1 And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoices in the LORD, my horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over my enemies; because I rejoice in your salvation.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 Through this ode also he teaches the one who comes to God to place his hopes in him alone and to boast in him — not to boast greatly, but to be humble-minded. Inasmuch as he, being God, has the knowledge of all things, he renders to each according to his practices. And he himself is master of both death and life.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Are these words going to be regarded as simply the words of one mere woman giving thanks for the birth of her son? Are people's minds so turned away from the light of truth that they do not feel that the words poured out by this woman transcend the limit of her own thoughts?
Bede · AD 735 My heart exulted in the Lord, etc. Truly a heart exulting, truly has the horn of spiritual kingship been exalted, which does not boast in itself, nor in perishable and fragile things, but glories in the Lord its God; according to him who says: Rejoice, O righteous, in the Lord, and I shall break all the horns of sinners, and the horns of the righteous will be exalted (Psalm 75)…
2 There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside you: neither is there any rock like our God.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 "Because I rejoiced in thy salvation." If I have rejoiced in the salvation of God, then my mouth was enlarged over my enemies.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 As if to restrain Judea in her vain boasting, he says: Those whom you claim did great things were mere men; He whom I proclaim was not only a holy man, but also mighty God. Therefore, when strength is considered, excellence is indicated, because truly all strength of man is utterly weak in comparison to the divinity.
Bede · AD 735 There is none holy like the Lord, etc. Indeed, we read of holy and strong people and angels; but no matter how much one advances in holiness, however much perfection is acquired, a creature cannot be as holy and strong as the Creator; because He is the bestower of strength and holiness, the other is the recipient.
3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 "Let not great speech come out of your mouth." See what was said by the Apostle: "Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" This is fittingly said of every man. For wretched is the race of mortals: since indeed we are in peril not only in evils, but even in good things.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 7. For evil spirits speak lofty and ancient things, when they suggest to the faithful that the high things of this age, as they appear, should be sought after.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 In the Canticle of Anna it is said in the book of Kings: "Let the old things depart from your mouth, for the Lord is the God of sciences, and to Him thoughts are prepared;" not foolish thoughts, which are scattered along the ways of errors, but good thoughts are prepared for the Lord along the ways of truth.
4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 "The bow of the mighty was made weak." The darts of the malign one, which are called fiery, are sent forth through the bow of the mighty.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 What is the bow of the strong, if not the fraudulent savagery of the Jews? For from concealment, as if from a bow, they had inflicted a wound upon the Redeemer, whom they were killing by the hands of the Gentiles.
Bede · AD 735 The bow of the mighty has been broken, etc. The proud intention of the Jews, by which they always presumed to be saved by the works of the law, has failed; the exercise of dialectical skill, and the loquacity of secular philosophy, as if bent to ridicule the simplicity of faith, has been weakened; finally, all the fiery darts of malignant spirits have been blunted by the weapon…
5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren has born seven; and she that has many children is grew feeble.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 "They that were filled with loaves were led into servitude." She shows that it is blameworthy to be filled with loaves, because Jacob ate and drank, and was filled, and grew fat, and the beloved kicked. "They that were hungry were forsaken." She means those who had been filled with loaves, because they forsook the hungry.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 For since it is said by the distinguished Doctor: 'They all ate the same food, and all drank the same spiritual drink (for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ)' (1 Cor. 10:3-4), it can reasonably be gathered that those ate and were not satisfied, while these ate and were satisfied.
Bede · AD 735 The barren has borne many, etc. Isaiah explains that the children of the desolate are many more than of her who has a husband (Isaiah LIV). The translators of the Septuagint wrote, "For the barren has borne seven." Saba, a Hebrew word, indeed designates both seven and many.
6 The LORD kills, and makes alive: he brings down to the grave, and brings up.
Tertullian · AD 220 Certainly his making alive is to take place after he has killed. As, therefore, it is by death that he kills, it is by the resurrection that he will make alive. Now it is the flesh which is killed by death; the flesh, therefore, will be revived by the resurrection.
Desert Fathers · AD 500 There was once a brother who was very eager to seek goodness. Being very disturbed by the demon of lust, he came to a hermit and told him about his thoughts. The hermit was inexperienced and when he heard all this, he was shocked, and said he was a wicked brother, unworthy of his monk's habit because he had thoughts like that.
Bede · AD 735 The Lord kills and gives life, etc. He kills the Synagogue and gives life to the Church; or He gives life to those whom He kills; so that we might consider that we are indeed dead to sin, but living to God in Christ Jesus (Eph. II).
7 The LORD makes poor, and makes rich: he brings low, and lifts up.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 18. The rich of this world therefore glory in their abundant wealth, because by the high and incomprehensible judgment of God, heavenly goods are hidden from them. The Lord therefore makes the poor, because while He reveals eternal goods to the elect, they consider themselves the poorer insofar as they see themselves driven from true riches.
Bede · AD 735 The Lord makes poor and makes rich, etc. Those whom He makes poor and humble in spirit for their own sake in the present, He makes rich in Himself in the future and exalts.
8 He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and he has set the world upon them.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 The hinges of the earth are the extremities of the earth. By the name of hinges, he wished to designate those chosen preachers from among the nations. They are called the extremities of the earth because they are brought forth from the lowly and, in a certain sense, despised condition of the Gentiles.
Bede · AD 735 He raises the needy from the dust, etc. He raises Christ from the dead, so that His flesh may not see corruption; and He lifts Him to the heavens, that He may not be overcome by the persecutors, the Jews, whose traditions the Apostle considers as dung (Colossians III).
9 He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 For who are understood as the ungodly in this place, if not the Jews, who are strangers to the devotion of the true faith, and stained with the blood of the Redeemer's death?
Bede · AD 735 For a man will not be strengthened by his own strength. He looks up. Therefore, the impious who, trusting in their own strength, despise seeking divine help, should finally be silent in darkness, that is, condemned at last to cease from blind impiety; because whoever rightly desires to be called a true man will be strengthened not in his own strength but in the grace of his Cre…
10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.
Eusebius of Caesarea · AD 339 These words refer to the return of Christ or to the return of God to heaven. His teaching [will be] heard like thunder by all, and holy Scripture foretells his future judgment of all afterwards. And after this it is said that the Lord will give strength to our kings.
Fructuosus of Braga · AD 665 For it is written: "He himself shall judge the ends of the earth." The Lord justifies or condemns each person at the end and considers the outcome of all things, so that not even the sinner, if he or she truly repents, need despair of forgiveness, nor should the just person have confidence in his own sanctity.
Bede · AD 735 The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. It is certain that the Lord will judge not only the ends of the earth but also the inland regions. Thus it is said: He will judge the ends of the earth; as if it were said, He will also judge the ends of the earth; because no one can hide from His heat (Psalm XVIII).
11 And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister to the LORD before Eli the priest.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
Bede · AD 735 Thus Elkanah went to Ramah, to his house, etc. The Church of the Gentiles, recently called to faith, which we said signified the birth of the blessed Samuel, God's possession, which is His co-eternal wisdom, Christ, went to enlighten, as always, the lofty hearts of His saints, faithful and angels and humans, which are His house, strongly built upon the rock of faith against the…
12 Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they knew not the LORD.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Samuel bore with the wicked sons of Eli, his debased sons whom the people would not bear and who were thereupon accused by divine truth or disciplined by divine wrath; finally he bore with the people themselves in their pride and rejection of God.… Let them read who wish, and who can, the heavenly language.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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).
Bede · AD 735 Furthermore, the sons of Eli, sons of Belial, etc. The sons of the Jewish priesthood, sons of blind light, or without a yoke (for both Belial and Beliar mean this), were those who did not know the doctrine of Christ; not following the commands of the divine law but adhering to their own statutes and traditions.
13 And the priests’ custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a three-pronged meat-fork in his hand;
Philoxenus of Mabbug · AD 523 Now this is the first lust which conquered the world, and because of it the first transgression of the law took place. It demanded tribute from the priests, who, without right, were taking it away from those who made offerings; it dismissed the sons of Eli from their priesthood.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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?
14 And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot; all that the meat-fork brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites that came there.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
15 Also before they burnt the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have boiled flesh of you, but raw.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
Bede · AD 735 But whoever had sacrificed a victim, the priest's boy would come, etc. Whoever at that time had decided to consecrate his life to the Lord, the disciples of the scribes, Pharisees, and chief priests would come, as his carnal customs began to be boiled away by the fire of heavenly devotion, and they had the rapacious desire of the world in their works; whose three-pronged bite t…
16 And if any man said to him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as your soul desires; then he would answer him, No; but you shall give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 7. Indeed, he who promises him cooked meat at his pleasure strives to turn away the one demanding raw meat from a bestial appetite.
17 Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
Bede · AD 735 The sin of the boys was therefore exceedingly great, etc. The sin of the scribes and Pharisees was exceedingly great before the Lord, although before men they justified themselves through hypocrisy (Luke 11); because they, being men, annulled the commandment of God through their traditions; or certainly taking away the key of knowledge, they themselves did not enter, and they p…
18 But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
Bede · AD 735 Now Samuel was ministering before the face of God, etc. Ephod in Hebrew, in Latin it is called a superhumeral or overgarment; the garment of this name, woven from gold, blue, purple, twice-dyed scarlet, and twisted fine linen, is mentioned in the Scripture of Exodus (Exod. XXV) as allowed only for the high priests.
19 Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 To this boy indeed his mother, ascending with her husband to sacrifice the solemn offering, is said to have brought a small tunic. The mother indeed ascends with her husband when the mind of the preacher raises itself through the foreknowledge of the interior spouse to contemplate those sublime joys of eternity.
Bede · AD 735 And his mother made for him a little tunic. The Lord assumed not only a chaste and free from all sin, but also an entirely humble flesh, which the Church makes for Him, or whoever believes Him rightly and most wholesomely such, or because the virgin, a not ignoble member of the Church, from whom He Himself was born, shines brightly.
20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give you seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went to their own home.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
Bede · AD 735 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, etc. The priests of the Jews, having converted to faith, blessed Christ and the Church, of whom it is written: "A great number of the priests were obedient to the faith." The old priesthood often signifies in its types the Church to be blessed in Christ, and to be multiplied by the seed of the word among the nations of the Gentiles, and it…
21 And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD.
Jerome · AD 420 When Hannah had once offered in the tabernacle the son whom she had vowed to God, she never took him back: for she thought it unbecoming that one who was to be a prophet should grow up in the same house with her who still desired to have other sons.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
Bede · AD 735 The Lord therefore enriched Anna, etc. The Lord gave to the Church the Spirit of His grace, by which it, being fruitful, bore for Him spiritual offspring, partly to search out or preach the mysteries of the Holy Trinity powerfully, partly with perfect love of God and neighbor despised in its simplicity; because the humility of the incarnation assumed by Christ for a time was he…
22 Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did to all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tent of meeting.
Basil of Caesarea · AD 379 Because their father [Eli] did not chastise them with enough severity … he moved the forbearance of God to wrath so great that foreign peoples rose up against them and killed those sons of his in war in one day. His entire nation, furthermore, was vanquished, and a considerable number of his people fell.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 But a great fear is struck into us, because Eli is condemned for the fault of his sons, though no sins of his own are reported. For good subjects, living well suffices for salvation, but for prelates their own life does not suffice. For he is truly very old who always strives to live blamelessly.
Bede · AD 735 And he heard everything that his sons were doing, etc. The transgression of the sons of Eli was not small nor uniform, which did not fear to tarnish both divine religion and love of neighbor.
23 And he said to them, Why do you such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
Bede · AD 735 And he said to them: Why do you do such things? etc. He rebuked the guilty sons of Eli, but they did not listen. And the very institution of the old priesthood orders its ministers to be perfect; but the scribes, Pharisees, and chief priests, being wicked, in their ruin despised the paternal voice of their law and priesthood.
24 No, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: you make the LORD’s people to transgress.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Indeed, Eli did admonish them and say, "Nay, my sons, do not so; evil is the report that I hear of you." But subsequently the Scripture saith, that he did not admonish his sons: since he did not admonish them severely, or with threats.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
25 If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall pray for him? However they listened not to the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 The law prohibits priests in the case of certain sins from offering a sacrifice to gain people forgiveness for the transgressions for which sacrifices are made.
Nicetas of Remesiana · AD 414 The sin of one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit is unpardonable. Compare with this judgment what is said in the book of Kings [Samuel]: "If one man shall sin against the Lord, who shall pray for him?" Thus, it is one and the same sin whether we blaspheme against the Holy Spirit or against God, and it is inexpiable.
Bede · AD 735 If a man sins against a man, etc. Both refer to the sons of Eli. For he sinned against a man when the priest violated the wife of another man under the pretext of religion; but this could be dismissed with appropriate penance by God.
26 And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favor both with the LORD, and also with men.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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).
Bede · AD 735 But the boy Samuel advanced and grew, etc. While Eli was growing old and weak, the boy Samuel advanced and grew; because indeed, the rejection of the preceding commandment takes place due to its weakness and uselessness; for the law brought nothing to perfection, but the introduction of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.
27 And there came a man of God to Eli, and said to him, Thus says the LORD, Did I plainly appear to the house of your father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house?
John Chrysostom · AD 407 For with respect to the future, they will not be benefited by the honor done them, but receive the greater condemnation, neither will they be injured as to the future by ill treatment, but will have the more excuse. But all this I desire to be done for your own sakes.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
Bede · AD 735 Was I not openly revealed? etc. He does not speak here of the recent father of Eli, who could not have been in that Egyptian servitude; but of Aaron himself, to whose house He was revealed in Egypt, and whom He, having been instructed from there, preferred to all the tribes of Israel by the right of the priesthood.
28 And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give to the house of your father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?
Bede · AD 735 And I gave to the house of your father all things, etc. All things from the sacrifices of the people, whatever the priests ought to receive, to the sons of Aaron your father, because I chose them into the priesthood, I provided.
29 Therefore kick you at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 Now a man of God is described as having come to Eli, who, being about to bring forth the severity of the divine sentence, carefully enumerated how many gifts He had bestowed upon him. And because he finally announces the punishment of the vengeance that he deserved, what does this give us to understand, except that the faults of pastors are judged more strictly?
Bede · AD 735 And you honored your sons above me, etc. Not content with the portion that I granted you, you also tried to take the firstfruits which were due to me; which can be understood both of the time and of the portion of the sacrifices; because before the fat was burned, they presumed to take for themselves the best parts to be eaten from the victims, as was read above.
30 Therefore the LORD God of Israel says, I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD says, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 If we regard the sentence passed on him [the serpent] to be in the nature of a condemnation, God did not condemn the serpent in order to cause injury to humans. He pointed out what was to happen in the future.
Jerome · AD 420 A pearl will shine in the midst of squalor, and a gem … will sparkle in the mire. This is what the Lord promised when he said, "Those who honor me I will honor." Others may understand this of the future when sorrow shall be turned into joy and when, although the world shall pass away, the saints shall receive a crown which shall never pass.
Bede · AD 735 Now the Lord says: Far be it from me, etc. Changing times, not changing plans, the Lord seeks elected ones from the nations for Himself in a spiritual priesthood, and deprives entirely the contemptuous sons of Aaron of any order of priestly office.
31 Look, the days come, that I will cut off your arm, and the arm of your father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in your house.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 Hence I beg you to offer a hand to our children lest we ourselves become liable for what is committed by them. Are you not aware of what happened to old Eli for not properly correcting his sons' shortcomings?
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
Bede · AD 735 Behold, the days are coming, and I will cut off your arm, etc. These days are present, no priest is now chosen from the stock of Aaron; but the boast of the legal priesthood has been cut off, not only in Eli alone, but in the entire succession of the Levitical lineage; so much so that not even a priest of the lesser order, who are called presbyters in Greek, that is, elders, is…
32 And you shall see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in your house for ever.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
Bede · AD 735 And you will see your rival in the temple, etc. Your descendants will see the people of the nations, beloved in the faith, spiritually using the Scriptures and promises of Israel from the temple.
33 And the man of yours, whom I shall not cut off from my altar, shall be to consume your eyes, and to grieve your heart: and all the increase of your house shall die in the flower of their age.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 For they are men who shine forth from the lofty citadel of strict conduct. As if therefore He were saying: For this reason I do not remove them from My altar, because they are men. For according to the merit of their conduct, strength and loftiness of power is preserved for them.
Bede · AD 735 Nevertheless, I will not utterly cut off every man from you, etc. A place of repentance is not entirely denied to the sons of Aaron, even though they sinned greatly and grievously in the killing of the Lord; but if any of them wish, let them come to the church repentant, partake of the altar of Christ, while the rest remain in the blindness of their perfidy and envy, by the exa…
34 And this shall be a sign to you, that shall come upon your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 For the age of manhood is the time of administering the priesthood. Therefore the imitator of the reprobate teacher is brought to manhood when he is promoted to the height of holy orders. When indeed he has reached that age, he dies, because whoever has approached so great a ministry unworthily, or has lived unworthily in it, is condemned.
Bede · AD 735 This will be the sign for you, etc. These words pertain to Eli and Samuel, because the death of Eli's sons and Samuel's election as priest not from the lineage of Aaron signifies the death not of men, but of the old priesthood, and the substitution of the new, in which Christ is the priest in the church forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
35 And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before my anointed for ever.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
Bede · AD 735 "And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will act according to my heart, etc." [1 Samuel 2:35] What the prophet says, speaking to Eli in the person of God: And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will act according to my heart and my soul: and I will build him a faithful house, and he will walk before my Christ all days, must be understood under the…
36 And it shall happen, that every one that is left in your house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, please, into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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, b…
Bede · AD 735 It will happen, however, that whoever remains in your house, etc. And some daily not only from the priestly, but also from every tribe of Israel, and all at the end of the world the remnants of that nation, so that they may be reconciled to God, come to the church; and, rejecting the flesh of the sacrifices, they offer the word consummating and shortening of the life-giving con…