Commentaria in I Regum (I Samuelis)
Tropologically St. Gregory: “The strange gods having been taken away, the fast completed, the censure of examination applied by the preacher, the princes of the Philistines go up against Israel; because when we advance to a higher life, the malignant spirits, who always envy those who do well, are more hostile to us.” Wherefore St. Bernard, in the sermon On the Conversion to Clerics, chap. 17: “We learn by daily experience,” he says, “that those who resolve to be converted to God are more sharply tempted by the concupiscence of the flesh; and those who strive to go out of Egypt and flee the rule of Pharao are more gravely pressed in the works of clay and bricks.”
9. AND SAMUEL TOOK A SUCKING LAMB, AND OFFERED IT FOR A WHOLE HOLOCAUST TO THE LORD.—From this it is clear that Samuel, although he was a Levite only by descent, was nevertheless by the dispensation of God an extraordinary priest, though not the High Priest, as Serarius would have it. See what was said chap. 1, verse 35. In the same way God dispensed with Samuel, that he might sacrifice outside the tabernacle and the altar of holocausts in Maspha.
But why is this called a “whole holocaust”?
For the victim was usually cut into parts and so burned on the altar: but this, because of the Philistine enemies pressing on, could not be cut up, but was placed whole upon the altar. Otherwise in every holocaust the whole and entire victim ought to be burned to God. So Salianus.
10. AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN SAMUEL WAS OFFERING THE HOLOCAUST, THAT THE PHILISTINES (and the princes of the Tyrians, as Ecclesiasticus chap. 46, verse 21 adds) BEGAN THE BATTLE AGAINST ISRAEL: BUT THE LORD THUNDERED WITH A GREAT THUNDER THAT DAY UPON THE PHILISTINES, AND TERRIFIED THEM;—“while the victim of the lamb was still burning,” says Josephus, “the Lord terrified the enemies with lightning, thunder and earthquake.” So God by lightnings crushed the army of Pharao in the Red Sea, as I said at Exodus 14; and the Chanaanites through Josue, chap. 10, verse 11, and the Barbarians, by the Thundering Legion under the Emperor Antoninus, as Eusebius testifies, book 5 of the History chap. 5, and the tyrant Eugenius through the Emperor Theodosius, of whom hear Orosius, book 7 of the History chap. 35: “Alone, to the Lord Christ alone, with his body prostrate on the ground, his mind fixed on heaven, he prayed. Then, after he had passed a sleepless night in continued prayer, and had left, almost as witnesses, pools of tears, which he had laid out as the price of heavenly aid, he confidently took up arms.” Hence the happy success of the battle. “At once,” he says, “that great and unspeakable whirlwind of winds rushed against the faces of the enemy; the missiles sent by our men were borne through the air, and beyond the measure of a human throw, carried in the air by the hand, were hardly allowed anywhere to fall before they struck; the weapons also which the enemies had hurled violently, caught by the winds, were turned back by the force, driven backward, and unhappily pierced their own.”
Tropologically St. Gregory: “The thunders of the clouds, he says, are the fervent desires of the elect, by which they expel the suggestions of the malignant spirit. For the imperfect desires of Christians are not terrible to demons. The great crash of thunder, therefore, is the perfect desire of each elect one.
When, therefore, the Lord thunders with a great crash upon the Philistines, then they are cut down by the children of Israel, because when perfect devotion raises the mind of the elect to heavenly joys, it cuts off wholly from itself everything that serves the adverse party. Well also are the Philistines mentioned as first terrified, then cut down by the children of Israel: for they are terrified by the devotion of the elect, and cut down by their work; and since devotion is prior to work, they are rightly said to be terrified first, and afterwards cut down. For first we receive the gift of good will from the Lord, that afterwards we may be able to confute the counsels of evil spirits. Well also is the Lord said to thunder upon the Philistines and terrify them, while the children of Israel are said to cut them down; because good desires are supplied to us by divine grace, but we promote the gifts of grace by the effort of free will to the victories of the virtues.”
11. AND SLEW THEM UNTIL THEY CAME UNDER BETHCHAR.—Bethchar was a village so called from the abundance of lambs. For Car signifies a lamb: unless you say the place was so named from the lamb here immolated by Samuel; for this lamb was the cause of the victory.
Furthermore Bethchar was in the tribe of Juda, near Bethsames, says St. Jerome in Abenezer, and not far from Aphec and the Stone of help.
Mystically St. Gregory: Bethchar, that is, house of the lamb, denotes the life and conversation of Christ, toward which we all ought to strive, even if we cannot reach it: “Because,” he says, “by the unceasing effort of the struggle we ought to strive toward the ark of perfection, where we become to our enemies as much more terrible as we are nearer to our Redeemer.”
12. THE STONE OF HELP.—St. Cyprian, book 2 of the Testimonies, renders “the helping stone.” This stone was a perpetual monument of the victory granted to the Hebrews by God through the prayers of Samuel. So the place of the heavenly victory given by God to Charlemagne was called “Mount of help,” as Crantzius testifies, book 2 of Saxony chap. 4.
14. AND THERE WAS PEACE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND THE AMORRHITE,—that is, between the Jews and the Philistines; for these are here called Amorrhites, because they had occupied those places of the Amorrhites; whence they were reckoned Amorrhites, that is, to be of the seven nations inhabiting the land promised by God to the Jews.
15. AND SAMUEL JUDGED ISRAEL ALL THE DAYS OF HIS LIFE.
16. AND HE WENT EVERY YEAR ABOUT TO BETHEL AND GALGAL AND MASPHATH.—Samuel shows the example of a perfect Judge and Prince by going about the cities of Israel, spending himself wholly for the good of his subjects, sparing no labor, but continually judging, that is, deciding disputes, composing quarrels, restoring and confirming peace and concord among all, ruling, commanding, chastising the wicked, rewarding the good, during the whole time of his life, yet so that in old age his sons assisted him, and finally Saul himself, when he was made king by Samuel. For as long as Saul was upright and obedient to God, he honored Samuel as a partner in the government, nay as a prophet, as is clear from chap. 11, verse 7. But when he became wicked and disobedient, he nevertheless permitted Samuel to dwell in his city Ramatha, and to settle disputes there for all who had recourse to him. Hence it is clear that Samuel in the time of King Saul retained the judicial power, and judged the people with Saul until the end of his life. Furthermore Samuel and Saul presided together over the people for 40 years, Acts 13. These years various authors distribute variously. Our Salianus holds that Samuel alone judged the people for 23 years, then in the 24th year made Saul king, and went on judging with him for sixteen years, and then died: so that Saul after the death of Samuel reigned alone only two years, of which more below. Finally, how a Prince ought rightly to judge and govern the Commonwealth the Politician indicates in few but forceful words: “Let him take care,” he says, “that there be good faith in the forum, justice in the city, equity in the judgments, authority in the magistrates, majesty in the senate, and gravity in the courts. Let him remove discord from the court; let him either instill in all the will to do right, or impose the necessity. Let him keep the dominion free from fear of robberies;
Tropologically St. Gregory: “What are the days of each Doctor,” he says, “but the brightnesses of spiritual virtues? For he judges Israel all the days of his life, who by the perfection of a good conversation presents, as an example to his subjects and the faithful, the light of justice which he asserts by speaking. But he who has not the light of spiritual virtues, because he takes up the teaching of others without a good conversation, surely judges in the days of another’s life.”
Finally let Princes and Prelates imitate Samuel, that they may go about and visit their provinces. Whence the Council of Trent, sess. 24, chap. 3 On Reform, thus decrees: “Patriarchs, Primates, Metropolitans and Bishops shall not neglect to visit their own diocese, either in person or, if lawfully hindered, through their general Vicar or Visitor; if they cannot visit the whole every year, on account of its extent, at least the greater part of it; yet so that the whole be completed within two years, by themselves or their Visitors.”
Thus King Josaphat went about the cities of Juda, exhorting all to piety, and everywhere appointing incorruptible Judges, but especially in Jerusalem: “For he said,” says Josephus, book 9 of the Antiquities chap. 1, “that right judgment ought to be established in that city in which were both the temple of God and the dwelling of the king.” So Paul with Barnabas visited the Churches, Acts chap. 15, verse 36.
17. AND HE BUILT ALSO THERE (in Ramatha where he dwelt) AN ALTAR TO THE LORD,—that he might sacrifice on it frequently, and appease God for all Israel. For although Samuel was an extraordinary priest, not by descent but by the dispensation of God, yet the power of this priesthood was in him, not for one or another act of sacrificing only, but constant, stable and perpetual through his whole life, so that he might sacrifice as often as he wished and where he pleased: whence by many Fathers Samuel is called a priest, as I said chap. 2, verse 35.