacred Scripture one enters into the spiritual knowledge of the Redeemer. Therefore, because Judea is deceived through observance of the letter, the women are reported to keep watch at the door, not inside the tabernacle. And because the Jews contradict our Redeemer in all the Scriptures, it is said that there was not one woman, but many. These things indeed the sons of Eli do to themselves, because according to the voice of the prophet: 'The soul that sins, it shall die' (Ezek. 18:4, 20); but they are said to do these things to all Israel, because while the leaders perish in the night of their error, they wrap the lesser ones in the blindness of their own darkness. The sons of Eli therefore sleep with the women, because the reprobate Jews are defiled by the mingling of their heresies even until the end of the world. They also sleep, because although they are overwhelmed by the most grievous night of their error, they are nevertheless to be awakened to faith in the Redeemer at the end of the world through Elijah (Matt. 17:11). There follows: (Verse 23.) 'And he said to them: Why do you do things of this kind, the worst things which I hear from all the people?'
17. Behold, Eli was an old man, and he spoke sharply, because the power of sacred eloquence, even if it fails in the heart of the reprobate, nevertheless before those who rightly understand, subtly searches out the faults of the Jews. For examining strictly, he says: "Why do you do such things as these, the very worst things that I hear from all the people?" But he who, searching, asks "Why do you do this?" clearly shows that they were plunging into the night of heresy without the discernment of reason. Moreover, he says that they had done the very worst things, which he was hearing, and he asserts that those very worst things were from all the people. What is this, except that the whole of the Jewish people had fallen into the depths of heresies? But the cause of that ruin was the reprobate priests. Whence also Hosea, prophesying, says: "The cause of the ruin of the people is the wicked priests" (Hosea 5:1). For the subject people fell precisely because they eagerly imitated their fallen leaders. Therefore, when he says, "the very worst things that I hear from all the people," these things should be understood as being done by the people, not reported by them. This is as if he were saying: "The very worst things that I hear are being done by all the people — why do you do them?" Whence also, immediately making clearer what he had said, he adds: (Verse 24) "Do not, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear of you, that you cause the people of the Lord to transgress."
18. But how would the people of the Lord transgress His commandments, if they themselves were sleeping with women? But because this was happening to them in a figure, it was assuredly prefiguring what was destined to occur at the time of the Lord's Incarnation. For when priests sleep with women, their subjects transgress the commandments of the Lord, because while prelates are stained by the admixture of heresies, the reprobate multitude of the subject Synagogue is plunged into the same corruptions. He says therefore: "Why do you do such things as these, which I hear, the worst things, from all the people?" This is as if he were saying: You sin all the more gravely, inasmuch as you stain the entire people more foully by your crime. Something similar is also said through the prophet: "From Dan," he says, "was heard the snorting of his chariots and horses" (Jeremiah 8:16). In this passage, it should certainly not be understood that he is reporting a sound heard from Dan, but rather that Dan himself, raging with chariots and horses, produces the very sound that is heard. In this passage it should also be noted that he who reported having heard the worst things from all the people added words of gentle affection, saying: "Do not, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear about you, that you cause the people of the Lord to transgress." And indeed Eli rebuked sharply and admonished gently, because Scripture, both denouncing the error of the Jewish people on behalf of the ancient fathers and rebuking it, also calls them from the night of that same error of theirs, with benevolent affection, to the day of true faith. He calls them sons, so that they may recognize that they ought to be heirs of the paternal promise, and receive the Savior of the world all the more devoutly inasmuch as they are not unaware that the promise of Him was made to the fathers. But also, desiring to call them back from the audacity of sin, he adds a reason, saying: (Verse 25) "If a man sins against a man, God can be appeased on his behalf; but if he sins against God, who will pray for him?"
19. For a man to sin against a man is for one human to do perverse things against another human. What then does it mean when he says, "God can be appeased for him," unless that such sins were light in comparison with those which the Jews were planning to commit against the Son of God? For they were sinning against God, because he whom they were plotting to kill had shown himself to be God by the most manifest light of miracles. For the Lord showed this through himself, saying: "If I had not done among them the works that no one else has done, they would have no sin" (John 15:24). And to show the implacability of God the Father, he adds, saying: "But now they have no excuse for their sin, because they have seen and hated both me and my Father" (ibid.). It is therefore as if he were saying: By whose prayer is that sin pardoned which is committed against the very one who pardons? Who beseeches the almighty Father on behalf of the one who condemns the coeternal Only-begotten to death? For he would say nothing more plainly if he were to declare openly, saying: This one whom you persecute as a mere man is also God. The law of reason therefore demands that he who persecutes the Creator be deprived of pardon. But divine mercy surpasses the strictness of reason; for he showed the equity of the law, but did not maintain the force of the pronounced declaration in the execution of the promulgated judgment. For by the rigor of equity it was decreed that no prayer would attain the obtaining of pardon; but for those for whom no prayer of man sufficed, the mercy of the Redeemer did not fail. Every man who might pray for the transgressions is removed; but for those for whom no man was sufficient, God himself became man, a merciful intercessor. For hanging on the cross he prayed, saying: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). God was therefore appeased toward those who had sinned against God, not by another's prayer, but by his own. But God was appeased not toward all, but toward some. For some persecutors of the Lord were converted when the apostles preached, but the rest perished. For Luke mentions these, saying: "Their number came to be five thousand" (Acts 4:4). But concerning the reprobate it is added: (Verse 25) "And they did not listen to the voice of their father, because the Lord willed to kill them."
20. The Lord, declaring through the prophet, says: "I do not desire the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live" (Ezek. 18:23; and 33:11). How then does it befit Him to wish to kill the sinner, and yet not to desire the death of the sinner? But in the aforementioned testimony there follows that from which the truth may be recognized; for He says: "But that he be converted and live." For He who wishes the sinner to live so that he may be converted, if He knows by divine foreknowledge that this one is inconvertible, kills him. The Lord therefore wishes to kill, but those whom He foreknows will refuse to be converted. For He is declared merciful and just when the Prophet implores: "Lord," he says, "deliver my soul; our God is merciful and just" (Ps. 114:5). Through mercy indeed He awaits the conversion of sinners; through justice He condemns those who have not been converted. Through mercy He wishes sinners to be converted and to live, but through justice He wishes to punish those who have refused to be converted; mercifully He saves no one except the willing; through justice He condemns the unwilling. Therefore, when He is said to wish to kill, the greatest and incorrigible impiety of sinners is shown, which is punished by the voluntary execution of divine justice. So indeed we see the most merciful judges of secular affairs act, who would wish that no one transgressed, so that they themselves would have to punish no one; but when crimes are boldly committed by the wicked, they willingly punish those whom they would have more gladly preferred not to have committed punishable offenses. Against this, however, it is observed in this passage that it does not say: "Because they refused to hear the voice of their correcting father," but: "They did not hear, because the Lord wished to kill them." But whoever rightly considers the equity of divine judgment thinks it makes no difference whether someone is killed, or is left in that crime in which he perishes by eternal reprobation. It is as if it said: So great was the magnitude of their guilt that they both received the admonitions of conversion and were in no way able to rise from the pit of their death; and those who had drunk the ocean of God's wrath had as the culmination of their damnation not only the punishment for the crime committed, but also the added vengeance for the preaching they had despised. But why do we marvel at this concerning the past, when we perceive it happening even now: namely, sons despising the admonishing Eli, and the Lord wishing to kill? For what else does Sacred Scripture daily suggest to the Jews other than the darkness of their error? It does not indeed so preach the Redeemer through hidden and spiritual meanings that it does not openly show His incarnation, nativity, passion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. Nor are they so irrational that they cannot see that such excellent goods befit the Redeemer; but nevertheless they are blind, so that they hear that the signs promised to their fathers have shone forth in the Redeemer, and do not believe. They are therefore blind not only in seeing what was promised, but in not believing what has been fulfilled. Why do they not hear the voice of Scripture admonishing them, unless because the Lord wishes to kill them? Nor is it surprising, however, if they perish by the judgment of Him whose Only-Begotten they killed. For it is by the strictness of innermost equity that it is dealt with the Jewish people, that they hear the admonitions of life daily as the Scriptures speak, and yet they in no way believe the Scriptures that admonish them. But, having rejected the faithlessness of the Jews, he sets forth with what successes the order of holy preachers prevails among the nations, saying: (Verse 26.) "But the boy Samuel advanced and grew, and was pleasing both to God and to men."
21. Indeed, it was advancing through the gain of preaching, and growing in the number of ministers. For the Apostle boasts of its progress, saying: "From Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ" (Rom. 15:19). Luke also recalls the manner of its growth, saying: "As the number of disciples was growing, there arose a murmuring of the Greeks against the Hebrews, because their widows were being neglected in the ministry" (Acts 6:1). And shortly after: "They chose," he says, "Stephen, full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Prochorus, and the rest" (ibid., 5). They set these before the sight of the apostles, and praying, they laid hands upon them. Likewise, concerning this advance of the new preachers, it is written: "Their sound has gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world" (Ps. 18:5).
22. But it must be subtly considered what is said: 'He was pleasing both to God and to men.' A teacher is pleasing to men when he presents himself as venerable to his subjects and adorned with good character. But he is pleasing to God when he refuses to glory vainly over his good conduct and desires to merit the praise of God alone. Therefore it says: 'He was pleasing both to God and to men,' because some preachers display a pretense of holiness which they do not possess. These, therefore, because even though they please men they displease God, it is now said of Samuel in the type of the new and chosen preacher: 'He was pleasing both to God and to men.' They present themselves as venerable to their subjects, and they offer to God the purity of their intention. Indeed, he had strived to please men who said: 'We are the good fragrance of Christ in every place' (II Cor. 2:15). And likewise: 'I have become all things to all men, so that I might save all' (I Cor. 9:22). He also taught his hearers to please men, saying: 'Be without offense to Jews and Gentiles, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking what is useful to me, but what is useful to many' (I Cor. 10:32, 33). But he who had indicated that he was pleasing to men commends the purity of heart, saying: 'Our glory is this: the testimony of our conscience' (II Cor. 1:12). 'He was pleasing both to God and to men.' This new order of preachers presented itself outwardly as venerable to its hearers for imitation, and inwardly as acceptable to God through innocence of will. There follows: (Verse 27.) 'A man of God came to Eli.'
23. What is represented by this man of God, if not that venerable company of the holy apostles? He is indeed called a man of God on account of the excellence of his holiness, because he governed the summit of authority, which he had ascended in the governance of the whole world, with an equal loftiness of virtue. He came to Eli at that time when he approached the chief priests to announce the rejection of the Synagogue. There follows: (Verses 27, 28.) And he said to him: Was I not plainly revealed to the house of your father, when he was in Egypt in the house of Pharaoh, and I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to ascend to my altar, and to burn incense before me, and to wear the ephod in my presence, and I gave to the house of your father all the sacrifices of the children of Israel?
24. Because Judea is rejected by divine judgment, it is shown with what wonderful disposition of equity the severity of that judgment itself was brought about. For first the gifts bestowed upon Eli are enumerated, so that while almighty God is shown to be so generous a giver, it may be known how justly He strikes the one who despises Him. He declared that He had revealed Himself to the house of his father, so that he could have no excuse of ignorance. And He teaches that He had shown him this same knowledge of His revelation in Egypt, so that Eli might by no means think that he had obtained it by his own merits. As if He were openly saying: There I offered Myself to be known by him, where he could forget Me, where he did not know how to remember Me. And lest perhaps the very gifts of divine knowledge might seem small to the reprobate, he is declared to have been raised from the other tribes of Israel to the summit of the priesthood. As if He were saying: I preferred him to those to whom he was not superior, but equal.
25. It should be noted that three things are indicated in the office of the priesthood itself. "That he should go up," it says, "to my altar, and burn incense to me, and wear the ephod before me." What is shown by this altar, if not that stone which the patriarch Jacob set up as a pillar (Gen. 28:18)? And what other stone is expressed by this, if not the one Paul proclaims in praise of the faithful, saying: "Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone" (Eph. 2:20)? The father Eli was therefore chosen by the Lord for the priesthood so that he might go up to the altar, because the order of the ancient teachers presided over the people subject to them for this purpose: to proclaim the restoration of the human race that was to come in the advent of the Redeemer. And he burned incense, because he joined the hearts of his hearers through desire to the one whom he proclaimed as the future Redeemer. He also wore the ephod, because through the longing of so great an expectation he displayed the adornment of a worthy manner of life. He would indeed burn incense and yet not wear the ephod if he set the hearts of his hearers ablaze with desire for the coming Redeemer, from whom he himself would differ by the inconsistency of a shameful way of life. And because almighty God sought the truth of religion and not its pretense, "before himself" and not before the people, he declared that he had commanded him to wear the ephod. To wear the ephod before the Lord is to seek from the innocence of one's life the reward of divine goodness alone. Now these things are openly spoken against Eli by way of reproach. For he did not go up to the altar, because that priesthood which presided over the Synagogue in the time of the revealed truth in no way proclaimed to the peoples subject to it the one who shone forth as the Redeemer of the human race with such greatness of signs. And he did not burn incense to God, because he stirred the people to persecution of him, not to love. He also disdained to wear the ephod before the Lord, because he shone with no truth of religion. For even if that outward adornment of life displayed certain marks of respectability, it was from the pretense of deceit, not from the intention of charity. Hence the Lord also rebuked this very thing in them, saying: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, because you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful to men, but inside are full of dead men's bones" (Matt. 23:27). But to the one to whom he had given so many spiritual gifts, he would have seemed to have conferred too little unless he also provided temporal things. Hence it is added: "And I gave to the house of your father all the sacrifices of the children of Israel." As if he were recounting to him with open accusation, saying: "In nothing did I fail him; I bestowed the heights of spiritual honor and power, and I supplied an abundance of earthly plenty for temporal uses." But let us hear with what urgency of inquiry he who so reasonably enumerates the gifts he bestowed now examines the audacity of his transgression. For it follows: (Verse 29.) "Why do you kick at my sacrifice and my offerings, which I commanded to be offered in the temple?"
26. For "why" is not said except by a judge who urgently investigates. And he who is rebuked for having kicked away the victim of God and His gifts is judged to have done injury without the counsel of reason. It should be noted that he speaks in the plural number: "Why have you kicked away my victim," so that what is said may seem to pertain not only to Eli but also to his sons. For wild animals are accustomed to kick away things clinging to them. For what other victims did the faithful have than to persist in the praises of their Redeemer, to proclaim that Christ Jesus died for the salvation of the world, and that by rising again He restored the life of the human race? And what other offerings were theirs, except to ceaselessly offer thanksgivings to Almighty God for such great benefits bestowed upon them? These indeed the sons of Eli kicked away, because in their rejection of the new preaching, they did not follow the counsel of reason through the sacred Scriptures, but the impulse of savagery. For the Truth desired to call them back from irrational cruelty to the intention of rational counsel, saying: "Search the Scriptures, for you think that in them you have eternal life; and they bear witness of me" (John 5:39). Whence here also it is said: "Which I commanded to be offered in the temple." For in the law, the psalms, and the prophets, it had been written concerning the passion, the resurrection of the Lord, and the state of the universal Church. Therefore the leaders of the Synagogue kicked away with their heel the victim and the gifts of the Lord commanded to be offered in the temple of the Lord, because indeed they strove not to examine the preaching of the holy Church by the authority of Holy Scripture, but to reject and cast it away by the sole impulse of their savagery. For if they consulted the commandments of God in sacred Scripture with an enlightened mind, they would have received the holy preachers, whom they fiercely cast out, as though divinely sent to them. But He who rebukes the sons of Eli, that is, the old teachers of the lesser order, for their irrational savagery, also accuses the father himself of negligence, saying: (Verse 29) "You have honored your sons more than me."
27. As if openly rebuking, he says: They have driven others away, and you have honored those who drive them away. He honored his sons more than God, because while he despised their openly wicked deeds, he provided them with temporal gains. Hence he also adds: (Verse 29.) That you might eat the firstfruits of every sacrifice of mine.
28. By which words indeed he seems to reproach the greater order of teachers, who for this reason consented to the Redeemer's death, because they feared losing the profits of the old offerings. Whence also, having taken counsel with the Pharisees, they said: What do we do, because this man performs many signs? If we let him go on like this, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our place and nation (John 11:47, 48). And again: See that you are gaining nothing; behold, the whole world has gone after him (Ibid. 12:19). He therefore honored his sons so that they might eat, because he fell silent from the intention of preaching, lest while he asserted the truth of the new offering, he would no longer be able to have the old things for the indulgence of his own pleasure. Since therefore he has set forth the greatness and character of the guilt, let us now see with how great an equity of examination he suggests the measure of punishment. For adding he says: (Verse 30.) Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: Speaking I spoke, that your house and the house of your father would minister in my presence, henceforth and forever. But now far be this from me.
29. As if striking with an open and fitting meaning, he says: You honored your sons, so that you might eat the firstfruits of every sacrifice; but therefore the rights of the firstfruits are taken from you, because those who were honored were unworthy. For what does it mean to say: "Far be it from me that your house should minister in my sight," except: I cast you down from that summit to which the rights of the firstfruits were owed? By a wonderful execution of justice, therefore, he was caught, so that from the very thing for which he greedily sought the eating of the firstfruits, from that very thing he fasted from the receiving of the firstfruits. For he endured the Redeemer's death lest he lose the priestly gains, but He received from the triumph of death that by which He destroyed the profits of the old sacrifice. And He says: "I spoke and declared that your house and the house of your father would minister in my sight; but now, far be this from me." As if He were saying in plainer words: That you might stand on so great a height of dignity, I frequently admonished you, but now you are not such as I desired you to be. And because this is said concerning the rejection of the Jewish people, there is added concerning the order of the new preachers: (Verse 30.) "But whoever glorifies me, him will I glorify."
30. For now we behold the glory of the one who glorifies, because the preachers of holy Church sing the praises of almighty God with great splendor of life, and rejoice in their universal preeminence throughout the world. Behold, now all the Gentile nations are laid beneath the footsteps of the priests, and those whom they rejoice to submit themselves to in obedience they glory to possess as patrons in heaven. The Lord therefore glorifies the one who glorifies Him, because those from whom He daily receives devoted praises He raises up to honor throughout the whole world. Is it not the glory of one who has been glorified to remain on earth and to shut heaven? To live life in common with other men, and yet to open the heavenly seats above to those subject to the authority of their power? For he was glorifying the Lord who said: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). But the Lord glorified the one who glorified Him, because He answered him, saying: "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (ibid., 19). But concerning the cast-off reprobates of the Jews it is added: (Ver. 30.) "But they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed."
31. Indeed they themselves despise, who by no means believe that he is the Redeemer of the world: about whom certainly the Truth itself complains in the Gospel, saying: "But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying: We do not want this man to reign over us" (Luke 19:14). But we now see their ignobility, because they are proscribed both in lineage and in condition. They are indeed ignoble in lineage, because they heard from the Truth itself: "You are of your father the devil" (John 8:44). They are also ignoble in condition, because having lost their liberty and kingdom, they are oppressed by perpetual servitude among the nations. But he shows the order of punishments more clearly, saying: (Verse 31.) "Behold, the days are coming, and I will cut off your arm, and the arm of the house of your father, so that there will be no old man in your house."
32. Now he is without an arm, because he who lost the temple and the tabernacle does not extend his hand for the offering of the old sacrifice. And because He was speaking to Eli, that is, to the chief priests of the Synagogue, He threatens to cut off not only his arm but also his house, so that He might clearly indicate the universal destruction of the old rite, and so that we might perceive that what we now see accomplished in the new age was ordained in ancient times. Therefore the Lord cut off both his arm and his house, because He utterly removed both the high priests of Judea and the lesser priests from the old sacrifice. Whence it is fittingly added: 'So that there shall not be an old man in your house.' By old men we should understand priests, whose office, because it is carried out with the weight of great dignity, is emptied of no childish levity by the burden of religion. His arm, therefore, and the house of his father were so cut off that there is no old man in his house, because the rite of the old priesthood so vanished that absolutely no one remained who could any longer sacrifice according to the old custom. For after the Redeemer of the human race offered Himself for our sins in the new manner of sacrifice, being a priest according to the ancient custom ceased. But he who suffers the losses of a forfeited priesthood bears the torment of a greater punishment from the pain of envy. Wherefore it is added: (Verse 32.) 'And you shall see your rival in the temple, in all the prosperity of Israel.'
33. For he sees his rival within the temple, because he himself has already been cast out. For who else is the rival of the old priesthood, if not the order of the new preachers? Who indeed, while striving to equal the zealous efforts of the ancient and chosen fathers by their manner of living and teaching, assuredly emulates the good things of Eli in a good way. Hence Paul admonishes, saying: "Be zealous for good in all good things" (Gal. 4:18). And what are the prosperous things of Israel to be understood as, if not the felicities of this passing age, in which Israel according to the flesh greatly rejoiced? Therefore, in all the prosperous things of Israel, he sees his rival—that is, he who beholds the preachers of truth in the holy Church prospering both in abundance of resources and in the eminence of their dignity. What is also asserted about his being seen in the temple is made clear by a more perfect understanding. For in all prosperous things the rival is in the temple, because the order of preachers arranges everything that serves them from temporal happiness in the contemplation of eternity. There follows: (Verse 33.) "Yet I will not entirely remove from you a man from my altar."
34. For He would have entirely removed the man from His altar, if He had admitted none to the unity of our faith. Therefore He did not entirely remove him, because even though He rejected the reprobate priests of the Synagogue, He nevertheless mercifully brought many of them to the knowledge of Himself. Of these indeed Luke makes mention in the Acts of the Apostles, saying: 'A great multitude of the priests were obedient to the faith' (Acts 6:7). For those were found worthy of so great and new a ministry, who were unwilling to remain in their old state with the lost. But because not only the elect preachers from the Gentiles, but also those who believed from Judaea, were a source of tormenting envy to the Jewish priesthood, there follows: (Verse 33.) 'But one to make your eyes fail and your soul to waste away.'
35. Or for this reason He did not entirely remove a man from His altar descended from him, so that Eli's eyes might fail and his soul waste away, because indeed He did not wish to take up the elect from Judea for the ministry of the new preaching, so that, with them removed, guilt might hold the reprobate fast unto punishment. For the eyes of Eli failed when the supreme priesthood had the truth of faith on the lips of preachers within its hearing, and did not recognize it. His soul also wastes away, because indeed through the punishment of its rejection it withered, when it lost the grace of the Holy Spirit. There follows: (v. 33.) 'And a great part of your house shall die when they have reached manhood.'
36. The age of manhood is the time of the Lord's Incarnation, which indeed the Apostle indicates, saying: "When the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem those who were under the law, and that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Gal. 4:4, 5). What then were the precepts of Judea, if not certain instructions of infancy? The Apostle likewise indicates the time of this childhood, saying: "When we were little ones, we were serving under the elements of this world" (Ibid., 3). In the age of manhood, therefore, she died, because in the fullness of time she raged against the Redeemer of the world, and pierced herself through with the sword of unbelief. But it is well that not the whole house, but a great part of his house is foretold as about to die, because some of them believed in the Redeemer. And adding the cause of greater grief, he says: (Ver. 34.) "And this shall be the sign to you, that which shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. In one day they shall both die."
37. We have shown above that in the two sons of Eli the twofold order of the old priesthood is designated. They certainly died on one day, because they came together simultaneously in the death of the Redeemer. Moreover, the death of the priests is fittingly recorded as placed as a sign of the house that was to die, because when the shepherds perish, it is necessary that the flock follow to the same destruction. And because they were deceived by a false reasoning, they are said to die in the day. Of the falseness of which light blessed Job speaks, saying: 'So in darkness, as in light they walk' (Job 24:17). But He who cast out the old prepared a new priesthood. Whence it is also added: (Verse 35.) 'And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest.'
38. For when the sons of Eli were dead, the Lord raised up a faithful priest for Himself, because when the leaders of the ancient people were destroyed in their faithlessness, He chose elect ones to carry out the ministry of our redemption. He is indeed called a faithful one who was taken up, because the old one, whom he succeeded, was rejected on account of unfaithfulness. And because that faith of his is ascribed to the praises of the priest, which works through love, the very works of love are indicated by the words that follow. For it continues: 80 (Verse 35.) 'Who shall do according to my heart and my soul.'
39. For the ineffable divine substance wished to be signified through the parts of a human being, which ought not to be understood according to the letter as referring to God Himself. And so He said: "Who shall act according to my heart and my soul." Not that the incorporeal and uncircumscribed substance of God has a heart and soul, but He speaks to man as a man is accustomed to speak to a man, so that through what a person recognizes from hearing His word, he may openly know what God also wills. This indeed could have been said more simply: "Who shall do my will." And He sets forth the rewards of the work, saying: (Verse 35.) "And I will build him a faithful house."
40. For what else is this house understood to be, if not the eternal homeland? Which house indeed the Lord, commending it, speaks of: 'In my Father's house there are many mansions' (John 14:2). But this house is now said to be built, because it is prepared through the actions of a pious life. Nevertheless, for meriting it, the work of man is unworthy if the grace of a merciful God does not accomplish this. Rightly therefore, when the building of the house is set forth, the Lord promises to build it for him, because indeed human powers fall short of so great a work if they are not divinely aided. Hence Paul says: 'It is God who works in me both to will and to accomplish' (Phil. 2:13). Hence again he says: 'It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy' (Rom. 9:16). He was promising to build this house when He said: 'I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come again, and will receive you to myself, that where I am, you also may be' (John 14:2, 3). But because he was going to devoutly follow, from the freedom of his will, the grace calling him, it is added: (Verse 35.) 'And he shall walk before my Christ all his days.'
41. For to walk before Christ for each of the elect is to always see oneself in the sight of the Redeemer, and to do those things which one knows are acceptable to Him. Or certainly one walks before Christ who in everything he does always looks to Him, and directs the uprightness of his life toward Him whom he recognizes as having come through the assumed humanity to set in order the form of the elect. But Judea is not to be forever abandoned in the darkness of her blindness, because through the prophet it is said: "If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant shall be saved" (Isaiah 10:22). Hence Paul says: "Blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles enters in, and so all Israel shall be saved" (Romans 11:25-26). Therefore he subsequently shows this visitation of Judea, because he says: (Verse 33.) "And it shall come to pass that whoever remains in your house shall come, that he may be prayed for."
42. Then indeed Judea asks that the Lord be prayed for on her behalf, when, with the elect already gathered from the nations, she does not ignore the darkness of her own blindness, when she desires that offering be made to her through the priests of almighty God by the confession of the Holy Trinity, because in her former old state she does not presume to merit heavenly joys, but also bestows the faith of the Redeemer, which she received upon her conversion, by preaching it to others who are yet to be converted. It is also well added: (Verse 33.) That he might offer a piece of silver money. For by silver the divine utterances are signified, because it is said through the Prophet: The words of the Lord are words tested by fire, silver tried by fire (Psalm 11:7). And indeed Judea then spends this silver in the praises of God, when she openly preaches our faith, which she previously contradicted while established in unbelief. And because she also imitates through compassion the same Redeemer whom she preaches through love, it is added: (Verse 33.) And a cake of bread.
43. For by the name of bread, He is expressed who says of Himself: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven" (John 6:51). The cake of bread, therefore, is the flesh of the Redeemer, afflicted with sufferings. For the prophet, beholding this cake of bread, said: "Truly He has borne our griefs, and He Himself has carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:4). And because it is said by a certain wise man: "If you sit down at the table of a powerful man, wisely consider what is set before you, for you must prepare similar things" (Proverbs 23:1–2, according to the LXX), Judea then offers a cake of bread and a piece of silver when she proclaims our Redeemer with open confession, and for the love of Him whom she proclaims, does not refuse to endure torments from the faithless. And because she is greatly delighted in this imitation of the Passion and refreshment of sweetness, there follows: (Verse 33.) "And let her say: 'Send me, I beseech you, to one of the priestly portions.'"
44. "Dismiss me," she says, as if to say: Do not reject me as infamous and stained with the blood of the Redeemer's death. She also begs that one priestly portion be granted to her, because she desires to be joined to the true priests, so that she may be able to share in the joys of those whose offerings she desires to imitate by offering herself. Hence, setting forth the desire of her refreshment, she says: (Verse 33) "That I may eat a morsel of bread." In this matter it should be noted that she is foretold as having a cake of bread in the devotion of offering, and a morsel in the appetite of eating. Why then is not a cake of bread, but a morsel desired for eating? And why is not a morsel, but a cake said to be offered? But because a morsel is made in roundness, and roundness itself is in a certain way recognized as having neither beginning nor end, rightly by the morsel of bread the eternity of the Redeemer is signified. A cake of bread therefore can be offered by us, and not a morsel, because we who can imitate the Lord's passion by dying or by afflicting the flesh do not have eternity in ourselves which we might present before His sight. And a morsel, not a cake of bread, ought to be for us in the perfection of desire, because we who follow the Redeemer of the human race by suffering temporally with Him desire to possess Him in the heavenly homeland no longer as mortal or suffering, but as eternal and reigning. Therefore she who desires to offer a cake of bread says: "That I may eat a morsel of bread," because those converted from Judea desire to possess our Redeemer in the eternity of refreshment, whose passion they imitated here for the vigor of warfare, not for the reward of recompense.