Commentaria in I Regum (I Samuelis)
2. AND HE HAD A SON WHOSE NAME WAS SAUL.—In Hebrew Saul is the same as asked for. This name, therefore, seems to have been given him by a divine omen, and as a presage; because he, the people asking a king, was to be called by God to the kingdom.
From Saul, as the first king of Israel, created from the tribe of Benjamin, took his name Saul or Saulus, “because he was asked for by the devil to vex the Church,” says St. Jerome in his epistle to Philemon, who was of the same tribe, but from Saul was made by God Paul, that is, from a Jew a Christian; from a persecutor a preacher; from a Pharisee an Apostle; from an agent of the Jews’ treasury a Teacher of the Gentiles.
Less genuinely, therefore, does Ambrosiaster on chap. 1 to the Romans derive Saul, or Saulus, from the Greek saulos, that is, the commotion and restlessness of the sea, so that Saulus would be the same as restless and a disturber, such as Paul was at the beginning.
Less aptly also do others derive Saul from the Hebrew scual, that is, a fox: for Saul is written with an aleph, scual with an ayin. It is likewise an allusion, not an etymology, which George of Venice relates, sect. 8, Problem. 453: that Saul is said as if sheol, that is, hell; for as hell is satiated with no evils, so Saulus was an abyss of vices.
Allegorically Saul was a type of Christ, King of kings. For, as Bede says, the name Saul, which means asked for, suits Christ most aptly, who was the desire of the nations, and is always implored with great desire and asked to be present. Whence Christ is called by Jacob, Genesis chap. 49, verse 26, “the desire of the everlasting hills”; and by the Spouse, Cant. chap. 5, verse 16: “all desirable”; the Hebrew, all desires; St. Jerome, book 1 Against Jovinian, “all concupiscence.”
A CHOICE AND GOODLY MAN,—both physically, as if to say: Saul was of notable beauty and appearance of body; which, as Euripides says, is worthy of command. Whence the Chaldee renders, a fair young man. So Procopius and Serarius. Whence Severus Sulpicius, book 1 of Sacred History: “Saul,” he says, “modest in mind, was of excellent form, so that the dignity of the body justly suited the royal dignity”: and ethically and morally, because he was an upright man endowed with virtue. So Josephus, St. Gregory, Abulensis and others.
Furthermore, “the goodness of Saul,” says Abulensis, “was chiefly about humility: which was very admirable in him; for he was a man excellent in virtues, admirable in stature of body, which is wont to make men proud; but he, having all these things, was very humble.”
Tropologically St. Gregory: “What is signified,” he says, “in Saul choice and goodly, if not the choice imitators of the holy Fathers, who by doctrine are useful to others, and by conversation to themselves? who can so rule others as never to cease to provide for themselves? For they are choice and good, because they so seek the gains of others that they suffer no loss of their own. They are indeed full in themselves, overflowing to others, and from their abundance give so to others that they lose nothing of their own fullness.”
AND THERE WAS NOT A MAN AMONG THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL GOODLIER THAN HE,—that is, of the people; for Samuel the judge and prophet was certainly better and holier than Saul. Hence in chap. 13, verse 1, it is said: “Saul was a child of one year,” that is, he was as innocent and pure as if he had been an infant of one year. Whence the Chaldee: of one year, he says, in whom there are no sins. So also St. Gregory, Angelomus, Procopius, Theodoret, Rupert, Abulensis and others.
St. Gregory gives the reason, part 2 of the Pastoral, chap. 1: “The action of the Prelate,” he says, “ought so far to transcend the action of the people, as the life of the Shepherd is wont to differ from that of the flock: namely, that he should excel his subjects as much as man excels the brutes,” says St. Chrysostom, book 2 On the Priesthood.
See now, and pity the fall of Saul, who from so good became so evil that, reprobated by God, he was despoiled of life and kingdom. Hear St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 7: “What do we think of Saul? for he was both anointed and made a partaker of the Spirit, and was then spiritual: for I would not say otherwise of him.” St. Jerome on chap. 20 of Ezechiel: “The present things are chosen,” he says; “and he who is chosen cannot be tempted at once, nor perish; because Saul chosen as king, and Judas as an apostle, afterwards fell by their own fault.”
St. Cyprian assigns the cause of the fall, epist. 7: “Solomon,” he says, “and Saul, as long as they walked in the ways of the Lord, could keep the grace given them: the discipline of the Lord receding from them, grace also receded.” Cyril of Alexandria on John chap. 21 proves that “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble,” by the example of Saul: “Saul,” he says, “when he was little in his own eyes, was appointed ruler over Israel; but when he was lifted up into pride, he was cast off and reprobated by God: David, when, vile in his own eyes, he danced before the ark playing on the harp, pleased God wonderfully; but when, puffed up with swelling of mind, he ordered the people to be numbered, he felt the avenging hand of God.”
3. THE ASSES.—Asses in Syria are finer than European ones; whence the sons of princes rode on asses, Judges chap. 10, verse 4, and chap. 12, verse 14. The ass, therefore, among the Hebrews was a royal beast of burden. For the Hebrews scarcely used horses, and this by God’s warning, Deut. chap. 17, verse 16. This was therefore to Saul as it were an omen of the kingdom, that seeking asses he should find a kingdom, and that a king should sit upon them. Hence also Christ, when, as Messiah king of Israel about to be inaugurated, he went to Jerusalem with palm branches, rode on an ass, Matt. chap. 21, 5.
Morally, see here how all nobility has arisen from lowliness. For from asses Saul was raised to the kingdom, and from a driver of asses was made king. So David from a shepherd was made king. Whence St. Chrysostom, hom. 50 on Matthew: “Thou,” he says, “who boastest of the great nobility of thy ancestors, if thou goest back beyond thy great-grandfathers and their fathers, wilt find many of thy race who were perhaps drivers of asses or innkeepers.”
4. THROUGH THE LAND OF SALISA,—which is also called Bala and Segor. Hear St. Jerome in the Hebrew Traditions on Genesis: “Bala,” he says, “in the Hebrew language is called devouring. The Hebrews therefore hand down that this same city is named Salisa in another place of the Scriptures, and is called again a heifer of three years old, because, namely, in the third shaking of the earth it was swallowed up, and from the time when Sodom and Gomorrha, Adama and Seboim were overthrown by divine fire, it is called the little one; for Segor is rendered little.”
Allegorically Saul is Christ, says Bede, by five analogies and types: “First, because Saul is called choice: so also Christ, Isa. chap. 42: Behold my servant whom I have chosen. Second, because Saul was eminent above all: and so Christ, of whom the Spouse, Cant. chap. 2, verse 3: As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons. Third, because Saul was sent by his father to seek the asses; Christ to seek souls. Fourth, because Saul took a servant with him; Christ the choir of the Apostles. Fifth, because Saul seeking asses found a kingdom; Christ, seeking souls, was appointed King by him over Sion his holy mountain,” Psalm 2, verse 6.