Commentaria in I Regum (I Samuelis)
Chapter 9. Synopsis of the Chapter
Saul, seeking asses, finds a kingdom. For consulting Samuel about them, he is received by him at a banquet, and is placed at the head of the table, and the next morning Samuel announces to Saul the oracle of the kingdom received from God. Here, therefore, the deeds of the Judges end (for Heli and Samuel were Judges, and the last), and the deeds of the Kings begin; for here the aristocratic state of the Commonwealth is changed into a monarchic one; wherefore this is the second part of the book, and so here properly begin the books of Kings.
1. And there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Cis, the son of Abiel, the son of Seror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphia, the son of a man of Jemini, mighty and strong. 2. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice and goodly man: and there was not a man among the children of Israel goodlier than he: from his shoulders and upward he appeared above all the people. 3. Now the asses of Cis, the father of Saul, were lost: and Cis said to Saul his son: Take with thee one of the servants, and arise, and go, and seek the asses. And when they had passed through Ephraim, 4. and through the land of Salisa, and found them not, they passed also through the land of Salim, and they were not there; and through the land of Jemini, and found them not. 5. And when they were come to the land of Suph, Saul said to the servant that was with him: Come, and let us return, lest perhaps my father leave the asses, and be concerned for us. 6. And he said to him: Behold there is a man of God in this city, a man of note: all that he saith, cometh certainly to pass. Let us go thither now, perhaps he will tell us of our way, for which we are come. 7. And Saul said to his servant: Behold we will go; what shall we carry to the man of God? The bread is spent in our bags: and we have no present to make to the man of God, nor any thing at all. 8. The servant answered Saul again, and said: Behold there is found in my hand the fourth part of a sicle of silver: let us give it to the man of God, that he may tell us our way. 9. (Formerly in Israel, when any man went to consult God, he spoke in this manner: Come, and let us go to the Seer. For he that is now called a Prophet, was then called a Seer.) 10. And Saul said to his servant: Thy word is very good. Come, let us go. And they went into the city where the man of God was. 11. And when they went up the ascent to the city, they found maids coming out to draw water, and they said to them: Is the Seer here? 12. And they answering, said: He is; behold he is before you, make haste now: for he came into the city today, because there is a sacrifice of the people today in the high place. 13. As soon as you be come into the city, you shall presently find him, before he go up to the high place to eat; neither will the people eat till he come: because he blesseth the victim, and afterwards they eat that are invited. Now therefore go up, for you shall find him today. 14. And they went up into the city. And when they were walking in the midst of the city, Samuel appeared coming towards them, to go up to the high place. 15. Now the Lord had revealed to the ear of Samuel the day before Saul came, saying: 16. Tomorrow, about this same hour, I will send thee a man of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel, and he shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come to me. 17. And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him: Behold the man of whom I spoke to thee, this man shall reign over my people. 18. And Saul came near to Samuel in the gate, and said: Tell me, I pray thee, where is the Seer’s house? 19. And Samuel answered Saul, saying: I am the Seer, go up before me to the high place, that you may eat with me today, and I will let thee go in the morning: and I will tell thee all that is in thy heart. 20. And as for the asses which were lost three days ago, be not solicitous, for they are found. And for whom shall all the best things of Israel be? shall they not be for thee, and for all thy father’s house? 21. And Saul answering, said: Am not I a son of Jemini, of the least tribe of Israel, and my kindred the last among all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? why then dost thou speak this word to me? 22. And Samuel taking Saul and his servant, brought them into the parlour, and gave them a place at the head of them that were invited; for there were about thirty men. 23. And Samuel said to the cook: Bring the portion which I gave thee, and commanded thee to set apart by thee. 24. And the cook lifted up the shoulder, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said: Behold what is left, set it before thee and eat: because it was kept for thee on purpose, when I invited the people. And Saul ate with Samuel that day. 25. And they came down from the high place into the town, and he spoke with Saul upon the top of the house; and he prepared a bed for Saul on the top of the house, and he slept. 26. And when they arose in the morning, and it began to be clear day, Samuel called Saul on the top of the house, saying: Arise, that I may send thee away. And Saul arose: and they both went out, to wit, he and Samuel. 27. And as they were going down on the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul: Speak to the servant to go on before us, and pass on; but stay thou here a little while, that I may tell thee the word of the Lord.
1. NAME CIS.—He was the father of Saul. Cis signifies hard; which, although St. Gregory at first interprets in a bad sense of the hardness of Saul’s heart, afterwards, however, he explains in a good sense: “The father of the king,” he says, “is Cis, that is, hard; because surely those who are imitators of holy Preachers are not remiss in life and zeal; for they are hard, because to sinners they do not speak soft things; they are hard also because, that they may correct others well, they show in their own conversation the hard things they enjoin on them.”
OF A MAN OF JEMINI,—that is, of the tribe of Benjamin, says Vatablus. For Benjamin by aphaeresis is shortened to Jamin, and Jemini. In like manner from Ben-ammi the name Ammon was derived and shortened, Genesis chap. 19, verse 38. So the Chaldee, Cajetan, Mariana, Salianus. Or rather because a little before he said: “There was a man of Benjamin.” This Jemini was famous of the tribe of Benjamin, whose descendants were called men of Jemini; whence the genealogy of Saul is here traced up to this Jemini, as to a famous man, and stops in him as being by him sufficiently known and clear. So Abulensis, Mendoza and others.
MIGHTY AND STRONG,—the Septuagint, powerful in strength; Vatablus, a strong hero, that is, warlike and renowned for military discipline. Such then was Cis, the father of Saul, and consequently Saul himself: for it became such a one to be chosen king of Israel, that he might fight for it against the Philistines and other enemies, as Saul in fact did.
Tropologically, he is “mighty and strong,” says St. Gregory, who has from the Holy Spirit the virtue which he shows in good work. Whence Christ says to the Apostles: “Stay you in the city, till you be endued with power from on high,” Luke chap. 24, verse 49.