Commentaria in I Regum (I Samuelis)
45. And the people said to Saul: Shall Jonathan then die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? This is wicked: as the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people delivered Jonathan, that he should not die. 46. And Saul retired, and did not pursue the Philistines; and the Philistines went to their own places. 47. And Saul, having confirmed his kingdom over Israel, fought against all his enemies round about, against Moab, and the children of Ammon, and Edom, and the kings of Soba, and the Philistines: and whithersoever he turned himself, he overcame. 48. And having gathered an army, he smote Amalec, and delivered Israel from the hand of them that spoiled them. 49. And the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Jessui, and Melchisua: and the names of his two daughters, the name of the firstborn was Merob, and the name of the younger Michol. 50. And the name of Saul’s wife was Achinoam the daughter of Achimaas: and the name of the captain of his army was Abner the son of Ner, Saul’s uncle’s son. 51. Now Cis was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel. 52. And there was a strong war against the Philistines all the days of Saul. For whomsoever Saul saw to be a valiant man, and fit for war, he took him to him.
“…takes, his own.” And in chapter 4, when their arms have been reviewed: “When war is imminent,” he says, “they are armed with faith within and with iron without, not with gold; so that being armed, and not adorned, they may strike fear into the enemy, not provoke avarice. They desire horses that are strong and swift, not coloured or caparisoned; thinking of battle, not pomp, of victory, not glory, and eager rather to be a terror than an object of admiration—”
Verse 1.—AND COME, LET US GO OVER TO THE GARRISON OF THE PHILISTINES.—Jonathan said this, and did what follows, by a peculiar instinct of God, as is plain from the miraculous victory he obtained from him; otherwise he would have been rash, if alone with one armourbearer he had assailed the whole camp of the enemy. God therefore suggested it to him, to do this, and added courage to him and confidence of a victory so wonderfully to be gained. Therefore Jonathan did not tell his father, lest he should hinder it. For he who is ruled by God needs not the rule of another. So Theodoret, Procopius, Abulensis, Cajetan and others.
Here, then, the fortitude of Jonathan is celebrated, who, relying on God, went alone into so great a danger, certain either to conquer or to die gloriously for his country. Whence St. Bernard, in his sermon to the Knights of the Temple, chap. 1, compares them to the Martyrs, so that if they conquer they are crowned with the crown of the triumphant, and if they are conquered, with the laurel of martyrdom. “How glorious,” he says, “do the victors return from the battle, how blessed do the Martyrs die in battle!” And in chapter 3: “They fight,” he says, “in no way fearing either sin from the slaughter of enemies, or danger from their own death. The soldier of Christ kills securely, and dies more securely; he benefits himself when he dies, and Christ when he kills. When he kills a malefactor, he is accounted not a homicide, but, if I may so say, a killer of malice. When he himself is killed, he is known not to have perished, but to have arrived. The death, therefore, which he inflicts is Christ’s gain; that which he suffers…”
2. AND SAUL ABODE IN THE UTTERMOST PART OF GABAA, UNDER A POMEGRANATE TREE WHICH WAS IN MAGRON.—So the Hebrew, the Chaldee and others; but the Septuagint, reading the letter resh as daleth, render it Magdon. This place was near Gabaa, which was the native country and seat of Saul; Isaias also mentions it, chap. 10, 28: it was not therefore in the city of Gabaa itself, but in the country of Gabaa, as the Royal Bible, the Gloss, Hugh, Abulensis, Dionysius and Vatablus here read.
For pomegranate, the Hebrew is Remmon, which Vatablus retains as the proper name of a place: it is elsewhere called the hill, or the rock of Remmon; into which, as a fortified and safe place, the six hundred who survived the slaughter of the tribe of Benjamin, and the rest, withdrew, Judges 20, 27, and therefore Saul also pitched his camp there. So that noble city of Spain and capital of the kingdom was called Granada, from the abundance or the shape of pomegranates. So this place was called in Hebrew Remmon, from the excellence and abundance of pomegranates. So Jericho was called the city of palms from their fertility, and several other cities were called Thamar, that is, palm, from the palm-groves in which they abound. So Bethel was formerly called Luza, from nuts, hazels and almonds, Genesis chap. 28.
Aptly did King Saul sit under a pomegranate tree; for this has the appearance of a king and a kingdom. For, as Mendoza observes: first, the pomegranate in its flower displays a graceful purple crown, in its fruit purple, in its seeds a crown on its top: so that it plainly seems to represent a king clothed in purple and crowned. Secondly, “because while it enfolds many seeds under one rind, it either signifies the multitude of affairs and counsels which are hidden by kings in faithful silence,” as St. Ambrose, book 3 of the Hexameron, chap. 11, hints; “or it signifies the concord of all the virtues with which it is fitting that the minds of kings should be adorned,” as St. Jerome explains in book 1 Against Jovinian; “or it signifies the governing prudence by which kings keep their subjects, divided in manners and honours, in their duty, and turn them about in the circle of reason,” as Theodoret indicates in book 3 on the Canticle; “or it signifies the charity of minds, which kings ought to care for and preserve in their kingdom,” as the same Theodoret signifies more clearly. On this matter I have said much on Canticles chap. 4, verse 3.
Thirdly, “because as a pomegranate appears more beautiful when it splits open (for then the inner seeds, which lay hidden under the mean rind, are spread out like rubies), so kings, the more they are rent and torn by great difficulties in the protection and defence of their peoples, the more shining displays of their virtues do they offer to the eyes of all.”
Wherefore Henry IV, king of Spain, chose a pomegranate for his royal emblem with the motto “Sour-sweet,” to signify that in an excellent king severity and humanity should be so tempered, that a king might never seem either slothful without severity, or cruel without humanity. Not undeservedly, therefore, did Saul abide under a pomegranate tree, that he might be admonished by the tree itself of the royal dignity and power, or of the holiness which it was needful to exercise in arduous matters and difficult times.
AND THE PEOPLE THAT WERE WITH HIM WERE ABOUT SIX HUNDRED MEN,—besides the thousand who were with Jonathan: for the two thousand whom Saul had chosen for himself, chap. 13, verse 2, had melted away and fled through fear of the Philistines; so that of these only six hundred remained with Saul, and these brave and steadfast men, who therefore, though few, obtained over the Philistines, who were very many, such great victories as are related in what follows.
Morally, learn here how much the virtue of a few generous men avails. So Gedeon with three hundred overthrew the very numerous camp of Madian. Josephus gives the reason, book 5 of the Antiquities, chap. 8, or according to another edition chap. 10: “The Lord declared that He was pleased with the weak nature of men, that the people might ascribe the victory not to themselves, but to God.” Judas Machabeus with a few overcame the forces of Antiochus; David overcame Goliath and all the Philistines; the twelve Apostles by their virtue subjected the whole world to Christ; St. Bernard, St. Dominic, St. Francis, and lately St. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus, with a few companions, what great things did they accomplish everywhere on earth! Virtue, therefore, consists not in number but in fewness, as Isaias says, chap. 9, 3: “Thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast not increased the joy.” See what is said there. That saying is well worn: “United virtue is stronger than divided.” And that: “The weak things of the world hath God chosen, that He may confound the strong; and the power of God is made perfect in our infirmity,” 2 Epistle to the Corinthians, chap. 12.
3. AND ACHIAS THE SON OF ACHITOB, THE BROTHER OF ICHABOD, THE SON OF PHINEES, WHO WAS SPRUNG FROM HELI THE PRIEST (the High Priest) OF THE LORD IN SILO, WAS WEARING AN EPHOD,—that is, he carried the pontifical vestment with him, as High Priest, to perform the pontificate; that by the Urim and Thummim, which were in the rational and the ephod, he might consult the Lord for Saul, what was to be done in a war so doubtful and perilous. Hence it is plain that Samuel was not High Priest, as Serarius would have it, and others, but Achias: he wore the pontifical vestment, and descended in a direct line from Heli the High Priest. For Heli begot Phinees, Phinees begot Achitob and Ichabod, Achitob begot Achias, says Josephus.
You will say: In chapter 21, verse 9, Achimelech, the son of Achitob, is said to have been High Priest; therefore Achias was not High Priest. I answer that Achias had two names, and was also called “Achimelech.” For Achias in Hebrew is the same as brother of God, Achimelech the same as brother of the King. Now God is “King of kings”; or else, Achias the elder having died without children, there succeeded in the pontificate Achimelech, who was the younger brother of Achias.