Appendix Ad Libros Regum

APPENDIX TO THE BOOKS OF KINGS. On the unity of faith and charity, which is the fullness of the law. What is one man! Not only is that one called such, but all the competent are called one. All having one wisdom confess one Christ Jesus; they are filled in one Spirit of God; whence the Apostle says: All indeed run, but one receives the palm (1 Cor. 9:24). Each of the foolish is not one, but many, because according to Scripture the fool, like the moon, changes. The moon, though it appears to be one in substance, through the change of days is always other and different from itself; so sinners, who are always changing in knowledge and desire diverse things. But God is called one, not by number, but because He is never made other than Himself. Therefore He never changes, as it is: You, however, are the same yourself, and your years do not fail (Ps. 101:28). From Mount Ephraim. That is, not from valleys, nor from plains, nor from hills. From Mount Ephraim, which is interpreted as fruitfulness; that is, therefore, from a fruitful mountain, the Lord says: The Lord of mountains, not of valleys.

Elcana is interpreted as "possession of God." That man had two wives: the first, more noble, Anna, was barren, just as the first wife of Abraham, the more noble Sarah, was barren; the second, the Egyptian Hagar, was more lowly. And Abraham became a father from the lowly one, yet later a father from the noble wife. Thus Elcana, who is "possession of God," first becomes a father from the second wife, because God had closed the womb of his Anna, just as He first closed the womb of Sarah. After the birth of Phenenna, God opened the womb of Anna. Phenenna is interpreted as "conversion," Anna is interpreted as "grace." Whoever wishes to become a possession of God should lead these two wives and join to himself first the one who is more noble, grace; for this one is first joined through faith, as the Apostle says: "For you have been saved by the grace of God through faith" (Eph. 2:8). Secondly, he joins Phenenna, that is, conversion, because after the grace of belief comes the correction of morals.

Phenenna first bears us sons, because we first produce the fruits of the world. And unless we turn away from evil, we cannot become spiritual fathers from Anna. Phenenna has sons, but they do not serve; yet they are not empty, for they eat from the divine sacrifices. Therefore, each one who turns from sin generates works of righteousness from that conversion. And afterward, Anna, stirred by a good zeal, pours forth a prayer to the Lord, that she herself might bear sons who serve God—that is, sons of grace, who are devoted to God. In the Gospel, the pattern of this history is shown. Namely, Martha busies herself with frequent service: she carries out the works of active life, and through these, as it were, she generates sons of active life. And Mary, sitting at the feet of the Word of the Lord, is said to have chosen the better part, and is understood to produce, as it were, twin grace. Thus Anna bears her son Samuel, who serves God, of whom it is said: "Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his name" (Psalm 98:6); which is interpreted as: "Where God Himself is." For where the spirit of grace is, there God is said to be, as Paul says. And falling on her face, she adored God, saying: "Truly God is in you.

Unless the works of conversion precede, we cannot generate the gifts of the spirit in Silo. Silo is the name of the place where sacrifices were offered before the temple was built in Jerusalem, and where the purification of sins took place. Silo is interpreted as "uprooting" or "unshoeing," that is, the loosening of the shoe. Moreover, the place where sins are purified is called "uprooting," where the stony heart is uprooted; and "unshoeing," because all of us, until we come to the holy place, are shod; but when we arrive at it, we are ordered to be unshod. As it is said to Moses: "Loose the strap of your shoe, for the place on which you stand is holy ground" (Exod. 3:5), so that he might cast off the signs of mortality, which are signified by leather shoes. Whence the Savior says: "Nor sandals on your feet," indeed for those who would tread that way. He who says: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." For no one treads the way of life with the sign of mortality.

of Silo was carried out. Silo, where Eli is, a man less praiseworthy; for because of sin he fell backward and expired. If anyone turns backward from faith and truth, it is necessary that he fall and immediately die. Eli is interpreted as "foreigner"; indeed, a foreigner from God, who does not hold to discipline, and does not think of his son, does not correct or amend him, who indulges vices. Eli's son Hophni is interpreted as "high of conversion," because he is far removed from purification, which converts to the Lord. We know two Phinehases in Scripture: the just one, son of Aaron, and the unjust one, son of Eli. Phinehas signifies "obturation of the mouth" and "sparing." There are both among priests today: he who spares his mouth, and every evil word does not proceed from the priest, is compared to Phinehas son of Aaron. Those priests who have an obturated mouth, whether from inexperience or vice or consciousness of sins, are compared to the son of Eli.

Until she weaned him from milk. Samuel is driven away from the rational breast of Anna, because he who is offered to God could not be brought forward before he was weaned from milk; as long as he is a child in his senses, Paul says: I have given you milk, not solid food. Everyone who is first converted from heresy to the faith is nourished on milk: the language of justice is foreign to him, and he has no capacity for discerning good and evil. A little child cannot ascend to the temple of God, nor take part in the ministries of the priests; but his mother does not ascend either, though she could ascend; for grace is his mother, who preserves him and nourishes him. And Anna prayed, and said: She is not found to pray except through only two words, and she says: I have rejoiced in your salvation. And the other is: Because there is no God besides you. But the Apostle says: Pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). For one who is engaged in divine office, all his deeds and words are reckoned as prayer, because the just man without ceasing does what is just. For this reason the just man will pray without ceasing. And in the Psalms it says: The raising of my hands is the evening sacrifice (Psalm 141).

He raises his hands, his deeds. Alternatively, as Moses raised his hand, Israel conquered; when he lowered it, however, Amalek conquered, because as long as the servant raises his deeds to the Lord, the people of God conquer; but when he has lowered his deeds, Amalek, the enemy of God, conquers. He says, "Love": My heart rejoiced. He necessarily added, "in the Lord." As Paul said: Rejoice in the Lord (Philippians 4:4). Because one can rejoice in carnal things. When men praise me, I do not rejoice in the Lord; if I rejoice, I am pricked. On account of the word of the Lord, the horns of the just. Either saying: In you we will toss our enemies with the horn (Psalm 43:6). In Greek, a joyful testimony. Because, therefore, we seek the horn or we will toss with the horn. The horns of the just, because the just are crushed by the points of Christ's cross. In these we will destroy the adversarial powers from our soul. Then a vine is planted in us. My mouth was opened, that is, through meditation on the word of God we come to the elevation of the heart, even as the Apostle says: My mouth was opened to you, O Corinthians (2 Corinthians 6:11). For from the height of the heart, wisdom is ministered to the mouth.

Because I am washed in your salvation, that is, if I have rejoiced in the salvation of the Lord, then my mouth is opened wide. There is no saint like God. He uses a distinction: he did not say, "except the Lord," but "there is none like the Lord." There is no God except you, that is, nothing of those things which exist naturally. Who alone is that; to whom, what he is, has been given by no one. For shadow compared to body is nothing, and smoke compared to fire is nothing. Do not multiply speaking of lofty things. As Solomon says: Do not seek things higher than yourself (Ecclus. 3:22). Concerning which it is commanded to you to understand this: Do not multiply speaking, except about the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, so that what we speak may become fully manifest? After these three, speak nothing. Let no idle talk go out of your mouth, as the Apostle says: Who will free me from this body of death (Rom. 7:24)? Otherwise: The angel of Satan, who strikes me (2 Cor. 12:7). That is, do not speak great things about myself. Let no boastful speech go out of your mouth. Do not incline my heart to words of malice for making excuses in sins (Ps. 140:4).

And Solomon says: The lazy man seeks excuses, and says: A lion is outside. The same says: The devil will mock me, as a woman seduced me (Proverbs 18:1; 22:13). The just man is first his own accuser; the unjust man is not his own accuser, but of others. So long as one sins, he is neither just nor his own accuser. For he who acts does not accuse. The bow of the mighty is weakened. If you are clad in the arms of God—the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit—the bow of the mighty will be strengthened by such defenses. And the weak are girded with strength, as it is: God has chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the strong (1 Corinthians 12:8). The weak people is the Gentile, who, alien to the Testament of God, has acquired strength, as the Prophet says: My strength and my praise is the Lord (Psalm 117:14); that is, strength itself is Christ. Our sterile mother is the Church. And she has given birth to seven, that is, the number seven.

And my flesh, having many fruits of the flesh—fornication, uncleanness, shamelessness, idolatry, sorceries, contentions, rivalries, incitements, dissensions. Barren, that is, the soul, which once did not bear fruits of justice; nor was it filled through the faith of Christ with the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, and of counsel, and of fortitude, and of knowledge, and of piety, and of fear of God. God kills and brings to life. He kills me, when I was dead in sin, and then he brings me to life, when he makes me live for God. The true David, keeping his father's sheep, seized the lion and killed it. The title of the psalm is: To David himself, when his son was pursuing him. We read this deed in the books of Kings: that he, not unjustly loved, but piously humbled, received from the Lord a discipline, endured a medicine, not a requital for iniquity. That David is not the one you will give, but the other David, strong of hand, is the Lord Jesus Christ.

For those past deeds were figures of future ones. Let us recognize how even Christ was persecuted by his own son. Christ had sons, of whom he said: "The sons of the bride do not fast as long as the bridegroom is with them." Among them was the persecutor Judas. Concerning the marriage of a deceased or near relative. By law, the marriage of the wife of a deceased brother or near relative was transferred, so that the seed of the brother or relative might be raised up. Hence it is that Ruth, although herself a foreigner, yet because she had had a husband from among the Jews, who had left a surviving relative, Boaz saw her gathering the sheaves of her harvest, with which she fed her mother-in-law, and he loved her. He did not take her as wife otherwise than by first untying his shoe, to whom the wife was owed by law. A simple story, but deep mysteries; for one thing was being done, another was being figured. For Christ, who was to come from the Jews, was being designated, who would raise up the seed of his relative, that is, of the dead people, by the seed of heavenly teaching.

Whose nuptial shoe was being worn down by the spiritual laws written for the joining of the Church? Not Moses the bridegroom. For we say to him: "Remove the shoes," lest from the similarity of the name he be believed to be the bridegroom of the Church. There was no other bridegroom, but only Christ, of whom John said: "He who has the bride is the bridegroom" (John 3:29). Therefore, his shoe is removed; this one's cannot be removed, as John says: "I am not worthy," he says, "to untie the strap," and so forth. Therefore, only Christ is the bridegroom: to whom that bride, coming from the Gentiles, formerly poor and fasting, but now rich through my Christ, and fruitful, binds the remnants of the abundant harvest of the word in the lap of her inner mind, so that she might feed that widow, exhausted by the death of her son and destitute, the mother of a dead people, with new nourishment, not leaving her abandoned, and seeking new ones. Therefore, only Christ is the bridegroom, who would not begrudge even the synagogue itself the sheaves of its own harvest. (If only she herself did not exclude herself, she had those whom she would have gathered by herself, because her people died, as if a native son had died, she gathered through the Church the sheaves by which she might live, which those coming in exultation carried, as it is written: "But those coming will come," and so forth.

Etcana, the venerable father of Samuel, who was the possession of God; for Helcana is translated as "into the possession of God." By the strength of his mind he is called a man, and not merely a man, but indeed a single man is he named. For he was not carried about, wandering into diverse things, like something changeable and unstable, but, steadfast and unshaken, he was a single man. And for this reason he dwelt on fruitful Mount Ephraim, that is, in another contemplation of virtues, so that the sublimity of his mind might not be cast down, nor its unity shattered, by any underlying and barking thoughts of vices. David, fleeing with his companions from the face of Saul, prefigured Christ, who, with the apostles, would hide from the prince of the world, except to the priests, so as to show that the priestly food was to pass into use for the prophet. Either because we all ought to imitate the priestly life, or because all sons of the Church are priests, offering themselves as spiritual sacrifices to God.

Therefore David entered the house of the priest, and the priest, with the threat of death before him, did not refuse the guest; so that either morally we may willingly transfer dangers upon ourselves for the sake of hospitality, or mystically priests may not exclude Christ from the hospitality of their minds even at the risk of death. Where Christ, taking up the spoils of spiritual wickedness, despoiled that Goliath of his own spoils and arms, there David asked for loaves. But he received only one, because food for the faithful is prepared not by the five books of Moses, but by the body of Christ. Doeg, however, the keeper of the unfruitful herd of camels, fulfills the type of the traitor Judas. But in the house of Ahimelech, only Abiathar, the chief of the priests, was immune from the persecutor Saul... because no one can harm Christ, the chief of priests. What then? Because David, who did not return evil for evil, when Saul and Jonathan fell in battle, curses the mountains of Gilboa, saying: Mountains of Gilboa, let neither dew nor rain come upon you, nor let there be fields of firstfruits, because there the shield of Saul was cast away, as if he were not anointed with oil. What then, did the mountains sin when Saul died, so that neither dew nor rain would fall upon them? But because Gilboa is interpreted as "descent," through Saul, anointed and dead, the death of the mediator is expressed; not undeservedly, the mountains of Gilboa signify the proud hearts of the Jews: which, while they flow down in the desires of this world, have mingled themselves in the death of Christ, that is, the anointed one.

And because in them the anointed king dies bodily, they themselves are dried up from every drop of grace, concerning which it is well said that they cannot be fields of firstfruits. For the proud minds of the Hebrews, not bearing firstfruits, because for the most part they remained in perfidy at the coming of the Redeemer, refused to follow the beginnings of the faith. For holy Church, made fruitful in the firstfruits by a multitude of nations, scarcely at the end of the world receives the Jews whom she finds, gathering them as remnants, placing them like the gleanings of the harvest; concerning which Isaiah says: If the number of the sons of Israel were as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved (Isaiah 10:22). Finally, the mountains of Gilboa can be cursed by the mouth of the prophet for this reason, so that while the fruit does not arise from the parched earth, the possessors are nonetheless struck by the loss of sterility, inasmuch as they themselves would receive the sentence of the curse, because they deserved, by the demand of their own iniquity, to receive the death of the king among themselves.

Thus, quite often, any given thing is, through history, a virtue; through signification, a fault. Just as sometimes a deed, in its actual occurrence, is a cause of condemnation, but in writing, it is a prophecy of virtue. We will show this truth more quickly if we bring forward the deed of David, proving both points with a single testimony. Who, upon hearing—not only among the faithful, but even among the unbelievers themselves—does not detest that David, walking on the rooftop, coveted Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah? Yet he urged the man returning from battle to go home and wash his feet. Uriah immediately replied, saying: “The Ark of God is under tents, and shall I rest in my own house?” David received him at his own table and handed him letters by which he was to die. But whose type does David, walking on the rooftop, hold, if not that of him of whom it is written: “He has placed his tabernacle in the sun” (Psalm 18:6)? And what is it to take Bathsheba, if not to join the law of the letter, united to the carnal people, to a spiritual understanding for himself?

Bethsabee is called "the seventh well," because through the knowledge of the law, the infusion of spiritual grace ministers perfect wisdom to us. And whom does Urias signify, if not the Jewish people? His name, when interpreted, is said to mean "my light of God." The Jewish people, however, because they are lifted up by the knowledge of the law they have received, boast as if of the light of God. But David took this Urias's wife and joined her to himself, because, evidently, the one who is called David, the Redeemer appearing in the flesh, when he made known that the law speaks spiritually about himself, by this, that which was held according to the letter, he showed to be foreign to the Jewish people, and joined it to himself, declaring that he is preached through it. Nevertheless, David urged Urias to go home and wash his feet, because the incarnate Lord, coming, commanded the Jewish people to return to their conscience and wipe away the filth of their works, so that they might understand the commandments of the law spiritually, and, after such hardness of the precepts, finding the font of baptism, might run to the water after their labor.

But Uriah, who remembered that the ark of God was under hides, replied that he could not enter his own house. As if the Jewish people were to say: I see the commandments of God in carnal sacrifices, and I do not seek to return to conscience through spiritual understanding. For he speaks as if the ark were under hides who understands the precepts of God only for the purpose of performing the ministry of carnal sacrifice. Yet David summons him, even though he is unwilling to return home. Because although the Jewish people disdain to return to conscience, nevertheless the Redeemer, coming, preaches spiritual commandments, saying: If you believed Moses, you would perhaps also believe me; for he wrote of me (John 5:46). Thus the Jewish people hold the Law, because it speaks of his divinity, to which same people disdain to give credence. Hence Uriah is also sent with letters to Joab, by which he was to be killed, because the same Jewish people carry the Law, by which, as it convicts, they die. For while, retaining the commandments of the Law, they strive to fulfill them, they themselves undoubtedly bear the judgment by which they are condemned.

For Gaza, and Ascalon, and Accaron will suffer various punishments. Gaza is interpreted as "his strength." Therefore, all who applaud themselves in bodily strength and worldly power, and say with the devil, "I will do a mighty deed," will be torn apart on the day of the Lord's wrath and reduced to nothing. Ascalon, indeed, which is interpreted as "weights" or "fire of the murderer," when the day of wrath comes, will feel the measure of its crime and will be crushed by the same weight with which it operated. And because it burned to shed blood and scandalized many souls, and it was fulfilled in it: "We abhor a man of blood and deceit, O Lord," it will not be torn apart like Gaza, but reduced to desolation, it will be burned by the fires of Gehenna down to dust. Moreover, Azotus, which is called in Hebrew "ea David" and in our language sounds like "fire of generation," will testify with clear light. For it burned with lust and was destroyed by the fire of generation; and because all who commit adultery, like an oven, their hearts, were wounded by burning arrows. Not in darkness, not in secret judgment, but at midday—that is, when the saints receive full clarity—they will be cast into darkness and will not have the fellowship of the saints on the day of judgment.

But Accaron, which is interpreted as "barrenness" or "uprooting," because it had no fruits, and by the perversity of its teaching uprooted many, will itself be uprooted. Understand all these varieties in the vices and sins of souls. And that the work of each one, whatever it is, fire will test. Therefore the weak often judge many things that are said by the strong, because they are ignorant that in the case of the kicking oxen, the Ark of the Covenant, having been tilted and already believed to be falling, a Levite wished to set it upright, and soon received a sentence of condemnation. For what is the mind of a just man but the Ark of the Covenant? which, carried by kicking oxen, is tilted, because sometimes even one who presides well, while he is subjected, stirred by the confusion of the peoples, is moved to the condescension of dispensation out of love alone. But in this, which is done dispensationally, the tilting itself of strength is thought by the inexperienced to be a fall. Whence also some subordinates send a hand of reproof against this, but immediately the merits of life itself fail.

Oza is rightly so called, who is interpreted as "robust of the Lord." For all presumptuous persons, unless they believed with audacious mind that they were robust in the Lord, would by no means judge the deeds or words of better men as if they were weak. I will give you kings in my fury. If, therefore, with God angered, we receive rulers according to our merits, we read in their action that we should consider only estimation, although often the elect are subject to the reprobate. Hence David also endured Saul, because he was then worthy of being oppressed by such great harshness of a superior. Thus, just as the merits of subjects are, so are the persons of rulers granted, so that often those who seem good, once having seized the reins of government, are changed, as Scripture says: "He who changed his heart along with his dignity." Whence it is written: "Behold, when you were small in your own eyes, I made you head of the tribes of Israel." Thus, according to the qualities of subjects, the deeds of rulers are arranged. So that often, because of the evil of the flock, even the life of a truly good pastor sins. For that David, praiseworthy with God as witness, that David conscious of heavenly things, sinned by numbering the people. And yet the people received the punishment while David was sinning.

Why is this? Clearly, the order of rulers is arranged according to the merit of the peoples. A just judge, however, corrects the sin of the offender by means of the very persons through whose cause he sinned. But because he, swelling with pride in his own will, does not accept punishment for a fault from which he is not free, he himself also receives the penalty for the fault. For the raging anger, which physically struck the people, also laid low the ruler of the people with deep grief of heart. Now the cows went straight along the road that leads to Bethsames, proceeding and lowing, and they did not turn aside either to the right or to the left. What, then, do the cows signify, if not the faithful in the Church? They, while considering the precepts of sacred eloquence, carry the ark of the Lord as if placed upon them. Concerning this, it is also to be noted beforehand that they are recorded as having been with calf, because there are many who, placed inwardly on the way of God, are outwardly bound by carnal affections, but they do not turn aside from the straight path, those who carry the ark of the Lord. For behold, Baal Bethsames means "house of the sun." And the Prophet says: "But for you who fear the name of the Lord, the sun of justice will rise" (Malachi 4:2). Therefore, if we are heading toward the dwelling of the eternal sun, it is certainly fitting that we do not turn aside from the way of God on account of carnal affections.

The whole matter must be weighed with all earnestness: the cows placed under the yoke of God’s wagon go forward and groan; they bellow from their depths, and yet they do not turn their steps from the path. So indeed must the preachers of God’s word, so must the teachers, so must all the faithful within holy Church be: that they may have compassion on their neighbors through charity, and yet not stray from the way of God through that compassion. Snow, therefore, can now be understood as the brightness of innocence and grace, now as the winter and cold of charity. But what we read in the books of Kings—that Benaiah, one of the mighty men of Israel, went down into a cistern and struck a lion in the time of snow—I think the snow is placed indifferently in those passages, because both the grace of Christ, which shone forth in this world, and the cold of God’s charity, by which men have grown cold, could be signified by the name of snow in sacred Scripture. Benaiah, however, we understand figuratively as the Savior, because according to the force of his name he is the Lord the builder; concerning whom the prophet had foretold that through him the Church would be built, saying: “The Lord builds Jerusalem.” And again: “He built Sion”; which word, in the making of Eve, who bore the type of the Church, Scripture placed in its proper meaning, saying: “And the Lord God built the rib which he had taken from Adam into a woman.” And Paul, seeing her being built, says: “You are the building of God.

Why is Samuel called three times? Because he was a prophet, a priest, and a leader. David reigned first from the tribe of Judah for forty years. Rehoboam for ... years. Abijah ... Asa the just ... Joram ... Ahaziah ... Athaliah ... Joash ... Amaziah ... Azariah ... Jotham ... Ahaz ... Hezekiah ... Manasseh ... Amon ... Josiah ... Jehoahaz ... Jehoiakim ... Jeconiah ... Zedekiah ... fourteen, three years, forty-one, seven years, fifty years, four years, eleven years, six years, fourteen years, sixteen years, twenty-nine years, fifty-five years. RUBRIC. Here begin the chapters from the book of Ezra. On the seventy years of captivity, etc.