In Librum Primum Regum Variarum Expositionum Libri Sex

Sometimes God speaks through Scripture, sometimes through hidden inspiration. But by revelation He speaks hiddenly when things to be done or to be taught are disclosed to the chosen mind through the Spirit. And so Samuel, when he heard the Lord calling him, ran to Eli, because the chosen order of preachers of holy Church sought in the sacred eloquence, as it were, what manner of thing it was that he had come to know by God's revealing. For the rule of right understanding is set forth in the books of sacred Scripture, because the divine counsels have been expounded there by our venerable Fathers, who had the Holy Spirit. Therefore Samuel, though called so often by the Lord, ran to Eli, because the order of preachers consulted the sayings of the ancient Fathers in everything that it learned by spiritual revelation, so that only then would it believe that something had been revealed to it by the Lord, when it had recognized that it in no way differed from what it read in sacred Scripture. For he is easily deceived who does not know how to examine, in the clear truth of holy Scripture, what manner of thing it is that he gathers by hidden contemplation. Whence also the Apostle declares, saying: Satan transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). But how are false things discerned in the brightness of the true light? Therefore Samuel runs to Eli as often as he is called by the Lord, because the holy preachers, lest they be deceived in their inmost contemplation by the image of a false light, examine the measure of hidden revelation in the open truth of holy Scripture.

For in this matter it must be asked how it is fitting for Heli to say: "I did not call you, my son." But our Fathers, who speak to new preachers through the sacred eloquence, do not call them, but indicate what their inner revelation is like. For to call is to arouse the minds of God's elect by the breathing of His grace. The ancient Fathers indeed speak through sacred Scripture, but nevertheless they cannot arouse the hearts of their hearers by the breathing of divine grace. Therefore when the sacred utterances are consulted, since they indicate that they cannot give the gift of spiritual grace, they excuse themselves by the authority of Samuel, as it were by certain utterances, to Heli. But this, surely, which they cannot give, they can suggest how it ought to be acquired. Hence also it is said by the voice of Heli to Samuel: "Return and sleep."

ii. What is it that Heli orders the called boy to return to sleep, except that he shows to preachers that they should prepare themselves to receive the gift of inner grace through the quiet of the mind? And it must be noted that it is said: "Return." For Samuel returns when the chosen preacher, from the meditation of sacred eloquence, returns to the secret of inner contemplation. Having returned, then, he slept, because he rested in the intent of inner contemplation. In this place it must also be noted that Samuel is called three times by the Lord, and three times again he is ordered by Heli to sleep:

ii. What is this, except that we have learned, with Truth itself as our teacher, that there are three degrees of love? You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole strength (Matt. 22:37). But what do we understand by the heart, except counsel? What, moreover, by the mind, except the will? And what by strength, except the affection of love? But through counsel what else do we investigate than the certainty of truth? And through the will, what do we who love desire except good things exceedingly? Through affection, what do we seek except the enjoyment of true joy? For by the degrees of love we are raised to the highest things, when by the counsel of our heart truth is revealed, and to the will of the mind true goodness is granted, and to the affection of our strength, through the infusion of divine grace, spiritual and true joy is given.

Three times, therefore, was Samuel called by the Lord, because while the order of preachers, as yet untrained, extends itself to the studies of the Church on high, it calls for truth from the reasoning of counsel, and goodness from the choice of the will, and true joy from the intention of affection. Three times also he came near when called to Heli, because concerning his every desire he consulted the sacred Scripture with the haste of meditation. Three times likewise he heard that he was not being called by him, because by meditating he learned what our Fathers handed down to us in writing, the sacred utterances, for our instruction; but they are in no way able to give us spiritual gifts.

What then is it to say, "I have not called you," except that I have not given the desire for spiritual gifts? For if sacred Scripture, or any of the writers, conferred spiritual gifts, then as many as read the sacred utterances, as many as hear the expositors of holy Scripture, would be adorned with spiritual gifts. But as it is, though many read sacred Scripture and hear preachers expounding it, and after the zeal of reading and the exhortation of preaching, some remain in the former coldness of their vices, while others by grace grow fervent in love of the holy virtues, it is plainly evident that the order of the venerable Fathers shows us the gifts of the virtues through the Scriptures they have published, but the love of the virtues which it sets forth, the Creator alone bestows on us. Therefore James also piously admonishes, saying: Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights (Jas 1:17). Hence Paul says: Neither is he that plants anything, but God who gives the increase (1 Cor 3:7). What then is it to say, "I have not called you," except to show by open teaching that this very thing—that a faithful soul is raised to desires for things above—is generated from the infusion of divine grace alone? Since, then, he is called three times by the Lord, and three times he is commanded by the master to return to sleep, that threefold degree of love intimates how it is acquired.

For because we have fitted counsel to the heart, and counsel truly desires to find the truth, a great sleep is certainly necessary, lest the lover wake before the sought truth is found. Let the boy therefore return and sleep, so that he who desires to find the light of truth may beware through quiet, that he not admit the darkness of errors into himself. Let him sleep a second time also, so that he may bestow the obedience of love upon almighty God with his whole mind, so that the good things he loves may be palliated by pure simplicity and no veil of evils. And because this is certainly known only by the great subtlety of discretion, the boy, called by the Lord, is bidden to return from Eli and sleep. For if he neglects to sleep for the sake of ascending to this degree of love, he does not acquire what he desires concerning virtue, because even if we can already, with God inspiring, love good things, unless with great quiet of mind we judge what sort those good things are which we will, we do not discern them. Three times therefore is Samuel sent to sleep, because certainly the new order of preachers is admonished to love with whole virtue. And because we have referred virtue to affection, but affection of mind is perfected by spiritual joy, Samuel had a great quiet of sleep; and the sure order of preachers learned spiritual things through quiet, and under the appearance of true joy did not receive an alien joy. For just as concerning the other virtues, so also concerning the progress of contemplation, the mind of the contemplative often rejoices vainly.

Samuel therefore slept again, because undoubtedly the order of teachers, unless it looked about itself cautiously in contemplation, would sometimes suppose, by rejoicing vainly, that it rejoiced with true joy. First, therefore, he slept, because while he directed his mind to the truth to be known, he rejected all erroneous things by the great subtlety of counsel. Second, he slept, because when he learned to love the Creator with his whole mind, he arranged within himself with great quiet that he should not mix any reprobate things with the good things he desired. Third, he also slept, so that while he received the supreme joy from divine contemplation, he might be able, with counsel taken, to reject vain gladness. And because this is said of Samuel while he was still making progress, it is fittingly added: (Verse 7.) Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord been revealed to him.

For at that time the order of preachers did not know the Lord with that perfection in which it afterward advanced. Or perhaps he is said for that reason not to know the Lord, because he did not disclose the high and deep things that he knew to the weak and still rudimentary hearers. Hence also to those wishing to know the day of the Lord's coming, he who knew all things and was unwilling to indicate it, the Truth says: But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone (Mark 13:32). What is it that the Son, knowing all things, does not know the day of judgment, except that among all the things he knew, knowing the day, he did not know it in the sense of telling it, but he knew its time and quality?

Hence John the Baptist, who knew the Lord perfectly, sent disciples to him as though not knowing him, saying: Art thou he that is to come, or do we look for another? For as though not knowing the Lord, Samuel was preaching, when the evangelist Matthew, passing over the divinity of the Redeemer, began from his humanity alone, saying: The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. But John had surely known the Lord, and the word of the Lord had been revealed to him, when, undertaking to set forth his divinity on high, he said: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. He did not know the Lord when Paul said: I became all things to all men, that I might save all. For he who became weak to the weak, and a little one to the little ones, and all things to all, doubtless was ignorant even with the ignorant. For to use the very word of that ignorance, speaking to the Corinthians, he said: I judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ and him crucified. For with the wise he both knew the Lord and had his word revealed. Whence he also says: But we, beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image, as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Hence he also says: We speak wisdom among the perfect, not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this age, but we speak the wisdom of God which is hidden in a mystery (1 Cor. 2:6). Hence he also proclaims him whom he knew to be the Lord, saying: Who being the brightness of his glory and the figure of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, making purgation of sins, sits at the right hand of the majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels as he has inherited a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did he say: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee (Heb. 1:3-5)? He is therefore said not to know the Lord, not through ignorance of knowledge, but under the pretense of simplicity. It follows: (v. 9) Eli therefore understood that the Lord was calling the boy.

For if he had not understood, he would by no means have ministered to him counsels of salvation through the sacred utterances. For he understood because he foresaw. For whatever almighty God disposed to do in the building of the future Church, this he revealed to the ancient Fathers through the holy spirit of prophecy. For through the prophet Amos it is said: The Lord God will do nothing without revealing his word to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). For what else had he understood than the calling of the new preachers, who said: Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee; thou shalt make them princes over all the earth (Ps. 45:17). But to him whom he understood was to be called, he also supplied counsel, saying: (v.

Go and sleep, and if he calls you again hereafter, you shall say: Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.

Now indeed, concerning Samuel's sleep, I think it has been sufficiently shown that it designates the quiet of inner meditation. For this sleep is certainly commanded by Heli to Samuel, because the teacher is instructed through sacred eloquence to be free for contemplating inner mysteries. But what is it that Samuel, as often as he is called, is so often sent back to sleep, and yet he is still by no means commanded to say to God: Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening? For there he is commanded to sleep, but not yet to speak; here, however, along with the permission of sleep, the license of speech is also enjoined upon him as he obeys. There too, when he is sent to sleep, it is not said: Go, but, Return; here also it is by no means said Return, but Go. For what does such great variety of command mean? We recognize this variety more clearly, surely, if we attend to what Samuel's sleep signifies in this place. And since we have referred the earlier modes of sleep to the proving of the gifts of holy love, what is it here for Samuel, that is, for the new preacher, to sleep, except to possess those same gifts, now proven and known, with the quiet of security? Deservedly, therefore, it was said to him first not Go, but Return; now, however, not Return, but Go. For he who was still examining was commanded to return, so that in the tranquility of mind he might examine another gift, who had already come to know another gift in that same quiet of mind.

But to him, because he had already proved all things by examining them, it is said, Go, because he was now being sent to possess the things he knew with a secure intention. Why then is sleep without speech first commanded, but now sleep with speech, except that it was not permitted to say Speak, except to him who stood certain by true knowledge that the God who was speaking was [present] to the affections of his mind? Therefore it is not said to the one examining, because unless he perfectly discerns the one speaking within, he ought not yet to desire spiritual speech as something still uncertain to him, and to receive it as though certain. For to say to the mind, Speak, to God, is to receive His inner breathing securely. Therefore this belongs to one perfectly knowing, not to one still testing, because before the judgment of inner examination, just as divine speech is not tested, so what is unknown to us concerning God is not received as certain and known. For it was said to Samuel, Go and sleep, because when the order of holy preachers had learned spiritual gifts through the testing of sacred eloquence, it came to know by the instruction of the same holy Scripture that it might rest in the same gifts the more securely through love, the more clearly by open reasoning it had known their power. It was also commanded him that to God calling he should say, Speak, Lord. Because he was taught by the study of sacred speech not only devoutly to hear the Lord speaking through the grace of inner visitation, but also, when He was silent, to implore with great desires that He deign to speak.

(Verse 9.) So Samuel departed and slept in his place.

The preacher of holy Church has as many places as he has advances in life. Hence blessed Job, consecrating the places of his own advance with divine praises, says: Through all my steps I will pronounce him (Job 31:37). For he is no longer set in the place of examination, but of certain knowledge, when he is raised up to higher things. The place of the preacher is the sure knowledge of things to be known. For of reprobate preachers the Lord says: Holding my law, they have not known me (Jeremiah 2:8). Therefore Samuel slept in his place when the order of spiritual teachers retained the knowledge of spiritual things with the certainty of truth. But to what degree he advances is shown, because it is suddenly added.

(Verse 10.) Therefore the Lord came and stood.

18. Because the Lord is said not to return but to come, the abandonment of Judea and the visitation of holy Church are designated. Hence he is reported not only to come but to stand. He intimates that he came for the visitation of Judea, saying: I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24). But coming, he did not stand, because he abandoned the one despising the good of his salvation. Hence he also threatens the rulers of the synagogue, saying: Your house shall be left to you desolate (Matthew 23:38). Hence again, declaring, he says: Amen I say to you, that the kingdom shall be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits.

He came therefore to Samuel and stood, because he once took up the preachers of holy Church, from whom he thereafter does not withdraw through the keeping of his grace. For he had come to Samuel when, bringing new preachers to the world, he said: Go into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature; whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; but whoever does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:15ff.). But if the Lord who came is to stand, let him say: Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world (Matt. 28:20). The Lord had therefore come, not to withdraw, but to stand, because he chose new ministers of the faith, whom he protects even to the end of the world, succeeding to him as his inheritance through holy virtues. But let us hear what he who came, visiting through grace, and who stands, persevering through the immutability of his election, adds.

(Verse 10.) And he called, as he had called the second time, Samuel, Samuel.

He called him a second time, because in the ministry of preaching he gave him a twofold office: namely, that by repelling the pride of the Synagogue he should crush it, and by calling the humility of the Gentiles to its end he should raise it up. Or certainly he is called a second time, because he is roused to the destruction of the old man and to the building up of the new. He was therefore called once when he was instructed by the Spirit how he might be able to blot out sins and vices in the hearts of sinners; called a second time when God instructed him by the teaching of inward mastery, so that, having destroyed in the mind of converts the building of impiety, he should raise up a new fabric of holy virtues. And because the order of holy preachers both gladly learned this mastery and devoutly offered itself to obedience, it is added: (Verse 10.) Samuel therefore said: Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.

To hear God speaking is to fulfill his precepts in deeds. Which the Truth says on the contrary in the Gospel to the reprobate through itself: He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear, because you are not of God (John 8:47). But to the one hearing he adds what he desires to insinuate; for it follows: (Verse 11.) And the Lord said to Samuel: Behold, I do a word in Israel, which whoever hears, both his ears shall tingle.

And opening the same word, he says: (Verses 13 and 14.) For I have foretold him that I would judge his house forever because of his iniquity, in that he knew his sons were acting wickedly, and he did not rebuke them. Therefore I have sworn to the house of Heli that the iniquity of his house shall not be expiated with victims and gifts forever.

For what else is designated by these words than the rejection of the Jews, already explained so many times? For the house of the preacher is the multitude of the people subject to him, which he inhabits as if by possessing it, while he preserves it through the care of his solicitude. The house of Heli, then, that is, of the old priesthood, was Judea, which while he cultivated it through a reprobate manner of life, he made it unclean with the stains of his own depravity. He certainly saw his sons acting wickedly, because he saw the priests of the lesser order, raging against the Redeemer, and he did not rebuke them, nor did he recall them by any authority from the shedding of so great blood. Therefore it is promised to him by divine threat that his house shall be judged forever. For to judge is, for God, to condemn. Forever, then, it is judged, because it is decreed to perish by eternal punishment. And because this is done by the eternal animadversion of God, he declared that he had affirmed by oath that the iniquity of the house of Heli shall not be expiated forever by prayers and gifts. Which indeed we see fulfilled in manifest truth, because the Jewish people perseveres in the obstinacy of its own perfidy.

For what is the present hardness and blindness of a people once so chosen, if not the sworn oath of divine punishment? For by a deserved penalty he confined himself under eternal death, who did not strive to compel eternal life at the time of death. But this which he asserts by oath that he foretold, he says, because indeed it became known to the teachers of holy Church who followed concerning the rejection of Judaea, that which he had made manifest to their predecessors beforehand, because this which is now said through Samuel to Heli is that which was said to him above through the man of God. It follows: (Verse 15.) And Samuel slept until morning.

What is it that the sleep of Samuel is described so attentively by the sacred eloquence? And because he is said to have repeated sleep now four times, he is very foolish who believes this was not said spiritually by the Spirit of God. For even if he is rightly understood to have slept so many times according to the truth of the history, it is written for this purpose, that in the truth of the letter the understanding of the allegory may be brought forth. What then does this fifth sleep of Samuel designate? But because we have referred the first sleep to the seeking of truth, the second to the testing of true work, the third to the exploration of true joy, the fourth to the full enjoyment of perfection found, tested, and known, the fifth kind of sleep is referred to the zeal of arranging speech.

Samuel therefore slept a fifth time, because the order of preachers, even if by the counsel of the heart it learned the truth, by the will of the mind chose good things, by the affection of virtue received true joy, and by the certainty of beatitude found and known rested in the security of sublime virtues, nevertheless could not preach to subjects without the dispensation of great counsel that which it knew within itself. For often the teacher has even within himself the things he is to preach, but nevertheless he cannot preach the things he has as he ought, because if he has already learned by the Lord's revelation the things he is to say, he does not know the manner in which they are to be brought forth to the people. Samuel therefore slept again, because the order of preachers disposed within itself, with great intent of quiet, that it might not scatter the seed of God's word uselessly by preaching what it had gathered by useful contemplation. For when the preacher is compelled to consider what and how much, or when, he speaks, what he should say to all at once, how he should admonish some separately, because he enjoys the great quiet of holy meditation, Samuel is said to sleep again, fittingly enough in the type of the new preacher. For to sleep for him then is to dispose the manner of speaking with a tranquil mind. And to awake for him is to go forth from the quiet of meditation to speak. And because he does not reasonably awake before he disposes the things to be said, it follows: Until morning. For morning in the mind of the teacher is the perfect knowledge of proclaiming the word.

Hence the Prophet also rebukes headlong teachers, saying: It is vain for you to rise before the light (Ps. 126:2). For those rise before the light who do not sleep until morning, but wake in vain, because they bring forth the word uselessly, having learned by no meditation how it ought to be brought forth. Hence he also shows them counsel, saying: Rise after you have sat down, that is, that through quiet they may gather the word by meditating, so that through the labor of speaking they may scatter it not in vain but for the gain of their hearers. It follows: (Verse 15.) And he feared to tell the vision to Heli.

What is it that he feared, except that he had learned this by sleeping? For one who orders the word by meditating establishes by reason when he should also speak the word. For Samuel saw the vision, and feared to tell it to Heli, because the order of teachers of the holy Church both perceived the rejection owed to Judaea and dreaded to cast it in her teeth before the time of her rejection. Hence he also exhorts her rather to the remedy of penitence, saying: Do penance, and let each one of you be baptized (Acts 2:38). Wherefore it is also added: (Verse 15.) He opened the doors of the house of the Lord.

What other is the house of the Lord than the holy Church? And what are the doors of this house but the spiritual virtues? For Usha opened the doors of the house to all when, as preachers hastened together to the unity of the true faith, the order of spiritual virtues laid open its gifts. For as it were the doors of the house were closed when the virtues of the holy Church were unknown. Well indeed is it recorded that Samuel opened the doors of the house of the Lord when he feared to declare the vision to Eli, because before the order of preachers declared the open rejection of Judea, while he admonished them to repentance, he unlocked the hidden things of the spiritual virtues to the elect running to the faith. For he who in the time of mercy feared to speak the things he had seen, in the time of exacting justice declared the vision of justice, saying: You have made yourselves unworthy of eternal life; behold, we turn to the Gentiles (Acts 13:45). From this reasoning indeed a question arises, namely that the vision of Samuel is said to have been indicated to Eli rather by entreaty and supplication. For it is added below.

(Verses 16–18.) Eli therefore came to Samuel and said: Samuel, my son. And he answered: I am here. And he asked him: What is the word that the Lord has spoken to you? I pray you, do not hide it from me. May God do this to you and add this, if you hide from me the word of all that has been said to you. Samuel therefore told him all the words, and did not hide it from him.

For how did he learn the vision of his own rejection from the executor of the divine sentence, when he heard this not so much from one threatening as from one who was rather compelled by prayers? But those who ask this should first understand that we discuss these things not according to the letter but according to spiritual and typical signification. For in this place Eli's coming is referred neither to the motion of the body of the Jewish priesthood nor to the affection of the mind, but yet for him to come was this very thing, that a rational creature of God appeared to the preachers. He came therefore when he was seen in human nature, and he moved the hearts of teachers to pity for him. Eli's coming, then, is not an approach of mind or body in the old people, but a showing forth of the human condition. Or perhaps for him to come was because he was chosen from all peoples for the worship of God. He also called him son who is looked upon by him who is remembered to have been the instructor of the holy Church in the elect Fathers. He calls him son, then, not by the affection of address, but by the showing forth of lost dignity.

And because he is seen in the darkness of blindness, he is said to have asked that the vision be made known to him. For to beseech him is, by regard for our common nature, to stir the minds of preachers to mercy. He even added an imprecation to his prayers, because the order of preachers, when it considered the Jewish priesthood placed in such great misery, grieved that the almighty Lord would be angry with him if he did not come to its aid with words. Hence it is fittingly added: Samuel told him all the words, and did not hide them from him. For he told him all that he had seen, so that, with what he deserved having been added, the greatness of the dread might turn him to solicitude for obtaining divine compassion. He told him all the words of the Lord, so that, when he recognized himself cast down in his old age, he might hasten through the tears of penitence to the renewal of true faith. And he indeed answered, saying: (Verse 18.) It is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.

By these words, what else is more clearly recognized than the faithlessness of the Jewish people? For he who calls the omnipotent God "Lord" still thinks that he serves him. Therefore, when his rejection is made known to the Jewish people by the teachers of the holy Church, he says: "It is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes." For while he believes that he pleases God through the old institution, he by no means dreads the threats of the holy Church. For as if the Jewish people were asserting with a clearer voice, and were saying to the preachers of the holy Church who threaten them: By this very fact you strike no terror into us with your threats, since we believe that we serve him in faith, from whose grace you preach that we have fallen. Therefore, when he adds: "Let him do what is good in his eyes," he mocks the teachers of the holy Church rather than offering himself to the divine sentence. As if he were speaking with another intention, and saying: By this very fact he does not do such a thing to us, since that one is our Lord whom you set before us for vengeance. It follows: (Verse 19.) But Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him.

What is it that after Eli had explained the vision, Samuel is said to have grown, except that the order of our teachers, after it repelled the sons of the Synagogue by the word, found the glory of greater reverence among the Gentiles? He grew, therefore, because he who had first confined himself to one people through the ministry of the word afterward spread the fame of his holiness and doctrine throughout the whole world. Hence it is also said through the Psalmist: Their sound went forth into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world (Ps. 18:5). Hence again, speaking to the holy Church, he says: Instead of your fathers, sons are born to you; you shall appoint them princes over all the earth (Ps. 44:17). He grew, therefore, when he shone forth in the whole world. With him the Lord is also said to be, because everything that gave forth the fragrance of the fame of holiness, everything that shone brightly through the word, received from the presence of the Redeemer, whom he had with him. For even if the word of Paul penetrates not only weak and earthly things but also the highest and heavenly things, he obtains this power of speaking from him whom he affirms to be with him, saying: Do you seek a proof of him who speaks in me, Christ (2 Cor. 13:3)? For he who was speaking in him was with him. He gives forth fragrance to the whole world through life, but he draws the odor of life from him whom he shows forth, saying: We are the good odor of Christ in every place (2 Cor. 2:15). John intimates that all things are from the presence of the Redeemer, because he says: Of his fullness we have all received (John 1:16).

When Samuel, therefore, is said to have grown, the Lord is recorded to have been with him, because when the order of teachers shone forth to the whole world with the grace of great holiness and doctrine, from that source he was able to appear so great—he who did not abandon him once he was placed in the world. It follows: (Verse 20.) And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was a faithful prophet of the Lord.

By these names of lands, surely, the whole of Judea is designated. What, then, in all Judea is designated but the whole Church? Therefore the whole of Israel recognizes that Samuel is a prophet of the Lord, because surely everyone who is faithful believes that the order of holy preachers speaks true things about the future. For it is the office of a prophet both to foretell future things and to reveal hidden things. But the preachers of the holy Church, when they detect any latent vices in the mind, when they open the secrets of spiritual virtues, when they bring forth the hidden understandings of the holy Scriptures for common usefulness, when they promise the joys of the heavenly fatherland to the elect faithful, exercise the ministry of a prophet. From all Israel, therefore, Samuel is recognized to be a faithful prophet of the Lord, because he cannot see the omnipotent Lord by faith who does not give credence to the teachers of the holy Church. And because the same glory of divine knowledge remained in the holy Church which opened itself to the first teachers, it is added: (Verse 21.) And the Lord added that he would appear in Shiloh.

For "Silo" is interpreted as "sent." And because he sends them into the ministry of preaching even to the end of the world, the Lord appears in Silo, because he shows himself more clearly to those through whom he opens the glory of his light to others. And it is well said, "He added that he might appear," because those to whom the brightness of the divine light is poured out are ceaselessly chosen. Hence he also adds the reason why he asserts that the vision was heard, saying: (Verse 21.) "Because the Lord had been revealed to Samuel."

For this reason he adds "that he might appear," because the Lord who had been revealed reveals himself again and again, and does not in any way withdraw from the holy Church the gift of his showing forth, which from its beginning he has not ceased to display to it. But it is not reported how often he added that he appeared to Samuel, to whom he is asserted to have been revealed, because undoubtedly the holy Church is led even to the end of the world, over which preachers preside, who from the fact that they see the highest things they preach in the lofty manifestation of God, preach the high joys of eternity in the lowest places. And this appearance is said to have been made according to the word of the Lord. But what is the word of the Lord, if not the promise of the Redeemer? He therefore added "that he might appear according to the word of the Lord," because he did not cease to fulfill the truth of his promise. For the word of the Lord is in the addition of the appearance: "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Matthew 28:20). It follows: (Verse 21.) "And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

3i. For the word is known to come when the promise of our preachers is fulfilled. For the promise of the word is a joy that will remain without end. Therefore the word of Samuel came to all Israel, because the whole multitude of the holy Church comes to the joy of eternal blessedness, and what is now promised in the faith of the word by his holy preachers is bestowed upon that same multitude through the reality of the thing itself in the heavenly kingdoms. For the word of the teachers consists in the promise made to the faithful: Everyone who believes in him does not perish, but will have eternal life (John 3:15). Or certainly the word of the teachers consists in the promise of gifts: What the eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, God has prepared for those who love him (Isa. 64:4; 1 Cor. 2:9). And so the word of Samuel came to all Israel, because whoever believes the holy preachers when they urge a religious manner of life in the present and promise eternal joys to the righteous, passes by dying in the flesh to those eternal joys which he awaited by living piously. Whence he also confirms it in whose faith he made the promise, saying: Amen I say to you, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away (Mark 13:31). Or certainly the word of Samuel has already come to all Israel, because through the effect of divine judgment the general rejection of the Jews is known to have been fulfilled. Whence also, explaining more fully the order by which that same word came to all Israel, he says:

CHAPTER II.

(I Reg. IV, 1-3.) For Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle, and encamped beside the Stone of Help. Then the Philistines came to Aphek, and drew up their line against Israel. When the battle was joined, Israel turned their backs, and four thousand men were slain in that battle here and there throughout the fields. And Israel returned to the camp.

i. The blessed Apostle shows that there are spiritual battles, when he urges the camp of the holy Church to victory, saying: Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and against the spiritual wickednesses in the heavenly places (Eph. VI, 13). Indeed, giving counsel also for obtaining victory in these same battles, he says: And the shield of faith, with which you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ibid. 16-17). Hence Peter also exhorts, saying: Be careful and watch in prayers, because your adversary the devil goes about seeking whom he may devour; resist him, strong in faith (I Pet. IV, 7; V, 8). Therefore, while battles are reported for the Israelites according to the letter, inward and spiritual things are signified. For the Philistines are interpreted as falling from a cup; by this name, surely, the reprobate are expressed as falling, because through a more abundant draught of pride they lost the state of eternal life.

For them, indeed, to fall as if by a cup was to drink in pride without any delay of restraint. For what is drunk is easily taken in. And of the prince of those who were falling, as it were, while drinking, the Lord says: Because he stood not in the truth (John 8:44). For he fell as if by a draught, who, drunk with the swiftness of his own pride, did not stand even for a moment in the truth in which he had been established.

But it must be asked very carefully how Israel according to the flesh is understood to go out to battle against those who were falling by the cup. For no one fights against one who is subject to him. How, then, is the Jewish people, who through unbelief are subject to malignant spirits, said to go out to battle against them? Yet it is asserted that they fight not by the truth of strength, but by the deception of estimation. For they were conquered by malignant spirits by the truth of strength, but nevertheless, while they observe the traditions of the ancient fathers, they think that they have a contest with malignant spirits. Hence they are bound the more tightly under the chains of their captivity, the more that very confidence of liberty which they do not have is suggested to them by the cunning of those spirits. For the crafty adversaries, by their hidden suggestions, proclaim to them the strength of a false liberty, so that they do not attend to the darkness by which they are pressed down, and possess them, now deceived, the more securely, the more they do not care to be loosed from the chains of unbelief by which they are held, by believing in our Redeemer. And it is to be noted that it is said of the rejected people: Israel went out.

Then he rightly went out when he abandoned the monuments of the sacred faith. Hence also concerning those who had wandered astray from the mysteries of Holy Scripture, John says: They went out from us, but they were not of us (1 John 2:19). To go out, therefore, for Israel according to the flesh is to pass beyond the boundaries of right faith by wandering. But because they do not cease to expect another Christ, they pitch camp beside the Stone of Help. Rightly, therefore, Israel is said to have turned its back, because it is also reported to have gone out. For if it had remained, it could by no means have been conquered, because if it had kept itself within the fortifications of faith, it would have conquered the armed spirits of error. And because it is overcome by deceit, the Philistines are reported to have drawn up their battle line at Aphek. For to draw up a battle line for malignant spirits is to arrange the arguments of deception for the careless hearts of the Jews. But when battle was joined, Israel turned its back, because while it fears to die, it does not resist the malignant spirits. For those who flee from battle turn their backs to the enemy for this reason, that they may not die while resisting. But because, if the Jews were to believe in the Redeemer, they tremble at death, therefore they do not resist, in order that they may live, because they do not believe in the Redeemer, in order that they may be saved in the old circumcision. They would indeed resist the malignant spirits, if they had held the arms of their own strength in faith in our Redeemer. But therefore they flee lest they die, and therefore because they flee, they die.

For the pursuing enemy kills the fugitive all the more easily the less the man who is struck while fleeing resists the sword of the victor who presses upon him. Hence also in that same battle four thousand of the Jews are recorded to have been slain. For what are these four thousand but those who were unwilling to receive the truth of the four Gospels? Therefore they are also said to die in the fields, because they linger in the broad expanse of their errors. And because they still by no means abandon the hiding places of their error, Israel is asserted to have returned to the camp. For, as I have already said, he thinks he still has a struggle with the malignant spirits when he rather obeys their will than resists it.

But because a cup is also taken in a good sense, those who fall by the cup can be understood as the preachers of Holy Church. Of this cup surely the Prophet boasts, saying: You have anointed my head with oil, and my cup, how inebriating it is, how glorious! For the inebriating cup is the abundant grace of the Holy Spirit, which is fittingly called a cup, because by its fullness the hearts of the elect are inebriated in a moment. Hence also it is said of the first pastors of Holy Church: Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a violent spirit coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. By this cup surely the preachers fall, because while they receive the grace of the Holy Spirit more abundantly, they wholly abandon the standing of the carnal life.

For daily through this cup they fall as if drinking to excess, because even if carnal impulses sometimes stir them up to commit sins, nevertheless, having drunk of the power of the spirit, they are not found in a state of sin. And indeed, because the Jewish people has a contest of faith with these Philistines, carnal Israel goes out daily to the field of battle.

But by the name of the Philistines the preachers of holy Church can for this reason be understood, because they were led from the error of the Gentiles to the grace of faith through God's mercy. And indeed, Israel fighting with them turns its back, because it does not resist the spirit speaking through the mouths of the preachers. For Israel had gone out to battle against the Philistine when the Jews opposed Stephen as he preached and disputed about the rationale of our faith. But fighting, it turned its back, because it could not resist by disputing. For in the Acts of the Apostles it is said of those who turned their backs: They could not resist the wisdom and the spirit who was speaking (Acts 6:10). But for the Israelites to be struck down is to be separated from a life of unbelief. It is well also that they are said to die in the fields; for the fields are the flourishing understandings of sacred eloquence, the fields of contest. In the fields, therefore, the thousands of the Israelite warriors are assigned as struck down, because those who were converted from Judea by the ministry of the holy preachers believed in the Redeemer of the human race through the teachings of the Holy Scriptures.

But four thousand of the slain are recorded, because they devoted that same authority of sacred eloquence to the law, the prophets, the psalms, and the Gospel. Yet others, being blind, return to the camp, because some from Judea were led to the knowledge of the Redeemer by the ministry of preachers, but the fullness of that same nation opposes the assertions of holy Church all the more boldly the more deeply, cast out into the darkness of its unbelief, it is not led to the light of truth. To return to the camp is for it not to cease from opposing. And because they argue that those who had believed are as it were fools, overcome by no sufficient reason, it follows: (Verse 3.) And the elders of Israel said: Why has the Lord struck us down today before the Philistines?

For here the question is not an inquiry of investigation, but a complaint of astonishment. Under astonishment, therefore, they ask about the defeat, because they could not grasp the reason by which they had seen men of their own religion receive the faith of the Redeemer. And it must be noted that those who ask in astonishment are recorded to have been the elders of Israel, because indeed all the proud, glorying in their own wisdom, were by no means able to attain to the knowledge of the divine mysteries. Whence also in the Gospel the Lord speaks to the Father, saying: I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to little ones (Matthew 11:25).

They indeed complain that they themselves have been struck, because when they saw the old custom of the law being dissolved by those who believed, they supposed that certain wounds of striking had been inflicted upon them by the incomprehensible judgment of God, and these they loudly lamented with shared grief. But those who complain that others have fallen—let them consider with what plan they prepare themselves to resist—they add: (Verse 3) Let us bring to us the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh, and let it come into our midst, and let it save us from the hand of our enemies.

And from the disposition of this same plan it is immediately added: (Verse 4) Therefore the people sent to Shiloh, and took from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who sits upon the cherubim.

This is certainly the plan, this is the work of Israel against the contest of those falling by the cup—but truly a plan and a work unheard of, because it is not the plan of Israel according to the spirit, but of Israel according to the flesh, namely not of one who sees God seeing, but of one who despises God thinking that he sees himself. For what is it to send to Shiloh, except to run back to the law of Moses, to whom it is said by the Lord: Come, I will send you to Pharaoh (Exodus 3:10)? What is it to bring the ark of the Lord, except to bring back the sacraments of the old law by recalling them to condemn the truth of the new faith! And because they do not permit anyone of their own to be ignorant of this same knowledge of the law, the ark is ordered to be brought into their midst. Again, what is it that they say: And let it save us from the hand of our enemies, except that while they stubbornly defend old things.

they reject new things, and do they place their hope of salvation in this, that they cannot be drawn to the understanding of true faith by the zeal of good preachers? Since, therefore, they boast that they possess the truth of divine knowledge through the old law, they affirm that the same ark, which they command to be brought forward for their salvation, belongs to the Lord of hosts. And because they reckon that they excel in the incomparable knowledge of that same law, when the ark is said to be brought forward, it is declared to be the Lord of hosts who sits upon the cherubim.

(Ver. 5.) And when the ark had come, all Israel shouted with a great cry.

Because, indeed, from the fact that they receive the knowledge of the law in a carnal manner, they babble in reproach of the holy Church, without any display of reason. For those who are said to have shouted and to have said nothing plainly express what they do, because while they busily strive to speak spiritual things carnally, they indeed have a shout in their garrulity, but they do not have the reason of truth. With their voice they say many things, but, speaking without reason, they do no harm to the elect of the holy Church, and Synagogue herself, speaking within herself, is shaken by empty devotion, because the holy Church is not moved by her words. Hence it is quite fittingly reported that the earth made only a noise. For Judaea is now called earth, not because it bears fruit to God, but on account of its carnality, because, doubtless, when it refused to receive the faith of the Redeemer, it utterly lost its heavenly way of life.

But while it is shaken by its own outcry, it exults over the preachers of holy Church with that estimation by which it considers itself to be terrible.

(Verse 6.) And the Philistines heard the voice of the shouting, and they said: What is this outcry in the camp of the Hebrews?

For the Philistines hear the sound of the earth and the shouting of the camps, because those who in holy Church have been refreshed by the cup of the Holy Spirit recognize both the garrulity of Judaea and the vain devotion of its perfidy. And because they hold their estimation in contempt of derision, it is added: (Verses 6, 7.) And they knew that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, and the Philistines feared, saying: God has come into the camp, and they groaned.

That the ark came into the camp of the Hebrews, and that those falling by the cup feared and groaned, is said by irony, because for the conflict of holy Church the sacraments of the old law are expounded carnally by the carnal defenders of the Synagogue. For they dispute concerning this, that if they savored according to the Spirit of God, they could have been truly terrible to their enemies, if they had any.

Therefore, when those falling by the cup are said to have been greatly afraid and to have groaned, Scripture does not show the passions of minds in the holy preachers, but the mockery of Jewish disputation; which is known to be all the more contemptible and worthy of laughter, the more the Jewish people received from the Lord a spiritual law for spiritual conversation, and did not attend in spirit to that which they had received by the gift of the spirit. Wherefore, adding also the words of this same Jewish derision, they say: (Verse 8.) Woe to us, there was not such exultation yesterday and the day before.

And because they are to be mocked more abundantly, they add, saying: (Verse 8.) Who will deliver us from the hand of these lofty gods?

And it is to be noted that by the appellation of gods they are derided who, departing from the faith of the ancient fathers, trust that they exist in the truth of faith and in the number of the sons of God. They assert, indeed, that those proclamations of divine praise were brought forth among them which the Lord pronounces through the Prophet, saying: I have said, you are gods, and all sons of the Most High (Psalm 81:6). If therefore by a false estimation all Israelites according to the flesh are so-called lofty gods, the wise men of the Jews are lofty gods by the falsehood of this same Jewish estimation. And because the experts of the Synagogue come to the conflict of holy Church, they are derided by the voice of the holy preachers, who glory in the virtue of a doctrine which they do not have. And because they are proud of the ancient conversation of the old fathers, words of mockery are added.

(Verse 8.) These are the gods who struck Egypt with every plague in the desert.

For they themselves would be such, if they illustrated the nobility that they draw from the origin of the flesh with the virtues of right faith. But now, because through the propagation of the flesh they are the sons of those whose virtues they do not have, they are mocked with contrary words concerning the lost succession of these same virtues: "These," they say, "are the gods." As if by open mockery of the Jews, the order of our teachers reproves the wise, saying: They glory that they are sons of great men according to the flesh, but they do not attain the nobility of faith of those from whose generation they are proud. Therefore they are gods by the succession of their lineage, but because they are not such by the imitation of virtue, when those are said to be these who shone with virtue, they are rather mocked than praised. And because the doctors of holy Church count their assertions as nothing, it follows: (Verse 9.) Be strengthened, and be men, Philistines, lest you serve the Hebrews, as they themselves served you.

Against the vain assertions of the Jews, the teachers of holy Church prepare nothing new the more strongly, in that whatever is falsely asserted by the Jews concerning the contempt of the Redeemer they count as nothing. Against their assault they would indeed be strengthened, and would contend as with manly courage, if they had feared that the bulwarks of their assertion were being broken down, as it were, by those wiser and reasoning more soundly. For it is as if he were saying: Against their objections, no strong and sharp arguments are to be sought by us, in that they themselves object nothing subtle and to be feared, but things weak and contemptible. But, as I have said, the preachers of holy Church, even if they prepare nothing new against the idle talk of the Jews, nevertheless with the pious and humble reasoning of our true faith they beat back in whatever way the attack of the defenders of the Synagogue. Hence he also adds: (Verse 10, 11.) Therefore the Philistines fought, and Israel was turned back, each one to his own tabernacle, and there was a great slaughter, and the ark of God was captured. And the two sons of Heli died, Ophni and Phinees.

The Philistines, that is, those falling by the cup, fight, when the teachers of holy Church meet the Jews attacking with the standard of the catholic faith. But Israel is turned away, because in every dispute the cunning of the Jews is overcome. For to be turned away is for him to be unable to stand against an equal force. But he who is turned away in battle is indeed in battle, but fleeing, even if failing in strength, yet not losing the desire to harm. For so is every repulse of Israel. He flees, certainly, because he does not suffice to answer the teachers of holy Church; but fleeing he would wish to resist, because, conquered and confounded, he would desire that there be supplied to him that whereby he might have been able to strive against the truth by which he is conquered. Well, therefore, when Israel is said to be turned away, it is cautiously added: Every man into his own tabernacle. For the tabernacle of each Israelite is the heart enclosed by the conclusion of perfidy. Because, therefore, conquered by the preachers of holy Church, they seek the hiding places of their error, fleeing one by one from the battle they return into their own tabernacle. And because this is said concerning the fulfillment of the word of Samuel, namely concerning the threatening of the primitive Church, it is reported that a very great plague was made, which plague, indeed, according to the judgment of the reader, can be taken fittingly both according to spiritual striking and according to material.

For concerning their spiritual wound, the Lord says to the disciples appointed for preaching: "Whoever will not receive you, as you go out of the house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Amen I say to you: it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that city" (Matt. 10:14). Hence again he says: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; but whoever does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:16). According to material striking as well, he indicates a great blow when he speaks to Jerusalem, saying: "The days will come in which your enemies will surround you with a rampart, and will hem you in on every side, and your children, and will cast you to the ground, and there will not be left in you stone upon stone" (Luke 19:43-44). Hence to the women who sympathized with him and mourned, as he was going forth to the indignity of his passion, he speaks, saying: "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep over me, but weep over yourselves and over your children, for behold, days will come in which they will say: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that did not bear, and the breasts that did not nurse. Then they will begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us. For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?" (Luke 23:28ff.). By these words indeed is designated both the death and the captivity that was inflicted on the people of the Jews by the Roman leaders Vespasian and Titus.

For then indeed a great plague came to pass, when with the slaughter of the Jewish people the city was both captured and overthrown, when in vengeance for the divine blood the people fell by the enemy's sword, and whoever could escape the sword endured the penalty of eternal captivity. And truly the immensity of this plague is declared to have been brought upon Israel now turned away, because the Jewish people was conquered and rejected by the teachers of holy Church before it was stormed, slain, and led into captivity by the Roman army. For it could be stormed, killed, and led into temporal captivity for this reason: that it did not receive the security of eternal freedom offered to it by the teachers of holy Church. But this same plague is also decreed against old Israel by the deep dispensation of divine goodness, so that the ark of God might be captured by the Gentiles, and the faithful of holy Church might receive the understanding of the divine sacraments all the more securely under spiritual exposition, the more they see that nothing remained in Judea to present it carnally. For by God's will the old people lost the city, the temple, and the ark of the covenant, so that the new people of holy Church might recognize the mystery of the true and new sacrifice the more fully, in that among the Jews, when new things appeared, it considers that the old things had utterly failed. Therefore the ark of God is said to have been captured by the Philistines, because, with the custom of the old Scripture destroyed, the sacraments are faithfully received by the Gentiles according to the truth of the spirit.

He who grasps the mysteries of divine knowledge in the sacred text through the truth of understanding by the devotion of his mind, truly captures the ark of God. But when the ark is captured, the two sons of Eli immediately die, because indeed priests of both the greater and the lesser order nowhere live in the office of sacrifice. For they are said to die who altogether cease to offer the sacred things. It follows: (Vers. 12, 13). But a certain man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh on that day, with his garment torn and his head sprinkled with dust. And when he had come, Eli was sitting on his seat, looking out toward the road. But that man, after he had entered, announced it to the city, and the whole city wailed.

What is expressed by this man who fled from the battle line, if not that part of the Jewish people which, by coming to the knowledge of the Redeemer, abandoned Jewish hostility? For to run was for him to desist from the depravity of his error with the swiftness of his devotion. But because he resolved to act bravely in the confession of the Redeemer, he was a man. And indeed on that day on which he was defeated he runs from the battle, because by that illumination of faith by which he abandoned the darkness of unbelief, he came to preach the truth that he knew. Whence also he is said to have come to Shiloh, because he is sent to preach. He tore his garment, because he stripped off the old man; he sprinkled his head with dust, because he by no means took pride in the splendor of the new man with which he clothed himself.

For a torn garment pertains to the beauty of holy conduct, while the sprinkling of dust pertains to the esteem of humility. Since, then, for holy preachers neither purity of life suffices without humility nor humility without holy conduct, the man who comes in the figure of the teachers to announce to Israel in the third place both tore his garment and sprinkled his head with dust. For he bore his head sprinkled with this dust who, speaking to the Lord, said: "I will speak to my Lord, though I am dust and ashes" (Gen. 18:27). The Prophet likewise spoke with his head sprinkled when he prayed, saying: "Remember, Lord, that we are dust" (Ps. 102:15). He too had torn his garment who, confessing, said: "You have torn my sackcloth and girded me with gladness" (Ps. 29:12).

But when the humility of the ecclesiastical preacher is commended, the pride of the Jewish teacher is likewise expressed, namely because Eli is reported to sit on a seat. For in this place Eli signifies not the high priests but the scribes of the Synagogue. What is it, then, that he sits on a seat, except that he is proudly exalted by doctrine? And what is it that he looks opposite the way, except that while he proudly receives the Scriptures, he contradicts him through whom he ought to go to the eternal homeland? For that is the way of salvation which asserts itself, saying: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). He therefore looks not at the way but opposite the way, because he does not recognize the Redeemer, whom he contradicts.

And rightly is the father said to sit upon a seat when his sons are dead, because the Synagogue no longer has those who sacrifice in the old manner, and yet still has those who teach in the old manner. And because through wise teachers they were being made ready for ministry, while he who was to sacrifice ceased and he who was to teach still remained, the sons are aptly reported as dead and the father as sitting upon a seat. But from that announcement of the Redeemer which she heard, the multitude of the Synagogue had not joy but grief. Hence also, after the man came from the battle and announced the capture of the ark, every city is said to have wailed. And these mournful things, because they reached even to the teachers, follow: (Verse 14). And Eli heard the sound of the clamor, and he said: What is this sound of this tumult?

Tumult is the outcry of the people, but a confused one, namely when, without the discipline of listening, with many speaking at once, there arises a great murmur without the showing forth of reason. Therefore Eli, when he heard the wailing of the city, said: What is the sound of this tumult? Because, namely, the teaching office of the Synagogue, when its own faithless subjects were grieving over the preaching of Jesus Christ, while it wished to hear the cause of the grief, did not perceive a reasonable answer but the confusion of complaint. But so that he who had come from circumcision to the ministry of ecclesiastical preaching might not be able to have an excuse of ignorance, he also laid bare the truth of the matter. Hence it is further added: (Verse 14). But he hastened and came and announced it to Eli.

But because the same Eli, having received the announcement of the man coming, straightway died, what manner of man he is who hears is subsequently made known: (Verse 15). Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes had grown dim, and he could not see.

For he would have been of perfect old age if he had lived out the number of a hundred years. And since two years are seen to be lacking from that number, what else is this but that he would have been of perfect maturity if he had known the twin mystery in the incarnation of our Redeemer—namely, true divinity in his humanity, and true humanity in his divinity? But now, because he rightly understands many things from the old law, and very many from the heavenly commandments, he is ninety-eight years old. And while he believes that God could be born in the flesh from a Virgin, and yet denies that the nature of his humanity was taken up into divinity, he is not a hundred years old. Hence also, upon hearing the man's report, he justly dies, because without faith in the Redeemer the good things he knows, and others besides, profit him nothing. And because by the deep and incomprehensible judgment of God the blindness of ignorance is struck into his mind, he is recorded to have grown dim and to have been unable to see. It follows: (Verse 16). And he said to Eli: I am the one who came from the battle, I who fled today from the line of battle.

He was recalling that he had been, as it were, in battle, who said: You have heard of my conduct at one time in Judaism; for beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God and laid waste to it, and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more abundantly a zealot for the traditions of my fathers (Gal 1:13-14). But he comes from battle who says: I who was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor; but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly (1 Tim 1:13). Therefore, for a Jew to flee from the battle line, what else is it than to be separated from the error of the faithless? And to come from battle, what is it but to announce the good of right faith to others? For to flee is the act of one unwilling; to come, of one willing. In this place, because it is said first that he comes from battle, before that he flees from the battle line, since perfidy is first abandoned before truth is preached, it is no wonder. For this, that he says afterward that he fled from the battle line, is not said according to the order in which it happened, but according to the certainty of the word he set forth beforehand. This is also shown according to the order of the history, because unless he had first fled from the battle line, he could by no means have come from battle.

But we who seek spiritual things according to the Spirit even in the deeds of the Jews that were done carnally, let us attend to that man whom we introduced speaking a little above. For it has been heard by the Church that he who once persecuted should preach the gospel, just as it is written of him already preaching the gospel: But when he had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join himself to the disciples, and all feared him, not believing that he was a disciple (Acts 9:26). Hence again the Lord, appearing at Damascus to Ananias his disciple, says: Rise and go into the street which is called Straight, and seek in the house of Judas a man of Tarsus named Saul, and lay your hand upon him, that he may receive his sight (Ibid., and 12). And he indeed immediately answered the Lord, saying: Lord, I have heard from many how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, and he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name (Ibid., and 14). When therefore he was preaching to the Jews him whom he was accustomed to attack with threats and slaughters, he was undoubtedly coming from battle. But while all the disciples feared to join themselves to him as he preached, they doubted that he had fled from the battle line. For he was coming from battle, when by the Lord who called him, as he lay prostrate on the ground, it had been said: Rise and enter the city, and it shall be told you what you ought to do (Ibid., 7).

But Ananias did not believe that he had fled from the battle line—Ananias, who reported to the Lord, when he was commanding, the evils that he had done to the saints in Jerusalem and the authority he had received. Therefore, to show truly that he had come from battle and fled from the battle line, the Lord commands the same Ananias, saying: Go, for this man is a vessel of election to me, to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel (Acts 9:13). And it must be noted that on the day he was announcing these things, he was asserting that he had come from battle and fled from the battle line. For they flee in the day, because, as the Truth attests: He who is in darkness does not know where he is going (John 12:33). Hence it is also written: Those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are drunk, are drunk in the night (1 Thess 5:7). And because in the example of the blessed apostle Paul we have begun to see a man fleeing from the battle line, let us attend to this: that he flees in the day. For it was night when he was drawing up a battle line against the holy Church, when, having received letters from the chief priests for Damascus, breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples, he was hurrying (Acts 9:1-2). But he who prepared war in the night fled in the day, because on the journey a light from heaven suddenly shone around him, cast him to the ground, terrified him with ineffable fear, so that he would acknowledge the darkness of his immense error and, instead of the night with which he was attacking the Church, would do battle in the light of day. In the day, therefore, he fled—he whom the brightness of the Redeemer, shown forth from heaven, shone around, so that he would abandon the night of his treachery.

What then is it that he declares he has come from battle on the day he fled from the line, except that the intent of right preaching is signified? For some flee from the line on that day, but come from battle on another day: they abandon their former errors out of love for eternal life, but when they are taken up into the ministry of preaching, they seek temporal rewards from the eloquence of their preaching. They come, therefore, on a different day than the one on which they fled: because they are upright in conduct, but perverse in the intention of their preaching. The holy preachers, then, who through the grace of our Redeemer believed from the circumcision, came from battle not on another day but on the one on which they had fled from the line: because they obtained both gifts in the splendor of heavenly love—namely, the truth of conduct together with the preaching of the word. And because the Jewish teacher wished to hear the assertions of the holy preachers, though not with the intention of knowing the truth, yet with the solicitude of curiosity, it follows: (Verse 16.) To whom he said: What has been done, my son?

For he speaks to all under the description of one, because he saw the men of his own people, whom the teaching of the Law had once instructed. Or perhaps he called him son, not out of affection of love, but by the flattery of cunning, so that he might more easily capture him through deception, in that he showed himself to love him with a fatherly affection. Therefore he calls him son from whom he desires to know what has been done, so that, in return for the honor of flattery bestowed, he might pervert the sequence of the truth. The honor of the address, then, is referred not to love but to cunning. But he who rejected the favor of the praise offered him steadfastly laid bare the truth. Hence it is also added: (Verse 17.) And the one who brought the news answered and said: Israel has fled before the Philistines, and a great ruin has been made among the people; moreover, your two sons are dead, Hophni and Phinehas. And the ark of God has been captured.

For the man fleeing reported this, which he had learned by experience. What is it, then, that he asserts Israel has fled, except that he steadfastly affirms that, while the Jewish people retain the sense of the Law carnally, they cannot resist the spiritual teachers of holy Church by disputing? And what is it that he proclaims a great ruin has been made among the people, except that he confirms that all who from the Jewish people rejected the word of faith have perished by eternal death? And what is it that the two sons of Eli are reported dead, except that both orders of the old priesthood are asserted to have failed?

And what is it that he says the ark of God was captured, except that he asserts that the knowledge of the divine sacraments was taken away from the Jews and faithfully grasped by the Gentiles? Because now, by the calling of God's grace, the divine mysteries are known by faithful Gentiles. It follows: (Verse 18.) And when he had named the ark of God, Heli fell backward from his seat beside the door, and his neck was broken, and he died.

What is it that Heli, having heard of the flight of Israel, the ruin of the people reported to him, the death of his sons made known, does not fall from his seat at all; but when the capture of the ark is known, he both falls from his seat and loses his life? But because we have said that in Heli the wise men and teachers of the Law of the Jews are designated, having heard of the flight of Israel, he did not fall from his seat: because he counts it as nothing that the simple sons of the Synagogue are overcome in preaching by the teachers of holy Church. He does not fall when the ruin of the people is reported to him: because, while he hears that those who die in Judaism perish, he does not tremble at all. When the death of his sons is made known, he does not fall: because, even with the cessation of both priesthoods set before him, he does not cease to be proud. But when the capture of the ark is brought upon him, he falls: because, while he sees that the sacraments of his Scripture are known profoundly and spiritually by the preachers and faithful of holy Church, he does not dare to be proud, on the basis of the learning of the sacred eloquence, of that which he understands only carnally. He falls, therefore, from his seat, because, when the spiritual sense is known, he does not presume to be proud about carnal teaching.

But because he hears the truth preached sublimely and does not believe it at all, while he is confounded and not saved, he falls and dies. He falls from the seat, because he ceases from teaching through astonishment. But falling he dies, because if he is overcome by reason, yet by the judgment of that same reason he does not deserve to arrive at eternal joys.

In this matter it must be noted that he who falls and dies falls beside the door. For what is it that he falls beside the door, except that while blind he wanders, he strikes against the Redeemer? He indeed asserts this of himself, saying: Whoever falls on this stone shall be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will crush him (Matt. 21:44). He also says of himself: I am the door; through me if anyone enters, he shall be saved, and shall go out and come in, and shall find pasture (John 10:9). Therefore Heli died beside the door, because the teaching office of the Synagogue perished for this reason, that it offended against the Redeemer. For there he fell where he sinned. And falling, he also broke his neck. In the neck the swelling of temporal power is designated. Therefore he dies with his neck broken, who by the greatness of his faithlessness, having lost the power of his kingdom, is condemned.

By the door can also be designated the letter of Sacred Scripture. For as if through a door we are led into the courts of the eternal temple, when through the letter of the sacred word we are raised up to the allegorical and spiritual understanding. Within, the king is also discerned: because the promised Redeemer of the human race is found in the spiritual understanding of Sacred Scripture. Therefore Heli fell dead beside the door: because indeed the teaching of the Synagogue perished for this reason, that through the spiritual Scripture it sought the Redeemer of the human race, who had been promised in the spirit, not spiritually but carnally. For he died beside the door: because he perished in that respect, in that he understood the spiritual promise of the Redeemer not according to spiritual understanding but according to the simple utterance of history. And because through the zeal of his teaching he at no time presided over Judaea, which was not declining from evil out of love for good works but out of fear, it follows: (Verse 18.) For he was old and advanced in years: and he judged Israel forty years.

For he was old, and advanced in years by the length of time. But he presided for forty years, through fear of the legal commandments. For the number forty pertains to sinners. Hence also the time of Lent has been consecrated in the holy Church with that same number of days, so that we may strive to wipe away by penitence the sins we commit. For the number forty is made up of ten and four. And because by sinning we transgress the Decalogue of the divine Law, and we draw the very capacity for sinning from the compaction of the four elements of which we consist, under the number forty, as long as we exist in sin, we are contained. Eli therefore judged Israel for forty years, because he displayed the teaching office of the Synagogue and the harsh discipline of the Law unto the fear of the subject people: so that he might hold back the material of the human condition, through the fruit-bearing concupiscence, in the state of justice through fear. But now Eli is dead, now with broken neck he lies beside the door; yet nevertheless the poison of his depraved teaching remains in his seed. For now he who does not believe, of the wise men of the Jews, has been judged; but because minds conceive the seeds of depravity in his instruction, those who are born as sons of his doctrine do not abandon the madness of his perfidy. Wherefore it is also added: (Vers.

19, 20.) But his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near to giving birth; and when she heard the news that the ark had been captured, and that her father-in-law was dead, and her husband, she bowed herself and gave birth. For sudden pains rushed in upon her. And at the very moment of her death, those who were standing beside her said to her: Do not fear, for you have borne a son. But she did not answer, nor did she take notice.

But who was this daughter-in-law of Eli, if not the people of the Jews, subject to reprobate priests? And because through their preaching she had received in her mind the seeds of faithlessness, she was pregnant. And because she herself was also thinking to pour out the malice she had conceived, she is said not only to have been pregnant, but also near to giving birth. But what is it that, upon hearing of the capture of the ark and the death of her father-in-law and her husband, she is said to have given birth, if not that the remnant of the Jewish people, when it recognizes that the spiritual sacraments of the Scriptures have passed over to the instruction of the Gentiles, when it now sees that the wise men of the Synagogue have perished together with both priesthoods, does not cease to pour out in speech the seeds of its own heresy, which it has conceived? But to give birth for her is to disclose to others by speaking the depravity she has conceived. And because she preaches as reprobate, while she is declared to give birth, she is recorded as having bowed down. For those who speak heavenly things give birth, as it were, without bowing themselves down, because in the standing of faith they raise up the hearts of their hearers to the zeal of good works.

Therefore, what she asserts as perverse, she brings forth while bowed down: for by her very speaking this is accomplished in her, that the more attentively she speaks, the deeper she is cast down into the abyss of her own damnation. Rightly, then, while she is bent over toward giving birth, she is said to die. For she dies in giving birth, because she is condemned in the merit of her blasphemy. And because she does not foresee the torments of her death, sudden pains are said to rush upon her. For sudden pains are the unforeseen afflictions of a death that comes without warning. For pains rush upon her suddenly when the recompenses of everlasting punishments meet the Jewish people: which now, placed in contempt of the truth, it does not fear. For because, on account of the observance of the traditions of the fathers, it thinks that by dying it passes over to eternal life, it then falls into sudden pains, when it begins to endure torments that it did not hope for. And it must be noted that it is said of the dying woman: Sudden pains rushed upon her: because, namely, while through the troubles of the flesh she is driven toward the departure of life, then the scourges of pains begin to rush upon her temporally, by which her impiety is punished with eternal vengeance; and because, with the end near, the reprobate minds of the Jews encourage one another to faithlessness. But at the very moment of her death, those who stood beside her said to her: Do not fear, for you have borne a son. For she bore a son: because she trained a people hard and unconquerable in wickedness. But who are the women standing beside her, if not minds bound together in an equal order of impiety?

For they stand not in the truth and uprightness of faith, but in presumption and the boasting of religion. Therefore they exhort her not to fear, because she has borne a son: so that, namely, she may not fear to die in the old tradition the more securely, the more she sees those also hardened and unconvertible in it, whom she knows to have been instructed by her own teaching. But while she is compelled by grief more abundantly within herself, she counts as nothing whatever others have profited by her instruction; hence it is added: She did not answer, nor did she regard it. For when she begins to experience the bitterness of eternal sorrow, that which she temporally presided over for others no longer delights her. Or certainly for this reason she does not rejoice over the son born: because he who is begotten by her instruction is seen in captivity. Hence it is also added: (Vers. 21, 22.) And she called the boy Ichabod, saying: The glory of the Lord is transferred, because the ark of God is captured.

The ark indeed is captured: because now, by God's author, by the true faithful, the sacraments of Holy Scripture are retained with the capacity of pure understanding. And the glory of Israel is transferred: because, after she fell from true religion, she ceased to give forth fragrance through the opinion of good fame. Well, moreover, is it said that the glory of Israel does not perish but is transferred: because the fame of religion, which she lost, passed over to the Gentiles.

For her glory has been transferred: because in the holy Church the fragrance of true religion gives forth its scent, which, placed in faith in the Redeemer, holds the gift of the Holy Spirit as a pledge for the certainty of the eternal reward which it awaits. Therefore she refuses to rejoice over the son born to her: because, surely, when she sees that her former glory has passed over to the Gentiles, she groans that she gives birth only for captivity. It is also from the transfer of glory that she names the son: because surely, as if by a name given in preference, she forever represents the impiety in which she persists. But by the fact that the name is given to him by the mother, what we see can be plainly understood. For he received his name from her from whom came to him the merit of impiety. It follows:

CHAPTER III.

(1 Samuel 10:1-3.) Now the Philistines took the ark and carried it away from the Stone of Help to Ashdod. The Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the temple of Dagon, and the Ashdodites rose on the next day and found Dagon lying before the ark, face down on the ground.

What is it that the ark is carried away from the Stone of Help, except that the heralds of truth take away the mysteries of the Scriptures from that Christ whom the Jews await by a false opinion? For while they turn the testimonies of the holy Scriptures to the knowledge of the true Redeemer, they take away the ark from him in whom the Jews had placed the hope of their help. And because the mysteries of the faith are believed by the Gentiles, the ark of God is brought to Azotus. And this ark is certainly brought into the temple. What, then, was the temple of Dagon, except every unbelieving soul, once polluted by the superstition of idolatry? What does the image of Dagon designate, except the superstition of all idolatry? What else, then, was it to make the mysteries of the faith known to the hearts of the Gentiles, than to bring the ark of God into the temple of Dagon? For as it were the ark was set beside Dagon, when the preachers of the holy Church warned the Gentiles, so that, to prove the truth of my [faith], they might examine both the preaching which they heard and the errors of the idolatry which they held. Well, therefore, on another day the Azotites found Dagon fallen prone on the ground before the ark. For Azotus had one day, in the unheard-of preaching of the truth, and another in the knowledge of the faith. For on the first day the ark of God is set beside Dagon, because in the preaching of the Redeemer which they heard, they perceive the darkness of the old error. But on the second day, rising, they found Dagon lying prone on the ground before the ark: because in the knowledge of the truth idolatry lost its standing.

Hence also, when the fall of Dagon is asserted, he is recorded to have lain prone on the ground. He falls indeed before the ark, because he becomes known through the knowledge of the divine mysteries. But he lies prone on the ground, because, now that God is the author, in the sight of the faithful he has no image of a feigned reasoning. For he who lies prone on the ground presses his face into the ground. But by the face of the idol, the pretense of reasoning is expressed. Therefore for him to lie prone on the ground is for him to be in no way able to mock with the deceits of his pretense those who now know the truth. But nevertheless, so that the Gentiles might know the truth more certainly, having heard that same reasoning of our faith, they attempted more and more to examine the ancient custom of their own superstition. Therefore it aptly follows: (Verse 3.) They took Dagon and restored him to his place.

That is, into the temple where the ark of God had been placed. What is it, then, to restore Dagon to his place, except, according to the now-known truth of the spiritual sacraments, to investigate the state of idolatry with subtle consideration? And because the more subtly the error of idolatry is examined, the more truly it is condemned, it is added: (Verse 4.) And rising again at dawn, they found Dagon lying on his face before the ark of the Lord.

At dawn they rise again, because they now rouse themselves to the love of the goodness they have heard with the certainty of deliberate choice. So the first day is one of testing, the second of knowledge, but the third of certainty now deliberated and of profession offered. And this day, because it has shone in the splendor of perfect and consummate faith upon the enlightened minds of converts, there follows: (Verse 4.) But the head of Dagon and the two palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold. Moreover, Dagon had remained as a trunk in his place.

3. For what else is Dagon, that is, the head of idolatry, but the very beginning of all iniquity, the devil? And what are the palms of his hands but all the works of idolatry? So Dagon has lost his head, because through the worship of idols the malignant spirits cease to reign in the heart of the Gentiles. The palms of his hands have also been cut off, because sacrifices are nowhere offered to idols. And because his deformity is everywhere seen by all the faithful, Dagon is recorded to have remained as a trunk in his place. But his head and hands are recorded to have been cut off and placed upon the threshold, because indeed whoever enters into the true faith is commanded to repel the beginnings of diabolical persuasion and to renounce all the works of that same Satan. These things, then, have been placed on the threshold so that they may be trampled by those who enter, because he cannot truly be faithful who does not resolve to oppose the wicked counsels of the malignant spirit and his iniquitous works.

For whoever avoids crushing Dagon's head and hands, even if he seems to be counted among the faithful, is shown in a certain way to be an idolater. For in the worship of demons, not only outward sacrifices but also wicked desires are offered by their worshippers. Therefore, one who has been received into the knowledge of the true faith but has not been separated from unclean desires and depraved works—because he disdains to strike Dagon's head and hands—makes an offering to the malignant spirit, whom he disdains in the offering of ceremonies, through the uncleanness of inward concupiscence and outward life. Wherefore it is also added (verse 5): "For this cause the priests of Dagon do not tread upon the threshold unto this day."

For they show themselves to be priests of Dagon who do not tread upon the threshold. In these words it must be carefully observed that he did not say "the threshold," but "upon the threshold," so that it may be taught that Dagon's head and hands are to be trampled, which are reported to have been cut off upon the threshold. But for this reason the priests do not tread upon the threshold, because they avoid crushing with the foot his severed hands and head. For the priests of Dagon remain unto this day, because those who sacrifice to the ancient enemy through unclean desires still exist. They indeed shrink from treading upon the threshold of the temple, because they resist neither unclean suggestions nor evil works. And so they are priests of Dagon, because even if they do not humble themselves before idols made by hands, they nonetheless bow themselves down to the images of their desires through wicked deeds.

It follows: (Verse 6.) The hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Ashdodites.

The hand of the Lord is the power of divine might. And since in the Ashdodites the beginnings of the gentile nations are signified, what is it that the hand of the Lord is said to have been made heavy upon the Ashdodites? But he made his hand heavy upon Ashdod when he moved the hearts of the Gentiles to conversion by the power of his might. For when through inner inspiration he made known to them the force of eternal death, he struck the minds of the Gentiles with wondrous terror over the iniquities they had committed. Therefore, since while the hand of the Lord is said to be made heavy, the Ashdodites are reported to be slain, this heaviness of the hand is understood as the multiplication of the converted. For to die was, for the Gentiles, to be separated from unbelief. And to be slain by the hand of the Lord is to obtain the same knowledge of the true faith, not by the ministry of men but by divine power. Light, then, was the hand of the Lord upon Ashdod when as yet through a few ministers of the faith a few were abandoning the error of the gentiles. Hence the Lord also admonishes the ministers of the word, as it were, to pray for the heaviness of the hand, saying: The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few: pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest (Matthew 9:38). As if he were saying otherwise: You who through few ministers, as if with a light hand, separate a few from unbelief, pray that he multiply the ministers, so that, as it were, in the multitude of the converted he may make his hand heavy.

But the manner of the killing is also explained: for whoever is said to die by this infection, while he went out to purge his belly, is reported to be bitten by mice in the more secret part of the buttocks. According to the letter, one blow is shown here, but in the typical exposition it is doubled. For by the meaning of the letter, both the heaviness of the hand of the Lord and the bites of the mice pertain to the effect of that same death: because the hand of the Lord is said to be heavy upon the Ashdodites for this reason, that they were killed by the bites of mice.

But since by the spiritual signification we have recognized two deaths: one, namely, by which sinners die to righteousness by sinning, the other by which the just raise themselves up by repenting from the sins in which they lived; one which enters human hearts, with the devil persuading, the other which the power of almighty God works: it is necessary, therefore, that we attend spiritually to both deaths in this place. Indeed, the death by which sinners rise again from their sins by repenting is designated, because it says: The hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Ashdodites. But that death by which the Gentiles showed themselves servants of uncleanness and iniquity is designated, when they are said to be bitten by mice and killed. For the mouse is an unclean animal, and forbidden to be eaten by the Law (Lev. 11:29). What, then, is designated by mice, except demons? And what is it to be bitten by mice, except to be torn by the punishment of sin? But they were bitten by mice when they went out to purge their belly.

What then is "to purge the belly" but to bring forth the stench of a wretched reputation through the discharge of sin? Therefore, the one who goes out to purge his belly is destroyed by the bite of a hand, because whoever by sinning extends himself to the notice of others through the example of wickedness is also held fast unto eternal death by the heavy bondage of demons. For they are said to be struck in the more secret part of the buttocks, because each sinner receives the wound of the soul in that part which he bends toward the delight of sin. When therefore the hand of the Lord is made heavy upon Azotus, he is declared to have been struck by mice, because when the teachers of eternal life preached, while the Gentiles were converted from unbelief, they came to know by what death of sins, by the persuasion of demons, they had been bound. Therefore to be healed for the men of Azotus after the hand of the Lord has been made heavy is, after the knowledge of the true faith, not to be subject to demons, but by the illumination of faith to see clearly those stench-filled sins by which they had offered themselves to the death of punishment. For they were, as it were, bitten then, when they recognized the bites of their sins. It follows: (Verse 7.) But when the men of Azotus saw this kind of plague, they said: Let not the ark of God remain with us, for his hand is hard upon us, and upon Dagon our god.

For when they saw the temples destroyed, the sacrifices cease, wives divided from their husbands and husbands from their wives, sons separated from their parents and fathers from their sons, what else did they think but that the hand of the Lord was hard upon them and upon their superstition? But what was done next follows: (Verse 8.) And sending, they gathered together all the satraps of the Philistines, and the Gittites answered: Let the ark of God be led around.

Because they gathered the satraps of the Philistines it is said; but why they gathered them is not said. Yet because the satraps are said to have answered, and to have given counsel that the ark should be led around, it is openly known that they were called together to give counsel concerning that same ark. Who, then, are the satraps of the Philistines but the chosen preachers of the Gentiles? For satraps are called princes. Of these princes indeed it is said through the Psalmist: The princes of the peoples are gathered together with the God of Abraham (Psalm 46:10). For by the name of peoples the Gentiles are designated. He therefore who set down the name both of peoples and of princes, clearly designated as the satraps of the Philistines those of whom he speaks. And these princes of the peoples certainly came together with Abraham to God, when, for the salvation of the Gentiles who were to be converted, the preachers sounded forth that word which almighty God was breathing into them by an inward desire.

For there was, as it were, a wonderful harmony of God and of the princes in the hearts of the Gentile hearers, when they received at once from the holy preachers the reason of right preaching and from the Lord the fruit of good will. And because they are recognized as adversaries who had said, "Let not the ark of God remain with us," how do the princes who send gather together? But to send and for princes to gather is to stir up the minds of holy preachers to the urgency of preaching, because preaching was to be done more attentively there, where the hearts of the Gentiles were plunged more deeply in error. Hence it is that the distinguished teacher glories that he chose for himself a nobler victory over untamed enemies, saying: "From Jerusalem as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ; and so I preached this Gospel, not where it had been announced concerning him, lest I build upon another's foundation" (Rom. 15:19-20). The princes, then, were stirred up not by the desire but by the error of the unbelievers, when they judged that they would make greater gain for God from that source whence the darkness of errors was borne higher aloft by the breath of pride. Therefore the urgency of holy preaching is also designated when it is added: "And the Gethites answered: Let the ark of God be led around." They say, "Let not the ark of God remain with us," and these say, "Let it be led around." For what is it to lead the ark of God around, if not to preach publicly the mysteries of the true faith? For the ark remains with those who embrace through love the sacraments of the true faith which they hear.

But those who say, Let not the ark remain with us, desire that the preaching of the faith be turned away from them. Therefore the satraps say to him in opposition: Let the ark of God be led about; because they preached divine things the more attentively to those whom a grievous error had inflamed to hatred of the truth. And because through the ministries of the holy preachers great gains even of such as these were brought into the heavenly kingdoms, it follows: (Verse 9.) But while they were leading it about, the hand of the Lord was made through each city with a very great slaughter, and it struck the men of each city from the small even to the great, and their prominent entrails rotted.

For the ark is led about when the mysteries of the faith are preached openly and without fear. And because in the beginnings of the faith innumerable persons were converted, a very great slaughter is reported to have been made through each city. Likewise, because not only the simple but also the wise were converted, the same slaughter is asserted to have been made from the small even to the great. But through that same striking the entrails are said to rot. For the entrails to rot is for the passage of sin, by the outpouring of its accustomed stench, to perish utterly. For he is well struck whose prominent entrails rot: because undoubtedly there are some who, after the cleanness of their conversion, are entangled in the former filth of shameful conduct. The prominent entrails of these do not rot at all: because through iniquitous works they turn back to the accustomed flux of sins.

Those who are wrongly sound he certainly refutes by an incomplete striking, who intimates that they have rolled back into their former stench: The dog returned to its vomit, and the sow washed in the wallowing of mud. For as it were he was striking the intestines to make them rot, who, thrusting in the sword of the word, said: Let not sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires.

But by this, that the Ashdodites say, Let not the ark remain with us, the perversity of those who, from the same Gentiles, both heard the word of faith and, not predestined to eternal life, refused to believe, can be signified. To lead the ark of God about, therefore, was for the satraps to withdraw the word of truth from his holy preachers, and to reveal the mysteries of the faith to those who were worthy. The ark was led about, therefore, because the sacraments of our faith were taken away from the knowledge of some and revealed to others. Hence also, when it was led about, a very great slaughter is reported to have occurred throughout individual cities, because wherever they led the word of faith, the grace of conversion was multiplied. And because wherever they preached, among those who believed there were some who were not predestined to eternal life, it follows: They sent the ark of God into Ekron. And when the ark of God had come into Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying: They have sent the ark of God to us, to kill us and our people.

They sent therefore and gathered together all the satraps of the Philistines, who said: Let the ark of the Lord be sent back to its own place.

The satraps, as we have said, are understood to be the holy preachers. The Accaronites, which is interpreted as “sterile,” designate the unconvertible Gentiles. These preachers, to be sure, gave counsel that the ark should be sent back, so that if they refused their own salvation from the divine preaching, they would not stand in the way of the faithful who were pressing on toward the eternal fatherland by the sacraments of faith. For the place of the ark—that is, of the divine sacraments—is recognized to be there where whatever is now said of almighty God through the mystery of the Scriptures is afterward revealed to us by open knowledge. He had indeed known the proper place of the ark who said: We see now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face: now I know in part, then I shall know as I am also known (1 Cor. 13:12). The counsel of the satraps, therefore, was that they should permit the ark of God to return to its own place: namely, that those who bore no fruit of faith from the preaching of the word should at least leave it to those who would prepare for themselves fruit from it in eternity. Well, then, are those who receive the counsel that the ark should be sent back called Accaronites. For the Accaronites are interpreted as “sterile.” Because, indeed, from the truth of the faith once heard, they had given no fruit of belief or of good work, they were sterile.

Therefore the leaders gave counsel that the ark should be taken up, but by barren women, so that the seed of the word of God, which could not sprout in the worst soil, might be preserved for the best soil, which from this winter's labor would bring forth in eternal life the hundredfold fruit of its age. And they show the reason for releasing the ark at once, when the preachers add: (Verse 11.) Lest it kill us with our people.

The Ekronites cried out: They have sent the ark of God to us, to kill us and our people. The satraps give counsel, saying: Let the ark of the God of Israel be sent away, that it may not kill us with our people. Who is the people of whom the satraps, that is, the leaders, say: that it may not kill us with our people? Who is the people, if not the Christian people? The leaders therefore say: Send away the ark of the God of Israel, that it may return to its own place. As if to say: Do not forbid us to exercise for the merit of eternal life that from which you fear to die. But what they add: That it may not kill us with our people—by this answer the hearts of the reprobate Gentiles are indeed confounded in their error, since those men claim to escape death from the very thing at which the others trembled to die. The holy preachers also take up the ark of God, because when spiritual things are revealed to the contemptuous, it is brought about for the condemnation of the indiscreet preacher if those same divine mysteries are treated not as things to be imitated by the faithless but as things to be mocked and shut away.

For the Lord was issuing a command, as it were, for the ark to be transferred—not so much to the satraps as to the Lord of the satraps—saying: Do not give what is holy to the dogs, and do not cast your pearls before swine, lest they turn and trample them under their feet (Matt. 7:6). Hence again he says: If they have persecuted you in one city, flee to another (Matt. 10:23). Therefore they carry the ark away, lest they die—because for this reason they hide spiritual things from the contemptuous, lest those who rashly bring them forth be punished for their contempt through indiscretion. But because the ark is commanded to be sent away to the Ekronites, this surely intimates what I have already stated: that in the time of persecution the exhortation of the holy preachers was made, so that they themselves might believe; and sometimes, so that if they themselves did not receive the word of life, they might not stand in the way of those who would receive it; and if they themselves, through fear of torments, did not seize the way of salvation, they might not be an obstacle to those who hastened to the heavenly kingdoms, who would not have been deprived of rewards or of punishments. It follows: (Verse 12.) For the fear of death was in each city, and the hand of the Lord was exceedingly heavy.

How this is to be understood with respect to outward persecution has been explained above. There follows: (Verse 12.) The men also, who had not died, were struck in the more secret part of the buttocks: and the wailing of each city went up to heaven.

About the striking of the buttocks, since we have spoken of it above, there would be nothing to say here, if nothing other than what was said there were being said here. What is it, then, that it says: The men also, who had not died, were struck? Surely those who had died ought not to be bitten again as a punishment for the ark? But also, when the cry of those struck is said to have gone up to heaven, it could be shown clearly enough that this was said of the living, and not of the dead. For the cry of dead men could not go up to heaven. But since we referred the striking of the buttocks above to the knowledge of sins, there are indeed men who have not died. For men are those who, for the sake of the other life which they desire, have resolved to do brave things. But men are not yet dead who deliberate to do great things, and yet by no means weigh their past evils unto the pain of compunction. They are therefore bitten by the mice, that they may die: because they recall the things in which they wickedly fell, and for their past deeds they believe that they deserve the loss of eternal life. Since, then, they are men, they do not despair of God's mercy: and since they are bitten, that they may die, they do not exalt themselves because of the fact that they are beginning to be great.

Their cry certainly ascended to heaven, because almighty God mercifully receives the groans of those who are converted. And because in the time of the conversion of the Gentiles there was a great gathering to the faith, the cry is said to have ascended not from any one city but from many. Hence the prophet also prays in the person of the universal Church, saying: Give ear to my prayer, from the ends of the earth I have cried to you (Ps. 60:2-3). And showing that the cry of one crying from the ends of the earth has ascended to heaven, he says: He has heard my voice from his holy temple, and my cry has entered into his ears in his sight (Ps. 17:7). When, therefore, each city is said to have cried to heaven, the universal repentance of conversion is commended. But if the striking is referred to conversion, and the cry to the devotion of divine praise, we certainly read in the mysteries of the Scriptures what we see. For in the praises of almighty God each city cries out, because the whole world does not keep silent about the proclamation of the Redeemer; it does not proclaim him in secret, but praises him with the jubilation of ineffable joy. For what else was he urging all cities to cry out, who said: All you Gentiles, clap your hands, rejoice to God with a voice of exultation, for God is most high and terrible, and a great king above all gods (Ps. 46:2-3). Hence again, admonishing, he says: Rejoice to God, all the earth; serve the Lord with gladness (Ps. 99:2).

Hence again he expresses both the plague of the biting mice and the cry of the cities, saying: Let all the earth be moved at his face; say among the Gentiles that the Lord has reigned (Ps. 95:9-10). For he had first said: Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth (Ibid. 1). The commotion of the earth, indeed, pertains to the grief of penitence; to sing to the Lord, or to announce among the Gentiles that the Lord has reigned, pertains to the zeal of preaching and to the devotion of divine praise. The cry of each city ascends to heaven, because in the whole world both the truth of preaching and the praises of devotions are proclaimed by the faithful of holy Church, which are taken up to the height of the hearing on high through the reception of divine condescension.

CHAPTER IV.

(1 Kings 6:1.) Therefore the ark of the Lord was in the region of the Philistines for seven months.

i. What are these seven months but the whole length of the present life? Although the men of Ashdod and Ekron cried out, Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around, and let not the ark of God remain with us; nevertheless it is said by the truth of sacred history, that in the type of holy Church we may recognize that the ark of God was in the region of the Philistines for seven months. Therefore it was not the will of evil and impious men, but the dispensation of God that was fulfilled in the salvation of the Gentiles.

Indeed, the impious have already been taken away from the Gentiles; already those who persecuted the confessors of Christ are dead, and yet the ark of God is not removed from the region of the Philistines: because the divine sacraments are preserved among the Gentiles, inebriated by the cup of the Holy Spirit, through diligent care. And it is well said "seven months," because the mysteries of the Holy Scriptures will endure with the faithful of Christ even to the end of the world. But whoever apprehends the mysteries of that same Holy Scripture through the grace of intimate love has been solicitous not about the place in which the ark is temporarily left, but about that in which it is eternally set. Therefore it is also added: (Verse 2.) And the Philistines called the priests and the diviners, saying: What shall we do with the ark of God? Tell us. And how shall we send it back to its place?

Who are those who consult the priests and diviners, if not the faithful of Holy Church, who desire to hold the way of eternal salvation without error? And who are understood as the priests and diviners, if not the preachers of Holy Church? For they are priests by reason of the offering of the sacrament; diviners, however, by the ministry of preaching. For these two things befit the person of a pastor, if both holiness of life and learning of wisdom be present in him: because he is appointed to cleanse the sins of his subjects, and to drive away the darkness of errors by the light of preaching.

Therefore the pastor of holy Church who has the sanctity of life but not the power of divine preaching is indeed a priest, but not a divine. Likewise, if he retains the eloquence of the word without sanctity of life, even if he is seen to be a divine, he is by no means adorned with the honor of the priesthood: because what he preaches in a lofty manner, he tramples underfoot by earthly action. But those who ask about the place of the ark and about sending back the ark of God call both priests and divines: because undoubtedly those who, from the knowledge of divine preaching, love the joys of the life to come, seek for the counsel of salvation neither carnal wise men nor very simple religious pastors. And so they call them priests and divines: because they commit themselves to those who both demonstrate the uprightness of the heavenly journey by the loftiness of their knowledge, and are fit intercessors before almighty God on behalf of their subjects, through purity of life. Therefore they ask about sending the ark back to its place: because from that knowledge of the Scriptures, which they receive in the mysteries of the words, they long to pass to the perfect knowledge of God in eternity. For as it were the ark is sent back, when this little knowledge is completed through the passage of the present life. And we see the glory of the ark of God shown in its place, when from the deep coverings of figures we behold the beauty of the divine majesty with unveiled face.

Concerning this bringing back of the ark in its place, it is said through the prophet: And a man shall no longer teach his neighbor, saying: Know the Lord: from the least to the greatest they shall know me (Jer. xxxi, 34). Hence John promises, saying: When he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John iii, 2). But now let us attend to what counsel the priests and divines give to those who ask, since it must be set aside. For it follows: (Verse 4.) Who said: If you send back the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it back empty, but render to it what you ought for your sin, and then you shall be healed, and you shall know why his hand does not withdraw from you.

What is an empty ark but divine knowledge without good action? For to send back an empty ark is to bear no fruit of good work from the knowledge of spiritual sacraments. Therefore the ark is sent back empty when the mind of one coming to the faith already desires to pass over to the eternal contemplation of God, and yet in no way cares to labor at good works in this life. Therefore by the voice of the preachers it is commanded that, when the ark is sent back, it not be released empty, so that, if anyone who is faithful does not multiply good works, he not presume to trust that he is to pass over to the eternal knowledge of almighty God. But the ark is not sent back empty if that which is owed is rendered to it for sin. What is owed to the ark for sin but the affliction of devoted penitence?

In this place it must be noted that he speaks to those who have been bitten by mice. And who are these who have been bitten by mice, except those who, placed in the illumination of the catholic faith, recall that they acted wickedly either before or after the knowledge of that same faith? For he who committed no crimes before the grace of regeneration, and who retained the gift of regeneration by a worthy manner of life, owes something to the ark, but he does not owe it for sin. He is indeed compelled by the knowledge of the divine word to render the fruit of good work, but he is not pressed by the debt of crimes, which he spurned, to the satisfaction of penance. Therefore let those who are still bitten render the debt to the ark for sin, so that, in memory of their crimes, they may restore a humble offering of penance to almighty God. And then indeed they are cured, because then the wound of conscience is covered over, when the afflicted mind is raised up through penance to the security of hoped-for pardon. Then also they know why the hand of the Lord does not withdraw from them, because then they understand the benefit of compunction, or the good of afflicted flesh, when they rejoice ineffably in confidence of divine indulgence. For what is the grief of penance, except the annoyance of a wound from the striking of demons? For that converted man was still sighing, as it were, in the pain of a wound still sharply stinging, when he said: I am turned in my anguish, while the thorn is fixed (Ps. xxxi, 4). For what does anguish suggest, except the affliction of penance? But he declares himself turned in that same anguish, while he feels the piercing of the thorn.

As if he were saying: While I am bitten by the remembrance of my sin, I do not cease to pay the debt of the ark. For the thorn is driven in when, through the dispensation of almighty God, the soul of the converted is set aflame by the remembrance of its sins unto tears. And the debt of the ark is paid when the measure of lamentation is now extended according to the quality of the sin; when, after long weeping, the light of inward consolation is poured into the long-afflicted mind, and by a divine gift it is lightened from the weight of the inward blow; when almighty God now draws near to the purified mind through the grace of his inspiration, and cheers it with confidence in the forgiveness it has obtained, which he supplies to it from the grace of his presence. For it is as if it were then healed from the blow, when through the grace of forgiveness poured out the magnitude of its pain is removed from the afflicted mind of the penitent.

Hence also he who was being turned in distress, while the thorn was being driven in, joyfully addresses almighty God, the author of his healing, in the same psalm, saying: You are my refuge from the distress that has surrounded me, my exultation (Psalm 31:7). For he calls the most grievous hand of the Lord a distress. Of this blow of the most grievous hand Paul also speaks, saying: For the Spirit himself pleads for us with groanings unutterable (Romans 8:26). He therefore who declares that he has found in the Lord a refuge from distress and an exultation, shows that he has been cured from the blow of inward pain by the joy of divine forgiveness.

Hence he again, still grieving, confesses, saying: To you alone have I sinned, and I have done evil before you (Ps. 50:6). But because he presumes upon his cleansing, he adds, saying: You will give joy and gladness to my hearing, and the humbled bones will exult (Ibid., 7). Therefore the debt of the ark is paid for sin, when sinners are afflicted by the knowledge of sacred Scripture, and strive to wipe away by torment the faults which they drew in by the delight of the flesh. But they are healed when, the measure of affliction now completed, they are raised to confidence in divine pardon through the help of inward consolation. Whence also the Psalmist speaks, saying: You will feed us with the bread of tears, and you will give us drink in tears in measure (Ps. 79:6). For he gives the drink of tears in measure: because truly the sinner, even if he is pricked for his guilt by the inward breathing of God, is raised up from that same affliction of compunction by the same one consoling. Whence also through Moses the Lord says: I will kill, and I will make alive: I will strike, and I will heal (Deut. 32:39). For he strikes and heals: because those whom he wounds through compunction, he cures through the security of pardon. Well, then, is it said to those already healed: And you shall know why his hand does not withdraw from you.

For before they are healed, they cannot know why the hand of the Lord has not withdrawn from them: because they then understand the good of penitence, when in a heart already purified they recognize the grace of the Holy Spirit, and they long for the gifts of divine indulgence, over which they rejoice with ineffable exultation. For the man who is being healed had already perceived that they knew the reason why the hand of the Lord had not yet withdrawn from affliction—he who expresses the exultations of those who were struck, speaking to God and saying: We have been filled in the morning with your mercy; we have exulted and been delighted for the days in which you humbled us, the years in which we saw evils (Ps. 89:14-15). For as if in the night of penitence they had received mourning, who, when the morning—that is, the brightness of divine condescension—appeared, rejoiced that they were filled with mercy, who declare themselves delighted for the days in which they had been humbled: through the gift of healing they are shown to know the weight of the hand of the Lord, why it had not withdrawn from them. But because it is still said by the princes in counsel that what is owed for sin should be returned to the ark, and what that is which is owed is not explained, there is added: (Vers. 4, 5.) Those who, answering, said: What is it that we ought to return for our transgression?

They answered: According to the number of the provinces of the Philistines you shall make five golden tumors and five mice, because one plague was upon you and your rulers. And you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of the mice that have ravaged the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel, if perhaps he may lift his hand from you and from your gods and from your land.

What is it that five likenesses of tumors and as many likenesses of mice are commanded to be made according to the number of the provinces, and thus the debt of the ark is paid? These things, to be sure, if they are weighed in the Jewish manner according to the lowliness of the letter, are not only to be despised but not even worthy of being heard. But he truly receives them worthily who, the viler the things he hears through the sound of the letter, the more useful he understands them to be through spiritual signification. For the Holy Spirit, by whose inspiration all this sacred history is written, would never bring forth such vile things unless in the secret of this vileness he were signifying certain great and exceedingly precious mysteries. Whence the distinguished teacher confesses, saying: All these things happened to them in figure; but they were written for us, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore they are to be sought by the Spirit in that sense in which, in the letter as though in flesh set forth, what they speak is seen to be vile. What then are the likenesses of the tumors, what the images of the mice?

And since we have recounted above that these things pertain both to the tempting demons and to the members of sinners exposed to stench, with what meaning are the likenesses of the anus and of the mice gilded? But indeed, then is the debt of the threshing floor for sin well paid, if the likenesses of the anus and of the mice are fashioned from gold. For in the likeness of the anus, the member that emits stench is discerned: and yet, because it is a likeness, not the truth, it is now defiled by no stench. And because it is made of gold, this indeed it insinuates: that from the splendor of beauty the appearance of deformity is changed. The converted sinner therefore makes a likeness of the anus, when he brings to memory those stench-filled sins to which he had subjected his members. To fashion a likeness of the anus, then, is to recall with a penitent heart the foulness of one's members that recently sinned. And so he does not fashion an anus, but the likeness of an anus, who both washes his members from the stenches of sin and does not omit to recall those same members to which he had subjected himself in sins. And indeed the likeness of the anus is seen to be made of gold, because the foulnesses of sins are changed into the price of eternal salvation. Or perhaps by remembering, the likenesses of the anus are made, and by weeping they are gilded: because both by recalling what we have done, we fashion them, and while we grieve more attentively over our transgressions, we gild our members into the splendor of righteousness.

The likeness of the anuses, then, is beheld, not the truth, because the sinner then looks upon the shame of his own deformity when he not only ceases to practice his wicked deeds by committing them, but also grieves bitterly that he has committed them in the past. But five golden anuses are commanded to be made, because the universal satisfaction of all the Gentiles is enjoined. Whence it is also carefully noted: According to the number of the provinces of the Philistines. For why are there five provinces of the Philistines, unless because the carnal life of the Gentiles is designated? For since each one has applied the senses of the body not to the praise of the Creator but to a carnal life, by the number five the provinces of the Philistines are expressed. They are commanded to make five golden anuses, so that they may be pricked with compunction in all their senses; so that, because all have sinned, they may therefore reduce to the brightness of the heavenly life all the members which they have defiled through the allurements of the flesh with every kind of filth of shameful conduct. For in gold the splendor of the heavenly way of life is shown, because through John it is said of the heavenly city: And the city itself was pure gold, like to clear glass (Rev. 21:18). Therefore the members are gilded over when the body, deformed by the earthly and muddy foulness of its lusts, is changed into the splendor of eternal life: namely, when through the beauty of a holy way of life that shines forth which had been foul with the stench of sins in the appetite for worldly delight.

For to this gilding the blessed Paul was exhorting his hearers, saying: As you have exhibited your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now exhibit your members to serve justice unto sanctification (Rom. 6:19). And as though compelling them to look upon the likenesses of the anuses, he added, saying: What fruit therefore did you have in those things in which you now blush? For the end of them is death. The likenesses of the anuses, then, are made for blushing, because indeed we bring the stains of our foulness to memory, so that we are confounded over those same stains. But they are gilded for security, because indeed when we overlay our deformity with the brightness of the heavenly life, we await the examination of the divine judgment with a certain security.

The mice also, which laid waste the land, are ordered to be made of gold, because even the unclean spirits, which suggest to our flesh the enticements of corruption, are called to mind for our edification. For what is it to make likenesses of mice, except to remember those victories which the malignant spirits had over us? But the likenesses of mice are also gilded, when we sigh, broken by their forces. For while we lament that we have been conquered by their deceits, we hold the likenesses of mice as it were golden, when we hold the past counsels of demons not in the enticement of the deed, but in contempt of reprobation. From gold, therefore, the likenesses of mice are made, because the past deceits of demons profit us unto the splendor of a good life.

For we are all the more lowly in our outward bearing, the more our members shine out with the splendor of a heavenly way of life; and we ourselves, who now by the help of almighty God do mighty things, see that we have been laid low by the deceits of unclean spirits. And this counsel, because they ascribe it to many, they also show the reason for it, saying: Because there was one plague upon you and your satraps. As if they were saying openly: Because you have all been subject to sin, it is necessary that you prepare your hearts alike for the zeal of a better life. Hence Paul also says: All have sinned, and need the glory of God, being justified freely through his grace.

And in order that they may commend more attentively the purpose of a better life, they repeat it by urging it, saying: You shall make likenesses of your tumors and of your mice, which have destroyed the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel, if perhaps he may lift up his hand from you, and from your gods, and from your land. When the likenesses that have been foretold have been made, to give glory to God is, out of zeal for good work and out of the estimation of humility, not to glory vainly in oneself; but to devote to the praises of almighty God everything that is done. And because they say: If perhaps he may lift up his hand from you: what else is understood in this word of doubt, except that the reconciliation of the guilty is shown to be difficult? Hence also it is said through Jonah: Who knows if God may turn and forgive?

Therefore, if it is said that the hand is lifted up, we ought to be moved to tears of penitence with great courage; for if even those who perform austere penance scarcely find confidence of salvation, when can the negligent be saved? And indeed, this difficulty of reconciliation, if it is held in the estimation of the penitent, is by no means found with almighty God; for even while the Ninevites cast themselves down with heavy penance as if for a difficult reconciliation, they easily merited the mercy of almighty God. And when, at the voice of the prophet Joel, the people prostrated themselves before God with bitter lamentation, they surely brought it about that he who seemed difficult to appease mitigated his anger. For immediately it is written in that same book: The Lord has been zealous for his land, and has spared his people (Joel 2:18). Thus the hand is lifted up when the mind, strongly pricked in penitence, is raised up by divine inspiration to the gift of the mercy it has obtained. And because, as I said, at the beginning of the nascent Church, just as the conversion of sinners was general, so also was the reconciliation of the converted general, the hand of God which is asserted to be lifted up is said to be lifted up both from the hearers and from their gods and from the earth. For by "gods" are designated sublime and wise men. For the Lord also says to Moses: I have placed you as a god to Pharaoh (Exod. 7:1). And in the commandment of the Law also it is enjoined: You shall not speak evil of the gods (Exod. 22:28).

By "earth," however, the life of the simple is expressed, because when they receive the preaching of their superiors like the rain of heaven falling upon them, from the watering of the word they bring forth the fruit of good action. Therefore the hand of the Lord is lifted up over the gods and over the earth, when both the wise and the simple are brought to certainty of divine forgiveness, either by hidden and spiritual consolation or by the judgment of preachers. Hence also he who a little above admonished that the members be made golden, saying: Present your members to serve righteousness unto sanctification (Rom. 6:19), as if pronouncing the judgment of the lifted-up hand of the Lord, says: But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end everlasting life (ibid., 22). Hence again, for those converted from the deformity of a wicked life, he marveled at the whole brightness of gold, saying: You were sometimes darkness, but now light in the Lord (Eph. 5:8). Hence the same apostle, praising his own, says: In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world (Phil. 2:13). Therefore, when likenesses of men and women have been made out of gold, and glory has been given to God, the hand of the Lord is lifted up, because after the mourning of penitence, after the improvement of life, and after the humility of self-esteem, sinners are brought back to the full mercy of almighty God.

And because all these things are still enjoined by counsel, some fulfill the counsel of the preachers devoutly, while others despise it—those who extol the good with praises for the splendor of their good life, and are kindled against the proud with the vehemence of rebuke. For it follows: (Verse 6.) Why do you harden your hearts, as Egypt and Pharaoh?

For he hardens his heart like Egypt and Pharaoh who already by the knowledge of sacred eloquence understands the wounds of his sins, and yet through the improvement of his life, through the bitterness of penitence, does not direct his mind to the true joys of the life to come. Well, then, are they likened to the Egyptians in the heaviness of their heart. For Egypt is said to mean darkness. What, then, is understood by the name of Egypt but the multitude of angels that fell from the seats of the heavens? And what is designated in Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, but the very author of darkness, the devil? Well, then, are those who dissemble penitence likened to Egypt and Pharaoh in the hardening of their heart. For the reprobate angels, once fallen from heavenly things, just as they do not recover the love of the blessedness they lost, so they can never do penance for the pride they committed. When, therefore, the holy preachers inveigh against shameless sinners with sharp rebuke, they bring forward the likeness of Egypt and Pharaoh, so that their hearers may rush to satisfaction all the more readily, the more they know that by this—that they are unwilling to do penance—they are like the condemned angels.

Hence they are urgently compelled to the zeal of fulfilling the counsel, when they add and say: (Vers. 7-9.) Take the ark, and make one new cart, and two cows that have calved, on which no yoke has been imposed; yoke them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: and you shall take the ark of the Lord, and place it on the cart, and the golden vessels which you have paid back to him for your offense, you shall place in a little chest at its side, and let it go, that it may depart. And you shall look: and if indeed it goes up by the way of its own borders against Bethsames, he has done you this great evil. But if not, you shall know that his hand has by no means touched us, but it happened by chance.

For by the name of the cart, what is signified but either the whole holy Church at once, or each one faithful soul? Whose wheels, indeed, are the two Testaments. For while the holy Church, or any chosen mind instructed by the old and new Testament, leans toward eternal life, as if borne on lofty wheels, it is carried on high to the place intended. But the cart is commanded to be made new, so that, namely, whoever desires to reach eternal joys may be clothed with the splendor of the new man through the precept of love. For the Lord commanded this cart to be made new, saying: This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you (John 15:12).

Hence Paul enjoins, saying: Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who was created according to God (Eph. 4:23). Hence, addressing the Romans, he says: Not in revelries and drunkenness, not in strife and jealousy, not in beds and impurities, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 13:13). Therefore he makes a new cart who both understands each Testament rightly and, clothed in the splendor of holy conduct, stretches himself out toward desires for things above.

The wheels, too, by which this cart moves, can designate the twofold desire of each of the elect: because whoever now, with God's help, holds the present life as the hardship of a pilgrimage, desires for that reason to arrive at future blessedness: so as to become impassible and immortal; namely, that through the one he may leave behind the misery he dreads, and through the other he may never lose the blessedness he has merited. The cows, however, are the holy preachers. Because they are both distinguished by the twofold precept of charity and beget the souls of converts in a new manner of life, they are rightly designated both by the number two and by the feminine gender. The calves, however, are earthly desires. When the cows therefore draw the cart, they shut the calves up at home: because while they provide leadership for the elect faithful toward the heavenly fatherland, they prevent those desires which suggest a reprobate life to them from coming forth into effect.

They shut in the calves, surely, when they crush proud desires within the conscience at the very beginning of the suggestion, and do not allow them to advance to the effect of the deed. Hence also the cows that have not had the yoke imposed are said to be sought out for drawing the cart: because for the chosen faithful there must be provided preachers who are subject to no burdens of sin through the impurity of diabolical power. Concerning this yoke, indeed, it is said through the prophet: The yoke shall rot away at the presence of the oil (Isa. 10:27). Rightly, moreover, the sequence of the senses agrees with the order of the words: because even if they are free from adverse domination, it is necessary that they always be wary concerning their future conduct. The cows, therefore, are both without the yoke and yet their calves are shut in at home: because the holy preachers dominate the hostile spirits out of virtue, but they do not remove their attention from the depraved desires of the one who subdues them, in that from the holiness with which they see themselves adorned they cannot have perpetual security in this life. And because to such as these the grace of divine knowledge is opened more widely, the ark of the Lord is fittingly commanded to be lifted up and placed upon the cart. But that the ark is commanded to be placed upon the cart for the hearers, this surely insinuates, namely, that in the holy Church we find several orders of prelates: because while some by prerogative are worthier than others, they also obtain the authority of commanding on the summit of a higher order.

When, therefore, the ark of the Lord is commanded to be brought back, it is said to be placed on a new cart: because surely he travels rightly to the eternal homeland with the knowledge of the spiritual sacraments, who does not abandon what he has learned from Holy Scripture through the beauty of a new manner of life.

ii. But at the side of the same ark, the golden vessels that had been returned on account of the trespass are commanded to be placed. For it calls those vessels golden which it mentioned above, saying: You shall make likenesses of your tumors and of your mice. In these vessels, surely, we had said that the memory of sins and temptations is designated. What is it, then, that above it declared them to be likenesses of tumors and mice, and now has called them golden vessels? But there the matter was being treated of what was owed to the ark for sin, whereas here it is of the ark's remission. What is it, then, that these same things are expressed by a more honorable name, except that sins which have not been wiped away by the tears of penitence are to be looked upon and mourned more attentively in their deformity; but those which have already been washed away by great weeping are not to be looked upon more attentively, nor in their deformity, but are at some time to be thought of with the estimation of humility? For, as it were, in the mind of one repenting and grieving bitterly, there is a likeness of tumors and of mice: when, in order that he may mourn more attentively that mass of sin which he has gathered before the eyes of his mind, he sees it heaped together.

But when, after great and long-continued weeping, he has begun, as it were, secure in the forgiveness of his sins, to hasten with the course of a great manner of life toward the heavenly homeland, he now sees, as it were, golden vessels: because he sees his sins, not as those by which he had seen himself bound, but as those which he may devote to the praises of almighty God. And well are these same vessels placed in a little basket at the side of the ark. For if the ark suggests the secret of divine knowledge, the vessels are hung at its side: because while the height of divine knowledge lifts up the mind, our past weaknesses must be brought back to memory for the virtue of humility. They are not, therefore, to be placed before the ark; lest, while we look too immoderately upon our weaknesses, we be unable to be raised up to heavenly things. It is clear, then, that they are hung at the side: so that we may both freely see heavenly things, and, when it is expedient, recall the eyes of the mind to our own weaknesses.

But what is it that they are commanded: And let it go, that it may go? The ark is let go when learned minds of subjects are permitted by their rulers to live freely: namely, that they may hasten to the eternal homeland, no longer by the command of a superior, but by the judgment of their own reason. It must therefore be held, so that it may be placed on the cart; and once placed, it is also let go: because surely the freedom of disposing of their own life is not to be given by prelates to chosen subjects before they receive the instruction of spiritual teaching and a firm habit of good works.

For freedom of living is not rightly granted either to simple subjects who live well, nor to the learned who are weak. The former can be deceived by the cunning adversary all the more easily, since they have by no means learned to detect his snares through spiritual learning; but the latter preserve the good of learning the more difficultly, in that, being learned, they see the tempter's snares, and, being learned, cannot avoid his chains. Therefore the ark is then let go as it were by compulsion, when the cart on which it is to be placed is first built, when the golden vessels that are owed for sin are hung from its side: because, surely, then the life of a subject living freely will be able to be secure, when he has learned by long practice to guard the renewal of the inner man; when from purity of life he grasps the height of divine learning, and among the sublime gifts he does not neglect to recall to humility those things which he remembers he once did wickedly. And this freedom of living, because it is bestowed upon good subjects for the sole pursuit of heavenly love, aptly adds also the reason why the same ark is let go: that it may go, it says. For as if it were saying in other words: For this alone are they to be permitted to live more freely, that they may hasten more swiftly to the heavenly homeland.

But because some subjects are perfect in both conduct and knowledge by human judgment, not by divine judgment, it must be the concern of good rulers that they not then entirely neglect their care for them, when those same subjects think themselves dismissed from their care, but that with pious cunning they explore how those now free are living, whose goods of subjection they had more fully known. Therefore it is also added: And you shall look, and if indeed it has gone up by the way of its own borders against Bethsames, he has done us this great evil. But if not, we shall know that his hand has by no means touched us, but it happened by chance.

Bethsames, as we have already said, is interpreted as house of the sun. But the preachers look upon the dismissed ark, to see whether it walks by the right path toward Bethsames: because even when subjects are dismissed to their own judgment, prelates ought to explore whether they turn the good of liberty to the profit of the heavenly journey. But it must also be carefully noted: that the ark then rightly goes up against Bethsames, when by walking it does not leave the way of the border. For our borders are the elect who are before us: for they are borders who have possessions arranged next to them. Therefore the borders of the elect are the perpetual co-heirs of the eternal kingdom. For they dwell as it were with possessions arranged next to them, who, called into the same fellowship of the eternal patrimony, have obtained the rights of eternal inheritance from the one and the same majesty of the Creator.

Or they are called "borderlands" for this reason: because when the elect come from good conduct to the joys of eternal life, those who live rightly in this world are neighbors to the heavenly citizens. What, then, is the way of the borderlands, if not temporal affliction? The Lord demonstrates this way of Beth-shemesh through himself, saying: "Narrow is the way that leads to life" (Matt. 7:14). He commends it again when, rebuking his disciples, he says: "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe! Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer, and so enter into his glory?" (Luke 24:25). Hence Paul says: "Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:21). Therefore the ark is then directed toward Beth-shemesh when it is seen to ascend by the way of the borderlands: because in the heavenly way of life that person truly makes progress who seeks to arrive at eternal joys not through worldly delights, but through afflictions of the flesh and adversities of the world. But because the ark is said not to go but to ascend, a higher way is indicated when the subjects are left in freedom: because they do not walk rightly along the way of Beth-shemesh if they do not daily advance from good to better. For to ascend by the merits of virtues is to advance daily to better things. But when the ark is rightly led against Beth-shemesh, they ascribe the great evil that they had suffered to the works of almighty God. For they call that striking a great evil, of which it is read above: "The hand of the Lord was upon the individual cities with a very great slaughter.

And because we have referred that same slaying both to the conversion of the Gentiles and to the healthful compunction of delinquent faithful, when the ark is rightly carried against Bethsames, that great evil which had befallen is shown to be from God: because, surely, the end of each of the elect indicates how the preacher's mind may recognize their first works.

For if they fail at the end, it is openly known that their good beginnings were not from the Lord. Whence it is also added: But if not, we know that his hand has by no means touched us, but it happened by chance. What is the hand of the Lord but the only-begotten of the eternal Father? For they are not touched by the hand of the Lord who are separated from their former manner of life not by the inspiration of the divine word, but by a sudden deliberation of their own heart. And indeed they fail from the good they had begun all the more quickly, the less they knew beforehand with what strength that which they had resolved to enter by the narrow way to the eternal homeland was to be carried out. Therefore it is aptly said: It happened by chance. For what happens by chance comes about suddenly and without counsel and foresight. When, then, those who seemed to have turned away from the love of the world, or who seemed to have been converted from unbelief, revive to the wickedness of their former life, it is openly known that they were not slain, as they seemed, by the hand of the Lord, but were separated from their former manner of life by a chance occurrence. It follows: (Vers.

They did this in this manner, and taking two cows they yoked them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home, and they placed the ark of God upon the cart, and the little box which had the golden mice and the likenesses of the emerods.

Since these things have been expounded more fully above, let us now see what the very setting forth of the ark contains in itself concerning spiritual learning. For it follows: (Verse 12.) But the cows went straight along the way that leads to Bethsames, and they went forward on one path, going on and lowing: and they did not turn aside either to the right or to the left.

To go straight along the way that leads to Bethsames is, in the zeal of heavenly perfection, to hold the affliction of the flesh through the discretion of the virtues. For the cows by no means go straight if discretion is not preserved in the affliction of the flesh. Finally, while the flesh is afflicted beyond measure, that same flesh, utterly worn out, is not sufficient to contribute its work to the spirit. And if it is not afflicted worthily, while it is proud, untamed, it disdains to serve the mind as though it were free. Well, then, when the cows are reported to go straight along the way of Bethsames, it is added: Because they did not turn aside either to the right or to the left. For to turn aside to the right is to insist immoderately on the virtue of abstinence: because through a good that is seen, we abandon the way, while we pursue the necessary virtue of abstinence in such a way that we withdraw other helps from the flesh for ourselves. To turn aside to the left is also to indulge in the abundance of the flesh.

For through the fault of an open remission we are turned aside from the way at Beth-shemesh, when we drag the flesh down through pleasures, we who knew that the way of paradise was appointed in affliction.

And because there is no sincerity of a more sparing life if the simplicity of good work does not agree with the purity of intention, it is carefully expressed: And they went along one way. For he walks along one way who preserves the virtue that he displays in good work in a right intention. On the other hand, it is said of each reprobate: Woe to the sinner who enters the earth by two ways (Sir. 2:14). For the sinner enters the earth by two ways when what he does seems to be of God, but from everything that he shows outwardly as religious, he holds within the intention of the world. But the Lord indicates that his elect walk by one way, saying: If your eye is simple, your whole body will be bright (Matt. 6:22). Hence Paul says: This is our glory, the testimony of our conscience (2 Cor. 1:12). Hence David: All the glory of the daughter of the king is from within (Ps. 44:14). Therefore the cows walk by one way toward Beth-shemesh, because the elect, hastening to the eternal fatherland, do good outwardly, but from those same good works they do not seek the rewards of the world.