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On 1 Samuel

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1 Samuel 4:5
And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, etc. When the Lord was born in the flesh, all Israel was disturbed, and at the preaching, some were moved to believe, others to contradict; and with the earthly conscience, the praises of heaven resounded.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 4:6
And the Philistines heard the sound of the cry. The fame of the Lord's preaching spoke even to the knowledge of the gentiles.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 4:7
And the Philistines were afraid, saying, "God has come into the camp," etc. The pagans were afraid, recognizing the coming of the true God into the world, to fortify the spiritual camps of the faithful; and the worshippers of many and false gods groaned together with their destroyed cults, and they mutually strengthened one another wickedly to battle against the ranks of faith and truth. For there was not so much exultation yesterday and the day before. Neither in the law, nor before the law, were the hearts of the believers ever so ready for everything out of desire for the heavenly kingdom, whether to endure the things that horrify the earth, or to despise the things they love.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 4:10
Therefore the Philistines fought, and Israel was slaughtered, etc. The adversaries of truth, whether men or their leaders, the unclean spirits, fought against the believers in Christ; by whom, either openly raging, or covertly persuading, or injecting examples of depravity, some were slaughtered either by denial or martyrdom, others were repelled more urgently to abandon the tents of their firm faith.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 4:11
And the ark of God was captured, etc. And the kingdom was taken away from the Jews and given to a nation producing its fruits. The order of the priesthood, which had not behaved rightly, was transferred by the judgment of the Lord.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 4:11
And the ark of God was captured, etc. And with the proclamation of the apostles and the faith of the repenting people spreading far and wide, the grace of God was taken away from the Jews, and that priesthood of legal judgments, once glorious on the throne, fell backward, that is, it turned back on itself and did not fear to take up the sins it once abandoned; it perished with the breaking of its singular pride, and this near that door, namely which he says: "If anyone enters through me, he will be saved" (John 10), near which he sat by the mystery of figures, but by the merit of perfidy did not enter in.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 4:12

But a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line, etc. The people who remained from the Jews perishing because of their perfidy, hearing from the apostles: "Save yourselves from this crooked generation" (Acts 2), came to instruct those who, having been emptied of Christ, still boasted in the law and kept the tabernacle of the Lord in Shiloh without the ark of the covenant; in order to provoke the listeners more easily to repentance, tearing off every old habit, and despising all former reliance on their strength as nothing, appeared in mourning. This man is said to have well descended from Benjamin, that is, the son of the right hand, because indeed the Church, in comparison to the Synagogue, because the heavenly Jerusalem, namely our mother, compared to the present one, stands out as the right hand to the left. This man of Benjamin therefore suggests either the people of the primitive Church or some teacher of that age, the son of the right hand of faith, or certainly the apostle Paul, who also descended from the tribe of Benjamin, who, though he was the last of the apostles, labored…

But a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line, etc. The people who remained from the Jews perishing because of their perfidy, hearing from the apostles: "Save yourselves from this crooked generation" (Acts 2), came to instruct those who, having been emptied of Christ, still boasted in the law and kept the tabernacle of the Lord in Shiloh without the ark of the covenant; in order to provoke the listeners more easily to repentance, tearing off every old habit, and despising all former reliance on their strength as nothing, appeared in mourning. This man is said to have well descended from Benjamin, that is, the son of the right hand, because indeed the Church, in comparison to the Synagogue, because the heavenly Jerusalem, namely our mother, compared to the present one, stands out as the right hand to the left. This man of Benjamin therefore suggests either the people of the primitive Church or some teacher of that age, the son of the right hand of faith, or certainly the apostle Paul, who also descended from the tribe of Benjamin, who, though he was the last of the apostles, labored more than all in preaching (1 Cor. 15).

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 4:13
But when that man had entered, he announced to the city, etc. The teacher evangelized, and the listener repented. For upon hearing the crime they had committed in the slaughter of the Savior, the Jews were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles: "What shall we do, brothers?" (Acts 2).

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 4:13
And when that man arrived, Eli was sitting, etc. When the teacher of the New Testament appeared in Judea, having torn the garment of the letter, the old priesthood still sat on the chair of Moses, although it had lost its light; but against Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. For he feared, as indeed happened, that if he were rejected, the grace of Christ might pass to the Gentiles.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 4:14
And Eli heard the sound of the crying, etc. And the reputation of the repenting people reached even to the ears of the chief priests through the exhortation of the apostles, and it was not gladly received. Finally, while they were speaking to the people, the priests, and the magistrates of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, grieving that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And the apostles did not delay to evangelize even them.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 4:15
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, etc. The legal priesthood at that time lacked two perfections that lead to life, namely faith and works. Therefore his eyes, that is, his announcements, were clouded in understanding, and they could not see Christ in the law. For there was a veil over their heart, which is removed in Christ.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 4:18

The man was an old man, and advanced in years, etc. That priesthood had become aged at that time, once glorious with rich virtue, and it showed, at the appropriate time, judgments of the divine law, which is encompassed in the Decalogue, to the people of Israel through chief priests, elders of the people, scribes, and Pharisees who are also called doctors of the law. Moreover, according to the figurative interpretation of the law, each of us ought to keep the ark of the covenant within the tabernacle interiorly, and, when the time comes, while preparing to fight against the Philistines, he must offer this with himself; that is, he must always maintain firm faith and a chaste conscience; and when the situation demands, he must bring it forth as his aid in spiritual warfare against the impure, be they humans or demons, carrying with him two priests as guards, namely, the vigilant senses of twin love. For the Apostle does not deem just any faith worthy of praise, but rather that which works through love (Gal. V). And if, perhaps, while we are fighting, the impure spirits or heretics sna…

The man was an old man, and advanced in years, etc. That priesthood had become aged at that time, once glorious with rich virtue, and it showed, at the appropriate time, judgments of the divine law, which is encompassed in the Decalogue, to the people of Israel through chief priests, elders of the people, scribes, and Pharisees who are also called doctors of the law. Moreover, according to the figurative interpretation of the law, each of us ought to keep the ark of the covenant within the tabernacle interiorly, and, when the time comes, while preparing to fight against the Philistines, he must offer this with himself; that is, he must always maintain firm faith and a chaste conscience; and when the situation demands, he must bring it forth as his aid in spiritual warfare against the impure, be they humans or demons, carrying with him two priests as guards, namely, the vigilant senses of twin love. For the Apostle does not deem just any faith worthy of praise, but rather that which works through love (Gal. V). And if, perhaps, while we are fighting, the impure spirits or heretics snatch away the ark of faith and kill the priestly and devout senses, it is necessary for a Benjamite man, distinguished by mourning dress, that is, a mind uplifted by the hope of heavenly piety, to come humbly and penitently, bringing back to our minds our errors and inducing the whole city of our ruler into mourning and tears, until, through God's mercy, the captured ark is returned, and a better priest is given to us in place of the lost ones, that is, a more chastened sense, after the labors of penance, and more vigilant and careful. Neither does the time of the seven months during which the Philistines held the ark diverge from the figurative form of penance. For it is well established that the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is said to be sevenfold, must be obtained by undertaking penance for the committed sins and seeking forgiveness; and the Fathers declare that this forgiveness must be sought in seven ways. Indeed, the expositors of the Psalter suggest seven penitential psalms, by which heavenly piety should be implored to obtain the remission of sins. However, there are those who convert the remembrance, recognition, and sorrow of sins not to seek remedy, but as Judas to augment their previous crimes. Since they have become aged among all their enemies, with their eye of the mind disturbed by the wrath of God, they have also lost the light of faith, and suddenly returning to the seat of judicial discretion, immediately perishing, they leave; and although they seemed to have lived discreetly for a while and managed themselves well according to the precepts of the law and the Gospel (for this is to judge Israel for forty years), nevertheless, upon the onset of the trial, they succumb to a miserable death.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 4:19
Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, etc. The Synagogue, entrusted with the children of the legal priesthood to govern, indeed received the seed of the word from the teachers and was near to producing the fruit of faith, which it had long sought, at the Lord's preaching. However, she too, after the fall of the teachers, turned away from the uprightness of living, and although she bore not a small crowd of people, she herself, because she killed the Author of life, gave birth to death.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 4:21
And she named the child Ichabod, etc. Ichabod is interpreted as "woe to glory," or "glory has departed," which no one will nearly dispute as being an apt name for the Jews of that time. But the glory of faith was transferred from Israel to the Gentiles, from the Synagogue to the Church; but at the end of the world, it will return to Israel. Let us rejoice in the glory transferred to us; let us fear for it to be transferred from us to its homeland, which is to be brought back on the wagon of new conversation.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 5:1
The Philistines took the Ark of God, etc. The Gentiles received the word of the Gospel from Judea, where the Lord was born in the flesh, lived, and suffered, leaving the places of His dispensation sacred to the mysteries to this day. And they carried it, with a joyous reputation, into the foreign provinces of the world, which until then were burning with the flames of sins, dissolved by the enticements of the flesh. Hence, Azotus, which is called Eradod in Hebrew, according to its ancient name, signifies dissolution or effusion, or conflagration.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 5:2
And they brought it into the temple of Dagon. And they brought faith into the world, which was set in wickedness, and concerning which the Lord said: When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, all his possessions are in peace; but if one stronger than he assaults him and overcomes him, he will take away all his armor in which he trusted, and divide his spoils (1 John 5; Luke 11). Dagon was strong when he guarded the foolish weapons of paganism in his hall. The ark of faith is stronger, which victorious of this took the spoils of impiety, and made them the weapons and spoils of piety.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 5:2

And they set it beside Dagon. And they erected the churches of Christ among the nations, while in some places the worship of idols still remained. For Dagon, which is interpreted as the fish of sorrow, signifies not only the person, but also by name, him who, existing from the beginning as the author of our miseries, is called by the prophet the king of all that are in the waters. Concerning whom the Lord narrates many things in blessed Job under the figure of Leviathan (Job 40). And whom Tobias, which is interpreted as the good of God, by the guidance of the archangel, draws out from the waves, dissects, roasts, eats, salts, and carries with him for remedies and provision. That is to say, the Lord Savior overcomes by His divine power the devil who desires his fleshly food, snatches him from his hidden traps; and cutting off his members of iniquity, seasoned with the salt of wisdom, and cooked by the fire of the Holy Spirit, transfers them into the members of His body, which is the Church, and through these provides aids of salvation to others. For by means of those whom the Lord sav…

And they set it beside Dagon. And they erected the churches of Christ among the nations, while in some places the worship of idols still remained. For Dagon, which is interpreted as the fish of sorrow, signifies not only the person, but also by name, him who, existing from the beginning as the author of our miseries, is called by the prophet the king of all that are in the waters. Concerning whom the Lord narrates many things in blessed Job under the figure of Leviathan (Job 40). And whom Tobias, which is interpreted as the good of God, by the guidance of the archangel, draws out from the waves, dissects, roasts, eats, salts, and carries with him for remedies and provision. That is to say, the Lord Savior overcomes by His divine power the devil who desires his fleshly food, snatches him from his hidden traps; and cutting off his members of iniquity, seasoned with the salt of wisdom, and cooked by the fire of the Holy Spirit, transfers them into the members of His body, which is the Church, and through these provides aids of salvation to others. For by means of those whom the Lord saves, taken from the devil, He will save both the pagan from the deception of idolatry, and the Jews, from whom He took flesh, from the error of their unbelief at the end of the world. It is clear, therefore, what Tobias signifies, when through the entrails of the dissected fish, he liberates both his wife from the demon, and his parent from blindness.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 5:3
And when they rose early in the morning, etc. The signs of miracles becoming clear through the heralds of faith, the worship of idolatry fell away among those who were able to be converted to Christ; but, although it was betrayed and exposed, which is vanity, it was recovered among those who moved the weapons of perfidy against the truth.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 5:4
Moreover, the trunk of Dagon alone, etc. Moreover, the people, having cast off and eliminated the profession of idolatry, and the operations of the demonic, among those who had advanced in faith, as if near the ark of God, preferred to remain humble and submissive, rather than to be cast out with the devil, that is, to be anathematized by the members of the Church. And the state of Dagon is not asserted to have been restored as before, because after many struggles of the Church, a cessation had occurred, from the defense of false gods, and victory was given to the one true God, Christ.

Commentary on Samuel
1 Samuel 5:4
And again rising early in the morning the next day, etc. As the light of heavenly signs gradually increased, the face of idolatry was confused before the faithful of Christ, and they confessed as earthly and perishable all that they had hitherto done or believed.

Commentary on Samuel