Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Anna, exulting over the birth of Samuel, sings a hymn to God, and at the same time prophesies concerning Christ. Then, at verse 12, the sins of the sons of Eli are narrated. Next, at verse 18, the ministry of Samuel, and the births of five children to Anna who was blessed by Eli. Finally, at verse 22, Eli rebukes his sons, but too gently: hence, at verse 27, he is reproved by God through a Prophet, who therefore announces the calamities about to befall both himself and his sons and descendants.
Vulgate Text: 1 Kings (1 Samuel) II:1-36
1. My heart has exulted in the Lord, and my horn is exalted in my God; my mouth is enlarged over my enemies; because I have rejoiced in Your salvation. 2. There is none holy as the Lord is: for there is none other beside You, and there is none strong like our God. 3. Do not multiply speaking lofty things, boasting: let old things depart from your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and to Him thoughts are prepared. 4. The bow of the mighty is overcome, and the weak are girded with strength. 5. They that were full before have hired themselves out for bread: and the hungry are filled, until the barren has borne many: and she that had many children is weakened. 6. The Lord kills and makes alive, He brings down to hell and brings back again. 7. The Lord makes poor and makes rich, He humbles and He exalts. 8. He raises up the needy from the dust, and lifts the poor from the dung heap, that he may sit with princes, and hold the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He has set the world upon them. 9. He will keep the feet of His saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness, because no man shall prevail by his own strength. 10. The adversaries of the Lord shall fear Him, and He shall thunder upon them from heaven: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and He shall give empire to His king, and shall exalt the horn of His Christ. 11. And Elkanah went to Ramatha to his own house: and the child was a minister in the sight of the Lord before the face of Eli the priest. 12. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial, not knowing the Lord, 13. nor the office of the priests to the people; but whoever had offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest came, while the flesh was being boiled, and had a flesh-hook with three prongs in his hand, 14. and he thrust it into the kettle, or into the cauldron, or into the pot, or into the pan: and all that the flesh-hook brought up, the priest took for himself; so they did to all Israel that came to Shiloh. 15. Also before they burned the fat, the servant of the priest came and said to the one sacrificing: Give me flesh to cook for the priest; for I will not accept boiled flesh from you, but raw. 16. And if the one sacrificing said to him: Let the fat first be burned today according to custom, and then take as much as your soul desires. He would answer and say to him: By no means; for you shall give it now, otherwise I will take it by force. 17. The sin of the young men was therefore very great before the Lord; because they drew men away from the sacrifice of the Lord. 18. But Samuel ministered before the face of the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. 19. And his mother made him a little coat, which she brought to him on the appointed days, going up with her husband to offer the solemn sacrifice. 20. And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife; and said to him: The Lord give you seed of this woman, for the loan which you have lent to the Lord. And they went to their own home. 21. And the Lord visited Anna, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters; and the child Samuel was magnified before the Lord. 22. Now Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel; and how they slept with the women who waited at the door of the tabernacle; 23. and he said to them: Why do you do such things, which I hear, very wicked things, from all the people? 24. Do not so, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear, that you make the people of the Lord to transgress. 25. If a man sin against a man, God may be appeased in his behalf; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall pray for him? And they did not hearken to the voice of their father, because the Lord willed to slay them. 26. But the child Samuel advanced, and grew, and was pleasing both to the Lord and to men. 27. And there came a man of God to Eli, and said to him: Thus says the Lord: Did I not plainly reveal Myself to the house of your father, when they were in Egypt in the house of Pharaoh? 28. And I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to go up to My altar, and to burn incense to Me, and to wear the ephod before Me; and I gave to the house of your father all the sacrifices of the children of Israel. 29. Why have you kicked at My victim and My offerings which I commanded to be offered in the temple; and you have honored your sons more than Me, that you should eat the firstfruits of every sacrifice of Israel My people? 30. Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: I said indeed that your house and the house of your father should minister in My sight forever. But now the Lord says: Far be this from Me; but whoever shall glorify Me, him will I glorify: but they that despise Me shall be despised. 31. Behold the days come, and I will cut off your arm, and the arm of your father's house, that there shall not be an old man in your house. 32. And you shall see your rival in the temple, in all the prosperity of Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house for all days. 33. However I will not altogether take away a man of yours from My altar; but your eyes shall fail and your soul shall pine away: and a great part of your house shall die when they come to man's estate. 34. And this shall be a sign to you, that shall come upon your two sons, Ophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall both die. 35. And I will raise up to Myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to My heart and My soul, and I will build him a faithful house, and he shall walk before My Christ all days. 36. And it shall come to pass, that whoever shall remain in your house, shall come that it may be prayed for him, and shall offer a piece of silver, and a roll of bread, and shall say: Put me, I beseech you, to one priestly office, that I may eat a morsel of bread.
Verse 1: Hannah's Canticle
1. My heart has exulted in the Lord. — This is Anna's canticle, or as St. Augustine calls it, a 'hymn,' in which she gives thanks for past and present benefits, and prophesies of future things in Christ at verses 5 and 10. It is therefore partly a Eucharistic canticle, partly a prophecy, says Theodoret, Procopius, and Abulensis, although St. Augustine, Book 1 of the City of God, chapter 4, would have the whole be a prophecy about Christ and the Church, which is true in the allegorical sense. For Anna, say Theodoret and Procopius, because she conceived a prophet, also shared in the grace of prophecy, just as Elizabeth and the Blessed Virgin did.
Hence the canticle of Zechariah on the birth of John the Baptist, and the canticle of the Blessed Virgin on the conception of Christ, 'My soul magnifies the Lord,' etc., are very similar to this canticle of Anna, and repeatedly agree with it word for word, as is clear to anyone comparing them.
Hear what St. Bernard writes about the Canticle, Sermon 4 on the Song of Songs: 'It is not a noise of the mouth, but a jubilation of the heart; not a sound of the lips, but a movement of joys; a harmony of wills, not of voices; it is not heard outside, for it does not resound in public; but only she who sings hears it, and He for whom it is sung, that is, the Bridegroom and the Bride.'
From what has been said, it is clear that this canticle was inspired in Anna by the Holy Spirit and is part of Sacred Scripture.
And my horn is exalted in my God. — 'Horn,' that is, my strength and glory; for the horn is a symbol of both; for oxen, deer, and rhinoceroses have their strength, honor, and glory in their horns: hence also the rays of royal crowns are called horns, as Pierius shows, Hieroglyphics 7. For Samuel gave the royal crown to Saul and to David. The sense is, as if she said: God made me, who was weak and lowly, indeed infamous for my barrenness and exposed to the reproaches of Peninnah, strong and glorious, by miraculously making me fruitful and giving me a son Samuel, who will be the strength and glory both of myself and of all Israel. So Abulensis, Vatablus, and others. Hence St. Jerome in his Questions takes 'horn' to mean her son Samuel, who came forth from Anna, just as a horn comes forth from the head of a rhinoceros. For just as a rhinoceros tosses and pierces wild beasts with its horn, indeed even elephants, so Samuel tossed and scattered the Philistines, the enemies of Israel. Hence St. Gregory says: 'She, therefore, whose horn is lifted up in God by exaltation, confesses her God in a singular way; because that supreme infusion of divine sweetness exalts the mind and makes it receptive of Him, and very familiar with Him.'
My mouth is enlarged over my enemies — as if she said: Now I have something to answer Peninnah with my mouth, and her children and relatives, who are my rivals and reproach me for my barrenness; for by displaying my Samuel I shall impose silence on them.
Because I have rejoiced in Your salvation. — In Hebrew, 'in your salvation,' by which You saved me and freed me from the evil and disgrace of barrenness. So the Chaldean, Vatablus, Jansenius, Cajetan. Mystically, in Christ; for He is our salvation; hence the Septuagint translate it with 'soteriō,' our Vulgate with 'salutare' or 'salutarem,' that is, the savior of the world. So St. Augustine, Book 17 of the City of God, chapter 4. Hence it is clear that there is no true joy in the world except in God and Christ. Hear St. Chrysostom, Book 3 On Anna: 'Not because I have been saved, but because I have been saved through You, therefore I rejoice and exult. Such are the souls of the saints: they rejoice more in God who gave than in the gifts; it is characteristic of the grateful, that is, of servants, to prefer their Lord to all their own things; when we have sinned, let us grieve not because we are punished, but because we have provoked the Lord; and if we have done any good, let us not rejoice on account of the kingdom of heaven, but because we have done something pleasing to the King of heaven; for to one who has understanding, it is more fearful than hell to offend God, and more desirable than any kingdom to please God.'
And a little later: 'Such also was this woman; she took refuge in God in all things, and having received grace she rejoiced more in God the giver.' So also David: 'My heart,' he says, 'and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God,' Psalm 83, verse 3.
Hear St. Bernard, Epistle 143: 'That,' he says, 'is the true and only joy which is conceived not from the creature but from the Creator; and which when you possess it, no one will take from you; compared with which all other pleasantness is sorrow, all sweetness is pain, all that is sweet is bitter, all that is beautiful is ugly, and finally whatever else could delight is troublesome.'
Origen adds concerning Elkanah: 'As often as we rejoice in God, so often do we scourge the devil.'
Verse 2: The Holiness of the Lord
2. There is none holy as the Lord is. — Anna celebrates first the holiness of God, because this is the first and most noble attribute of God, on account of which He is most worthy of adoration, and of all veneration, obedience, sacrifice, and worship. Secondly, because God declared His holiness in Anna's childbirth: both because He defended her innocence and uprightness against the envious Peninnah; and because He faithfully fulfilled the promise tacitly given to her by all concerning offspring to be born by miracle; and because He gave her Samuel, whom He was about to make a most holy prophet and the sanctifier of Israel; all of which flowed from God's holiness, like rays from the sun, and were His gifts and benefits.
For there is none other beside You — the true God, holy by essence, and uncreated and immense holiness itself, about which St. Augustine says in the hymn: 'You alone are holy.' The Septuagint translate: 'there is none just like the Lord,' where 'just' can be taken as 'holy,' or rather 'just,' because He justly defended my innocence against my accusers.
And there is none strong like our God. — For 'strong' the Hebrew has 'tsur,' that is, 'rock,' on which we stand secure and safe against storms and hunters, according to Psalm 104, verse 18: 'The rock is a refuge for hedgehogs.' From 'tsur' is derived 'Tor' and 'Tyre,' the most famous and fortified city of Phoenicia, because it was surrounded on all sides by the sea, so that it was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years, and was conquered by Alexander the Great only with great difficulty. For Tyre in Hebrew is called 'tsur' or 'tsor,' because it was built on a rock, and like a promontory was exposed to the sea and the storms of the sea. Such a rock, such a 'tsur,' such a Tyre is God to Anna and to the pious, so that they need fear neither men, nor demons, nor lions, nor fires, nor torments, nor death.
Hear St. Bernard, Sermon 61 on the Song of Songs: 'The martyr stands dancing and triumphing, although his whole body is torn and the iron probes his sides, not only bravely but eagerly he watches the sacred blood boil forth from his flesh. Where then is the soul of the martyr? Surely in safety; surely in the rock, surely in the bowels of Jesus, in the wounds that lie open for entering. If it were in his own bowels, the iron searching them would surely feel it; but now dwelling in the rock, what wonder if he has hardened like the rock? Nor is it surprising if, an exile from the body, he does not feel the pains of the body. Nor does numbness cause this, but love. For sensation is subdued, not lost.'
Verse 3: Against Boasting
3. Do not multiply speaking lofty things, boasting. — That is, you, O Peninnah, and your sons and relatives, who have proudly boasted of your fruitfulness and happiness, with contempt and scorn for me and mine. For 'lofty things' the Hebrew has 'gebaha geboha;' the Chaldean, 'great things, great things;' the Royal version, 'high, high;' Cajetan, 'loftiness upon loftiness,' that is, very high, lofty, great, and sublime things, which exceed your powers. Hence others translate: 'Do not speak eminent lofty things;' Theodoret, 'do not speak sublime things by way of boasting;' Origen, Book 1 on Job: 'Do not speak proud things in pride.'
Let old things depart (in Hebrew, 'go out') from your mouth — that is, the old proud speeches already spoken, with which you were accustomed to boast and to insult me in my barrenness. The Chaldean translates 'old things' as 'blasphemies;' the Septuagint as 'boastful speech;' others as 'harsh or proud word,' according to the saying of Prudentius in the Psychomachia: 'Cease speaking grandly, God breaks all that is proud. / The lofty fall, the inflated burst, the swollen are crushed.'
And the saying of Nazianzen: 'The wind inflates empty wineskins, and self-esteem inflates fools.' She adds the reason, saying:
For the Lord is a God of knowledge. — As if she said: Do not proudly boast and glory, because God knows and foresees all things, future as well as past and present, and connects the former with the latter; therefore He knows that your glory is to be turned into disgrace, your happiness into unhappiness, your abundance into poverty, by His decree and punishment.
And to Him thoughts are prepared — as if she said: To God your insolent and ambitious thoughts are prepared, that is, open, known, and present, so that He may crush, overwhelm, and chastise them with His contrary thoughts, that is, with His counsels, judgments, and decrees. Thus God turned Nebuchadnezzar, glorying in his Babylon, into a beast, Daniel chapter 4, and Belshazzar his son, glorying in his banquet, writing on the wall: Mene, tekel, peres — He slew him that same night through Cyrus, Daniel chapter 5.
Now God is called in Greek from 'theasthai,' meaning 'to see,' because He sees all things; hence the Egyptians called God the eye of the world. Hear St. Augustine, Epistle 37 to Fortunatianus: 'God is all eye, all hand, and all foot, because He sees all, works all things, and is everywhere.' See what was said on Ecclesiastes chapter 16, verse 16 and following, and chapter 24, verse 19.
And to Him thoughts are prepared — as if she said: All the thoughts of men and angels lie open to God, and by Him they are directed, moderated, fulfilled, or broken and shattered. God is the one who directs and accomplishes the things we think, desire, and boast about, or scatters and overturns them, just as He fulfilled my desires for fruitfulness, but dissipated and destroyed the envious and arrogant thoughts of Peninnah. In Hebrew for 'prepared' is 'nithkenu,' that is, they are weighed, numbered, balanced, measured, as if she said: God measures our thoughts and sees whether they are too great or too small, just or unjust, wise or foolish, so that He may know whose thoughts to fulfill and when and how, and whose not to fulfill — for example, to accomplish Anna's desires, not Peninnah's, as if she said: I praise God who accomplishes the things I thought and desired; therefore I glory in Him, not in myself, because the barrenness which I could not overcome by my own powers, He by His divine power overcame and removed.
This is what Solomon says, Proverbs chapter 16, verse 2: 'All the ways of a man are open to His eyes: the Lord is the weigher of spirits;' where I said much on this matter.
Secondly, 'thoughts' here can be taken not only of men but also of God Himself, as the Septuagint translate: 'God,' they say, 'preparing His own designs;' and the Chaldean: 'The Lord,' he says, 'extending His judgment over all His work,' as if to say: It belongs to God to accomplish not only what we think and desire, but also what He Himself thinks and desires concerning us; for often He thinks and wills different things than we think and wish, and then He does what He thinks and wills, not what we do; just as here He planned to make Anna fruitful and to exalt her, not Peninnah. Hence the Chaldean translates: He will repay you the vengeance of your sins; Theodotion: God preparing His exercises, that is, accomplishing His counsels; Symmachus: there are no pretexts and excuses before God; Vatablus: His endeavors are accomplished; Pagninus: His works are directed, that is, they reach the end to which they are directed by Him. For God measures His thoughts and desires by His omnipotence, which is as great as His will and intellect; therefore He can accomplish all that He thinks and wills, and actually does accomplish it; whereas we wish many things that we cannot accomplish.
The sense therefore is, as if she said: 'He is the Lord of knowledge,' because He knows future things as well as present, indeed He Himself rightly and justly orders and disposes all things; for He prepares thoughts, so that He may cast down the insolent and puffed up, such as Peninnah, but console and exalt the humble and wretched, such as I was, just as He exalted the barren Sarah when the insolent Hagar was brought low; therefore let no proud person trust in present prosperity, let no humble and wretched person despair in adversity; because God will exchange the turns and lots of both, so as to make these happy and those unhappy.
Hence some, reading 'lo' with aleph instead of 'el,' translate: the thoughts of God are not measurable (by men or angels), according to Paul, Romans chapter 11, verse 33: 'O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments, and how unsearchable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?'
Tropologically, Rupert says: 'Thoughts are prepared as an offering for the Lord of knowledge. If you wish to merit or obtain from Him the gift of knowledge, not many offerings of rams and bulls, but holy thoughts are the preparation for that gift.'
Hence see what you think. For God sees through not only actions and words, but also the innermost thoughts and intentions, and will reveal and judge them before the whole world on the day of judgment, according to Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12: 'The word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword, and reaching to the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.'
Finally, some explain it thus: 'The Lord is a God of knowledge,' that is, God is most knowing, because He knows how to turn all men's thoughts and efforts to whatever He Himself wishes to happen; therefore men's thoughts are prepared for Him, just as material is prepared for a craftsman, so that from it he may make what he wishes. Thus He turned the brothers' plans of selling Joseph into Joseph's good and exaltation, namely that he might become a prince in Egypt; thus He turned Peninnah's insults and curses into praise and honor for the patient Anna.
Verse 4: The Bow of the Mighty Broken
4. The bow of the mighty is overcome (Septuagint: is weakened), and the weak are girded with strength. — The antistrophe to this verse is that of the Blessed Virgin: 'He has put down the mighty from their seat and has exalted the humble.' Anna proclaims the omnipotence of God from the fact that He has often cast down the strong from their strength, and conversely has made the weak strong. Hence the Chaldean translates: 'And those who were weak have been made manly,' as if to say: God made the strong like men to be weak like women, and conversely made the weak like women to be strong like men — just as He has now made Peninnah, who seemed strong in bearing so many children, to be weak so that she bears no more, and has made me Anna, who was barren, strong for bearing, so that I have borne Samuel and am to bear five more children; for this verse depends on the following verse: 'Until the barren has borne,' etc. She calls 'bow' strength, power, fortitude, because before the invention of cannons men fought with bows, as the Indians and Tartars still do.
But properly she calls 'bow' the biting tongue of Peninnah, who hurled taunts and mockeries like arrows at Anna, which Anna as a weak and barren woman heard in silence. But God broke this tongue and these mockeries when He made Anna fruitful, and thus made her stronger than Peninnah. So Lyranus, Hugo, Abulensis, and the Gloss.
Moreover, this saying is general; hence it can be applied to many. First, therefore, St. Gregory applies it to St. Michael and his angels, and to Lucifer and his demonic followers, who were the highest and most powerful, compared to whom Michael and the angels seemed to be lesser and less powerful: 'Whom God,' says St. Gregory, 'cast down from heaven, so that in the fallen angels man might learn what to fear; for what shall become of the bronze vessel, if God does not spare even the golden ones that are full of the stench of pride?'
Secondly, Origen in his Homily on Elkanah applies this maxim to demons, who are most powerful spirits, and to men, who are made of flesh and therefore most weak: 'And yet you,' says Origen, 'if you are clad in the armor of God, if fortified with the shield of faith, and covered with the helmet of salvation, and the breastplate of charity, and girded with the sword of the spirit, the bow of the powerful will be weakened against you because of such defenses.'
Thirdly, Bede and Origen apply it to pagan philosophers and to the faithful common and simple people, of whom the Apostle says, 1 Corinthians 1: 'God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.'
Fourthly, St. Jerome in his Questions applies it to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and to Moses and the Hebrews: for Pharaoh, powerful in horses and chariots, pursuing the Hebrews through the Red Sea, was drowned in it, while the Hebrews came out safe and strong. In a similar way you may apply it to the Canaanites, who though they were giants and powerful in war, the unwarlike Hebrews under the leadership of Joshua defeated.
Fifthly, St. Augustine, City of God Book 17 chapter 4, St. Gregory, Theodoret, Angelomus, and Bede apply it to the Jews and the Gentiles. For the Jews, strong in the law, were weakened through Christ: but the Gentiles through Him were raised up and made stronger than the Jews.
Sixthly, Lyranus applies it to the Pharisees and the Apostles; for the unlearned, poor, and weak Apostles overthrew those who were noble, learned, and powerful, through the grace of God: 'Who formerly,' says St. Gregory, 'feared the words of women, afterwards with boldness broke the authority of princes.'
Finally, Euthymius, Cajetan, and Dionysius apply it to the proud and the humble; for the powerful and strong glory in their own strength, while the weak humble themselves in their weakness and invoke the help of the mighty God; hence the latter are strengthened by the Lord, whose help and strength they feel they need; but the former are deprived of their strength, because they do not acknowledge that they received it from God and depend on Him: 'That no flesh should glory before God,' but should attribute all the glory of its strength to God from whom it is given. And this is the reason why God often works greater things through the weak than through the strong, so that 'he who glories may glory in the Lord,' says the Apostle, 'for the power of God is made perfect in our weakness,' 2 Corinthians 12:9. See what was said there.
Verse 5: The Hungry Filled
5. They that were full before have hired themselves out for bread, and the hungry are filled. — The antistrophe to this is that of the Blessed Virgin: 'He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty,' Luke 1. See what was said there. Literally, God often impoverishes and afflicts with famine the wicked who were full of wealth and food, so that they are forced to hire out their labor to earn bread and exhaust their strength by toil: hence Aquila translates 'they wore themselves out;' as happened to the Prodigal Son, who was forced by hunger to feed pigs and to eat their husks, Luke chapter 15. Thus God on account of sins often sends barrenness and famine on peoples, as He sent on the Egyptians and the whole world in the time of Abraham, Genesis chapter 12, verse 10, and in the time of Joseph, Genesis 41, and in the time of Moses, Exodus 10:14, and in the time of Ruth, chapter 1; but the pious who were hungry God fed, indeed He fed others through them, as is clear of Joseph feeding Egypt and the whole world, of Abraham, Genesis 12, of the Hebrews whom He nourished with manna in the desert for forty years. Thus He wore out the Jews besieged by Titus with hunger, so that mothers devoured their own children, while Christians who had left the city abounded in food. Thus Anna here, not eating on account of the sorrow of barrenness, chapter 1, verse 7, was hungry, but now that the sorrow was dispelled by childbearing, eating she was satisfied and cheered; but Peninnah, formerly happy and full, now grieving, began to loathe food, and perhaps she and her children were reduced to such poverty that they were forced to hire out themselves and their labors to gather bread; for this is what Anna hints at here.
Mystically: God satisfies the faithful and pious with wisdom, with the preaching and teaching of the word of God, with the Eucharist and the Sacraments, while He deprives the Jews and other wicked of them. So St. Ambrose, Sermon 12 on Psalm 118: 'The rich,' he says, 'were in need and hungered, because those who formerly abounded in grace, afterwards on account of their faithlessness began to be in want; but those who were poor peoples of the nations, now through faith in Christ are satisfied and abound; as it is written: The poor shall eat and shall be satisfied.'
Anagogically, God satisfies the saints who fast here with eternal delights in heaven, but torments the wicked who gorge themselves here with everlasting hunger in hell, according to Isaiah 65:13: 'Behold My servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry; behold My servants shall drink, and you shall be thirsty; behold My servants shall rejoice, and you shall be confounded.' Hear Tertullian, On Spectacles chapter 28: 'Things are arranged by turns; now they rejoice, and we struggle.' And shortly after: 'Let us therefore mourn while the pagans rejoice, so that when they begin to mourn, we may rejoice.'
The same, On Idolatry chapter 13: 'While the world rejoices,' he says, 'let us mourn, and afterwards when the world mourns, we shall rejoice. So also Lazarus, having obtained refreshment in Abraham's bosom, and the rich man on the contrary, placed in the torment of fire, compensate the alternating turns of evils and goods by a rivaling retribution.'
And St. Augustine, Sermon 227 on the Seasons: 'The poor man,' he says, 'buys blessedness with his begging, and the rich man buys punishment with his wealth.'
Until the barren has borne many. — This sentence depends on verse 4; for she now celebrates the power of God who weakens the strong and strengthens the weak, and assigns something extraordinary and supreme to it. This is what 'until' signifies; for in Hebrew it is 'ad,' for which the Septuagint translate 'because;' the Chaldean, 'also;' Vatablus, 'so that.' The sense therefore is, as if she said: The most powerful God often weakens the strong and strengthens the weak, until, that is, to such an extent that He makes the barren, such as I was, bear seven, that is, many sons; but stops the births of the fruitful woman abounding in children, such as Peninnah was, so that she becomes barren, indeed He gradually takes away the children already born, or makes them poor, wretched, and weak. So St. Jerome in his Questions, Abulensis, Vatablus, Jansenius.
The Hebrews relate that as many of Peninnah's children died as were born to Anna, so that when Anna's firstborn Samuel was born, Peninnah's firstborn died, and so on thereafter; but St. Jerome and others refute this. Thus 'until' signifies the extreme and summit of something, 1 Kings chapter 30, verse 4: 'They wept until tears failed them.' And 2 Kings 23:10, of Eleazar: 'He struck the Philistines until his hand failed.' And 3 Kings chapter 18, verse 28, of the priests of Baal: 'They cut themselves according to their custom with knives and lancets, until they were covered with blood.' Wisdom 10:13, of Joseph: 'He did not leave him, until He brought him the scepter of the kingdom.'
For 'many' the Hebrew has 'seven.' Hence Josephus says Anna bore seven sons; but in verse 21, only five are counted, so that with Samuel added they are six. Some Rabbis substitute Samuel's two sons, to make seven offspring of Anna. Again, Rabbi Solomon assigns two of Peninnah's sons to Anna to make seven, because whenever she gave birth, two of Peninnah's sons always died. When only two remained, she preserved them by asking Anna for her prayers: but these are their fables, as Origen calls them in his homily.
I say therefore literally: Anna bore seven, that is, many children. For the number seven is a symbol of multitude. Anna prophesied by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit about the children she was going to bear, verse 21.
Allegorically, Peninnah signifies the Synagogue of the Jews, which has now ceased to bear children for God; Anna signifies the Church of Christians, which begets very many children for God from all nations. Hence the Chaldean translates: 'the barren woman shall be filled with offspring,' namely very many. So Origen, Theodoret, Procopius, and St. Augustine, City of God Book 17, chapter 4.
Symbolically the Kabbalists say: Anna bore seven, because Samuel and 'scheba,' that is seven, express the same number by their letters, namely 377. More sublimely, Philo in his book That God is Immutable says: The number seven is the symbol of the most perfect rest and the Sabbath; hence it signifies a soul reclining and resting in God, such as Samuel's was: 'For Samuel,' he says, 'enrolled in the order of God's ministers alone, serving no one else, is honored by the One and the Being; because it is the state of the septenary soul resting in God and occupied with no mortal affairs.'
Tropologically Eucherius says: 'A holy man, such as Samuel was, is worth many, because he is of greater value before God, and obtains more from Him than many of the rest,' according to Sirach 16:3: 'Better is one who fears God, than a thousand ungodly children.' See what was said there. Hear St. Chrysostom, Homily 40 to the People: 'Elijah,' he says, 'was one man; but the whole world was not worthy to be weighed against him. And indeed the world consists of innumerable thousands, but they are not thousands, since they do not reach the measure of one man.'
And Philo, in his book On the Decalogue, asking why God speaks in the singular: 'You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery,' answers: 'Because whoever obeys God and His laws is equal to a most numerous people, or rather to all nations, indeed to the whole world.' Again: 'Among men,' he says, 'an unjust multitude is valued more than one just man; but before God, rare goodness is preferred to innumerable wicked.'
Moreover, a sinful soul, and therefore barren of good works, bears many when, repenting, it produces many acts of faith, hope, penance, almsgiving, charity, and other virtues: and conversely, a holy soul which abounded in good works, when it falls into mortal sin, becomes so barren that it not only produces no good works or merits, but also scatters and destroys the past ones.
Hear St. Basil on Isaiah chapter 1, on the words: 'Strangers devour your land.' 'See,' he says, 'a certain young man educated from boyhood within doors; going eagerly and diligently to prayer, neglecting no duty of beneficence, mindful of that eternal judgment, constantly attending to the word of teaching: then consider this same man fallen into fornication. How pitifully does a complete reversal of his former labors immediately follow upon that wretched man. The consciousness of his crime no longer accompanies him to go to the place of prayer: he no longer stands in the assembly of those who weep in secret retreat. He becomes more hesitant in prayer. Finally, little by little, meditation insinuates itself into his mind to make him fall away from his resolution. At last, through various windings of error, he is led to total ruin.'
To this Origen says, Homily on Elkanah: 'My soul was barren in me, it did not bring forth fruits of justice; but now when through faith in Christ it has merited the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord has filled it, it is certain that the barren one has borne seven.' And after some intervening remarks: 'My flesh was fruitful in offspring,' he says, 'having many fruits of the flesh: fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, idolatry.' 'This was the numerous progeny of our flesh: but when we came to the faith of the cross of Christ, and began to carry about the mortification of Jesus in our body, and to mortify our members which are upon the earth, and to present them to serve justice and sobriety; then the fruitfulness of this shameful generation was shut out, and in this way she who was fruitful in children was weakened.'
Finally, 'The barren,' says St. Francis, 'is the poor, humble, and holy religious, who does not have the office of generating children in the Church. He will bring forth many in the judgment, because those whom he now converts to Christ by private prayers and the example of a good life, the Judge will then ascribe to his glory. She who has many children will be weakened; because the vain and talkative preacher, who now rejoices in the many begotten as if by his own virtue, will then recognize that he has nothing of his own in them.' So the Annals of Wadding, year of Christ 1220, number 30, and St. Bonaventure in his Life of St. Francis.
Verse 6: The Lord Kills and Makes Alive
6. The Lord kills and makes alive, He brings down to hell and brings back again. — First, when He raises the dead to life: likewise when He brought out the souls of the fathers from the lower regions, that is from limbo, through the risen Christ, says Theodoret, and when He translates souls fully purified from purgatory to heaven: hence the Chaldean translates, 'from the lower regions He brings to eternal life.' Again, when He sends a deadly disease to the healthy, and then restores health and life to those who repent and pray, as He did for King Hezekiah, Isaiah chapter 38. Secondly, when He permits someone to be afflicted with so many troubles that he is almost forced to die, and then frees and prospers the humbled person. Thirdly, when He makes the barren fruitful, as Anna was, and thus gives her life, as it were, in her children. For a barren woman is like a dry and dead tree, according to Isaiah 56:3: 'Let not the eunuch say: Behold I am a dry tree.'
And the Apostle, Romans 4:19, speaking of the aged Abraham and the barren Sarah: 'He was not weak in faith,' he says, 'nor did he consider his own body already dead, when he was almost a hundred years old, and the dead womb of Sarah.' And Ezekiel chapter 17, verse 24: 'I have dried up the green tree, and I have made the dry tree to flourish.' For thus God, stripping the leaves from trees in winter and drying them, seems to kill them, but in spring, making them blossom again, He brings them to life.
Allegorically, God puts to death the Synagogue of the Jews and gives life to the Church of Christians, say St. Gregory, Bede, Angelomus.
Tropologically St. Augustine, City of God Book 17, chapter 4: The Lord, when He mortifies carnal affections in us, gives life to spiritual ones and to the spirit: for the mortification of the flesh is the vivification of the spirit, as St. Paul teaches. Hence Origen: 'God,' he says, 'killed Paul the persecutor and brought him to life to become an Apostle of Christ.' Hear St. Ambrose, Sermon on the Death of Theodosius: 'God kills the old man in us through baptism; and thus He gives us life as new men with the immortality of eternity. We die therefore to sins through the washing, but are regenerated to life through the spirit.' And a little later: 'We are killed, as it were,' he says, 'when we cease to be what we were; for by a new kind of piety in one and the same man the impious and adulterous man is killed, so that the merciful and chaste man may be reborn. Idolatry is destroyed so that religion may be propagated. The fornicator and drunkard is extinguished, so that the continent and sober man may be produced. Thus therefore the Lord mortifies in order to give life: thus He kills to benefit: thus He strikes to correct. This therefore is His whole severity toward His people, that in them sins may be punished, the soul preserved, detestable vices removed, and the best virtues nourished.'
Hear St. Gregory here: 'For God to lead to the lower regions,' he says, 'is to terrify the hearts of sinners with the consideration of eternal torments; to bring back is to lift up the terrified minds of penitents with the hope of unending life. For we cease sinning when we dread future torments.'
Verse 7: The Lord Makes Poor and Rich
7. The Lord makes poor and makes rich, He humbles and He exalts. — For God makes this one poor, that one rich; this one humble and lowly, that one lofty and elevated, indeed He makes one and the same man who was poor and lowly, soon rich and exalted, especially when He humbles the proud and exalts the humbled.
Verse 8: Raising the Needy From the Dust
8. He raises up the needy from the dust, and lifts the poor from the dung heap. — Pagninus: He exalts the beggar, that he may sit with princes and hold the throne of glory. Thus He raised up Job, who had been stripped of all goods and health itself and sat on a dung heap, and restored him to the former glory of his kingdom, indeed He doubled it. Thus He raised Saul from tending donkeys to the scepter; thus He raised David from the sheep and their dung to the glory of the kingdom of Israel. Thus He raised Joseph from prison to the principate of Egypt.
Mystically, St. Gregory says: God raises the sinner from the dust when He lifts him from venial sin, and from the dung heap when He lifts him from mortal sin through penance to grace.
Anna here celebrates the power of God through five antitheses, to show that God can raise anyone from the lowest to the highest, and conversely cast down from the highest to the lowest, and therefore neither should the exalted and fortunate vainly glory in their lot, nor should the humble and wretched despair in their unhappy fortune: for God can exchange the turns of both, and in fact often does exchange them, when He casts down the proud and lifts up the humble, just as here He lifted up Anna and cast down Peninnah.
For the pillars (Vatablus, 'columns') of the earth are the Lord's, and He has set the world upon them — as if to say: God holds the pillars of the world in His hand and power: how much more can He accomplish the things I have just mentioned. By 'pillars of the earth' Angelomus, Hugo, Abulensis, Dionysius, and Jansenius understand the four extreme parts or zones of the earth, namely East, West, North, and South. Secondly, our Sanchez understands the two poles of heaven; for on these the heavens revolve, and all the orbs of the planets and the elements around the earth, as if to say: Just as God established the two poles of the world, the Arctic and Antarctic, as two hinges of heaven and earth, so that around them all the heavens and elements continuously move and revolve, whereby they are now raised, now depressed; so likewise God rotates all men and all creatures, to now raise and bless them, now to cast down and afflict them.
But these are properly the poles of heaven, not the pillars of the earth, since it is the heavens, not the earth, that are placed upon them. Thirdly, others understand by 'pillars' the center of the earth; for on this, as a base, the earth and the whole world rests. Fourthly, others understand the sea, saying with Thales that the earth floats on the waters like a raft, according to Psalm 23: 'He founded it upon the seas.' But Aristotle and the philosophers refute this, On the Heavens Book 3, chapter 1. Fifthly, therefore, genuinely, for 'pillars' the Hebrew has 'metsuke,' that is, foundations or bases and columns of the earth; therefore by catachresis you may simply understand by them the very firmness and solidity of the earth, given to it by God at the creation of the world and always preserved and to be preserved; for resting on these as on firm hinges and bases, the earth stands stable, firm, and immovable, so that it supports and sustains not only itself but also all the heavenly and elemental orbs, like a most solid base and column. For the earth has no pillars or bases, but the immutable will and power of God, which has always supported and sustains it, is its sole base, column, and hinge, says St. Basil, Homily 1 on the Hexaemeron, and Nazianzen, Oration 34. For the earth hangs suspended in the air, and there by God's will, as by a hinge, it stands firm.
Symbolically, the pillars of the earth are princes and prelates; for these are, as it were, the bases and columns of the commonwealth: so St. Jerome in his Questions. Hence Cardinals are so called, because by their prudence and holiness they ought to be the hinges of the Church, and the columns and bases of the faithful. And in Hebrew 'Adon,' that is 'Lord,' is derived from 'eden,' that is 'base,' just as in Greek 'basileus,' that is 'king,' comes from 'basis,' because the king is the base and support of the kingdom. So St. Gregory, Bede, Angelomus, Jansenius, and others.
Again, the pillars of the Church, indeed of the world, are just and holy men, says St. Jerome. For, as Rufinus says, Preface to the Lives of the Fathers: 'Who doubts that the world stands by the prayers of the saints?' Hence for 'pillars of the earth,' St. Jerome in his Questions translates 'the afflicted' (for the root 'tsuk' means to press, to distress, to afflict) 'of the earth,' that is, the humble and poor in spirit, upon whom the Hebrews say God has placed the world, because by their holiness and prayers it stands and is preserved, lest it be burned like Sodom by heavenly fire on account of its crimes, or drowned in waters, as it was drowned in the flood in the time of Noah. So from Jerome, Rupert, Book 1 On Wisdom, chapter 28, whom hear: 'And the afflicted of the earth — who are they but the humble and contrite of heart? Upon these indeed who are of this sort, the Lord has placed the world: because upon those who, keeping the memory of their past weakness, are of humble conscience before themselves, the Lord has established His Church; who indeed can bear the same world with all the more clemency and compassion, the more they remember how much they needed the grace of One who is clement and compassionate.'
The same Rupert, Book 3 on Matthew chapter 4: 'This affliction,' he says, 'is humility, which makes them steadfast and strong for bearing the world.' Hence R. Jonathan in Lyranus translates 'the afflicted of the earth' as 'the strong of the earth;' for a man, when he restrains himself and his members, becomes stronger, and so does the humble. Such was Abraham, of whom St. Ambrose says, in his book On Abraham, chapter 6: 'Hence we learn,' says Ambrose, 'what a great wall for the fatherland a just man is, and how we should not envy or rashly disparage the saints. For their faith preserves us: their justice defends us from destruction. Sodom too, if it had had ten just men, could have been spared.'
And Philo, On the Migration of Abraham: 'Is not the just man truly,' he says, 'the support of the human race, sharing his gifts and contributing them for public use?' And shortly after: 'Let us pray,' he says, 'that as a column in a house, so the just man may remain in the human race as a remedy for calamities. For while he is safe, we need not despair of public welfare.'
Thus God on account of St. Paul saved all who were with him in the ship during the shipwreck, numbering 270, Acts chapter 27:24. Thus Pope Innocent III, when he had rejected St. Francis who was seeking the confirmation of his order, saw in a vision the Lateran church, which is the seat of the Pope and the mother and matrix of all churches of the whole world, tottering and falling, being supported and propped up by the shoulders of the poor St. Francis: therefore he immediately ordered him to be sought and summoned, and confirmed his rule and order. So the Chronicles of St. Francis relate. Just as Atlas the king (and from him the mountain) of Mauritania, on account of having discovered astrology, is said to support heaven on his shoulders: so also Francis and the saints are the Atlases of the world.
Anagogically, the Chaldean takes 'pillars of the world' as heaven, which God prepared for the pious, and hell, which He prepared for the wicked. For thus he translates: 'Before the Lord the works of the sons of men are revealed; from the lower part He has prepared hell for the wicked transgressors of His words, and upon the just who do His will He has founded the world.'
Moreover, the Septuagint and from them St. Augustine, City of God Book 17, chapter 4, here add: 'God gives to the one who vows what he vowed,' that is, what he asks for through a vow, just as here He gave Samuel to Anna.
Verse 9: Keeping the Feet of the Saints
9. He will keep the feet of His saints. — This is the latter part of the canticle, in which Anna prophesies about the future, just as in the former part up to now she celebrated God for His past benefits. She prophesies and promises seven miracles. The first is this: 'He will keep the feet of His saints,' lest they fall into sin and from there into hell; so St. Gregory. Hence the Chaldean: God has kept the body of His just servants from hell. By 'feet' are signified the steps, movements, and actions of the just, which God directs, lest they stumble, trip, or fall anywhere. Hence with the Psalm every faithful person should constantly pray, especially when leaving the house or chamber: 'Perfect my steps in Your paths, that my footsteps may not be moved,' Psalm 16:13. For as the same Psalmist says, Psalm 90:11: 'He has given His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone;' because as Abulensis says here: 'There is no part in the whole human body that can be more easily injured than the feet;' and because the whole mass of the body is supported upon them.
Mystically, the feet of the soul are its affections, which, in order that God may direct and support them lest they slip toward earthly things, He must be constantly invoked. For as St. Augustine says on Psalm 144: 'We approach God with the mind, not with a vehicle; with affections, not with feet,' with steps not of the body. The same, Preface to Psalm 121: 'He ascends to God by flying,' he says, 'who ascends by loving.' Moreover, the two feet of the soul by which we go to God are humility and fortitude, says St. Gregory. Finally, St. Bonaventure, on Psalm 118, verse 105: 'We must take care of these feet,' he says, 'that they be not soiled, not ensnared, not overturned, but kept pure, free, and firm. They are soiled by luxury; ensnared by avarice; overturned by pride, but preserved by holiness. Of the first: I have washed my feet, namely by penance. How shall I soil them, namely by luxury? Behold the soiling of the feet. Of the second: They have hidden snares for my feet. Behold the ensnaring of the feet. Of the third: My calamities immediately arose and overturned my feet. Behold the overturning of the feet. Of the fourth: He will keep the feet of His saints. Behold the keeping of the feet.'
Note: The Septuagint translate 'feet' as 'years': He blessed, they say, the years, or as the Sixtine edition has it, 'the years of the just,' while He directs, prospers, heaps up, and advances their days, months, and years with His goods and gifts, so that they may arrive at the years of blessed eternity. And as St. Augustine explains, City of God Book 17, chapter 4: 'That he may live with Him without end, to whom it was said: And Your years shall not fail.' Psalm 101, verse 28: 'For there the years stand still: but here they pass away,' indeed they perish; for before they come, they do not exist; and when they have come, they will not exist, because they come with their own end.
And the wicked shall be silent in darkness (both of body, as the Sodomites, Genesis 19:11, and the Egyptians, Exodus 10:21; but rather of the mind, namely of imprudence, blind concupiscence, and sins, and finally of both in hell) — from extreme horror, fear, and consternation, so that they cannot speak to or console one another. Hear St. Gregory, Pastoral Rule Part 1, chapter 11: 'The blind man,' he says, 'is one who is ignorant of the light of heavenly contemplation; who, pressed by the darkness of the present life, while he never beholds the true light by loving it, does not know where to direct the steps of his action. Hence when Anna prophesied, it is said: The wicked shall be silent in darkness.'
Now 'they shall be silent' means, first, they shall be obscure: for thus by catachresis we call the moon 'silent' when it is not shining and is dark, according to Virgil, Aeneid Book 2: 'Through the friendly silence of the quiet moon.' Secondly, 'they shall be silent,' that is, they shall be motionless with stupor, just as the Egyptians in the plague of darkness, fearful and stupefied, did not dare to move from their place, as if 'fettered with the chains of darkness,' Wisdom chapter 17, verse 2. For as it says there in verse 17: 'They were all bound with one chain of darkness.' Thirdly, 'they shall be silent,' because they will have nothing by way of excuse to allege against their guilt and their hell (but they will curse themselves, their parents, and all creatures that were the cause of their sin and damnation), that is, 'they will be convicted and being convicted will be silent.' Hence the Chaldean translates: 'The wicked transgressors of His word will be judged in hell in darkness, to show that there is no one in whom there is the strength of purity for the day of judgment.'
Hence hell is called in Hebrew 'duma,' that is, 'silence' and 'place of silence.' Hence also Virgil, Aeneid Book 6: 'And Chaos and Phlegethon, places widely silent in the night.' And Ovid, Fasti Book 5: 'They also called the Lemures the souls of the silent.' And Seneca in the Hippolytus: 'She went to the silent house of perpetual night.'
This is the second oracle of Anna. 'The wicked therefore shall be silent in darkness,' that is, those who here proudly boasted of themselves and their possessions, and everywhere resounded magnifying themselves gloriously, shall be condemned to the eternal darkness of hell.
For no man shall prevail by his own strength — so as to overcome or resist God most mighty. This refers to what preceded, as if she said: Therefore God will keep the feet of His saints, because they, recognizing their own weakness, trusted not in their own strength but in God's, and humbly invoked Him; but He permitted the wicked to slip into sin and fall into hell, because they, trusting in their own strength, neglected to invoke the help of God.
Hear St. Augustine in his Soliloquies chapter 23: 'I once hoped in my own virtue, which however was no virtue. And when I wished to run in this way, where I thought I stood firmest, there I fell the most. What I most believed I could do by myself, I was always less able to do. For I would say: I will do this, I will accomplish that, and I did neither this nor that. The will was present, but the ability was not. The ability was present, but the will was not, which I trusted in my own strength. But now I confess to You, O Lord my God, that no man shall prevail by his own strength. For it does not belong to man to will what he can, or to be able to do what he wills, or to know what he wills and can do, but rather by You are the steps of man directed.'
St. Augustine gives the reason in City of God Book 17, chapter 4: 'For when,' he says, 'the Lord begins to possess us; surely the adversary who had been ours becomes His and is conquered by us, but not by our own strength, because no man prevails by his own strength.'
Verse 10: The Lord Judges the Earth
10. The adversaries of the Lord shall fear Him — both in the near time, when the Philistines, terrified by God through my Samuel with thunder and lightning, will flee, as we shall hear in chapter 7, verse 10; and at any other time, especially the time of Christ, who in this life will strike down and overthrow demons, Pharisees, and all unbelievers by the power of His spirit; but especially on the day of judgment, when He will drive them into hell: for then He will appear so fearful to them that they will say 'to the mountains: Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us and hide us from the face of Him who sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand?' Revelation chapter 6, verse 17. So St. Augustine, St. Gregory, Lyranus, Abulensis, and others. This is the third oracle of Anna; the fourth follows:
And He shall thunder upon them from heaven. — God did this first when through Samuel, who by his prayer drew lightning and thunder from heaven, He struck the Philistines, as will be told in chapter 7, verse 10, and chapter 12, verse 18; secondly, when He thundered upon Christ at His baptism, transfiguration, and on other occasions, John chapter 12, verse 28: 'This is My beloved Son,' etc., and again when at Pentecost through thunder and tongues of fire He sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles (hence the Septuagint translate: 'He Himself ascended to heaven and thundered,' so that they too might thunder with their voice and flash with their life, and thus strike down Jews and Gentiles and subject them to Christ). Hence St. Jerome calls St. Paul 'the thunder of the Gentiles,' and Christ called James and John 'Boanerges,' that is, sons of thunder.
Finally, on the day of judgment He will thunder and hurl the sentence of damnation upon the wicked, saying: 'Depart, you cursed, into eternal fire.' Mystically, God thunders in the soul of a sinner when He casts upon it the threats and fears of hell, so that from earthly it may become heavenly, indeed from earth become heaven. For as St. Ambrose says, on Psalm 118, Sermon 12: 'He is called heaven who practices the life of the angels by the guardianship of integrity, and moderates his body with continent sobriety.' Hear St. Jerome on Psalm 133, verse 3: 'Many are made from earth to heaven, and many from heaven to earth. The unhappy Judas was heaven and became earth. Paul the Apostle, at the time when he was persecuting the Church, was earth; he confessed, and was made heaven.'
Hear St. Bernard, Sermon 27 on the Song of Songs: 'The Church has,' he says, 'its own heavens — spiritual men conspicuous in life and reputation, pure in faith, firm in hope, broad in charity, rapt in contemplation. And these, raining the saving rain of the word, thunder with rebukes and flash with miracles.'
The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and He shall give empire to His king, and shall exalt the horn of His Christ. — In Hebrew and Chaldean, 'of His Messiah.' This is the fifth, sixth, and seventh oracle of Anna concerning Christ who was to be born after thirteen hundred years, to whom she from afar, as it were, applauds and congratulates; where note that Anna is the first in Scripture who here expresses the name of the Messiah or Christ. For up to now in the Pentateuch, Joshua, and Judges we have not heard the name of Christ.
Note that these three things can proximately be referred to the time of Anna and Samuel, and of Saul and David, whom Samuel established and consecrated as kings; hence the Septuagint, reading in the plural 'melachenu,' that is 'our kings,' instead of 'malcho,' that is 'his king,' translate: 'He shall give strength to our kings;' but under all these she principally means Christ, their antitype: for Christ alone will judge the ends of the whole earth.
The sense therefore is, as if she said: God through my Samuel 'shall judge the ends of the earth,' namely of the Holy Land, or Palestine. For Samuel as judge of Israel went around the more important cities judging, and settling whatever disputes of the whole people; and thus he preserved all Israel in peace and religion, as will be clear from chapter 7, verse 10. Again, the Lord through my Samuel 'shall give empire (Hebrew 'oz,' that is, strength) to His king,' first, namely to Saul (for Samuel anointed Saul as king, who therefore, anointed by him, bravely fought for Israel and overthrew the Philistines and other enemies). Finally, the Lord through Samuel shall exalt 'the horn,' that is the kingdom, strength, and glory 'of His Christ,' namely David, so that succeeding Saul he might surpass him and spread the kingdom of Israel far and wide. David therefore was Christ, that is the anointed of the Lord, and marvelously loved and chosen by Him, so that from him Christ would be born.
Therefore all these things refer more to Christ. For God through Christ judged the ends of the earth, not only of the Holy Land, but of the whole world, when He subjected all nations to the faith and law of Christ's Gospel through the preaching of the Apostles, so that Christ might be the prince, king, and lawgiver of all nations, according to Psalm 2: 'Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance and the ends of the earth for Your possession.' And Psalm 71, verse 1: 'O God, give Your judgment to the king, and Your justice to the king's son, to judge Your people in justice, and Your poor in judgment:' which was said especially of Solomon the son of David, but principally of Christ, the son and antitype of both. 'God' therefore gave strength and 'empire to His king,' when He established Christ as king and lord of all nations, and subjected them all to Him through the Apostles: therefore at the same time He will 'exalt the horn,' that is the strength, kingdom, and glory 'of His Christ.'
Again, God will do this even more on the day of judgment. For then through Christ the Judge He will judge all peoples and men of all lands and times, and will award heaven to the faithful who obeyed Him, and hell to the unbelievers who rebelled against Him. Therefore then, as absolute king of heaven and earth, He will rule over all angels and men whatsoever, and then God will exalt the horn of His kingdom and glory up to the empyrean heaven, so that there with His saints He may reign and triumph in all happiness forever.
Hence the Chaldean, referring these things to the times of Antichrist, Gog and Magog, translates thus: 'He will make an end of Gog and Magog, and of the army of captive nations who came from the ends of the earth, and He will give strength to His king, and will multiply the kingdom of His Messiah.'
Tropologically, St. Augustine, City of God Book 17, chapter 4, attributes these things to every faithful, holy, and blessed person: for he is Christ, that is, 'anointed,' namely with the chrism of Christ in Baptism and Confirmation; and therefore as an athlete, victor, king, and triumphant conqueror of the world, the flesh, and the devil, he will reign with Christ in heaven through all ages.
Moreover, R. Jonathan son of Uzziel in his Chaldean translation, and the later Rabbis who follow him and deny that Christ has come, explain these things differently; hence they twist these words away from Christ to the success, power, and victories of the Levites which they would have under Samuel, and then under the Maccabees, as if Anna had foreseen these by God's revelation and predicted them here. See Abulensis here, last Question, and Lyranus.
Verse 11: Samuel's Ministry
11. And the child was a minister in the sight of the Lord before the face of Eli the priest — that is, he was learning the rudiments of the law, and to sing (for this was the office of the Levites: hence the sons of Samuel were singers, indeed choir directors, 1 Chronicles chapters 6 and 25), to guard the tabernacle, to light the lamps, and to perform the other duties belonging to the office of the Levites, says Abulensis; and, as St. Gregory says: 'He was useful to his brothers and devoted to God.'
Hence St. Chrysostom, Homily on Samuel: 'Although,' he says, 'in the boy his age was immature, yet his virtue was mature; for he became a teacher of great piety and religion to all who ascended to the temple.' Hear St. Augustine on Psalm 98: 'What did Samuel do as a child given to the temple? He spent all his years among the holy Sacraments of God, a servant of God from his earliest age. His hair was allowed to grow long, and his drink was water, says Josephus, and indeed until his death,' says Philo, On the Nazirites, chapter 1, verse 57.
Hear St. Jerome, letter to Laeta on the education of her daughter: 'Anna, after she offered in the tabernacle the son she had vowed to God, never took him back; thinking it unfitting that a future prophet should grow up in her house while she still desired to have other children. Finally, after she conceived and gave birth, she did not dare to approach the temple and appear empty-handed before the Lord, until she first returned what she owed: and having offered such a sacrifice, she returned home and bore five children for herself, because she had borne her firstborn for God. Do you admire the happiness of the holy woman? Imitate her faith. If you send me your Paula, I promise to be both her teacher and her nurse: I, an old man, will carry her on my shoulders and form her babbling words, much more glorious than the philosopher of the world, who will educate not a king of Macedon who was to perish by Babylonian poison, but a handmaid and bride of Christ to be offered to the heavenly kingdoms.'
Note the words 'before the face of Eli.' For it is a great stimulus to virtue if one sees oneself in the presence of a great man, such as a Pontiff or a Prince, and being seen and observed by him. Hear Seneca, Book 1 to Lucilius, Epistle 10: 'Live among men as if God were watching: live with God as if men were listening.' And in the same book, Epistle 11: 'Some good man should be chosen by us and always kept before our eyes, so that we may live as if he were watching, and do all things as if he were seeing. A great part of sins is removed if a witness stands by those about to sin. Let the mind have someone to revere, by whose authority it may make even its secret life holier. O happy is he who can so revere someone that he composes and orders himself even at the memory of him! Choose therefore Cato.'
Verse 12: The Sins of Eli's Sons
12. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial — that is, they were most wicked and impious, and therefore God through Samuel chastised Eli and his sons, and punished them with death, as follows: 13. Not knowing the Lord — practically, that is, not serving the Lord, disobedient to His law, profaning sacred things, sacrilegiously violating sacrifices, snatching the flesh of victims from God and claiming it for themselves.
Nor the office of the priests to the people. — This is the first sin of Eli's sons, namely that not knowing the Lord, they likewise did not know their office, both in practice and in theory, because they did not care to observe God, God's law, and their own duty: hence they did not care to read and know it, lest this knowledge should produce in them a conscience and remorse for sin; and this is the reason why many who are addicted to their lusts become atheists, namely so that they may freely indulge them without fear of the divine power and its vengeance: for this fear would either restrain their desires or gnaw at them, and dilute and break the sense of their pleasure with a great sense of dread and pain mixed in; therefore they do not want the knowledge and conscience that barks and cries out against their pleasures.
Here four crimes of Eli's sons are taxed, all flowing from gluttony. First, the ignorance of their office already mentioned; second, the robbery of victims, namely that although only the breast and the right shoulder were owed to the priest from a victim according to Leviticus 7:32, they appropriated for themselves whatever parts of the victim they wished, especially the fattier and more delicate ones; third, that they did this by force, snatching them from the unwilling offerers; and finally fourth, that they did this before the victim had been offered to God by burning by them, and before the flesh was cooked and boiled.
Verse 17: The Great Sin
17. The sin of the young men was therefore very great before the Lord; because they drew men away from the sacrifice of the Lord. — See here how grave the sin of priests is, because of the scandal given to the laity. Hear St. Gregory, Homily 17 on the Gospels: 'No greater harm, dearest brothers, does God suffer from others than from priests, when He sees those whom He placed for the correction of others giving examples of wickedness from themselves: when we ourselves sin, who ought to have restrained sins.'
Verse 18: Samuel's Linen Ephod
18. But Samuel ministered before the face of the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. — The many-colored and jeweled ephod containing the Rational with twelve gems, on which were engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, was proper to the High Priest: but the linen ephod was a garment of the Levites, such as Samuel was, and was similar to a surplice, with which choirboys who sing in the temple are vested. Thus this double ephod is distinguished by St. Augustine, Question 41 on the Book of Judges, and St. Jerome, book Against Jovinian.
Tropologically, Blessed Peter Damian, Book 2, Epistle 10: 'Linen,' he says, 'arrives at whiteness with difficulty, and clerics, now by sweating over literary studies, now by ascending through certain degrees, are promoted with difficulty to the dignities of holy orders.' And St. Gregory here: 'Rightly,' he says, 'Samuel's garment is said to have been linen, so that the glory of the new priest would openly show that he shone with the character of a new purity.'
Verse 20: Eli's Blessing
20. The Lord give you seed (offspring) of this woman, for the loan which you have lent to the Lord — that is, for the loan or gift which you offered and gave to God, namely for your Samuel, whom you offered to me as God's High Priest.
Verse 21: Hannah's Five Children
21. And the Lord visited Anna, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. — Behold here was the fruit partly of the blessing of Eli the High Priest, partly of Anna's offering, who had offered her Samuel to God: for in return for one Samuel God gave her five children. Let parents learn here to dedicate some of their children to God; for these will obtain a blessing for them in both spiritual and temporal goods.
And the child Samuel was magnified before the Lord — that is, he grew in age, wisdom, and grace, not only before men but also before God, as verse 26 explains. Hence Samuel was a type of Christ, of whom Luke says, chapter 2, last verse: 'Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and grace before God and men.'
Verse 22: The Sin of Eli's Sons With Women
22. They slept with the women who waited at the door of the tabernacle. — The Chaldean: 'who came to pray at the door of the tabernacle.' For these were pious women who had dedicated themselves to serving God in the tabernacle, among whom the Blessed Virgin was raised, just like our nuns. This is the third crime of Eli's sons, namely lust, specifically adultery and sacrilege, because they violated women dedicated to God, and this in a sacred place and the tabernacle: for lust is the companion of gluttony, and the belly hot with wine foams into lusts, says St. Jerome, even sacrilegious ones.
Verse 24: Eli's Rebuke
24. Do not so, my sons. — Eli rebuked his sons, but only once, and too gently. He sinned therefore, first, because for such great crimes he ought to have rebuked them sharply and frequently; second, if after being rebuked they did not amend, to remove them from sacrifices and deprive them of the priesthood; and he sinned most of all because he did not bend them more toward better things from childhood, chastise and correct them: for the minds of children are flexible to anything; but those of the aged are inflexible, being rooted and hardened in evil habit. The saying is well-known: 'The gentle indulgence of parents makes sons lazy.'
Verse 25: Sinning Against the Lord
25. If a man sin against a man, God may be appeased in his behalf; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall pray for him? — 'Against God,' not only by transgressing His law (for everyone who sins, sins against God), but by violating and polluting His priesthood, His sacred things and sacrifices, and thus His holiness. This signifies that this sin is not unforgivable, as the Novatians claimed, but that it is forgiven with difficulty. For who would dare to pray for so wicked a public minister of God?
And they did not hearken to the voice of their father. — This is the fourth crime of Eli's sons, namely stubbornness and obstinacy. She adds the reason: Because the Lord willed to slay them. — Note: The first cause, and the direct and proper one, why Eli's sons did not hear their father's warnings, was their evil and perverse will obstinate in wickedness, because of which they refused to hear their father's admonitions: yet Sacred Scripture here, in its usual manner, assigns another indirect cause, namely it refers it to the most lofty providence and judgment of God: that is, God did not wish to have mercy on them for such great crimes so often repeated, nor to give them efficacious grace by which they would repent and escape death, but permitted them to wallow and harden in their crimes, so that He might most justly punish them with a death so often deserved, to repair the scandal given by them to the whole people, and as an example and terror to other priests.
Verse 27: The Man of God's Prophecy
27. And there came a man of God (a Prophet) to Eli. — Who was this man? Abulensis, Question 22, thinks it was an Angel in the form of a man: R. Solomon and the later Rabbis think it was Elkanah, the father of Samuel. The older Rabbis, according to St. Jerome in his Questions, think it was Phinehas the High Priest, who lived in the time of Joshua and Othniel. It is therefore uncertain who this Prophet was, because Scripture does not express his name, family, or lineage.
This prophecy first contains and recalls the benefits God conferred on Eli; then at verse 29, it reproaches his sins and those of his sons; finally, at verse 31, it inflicts a fivefold punishment on them.
Verse 29: Kicking at God's Sacrifice
29. Why have you kicked at (in Hebrew, 'why have you kicked against,' not so much you as your sons, and you through your sons) My victim? — As if to say: Why have you despised My sacred things, as if you had kicked them away? And you have honored your sons more than Me — because you did not dare to rebuke and chastise them, lest you offend them; and so you allowed them to offend Me, and therefore you likewise offended Me.
Verse 30: The Transfer of the Priesthood
30. I said indeed (I certainly said, as if to say: I had firmly decreed) that your house and the house of your father should minister in My sight. — Hence it is clear that the High Priesthood was given by God to Eli, and was transferred from the family of Eleazar to the family of Ithamar, to which Eli belonged. Now this was the series and succession of High Priests through their sons: Eleazar succeeded Aaron, Phinehas succeeded him, Abishua succeeded him, Bukki succeeded him, Uzzi succeeded him, as is clear from 1 Chronicles chapter 6, verse 4, and from Josephus, Antiquities Book 5, last chapter. From Uzzi the High Priesthood was transferred to Eli, who was from Ithamar, the brother of Eleazar.
Verse 31: The Punishments Foretold
31. I will cut off your arm — that is, your pontifical dignity and authority; that is, I will take away the High Priesthood from you. So St. Gregory, Angelomus, Rupert, Lyranus, and Vatablus. Moreover, the Septuagint translate, 'I will destroy your seed;' the Chaldean, 'I will uproot the strength of your seed,' as if to say: I will make your sons and grandsons feeble, invalid, weak, so that they do not live long, nor reach old age, as follows, and finally I will blot out all your posterity. This is the first punishment inflicted by God on Eli.
That there shall not be an old man in your house. — 'Old man,' that is, High Priest, say St. Jerome, Angelomus, and St. Augustine. More simply, take 'old man' as it sounds. For thus he explains himself in verse 33, saying: 'He shall die when he comes to man's estate.' Therefore the fitting punishment of the wicked, especially those rebellious against their parents (as these sons of Eli were), is brevity of life, that they die before old age, according to the saying: 'Before his days are fulfilled, he shall perish; and his hands shall wither,' Job 15:32. Hence David says: 'Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days,' Psalm 54:24. And Solomon: 'Be not foolish,' he says, 'lest you die before your time,' Ecclesiastes 7:18. Seneca rightly says, On the Shortness of Life, chapter 6: 'We have not received a short life,' he says, 'but we have made it short: we are not poor in time, but wasteful.'
Verse 33: Partial Preservation
33. However I will not altogether take away a man of yours from My altar — as if to say: I will indeed take the High Priesthood from your descendants, yet I will allow them to be lesser priests or Levites, but to increase your punishment and theirs; so that they, seeing themselves stripped of the High Priesthood and of its great wealth and advantages, may groan and waste away with bitterness and grief. For these things are said to Eli not about himself personally but about his descendants. This is the third punishment; the fourth follows:
And a great part of your house (family, namely descendants) shall die when they come to man's estate — as if to say: They shall die young, not old, and by a violent death, namely 'by the sword,' as the Septuagint add. We shall hear of this happening in chapter 22:42 and following, where Saul killed Ahimelech the High Priest, Eli's grandson, with his whole family, because he gave bread to David. Moreover, 'all the multitude,' as the Hebrew and Chaldean have it, means 'most, many': for it is clear from what follows that some were spared and escaped death.
Verse 34: The Sign of Ophni and Phinehas
34. And this shall be a sign to you — that these calamities will befall your descendants, for Eli did not see them, being already dead; hence God gives him as a sign and assurance of them the death of Ophni and Phinehas; for he heard of this while still living and groaned. This is the fourth punishment of Eli; the fifth follows:
Verse 35: The Faithful Priest
35. And I will raise up to Myself a faithful priest. — Who is this? Some think it is Samuel. But the contrary seems much more true, namely that Samuel was not High Priest. The reason is that the High Priesthood was assigned by God to Aaron and his descendants, among whom Samuel was not. Therefore when it says here: 'I will raise up to Myself a faithful priest,' it means Zadok, whom Solomon created High Priest in place of Abiathar, who faithfully ministered to God in the temple and to Christ, that is, to David and to King Solomon whom he anointed.
Allegorically, signified here is the transfer of the priesthood from Eli and Aaron to Christ: for He is the faithful priest of God. So St. Gregory, Theodoret, Angelomus, Procopius, and St. Augustine, City of God Book 17, chapter 4. Moreover, Christ is not only Priest and Pontiff, but also makes all Christians mystical priests and kings, according to Revelation 1:11: 'He has made us a kingdom and priests.' Hence St. Leo, Sermon 3 on the anniversary of his assumption to the Pontificate: 'All who are regenerated in Christ,' he says, 'the sign of the cross makes kings; and the anointing of the Holy Spirit consecrates them priests.'
And I will build him a faithful house (family, posterity) — which, faithfully ministering to Me in the High Priesthood, will faithfully, that is firmly and constantly, endure in it. This cannot be said of Samuel: for his sons, like those of Eli, were degenerate and wicked, as is clear from chapter 8, verse 3: 'They turned aside,' it says, 'after avarice, and accepted bribes, and perverted judgment.' But the descendants of Zadok remained faithful and firm in the High Priesthood until the Babylonian captivity and the destruction of the temple.
Verse 36: Begging for a Morsel
36. And it shall come to pass that whoever remains in your house shall come that it may be prayed for him. — For lesser priests and Levites, when they had sinned, were required by the law, like laypeople, to offer victims for sin, and the High Priest had to pray for them.
And shall offer a piece of silver, and a roll of bread — to the priest or High Priest, in order to win his favor, so that he may be admitted by him to a priestly share. Put me, I beseech you, to one priestly office (of the victim offered by me, as well as of any other victims offered by the people to the priests), that I may eat a morsel of bread. — Great was this abasement, meanness, and beggary of Eli's descendants.
Allegorically, the morsel of bread signifies the sacrifice of the Eucharist, which is made from bread. So St. Gregory, Eucherius, Theodoret, Procopius. Hear St. Augustine, City of God Book 17, chapter 5: 'What he added about eating bread elegantly expressed the very kind of sacrifice, of which the priest himself says: The bread which I shall give is My flesh for the life of the world: this is the sacrifice not according to the order of Melchizedek; let him who reads understand.'