Commentaria in I Regum (I Samuelis)
7. NOW SAMUEL DID NOT YET KNOW THE LORD,—that is, he had not yet experienced the voice of God, was not yet accustomed to hear the Lord speaking, so as to distinguish His voice from the voice of Heli, and know God by His voice. So St. Jerome in the Questions, or whoever is the author: for I think it is not St. Jerome, but it is commonly thought and cited under the name of St. Jerome, and so I too cite it. For we must speak as the many, think as the few.
9. THEN HELI UNDERSTOOD (either by an inspiration of God, as Salianus will have, or by human reasoning; because, namely, no one else was in that place who could call Samuel; and because Samuel was most acceptable to God for his virtue and piety) THAT THE LORD HAD CALLED THE CHILD.
SPEAK, LORD, FOR THY SERVANT HEARETH,—that he may receive and carry out thy commands. This is to be said by every faithful man, when he hears God suggesting or inspiring something inwardly to his mind. Hence says St. Bernard, sermon On the Seven Spirits, near the end: “Happy and blessed,” he says, “is the soul which perceives the veins of the divine whisper in silence, frequently repeating that of Samuel: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” Hear St. Ephrem, book On Virtue, chapter 4, volume 2, folio 42: “Samuel, through the obedience which he gave to Heli the priest, is worthy ... the voice of God of humility you have in Samuel the prophet; for his heart was not lifted up against Heli the priest, although he had also heard from God concerning the man; to show yourself sober and watchful in all things; have you not heard that the prophet Samuel, called more than once, did not once hesitate to rise, however much he was still a boy.”
Hear also Origen, homily 1 on the Canticle: “Blessed are those souls that have bent their back to receive the Word of God as rider upon them, and endure His reins, that wherever He will He may turn and drive them by the bridle of His commands; because they no longer walk by their own will, but are led and led back in all things by the will of the rider.”
10. AND THE LORD CAME AND STOOD.—Hence it is plain that God, that is, an angel, God’s vicar, not only inspired this to the mind of Samuel, but, in an assumed body, spoke to him in a bodily voice. Whence the Chaldee renders here, and the glory of the Lord was revealed to him, as if he said: Samuel saw an Angel, God’s messenger, in a splendid and glorious body, but confusedly; so that he saw the splendour but did not distinctly see the body of the Angel; yet he heard his voice distinctly with his ears. Whence he at last knew that he was called not by Heli but by God. So St. Gregory, Abulensis, Dionysius, Cajetan and others.
Moreover that God addresses the boy Samuel on account of his purity and holiness, neglecting the elder Heli, shows “how much better than grey hairs is youth adorned with virtue,” says Theodoret, Question 2. Indeed “his communication is with the simple (in Hebrew, with the upright),” Proverbs 3, 32.
is repeated, when the mind of the seer is received into great familiarity with the inner majesty, and is lifted up by fervent desires to love of Him who calls; so that besides what it hears, nothing pleases, and it longs to dwell perpetually in the joy of its hearing.” Such was that calling of the same God: “Saul, Saul,” Acts chapter 9, verse 4, and that: “Moses, Moses,” Exodus 3, 4, and that: “Abraham, Abraham,” Genesis 22, 11, of which St. Chrysostom, homily 47 on Genesis: “What,” he says, “does the doubling of the word mean? It is a proof of great benevolence toward the Patriarch, and showed him, by the very calling, that He was about to show him some great thing. To make him more attentive, therefore, He doubled the calling.”
11. I DO A THING (that is, the matter and punishment threatened to Heli, so dire and dreadful) WHICH WHOSOEVER SHALL HEAR, BOTH HIS EARS SHALL TINGLE,—that is, so that he is wholly struck and shudders; namely the capture of the ark, says Lyranus, and the slaughter of his sons, says Abulensis, and the rest recounted in chapter 2. So Angelomus and St. Jerome in the Questions. It is a metaphor drawn from one who suddenly hears a clanging cymbal, or the boom of a great gun, or of huge thunder, whose violent sound strikes and raises in the ears of the hearers a ringing long-lasting.
13. FOR I HAVE FORETOLD UNTO HIM THAT I WILL JUDGE (that is, justly punish) HIS HOUSE (family and posterity), BECAUSE HE KNEW THAT HIS SONS DID WICKEDLY, AND DID NOT CHASTISE THEM.—Heli had rebuked them, but with too much paternal gentleness, not with Pontifical authority and severity, says Angelomus. Therefore he is punished with death: he therefore paid for the crime of his sons by his own death. So God, when the people fornicated with the daughters of Moab, ordered the princes to be hanged, Numbers 25. The cause is given by Blessed Peter Damian, book 4, epistle 45: “What is it,” he says, “that the people slips into the whirlpool of luxury, and vengeance is taken on their rulers? The subjects offend, and the Princes are hanged on gibbets? Plainly it is one who sins: another who is beaten. Why this, if not because the fault of subjects redounds to the disgrace of rulers? and what goes astray among the sheep is ascribed to the negligence of the Shepherd; and see how fearful is the condition of those who preside, that they are punished not only for their own but also for the offences of their subjects.”
14. THEREFORE HAVE I SWORN TO THE HOUSE OF HELI, THAT THE INIQUITY OF HIS HOUSE SHALL NOT BE EXPIATED WITH VICTIMS AND OFFERINGS FOR EVER.—Hence many think Heli is damned, as I shall say in chapter 4. But this place does not prove it. For it treats of the house of Heli, not of Heli himself, as if He said: The punishments which I foretold and threatened to the house of Heli for its sin, chapter 2, shall be recalled by no victims, but shall stand certain and fixed by my decree; and shall certainly come upon his descendants: of whom nevertheless many were upright and seem to have been saved, as Achias, Achimelech, Abiathar.
17. SO DO.—This is a formula of adjuring, as if he said: May God punish thee, or may it go ill with thee, if thou hide this from me.
18. IT IS THE LORD: LET HIM DO WHAT IS GOOD IN HIS SIGHT.—See here the answer of Heli, worthy of a penitent Pontiff, calm, and resigned to every will of God, and to so horrible a chastisement, on account of which Heli seems to be saved. So Theodoret, Procopius, Lyranus, Abulensis, Dionysius, Cajetan, Serarius, Mendoza here, St. Chrysostom, book 3 Against the Reviler of the Monastic Life.
Less fittingly, therefore, St. Ephrem in the Apology for Heli attributes this answer of Heli to his stubbornness, as if he said: Let the Lord do what is good in His sight; but I cannot bring trouble upon my sons. And St. Gregory: “That humility of answer,” he says, “if subtly looked into, is not true humility; he would be truly humble if he had offered himself to the amendment of the fault for which he was charged. While therefore he says: It is the Lord: let him do what is good in his sight; he chose rather to incur the causes of God’s threats than to condemn his sons for the iniquity perpetrated.” So also Rupert.