1 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 Therefore, repeating all things in summary, let us see what edification they contain in themselves according to another meaning. Because we said that in Samuel the new priesthood is signified, what does it mean that he grew old, except that while the holy Church is led through the passing spans of time, the beauty of conduct grows old in some priests?
2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba.
Bede · AD 735 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, etc. Joel means 'beginning' or 'was of God', Abia stands for 'father', and Beersheba means 'well of the oath'.
3 But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside toward dishonest gain, accepting bribes and perverting justice.
Jerome · AD 420 But possibly you flatter yourself that since the bishop who has made you a deacon is a holy man, his merits will atone for your transgressions. I have already told you that the father is not punished for the son or the son for the father. "The soul that sins shall itself die." Samuel too had sons who forsook the fear of the Lord and "turned aside after lucre" and iniquity.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 Indeed, most people profess that they walk difficult paths while they seek after sacred orders; but when they arrive at what they sought, they neglect to maintain the steadfastness of their promise. Hence the sons of Samuel are fittingly reported not to have walked in his ways, but to have accepted bribes and perverted judgment.
4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 3. But for those who were living under spiritual governance, to ask for a king—what else is it than to eagerly desire to transform that same spiritual leadership into secular domination? Yet when holy men see that they are despised by their subjects, what displeases them is not so much that they are despised, but that those who despise them do not please God.
Bede · AD 735 Therefore, all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel, etc. Therefore, after the ascension of the Lord, all the elders of carnal Israel gathered together against him, and sent out to follow him into Ramah, that is, into the heights of heaven, where whatever we do on earth is quickly revealed, saying: 'We do not want this man to reign over us' (Luke 19); and a…
5 “Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.”
6 But when they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 Yet when holy men see that they are despised by their subjects, what displeases them is not so much that they are despised, but that those who despise them do not please God.
Bede · AD 735 The speech was displeasing to the eyes of Samuel, etc. The infidelity of the Jews was displeasing before the wise in Christ, who are the eyes of the Church, because in choosing the lowest for the highest, although ignorant, they said to the Lord, "Give us an earthly kingdom that will perpetually damn us." For of the heavenly kingdom, which you promise to the poor in spirit, we…
7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.
Cyprian · AD 258 And that we may know that this voice of God came forth with His true and highest majesty to honour and avenge His priests; when three of the ministers -Korah, Dathan, and Abiram-dared to deal proudly, and to exalt their neck against Aaron the priest, and to equal themselves with the priest set over them; they were swallowed up and devoured by the opening of the earth, and so im…
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 To some, indeed, who lack patience, the Lord God, in his wrath, grants them what they ask, just as, on the other hand, he refused it to his apostle, in his mercy. We read what and how the Israelites asked and received, but, when their lust had been satisfied, their lack of patience was severely punished.
Bede · AD 735 But the Lord said to Samuel: "Listen to the voice of the people," etc. Do not take away their free will, but give the power to become children of God, to those who were unwilling to believe, and do not grieve the reproach of men resulting from the rejection of the people.
8 Just as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.
Bede · AD 735 "As they have forsaken me and served other gods," etc. That is, just as they will also forsake the grace of the Gospel and serve rituals alien to God.
9 Now listen to their voice; but you must solemnly warn them and show them the manner of the king who will reign over them.”
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 8. As if by an open display of clemency He says: So hear their voices, yet let them first hear concerning the right of the king whom they seek, something that will make them tremble; and let them then abandon what was badly begun, when the thing they were seeking is recognized to be how burdensome it is.
Bede · AD 735 Now therefore listen to their voice, etc. And these most fittingly apply to the person of the Father speaking to the Son: "Let them go according to the desires of their hearts, and they will go in their own wills" (Psalm LXXX).
10 So Samuel spoke all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 9. When subjection is sought by carnal men, assuredly whatever is commanded them is burdensome, even if it is not difficult: because since they have it from the swelling of pride that they follow the judgment of their own will, whatever opposes their deliberation they consider most grievous.
11 He said, “This will be the manner of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them to serve his own chariots and horses, and to run in front of his chariots.
Apostolic Constitutions · AD 380 Account these worthy to be esteemed your rulers and your kings, and bring them tribute as to kings; for by you they and their families ought to be maintained. As Samuel made constitutions for the people concerning a king, in the first book of Kings, and Moses did so concerning priests in Leviticus, so do we also make constitutions for you concerning bishops.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 What does it mean that the sons of the Israelites are said to be placed in the king's chariots? The chariots of the prelates of holy Church are their devout desires. For while they fervently seek heavenly joys, they are carried aloft as if in chariots.
Bede · AD 735 This will be the law of the king who will rule over you. It does not explain what a moderate and just emperor should be like, whose perfection is taught in many places of the Holy Scriptures and especially in Deuteronomy; but rather it intimates a wicked ruler, by whose harshness the subjects will be oppressed, in order to persuade the people to withdraw from their stubborn req…
12 He will appoint some for himself as commanders of thousands and of fifties, and others to plow his ground, to reap his harvest, and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 They are tribunes when they begin; centurions when they are perfected in spiritual teaching. For indeed, as we said above, a centurion is so called from the number one hundred. Tribunes can also be understood as spiritual men, simple in knowledge, but inflamed with love of God and neighbor.
Bede · AD 735 And he will appoint for himself tribunes and centurions, etc. And from your great deeds, as if from sons born from the womb of a good conscience, the ancient corrupter will appoint others for himself to this office, as if certain tribunes to lead a hostile army against the camps of truth; others to promise the great perfection of eternal life to those who follow them as centuri…
13 And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers.
Clement of Alexandria · AD 215 I must now … express my disapproval of the possession of too many slaves. People resort to servants to escape work and waiting on themselves.… The Word has given a complete description of these offenders when he promised through the prophet Samuel that the people who were demanding a king would have not a kind master but one who would be an unfeeling tyrant, given over to immor…
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 What then is the meaning of what he adds: that the daughters of the Israelites would become perfumers, cooks, and bakers? But by the term "daughters" sometimes weakness is signified, sometimes fruitfulness. Who then are the daughters of the Israelites, if not chosen souls, prepared for the conception of the divine Word?
Bede · AD 735 He will also make your daughters his ointment-makers, etc. He will make your synagogues, or the souls of the deceived, or certainly thoughts once free from pure chastity, to favor his depraved iniquities with wicked flattery; the prophet who abhors this worst kind of ointment prays: "But let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head" (Psalm 140).
14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his servants.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
Bede · AD 735 He will also take your fields and vineyards, etc. Also taking from you the most abundant stores of your spiritual virtues, and the fruits of fervent love, not to mention the sweetest gifts of shining mercy, he will subject them rather to the pleasures of unclean spirits.
15 He will take a tenth of your grain and grape harvest and give it to his officials and servants.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
Bede · AD 735 But he will also tithe your fields and the incomes of your vineyards, etc. But the ancient corrupter will wholly deprive you of your works, almost brought to the perfection of nature, and the hope of all your life with heavenly reward, which is signified by the number ten, so that he may restore the insatiable desires of those wicked spirits serving him, whom, once stripped of…
16 And he will take your menservants and maidservants and your best cattle and donkeys and put them to his own use.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 So that, namely, they may know themselves to be subject to his authority in such a way that they dare not transgress his commands. The Lord indeed wished to establish this royal dominion when He said: "Whatever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:19).
Bede · AD 735 Your male and female servants also, etc. Even the improper motions of mind or flesh, for example, anger, jealousy, gluttony, lust, and other such things, which must be restrained and curbed by the discipline of wise men; but even the other duties of right intention, the cruel deceiver will instead claim for his own jurisdiction, and in the rich flocks of virtues, in which you h…
18 When that day comes, you will beg for relief from the king you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you on that day.”
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 Nevertheless, because He was speaking these things to carnal men, He added, saying: "And you will cry out on that day before the face of the king, and the Lord will not hear you on that day, because you asked for yourselves a king." Those who had asked for a king cry out from the face of the king, when those who had vowed to lead a spiritual life under a good ruler attempt to a…
Bede · AD 735 And you will cry out on that day from the face of your king, etc. This prophecy is clear, and until today, it continues to be fulfilled among the Jews; who, as it is written in the seventeenth Psalm: They will cry (and there is no one to save them) to the Lord, and He did not hear them. To whom the Lord says: I will not hear your prayers. For your hands are full of blood (Isa.
19 Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 10. It was indeed a matter of great rashness to ask for a king against God's will; of great hardness, to be unable to be overcome by the counsels of the prophet. It was of great rashness to put forth arguments to him whom they knew, by the Lord's revelation, to know beforehand all that he was about to do.
Bede · AD 735 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, etc. This obstinacy of the disobedient people asking for a king instead of the Lord does not only pertain to the time of proclaimed grace, but also before the celebrated mysteries of the Lord's incarnation.
20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles.”
21 Samuel listened to all the words of the people and repeated them in the hearing of the LORD.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 To hear the voice of the people is to recognize outwardly what those seeking the habit of holy life say. For we hear, as it were, only the voice of those approaching, when we know what they assert outwardly; but what kind of people they will be amid the assertions of their promise, we do not see.
22 “Listen to their voice,” the LORD said to Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.” Then Samuel told the men of Israel, “Everyone must go back to his city.”
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 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.
Bede · AD 735 And Samuel said . . . Let each one return to his city. Even today, the divine word teaches that all who are obstinate and rebellious against the Lord should return individually to the heart's council from the public scene of obstinate contention; so that each, more freely within his own heart, may diligently examine what he has done against the will of your heavenly ordination,…