Commentaria in II Regum (II Samuelis)
IF HE COMMIT ANY INIQUITY, I WILL CORRECT HIM WITH THE ROD OF MEN, AND WITH THE STRIPES OF THE CHILDREN OF MEN,—with which men are wont to chastise their sons, not to kill them but to amend them, as if to say: gently, not severely and rigidly as a judge. Again, I will chastise him as I am wont to chastise men, namely in a human way, with human, temporal and mild punishment, such as sickness, famine, war; but not as I chastised the angels, whom I deprived of the heavenly kingdom and doomed to hell for ever; nor as I chastised Saul, whom I cast away and stripped of the kingdom irremissibly and for ever. Hence Burgensis and others gather that Solomon was not damned but saved; but here properly it is not a question of salvation, but of the perpetuation of Solomon’s kingdom among his posterity, as long as the commonwealth and kingdom of the Hebrews was to last; hence explaining he adds:
15. BUT MY MERCY I WILL NOT TAKE AWAY FROM HIM, AS I TOOK IT FROM SAUL, WHOM I REMOVED FROM BEFORE MY FACE.
16. AND THY HOUSE SHALL BE FAITHFUL, AND THY KINGDOM FOR EVER.—“Faithful” in Hebrew is neeman, that is, firm, stable, enduring, eternal, according to the sense I gave at verse 13. And the Greek pistothesetai signifies this.
Allegorically, this cannot be said of the person of Christ; for he himself was impeccable, but of his members, namely the faithful, whom, when they sin, God mercifully chastises as a father, to amend them.
18. AND KING DAVID WENT IN AND SAT BEFORE THE LORD, AND SAID: WHO AM I, O LORD?—He sat, namely, in the tabernacle before the ark of God, not out of sloth or softness, but that he might pray more quietly, more secretly, more attentively and more intently, and pour out his whole heart before God. For sitting helps this. So St. Augustine in the place to be cited presently, and Eucherius from him: “He sat, he says, either because of secrecy, witnesses being withdrawn, or because of the innermost of the heart, where was the affection of the one praying.” So St. Bernard used to meditate sitting, both because he was infirm, weary and weak in body, and that he might meditate more silently, quietly, devoutly and longer. For when the body is at rest, the spirit also rests, that it may freely attend wholly to God and be intent on him. Sanchez and others add that David sat not on a throne or seat, but on the ground in the earth and dust, and that out of zeal for humility as well as reverence for God, as Job did, chap. 2, verses 8 and 13. And Jerusalem, laid waste by the Chaldees, and therefore mourning and doing penance, is said to sit, according to that of Lamentations chap. 1, verse 1: “How doth the city sit solitary.” Wherefore Josephus says that David fell on his face and prayed to God standing on the ground in the manner of a suppliant. Vatablus gives another cause of David’s sitting, saying: “It was lawful for no one sitting to pray to God, except the king.” But this is false. For Elias, who was not king, sitting under a juniper tree prayed to God, 3 Kings chap. 19, verse 4, and in Psalm 136:1 the Hebrews captive in Babylon, mourning and praying, say: “There we sat and wept, when we remembered Sion.”
And Moses, Exodus chap. 17, verse 12, prayed sitting, and conquered Amalec: David therefore sat in mind rather than in body, silently and tranquilly meditating on God’s benefits to him, and giving thanks, according to that of Lamentations chap. 3, verse 28: “He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace; because he hath taken it up upon himself.” Hence Angelomus: “To sit before the Lord, he says, is to confess his benefits in humility of heart.”
St. Simplician, who succeeded St. Ambrose in the bishopric of Milan, proposed this question to St. Augustine: why did David, so pious, pray sitting, when the faithful are wont to pray kneeling, as Christ prayed in the garden, Matthew chap. 26, and Stephen in his martyrdom, Acts chap. 7, and St. Paul in prison, Ephesians chap. 3, verse 14? To whom he answers that no posture of the one praying was prescribed in the Law, but any was free, as should be suited to each one’s condition and devotion: “For we pray standing, he says, as it is written: But the publican stood afar off, and kneeling, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles: And sitting, as behold David and Elias. And unless we prayed lying down, it would not be written in the Psalms: I will wash my bed every night, I will water my couch with my tears. For when anyone seeks prayer, he places his limbs as it occurs to him, the position of the body being suited for the time to move the soul.” The Gentiles did the same: hence the king of Ninive doing penance, Jonas preaching, chap. 3, verse 6, sat in ashes. Plutarch in the Life of Numa Pompilius, who succeeded Romulus in the kingdom at Rome, page 23, writes that Numa ordained that those who adore God must turn themselves round, and then sit: by which rite, he says, both prayers are ratified and perseverance in good things signified, or that God is not to be addressed in passing, and while we are occupied with other things, but when the opportune time is at hand, in which we are at rest and free from other business and cares. Finally the Philosopher: “The soul, he says, by sitting becomes wise.” For when the humours settle by sitting, the affections of the soul which disturb reason are calmed, and these being calmed the mind sees more clearly what is true and holy. On the various posture and rite of those praying Hieronymus Mercurialis discourses at length, book III On Gymnastics, chap. 3. Finally the masters of spiritual things give this rule of praying: “In praying and meditating that posture of the body is to be kept which seems suited to excite in us interior devotion.”
18. WHO AM I, O LORD GOD, AND WHAT IS MY HOUSE, THAT THOU HAST BROUGHT ME THUS FAR?—that from a shepherd of sheep thou shouldst make a king of peoples, from a poor man a rich one, from a mean man a noble, from an unknown man a celebrated and famous one. Let those say this whom God raises from a lowly and lowest place to the summit of dignity, for example to the Episcopate, Principate, Apostolate, not by their own merit but by the free gift of God. St. Chrysostom wrote a homily on this saying of David (or whoever is the author; for the style shows it was Latin, not Greek, and he cites St. Cyprian, which is unusual in St. Chrysostom), which is extant in tome I, where among other things he says: “This holy man had recognised what Abraham said to God in Genesis 18: I am dust and ashes. And each of them so spoke to God that it might be a form of perfect humility. Therefore who am I, O my Lord? Behold, he said he was nothing, and did not deny that he was a servant: because everyone who confesses servitude deserves the liberty of grace. Therefore he says: Who am I, O my Lord? You see that grace everywhere reigns, everywhere possesses pious bowels, enlightens the humble heart, brings the kind to itself, enriches its confessors.” And a little after: “He knew that he was a shepherd of sheep, and not ennobled by birth. But when he was made noble, he recognised that he had been raised from nothing; and because he did not forget who he was born, he persevered in the royal height.” See what I have said at John chap. 1, verse 19, on that: Who art thou?