1 Samuel (1 Kings) 5

1–2

1. What does it mean that the ark is carried away from the Stone of Help, except that the heralds of truth take away the mysteries of the Scriptures from that Christ whom the Jews await with a false expectation? For while they turn the testimonies of Holy Scripture toward the knowledge of the true Redeemer, they indeed take the ark away from him in whom the Jews had placed the hope of their help. And because the mysteries of faith are entrusted to the Gentiles, the ark of God is brought to Azotus. And indeed the ark is brought into the temple. What then was the temple of Dagon, except every unbelieving soul, once polluted by the superstition of idolatry? What does the image of Dagon signify, except the superstition of all idolatry? What else then was it to impress the mysteries of faith upon the hearts of the Gentiles, than to bring the ark of God into the temple of Dagon? For it was as if the ark were placed next to Dagon, when the preachers of the holy Church admonished the Gentiles to examine, for the purpose of proving the truth of faith, both the preaching they were hearing and the errors of the idolatry they held. And so rightly on the next day the people of Azotus found Dagon lying face down on the ground before the ark. For Azotus had one day in hearing the preaching of truth, and another in the knowledge of faith. For on the first day the ark of God is placed next to Dagon, because in hearing the preaching of the Redeemer, they detect the darkness of their ancient error. But rising on the second day, they found Dagon lying face down on the ground before the ark: because in the knowledge of truth, idolatry also lost its standing. Hence also it is well that when Dagon's fall is asserted, he is recorded as lying face down on the ground. He falls before the ark, because he is exposed through the knowledge of the divine mysteries. But he lies face down on the ground, because, with God now as guide, he no longer has the appearance of simulated reason in the sight of the faithful. For he who lies face down on the ground presses his face into the earth. But through the face of the idol, the simulation of reason is expressed. Therefore to lie face down on the ground is to be utterly unable to deceive with the frauds of its simulation those who now know the truth. But nevertheless, so that the Gentiles might know the truth more certainly, they endeavored to examine more and more both the reasoning of our faith that they had heard and the ancient custom of their own superstition. And so fittingly there follows: (Verse 3) They took up Dagon and restored him to his place.

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 3

The Philistines took the Ark of God, etc. The Gentiles received the word of the Gospel from Judea, where the Lord was born in the flesh, lived, and suffered, leaving the places of His dispensation sacred to the mysteries to this day. And they carried it, with a joyous reputation, into the foreign provinces of the world, which until then were burning with the flames of sins, dissolved by the enticements of the flesh. Hence, Azotus, which is called Eradod in Hebrew, according to its ancient name, signifies dissolution or effusion, or conflagration.

Commentary on Samuel

2–5

In short, if you believe the place is holy because the law and the books of prophets are there, then it is time for you to believe that idols and the temples of idols are holy. Once, when the Jews were at war, the people of Ashdod conquered them, took their ark and brought it into their own temple. Did the fact that it contained the ark make their temple a holy place? By no means! It continued to be profane and unclean, as the events immediately proved. For God wanted to teach the enemies of the Jews that the defeat was not due to God’s weakness but to the transgressions of those who worshiped him. And so the ark, which had been taken as booty in war, gave proof of its own power in an alien land by twice throwing the idol to the ground so that the idol was broken. The ark was so far from making that temple a holy place that it even openly attacked it.

Discourses Against Judaizing Christians 6.7.1

2–5

And now is not the first time, but he has performed these amazing marvels from time immemorial. It is not pertinent to enumerate them all; I shall mention what seems to resemble these events most closely. Once when the Jews waged war in Palestine with certain foreigners and the enemy was victorious and took the ark of God, they dedicated it as the choice part of the spoils to one of their local idols named Dagon; and, as soon as the ark was brought in, the statue fell down and lay on its face. Since they did not comprehend God’s mighty power from this fall but set it up and again placed it on its pedestal, when they appeared the next day at dawn they observed that it was no longer simply fallen but also quite broken. The arms, detached from the shoulders, were flung onto the threshold of the temple, with the feet; and the rest of the statue was scattered in another place in pieces.… Therefore the place, which is able to exist for a long time, receives the blow and reminds each succeeding generation that those who do such things are ordained by law to suffer such things even if they do not pay the penalty at once; which is exactly what happened in the case of this temple.

Discourse on Blessed Babylas 1.6

And they brought it into the temple of Dagon. And they brought faith into the world, which was set in wickedness, and concerning which the Lord said: When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, all his possessions are in peace; but if one stronger than he assaults him and overcomes him, he will take away all his armor in which he trusted, and divide his spoils (1 John 5; Luke 11). Dagon was strong when he guarded the foolish weapons of paganism in his hall. The ark of faith is stronger, which victorious of this took the spoils of impiety, and made them the weapons and spoils of piety.

Commentary on Samuel

And they set it beside Dagon. And they erected the churches of Christ among the nations, while in some places the worship of idols still remained. For Dagon, which is interpreted as the fish of sorrow, signifies not only the person, but also by name, him who, existing from the beginning as the author of our miseries, is called by the prophet the king of all that are in the waters. Concerning whom the Lord narrates many things in blessed Job under the figure of Leviathan (Job 40). And whom Tobias, which is interpreted as the good of God, by the guidance of the archangel, draws out from the waves, dissects, roasts, eats, salts, and carries with him for remedies and provision. That is to say, the Lord Savior overcomes by His divine power the devil who desires his fleshly food, snatches him from his hidden traps; and cutting off his members of iniquity, seasoned with the salt of wisdom, and cooked by the fire of the Holy Spirit, transfers them into the members of His body, which is the Church, and through these provides aids of salvation to others. For by means of those whom the Lord saves, taken from the devil, He will save both the pagan from the deception of idolatry, and the Jews, from whom He took flesh, from the error of their unbelief at the end of the world. It is clear, therefore, what Tobias signifies, when through the entrails of the dissected fish, he liberates both his wife from the demon, and his parent from blindness.

Commentary on Samuel

3–4

So Dagon who was adored as God by them (although he was a dumb, senseless idol) was made to fall before the ark, and God prepared to stage a spectacle for the spectators, so that the Philistines might perceive the difference between false god and true God.In their folly, they raised him up again only to see him fallen a second time and brought to his knees, so to speak. Behaving thus with singular stupidity and reluctant to recognize the difference, they were taught by experience not to run to excess. Having learned their lesson, they returned to their senses, shook off their drunken ignorance and returned the ark, as was fitting, to its proper admirers, having honored it with votive offerings. They confessed their chastisements and instructed those who received it about the manner of its return.

On Divine Providence 10.50-51

2. That is, in the temple, where the ark of God had been placed. What then does it mean to restore Dagon to his place, if not, in light of the already known truth of spiritual sacraments, to examine the state of idolatry with subtle consideration? And because the more subtly the error of idolatry is examined, the more truly it is condemned, it is added: (Verse 4.) And rising again at dawn, they found Dagon lying on his face before the ark of the Lord.

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 3

And when they rose early in the morning, etc. The signs of miracles becoming clear through the heralds of faith, the worship of idolatry fell away among those who were able to be converted to Christ; but, although it was betrayed and exposed, which is vanity, it was recovered among those who moved the weapons of perfidy against the truth.

Commentary on Samuel

They rise again at dawn: because toward the love of the goodness they have heard, they now raise themselves with the certainty of deliberation. The first day, therefore, is one of testing, the next of recognition, and the third of deliberate certainty and offered profession. And because this day shone upon the enlightened minds of the converted in the splendor of perfect and consummate faith, there follows: (Verse 4.) But the head of Dagon and the two palms of his hands had been cut off upon the threshold. Moreover, the trunk of Dagon had remained in its place.

3. For what is Dagon, that is, the head of idolatry, other than the devil himself, the very origin of all iniquity? And what are the palms of his hands, if not all the works of idolatry? Dagon therefore lost his head, because through the worship of idols the malignant spirits cease to reign in the hearts of the Gentiles. The palms of his hands were also cut off, because vain sacrifices are nowhere offered to idols. And because his deformity is everywhere beheld by all the faithful, the trunk of Dagon is recorded to have remained in its place. But the head and hands, cut off and placed upon the threshold, are mentioned because indeed whoever enters into the true faith is commanded to repel the beginnings of diabolical persuasion and to renounce all the works of that same Satan. These were therefore placed on the threshold so that they might be trampled upon by those entering, because one truly cannot be faithful who does not resolve both to oppose the wicked counsels of the malignant spirit and to resist his iniquitous works. For he who avoids crushing the head and hands of Dagon, even if he seems to be counted among the number of the faithful, is in a certain way proven to be an idolater. For in the delight of demons, not only outward sacrifices but also iniquitous desires are offered by their worshippers. He therefore who has been received into the knowledge of the true faith and has not been removed from unclean desires and wicked works, because he disdains to crush the head and hands of Dagon, makes an offering to the malignant spirit—whom he disdains in the oblation of ceremonies—through the uncleanness of inward concupiscence and outward life. Wherefore it is also added: (Verse 5.) For this reason the priests of Dagon do not tread upon the threshold to this present day.

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 3

And again rising early in the morning the next day, etc. As the light of heavenly signs gradually increased, the face of idolatry was confused before the faithful of Christ, and they confessed as earthly and perishable all that they had hitherto done or believed.

Commentary on Samuel

But the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands, etc. The head of all sin, the pride of the devil, and the work of idolatry; which, as if with two palms, was conducted by the profession of impiety, the ceremonies of praises and sacrifices, already separated from the related body, that is, the crowds of seducers adhering to it, was now, and about to be cast out, prepared by the growing triumph of Christ; who showed, as it were, the head and hands of the truncated Dagon lying on the threshold, when he said: "Now is the judgment of the world, now the prince of this world shall be cast out" (John 12).

Commentary on Samuel

Moreover, the trunk of Dagon alone, etc. Moreover, the people, having cast off and eliminated the profession of idolatry, and the operations of the demonic, among those who had advanced in faith, as if near the ark of God, preferred to remain humble and submissive, rather than to be cast out with the devil, that is, to be anathematized by the members of the Church. And the state of Dagon is not asserted to have been restored as before, because after many struggles of the Church, a cessation had occurred, from the defense of false gods, and victory was given to the one true God, Christ.

Commentary on Samuel

4. For they present themselves as priests of Dagon, who do not tread upon the threshold. In these words it must be carefully observed that he did not say "the threshold," but "upon the threshold," so that the head and hands of Dagon are taught to be what must be trampled upon, which are reported to have been cut off upon the threshold. The reason, moreover, that the priests do not tread upon the threshold is that they avoid crushing his severed hands and head with their foot. For the priests of Dagon remain even to this day: because those who sacrifice to the ancient enemy through unclean desires still exist. They indeed refuse to tread upon the threshold of the temple: because they resist neither unclean suggestions nor evil works. Therefore they are priests of Dagon, because even if they do not humble themselves before handmade idols, they nevertheless bow down to the images of their lusts through wicked works. There follows: (Verse 6.) The hand of the Lord was heavy upon the people of Ashdod.

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 3

For this reason, the priests of Dagon do not tread, etc. For the reason that the devil is to be cast out and condemned in the end, all those who perversely follow him either by teaching or acting, prompted by him, shun considering and guarding against the time of his sentence and condemnation. Indeed, before his worshippers turn away from iniquity, he, concerned for them, suspends their understanding, almost like the advance of the mind, from foreseeing the future or their own destruction. And this continues to the present day, that is, until each of them recognizes the light of truth, which whoever follows, not walking in darkness perpetually. Nor does he fear to tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, for with diligent mind he contemplates and dreads the punishment of the wicked, who burn with earthly desires, and their leader the devil, moreover, striving to sprinkle his own threshold with the blood of the paschal lamb, turned towards better things, that is, to secure his entrance and exit with the mystery of the Lord's passion. Therefore, the head and feet of the truncated Dagon on the threshold are deterred from contact with the same threshold. However, the blood of the immaculate lamb always renders safe those who remember it from the enemy, because the devil, whom he deceives, removes the consideration of the end that leads to impious Tartarus, both theirs and his own. But the Lord, whom he redeemed by the example of his passion and resurrection, always teaches them to hope for life after death.

Commentary on Samuel

5. The hand of the Lord is the power of divine might. And because in the Azotians the beginnings of paganism are signified, what does it mean that the hand of the Lord is said to have been made heavy upon the Azotians? But He made His hand heavy upon Azotus when He moved the hearts of the Gentiles to conversion by the power of His might. For when through inward inspiration He made known to them the force of eternal death, He struck the minds of the Gentiles with wondrous terror over the iniquities they had committed. Therefore, since when the hand of the Lord is said to be made heavy, the Azotians are said to be slain, this heaviness of the hand is understood as the multiplication of the converted. For to die, for the Gentiles, was to be separated from unbelief. Likewise, to be slain by the hand of the Lord is to obtain that same knowledge of the true faith not through the ministry of men but by divine power. The hand of the Lord was therefore light upon Azotus when as yet, through a few ministers of the faith, only a few were abandoning the error of paganism. Hence the Lord also urges the ministers of the word to pray, as if concerning the making heavy of His hand, saying: 'The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few: pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest' (Matt. 9:38). As if He were saying in other words: He who through a few ministers, as if with a light hand, separates a few from unbelief — pray that He multiply the ministers, so that He may, as it were, make His hand heavy in the multitude of the converted. But the manner of the slaying is also explained: for whoever is said to die by this slaying, while going out to purge his bowels, is said to be bitten by mice in the more hidden part of the buttocks. According to the letter, one single striking is shown here, but in the typological exposition it is doubled. For by the signification of the letter, both the making heavy of the Lord's hand and the biting of the mice pertain to the effect of the same death: because the hand of the Lord is said to be made heavy upon the Azotians for this reason — that they are slain by the biting of the mice.

6. But because through spiritual signification we have recognized two deaths—one, namely, by which sinners die to righteousness by sinning, and the other by which the righteous raise themselves from the sins in which they had lived by repenting; one which enters human hearts at the devil's persuasion, the other which the power of almighty God works—it is therefore necessary that we attend spiritually to both deaths in this passage. The death by which sinners rise from sins through repentance is indicated, because it says: "The hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Azotians." But that death by which the Gentiles made themselves servants of uncleanness and iniquity is indicated when they are said to be bitten by mice and killed. For the mouse is an unclean animal, and forbidden by the Law to be eaten (Lev. 11:29). What then is designated by mice, if not demons? And what is it to be bitten by mice, if not to be torn by the punishment of sin? But they were bitten by mice when they went out to purge their bowels. What then is purging the bowels, if not, through the completion of sin, to bring forth the stench of a wretched reputation? He therefore who goes out to purge his bowels is destroyed by the bite of mice: because he who by sinning extends himself to the notice of others through the example of depravity is also held fast unto eternal death by the grave bondage of demons. For they are reported to have been struck in the more hidden part of their buttocks: because every sinner receives a wound of the soul in that part which he bends toward the pleasure of sin. Therefore when the hand of the Lord is made heavy upon Azotus, it is asserted that they were struck by mice: because when the doctors of eternal life were preaching, and the Gentiles were converted from unbelief, they recognized by what death of sins, through the persuasion of demons, they had been bound. Therefore, for the Azotians to be bitten after the hand of the Lord was made heavy is, after the knowledge of the true faith, not to be subjected to demons, but to perceive through the illumination of faith in what stench of sins they had offered themselves to the punishment of death. For they were bitten, as it were, at that time when they recognized the bites of their own sins. There follows: (Verse 7.) "And when the men of Azotus saw this kind of plague, they said: Let not the ark of God remain among us, for his hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god."

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 3

But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Ashdodites, etc. Those who, having taken up the ark of God, grieve for Dagon's destruction and set up his ruin, are struck in their hind parts, and their land is ravaged by mice. For those who, having been taught the recognition of faith or even mysteries, either do not endure the idols to be cast down, or allow themselves to be forbidden from vices, because they look back, do not abandon the uncleanness of their old life, and reclaim those things which they ought to have forgotten and regarded as dung, as the Apostle says (Philippians 3). They are punished by the things they choose, and that becomes the cause of punishment to the wretched, which was the pleasure of their guilt. But even if they seem to produce any good, those who keep the eyes of their mind turned backwards, the root of their thought and the fruit of their action are destroyed by unclean spirits. The Lord struck not only Ashdod where Dagon was, but all the borders of Ashdod because he condemns and rejects not only the capital crimes in which the manifest work of the devil is evident, but also the small ones which appear minor or light sins to men, by the sentence of the strict judge. Ultimately, every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment (Matthew 12).

Commentary on Samuel

7. For when they saw temples destroyed, sacrifices ceasing, wives separated from husbands and husbands from wives, sons separated from parents and fathers from sons, what else could they think but that the hand of the Lord was heavy both upon them and upon their superstition? But what was done next follows: (Verse 8.) And they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and the Gittites answered: Let the ark of God be carried around.

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 3

Seeing the men of Ashdod had such a plague, etc. Upon seeing the idol worshippers experience the power of Christ against their gods, they refuse to accept his faith, lest on account of this they might be compelled to renounce their whole host of gods. Similarly, false Christians, seeing that due to faith in Christ the sins they love are forbidden to them, detest the religion of faith as much as they can, lest on this occasion they be commanded to extinguish the desires which they serve in place of God. The men of Ashdod in every respect, that is, worthy of the name of rift, dissolution, and burning, refuse to know the sacred Scriptures so that having known them, they would have to act according to what they have learned; and because of the Lord's sentence, which states that those who are ignorant of his will shall receive fewer stripes, they refuse to know what they ought to do: not understanding that there is a great difference between being simply ignorant and refusing to know what ought to be learned. And so, feeling this as harsh to their own wills, they impudently repel the ark of heavenly knowledge from themselves.

Commentary on Samuel

8. Because it is said that the satraps of the Philistines gathered together, but why they gathered is not stated. Yet because the satraps are said to have responded and to have given counsel about carrying the ark around, it is clearly understood that they had been summoned to give counsel regarding that same ark. Who then are the satraps of the Philistines, if not the chosen preachers of the Gentiles? Satraps are indeed called princes. Of these princes it is certainly said through the Psalmist: "The princes of the peoples are gathered together with the God of Abraham" (Psalm 46:10). For by the name "peoples," the Gentiles are designated. He who used the name of peoples and of princes surely designated the satraps of the Philistines, of whom he speaks. These princes of the peoples certainly came together with the God of Abraham when, for the salvation of the Gentiles who were to be converted, the preachers proclaimed in word what almighty God inspired in them through inward desire. For it was as though there were a wonderful agreement between God and the princes in the hearts of their Gentile hearers, since they received simultaneously both the reasoning of right preaching from the holy preachers and the fruit of good will from the Lord. And since those who had said "Let the ark of God not remain among us" are recognized as adversaries, how do the princes gather by sending? But to send and to gather the princes is to stir up the minds of the holy preachers to urgency in preaching, because preaching was to be carried out more attentively where the hearts of the Gentiles were plunged more deeply into error. Hence it is that the distinguished teacher boasts of having chosen for himself a nobler victory over unconquered enemies, saying: "From Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the Gospel of Christ; and so I have preached this Gospel, not where it had already been proclaimed, lest I build upon another's foundation" (Romans 15:19–20). The princes, therefore, were provoked not by the desire but by the error of the unbelievers, since they judged they could gain a greater profit for God from where the darkness of errors was borne aloft more loftily by the blast of pride. Therefore the urgency of holy preaching is also designated when it is added: "And the Gittites answered: Let the ark of God be carried around." Those say: "Let the ark of God not remain among us," and these say: "Let it be carried around." For what is it to carry the ark of God around, if not to preach publicly the mysteries of the true faith? For the ark remains with those who embrace through love the sacraments of the true faith that they hear. But those who say "Let the ark not remain among us" desire that the preaching of the faith be turned away from them. The satraps therefore say the opposite: "Let the ark of God be carried around," because they preached divine things more attentively to those whom grave error had inflamed to hatred of the truth. And because through the ministries of the holy preachers, great gains from even such people were brought to the heavenly kingdoms, there follows: (Verse 9.) "But as they were carrying it around, the hand of the Lord came upon each city with an exceedingly great slaughter, and it struck the men of every city from the least to the greatest, and their protruding intestines rotted away."

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 3

And the Gittites replied: Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried around, etc. And this carrying around of the ark suits the present time of our age, where each of the weak desires the difficult words of the Lord to be fulfilled by others rather than by themselves. But even barbarian nations, which have recently accepted the faith of Christ, soon become enfeebled by soft desires, thinking this charge should be given to others rather than be exercised among themselves for longer.

Commentary on Samuel

9. For the ark is carried around when the mysteries of the faith are preached openly and without fear. And because in the beginnings of the faith countless people were converted, a very great slaughter is reported to have been made throughout each of the cities. Likewise, because not only the simple but also the wise were converted, the same slaughter is declared to have been made from the least even to the greatest. But through that same striking, the intestines are reported to rot away. For the intestines to rot is for the channels of sin to utterly perish from the outpouring of their accustomed stench. For he is well struck whose protruding intestines rot away, because indeed there are some who, after the cleanness of conversion, are entangled again in the former filth of wickedness. Their protruding intestines certainly do not rot away, because they are bent back to the accustomed flow of sins through wicked works. He indeed rebukes those who are ill-healed from an imperfect striking, who intimates that they have fallen back to their former stenches: "The dog returned to its vomit, and the washed sow to wallowing in the mire" (Prov. 26:11; 2 Pet. 2:22). For he was striking, as it were, so that the intestines might rot away, he who, thrusting in the sword of the word, said: "Let not sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires" (Rom. 6:12).

10. Moreover, by the fact that the Azotites say, "Let the ark not remain among us," the perversity of those from the same Gentiles who both heard the word of faith and, being by no means predestined to eternal life, refused to believe, can be signified. For the satraps to lead the ark of God around was for the holy preachers to withdraw from them the word of truth and to reveal the mysteries of faith to those who were worthy. The ark was therefore led around, because the sacraments of our faith were removed from the knowledge of some and revealed to others. And so, as it was led around, an exceedingly great slaughter is reported to have occurred in each city, because wherever they brought the word of faith, the grace of conversion was multiplied. And because wherever they preached, among those who believed there were some who were not predestined to eternal life, there follows: (Verses 10, 11.) They sent the ark of God to Ekron. And when the ark of God had come to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying: They have sent the ark of God to us, to kill us and our people. Therefore they sent and gathered together all the satraps of the Philistines, who said: Send away the ark of the Lord to its own place.

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 3

However, while they were carrying it around, the hand of the Lord came down, etc. Those who receive faith transiently and without fixed intention not only gain no advantage by believing, but also wretchedly deserve eternal punishment for the price of salvation.

Commentary on Samuel

And their prominent entrails spoiled. And the meditation of their inner heart fell back into blind and dirty matters of the present life, full of foul dung and blood of vices, appearing before all; a type of affliction to which the madness of the heretics can be compared, as shown even by the death of Arius; who, with his bowels pouring out through his backside, miserably found an end to his heretical teaching and the beginning of punishments worthy of heretics.

Commentary on Samuel

10–11

11. The satraps, as we have said, are understood as the holy preachers. The Ekronites, who are interpreted as "barren," designate the unconvertible Gentiles. These indeed gave the preachers the counsel of releasing the ark, so that if they refused their own salvation from the divine preaching, they would not stand in the way of the faithful who were journeying toward the eternal homeland with the sacraments of faith. For the place of the ark, that is, of the divine sacraments, is recognized to be there where whatever is now said about almighty God through the mystery of the Scriptures is afterward revealed to us in open knowledge. For he knew the proper place of the ark who said: "We see now through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know, just as I also have been known" (1 Cor. 13:12). The counsel of the satraps, therefore, was to allow the ark of God to return to its own place: so that, namely, those who bore no fruit of faith from the preaching of the word would at least release it to those who would prepare for themselves from it a fruit in eternity. Rightly, therefore, those who accept the counsel of sending back the ark are called Ekronites. For the Ekronites are interpreted as "barren." Because indeed from the truth of the faith they had heard, they had produced no fruit of belief or of good work, they were barren. Therefore the princes gave the counsel of removing the ark, but from barren ones—so that the seed of the word of God, which could not germinate in the worst soil, might be preserved for the best soil, which from this labor of winter would bring forth a hundredfold fruit of summer in everlasting life. And they immediately show the reason for releasing the ark, when the preachers add: (Verse 11) "Lest it kill us together with our people."

12. The Ekronites cried out: They have sent the ark of God to us, to kill us and our people. The satraps give counsel, saying: Send away the ark of the God of Israel, that it may not kill us with our people. Who is the people about whom the satraps, that is, the princes, say: that it may not kill us with our people? Who is the people, if not the Christian people? The princes therefore say, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, that it may return to its place. As if to say this: What you fear dying from, do not forbid us from exercising for the merit of eternal life. But as for what they add: That it may not kill us with our people, the hearts of the reprobate Gentiles are indeed confounded in their error by this response, since those men affirmed they would escape death from the very thing from which the others trembled to die. The holy preachers also take away the ark of God: because when spiritual things are disclosed to despisers, it leads to the condemnation of the indiscriminate preacher, if those same divine mysteries are abandoned not to be imitated by the faithless, but to be mocked and shut away. For the command to transfer the ark was laid down not so much by the satraps as by the Lord of the satraps, who said: Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they turn and trample them under their feet (Matt. 7:6). Hence he says again: If they persecute you in one city, flee to another (Matt. 10:23). They therefore take away the ark lest they die: because they hide spiritual things from despisers, lest those who rashly bring them forth be punished for their indiscretion on account of the contempt of those people. But because the ark is commanded to be sent away from the Ekronites, this surely implies what I stated before: that at the time of persecution, the exhortation of the holy preachers was made so that they themselves might believe; but sometimes, so that if they themselves would not receive the word of life, they would not obstruct those who would receive it; and if they themselves, out of fear of torments, would not seize the way of salvation, they would not be an impediment to those who had not ceased hastening toward the heavenly kingdoms despite threats and punishments. There follows: (Verse 12.) For there was a fear of death in every city, and the hand of the Lord was exceedingly heavy. How this is to be understood with regard to the outward persecution has been explained above. There follows: (Verse 12.) The men also who had not died were struck in the more secret part of their buttocks: and the wailing of each city ascended to heaven.

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 3

They sent therefore, and gathered all the satraps of the Philistines, etc. Many believers of the nations today, though not in words, say: Abandon the faith, and let it return to the children of Israel, so that at last, having cut us off, they may be grafted according to nature into their own olive tree. For it is better that the ignorant perish, than to be condemned for the transgression of faith, which we cannot keep, along with other sins.

Commentary on Samuel

13. Concerning the striking of the buttocks indeed, because we spoke of it above, it would not need to be discussed here, if nothing different were said here than was said there. What then is the meaning of what it says: "The men also who had not died were struck"? Were those who had died supposed to be bitten again as punishment for the ark? But also when the cry of the stricken is said to have ascended to heaven, it could be sufficiently shown that this was said of the living, and not of the dead. For the cry of dead men could not ascend to heaven. But because we referred the striking of the buttocks above to the knowledge of sins, there are indeed men who have not died. For they are men who, for the sake of the eternal life which they desire, have resolved to do brave deeds. But the men who have not yet died are those who resolve to do great things, and yet by no means weigh their past evils unto the pain of compunction. They are therefore bitten by mice, so that they may die: because they recall the things in which they wickedly fell, and believe that for their past deeds they deserve the loss of eternal life. Because therefore they are men, they do not despair of God's mercy: and because they are bitten so that they may die, they do not exalt themselves on account of the fact that they begin to be great.

14. Their cry indeed ascended to heaven because almighty God mercifully receives the groans of the converted. And because at the time of the conversion of the Gentiles there was a great rush to the faith, the cry is said to have ascended not from any one city but from many cities. Hence the prophet also pleads in the person of the universal Church, saying: "Attend to my prayer, from the ends of the earth I have cried to you" (Ps. 60:2–3). And showing that the cry of the one crying from the ends of the earth ascended to heaven, he says: "He heard my voice from his holy temple, and my cry came before him into his ears" (Ps. 17:7). When therefore each city is said to have cried to heaven, the universal penitence of conversion is commended. But if the striking is referred to conversion, while the cry is referred to the devotion of divine praise, then we certainly read in the mysteries of the Scriptures what we see. For each city cries out in the praises of almighty God, because the entire world by no means keeps silent about the proclamations of the Redeemer; it does not preach him in secret, but extols him with the jubilation of ineffable joy. For what else was he doing but urging all cities to cry out, who said: "All nations, clap your hands, shout to God with the voice of exultation, for God is most high and terrible, and a great king over all gods" (Ps. 46:2–3). Hence again admonishing, he says: "Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; serve the Lord with gladness" (Ps. 99:2). Hence again, he expresses both the plague of the biting mice and the cry of the cities, saying: "Let all the earth be moved before his face; say among the nations that the Lord has reigned" (Ps. 95:9–10). For he had said before: "Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth" (ibid. 1). Indeed the shaking of the earth pertains to the pain of penitence; to sing to the Lord, or to announce among the nations that the Lord has reigned, pertains to the zeal of preaching and to the devotion of divine praise. The cry of each city ascends to heaven, because throughout the whole world both the truth of preaching and the praises of devotion are proclaimed by the faithful of the holy Church, and these are received up to the height of the heavenly hearing through the acceptance of divine favor.

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 3

And the wailing of each city went up to heaven. And the murmur and impatience and the clamor of Sodom, falsely significant among the faithful, in whichever places, or persons, or certainly senses of the body, which are five for the cities of the Philistines, can never escape the strict judge, who foretelling such times with a dreadful sentence says: Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? (Luke XVIII.)

Commentary on Samuel