CHAPTER II.
1. For when Samuel was rejected, a king was sought: when the reprobate multitude of the people despises a spiritual pastor and seeks a carnal one to rule over them. With such people it is often dealt by the severity of divine justice, so that by the very fact that they despise the chosen preacher, they are permitted to be subject to a reprobate, from whose imitation they perish all the more grievously, the more boldly they despised with greater pride that by which they could have lived forever. When therefore the right of the king is foretold, clearly it is shown in the conduct of one carnal ruler what the other carnal ones will do through tyranny, not what the elect ought to imitate. For in the same history of Kings it is read that when King Ahab took away Naboth's vineyard, he incurred the wrath of almighty God. But here, when the right of the king is foretold, fields, vineyards, and the best olive groves are mentioned as things to be seized (1 Kings 21:2 ff.). When therefore what was committed and punished there is foretold here, it shows that it is not commanded by divine judgment. Wherefore also the chosen King David, when he sought the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite for building an altar to the Lord, did not wish to use that royal right of tyrants (1 Chronicles 21:24), since he would by no means consent to receive it unless he had first given a worthy price for it.
2. Since, therefore, the things contained in the law of the king are declared to be avoided rather than imitated, they must be considered all the more carefully inasmuch as they cannot be avoided if they are not known. He says, then: 'He will take your sons and place them in his chariots.' The sons of the elect are those who imitate their virtues. The chariots of carnal prelates, moreover, are the pomp of worldly pride. For while they glory in being more exalted than others, they stride through the heights as if carried on chariots. The sons of the faithful are therefore placed in chariots when they follow reprobate pastors through the desire for worldly glory — when, abandoning spiritual pursuits, they seek the advantages of a carnal life, and, laying aside that lofty intention directed toward heavenly things, they strive to attain the heights of the world. Fittingly, then, the sons of the Israelites are said to be placed not in a chariot but in chariots, because from everything that excels at the summit of carnal prelates, they advance in pride, and they raise themselves on high by as many lofty chariots, so to speak, as the lofty things they behold by which they consider themselves superior to others. The king, therefore, places the sons of the good in his chariots when a carnal ruler drags the imitators of the elect by the example of his own depravity into the vices of pride — so that they set aside heavenly things, seek earthly things, and rejoice in this alone: that by reason of what is temporally exalted, they are preferred above others.
3. And because against the lesser they are not only raised up but also strong, there follows: "And he will make for himself horsemen." For they rage as if on horses, who are both exalted in rank and fierce in power. They are horsemen also because, while they direct the fierce impulses of their heart against the powerless, they are swift toward everything that they desire to carry out through tyranny. They pant with violence, they foam with rage, and those whom they attack in the course of their tyranny, they crush. But while among wicked pastors some emulate the pride of worldly arrogance, and others by their example oppress those whom they can: there are even some who, to carry out the evils that they cannot inflict upon the good by themselves, bring in others more wicked than themselves. Whence there also follows: "And the forerunners of his chariots."
4. For what are the chariots of the king, if not the perverse minds of wicked subjects, in whose counsels the reprobate prelate finds his rest? For chariots are what carry kings: since through the wicked counsels of the depraved, the deeds of rulers are aided. In them, as it were, the king is carried on high, since through those who favor them for the sake of temporal honors, whatever carnal superiors desire from the loftiness of the world they carry out. These are rightly designated by the name of chariots. For a chariot stands firm on the very thing by which it turns: because the reprobate mind has as the end of its intention the fickleness of the world. Indeed, it finds rest in the very thing from which, through innumerable cares of a revolving mind, it does not cease to fan the affairs of the world. Therefore they are chariots of kings, since through everything lofty they think of by turning it over, they carry upon themselves the commands of carnal superiors. But those who hold a place of familiarity alongside carnal prelates have subordinates whom they may command. They themselves, therefore, are like the chariots of the king, while the others are the forerunners of the chariots; because in the same way that they convey the carnal superior to oppress the humble, they themselves too are led through the service of others to harm whomever they can. For he is, as it were, a forerunner of the chariots, who by the wicked cunning of his mind devises a stratagem by which he may introduce that one to inflict evils upon the meek. But if, as many manuscripts have it, we read not "forerunners" but "pursuers" of the chariots, they are certainly those who imitate the reprobate as they rush toward evil. A chariot is also customarily used to carry kings as a mark of honor. Therefore the king is, as it were, stationed in a chariot, when a carnal ruler glories in the flatteries of the great men who appear to be near him. But whoever precedes or follows these men in their praises is a forerunner or pursuer of the chariots, because these men utter either after or before the same flatteries that those others have scattered in the ears of the people by going ahead or following behind.
5. There follows: 'And he will appoint for himself tribunes and centurions.' Tribunes and centurions are made when they come to such an advance in evil that, for carrying out the tyrant's commands, they take command over impious attendants, when they arrange the battle lines of worldly forces, which they lead forth to wars against the innocent. Tribunes indeed are those who, through many supporters allied to them, lay ambushes against those living uprightly. Centurions, however, are those who omit no kind of harm. For they obtain the perfection of iniquity from this: that they always strive to inflict the many and enormous evils that they can. For the centurion is named from the number one hundred. And because the number one hundred signifies perfection, it is fulfilled in an evil sense when the summit of wickedness is reached by the impious. They are indeed smooth in cunning and violent in terror. They sweetly flatter some, so that with their help they may fiercely terrify others. And so there rightly follows: 'And the plowmen of his fields, and the reapers of his harvests.'
6. The fields of the carnal ruler are the minds of his subjects; and the plowmen of these fields are those who, by the craft of worldly cunning, persuade them to acts of wickedness. For they open up, as it were, the firmness of the fields by speaking, those who through wicked counsels corrupt the hearts of the simple. And they reap the crops when, by the seed of evil counsel, the deceived hearts of the lesser ones yield the fruit of wicked works. Which works are indeed designated by the name of crops: because the perversity of the wicked subject, when it is joyfully received by carnal rulers, is, as it were, the choice food of their mind. In which perversity, because they advance little by little, there follows: "And makers of his weapons and of his chariots." What are the weapons and chariots of tyrants, if not all those instruments of harm that are prepared for overthrowing the hearts of the lesser ones? But because by the chariot one arrives where one may strike with weapons, they become makers of the king's weapons and chariots when, by the most wicked machination of their hearts, they devise both the evils they should commit and the manner in which to inflict those same devised evils. For to forge weapons is to gather up kinds of harm with a wicked mind. And to forge chariots is to find the craft by which they can approach to inflict those same evils.
7. There follows: He will also make your daughters perfumers, and cooks, and bakers. By the name of daughters, the weak minds placed within holy Church are designated. These become the king's perfumers: because when they behold carnal rulers in the height of passing glory, they endeavor to soothe them with flatteries. The Psalmist, indeed rejecting the use of these ointments, says: Let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head (Psalm 141:5). The daughters therefore become perfumers: because when the weak fear to displease carnal rulers, they soften with blandishment the ferocity to which they are subject through fear. And it should be noted that the sons are said first to be taken by the king, and then made horsemen and centurions or makers of arms: but the daughters are not said to be taken, but simply to be made perfumers and bakers. For to be taken implies violence. The sons therefore are taken, because the strong are overthrown with difficulty. When therefore the daughters are said not to be taken but to be made perfumers, what else does this mean except that those who are weak in goodness are easily scattered by the examples of the wicked? They also become the king's cooks and bakers: because those who serve tyrants by flattering them, while they please them by showing favor, offer them food as it were. For the cooks are those who cook at the hearth what kings eat. They are therefore cooks who, through services of favor, kindle the swelling of pride in the carnal ruler's heart: so that he receives flatteries all the more boldly, inasmuch as they prepare for him, as it were, more delicate foods by the fire of aroused devotion. They also become bakers: because when they praise a reprobate life, they strengthen the carnal mind of the tyrant to practice wickedness.
8. There follows: "He will also take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants." What are the fields of good men, if not the devoted minds of their subjects? For while they willingly hear their words, they yield an abundant fruit of good works. And what are their vineyards, if not the minds of those who so advance by imitating the proficient that they even offer the word of life to others, and those whom they set ablaze by speaking into love of the Creator, they make drunk, as it were, by giving them drink? And what are the olive groves, if not the hearts of listeners who, by the example and exhortation of good men, advance in the work of mercy? But when a king is established, the fields are taken away: because when carnal men reach the height of governance, some of the good listeners take up examples of wickedness. The fields are therefore taken away when recently devoted hearts are led astray, when from the seed of wickedness they yield fruit in evil conduct. The olive groves and vineyards are taken away when, by the example of a wicked superior, works of mercy and the words of holy preaching that ought to be displayed and spoken are abandoned. And rightly it is recorded that the taken fields, vineyards, and olive groves are given to the king's servants. For servants are those who, always subject to the authority of their masters, cannot escape the yoke of domination. The servants of the king, therefore, are those who through abundant iniquity so bind themselves to the wills of tyrants that they no longer depart from them. The servants therefore receive the taken fields, vineyards, and olive groves: because the reprobate supporters of carnal prelates, when they transfer deceived hearts to the purpose of wicked work, impose the title of tyrannical power, as it were, upon the fields, vineyards, and olive groves of the elect. There follows: "But he will also tithe your crops and the revenues of your vineyards, to give to his eunuchs and his servants." When the wicked are in charge, it is very difficult that one who is subject to them should suffer no losses to his religion. For the minds of some perish entirely: but those whom they cannot completely pervert, while they unceasingly observe their wicked words and deeds, are stained with some sort of defilement. Rightly therefore it is said: "He will tithe your crops and the revenues of your vineyards." As if to say: Under a reprobate pastor, even the goods of the elect are not whole. But what is taken from the good is given to the eunuchs and servants of the king. The eunuchs and servants of carnal prelates are their hypocritical listeners. They are eunuchs indeed because they show themselves to have cast off worldly pleasure: but they are the king's servants because through everything they pretend to have of virtues, they bear upon themselves the yoke of their reprobate superiors. And rightly the tithe of the crops and vineyards is said to belong to the eunuchs: because the poison of hypocrites is not easily recognized. Inasmuch as even holy men can be deceived in this, what they lose is ascribed to those by whose fraud they are captured. There follows: "He will also take your male servants and female servants, and your best young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work." The male and female servants of the saints are those who supply them with temporal necessities. They are male and female servants because, while they provide them with bodily necessities, in this same work of mercy some are stronger than others. And the best young men: because both those who can do much and those who can do little, when they expend all that they are able in the work of mercy, like chosen young men, they powerfully carry out divine services. The donkeys of the elect are also those upon whom the burdens of obedience to be borne are imposed, so that they may help their frailty by bearing with them what they could by no means bear without them. But what does it mean that they are foretold to be put to the king's work? Those who are put to the king's work fulfill on appointed days the debt of compulsory labor owed to the authority of the public power. What then does it mean that the male and female servants and the best young men are foretold to be put to the king's work, except that when carnal men are in authority, both the ministers of the elect and the hearts of those who devoutly obey are frequently stained? For while they unceasingly behold their reprobate life, they gradually decline so far as to imitate something of their deeds. Through long custom indeed they serve the elect; but since they often see the eminence of their high position, they sometimes desire to be served by others through the impulse of pride. They also give their own possessions mercifully, but often by the example of tyrants they take what belongs to others. But because they are servants of the saints, they cannot depart from their authority. They can indeed be abandoned for a time, but from the error into which they fall, they are easily raised up through divine mercy. Because therefore those who quickly come to their senses fall through the examples of the wicked, they are put to the king's work as if by compulsory labor: in which they do not long remain through continuous servitude.
9. There follows: "He will also tithe your flocks, and you shall be his servants." As if to say: When a carnal pastor is placed over you, plunder of virtues is inflicted not only upon your possessions, but also upon yourselves. For the flocks of the elect are the multitudes of spiritual virtues. But since these very spiritual virtues are scattered by the example of the wicked, the king takes tithes of the flock when he who rules carnally destroys certain virtues in the hearts of the saints. He takes tithes: because while he scatters the integrity of the mind, he leaves the number of virtues incomplete. For perfection is signified by the number ten. Hence also, when the Lord showed the losses of our fallen humanity by an open comparison, He brought forward the woman who had lost one of ten drachmas (Luke 15:4 ff.); so that by this, because the number ten is shown to have been diminished, that heavenly fellowship which remained in the angels at the number nine might be taught to be imperfect without the restoration of our condition. And because tithes are exacted each year, those who do not cease to offer tithes are fittingly said to be servants of the king. For they serve each year those by whose example they often become worse. It can also be shown through this—that after the tithes are given, this servitude is asserted—as an evil progression. For those who gradually fail act daily in such a way that they are led to the depths of iniquity. He says therefore: "He will tithe your flocks, and you shall be his servants." As if to say: By the example of the wicked you will gradually fall away, but in falling you act so that you never withdraw from imitating them. For it is written: "By whom a person is overcome, of him he is made a servant" (2 Peter 2:19). Because indeed through imitating a reprobate pastor they fall into the servitude of sin, they cannot be freed from his yoke even when they wish. Hence it is also added: (Verse 18.) "And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day: because you asked for yourselves a king."
10. As if to say, you are gradually slipping into the knowledge of his wicked imitation; but the examples of his wickedness, to which you willingly submit yourselves, you are utterly unable to willingly abandon. For everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin (John 8:34). Those, therefore, over whom sins hold dominion cannot be freed from their yoke by themselves. For often they come to the Lord with prayers, they ask to be freed, but they cannot be heard. For by divine judgment it is dealt with them such that those who were unwilling to avoid evils when they could, are unable to avoid them when they will; and those who willingly rushed into evils foreknown cannot flee from them once experienced. Therefore, also indicating the reason why they are prevented from being heard, he says: "Because you asked for yourselves a king." As if he were openly saying: Because you demanded that be given to you in which, by my foretelling, you knew all these things would come to pass. These things, as I said above, are foretold in the type of carnal prelates concerning the future conduct of the king: so that they might desist from petitioning for him in whom they had recognized such great evils. But it is the nature of the hearts of the reprobate that they quickly propose evil and do not more quickly come to their senses from an evil purpose. Therefore it is also added: (Verses 19, 20.) But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said: "By no means! For a king shall be over us, and we also shall be like all the nations, and our king shall judge us, and shall go out before us, and shall fight our battles for us."
11. By these words indeed the morals of carnal subjects are openly described: because while they seek after outward things, they do not attend to inner losses even when these are set before them. But those who rule carnally, by the very display of temporal power, give their lesser subjects great hope of protection. Therefore when they say, "A king shall be over us, and he shall fight our battles for us," what else do they suggest but the morals of reprobate subjects, who despise humble and spiritual preachers in order to be helped temporally by carnal men? This they would certainly never do, had they not first lost the light of the heart. For if they outwardly despise the humility of spiritual men, they do not deserve to discern by what sublimity of power these inwardly excel; in those others too they see the outward tyranny of power, but they do not see by what weakness he is inwardly oppressed. The former, because they cling to God, are powerful even in outward things when they wish; the latter, who depart from the Lord, cannot fulfill by strength of action the hope they promise from secular power. For, to take examples from nearby, Saul was chosen as king for those requesting one to fight their battles — strong and powerful, so that, as this sacred history testifies (1 Kings 9:2), he stood above all the people from the shoulder and upward. Chosen therefore by God to govern the kingdom, when he was good and no one among the sons of Israel was better than he, nevertheless, when so great and such a man was left to carnal strength, he lost the battles he had undertaken to fight, and lost his life as well (1 Kings 31:1). But Samuel, who was not exalted by the power of the world, who humbly ministered not only to God but also to men, powerfully displayed trophies from outward wars as well. For was it not said of him just above: "Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord, and Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him. And it came to pass, while Samuel was offering the burnt offering to the Lord, the Philistines began battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great crash on that day upon the Philistines and terrified them, and the Philistines were struck down by the sons of Israel" (1 Kings 7:9, 10). Let him therefore say: "The people refused to hear the voice of Samuel," so that in their disobedience the hearts of the proud may be designated, so cast off by the judgment of divine equity that great evils threaten which they are about to incur — yet they cannot see them. There follows: (Verse 21.) "And Samuel heard all the words of the people."
12. Samuel indeed heard what the people had spoken, but the people themselves did not hear him. For the reprobate people to speak and not to hear was to utter words against the will of God, yet not at all to foresee the punishment for their wicked speech. But Samuel heard the words of the people, because spiritual men, when they hear the voices of proud speech, recognize the future desert of divine vengeance upon them. Let him say therefore: Samuel heard all the words of the people, because holy and spiritual men, whatever carnal people proudly sound forth outwardly, weigh inwardly what it amounts to in the divine judgment. But because, when they discover the damnable life of their carnal subjects, they intercede for the blotting out of their crimes, there follows: (Verse 21.) And he spoke them in the ears of the Lord. We speak in the ears of those with whom we have the grace of great intimacy. But holy men, because they are joined to almighty God in the bond of great love, speak in His ears, because they seek the hearing of His divine propitiation with all the more confidence, the more sublimely they have received a place of obtaining favor before His mercy. They speak the sins of the people indeed for the humility of confession, but they speak in the ears of the Lord, because with great affection they knock at the door of the Lord's propitiation through prayer. But perhaps he is said to speak in the ears of the Lord because, when holy men beseech on behalf of sinners, they do not reveal to men the prayers they offer to God for them. Whence also in the Gospel the Lord forbids the disciples, saying: When you pray, do not be like the sad hypocrites, who love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, so that they may be seen by men (Matt. 6:5). They speak therefore the words or deeds of the people, when they set before the Lord the offenses of speech and action that must be blotted out by prayers. But they speak these things in the ears of the Lord, so that while they flee the testimony of men when praying, they may be heard more swiftly by Him who regards what is hidden. Therefore, when Samuel is reported to speak in the ears of the Lord, he surely suggests the manner by which one may deserve the hearing of divine favor. For a prayer can by no means reach God which is brought forth with the intention of being recognized by men. Whence also he who is declared to have spoken in the ears of the Lord is reported to have received His answers as well. For there follows: (Verse 22.) And the Lord said to Samuel: Listen to the voice of the people, and establish a king over them.
13. In this matter it should be noted that Samuel spoke the words of the people, by which they had asked for a king, in the ears of the Lord; and the Lord declares Himself rejected in the fact that the people ask for a king. Therefore, when He responds to the one praying and commands the one praying to make a king, what else does He indicate except that the devout prayer of a chosen man is never fruitless? For if he did not obtain the correction of the people, he obtained the good of his own instruction, since he recognized the people as rejected for their evil request, and yet nonetheless knew what he himself ought to do for those who were cast off. The prophet, therefore, was able to be heard and not heard: because through praying he learned what he ought to be, but from the people demanding reprobate things, he did not remove the hardness of heart. But this he was able to obtain—he who spoke in the ears of the Lord—because holy men, by the very fact that they devoutly beseech the Lord on behalf of sinners, are fortified by the help of divine favor, so that they are in no way polluted by the crimes of those whose filth they cannot wash away by their prayers. But what does it mean that the Lord says, "Listen to their voices," when it was said above, "Samuel heard all the words of the people"? He had heard the words of the people so as to know what was being said, not so as to grant what was being asked. Therefore, when the Lord says to him, "Listen to the voice of the people, and set a king over them," He commanded the prophet to comply with the will of the people. And behold, as is plainly seen, the prophet praying is not heard, while the people rejecting God and asking for a king are heard. What shall we say this means, except that by the wondrous and fearful judgment of divine incomprehensibility, holy men praying on behalf of the reprobate cannot be heard, while in the fulfillment of their own depravities, the reprobate sinners themselves can be heard—so that for the latter, unbridled iniquity may increase the merit of eternal punishment, and for the former, the reward of perpetual recompense may grow from the affection of compassion? And immediately, beginning to show the order by which the appointment of that same king was reached, he says: (Verse 22.) And Samuel said to all the sons of Israel: Let each one go to his own city.
14. When we wish to examine spiritual matters, it is necessary that we remove carnal things from our attention: because the inner mind does not penetrate what the dust of outward actions blinds. Therefore, when the prophet of the Lord commands all the people to depart to their own places, he drives from himself the tumult of carnal concerns: so that he may see more clearly the spiritual matters that must be arranged, insofar as the intention of earthly actions does not obscure the keenness of his mind. But indicating what sort of person is foreseen by divine judgment, he says:
CHAPTER III. (1 Kings IX, 1, 2.) There was a man of Benjamin, named Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of a man of Gemini, strong in might. And he had a son named Saul, chosen and good, and there was no man among the children of Israel better than he: from the shoulder and upward he stood taller than all the people.
1. When the person of the king to be appointed is set forth, why are the names of his fathers described, unless so that his kingdom might be perceived as not enduring? For concerning the kingdom which Moses had foreseen would come, he said: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a ruler from his thigh, until he comes who is to be sent; and he shall be the expectation of the nations" (Gen. 49:10). Because therefore the tribe of Judah had been foreseen for the lasting duration of the kingdom, the lineage of Kish is mentioned, so that the royal dignity which was being established in his son might be openly known to be dispensatory, not permanent. But he who begets the carnal king, Kish—that is, "hard" as it is rendered in our language—is also proclaimed strong in might. Now also many carnal people are within the holy Church who seem to do great things; yet they are carnal because they do not have the grace of the Holy Spirit. They are therefore strong in might because everything which they seem to do greatly is bodily. For Kish the father of Saul is called strong in might so that he might be understood to have possessed great bodily strength. He who is strong in might, therefore, is hard, because he who displays great things carnally does not have a heart softened through compassion in fraternal charity. He acts powerfully in things which men outwardly cannot imitate, but inwardly he does not know how to be joined to fraternal minds through the affection of love. He does mighty things which God rejects, and he does not care to display the affection of charity which God approves. He is therefore hard, because while he does bodily things with a proud heart, the grace of the Holy Spirit does not soften his mind. Against this the holy man glories, saying: "God has softened my heart, and the Almighty has troubled me" (Job 23:16). And often those who imitate the ways of such people become rulers by the judgment of God. Whence also Saul is fittingly recorded to have been the son of Kish.
2. But it must be asked why the same Saul is said to be chosen and good, who is declared to be the son of a harsh man. But he is called chosen not according to grace, but according to judgment. He is also called good so that the disposition of divine equity may be commended. For even the evils that we often suffer on account of our sins, because they are inflicted on us through divine justice, are good. Whatever is just is certainly good. For by the justice of God, reprobate pastors are permitted to ascend to the governance of the holy Church; but those who are evil through iniquity are good by divine disposition; and those who are now chosen by the hidden ordering of God will ultimately be condemned at the universal judgment. Therefore, let the reprobate pastor be called chosen, because it is decreed by God's indignation that he should exist; and let him be called good, because he is justly permitted. Likewise, because he is provided as more useful than others for carrying out divine judgments, no one among the sons of Israel is said to be better than he. He is also recorded as standing out above all the people from the shoulder and upward, because he who follows the ways of carnal men in his manner of living strives mightily to do what another cannot do. For the carnal ruler stands out above the entire people from the shoulder and upward, since in external matters he is strong beyond comparison.
3. All these words can also be understood as words of praise, by which, while the person of the king to be appointed is commended, the intention of those requesting a king is confounded. For they say: "A king shall be over us, and he shall judge us, and he shall fight our battles for us" (1 Sam. 8). He is called chosen and good, and that there was no one better than he among the sons of Israel, so that all good qualities might excel in the person of the requested king; but when he proves insufficient for what the people had proposed, human presumption is confounded, so that it wastes away in defeat. And indeed, as I said above, the king who is chosen to go before the people and fight their battles, when he is abandoned by divine help, perished overwhelmed in battle, and for the people whom he had led into those same battles, he became a cause not of salvation but of death. What, then, would the people attribute to God if he who had been chosen as king by God's judgment had not proven so suitable for carrying out what the people wanted? He can also be understood as chosen and good, as he is described, not as he was foreseen to be in the future. He is therefore called chosen and good, so that he is understood to have been chosen as such by the Lord—he who through disobedience was later rejected. For this reason, logic itself demands that what is said about him as chosen and good up to the time of his rejection, we should understand in a favorable sense.