Bede

Jesse said to David, his son, etc. All the faithful Hebrew people said to the Lord Savior, about to be born of their seed, desiring His advent with eager longing: Take, I beg you, to refresh and help in the spiritual battle your people Israel, who are your brothers; for you have also deigned to become man and to be born of them according to the flesh; take, I say, appearing in the midst of their camps worn out by the daily battle, the form of perfect humility; and deign to freely undergo the observance of the law, to which you owe nothing. For pounded grain signifies the contrite spirit, and the heart broken and humbled. The measure of the ephah, which holds three seahs, signifies the spirit, soul, and body of the Lord Savior Himself, or of each one of the elect, perfectly united and combined with a worthy rite of humility. Indeed, this grain of humility appeared to us in the Lord in His own power, as much as He willed, to instruct us. But in all of us, it can be completed by the lower and upper millstone, that is, fear and hope. The ten loaves brought by David also openly demonstrate the nourishment of completing the Decalogue, which we have not from ourselves but as a gift of the giver. After He Himself was made under the law, He also made the burdens of the law bearable for us; just as by His undue humility, He taught us to be humble by the grace of so many debts, which we could in no way repay. But, He says, from the milk-like tenderness of the same Decalogue, so to speak, and as if still suited to infants, to the strength of spiritual understanding, by which He can refresh and strengthen also the great and distinguished leaders of the heavenly army, convert. Then indeed, our mighty and desirable One, after giving loaves to His brothers, and pounded grain, also brought little cakes of cheese to the tribune, when, after showing to the magistrates of the Jews the example of patience and humility, after not abolishing but fulfilling the mandates of the law and the prophets, He also opened the minds of His disciples, whom He was more intimately instructing as leaders of the Church, so that they might understand the Scriptures.

Therefore, the man who strikes him, the king will enrich, etc. They say, the man who will overthrow the kingdom of the devil, the entire people of Israel acknowledges, distinguished above all nations by royal and priestly mystery, as the possessor of all the riches that are in the heavens and on the earth, that is, as the Lord of the whole world. But also, the early Church, undoubtedly generated from his own flesh, rejoices to be united to this man, outstanding above others, by the bond of a chaste and faithful spouse, and also testifies with unfaltering faith that all his elect will be freed from the bondage of sin and elevated by the freedom of the Holy Spirit. Whether you choose to understand it as the Father of Christ the Lord or as the people of the saints, from whom Christ is according to the flesh, the explanation will hold the same end valid; for there is also one house of all the faithful, living by one and the same faith, hope, and charity, and this same house is of Him to whom it is sung: And let all those who hope in You rejoice, they will exult forever, and You will dwell in them (Psalm V). Such was the faith of the ancients concerning the coming Christ in the flesh, and such is our faith concerning Him whom we rejoice has already come.

And David said to Saul: Your servant was tending, etc. The Lord strengthens the weak in faith, calls unbelievers to faith, urging modestly that amidst the frailties of His humanity, by which He took on our pains, even the exalted aspects of His Divinity, by which He is capable of healing those pains, may be recognized. He Himself, he says, now deformed in the habit of a servant, for the sake of your salvation, was feeding from eternity with heavenly aliments the hearts of all the faithful, namely the flock of My Father. And one of the unclean spirits would come, either exceedingly powerful by strength or cunning with deceit. For both the lion and the bear, although each excels both by strength, yet the bear has more deceit and the lion more strength; and thus one expresses the deceit, the other the violence, each the wickedness of the demons figuratively. They came, he says, and by deceiving they would take away some of the strong leaders of the Church, drawing him into sin from the midst of brotherly society. But I, either through angels or men by openly testifying, or by myself inwardly pricking, such men, having defeated the evil spirits, would call them back to the path of salvation; but these spirits, gravely annoyed, turning their fury to tear at the souls of the faithful that were snatched from their darkness, to blaspheme the worship of My name, promptly turned their rage of madness; whose blasphemy I, by bringing to light and revealing through my prophets, would utterly reduce the whole ritual of idolatry to nothing; catching the wise in their craftiness, I was closing the mouths of the damnable profession, saying: For all the gods of the nations are demons: but the Lord made the heavens (Psalm 95). And: The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they shall not speak, and so forth (Psalm 113). But also by another prophet: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth, and from those things that are under heaven (Wisdom 15); for both all the power and wisdom of the profane, which are wont to be shown through them or through men deceived by them, I was powerfully nullifying myself, who always remaining in the divinity of God, appearing temporarily in humanity to serve the salvation of men. Therefore, this inventor and source of all evil will be as one of his henchmen, that is, he will be caught in his own snares; who dared once to provoke angels in heaven, and afterward men on earth, to curse the Creator; but also unjustly always exacerbate with darts of cursing those who persist in the faith of their Creator, as though they do not serve the true God, the worshipers and devotees of Him, of whom it is said: For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself (John 5). Which he will never cease to say through Gentiles, Jews, and heretics.

David then girded himself with Saul's sword, etc. The sword of Saul is the law, which was given through Moses: the garment of David, the work of grace and truth, which was made through Jesus Christ. Therefore, David, girded with the sword of Saul over his own garment, began to test whether he could proceed if armed. For he said he was not accustomed. Observing for a time the carnal commandment of the law, while the spiritual gift of grace was not yet manifested to the peoples, the Savior began to gradually show that his body, which is the Church, burdened with the ceremonies of the law, could not suffice for the spiritual combat, especially among those who, called from the Gentiles to the faith, had no custom at all of enduring the more severe decrees of the law. Finally, the apostle Peter, contesting and criticizing those who wanted to burden the members of David advancing towards the struggle against the giant with Saul's arms, said: "Now therefore why do you tempt God, by imposing a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus we shall be saved, just as they will."

And he placed them and took his staff, etc. The Lord arranged the sacraments of the law, which He deemed good to adopt for a short time to prove their goodness in its time, and He exercised His power of judgment, which He always used to rule everything, even freely concerning the arrangement of the law. He set aside Saul's armor when He said: For the Son of Man is the Lord even of the Sabbath (Matt. XII). He took his staff, always held in his hands when he was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes and Pharisees. He put on Saul's armor, coming to the singular battle, when, as His passion's struggle approached, He said to His disciples: With desire I have desired, etc. (Luke XXII). He set them aside when he added: For I say unto you, I will not eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God, etc. (Ibid.). In the same manner, He foretold that the Paschal cup, legally observed, should no longer be observed carnally. He took his staff, which he always had in his hands, when, with the mystery of His cross beneficial for the salvation of the world (for the figure of the staff can not improperly be applied to Him, who always had time and manner in His power), He taught His disciples: Taking bread, He gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying: This is my body, etc.