Bede — Commentary on Scripture

1 Samuel 29:3

Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, which hath been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day?

The princes of the Philistines said: What do these Hebrews want? The pagans despise the life, society, and doctrine of the faithful of Christ, who are justly called Hebrews, that is, those who pass over; because they now know how to transit from vices to virtues, in the future to hope for a passage from death to life, to transcend the low desires of the flesh, and likewise all the adversities of the world, the soaring heights of a humble mind.

1 Samuel 29:6

Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the LORD liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless the lords favour thee not.

I know that you are good in my eyes, etc. And the Church, excelling in the praises of the Lord, even adds this: Indeed, I myself know, and with the opened eyes of faith I understand the goodness of your heavenly grace, and that you are the one of whom the prophet foretold: And his name will be called the angel of great counsel (Isaiah IX); that is, the messenger of the Father's will. But the princes of doctrines and cultures of the nations, spurning the help of your protection, trust that they should be saved by their own virtue and industry.

1 Samuel 29:11

So David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

The Philistines had gone up to Jezreel. When David departed with his men, the Philistines went up to Jezreel, that is, to combat in the seed of God, where they had previously assembled in Aphek, that is, in the new wrath. And the reprobates often, having driven away the stronger doctors of the Church from their proximity, exert all their strength to corrupt the weaker ones, whom, out of respect or fear of the former, although raging in spirit, they had previously not presumed to touch and disturb. Not only those who carry arms or argue against the good, but also those who, presenting examples of depravity under the name of brothers, display them to the sight of the pious, ascending into Jezreel, that is, the seed of God, try to infect it with the tares of diabolic seed. We see and hear that the mysteries of this reading are being fulfilled even today in many places, driving the Lord from the hearts of many, and oppressing His chosen ones; but with the approach of the world's end, with the heaps of evils growing, we do not doubt in trembling fear that they must be fulfilled more and m…

The Philistines had gone up to Jezreel. When David departed with his men, the Philistines went up to Jezreel, that is, to combat in the seed of God, where they had previously assembled in Aphek, that is, in the new wrath. And the reprobates often, having driven away the stronger doctors of the Church from their proximity, exert all their strength to corrupt the weaker ones, whom, out of respect or fear of the former, although raging in spirit, they had previously not presumed to touch and disturb. Not only those who carry arms or argue against the good, but also those who, presenting examples of depravity under the name of brothers, display them to the sight of the pious, ascending into Jezreel, that is, the seed of God, try to infect it with the tares of diabolic seed. We see and hear that the mysteries of this reading are being fulfilled even today in many places, driving the Lord from the hearts of many, and oppressing His chosen ones; but with the approach of the world's end, with the heaps of evils growing, we do not doubt in trembling fear that they must be fulfilled more and more.

1 Samuel 30:1

And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;

They struck Ziklag, etc. Ziklag is interpreted as 'distillation of the drawn voice,' which those who strike and set on fire, who confuse the discernment of heard preaching with the battering ram of their arguments, and cast down the tranquility of ecclesiastical faith with the malignant fire of their error. Indeed, this fire is very similar to the one with which the proud king burned the books of the prophet Jeremiah; but contrary is the fire which the Lord sent to the earth and wished vehemently to kindle.

1 Samuel 30:2

And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.

And they had killed no one, etc. Heretics captivate but do not kill; who though they may rob the simplicity of faith from the less instructed, yet they cannot take away the fervor of charity, which is the life of virtues.

1 Samuel 30:3

So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives.

When David and his men came to the city, etc. The Lord, arriving in His elect and Catholic teachers, and seeing the towers and roofs of the Church once shining, leveled to the ground by heretical discourse, first, as is proper, beseeches the Father with tears and prayers for its restoration, and then promptly begins the task of restoration as well. The doctors lament for the churches and souls entrusted to them, which they had brought forth and nurtured for God, corrupted from the simplicity of faith for a time, due to the delayed help of Christ; this is to say, with the advent of David delayed for a time, their wives and children were taken captive. For if His assisting grace were present, they certainly could not have been corrupted.

1 Samuel 30:5

And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

Indeed, even the two wives of David were taken captive, etc. It has already been said above that David's wives signify both the active and contemplative lives of the holy Church, which rejoice to serve the true King in the present. However, the Church has often been enveloped by such a storm from heretics and pagans, as was made clear by the great Arian sedition, that not only the decorum of the contemplative life was lost – which, according to the name Jezrahel, the very Author of graces sowed in the hearts of the serene and humble spirits – but also the constancy of the active life, which those who recently escaped the hands of the ancient enemy are accustomed to exercise, seems to disappear under the force of the persecutor's wrath.

1 Samuel 30:7

And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.

And Abiathar applied the ephod to David, etc. Those things which His saints do by the inspiration of the Lord, He Himself is said to do according to the manner of the Scriptures, since He aids them to do it; just as it is also said of the Holy Spirit, who has power and operation together with the Father and the Son: For He intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered, because He makes those whom He has filled to groan and to pray to the Lord for their salvation. Therefore David, having applied the priestly stole to himself, consults the Lord whether he ought to pursue the robbers; while the pastors of the Church, enlightened inwardly by the grace of their Creator, through the reading of the Holy Scripture, with which teachers must always be clothed in the ministry of the word, seek the counsel of the divine will as to how they should act towards erring ones. The Lord responds that the robbers must be pursued by David, and that the plunder should be recovered from them, just as in the same reading He has taught that heretics must be pursued by the teachers of the Church thr…

And Abiathar applied the ephod to David, etc. Those things which His saints do by the inspiration of the Lord, He Himself is said to do according to the manner of the Scriptures, since He aids them to do it; just as it is also said of the Holy Spirit, who has power and operation together with the Father and the Son: For He intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered, because He makes those whom He has filled to groan and to pray to the Lord for their salvation. Therefore David, having applied the priestly stole to himself, consults the Lord whether he ought to pursue the robbers; while the pastors of the Church, enlightened inwardly by the grace of their Creator, through the reading of the Holy Scripture, with which teachers must always be clothed in the ministry of the word, seek the counsel of the divine will as to how they should act towards erring ones. The Lord responds that the robbers must be pursued by David, and that the plunder should be recovered from them, just as in the same reading He has taught that heretics must be pursued by the teachers of the Church through debate, overcome by overpowering them, and the plunder should be recovered from them by calling back to the Church those souls previously seduced by their deceit.

1 Samuel 30:9

So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed.

David himself therefore went, and six hundred men who were with him, etc. The Brook Besor, which is interpreted as announcement or flesh, or the carnal sense of heretics difficult to correct, or signifies the redundancy of secular eloquence, and equally rapid and violent in its flow, not easily overcome except by the most perfect doctors. Therefore our desirable king, truly strong in hand, went to fight by the word of truth against the stubbornness of those erring, he and his chosen ones proved by the integrity of their work and the certainty of their hope, which the number six, by which the Lord completed His works, and one hundred, which in the reckoning first asks for the right hand in confession, clearly denote. Finally, in the hundredth psalm, the distinction of the final judgment, where the hope of all rightly hoping burns, is openly described, where, with mercy and judgment sung, the faithful of the earth and those walking in the immaculate way are by mercy promoted to the seat of eternal blessedness and the ministry of their Redeemer; but all sinners of the earth by the just…

David himself therefore went, and six hundred men who were with him, etc. The Brook Besor, which is interpreted as announcement or flesh, or the carnal sense of heretics difficult to correct, or signifies the redundancy of secular eloquence, and equally rapid and violent in its flow, not easily overcome except by the most perfect doctors. Therefore our desirable king, truly strong in hand, went to fight by the word of truth against the stubbornness of those erring, he and his chosen ones proved by the integrity of their work and the certainty of their hope, which the number six, by which the Lord completed His works, and one hundred, which in the reckoning first asks for the right hand in confession, clearly denote. Finally, in the hundredth psalm, the distinction of the final judgment, where the hope of all rightly hoping burns, is openly described, where, with mercy and judgment sung, the faithful of the earth and those walking in the immaculate way are by mercy promoted to the seat of eternal blessedness and the ministry of their Redeemer; but all sinners of the earth by the just judgment in the morning of declared action, which had long been hidden, are mentioned to be killed and destroyed from the city of supreme peace. However, while his saints accompany the Lord on the path of truth, when it comes to the point of disputing and overcoming heretics, some often even great men, though not from the purity of believing, yet tired from the skill of speaking, desist. For not all who know how to believe rightly also know how to overcome by reasoning those who think contrary to the right faith. For often the torrent of announcement, or flesh, or their carnal sense, who are unable to grasp spiritual matters, or the urge to pronounce the carnal things they feel stands in the way; which those less skilled may not know how to overcome and, like Elijah or Elisha, break through and disperse by the power of their discretion. This was especially evident in the Nicene Council, where among so many and such great doctors gathered from the whole world, hardly anyone at first, except Athanasius, the deacon of the Church of Alexandria, could be found who knew how to contend with Arius, immediately detect his evasions and deceits, and defeat them. Where a certain pagan philosopher, much armed with Aristotelian arguments, challenging the Christians very frequently, could be overcome by none of the doctors even distinguished in dialectical art, until one bishop of remarkable sanctity arose, utterly ignorant of sophistical speech, but distinguished in the wisdom of divine faith, and with simple yet truthful prosecution throughout nullified his multifaceted cunning. Therefore, only those who are either strengthened by an outstanding grace of the Spirit in faith or pre-taught with greater skill in disputing can suffice to cross such a torrent by teaching. They are rightly remembered as four hundred who pursue robbers, for they eminently excel in prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice, because they rejoice to fight for the Gospel; rightly two hundred who, though tired, hold back; for there are those who, while they do not know how to defend faith and action by disputing, do not fail to exercise it by living.

1 Samuel 30:11

And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water;

And they found an Egyptian man in the field, etc. The Catholic teachers hastening to engage in the battle with the heretics often find men abandoned by them, notable for the dark stain of their sins, unable to follow the teachers of error to devastate the Church due to the tenderness of their intellect; and they bring them to hear the Catholic faith, giving them the bread and water of the word; but they also add the sayings of preceding teachers, who, from the most beautiful tree of the present Church, as it were, from the fig tree, or severed at the brink of life and death, throughout the entire year of this current age which is now being lived, do not cease to preserve the mature memory of their teaching to refresh the souls of the faithful. And they well give a fragment of the dough, because they suggest not complete works to such people, but the sayings of the fathers deemed sufficient. They well give two clusters of grapes; because they show that they are to be united to Christ and the Church by the bonds of dual love.

1 Samuel 30:12

And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.

Who, when he had eaten, etc. When he had received the nourishment of the true faith, he also received the confidence of mind by which he would hope to obtain the grace of mercy.

1 Samuel 30:13

And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick.

David therefore said to him: Whose are you, or from where? etc. It is a rule of the Church to inquire of those who defect to her from heretics through their teachers; who, before they fled, what they thought about faith, to where they tend in the future in mind. And when they have known them to contradict heresies with full intensity, and to favor the Catholic faith, then and only then should they apply the sacraments of the same faith to be reconciled with them, lest they seem to throw holy things to the dogs, and pearls to the swine. Of whose, he said, are you listeners, and of what, or to which sect are you proposing now to belong? It is necessary to reply, he who seeks to escape the snares of the heretics: I confess, I have been darkened by sins, having been devoted to listening to the heretics; but my master, who imbued me with errors, has left me: because where wars were waged against the Church, he found me less suitable in tongue or intellect for this contest; nor did he wish to take me any further into such a conflict with him. Truly, we breaking out from the south, that is…

David therefore said to him: Whose are you, or from where? etc. It is a rule of the Church to inquire of those who defect to her from heretics through their teachers; who, before they fled, what they thought about faith, to where they tend in the future in mind. And when they have known them to contradict heresies with full intensity, and to favor the Catholic faith, then and only then should they apply the sacraments of the same faith to be reconciled with them, lest they seem to throw holy things to the dogs, and pearls to the swine. Of whose, he said, are you listeners, and of what, or to which sect are you proposing now to belong? It is necessary to reply, he who seeks to escape the snares of the heretics: I confess, I have been darkened by sins, having been devoted to listening to the heretics; but my master, who imbued me with errors, has left me: because where wars were waged against the Church, he found me less suitable in tongue or intellect for this contest; nor did he wish to take me any further into such a conflict with him. Truly, we breaking out from the south, that is, light, promising our perfect and Spirit-breathing doctrine, and brought not a few of the gentiles to our sect, and in no small part obstructed the faith of the Church.

1 Samuel 30:15

And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.

And David said to him: Can you lead me to this band? etc. David is advised to find and conquer the robbers, who is left sick by the Amalekites; because there are those who, having lived among heretics, by the laziness of their mind, do not have the strength to harm the good, and the same ones, suddenly favored and touched by divine grace, acquire sufficient strength from God to resist the perverse; indeed, it is much more convenient and certain through those who know the secrets of the heretics, being converted to the Catholic, their errant sayings are confounded. But what he asks to be sworn to him, that he will not be killed, and that he will not be handed over to his master, so that he will reveal to them the hostile band of persecutors; this surely he asks from his spiritual teachers, that only on this condition will he disclose to them the secrets of the heretics, if they show him without any doubt the faith by which he may escape perpetual death; nor allow him to be subjected again to vain doctrines.

1 Samuel 30:16

And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.

When he had led him, behold, they reclined, etc. Heretics recline on the face of the earth, eating and drinking; whether they read the obscure or the clear Scriptures (for this is the difference between eating and drinking), they always seek not the heavenly things through these, but the earthly, nor can they say with the Apostle: "But our conversation is in heaven" (Philippians 3). And as if they celebrate a feast day for the spoils they had plundered from the land of the Philistines and Judah, regarding their inventions, by which they had taught some pagans to err worse under the pretext of Christ's name, or turned the faithful away from the path of truth, as the best light of knowledge, they joyfully say: "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118).

1 Samuel 30:17

And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled.

And David smote them, etc. Christ smites heretics in two ways: either by chastising them to receive the faith or by anathematizing them to endure eternal punishment. Both of these forms of smiting extend from evening to evening, because they reach from the recognition of the error darkening the hearts, to either the bitterness of the same error's repentance for a time or eternal punishment. Indeed, the four hundred men, who with camels escaped the sword of David and as many of his soldiers by fleeing, are surely those who, despising the voice of Catholic teachers, neither agree to be corrected by them nor fear to be condemned; but, relying on the height of their virtues, or rather, on their swelling pride and boastfulness, just as on a camel’s hump, they boast that they equally hold the name and number of evangelical perfection, and hope to obtain the joys of the heavenly life.

1 Samuel 30:19

And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.

Therefore David rescued everything, etc. By conquering or correcting or avenging, or exposing the wicked doctrine of the heresies' founders, the Lord rescues the souls they had deceived and brings them back to the unity of Catholic peace.

1 Samuel 30:21

And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted them.

David came to the two hundred men, etc. After the victory over the plunderers, David equally enriched those who were weary and stayed behind, with those who fought, with a share of the spoils. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom (Jerem. IX). We cannot all do everything. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Yet all laboring at different times in the same vineyard of the Lord, will receive the same denarius of life in contemplating the image of the supreme king.

1 Samuel 30:26

And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the LORD;

And he sent gifts from the spoil to the elders of Judah, etc. The Lord loves and urges all the members of His Church, in various persons, conditions, and ages, to always rejoice in His victory, in the perpetual increase of His kingdom, and whenever they see souls previously corrupted by the devil's sedition restored to the Church, to glorify and bless the Father who is in heaven. He especially delights to see those doing this who have preserved their love in a pure heart and have held on to the sayings or examples of the saints in the diligent memory of a chaste conscience. For this is the true David exulting and either hosting or defending his men. Likewise, any catholic teacher, when investigating, exposing, and conquering the thorns of heretics, must not delay revealing these things to other brothers, whether by conversing or even writing, for the sake of the knowledge of avoiding and overcoming such things. And note, not only in believing in God but also in loving neighbors, the heretics greatly differ from the catholic and gentiles greatly from Christian perfection. The Amalekit…

And he sent gifts from the spoil to the elders of Judah, etc. The Lord loves and urges all the members of His Church, in various persons, conditions, and ages, to always rejoice in His victory, in the perpetual increase of His kingdom, and whenever they see souls previously corrupted by the devil's sedition restored to the Church, to glorify and bless the Father who is in heaven. He especially delights to see those doing this who have preserved their love in a pure heart and have held on to the sayings or examples of the saints in the diligent memory of a chaste conscience. For this is the true David exulting and either hosting or defending his men. Likewise, any catholic teacher, when investigating, exposing, and conquering the thorns of heretics, must not delay revealing these things to other brothers, whether by conversing or even writing, for the sake of the knowledge of avoiding and overcoming such things. And note, not only in believing in God but also in loving neighbors, the heretics greatly differ from the catholic and gentiles greatly from Christian perfection. The Amalekites leave behind their tired and dying companion of their journey and expose him as if to be torn apart by wild beasts and birds. But David prepares his tired companions in a safe place for battle and enriches them with abundant peace and blessing upon his return. The title of the fifty-second psalm also recalls this lesson, which reads, "To the end for Amalech, the understanding of David," signifying Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom. X), for the understanding of the figurative David in bearing with, persecuting, and fighting the Amalekites, what the city of the true David is to suffer from the faithless and what he himself is to repay to them. But the text of the psalm, very easy to understand, throughout rejoices in the mysteries of this lesson; because it begins with the endeavors of the wicked faithless saying, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God' (Psalm LII)," either claiming there is no God who cares for human affairs or considering within a foolish heart that any person in the holy Trinity is not truly God; and it ends in the triumph of the true David, "When the Lord restores the fortunes of His people, Jacob will exult and Israel will rejoice (Psalm XIII)."

1 Samuel 31:1

Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.

And the men of Israel fled before the face of the Philistines, etc. They who seemed strong in contemplating the will of God, which the name Israel signifies, were deceived when they imprudently followed the works and teachings of the Gentiles, and they perished corrupted in the luxurious pride, which the name of Mount Gilboa, meaning slippery, signifies. But the downfall of heretics was also helped greatly by secular wisdom. Hence, one of our own beautifully said, Philosophers, the patriarchs of heretics, stained the purity of the Church with perverse doctrine.

1 Samuel 31:2

And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons.

The Philistines attacked Saul and his sons, etc. The surrounding nations attacked with full intention to destroy the kingdom of Judea and to remove the sons of that kingdom from their midst, and they corrupted the priests, Scribes, and Pharisees with their corruption, namely the sons and teachers of that kingdom. They even prevented the heretics from preaching or worshiping the grace of the Holy Spirit with a simple heart, which is to strike Jonathan, that is, the gift of the dove. They forbade praising the Father, who made us his sons not by nature but by adoption, with worthy confession; which signifies the killing of Abinadab, that is, my voluntary Father. They opposed believing that salvation would come to the world in the kingdom of Christ; which indicates the killing of Melchisue, who is called My King Salvation, I believe. A philosopher, who seduced Arius, killed Melchisue as if; who Macedonius, Jonathan; who Manichae, Abinadab, because namely that one taught to deny the omnipotence of the true king Christ, that one to derogate from the gifts of the Holy Spirit, this one to bl…

The Philistines attacked Saul and his sons, etc. The surrounding nations attacked with full intention to destroy the kingdom of Judea and to remove the sons of that kingdom from their midst, and they corrupted the priests, Scribes, and Pharisees with their corruption, namely the sons and teachers of that kingdom. They even prevented the heretics from preaching or worshiping the grace of the Holy Spirit with a simple heart, which is to strike Jonathan, that is, the gift of the dove. They forbade praising the Father, who made us his sons not by nature but by adoption, with worthy confession; which signifies the killing of Abinadab, that is, my voluntary Father. They opposed believing that salvation would come to the world in the kingdom of Christ; which indicates the killing of Melchisue, who is called My King Salvation, I believe. A philosopher, who seduced Arius, killed Melchisue as if; who Macedonius, Jonathan; who Manichae, Abinadab, because namely that one taught to deny the omnipotence of the true king Christ, that one to derogate from the gifts of the Holy Spirit, this one to blaspheme the goodness of the highest Father, master of corruption.