Commentaria in I Regum (I Samuelis)
The first persecution is recounted here; the second, chap. 19, verse 10; the third, chap. 22, verse 18; the fourth, chap. 23, verse 19; the fifth, chap. 24, verse 3; the sixth, chap. 26, verse 1; the seventh, chap. 27, verse 1. Moreover the same Rupert, book 2, chap. 10, shows that God converted each of the persecutions into the good of David’s Passion, so that from each he came forth stronger and more glorious, as is plain to the reader here from what followed each persecution; for glory is the companion and follower of passion.
Allegorically, however, Rupert, in chap. 8 already mentioned, shows that these seven persecutions of David represented the seven persecutions which the Devil stirred up against Christ. The first was when Herod sought Him with the other infants in Bethlehem for death, Matthew 2. The second, when David harping, that is, Christ beginning to preach in Nazareth, offended the citizens, who cast Him out of the city to a mountain, to throw Him down, Luke chap. 4, 29. The third, when, commending to the Jews the eating of His flesh, He heard from them: “This saying is hard,” and was therefore deserted by them, John 6, 67. The fourth, when the Princes sent their ministers to apprehend Him. But they, returning without touching Him, said: “Never did man speak like this man,” John 7, 46. The fifth, when Christ saying: “Before Abraham was made, I am,” the Jews took up stones to cast at Him, John 8, 58. The sixth, when Christ asserting: “I and the Father are one,” the Jews again wished to stone Him as a blasphemer, John 10, 30. The seventh, when they took Him and crucified Him, Matthew 26 and 27.
AND DAVID STEPPED ASIDE OUT OF HIS PRESENCE—of the spear, says Rupert, or rather of Saul hurling the spear, say Lyranus, Abulensis, Hugh, Dionysius, Cajetan and others. For the “his” in Hebrew is masculine, not feminine, and therefore suits Saul, not the spear.
13. SAUL THEREFORE REMOVED HIM FROM HIM,—as a rival odious to him, lest he be pained by the sight of him. For to the envious Saul David, as rival and successor of the kingdom, was a pain to the eyes; and lest David in the court should win the favour of the courtiers, and so, growing gradually, seize the kingdom, himself disturbed.
AND MADE HIM CAPTAIN OVER A THOUSAND MEN,—he made him a chiliarch, whom they now commonly call a colonel; Saul did this, both to throw upon David the burden of war, he himself being now weary, cowardly and agitated by the evil spirit; and to expose him to the enemy to be slain, as is plain from verse 17.
BEFORE THE PEOPLE,—as if to say, David was everywhere present to the people, as a leader going before them to battle, and that finished leading them home as victor. Wisely Velleius, book 2 of the History: “Let the leader himself,” he says, “do first; for the best prince teaches his citizens to do right by doing it; and though he be greatest in command, he is greater in example.”
14. AND DAVID BEHAVED WISELY IN ALL HIS WAYS,—taking care not to offend Saul, and at the same time not to fall into the hands of the enemy, but to bring back victory from them.
AND THE LORD WAS WITH HIM,—directing all his actions and endeavours, prospering them, and bringing them to a happy issue.
17. BEHOLD MY ELDER DAUGHTER MEROB, HER WILL I GIVE THEE TO WIFE.—Saul promised her to David; but did not perform it; either because he promised feignedly, or because he repented; for he feared lest through a royal daughter as his wife David should rise to the kingdom.
St. Gregory gives a symbolic cause, book 5 on the first book of Kings, chap. 1: “What is it,” he says, “that Jacob was permitted to have both sisters, but David did not come to the bed of the elder? Except that David was king, Jacob was not king. He, therefore, who undertakes the government of souls, ecclesiastical censure does not allow to desert the flock and give himself to the leisure of a remote life.” For Merob in Hebrew is the same as from a master, says Pagninus, whence it denotes the contemplative life, whose master is God and the Holy Spirit. Michol is the same as a rivulet, or the running of waters; whence it denotes the common life, such as is the active: David practised both, whence contemplating he put forth such divine prophecies and psalms; but to signify that high and ordinary kings ought rather to attend to the active life than the contemplative, Michol fell to David, not Merob.
NOW SAUL SAID: LET NOT MY HAND BE UPON HIM (I will not kill David with my own hand, lest I draw infamy and indignation of the people upon myself; for David was most dear to the people), BUT LET THE HAND OF THE PHILISTINES BE UPON HIM,—that by fighting with them continually he may at last be slain by them, as the best Leaders and soldiers perish fighting in war, as sailors and swimmers in water by swimming.
See here the malignity and cunning of Saul’s envy, who always slides into worse things; for by disobedience he fell into sadness, by sadness into envy, by envy into implacable hatred of David, with which until the death of his life he continually plotted against him, and afflicted him in wonderful ways. By this hatred he fell into abandonment by God and despair, thence into magic, consulting the devil through the Pythoness; thence into self-murder, that with the same hand with which he had wished to kill David he might kill himself. The evil spirit drove him, doubtless, with his furies, but in such a way that after the paroxysms of agitation and fury he left Saul to himself and his own envy and free will; that he might sin the more freely, and therefore the more gravely. Poets, to represent this very thing to men by a fair and clear figure, feign that the Furies are infernal Goddesses of envy and avengers of crimes, who continually pursue and torment the wicked: whence they say they are daughters of Acheron and night; as bringing with them all evils with blindness. They say that they are three, namely Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone. Hear Claudian, book 1 against Rufinus:
Once fierce Alecto glowed with the goads of envy, when she saw the cities peaceful far and wide: forthwith to the dark thresholds she calls her infernal sisters to a deformed council: there gather into one the innumerable plagues of Erebus, and Envy anxious at others’ prosperity, and Mourning with torn veil delaying, And Fear, and headlong Audacity with blind face.
See here how David was agitated by the continual and implacable envy of Saul, and constantly destined to slaughter; and this lasted through all the rest of Saul’s life, namely for eight whole years; for so many are there from the tenth year of Saul, in which David overcame Goliath, to the eighteenth year of Saul, in which he himself fell wretchedly in battle.
You will ask, why did God permit this? I answer, that He might exercise, sharpen, solidify, perfect David’s patience and virtue, and so dispose him for the kingdom. Hear Basil of Seleucia, oration 15: “Let it not seem a paradox to thee, if David, being of so great grace and in the delights of God, was exposed to the darts of envy. For since God could have destroyed envy, the envious being destroyed, it must not be thought that God had no regard for a just man, no care for David. So also God took away Nabal, to gratify David, while He avenged his wrongs by death. So from Absalom, of troubled mind against his father, God exacted punishment; yet God permits David to struggle with the manners of Saul, that the athlete by divine help may come out victor over envy. As God does not allow the weak to be envied, so He calls the strong and brave into the stadium, that they may triumph over envy itself. He removes the weak from the rage of the envious, but leads the strongest to where they may become victors over envy. Hence Jacob extols the excellence of Joseph, chap. 49: Joseph a growing son, a growing son and comely to behold: the daughters ran to and fro upon the wall; but they that held darts provoked him, and quarrelled with him, and envied him. His bow rested,” etc.