1 Samuel (1 Kings) 11

1–2

1. When I wished to assert the profundity of this sacred history in the preface of this work, I maintained that it could be seen especially in the fact that it was written by prophets. They indeed were accustomed to speak mystical things not only in words but also in deeds — to set forth plain things, yet to signify deep things. For since the Holy Spirit spoke through them, what they themselves said, as mere men, was plain, but it was profound and mystical, because the supreme and uncircumscribed Spirit was supplying the speech to men. Since, therefore, we are expounding the prophet Samuel as he speaks, we need all the greater diligence, inasmuch as he himself, sublimely taken up in the grace of the Holy Spirit, spoke outward things but saw inward things. He generally set forth carnal matters, but signified the innermost and spiritual realities. But since it is impossible by human effort to arrive at divine things, we must not trust in our own powers, but in the condescension of the Holy Spirit who, sent by the Redeemer, "has filled the whole world, and that which contains all things already has knowledge of every voice" (Wisdom 1:7). Let us hear, then, what the same prophet now relates concerning the undertakings of the Israelites. (1 Kings chapter 11, verses 1–2.) "And it came to pass," he says, "about a month later, Nahash the Ammonite went up and began to fight against Jabesh-gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash: 'Accept us as allies, and we will serve you.' And Nahash the Ammonite answered them: 'On this condition I will make a covenant with you: that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you, and make you a reproach in all Israel.'"

2. If one seeks the historical sense, nothing can be stated more plainly, nothing understood more easily. But if we wish to follow the spiritual sense, let us first hear Paul speaking, who, looking upon the old things, says: "All these things happened to them in figure, but they were written for our sake, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Cor. 10:11). He also indicates that there are spiritual wars, saying: "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12). Therefore, when Nahash is said to go up and fight against Jabesh-Gilead, the inner battles against vices are signified. By these words the course of sacred history is shown, so that new wars would be waged against the new king; and by bringing these to a successful conclusion, he would demonstrate the glory of his valor. Who then is this Nahash the Ammonite? What is Jabesh-Gilead? Now, Nahash is interpreted as "serpent," and Jabesh as "dried out." Concerning the serpent it is said in Genesis: "Because he was more cunning than all living creatures" (Gen. 3:1). If we seek the likeness of this serpent among the vices, what do we find more similar than the violent impulse of gastrimargia, that is, the movement of gluttony? Indeed, the movement of lust, the crime of theft, the appetite for base gain, the assault of anger, the bitterness of worldly sorrow, the sluggishness of sloth, the desire for vainglory, and the swelling of pride are openly detestable; but the vice of gluttony is all the more deceitful the more hidden it is, because it suggests food to the body as though it were necessary, yet while it abundantly nourishes the flesh, it plunges the sword of lust into the mind. It persuades that what is not a sin, but from the very fact that eating is accepted as though it were no sin, the soul is thereby subjected to the sin of lust. Hence in paradise the serpent is shown to have come to the woman to deceive her through the vice of gluttony—one who would suggest one thing but obtain another, so that while he displayed what should be eaten, he would administer an unforeseen death. This serpent therefore designates the greed of gluttony, because it both creeps under the guise of just necessity and spreads the poison of unholy pleasure. Rightly too is he called an Ammonite, which people is interpreted as "of sorrow," because what he urges seems pleasant, but it will be deeply mournful in eternal damnation. He is called a "people" because all gluttons, on account of their concern for the belly, are weighed down by a throng of innumerable cares. He goes up against Jabesh-Gilead because he strives to cast down to the craving for food the bodies of the just, which are established in the lofty virtue of abstinence. Rightly indeed is flesh called "dried out" that is not weighed down by the moisture of fatness. Nahash goes up against those whom he sees are dried out, because the spirit of gluttony wages more grievous wars against those whom he recognizes as worn thin by fasting. Rightly too is Nahash said to have begun to fight, because holy men do not hold the suggestion of gluttony in a pact of friendship but in the opposition of battle. For those who practice abstinence fight, as it were, against the serpent when they suppress the appetite of gluttony with great virtue, so that they may not be infected by the poison of lust. Indeed, the warfare of gluttony is to provoke the hungry bodies of the abstinent to a disordered filling of the belly.

3. But the appetite of gluttony can tempt perfect men, though it cannot overcome them. Rightly, therefore, he is said to have begun to fight against the dried-up woman, not to have conquered her, because chosen men feel the assault of carnal desires, but they know how to resist those same desires by the strength of the mind; they know how to provide for necessities through discretion. They know indeed how to suppress the fiercely rising assault of gluttony; they know how to furnish just nourishment for the body's need. For hence the outstanding Doctor says: "I know how to eat and to hunger" (Phil. 4:12). He indeed knows how to eat and to hunger who both moderately refreshes his body and does not consent to the vice of gluttony urging immoderate intake of food. Wherefore also, responding to Nahash, they say: "Have us as allies, and we will serve you." For they seek a treaty from gluttony who would wish to refresh the flesh according to their desire, if they could feel no incitements to lust in the flesh. As if they were saying: We will give you what is just for you, so that you do not inflict upon us what is not just. It is indeed just that the body be refreshed, but it is very unjust that the refreshed flesh be aroused through the burning of lust to the disgrace of the spirit. We therefore seek a treaty when we wish to so favor the flesh for the intake of food that we feel no evils of lust from the flesh. But this we can indeed wish for, yet we cannot obtain it, because surely we offer just refreshment as a kind of tribute to the flesh, but no goods of peace are promised to us by the flesh. For when we rightly direct the hearing of the mind to the responses of the vices, we recognize this indeed in the voice of gluttony: that if we fatten the flesh, we are struck with blindness of heart through growing concupiscence. Wherefore the same Nahash also says: "On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that I gouge out all your right eyes." Our right eye is the gaze upon eternal brightness, but the left eye is carnal concupiscence. The right eye is therefore gouged out when the mind is struck with such blindness that it is no longer opened to see heavenly things. Indeed the eye is gouged out when the light is so torn away from the reprobate mind that no root remains from which a revived light might break forth. Nahash therefore gouges out the right eyes of his treaty-partners, when gluttony so prevails over the conquered abstinent that they desire only carnal things and no longer attend to what they used to love. And because whoever is cast down in this life is condemned in the future before the angels and the elect, there is added: "And I will make you a reproach in all Israel." For then the reprobate are made a reproach in all Israel, when at the final judgment they blush before all the elect for the iniquities they have committed. Or they are made a reproach in this life, because while they themselves with blinded heart boldly perpetrate evils, holy men blush for their faults. But let those who disdain to appear shameful, with their right eyes torn out, attend to what follows: (Verse 3) "And the inhabitants of Jabesh said to him: Grant us seven days, that we may send messengers to the borders of Israel; and if there is no one to defend us, we will come out to you."

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 1

And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, etc. Many faithful men of the Church, united in true love, often consented to serve humbly by obeying teachers, whom they esteemed as wise as serpents in frequent meditation on the Scriptures; but they did not fail to be as doves in keeping ecclesiastical peace. However, because there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, the fabricators of errors and cultivators of perverse doctrines continually revealed themselves, showing that they did not have the enlightened eyes of the heart, nor could it be said of them, "Your eyes are like doves" (Cant. II); but rather they desired to remove the right eyes from all their listeners, that is, the senses of heavenly and supreme contemplation, and to deflect them to see only the left and perverse things, rendering them impotent in the daily battle we wage against spiritual wickedness in high places. For this reason Nahash wanted to gouge out the right eyes of the Jabeites, so that while they covered the left side of their faces with shields in battle, they would not be able to see what they should do against the enemy, or for their own salvation. For this reason the ancient enemy tries to deprive the faithful of heavenly light, to render them useless in every spiritual fight.

Commentary on Samuel

4. Who are the inhabitants of Jabesh, that is, of "the dried," except those who maintain the discipline of an emaciated flesh through long practice of virtue? For many begin to resist gluttony, but when they start to grow weary from the labor of abstinence, they incline themselves back to the habit of their accustomed greediness. They desire, as it were, to enter the city of Jabesh and become its citizens, but since they cannot endure the torment of dried and hungering flesh, they can by no means become its inhabitants. Therefore those inhabit Jabesh who hold the attenuation of the body through strength of mind as a right of possession, and are surrounded, as it were, by the walls of dryness, since through the very fact that they emaciate the body they are protected from the fiery darts of lust. When they are wearied by the most powerful rising stings of gluttony, they seek a truce of seven days, during which, if help does not come, they will go out to Nahash. But we explain this war of the Ammonites better if we observe in it the weakness of the flesh caught out and the sagacity of the trained mind. We see this more clearly too if we attend more closely to the opposite case in the foolish and weak. For certain people within holy Church are devout in desire, but slack through their habitual weakness of vices. They can indeed propose good things, but because they are unable to carry out what they propose, they are both overcome by present concupiscence and trust that they can recover in the near future the good which they abandon in the present. Often indeed they resolve to fast, but when they are conquered by habitual gluttony, they judge that they must eat on that day and fast on days to come. And since the ferocity of gluttony is always present to them, and present too is the desire for future goodness, it is brought about by the serpent's deceit that the good which is proposed is never found. For "tomorrow," which is always promised, is never reached. But since this is done by those whose mind is weak and flesh strong, let us see how those whose mind is strong but flesh weak make a mockery of the serpent. For concerning this same serpent the Psalmist says to the Lord: "This dragon, which you formed, to make sport of him" (Ps. 103:27). For he is never more fittingly conquered than when his cunning is overcome by a holy deception. Hence also the Redeemer, reproaching blessed Job with the cleverness of His own wisdom, says: "In his eyes, as with a hook, you shall catch him" (Job 40:10). For He caught the serpent, as it were with a hook before his eyes, who displayed to him flesh but concealed divinity; and while the serpent seized what he desired, he was caught and destroyed by what he did not see.

5. Holy men, therefore, in order to mock the enemy, maintain the rigor of their way of life in present virtue; as a deception of weakness, they promise the flesh a certain comfort in the future. For the things they do are often enormous, but on account of the weakness of the flesh, they do not presume to always do hard things and to promise austere things. Indeed they endure these same hardships all the more easily, inasmuch as they do not see the burdens of them as binding upon themselves in a perpetual commitment. But while they live most excellently, and strive daily to advance and not to fall back, that permitted indulgence of the flesh, which they cannot despair of, they always promise to the flesh in a future reckoning; yet they by no means cease to inflict upon it the pain of the affliction already begun. Therefore, through the fact that hope is left to the flesh in its desire, the spirit, as it were, promises the presence of its coming for the future good of that same flesh. But because it does not abandon by failing the accustomed rigor of self-restraint, the flesh has the promise of pleasure in the future, and the chosen mind has the strength of virtue in the present. Here it should be noted that they promise to go out to Nahash under a condition, but they are fortified by the walls of the city without condition: because those who practice abstinence, even in that in which they are weak according to the flesh, trust to be strengthened through divine mercy. And because they are eager to overthrow the vice of gluttony by deceiving it, they say: "Grant us seven days." For it is as if time is granted by gluttony, when it is restrained with the expectation that its desires will at some point be served. During which space of days, Nahash indeed awaits the coming out to him of the besieged citizens, but the citizens of Jabesh await reinforcements: because indeed the appetite of gluttony desires to be refreshed from the weak flesh, but the chosen mind desires to be strengthened in the virtue of abstinence. In seven days reinforcements are sought, when against the darkness of temptations we are raised up by every light of the heart, when against wicked counsels we find whatever we can by our own reason, and we are fortified by the rays of light which we do not perceive in ourselves from the instruction of others. For while we look to the ways of life of the perfect for the strengthening of our virtue, we find, as it were, through seven days the aids of defense. We indeed seek a truce, because we fight with Nahash, that is, the serpent, whose poisons are so hidden that we must seek all the more subtle counsels. Hence they also promise that they will send messengers into all the borders of Israel: because chosen men, for the benefit of their own edification, are aided by the examples of all who see God. But in what is said, "If there is no one who defends, we will come out to you," in the voice of the elect, not doubt of reinforcements but certainty is shown. As if mocking the adversary who persuades with cunning words, they bring forth words by which they grant him hope and by no means take away their own confidence. For those who say, "If there is no one who defends, we will come out to you," grant a certain hope of their coming out. But because those who say this are certain of help, they deceive their enemies by promising. But where these same reinforcements are now to be found, he explains saying: (Verses 4 and 5.) Therefore the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and they spoke these words in the hearing of the people, and all the people lifted up their voice and wept. And behold, Saul was coming in the morning, following the oxen from the field, and he saw the people weeping, and said: "What is the matter with the people, that they weep?"

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 1

And the elders of Jabesh said to him, etc. The more prudent and cautious ones in faith said to the heretics, in whom they recognized the voice of the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, just as Christ spoke differently in Paul and his followers: Do not force us to believe your new doctrine until, in seeking the light of the Holy Spirit, who was given to the sevenfold Church, we have thoroughly examined the writings of the Fathers; and if in them there is no one who defends our faith, we will come out to you, and, abandoning the Catholic unity which is within, we will instead join you, who have long since gone out from it and now attack it from outside, and we will listen as it is also read against us in it. They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us (1 John 2). These things they spoke not with any intention of assenting to the heretics, but being most certain of the paternal faith, they intended to conquer them by the just reasoning of their argument. This is similar to what the Psalmist says: If I have returned evil to those who rewarded me, I will fall empty by my enemies (Psalm 7). And what the Apostle says: For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our faith is in vain, our preaching is also in vain. And we are found to be false witnesses of God, because we have testified against God that He raised up Christ; whom He did not raise if the dead do not rise (1 Corinthians 15). These things were said not so that either the resurrection of Christ is denied, or the prophet is taught to return evil to those who rewarded him; but that by means of those things which could not be proven false, also those things about which there was doubt might be established as true.

Commentary on Samuel

4–5

6. Gibeah, as we have already said above, is interpreted as "lofty." And because the height of merits is not equal among all the elect, messengers are said to have come to Saul at Gibeah, so that we may be taught by spiritual meaning that when we are driven by powerful temptations, we should have recourse to the counsels of our preachers. But we are also instructed by the affliction of the weeping people, so that we may be joined to the needs of our brothers by inward compassion of mind. Now Saul saw the people weeping and asked for what reason they wept, because the chosen teacher makes the need of his subjects his own through compassion, and desires to relieve it. Indeed, he came from the field, because he goes forth from the secret place of his fertile heart. He came from the field in the morning, because in the rising splendor of the true light he inquires into the concerns of his subjects. And he follows the oxen, because strong affections of charity go before him. For he has, as it were, two oxen before him, because he is both joined to his neighbors through love and inflamed with divine charity, and therefore loves his neighbor in right order, because the love of God powerfully kindles him. Wherefore the Lord also says through Moses: "You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together" (Deut. 22:10). For the donkey is carnal love, because he who carries those he loves is like a strong animal; and because he loves the same ones inordinately, not for God's sake, it is a wanton one. Therefore one cannot plow with an ox and a donkey, because the soul is not cultivated with the fruit of eternal reward if the purity of love by which it is joined to God is defiled by disordered love of neighbor. Saul, then, coming from the field, follows the oxen, because the chosen teacher retains both affections of charity whole in his fruitful heart, from which he can prepare for himself abundant fruits of eternal recompense. And he comes in the morning, because when he goes out to his subjects, he opens the day of his virtue. But now, having learned the needs of the people, let us hear what he did. For the text continues: (Ibid., and verses 6, 7.) And they told him the words of the men of Jabesh. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was kindled exceedingly. And taking both oxen, he cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying: Whoever does not come out and follow Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 1

Therefore, messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, etc. Messengers sent out of necessity of the faith came to Jerusalem, or some other notable city of the faith, in which it was not doubtful that the Lord reigned; and they narrated to themselves that the Church was disturbed by heresy. Hearing this, all the people of correct belief testified to the pain of their innermost heart with tears and weeping; as has often happened, anyone who has read the church's history will find.

Commentary on Samuel

6–7

7. What do we say in these words, except that the weaknesses of the saints, and those things which seem carnal, are not weak and carnal, but spiritual and mighty? For we are accustomed to rebuke excessive anger in religious men, but behold, before Saul could become exceedingly angry, the Spirit of the Lord first rushed upon him. How fearful, then, the anger of the saints must be, we perceive, if we consider the Spirit of the Lord rushing upon them—if, while we observe them outwardly angry, we equally attend to the Spirit stirring them within. Therefore, as often as we are corrected by the zeal of our superiors, we may rightly tremble greatly under their indignation, if we believe their impulse to be a movement of the Holy Spirit. And because Saul cut both oxen into pieces, sent them throughout all the borders of Israel, and put forth threats that thus it would be done to the oxen of all who refused to follow him and Samuel—what else does this suggest, except that those who are more sluggish in providing aid to their neighbors must not only be invited, but compelled? Whence it is also immediately added: (Verse 7.) 'Therefore the fear of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out as one man.'

8. For since we are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves, we offer them assistance in right order when we are not compelled by fear to render these services, but are prompted by love. But when we lose the effect of this owed love, it pertains to the zeal of our preachers that we rise up to help our brothers out of fear. Therefore it is well said: "The fear of the Lord fell upon the people, and they went out as one man," because we are often lukewarm in love of our neighbors; but we are raised up to a state of devotion by the threats of our prelates, and we undertake a good work out of fear, yet from the beginning of fear we are led to the bond of great charity. Hence it is well said that fear fell upon the people, yet all are reported to have gone out as one man. For many cannot go out as one man unless they ascend to an equal unity of love. For hence it is also said of the perfect disciples of the Redeemer: "They were of one heart and one soul" (Acts 4:32). There follows: (Verse 8.) And he numbered them in Bezek; and the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 1

And behold, Saul came, following oxen from the field, etc. And behold, the Lord came as a helper at the right time in tribulation, who was born as a man in the world after many experts in the law and learned philosophers, whom, however, He drove from the field of external freedom to taking on the walls of the Church by teaching heavenly things, and who was always diligent in considering the tears of the Church, so that He, as a pious comforter, might wipe them away and console them.

Commentary on Samuel

And taking both oxen, he cut them into pieces, etc. And taking both the wise man of carnal observance of the law and the one who gloried in secular philosophy, the Lord destroyed whatever they knew arrogantly with evangelical simplicity, truth, and humility; and He sent this through all the boundaries of the Church by the works of the evangelists, who earn the name by announcing well: Saying, Whoever will not depart from his paternal way of life, which was in the world, and will not gird himself up to undertake the spiritual struggle, by following the admonitions of the Gospel and prophecy in profession and deed, thinking to govern everything discreetly through action, or beneficially meditated by rumination on the word, as an example of those of whom it is said: Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? (I Cor. I), at the end he will find them to be destroyed.

Commentary on Samuel

Therefore, the fear of the Lord seized the people, etc. Upon hearing through the Gospel what heretics and schismatics, what pagans and unfaithful Jews are to suffer, the people of the faithful, struck with a wholesome fear, departing from the enticements of the old man, took themselves into the unity of the Catholic Church. And, scorning all the lurking places of the apocrypha, they came to be counted by Christ in the light of the shining Gospel, and to receive their name in heaven. For this reason, Bezec is rightly interpreted as lightning, certainly signifying that heavenly light of truth and grace, about which the Lord, teaching that heretics are to be avoided, said, “And they will say to you, 'Behold, here,' or 'Behold, there.' Do not go out, nor follow them;” He added and said, “For as the lightning flashes under heaven and shines to the other part under heaven, so will the Son of Man be in His day” (Luke XVII). And about which the Psalmist says, “He multiplied and troubled them” (Psalm XVII). Nor is it without reason that Bezec is also said to mean poverty. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew V). And those who, leaving everything, follow the Lord, why would they not be thought to be counted by their King in Bezec?

Commentary on Samuel

9. First the children of Israel are said to have gone out, then to have been mustered by Saul, because the chosen preacher, when he attempts to move the soldiery of his subjects against hidden enemies, first observes their brave resolve, then places them in the number of warriors. For we are, as it were, inside and cannot be mustered, as long as the virtue of our mind is hidden from our pastors. And when we go out we are mustered, because when we reveal to them the fortitude of our minds, they trust that they now have companions in the spiritual fight. But when they desire to raise weak minds to the resolve of good work, they strive not only to instruct us with the teachings of the greater ones, but also to kindle us with the examples of the lesser elect. Rightly therefore it is reported that three hundred thousand of the children of Israel, but thirty thousand of the men of Judah, were mustered. For the number thirty pertains to the rectitude of faith and the zeal of good works, because the precepts of the law are nothing if they do not tend toward the contemplation of the supreme Trinity. Fittingly therefore they are called men of Judah who are contained in thirty thousand, because they have the confession of right faith and the strength of good works. Our fathers, however, were of the same faith and works, but in the contemplation of divinity, inasmuch as they had advanced far higher than we, they also displayed stronger works of faith. Wherefore also three hundred thousand of the children of Israel are mustered. Thirty indeed comes from three and ten, and ten goes into thirty, but in the number thirty both the ten and the three are simple; but in order to count up to three hundred, we multiply ten by thirty and thirty by ten, because even if the contemplation is great and the works of the subject people are great, nevertheless those which preceded in our fathers were incomparable. For it is as if our number ten is gathered tenfold in their perfection, since our achievements are greatly subordinated to their perfection. Therefore thirty thousand men of Judah and three hundred thousand children of Israel, mustered with us, lead preachers to fight against Nahash — if, when they wish to help tempted and abstinent subjects, they set before them both the outstanding deeds of the strongest fathers and those of the lesser ones. Israel indeed is interpreted as "Seeing God," or "in whom God is"; which name certainly does not suit one who is still weak or unskilled. As many perfect men as we bring forth in the affliction of the flesh and the contemplation of the mind, with that many armed men we strike down the serpent Nahash. But let us now hear with what words the army of the king encourages the besieged. (Verse 9.) And they said to those who had come: "Thus shall you say to the men who are in Jabesh-Gilead: Tomorrow there shall be deliverance for you, when the sun grows hot."

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 1

And there were three hundred thousand sons of Israel, etc. There were in the people of the nations, those who were most ready to defend the faith, who believed rightly, hoped, and acted through love. For the number three, because of the confession of the Holy Trinity, is to faith; ten and a hundred because of the choice of the reward of the right hand, and the daily denarius to be given to good vineyard workers, are related to hope. Moreover, a thousand because of the solid nature of the denarius, which naturally looks to the immutable and stable operation of perfect love, it can rightly be understood in the same Church either of the Jews or of the nations, by the strength of the men of Judah first confessing God; but by the sons of Israel, the sublimity of those who have learned to contemplate Him more perfectly, as the Psalm says: "God is known in Judah, His name is great in Israel." It is to be noted that according to the letter much before the times of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, separately the tribe of Judah, but separately also the others that were called Israel, were counted, although not yet divided by empire or religion.

Commentary on Samuel

10. Such perhaps is what is said to us by the counsel of that wise man: "If the spirit of one having power rises up against you, do not quickly abandon your place" (Eccles. 10:4). The place of each elect person is the position of a good way of life. But when it is permitted, the attacking spirit can have power, because he could in no way assault the hearts of the elect unless the divine dispensation permitted it. He therefore commands that we not abandon our place, because if we are strong amid the brief darkness of temptations, the divine light will quickly be present, at whose coming the power of darkness vanishes. Well therefore is it said: "For tomorrow, when the sun has grown hot, there will be salvation for you." The exhortation of holy preachers is day, because when it touches the tempted hearts of the lesser ones, it raises them to the hope of victory. But night follows this, because even if divine aids are withdrawn, still the rushing darkness of carnal desires does not depart. What then is the morrow but the coming of divine visitation? For it is called the morrow because the splendor of divine help is very near to the tempted elect. Whence also through the prophet the Lord says: "I am a God nearby, and not a God from afar" (Jer. 23:23). Hence the Psalmist says: "The Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth" (Ps. 144:18). Hence likewise the Lord himself promises, saying: "Before you call upon me, I will say: Behold, I am here" (Isa. 58:9). The first day, then, is the light of preaching; the morrow is that of divine grace. But it should be noted that he said: "When the sun has grown hot," so that the brightness of day might illuminate the obscurity of understanding, and the heat of the sun might kindle the love of the heart; so that the mind might see through light the good that it desires, and might long through the heat of the mind for what it sees. For this twofold remedy of the mind is presented against the double warfare of the devil. For the malign spirit, in order to overcome the minds of the elect by tempting them, first casts before them the darkness of evil thoughts, then kindles the flames of concupiscences, because unless he has first blinded the mind, he does not drive it to the depravity of concupiscence. But when the elect mind is permitted to be tempted, its state is disturbed in both respects, because it can feel the troubles of concupiscences to the extent that, with God permitting, it cannot cast away from itself the darkness of evil thoughts. But because it is permitted by God to be tempted, at the coming of his grace it is relieved from both evils: since against the darkness it receives light, and through the heat of the arriving Spirit, it casts off the coldness of mind. For the one who was unable to raise the mind from carnal things begins to see heavenly things, and what he looks upon lovingly he desires ardently. Well therefore is it said: "Tomorrow there will be salvation for you, when the sun has grown hot," because if we manfully bear the powerful assaults of the ancient enemy, we are raised up by the swiftness of divine grace to the light of the heart and the power of great charity. And because the elect hearts of subjects gratefully receive this counsel of the holy preachers, there follows: (Verse 9.) "Therefore the messengers came and announced to the men of Jabesh. And they rejoiced." But let us also hear what they reply to the Ammonites, even though help has been promised to them. For there follows: (Verse 10.) "And they said: Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you shall do to us whatever pleases you."

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 1

And they said to the messengers who came: Thus you shall say, etc. They once said with a living voice to those present, they also speak to us today consulting their writings, the defenders of the Church, and they command to be sent to the members of the same Church in peril, never to go out to listen to heretics, certain of their salvation, where the truth of the evangelical sun has shone. It is also said to all who suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness; because the patience of the poor shall not perish forever (Psalm IX). But when the day of judgment will have inclined, eternal salvation will be given.

Commentary on Samuel

So the messengers came, and announced to the men of Jabesh, etc. Those who first feared the wiles of the heretics and the thorns of their arguments, later, being strengthened by the consolations of stronger and more learned doctors, promise that they will not come to them now in the night of dialectical deception, but in the manifestation of the most radiant truth and virtue, not now to be condemned with them by the Church, but to bear arms against them with the Church.

Commentary on Samuel

11. This indeed is because those who are already secure from nearby help grant a certain hope to the enemies whom they deceive by promising. In voice indeed they simulate weakness, but inwardly they preserve the strength of the promised help. Therefore they promise one thing, but believe another. For those who said: "Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you shall do to us all that pleases you," were giving the enemies to believe that they would so deliver themselves into their hands that they could do to them whatever they wished. But those who knew that the king was coming the following day to their aid were thinking of going out with him not to the enemies' hands, but to their slaughter. According to the spiritual sense, however, to the serpent Nahash, that is, to the concupiscence of gluttony, we promise our going out on his day, but on our day we defeat his battle lines. His day indeed is the delight of bodily satiety. For he who proposes to fill his belly according to his desire, as it were, dedicates the first day to concupiscence, and yet is still inside, because he has set before himself a certain light of delight which he has not yet seen by carrying it out. Tomorrow, therefore, he went out, who both by carrying out and by delighting exhibited that pleasant thing which he promised to the flesh. But holy men, as I said above, mock gluttony; because since they cannot despair of its appetite in perpetuity, what they promise and do not take, they as it were defer to a future light of delight. They are indeed compelled outwardly by the excessive frailty of the flesh, and inwardly clothed with the strength of great charity. By the former indeed, since they cannot renounce their appetites, they as it were promise with an outward voice what they do not hold in their intention. By the latter, because they are secure concerning divine aid, they propose to do something other than what they speak with the voice of weakness. On his day, therefore, they go out to Nahash, because they advance to combat the concupiscence of gluttony through the light of heavenly help, and visited by heavenly grace, they are now strong against every assault of the flesh, who, abandoned for a little while, had feared its attacks. And because this splendor of divine grace is sometimes poured into the lesser members of holy Church through the mouths of preachers, there follows: (Verse 11.) And it came to pass, when the next day had come, Saul arranged the people in three companies, and entered the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and struck Ammon until the sun grew hot.

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 1

And you shall do to us everything that pleases you. They said, being glad this night, although a conflict was approaching, those who knew most certainly that the morning of faith was approaching, would soon be pleasing to the enemies, not adverse to the punishments of truth by the syllogisms, but seeking only the comforts of fleeing and returning to their own darkness.

Commentary on Samuel

12. The people are indeed divided into parts, so that we may strike the serpent Nahash not with a single battle line. And indeed they are divided into three parts, so that the fruit and dignity of sacred abstinence may be shown: because through fasting we are called back to that contemplation of the Holy Trinity which we lose by eating. For hence it is that the fasts of the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel are commended. For Moses, that he might deserve to receive the Law, fasted twice for a period of forty days (Exod. 34:28). Elijah, that he might escape the hands of Jezebel, in forty days by the strength of a single meal arrived at Horeb, the mountain of God (1 Kings 19:8). Our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ, fasting for forty days in the wilderness, took no food whatsoever (Matt. 4:2). Therefore Saul divides the people into three parts: because as an example for those who practice abstinence, the fasts of the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel are set forth. And when the next day comes, the teacher enters the midst of the camp: because divine grace, which illuminates the hearts of preachers for teaching, also irradiates the minds of the hearers and powerfully raises them to the hope of victory. On the next day, therefore, the teacher, about to triumph, enters the camp of the enemies and lays it open, and in it powerfully strikes the battle lines of concupiscence. And because the minds of the subjects themselves advance by hearing, the king is said to enter the camp of the Ammonites in the morning watch and to continue in their slaughter until the day grew hot. The morning watch is indeed in God's inspiration; the heat of the sun is in its fullness. For as it were the morning light rises for us when, weighed down by the darkness of temptations, we begin to see from the mouth of preachers the light of virtue, that we may follow it. And the sun grows hot for us when through their words our mind is kindled and, as if refined by the heat of a burning sun, is inflamed with holy desires. Then indeed Ammon is violently struck down: because the people of vices is driven from our senses. Therefore the ruler who enters the camp of the Ammonites in the morning watch should not sheathe his sword from slaughter until the day grows hot, because he ought to persist in the instruction of his subjects for so long as it takes until he sees them inflamed with the great heats of the inner light. In this place it should be noted that Nahash, that is, "serpent," is said to be king of the Ammonites; but the people Ammon itself is interpreted as "sorrow." And because we have said that the vice of gluttony is signified by this serpent, when Nahash is struck, the people of sorrow is conquered: because from the one vice of gluttony, innumerable hosts of vices are brought forth to wage war against the soul. And when that same vice of gluttony is cut away, we subjugate many other vices to ourselves. The vice of gluttony is indeed one, but the stings of lust are innumerable, which follow that one going before them as if he were their king. They indeed suggest pleasant things, but lead to the laments of eternal weeping. When Nahash therefore is fought against, the people of sorrow is slain: because when we tame gluttony, the incitements of lust are destroyed. Whence it is rightly asserted that not Nahash himself, but Ammon subject to him—that is, the people—is slain: because the appetite for eating is to be restrained, not extinguished. But it is never well restrained if the people of sorrow that follows—that is, the shameful motions of lust—are not put to death. Against Nahash, therefore, our principal struggle lies: because when he is overcome, Ammon is slain; because lust is then well struck down if its principal origin is subjugated. But how far the progress of chastity advances is secretly shown through what follows. For it says: (Verse 11) "But the rest were scattered, so that not even two were left together."

13. The proof of true abstinence is not in the weakening of the body, but in the perfection of chastity. For the serpent is well worn down if gluttony is so restrained that all the violence of lustful bodily movements is diminished. For the illicit movement of the flesh, as long as the flesh itself exists, cannot be removed, but the violence of its movement can be removed. Indeed, it cannot be taken from the flesh that the law of the flesh should not move its members; yet the violence of the movement can be taken from the flesh, so that the movement remains, but all the obscenity of pleasure is taken away from that same movement, and that movement becomes simple, in which no remaining baseness of lust exists. Well, therefore, are others said to have been turned to flight, because when divine grace perfectly rewards those who are abstinent, it removes from their bodily movements all the stings of obscenities; but it leaves them their natural movements, so that they may always be tempted but never be conquered; since it leaves behind what greatly displeases them, yet so weakens what it leaves behind that it does not permit it to prevail over the victors. He had indeed struck the Ammonites who said: "I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest while preaching to others, I myself should become a castaway" (1 Cor. 9:27). Yet even after others were slain, he could not slay the fugitives, because he laments, saying: "I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind" (Rom. 7:23). Likewise, because he saw that those who remained were weakened, he says: "No creature shall be able to separate us from the love of Christ" (Rom. 8:39). What then does it mean that he laments that a law dwells in his members warring against the law of his mind, if after some were destroyed, others were turned to flight—unless it is because perfect men grieve vehemently over this very thing, that they endure simple movements of the flesh against their will? For they would wish so to remain in the flesh that they would endure nothing from the flesh against the will of the mind. And because this is impossible, he said beforehand: "To will is present with me, but to accomplish I find not. For the good that I will, I do not; but the evil that I hate, that I do" (Rom. 7:18–19). As if he were saying: I would wish to be in the flesh, not with that perfection by which one perfected in the flesh is perfect, but as the angels of God in heaven. But this power I find not, because as long as the death of sin has not been swallowed up in the future resurrection, that which is sin dwelling in me moves me against myself. But what cannot be extinguished can be put to flight. For the movement of the flesh is, as it were, turned to flight when it is well chastised by fasting. For it rises against the spirit all the more rarely and with greater difficulty, the more the presiding spirit subjects it to itself through mortification, since it so tames it that it is slow to rebel and quick to be stilled.

14. But it must be subtly observed what is said: "So that two were not left together." Two indeed remain, but they do not remain together. For there are two things: impure thought and the natural movement of the flesh. In the struggle of the saints, sometimes an impure thought comes first, and sometimes they feel the law of the flesh rising against the law of the mind; but those who are already victors do not fear enemies turned to flight if they return again to battle, because they cannot fight against them simultaneously. For when a wicked thought presents itself, they cast it away before the flesh is moved by its suggestion. And when the law of the flesh stirs the members, the law of the mind in no way nourishes the shameful movement by thinking shameful things; and while it casts away the one, it by no means feels the attack of the other. Rightly, therefore, it is said of the perfect victory of the elect that "the others were scattered, so that two of them were not left together": because through the mortification of the body they advance to such a height of perfection that whatever is brought against them from the flesh or from the mind is easily overcome, since these are not permitted to join together in battle. And indeed the elect attain this victory over all the senses of the body, those who can subject the besieging Nahash to themselves through the power of abstinence. For the flesh, when nourished and fattened, is prone to the fall of the tongue, the eyes, the hearing, smell, and touch. Therefore, when the illicit movements of the bodily senses are drawn from the vice of gluttony into warfare against the mind, it is as if the Ammonite people accompany King Nahash to the siege of the Israelites. But when Nahash is perfectly conquered, Ammon is both partly destroyed and partly put to flight in such a way that two of them are not found together; because when we wear down the body through abstinence, we weaken the countless illicit movements of our senses; and those we cannot entirely uproot, we put to flight as though enfeebled. Of these, two do not remain together against us in battle, because in the pleasure of any bodily sense, we do not join the sense of the mind to it. For often we see with our eyes, often we hear with our ears, often we perceive by touch, often by smell, things that can draw the carnal soul to illicit love; but by perfectly mortifying our flesh we are victors, because we do not see two of the conquered adversaries together. We may indeed behold desirable things, but we avoid joining the appetite of the soul to the movements of the eyes. Often too an illicit thought presents itself to the heart, but the victor over the serpent finds only its fleeting movement, which he observes, alone. For regarding those things which the heart thinks about accidentally, he by no means raises any of the bodily senses toward them through illicit movement. Such indeed are those whom the prophet marvels at, saying: "Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows?" (Isaiah 60:8). For they are like doves at their windows who receive desirable things but do not lose the simplicity of a pure heart by desiring them; because they see things they might crave, but they avoid illicitly craving what they behold. Because we advance toward this victory through the exhortation of our preachers, it is fittingly recorded that the Ammonite people were defeated and slain by Saul. Their wars, indeed, are not uniform but diverse. For sometimes they powerfully crush hidden adversaries, and sometimes they wisely endure false brethren. The former they subdue within by great virtue; the latter they tolerate without by wondrous patience. Within, through immense struggles, they are distinguished by the glory of great triumphs; but without, they are adorned with the incomparable honors of such great meekness. We who have learned the account of their inner victory, let us now hear how they also conquer outwardly. For it follows: "And the people said to Samuel: 'Who is it that said: Shall Saul reign over us? Give us the men, and we will kill them.' And Saul said: 'No one shall be killed on this day, because the Lord has wrought salvation in Israel.'"

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 1

And it happened when the next day came, etc. It happened when the grace of God the Savior appeared for the help of the struggling Church, He established it in three parts of the faithful, namely of the married, the continent, and the teachers; whom the prophet designates under the names of Noah, Daniel, and Job, skillfully instructing each group to sharpen themselves for defending the peace of the Church.

Commentary on Samuel

And he entered the middle of the camp in the morning watch, etc. As Lucifer of sound doctrine rises among the darkness of heresies, immediately the camps of perfidy are disturbed. But with the Scriptures glowing from the Sun of righteousness, they vanish, completely anathematized. For the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1).

Commentary on Samuel

But the rest were dispersed, etc. The heart and soul of the multitude of believers, although widely scattered, are one. However, the heretics, who seem to have temporarily escaped the judgment of the Church, and are expelled farther from her, are also discordant among themselves. Just as Isaiah said, “And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians” (Isaiah 19). For Sabellius against Arius, Eutyches against Nestorius, Photinus against the Manichean, and the rest of the impious against the impious, stir up the weapons of iniquity.

Commentary on Samuel

12–13

15. For the Lord had said above to Samuel: They have not rejected you, but me, that I should not reign over them (1 Kings VIII, 7). But of Saul it was said a little before: Because they despised him, and did not bring him gifts (Ibid., X, 27). But he who was rejected, and he who was despised, after the enemies had been slain and victory obtained, heard the people crying out: Give us the men, and we will kill them. Indeed, each of them could have taken vengeance on their enemies, not by killing, but by consenting; but even because the prophet had been rejected, he speaks, and the king who had been despised supports the one who says: No one shall be killed on this day, because our holy preachers are crowned with a greater victory when they endure the adversities of their neighbors than when they overcome enemies abroad. Whence also true wisdom speaks in Solomon, saying: The patient man is better than the mighty (Prov. XVI, 32). But it should be noted what is said: On this day. On the day of his victory, he seeks to kill who inflames those whom he draws to the love of God by the brightness of his virtues to harm others. Or he kills on the day of victory, because by that light of glory by which one is brought to veneration of the preacher, one is stirred up to hatred against those who detract from that same teacher. For whoever hates his brother is a murderer (1 John III, 15). For since through the teaching of a good pastor the good are to be helped in such a way that the wicked are tolerated, the reason why no one should be killed is well added: Because, he says, today the Lord has wrought salvation in Israel. There follows: And Samuel said to the people: Come, let us go to Gilgal, and let us renew the kingdom there. And all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord.

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 1

And the people said to Saul: Who is this who said? etc. When the Samaritans did not wish to receive the Lord, the sons of thunder said: Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume them? And Jesus turned and rebuked them: You do not know of what spirit you are; The Son of Man did not come to destroy, but to save (Luke 9).

Commentary on Samuel

14–15

16. If therefore we apply all things in the manner in which they occur above in the ordaining of the king to the custom of the holy Church, her rulers are ordained with great subtlety. For first the king to be chosen was shown to the prophet, then he was sought as though unknown; afterward he was even found by lot, hidden at home, revealed by the Lord, raised up by the people, and received by all into royal dignity. What then is it that they still proceed to Gilgal, so that there the kingdom might be renewed? But with great discernment the king is sought and found, because the affairs of the Churches are most lofty, which if the weak and unskilled undertake, they are crushed by the very magnitude of the matters. Therefore with attention and most subtle investigation one is sought out who may be placed over so great an eminence. He who is truly to be greatly commended is not established by the judgment of those seeking, but when he is found vigorous in the very exercise of the highest ministry. Well therefore, with the king now triumphant and established, it is said: 'They went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord': because when the preacher's strength is recognized, he is honored in the minds of his hearers. Indeed we go to Gilgal, that is "the wheel," when through sacred eloquence we examine the work of our teacher, and there we make him king before the Lord: because him whom we perceive to be worthy of approval, we judge to be worthy of so great an eminence. Therefore Saul is said first to have been chosen by the people, and at last established as king in Gilgal before the Lord: because although a pastor may be chosen in the holy Church with much gravity of counsel, whether he is by merit what he is by rank is not known unless it is made manifest by the strength of his works. Let it therefore be said not of another, but of that one [perhaps "another" is superfluous] who shone forth with a great victory: 'All the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord', so that the dignity of the supreme pontiff may not consist in the ambition of high office, but in the summit of virtue. And indeed they go to Gilgal, so that he may not dare to judge from the highest place, to whom the hidden precepts of Sacred Scripture are unknown. And the king is established before the Lord: because then the teacher is honored by the devotion of his subjects, when they themselves acknowledge his acceptable life to the almighty Lord. Moreover, concerning this knowledge of the life and teaching of their pastor: because often one trusts not oneself but those who are better, it is well said that the people established a king in Gilgal before the Lord, but that the same people went to Gilgal at Samuel's urging. 'Let us go', he said, 'to Gilgal, and let us renew the kingdom there.' For the kingdom is renewed: because while the chosen preacher is seen in great virtue, the hearts of his hearers are submitted to him with new and fresh devotion. Whence, as though by the king's displayed victory the kingdom is renewed, when the great manner of life of the teacher becomes known, the very hearts of his subjects receive the splendor of a new devotion, and are stirred by his example to the pursuit of great virtue. But now, we who have beheld triumphs in one battle of inward struggles, let us now behold in another the times of peace run through with wondrous fairness.

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 1

But Samuel said to the people who were coming: Let us go to Gilgal, etc. With the heretics vanquished, condemned, or corrected, any perfect teacher says to the Church subject to him: Come, with the face of the heart unveiled, let us contemplate the glory of the Lord. For Gilgal is indeed called revelation. And the more we are renewed in the spirit of our mind in the knowledge of him who created us, the more we see the dangers of those we have conquered; because remaining in oldness, they did not want to reveal their way to the Lord and hope in him, nor to supplicate him confidently, and say: Reveal our eyes, that we may behold the wonders of your law (Psalm CXVIII).

Commentary on Samuel

And all the people went to Gilgal, etc. Upon hearing the exhortation of their spiritual teachers, the people grew in faith and in the knowledge of the truth, and in the revelation of the heart, illuminating themselves by humbling and despising themselves, sought the glory of Christ in everything, and exalted his name among each other, and for the peace of the Church offered whatever they could of their devotion before the Lord.

Commentary on Samuel

And Saul rejoiced there, etc. Saul rejoiced in Gilgal, which is called revelation. Jesus exulted in the Holy Spirit and said: I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent (Matt. XI; Luke X), that is, from those trusting in serpentine wisdom, as if fighting against Israel under King Nahash; and you have revealed them to little ones, that is, to those whom in the brightness of truth and in the poverty of spirit, as if in the city of Bezek, the fear of the Lord has gathered, strengthened, and helped. Again, he says, I will see you, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you (John XVI).

Commentary on Samuel