Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Saul enlists three thousand soldiers for himself and his son Jonathan. Jonathan strikes the garrison of the Philistines. They reconstitute a huge army and prepare for battle. The fearful Saul offers sacrifice to implore God's help. Samuel intervenes at verse 10 and rebukes him for not having waited for him as he had commanded; and therefore, at verse 14, he declares that God will transfer the kingdom from him as one disobedient to David. The Philistines, at verse 19, in order to strip the Hebrews of weapons, take care that there be no blacksmith among them.
Vulgate Text: 1 Kings 13:1-23
1. Saul was a son of one year when he began to reign; and he reigned two years over Israel. 2. And Saul chose for himself three thousand men from Israel; and two thousand were with Saul in Michmash, and in the hill country of Bethel; and one thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; and the rest of the people he sent away, each to his tent. 3. And Jonathan struck the garrison of the Philistines that was in Gibeah. And when the Philistines heard of it, Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying: Let the Hebrews hear. 4. And all Israel heard the report: Saul has struck the garrison of the Philistines; and Israel had made itself odious to the Philistines. The people therefore gathered after Saul at Gilgal. 5. And the Philistines assembled to fight against Israel: thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and the rest of the multitude like the sand on the seashore in abundance. And they went up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. 6. And when the men of Israel saw that they were in straits (for the people were distressed), they hid themselves in caves and in thickets, in rocks and in trenches and in cisterns. 7. And the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. And while Saul was still in Gilgal, all the people who followed him trembled. 8. And he waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were slipping away from him. 9. So Saul said: Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. 10. And when he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, to greet him. 11. And Samuel said to him: What have you done? And Saul answered: Because I saw that the people were slipping away from me, and you did not come within the appointed days, and the Philistines had assembled at Michmash, 12. I said: Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord. Compelled by necessity, I offered the burnt offering. 13. And Samuel said to Saul: You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For had you not done this, the Lord would now have established your kingdom over Israel forever; 14. but now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded. 15. Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And the rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the people attacking them, coming from Gilgal to Gibeah, on the hill of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people who were found with him, about six hundred men. 16. And Saul and Jonathan his son, and the people who were found with them, were in Gibeah of Benjamin; but the Philistines encamped in Michmash. 17. And raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company turned toward the road to Ophrah, to the land of Shual. 18. Another company turned toward the road to Beth-horon; and the third company turned toward the road of the border that overlooks the Valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness. 19. Now there was no blacksmith to be found in all the land of Israel; for the Philistines had taken care lest the Hebrews make sword or spear. 20. So all Israel went down to the Philistines, each to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his hoe. 21. And the edges of the plowshares and mattocks were blunted, and of the tridents and axes, even down to the goad needing correction. 22. And when the day of battle came, neither sword nor spear was found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan, except for Saul and Jonathan his son. 23. And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.
Verse 1: Saul Was a Son of One Year
It seems impossible that Saul, a son of one year, was made king and actually reigned. The most plain sense is this: Saul, having won the victory over Nahash, and thus having acquired for himself the authority and favor of the people, was again anointed king by Samuel (chapter 11, last verse), and was completing the first year of his reign, and beginning the second. This sense is explained by the Hebrew phrase, which literally reads: A son of one year was Saul in his reigning, as if to say: Saul had now been reigning for one year. So say R. David, Vatablus, Brixianus, Serarius, and others.
This is a Hebraism; for the Hebrews attribute the name "son" to a time, day, month, and year. Thus in Jonah 4:10, the plant in Hebrew is called a "daughter of the night," because it arose that night. Thus "son of the dawn" is Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12). Thus "sons of the bow" are arrows (Job 41:20).
The second interpretation is tropological: Saul, when he began to reign, was so simple and innocent as if he had been a child of one year, and persisting in this innocence he reigned two years. Hence the Chaldean translates: like a son of one year, in whom there are no faults, was Saul when he reigned. So say St. Gregory, Angelomus, Eucherius, Theodoret, and others.
Hence tropologically St. Gregory says: "Although he reigned for many years, he is said to have reigned only in those years in which he is reported to have been innocent and humble. Let us therefore rejoice that we lived only in that time in which we lived innocently and humbly. For those times which we consumed in the vanity of the world and the fleeting life of the flesh are, as it were, lost, and scarcely remembered."
Verse 2: Saul Chose Three Thousand
Saul chose these three thousand so that when the Philistines, Ammonites, and other neighboring enemies suddenly attacked as was their custom, he might have them at hand to immediately oppose them, lest they ravage the fields and cities of Israel.
Verse 3: Jonathan Struck the Garrison
Gibeah was the homeland and seat of Saul and Jonathan, and therefore Jonathan, a spirited and bold young man, immediately drove out from it the Philistine garrison. The Philistines, dominating the Hebrews from the time of Samson and afterward, set up fortresses in the higher and more fortified places of Judea in which they stationed garrison soldiers.
You will ask: with what weapons did Jonathan strike the Philistines? For the Philistines had taken iron weapons from them. The weapons of the ancients were their arms -- "For they fought with fists, from which 'pugna' (fight) gets its name." Before the iron sword, they used slings, bows, clubs, cudgels, poles, and fire-hardened stakes.
Verse 4: Let the Hebrews Hear
The Israelites were angry and enraged that they had so long tolerated the yoke and tyranny of the Philistines, when they saw them so easily cut down by Jonathan. Therefore, roused by this anger, they raised their spirits and flew to battle against them. For anger is the whetstone of courage.
Morally, learn here that saying of Job chapter 7, verse 1: "The life of man upon earth is a warfare" -- regarding bodily warfare this is often true, regarding spiritual warfare always. Hence St. Gregory says: "As often as we conquer some enemies, it is necessary that we prepare to overcome the combats of others. For Almighty God, because He more abundantly rewards His elect, always wishes them to stand in battle."
Verse 9: He Offered the Burnt Offering
Some think Saul sacrificed by his own hand, and for this reason was deprived of the kingdom. But Scripture indicates nothing of the sort; otherwise Samuel would have reproached him most bitterly for it; and Saul had priests in the camp through whom he could offer sacrifices. So say Abulensis, Serarius, Sanchez, and others.
He sinned because he did not wait until the end of the seventh day, as Samuel had commanded. Hear St. Gregory: "He fell through disobedience because he did not wait for the full seven days as he had been commanded."
Saul aggravated his sin in that he did not acknowledge his fault and ask for pardon, but excused it and virtually threw it back upon Samuel himself. St. Gregory gives the reason: "Because from the root of pride, the very fault of disobedience is born; the disobedient are accustomed to hear the magnitude of their guilt, but not to make satisfaction by humbly confessing."
Verse 10: Behold, Samuel Was Coming
See what haste and impatience does. If Saul had waited even an hour, behold, Samuel was there to sacrifice for him and to consult God. But now through lack of patience and perseverance for a single hour, he lost the temporal kingdom, and gradually declined to the point where he also lost the eternal one. For God wished Saul to be directed by Samuel, and the king by the priest and prophet, to teach that temporal power and authority ought to be directed by spiritual and ecclesiastical authority.
Hence St. Ignatius, Epistle 6 to the Magnesians: "Saul is deprived of royal honor for not waiting for the high priest Samuel. It is therefore fitting that we too revere our superiors."
Verse 13: You Have Acted Foolishly
In Hebrew niscalta, that is, you have become foolish. You have not kept the commandments of the Lord your God, which He commanded you -- namely to wait for my arrival for seven full days, and through me to sacrifice and consult God. For it is the height of folly not to obey God's commandments, and thus to bring upon oneself His offense, anger, and vengeance.
Tropologically, St. Chrysostom shows that a sinner is foolish, because from a rational human being he makes himself, as it were, an irrational beast. "Man, a gentle and rational animal, turns his habits into beastly ones. For this reason Scripture sometimes calls them dogs for their shamelessness (Isaiah 56:10); horses for their lust (Jeremiah 5:8); donkeys for their stupidity (Psalm 48:13); lions and leopards for their rapacity (Hosea 13:7-8)."
FOR IF YOU HAD NOT DONE THIS, THE LORD WOULD NOW HAVE ESTABLISHED YOUR KINGDOM OVER ISRAEL FOREVER. -- "Established," in Hebrew hechin, that is, would have made firm. God had first decreed to perpetuate the kingdom for Saul and his posterity, if they had been obedient to Him in all things. But because He foresaw that Saul would not do this, He decreed to transfer the scepter to Judah and David.
Verse 14: The Lord Has Sought a Man After His Own Heart
That is, according to His taste and desire; one who fully conforms his heart, that is his mind and will, to the heart, that is the mind and will of God; one who "does all My wishes," as St. Paul explains (Acts 13:22). This is David: for what My heart wills, David's heart wills also.
St. Gregory says: "By the heart of God in sacred Scripture, His most intimate will is designated. And we are in accord with it when we both recognize it through the intellect and guard it through love."
AND THE LORD HAS COMMANDED HIM TO BE RULER OVER HIS PEOPLE. -- St. Gregory adds that a Prelate ought not to seek command, but should be compelled to it: "Because chosen men do not come to the honor of primacy from ambition, but are brought to it under compulsion."
The entire reason why God took away the kingdom from Saul's line was that Saul did not fully conform his heart and will to the heart and will of God. For God wished Saul to honor Samuel as his priest and prophet, that he might be the intermediary between Saul and God.
Morally, learn here first how fully and perfectly God wishes to be obeyed to the letter, without excuse or interpretation. Thus the first man Adam, eating the forbidden fruit, was punished with death. Thus the first angel Lucifer, refusing to humble himself, fell into the abyss. See therefore how dangerous primacy is, and learn not to seek it.
Verse 15: Samuel Arose and Went to Gibeah
Samuel went ahead and separated himself from Saul on account of the fault committed, to show himself angry and to bend Saul toward recognition of his fault and repentance. "Because," as St. Gregory says, "often those whom the Preacher's words do not correct are terrified at being separated from the Preacher's companionship, or from the unity of holy Church."
Verse 17: Raiders in Three Companies
In Hebrew: three heads; in Chaldean: three squadrons. A cuneus (wedge) properly signifies a multitude of foot soldiers arranged in the form of a wedge, which in the battle line is narrower and sharper, then proceeds broader and more dense.
Verse 19: No Blacksmith in All Israel
The Philistines took care that the Hebrews should not make sword or spear, to keep them under their yoke so they could not rebel. Thus weapons were formerly forbidden to slaves by the Romans, lest they attack their masters.
But God frustrated the caution and prudence of the Philistines, when through Samuel He gave the Hebrews victory without iron weapons. Hence St. Gregory says: "The armed were conquered by the unarmed, so that all that is conquered may be attributed to the praises of almighty God."
Tropologically, the "blacksmith" is the preacher, teacher, and any other corrector of vices; the "Philistines," that is, demons, try to remove him. Blessed Peter Damian writes: "If the censure of corrections is withdrawn from a sacred community, the vigor of discipline is utterly enervated, and the entire religious life is destroyed."
Verse 22: No Sword Was Found
The people and soldiers following Saul armed themselves with bows, slings (for the Gibeathites were excellent slingers, as is clear from Judges 20:16), poles, clubs, mattocks, sickles, tridents, goads, hammers, axes, and other farm implements. Thus Shamgar the judge killed six hundred Philistines with a plowshare (Judges 3:31). And Samson, lacking a sword, killed a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey (Judges 15:15).
EXCEPT FOR SAUL AND JONATHAN. -- Mystically, Dionysius the Carthusian says: "Prelates and their Vicars should be of such perfection that however much their subjects may be deprived of spiritual weapons, they themselves nevertheless persevere most firmly in every virtue."