Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Samuel anoints David as king, to succeed Saul after his death. Then, at verse 14, the Spirit of God passes from Saul to David, and an evil spirit torments Saul, which David drives away by playing the harp. Hence, at verse 21, Saul loves him and makes him his armor-bearer.
Vulgate Text: 1 Kings 16:1-23
1. And the Lord said to Samuel: How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and come, that I may send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided among his sons a king for Myself. 2. And Samuel said: How shall I go? For Saul will hear of it and kill me. And the Lord said: You shall take a calf from the herd in your hand, and you shall say: I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. 3. And you shall call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you are to do, and you shall anoint whomever I point out to you. 4. Samuel therefore did as the Lord told him. And he came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the city were amazed, meeting him, and they said: Is your coming peaceful? 5. And he said: Peaceful; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. Jesse therefore sanctified himself and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. 6. And when they had entered, he saw Eliab and said: Is the Lord's anointed before Him? 7. And the Lord said to Samuel: Do not regard his appearance, nor the height of his stature; for I have rejected him, nor do I judge according to man's sight: for man sees the things which appear, but the Lord beholds the heart. 8. And Jesse called Abinadab and brought him before Samuel. Who said: Neither has the Lord chosen this one. 9. And Jesse brought Shammah, of whom he said: Neither has the Lord chosen this one. 10. Jesse therefore brought his seven sons before Samuel: and Samuel said to Jesse: The Lord has not chosen from these. 11. And Samuel said to Jesse: Are these all the sons? He answered: There still remains the youngest, and he is tending the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse: Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here. 12. He sent therefore and brought him. Now he was ruddy, and handsome in appearance, and of a fair countenance, and the Lord said: Arise, anoint him, for this is he. 13. Samuel therefore took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord was directed upon David from that day forward; and Samuel arose and went to Ramah. 14. But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. 15. And the servants of Saul said to him: Behold, an evil spirit from God torments you. 16. Let our lord command, and your servants who are before you will seek a man skilled in playing the harp, so that when the evil spirit from the Lord seizes you, he may play with his hand, and you may bear it more easily. 17. And Saul said to his servants: Provide me then with a man who can play well, and bring him to me. 18. And one of the servants answered and said: Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who knows how to play, and a very strong and valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in speech, and a handsome man; and the Lord is with him. 19. Saul therefore sent messengers to Jesse, and said: Send me David your son, who is with the flock. 20. Jesse therefore took a donkey laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by the hand of David his son to Saul. 21. And David came to Saul and stood before him; and Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. 22. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying: Let David stand before me; for he has found favor in my sight. 23. And whenever the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, David took his harp and played with his hand, and Saul was refreshed and was better, for the evil spirit departed from him.
Verse 1: How Long Will You Mourn for Saul?
HOW LONG WILL YOU MOURN FOR SAUL (and in mourning pray for his restoration), SINCE I HAVE REJECTED HIM (as disobedient, obstinate, and impenitent), FROM REIGNING OVER ISRAEL? — "For why," as St. Gregory says, "is the rejected person mourned for, when a better one is put in his place?" Hear St. Chrysostom, Homily 5 On Penance: "Blessed Samuel spent much time interceding for Saul, and passed many sleepless nights for the salvation of the offender. But God, rejecting the time (for the sinner's repentance did not accompany the prophet's prayer), says to the prophet: How long will you weep? 'How long' shows the time and perseverance of the one interceding. And God rejected the time of the prophet's intercession. For the king's repentance did not accompany the just man's intervention." And St. Bernard, Sermon 12 on the Song of Songs: "Samuel mourned for Saul, who was seeking to kill him; the fat of piety, melted within by the fire of charity warming his breast, flowed out through his eyes." Chrysostom adds that it was different with David, who, when rebuked by Nathan for adultery and murder, repented seriously, and therefore immediately heard from him: "The Lord has taken away your sin" (2 Kings XII).
Note here and imitate the mercy and charity of Samuel toward Saul, who was disobedient to him and to God. Hear St. Gregory: "What does it mean that he mourns one whom he disdains to see, unless that, along with zeal for righteousness, the holy Doctors have the disposition of great charity; and the greatness of that charity is shown because he is said to weep for a rejected king? With what affection, then, do they weep for the hidden sins of the elect, who have learned to weep so affectionately for the rejected reprobate? For the earnestness of his mourning is shown because it is added: How long will you mourn for Saul?"
SAMUEL MOURNED FOR SAUL — because he grieved that Saul, whom he had anointed, should be deprived of the kingdom, and that Israel should be deprived of so brave and fortunate a king; and he did not know who or what sort of person would succeed him. Moreover, he feared that Saul would be deprived not only of the kingdom but also of life and eternal salvation; for although here he is only stripped of the kingdom by God, yet the phrase "He has rejected" — and in Hebrew, "God has reprobated you" — implies that he would be abandoned by God, would fall into greater crimes, and would die and be damned in them, as indeed seems to have happened. He mourned, and at the same time while mourning he prayed for Saul, that he might either be restored to the kingdom, or at least not fall into further evils. For he hoped that God's decree concerning Saul's rejection was not entirely absolute and irrevocable, but was a threat, and could be bent and changed by prayers. Hence God asserts that it is absolute, and forbids him to mourn Saul any longer, but to anoint David as king in his place.
Verse 2: I Have Provided Among His Sons a King
FOR I HAVE PROVIDED AMONG HIS SONS A KING FOR MYSELF — that is, I have determined to make one of the sons of Jesse king, who shall succeed Saul. But why does He not designate or name him? St. Chrysostom gives the reason in his commentary on Psalm 50: "Attend carefully. He did not say to Samuel: Go and anoint David for Me; but: Go, anoint for Me one of the sons of Jesse. Lest, naturally, the same thing should happen to David that had previously happened to Joseph; for since the brothers, when they learned that he would be king, laid traps for him, in the same way there was danger that these brothers also would commit the same crime." Theodoret also expressed the same thing, Question XXXVII on Kings: "For since even when the election was carried out in this manner, the brothers revealed their envy, having caught sight of their brother in the battle line, what would they not have done, if it had not been done in this way?"
Verse 4: The Elders Were Amazed
THE ELDERS WERE AMAZED — and at the same time frightened, because it was unusual for so great a Prophet and Judge to come alone; both because he appeared unexpectedly, with no one forewarned; hence they feared that he was fleeing an angry Saul, and that Saul's anger would fall upon the Bethlehemites as those who had received Samuel; or that he was about to announce something grievous. Tropologically, St. Gregory says: "The elect Doctors should rarely be seen in public, should be frequent in private, free from civil business, full of spiritual matters."
Verse 5: Jesse Sanctified Himself and His Sons
SANCTIFY YOURSELVES — that is, prepare yourselves in a holy way for the holy sacrifice, to which I invite you that you may be present at it: although Samuel called only Jesse with his sons to the sacrificial meal, so that he might secretly anoint one of his sons as king.
JESSE THEREFORE SANCTIFIED HIMSELF AND HIS SONS, AND CALLED THEM TO THE SACRIFICE. — "Sanctified," that is, he ordered them to be sanctified, or purified through ablution, that is, abstinence, and through the sprinkling of lustral water: so that if they had contracted any legal irregularity, they might cleanse it by this lustration. See the comments on Numbers xix. The Gentiles imitated the same, according to that saying: "Pure things please the Gods above; come in clean garments." And: "Until I have washed myself in a living stream."
Hence that law in Cicero, Book II of On the Laws: "Approach the gods chastely." From this St. Gregory argues from the lesser to the greater, and says: "If they do not dare to be present at sacrifices unless sanctified, what must be thought of those who offer the sacrifice? For to sanctify is to purify. How pure, then, ought the Pontiffs to be, when the people who are merely invited to the sacrifice are not to be admitted unless sanctified? For the sanctification of the body is modesty; the sanctification of the mind is charity and humility."
Verse 6: He Saw Eliab
AND WHEN THEY HAD ENTERED — to the meal prepared after Samuel's sacrifice was completed, for it was not at the sacrifice, which was public before the elders, but at the meal before Jesse and the brothers, that Samuel secretly anointed David as king; lest Saul should learn of the matter and plot death for both, that is, for both Samuel and David.
HE SAW ELIAB AND SAID: IS THE LORD'S ANOINTED BEFORE HIM? — as if to say: Samuel presented Eliab, the firstborn of Jesse, and offered him to the Lord, and asked: Is this the one, Lord, whom You have chosen as king, that You may command him to be anointed by me; and so he may become the Christ, that is, the anointed of the Lord?
Verse 7: Man Sees What Appears, the Lord Beholds the Heart
DO NOT REGARD HIS APPEARANCE (manly, tall, and elegant), NOR THE HEIGHT OF HIS STATURE (as King Saul towered above the entire people from the shoulders upward), FOR I HAVE REJECTED HIM. — In Hebrew meastihu, that is, "I have reprobated him"; the Septuagint has, "for I have despised him"; the Chaldean, "I have distanced," namely from the kingdom, as if to say: I have rejected Eliab, although he is the firstborn, handsome and tall, from being king. So St. Gregory, Abulensis, Hugh, Lyranus, and Dionysius. Others say, as if to say: I have made him rejected, that is, My anointed one, whom I wish to be anointed by you as king; namely I have made David low, that is, young and the least born among the sons of Jesse.
FOR MAN SEES THE THINGS WHICH APPEAR, BUT THE LORD BEHOLDS THE HEART. — In Hebrew: man sees (and seeing, judges) according to the eyes (according to the outward appearance), but God sees (and seeing, judges) according to the heart. Therefore men are often deceived. "For the eyes and countenance often lie," and indicate a mind that is wise or upright, which is in fact foolish and wicked. But the heart, that is, the mind and will, cannot lie or deceive; because it cannot pretend to be something other than what it truly is. God therefore is the Cardiognostes, that is, the inspector of the heart, indeed its Lord and possessor. The sense is, as if to say: God sees that the heart of David is better than the heart of Eliab; even though Eliab's countenance and form may be finer and grander than David's countenance and form: for this reason He will assign the kingdom not to Eliab, but to David.
Hence the Septuagint translates: "for man will see the face, but God the heart," that is, the secrets and innermost recesses of the heart. And the Chaldean: "for the sons of men see with their eyes, and before the Lord the thoughts of the heart are manifest."
Verse 10: Jesse Brought His Seven Sons
JESSE THEREFORE BROUGHT HIS SEVEN SONS. — Jesse had in total eight sons. For David, who was absent, was the eighth. You will say: In 1 Chronicles ch. III, only seven sons of Jesse are numbered along with David. I answer that not all are numbered there, but one is omitted for a reason unknown to us, perhaps because the eighth was born of a concubine, or a secondary wife; just as in ch. xiv, v. 49, three sons of Saul are numbered and the fourth, namely Ishbosheth, is omitted, concerning whom see 2 Kings ch. II.
Lyranus, Cajetan, and Dionysius say otherwise; for they say the name of the third son was Nathan, or Jonathan, and that he was omitted because he was an adopted son, not a natural one. But of this adoption of his we read nothing anywhere. From this it is clear that Samuel had revealed to Jesse God's plan of choosing one of his sons as king and anointing him. For that is why Jesse brought all his sons in order of birth to Samuel, so that he might see which one of them God would choose.
Verse 11: There Still Remains the Youngest
THERE STILL REMAINS THE YOUNGEST. — See here how different are the judgments of God and of men. For Jesse esteemed David little as the youngest and least, and therefore as one who tended sheep, not worthy of Samuel's attention: hence he did not bring him. But God preferred him over all his brothers and made him king. Hence St. Ambrose, Sermon 18 on Psalm 118: "He was tending his father's sheep, relegated to a lowly service, not presented to the priest (Samuel), as if unworthy to be anointed for the kingdom."
THE YOUNGEST. — From this, and even more from ch. xvii, vv. 23, 42, 58, many think that David, when he was anointed king, was a mere boy in age, indeed a very young boy, as St. Chrysostom says on Psalm 50; likewise Josephus, Serarius, and others. On the other hand, the Hebrews in Seder Olam, ch. XIII, think that David at this time was 29 years old, because they suppose that Saul reigned and lived only two years: and when Saul died, David immediately succeeded him at thirty years old, as stated in 2 Kings ch. v, v. 4.
The middle opinion is truer, namely that David, when he was anointed, was about twenty years old. For this age is suitable for ruling and is midway between boyhood and manhood. This is proved first because David is called in v. 18 "very strong, a man of war, and prudent in speech." Therefore he was easily twenty years old. Second, because Saul was deprived of the kingdom by Samuel when in the seventh year of his reign he disobeyed by sparing Agag; and soon in the following year, namely the eighth of Saul's reign, he anointed David in place of the now-rejected Saul. But Saul reigned still for ten more years after this: for in total he reigned 18 years. Therefore, since Saul died after ten years, and David, succeeding him in the kingdom, was then thirty years old, we must say that in this year when he was first secretly anointed, he was 20 years old. So Abulensis, Dionysius, Salianus, and others. Add that Saul, at v. 21, made David his armor-bearer; and armor-bearers are usually young men, not boys.
You will say: How then is David here called "the youngest"? I answer: because in comparison to all his brothers he was the youngest, that is, the least in birth order, and therefore a shepherd. For the Hebrew for "youngest" is katan, that is, "small," as the Chaldean translates. Hence the Septuagint translates "the lesser," that is, the youngest of the brothers. So Benjamin is called "the youngest," that is, the least-born of the sons of Jacob (Genesis ch. xliii, v. 29), even though he had already begotten ten sons by then, as is clear from Genesis ch. xlvi, v. 21.
AND HE TENDS SHEEP. — Thus in ancient times the Patriarchs and Princes were farmers and shepherds of sheep, and from sheep they learned to feed and govern men. Such were Adam, Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. Such also were the Romans, of whom Ovid says in Book I of the Fasti: "The Praetor who just now had set down his plow gave laws to the peoples, and the Senator himself was pasturing his own sheep." See the comments on ch. xi, v. 5.
SEND AND BRING HIM; FOR WE WILL NOT SIT DOWN UNTIL HE COMES HERE. — From this it is clear that David was anointed before the meal, both because difficult matters are usually dealt with before a meal; and because zealous prophets, such as Samuel was, press God's commands and carry them out immediately before other matters; and because, as St. Gregory says: "The sacraments of anointing are to be celebrated in the observance of fasting." Hence it was also decreed that the sacred chrism in Confirmation should be received only by those who are fasting.
Verse 12: Now He Was Ruddy
NOW HE WAS RUDDY. — In Hebrew admoni, that is, ruddy, sanguine, red-haired, as if he were another Adam, says Theodoret, and therefore a type and figure of Christ. For ruddy men are handsome and often of remarkable character. Hence Cedrenus writes that the Emperor Valentinian had an appearance similar to David, because he was ruddy, with red hair, grey-blue and beautiful eyes. For the color red approaches tawny, which is the color of the lion, which surpasses all animals in strength and is their king. Aristotle adds in the Physiognomics, ch. x: "Those whose color is red are keen; because all things pertaining to the body grow red when heated by motion."
ARISE, ANOINT HIM, FOR THIS IS HE — whom I have chosen as king, and whom I wish to be anointed by you. Moreover, St. Athanasius in the Life of St. Anthony says that David was recognized by Samuel from the joy of his countenance, just as Anthony was recognized by all from the same quality among a thousand monks: "For if anyone, not knowing him, had wished to see him among the multitude of monks, needing no one to point him out, he would pass the others by and run to Anthony, and would recognize the purity of his soul from his countenance, and through the mirror of his body would behold the grace of his holy mind. For always bearing a cheerful face, he clearly showed that he was thinking about heavenly things, as Scripture says: When the heart is glad, the countenance flourishes, but in continuous sorrow it is saddened," says St. Athanasius. Thus Samuel, he says, recognized David: "For he had joyful eyes and teeth as white as milk."
Allegorically, David was a type of Christ, who was "ruddy," says St. Gregory, "because He was wounded by the lance; ruddy, because He was reddened by His Passion. Hence it is said to Him through the prophet: Why is Your garment red? For He was ruddy who colored the whiteness of such great innocence with the redness of His precious blood. He was also handsome in appearance, because by rising again He put on the beauty of immortality, and with great charity He looked upon us mortals." And further: "He was therefore ruddy in this world, beautiful in paradise, of fair countenance forever in heaven; and all this threefold beauty can be recognized in the conduct of His present life. For He was ruddy because He fervently loved those for whom He laid down His life; He was handsome in appearance because He knew all things; fair of countenance because He did all things well."
Verse 13: Samuel Anointed Him in the Midst of His Brothers
SAMUEL THEREFORE TOOK THE HORN OF OIL AND ANOINTED HIM IN THE MIDST OF HIS BROTHERS. — "Not," as Josephus says, "as though Samuel whispered it in his ear; but so that all the brothers would see and understand the anointing, and so that they would esteem him more highly henceforth, and suffer less from envy, when they saw that he was preferred by God," says Theodoret, Question XXXVII.
Moreover, he was anointed not to reign immediately, but to succeed Saul in the kingdom upon his death. From this it is clear that the father and brothers of David knew he had been anointed king by Samuel. So Abulensis, although Cajetan denies it. David was anointed three times: first, here privately; second publicly, when he became king of the tribe of Judah; third, when he became king of all the tribes (2 Kings ch. ii and v). In the Greek codices of the Psalter, Psalm 151 is added, which deals with this anointing, where David sings of himself thus: "I was small among my brothers, and the youngest in my father's house; I was tending my father's sheep, etc. He Himself sent His angel and took me from my father's sheep, and anointed me with the oil of His anointing. My brothers were handsome and tall; and the Lord was not well pleased with them."
Tropologically, St. Gregory says: "The horn of oil is taken up, so that by this excellent liquid the leader of the Church may strive to be a man of great mercy. The head of the king is anointed with oil, because he must shine upon the candlestick through the flame of the word. The horn receives oil, so that by rebuking he may purge, and by pitying he may draw through gentleness. The horn also receives in the sublimity of office the oil for the nourishment of virtue. But he is anointed with a full horn, so that the virtue of the Pontiff may be taught to be full. For he has a full horn at his anointing, if he is perfect both in the virtue of mercy and of charity and of the word; and he is known to have a full horn at his anointing whose entire power is dispensed through mercy." And after more: "He is anointed with oil in the midst of others, because one who is set as an example for others ought to have no obscure part of himself, so that all may look upon him and take from him the example of light." And shortly after: "Or he is anointed in the midst of his brothers, so that he may always consider himself both anointed and in the middle. Let him therefore recognize his dignity, and exercise the power of his dignity, because he has been anointed; let him see himself in the middle, and as a man of the common condition, so that he may acknowledge those over whom he stands as his equals. In the midst of his brothers, therefore, he is anointed, so that he may be both humble and exalted — exalted in rank, humble in self-estimation. He is anointed in the midst so that he may not love himself with a private love, but from all that wherein he excels may seek the gain of others. And here St. Gregory ends his moral exposition on the Book of Kings."
AND THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD WAS DIRECTED UPON DAVID FROM THAT DAY. — You will ask: what was this spirit? I answer first: it was the spirit of fortitude both of soul and of body, which made him warlike and victorious; hence after this anointing David killed both the lion and the bear, as well as the giant Goliath. Hence the Septuagint translates: "the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him," just as it rushed upon Samson, and came upon him whenever he was undertaking some heroic work of strength. So Lyranus, Abulensis, and Vatablus, who translates: "the Spirit of the Lord began to move him"; the Chaldean: "the spirit of fortitude from God remained upon David."
Second, it was the spirit of a great and kingly soul. For just as God, calling Saul from his donkeys to the kingdom, changed his rustic heart into a magnanimous and royal one: so now He transferred the same spirit from Saul to David, so that he who previously thought of nothing but tending sheep would now think about governing and defending all of Israel. Great and new courage, therefore, new spirits, new thoughts, new plans, new desires and aspirations He instilled in him; for this is what the Hebrew tislach signifies.
Third, it was the spirit of poetry and music, namely of playing psalms, composing them, and singing them: for from his anointing he began to play and compose psalms. So Abulensis, Dionysius, and others.
Fourth, it was the spirit of prudence, so that in all his words and deeds he would be wonderfully prudent, discreet, and provident, and would most wisely govern not only himself and his family, but also the entire kingdom. Hence Solomon, David's son, asked for and obtained the same from God (3 Kings ch. III, v. 12).
Finally, the Hebrew tislach, which our translator renders as "was directed," may be translated with Marinus and others as "prospered, made fortunate, directed to a happy outcome"; so that David would accomplish all things prudently and successfully, and bring them to their desired end.
Fifth, it was the spirit of prophecy: for David was a prophet, and in the Psalms he not only sings but also prophesies about Christ, and Christ's life, death, Apostles, Church, etc. So St. Jerome, Josephus, and others.
Moreover, this spirit did not pass through briefly, but remained constantly in David, at least with regard to some of its operations. For this is what is signified by the phrase "from that day and henceforth." So St. Gregory.
Suddenly, therefore, through the anointing of God and Samuel, David was here changed from a lowly little shepherd of sheep into a most mighty and wise king, and a divine psalmist and prophet: for if he had previously possessed any of these qualities, certainly his father and brothers would not have so cast him aside to the sheep, but would have esteemed him more highly.
DAVID. — David is named from love, as if "lovable." For David in Hebrew is the same as dod, that is, "beloved," or "love" and "affection," according to Song of Songs I: "Your loves are better than wine." Hence also his son Solomon received the same name from God, and was called Jedidiah, that is, "beloved of the Lord" (2 Kings ch. xii, v. 25). Moreover, St. Augustine, Book XXII Against Faustus, ch. lxxxvii, and on Psalm 34: "David means the same as strong of hand or desirable," so that David is said to be, as it were, dai yad, that is, "sufficient" (that is, strong, powerful) of hand.
Hear St. Chrysostom, in his Homily on David and Goliath, comparing and preferring David to Saul: "I have found for Myself David, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will. O blessed merit of most holy David, whom God praises, whom the Lord proclaims, whom the supreme judge prefers! For while most holy David, a man after God's own heart, carries out whatever God thinks, and accomplishes whatever He conceives in His mind. While, I say, David joins his own heart to God's heart, and links his mind to His mind — that is, so that he wills what God wills, and similarly does not will what He does not will — thus the Lord loved him with an inseparable love and an inseparable charity." And shortly after: "This one is chosen from the sheep for the kingdom, that one is destined from the kingdom for the sword. A holy life promoted this one, contempt for the commandments rejected that one. David, still a shepherd, defeats the lion, kills the bear; Saul, by despising the Lord, provokes an evil spirit upon himself. Most holy David reigns, but secretly; Saul is manifestly made reprobate. This one is already king, that one is thought to be; this one already possesses the throne, that one is merely called king; this one holds a hidden dignity, that one has the public image of the kingdom; David is flooded by God with the Holy Spirit, but Saul is deserted by that same Spirit. Finally Saul persecutes the innocent David, while David, when his persecutor is delivered into his hands, shows him unharmed; so that in David the Holy Spirit might be gentle, and in Saul the evil spirit might rage against the innocent, so that the difference of their lives might demonstrate their different merits, and these causes might be attributed to men, not to God — who would either take away or bestow the kingdom on those who governed it badly or well."
Verse 14: The Spirit of the Lord Departed from Saul
BUT THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD DEPARTED FROM SAUL — that is, the spirit of fortitude, goodness, prudence, magnanimity, of a generous and royal soul, etc., "departed from Saul," and he fell back into his original depravity of soul, dejection, imprudence, baseness, and pusillanimity: hence he who previously was fierce and victorious in wars, henceforth became unwarlike, sluggish, and inert, and accomplished nothing of note.
AND AN EVIL SPIRIT FROM THE LORD TORMENTED HIM. — You will ask: who was this "evil spirit tormenting Saul?" First, the Hebrew, Josephus, Cajetan, Genebrardus in his Chronicon at the year of the world 3066, Delrio, Book III of Magic, ch. iv, think it was black bile, or melancholy and mania, which created for Saul sad images, suspicions, envies, sorrows, anxieties, despairs, rages, deliria, and insanities: for he conceived these from the fact that he saw himself rejected by God and deprived of the kingdom by Samuel. First, this is proved because the Septuagint translates: "the evil spirit suffocated him"; the Chaldean: "terrified him"; Vatablus: "disturbed him." Second, because Josephus calls this spirit "a disturbance and disease inflicted by a demon, which created suffocations and strangulations for him." Third, because agitated by this spirit he envied David's succession to the kingdom, and therefore wanted to kill him (ch. xviii, v. 19). Fourth, because this disease of Saul was relieved by the music of David playing the harp, because music cheers the spirits and thus drives away sadness.
Moreover, how malignant the melancholic humor is, Galen, Fernelius, and the physician Levinus Lemnius teach in his book On Temperaments, near the end, where he recounts the remarkable delusions and cures of melancholic persons. "For the first," he says, "had persuaded himself that his nose had grown to the size of an elephant's trunk. The physician applied a sausage to his nostrils, and finally cut off the tip of his nose and its little skin with a knife: and thus removed his imaginary nose. The second believed that frogs and toads were boring through his intestines. The physician purged him with a clyster through his bowels, and catching the excrement in a basin, threw frogs and toads into it. 'Look,' he said, 'the frogs and toads of your belly: know that you are now free of them,' and thus shook off this delusion from him. The third imagined that his thighs were made of glass; therefore he dared neither to sit nor to touch anything, lest they shatter on impact. The fourth supposed himself to be dead, and therefore refused to eat: and he had now persisted fasting for seven days (physicians consider the seventh day without food to be lethal). The physician sent into his room certain masked persons wrapped in linen sheets, who said they were dead, and yet feasted sumptuously before him. Invited by the voices of the feasters and the aroma of the delicacies, he began to taste and finally to eat more freely: and after the meal a healing sleep crept over him, aided by a potion prepared for the purpose; and thus he returned to life and sanity." This interpretation is true; but it is not sufficient for this passage.
Second, others think it was a good angel, sent by God to Saul, to afflict him, so as to exact from him the just penalties of his disobedience.
Third, and more truly, others think it was the devil, who not only outwardly harassed Saul, as he harassed holy Job, but also inwardly possessed him, and afflicted him with terrible phantasms, sadness, sorrows, anxieties, and pains, and tormented him by turns; for this is properly and rightly called "an evil spirit." By this spirit, therefore, Saul was possessed, and made an energumen and demoniac, so that, tormented by it in turns, he raved, went mad, and raged, as we shall hear in the following chapter, vv. 10 ff. So think Josephus, Rupert, Isidore, Eucherius, Lyranus, Hugh, Abulensis, Dionysius, Vatablus, Serarius, Sanchez here, and St. Gregory, Book II of the Moralia, ch. vi, and Theodoret here, Question XXXVIII: "When the divine spirit had departed, the malignant spirit took its place; just as when apostolic grace had left Judas, the devil entered into him."
Moreover, this spirit is called "of the Lord" because it was sent or permitted by God upon Saul to punish his sins. Thus Paul, in 2 Corinthians II, handed the fornicator over to Satan. Hear St. Gregory: "Therefore the same spirit is called both of the Lord and evil: of the Lord, through the permission of just power; evil, through the desire of unjust will." For this power, on the part of God punishing Saul through the devil, was just; but on the part of the devil, a tyrant tyrannically tormenting Saul, it was unjust. The devil, however, could do nothing to Saul except by power received from God, who had limited it, so that he could afflict him only so much and no more, as He did in the case of holy Job.
Verse 16: Let Him Play with His Hand
LET HIM PLAY WITH HIS HAND, AND YOU WILL BEAR IT MORE EASILY. — How a demon is driven away by playing I will explain at v. 23.
Verse 18: Very Strong and a Man of War
VERY STRONG AND A MAN OF WAR — The Rabbis cited by St. Jerome in his Questions and by Lyranus think that Doeg the Edomite, hostile to David, said and fabricated this, namely that he praised David with hostile intent, so that when David stood before the raging Saul, it would endanger his life. But David's virtue and fame had not yet grown so much that Doeg could know and hate him. From this, therefore, it is clear that David, having received the spirit of fortitude at his anointing, immediately displayed his extraordinary strength to the amazement of onlookers, and performed certain remarkable feats of military prowess: which those who witnessed them reported to Saul, and commended David to him.
Verse 19: Who Is in the Pastures
WHO IS IN THE PASTURES. — See here David's modesty, who although he had already been anointed as king, and was destined as Saul's successor, nevertheless immediately returned to his sheep and became a shepherd, just as Saul, although anointed as king, returned to his oxen and plows (ch. xi, 5).
Verse 23: David's Harp and the Evil Spirit
DAVID WOULD TAKE THE HARP AND PLAY WITH HIS HAND, AND SAUL WAS REFRESHED AND FELT BETTER — because he was cheered by the music, and thus his melancholy was diminished, and consequently the anxieties and evil passions of the soul that followed it. For music has a wonderful power to mitigate or dispel these. Cassiodorus, Book II of the Variae, ch. xl: "Music makes harmful sadness pleasant, softens swelling furies, turns bloody cruelty mild, stirs up sluggishness and drowsy languor, restores to the wakeful a most healthful rest, and heals the tedium of the mind that is always hostile to good thoughts."
St. Augustine, Book X of the Confessions, ch. xxxiii, asserts: "All the affections of our spirit, according to their diversity, have their own proper modes in voice and song, by which they are excited through some hidden affinity unknown to me."
Indeed, Seneca, following Pythagoras, in Book III On Anger, ch. ix: "Pythagoras composed the disturbances of the soul with the lyre. And who does not know that trumpets and war-horns are stimulants, just as certain songs are soothers by which the mind is relaxed?"
The physician Asclepiades was accustomed to soothe and calm the passions and diseases of the soul with music. Timotheus, an excellent lyre-player, by striking the strings so aroused Alexander the Great that he would rush to arms. See Alexander ab Alexandro, Book II of the Genial Days, ch. xvii. "The Greek cities," says Marianus Capella, "decreed that diseases of both mind and body should be cured by the modes of the lyre. Hence those who provided remedies to the sick were formerly said to 'sing over' them, says Macrobius, and Xenocrates freed the mad from dementia by the rhythms of songs. Paracelsus says that the pains of sciatica are soothed by the gentle modes of Phrygian pipes, and that a piper playing in tune can heal the bites of vipers."
The continuous and daily experience of Italians, especially in Apulia, has taught and still teaches that those who have been bitten by a tarantula and stupefied, so that seized by lethargy they sleep a deathly sleep, can be roused by no art of physicians, but only by a measured melody, which they bend into various rhythms and harmonies until they find the one that corresponds as a remedy to this disease and torpor. Then they persist in singing it; the sick person is roused into wakefulness and dancing; by leaping he draws out sweat, and thus expels all the venom, and is restored to himself, his mind, and his health. Who would not marvel at this miracle of music and song?
But what could the music and harp of David do against the demon tormenting Saul? The Platonists respond, and following them Cajetan on Ephesians ch. II, Augustine Niphus, Book III On Demons, ch. v ff., Eugubinus, Book VIII On Perennial Philosophy, ch. xxvi, that demons have some subtle body, and therefore can hear music and be moved by it. But this is now an error. For it is certain that Angels and demons are entirely incorporeal, and pure and absolute spirits.
Second, some think that God can subject — indeed does in fact sometimes subject — demons to certain corporeal things, such as melody, the fumes of a liver (Tobit ch. vi), St. John's wort, rosemary, etc. So Levinus Lemnius and Francisco Valles, Sacred Philosophy, ch. xxviii: "To the liver of Tobias's fish a supernatural power was given to restore the eyes of Tobias; just as to the fire of hell the power of tormenting demons was given, and to holy water the power of driving them away and washing the soul from sins." Valles adds: "Some exorcists say that demons are driven away by the smoke of deer's horn, and of any dung, especially human, likewise of rue and St. John's wort: the first two, because the demon, being most proud, cannot bear to be treated with contempt. But I myself think they came to this opinion because all physicians testify that the smoke of those substances triggers epilepsy. As soon, therefore, as an epileptic senses the smoke of those things, he is seized by an epileptic paroxysm and the agitation and convulsion of all his limbs, or if he is already suffering a paroxysm, it worsens: but those exorcists attribute this to the demon and suppose that he is the one being afflicted. That rue and St. John's wort are helpful for curing epilepsy is clear from the fact that they drive away the gases which agitate the brains of epileptics." But although it is certain that God can subject demons to corporeal things such as music, it is uncertain whether He has in fact subjected them to it.
Third, therefore, the truer view is that David by playing drove away Saul's demon by a power partly natural, partly supernatural. Natural, because music cheers the spirits and thus drives away the melancholy that the demon was using to torment Saul. For no humor is more suited to the devil than this one, for harassing, tempting, and inciting men to grief, envy, anger, and despair. Therefore the demon, who works through natural causes, makes the greatest use of the melancholic humor to drive men into anxieties, scruples, mistrusts, dissensions, aversions, hatreds, quarrels, murders, etc. Such was that lunatic cured by Christ, who with the waxing moon was more agitated by the demon with melancholy and mania (Matthew xvii, 14).
Hence Francisco Valles, Sacred Philosophy, xxviii: "Demons invade melancholic persons, or inflict melancholic diseases upon men, because the melancholic humor is the most prepared of all to drive a man to insanity and despair — which those most wicked spirits desire above all. For the melancholic humor depresses, weighs down, and saddens the heart, and clouds the brain with a dark soot, as if with a fog, so that through it all things appear black, sad, harmful, hostile, and horrible." Therefore, whoever wishes to escape the devil's temptations, let him beware of melancholy; if he has sadness from nature or accident, let him fight against it, and resist all its imaginations and suggestions manfully and steadfastly. For example, when it introduces suspicions, fears, anxieties, and scruples, let him say: I do not believe you; for you proceed from my enemy, namely the devil and melancholy. What you present to me is false, foolish, and stupid; therefore I will embrace the opposite, which is true, appropriate, and prudent. For so we say to one who, suffering from vertigo, thinks everything is spinning and turning: You are mistaken, my friend — nothing is spinning except your brain; and from the vertigo that spins you, it happens that everything that is still seems to you, who are shaken by the spinning, to be spinning also. Hence St. Anthony, as St. Athanasius testifies, used to say "that nothing is more effective for conquering demons than spiritual joy." And St. James, in his letter, ch. v, 13: "Is any one of you sad? Let him pray. Is he in good spirits? Let him sing psalms." For this reason the Church uses song and music in the divine office, to rouse the faithful to devotion, cheerfulness, and joy, with which they may serve God, resist the devil, and proceed eagerly to every work of virtue. St. Augustine, who experienced this himself at the beginning of his conversion, says thus in Book IX of the Confessions, ch. vi: "How much I wept at Your hymns and canticles, keenly moved by the sweet-sounding voices of Your Church. Those voices flowed into my ears, and Your truth was distilled into my heart, and from it the affection of piety surged forth, and tears ran down, and it was well with me in them."
And St. Basil in the Preface to the Psalms: "The psalm is a kind of amulet for routing and driving away demons: a procurer of angelic protection, a shield of security amid nocturnal fears, a rest from daytime labors, a guardian protection for infants, an ornament and decoration for those in the flower of youth, a comfort for the elderly. Finally, it is the most fitting adornment for beautifying women." And after some intervening remarks: "The psalm is the tranquility of souls, an arbiter for making peace, at whose nod overflowing and tumultuous thoughts contract and settle down, etc. The psalm is the work of Angels, a spiritual incense."
And St. Ambrose in the Preface to the Psalms: "The psalm is the blessing of the people, the praise of God, the people's laudation, the applause of all, the speech of everyone, the voice of the Church, the melodious confession of faith, devotion full of authority, the joy of liberty, a shout of gladness, the echo of gladness. It soothes anger, banishes anxiety, lightens sorrow. Arms by night, instruction by day. A shield in fear, a feast in holiness. An image of tranquility, a pledge of peace and concord: like a harp, expressing one melody from diverse and disparate voices. The dawn echoes with a psalm, the sunset resounds with a psalm."
For this reason Elisha, preparing himself to receive prophecy from God, ordered a harpist to be brought, so that by his psalmody his mind might be raised to God and made fit for divine illumination (4 Kings III).
The natural power, therefore, of the music and harp of David, soothing Saul's melancholy, consisted in two things: first, that it diverted his imagination from the contemplation of sad things to attending to the joyful sounds and songs of music; second, that the very pleasure of the singing cheered him, and thus drove away or diminished the melancholy. So Lyranus, Abulensis, Valles, Sanchez, Serarius, and others.
But the greater power of this harp was supernatural, namely that by the striking of the harp David aroused his own mind (just as Elisha did, as noted above) to pray more fervently to God for Saul's welfare: hence God, hearing him, on account of David's fervent prayers and merits drove the demon from Saul, and restored Saul to himself and to his right mind. So Josephus (who adds that David recited psalms while playing the harp), Theodoret, Lyranus, Abulensis, and Serarius. In a similar way St. Francis calmed the people of Siena, whose minds had been stirred to mutual hatreds by the demon, through the Canticle of the Sun and brought them back to their former harmony.
Allegorically, the harp represents the cross of Christ; for just as strings are stretched on a harp, so Christ was stretched upon the cross. Hear Angelomus: "For its power was not so great, but the mystery of the cross of Christ was mystically enacted through the stretching of sinews upon the wood, on which even the Passion was being sung." Likewise Prosper, Part II of the Predictions, ch. xxv. Indeed Angelomus, Eucherius, and Bede think the evil spirit was driven from Saul by the power of the future cross of Christ, whose type was David's harp: just as the Hebrews were freed from the destroying Angel and from Egypt through the blood of the Paschal Lamb, which was a type of the blood of Christ to be sacrificed on the cross.
Hence St. Augustine, Sermon 3 On the Seasons, teaches that the harp represents the flesh of Christ. Hear him: "Look again at the harp: for it to produce a musical melody with sweet sounds, three things must be present together: skill, the hand, and the string; and yet one sound is heard. Skill directs, the hand touches, the string resounds. Three work together, but the string alone produces the sound that is heard; neither skill nor the hand produces the sound; but they work together with the string. So neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit assumed flesh; and yet they work together with the Son. The string alone produces the sound; Christ alone assumes the flesh. The operation is shared by three, but since the production of the sound belongs to the string alone, so the assumption of human flesh belongs to Christ alone."
The same Augustine on Psalm 36, commenting on the words "Arise, psaltery and harp": "In the psaltery the strings receive their sound from above; in the harp, from the lower part. Thus through His flesh He worked two kinds of deeds: miracles and sufferings. The miracles were from above; the sufferings were from below. For the miracles He performed were divine, but He did them through the body, through the flesh. The flesh performing divine works, then, is the psaltery; the flesh suffering human things is the harp. Let the psaltery sound — let the blind see, the deaf hear, the paralyzed be made whole, the lame walk, the sick arise, the dead rise again: this is the sound of the psaltery. Let the harp also sound — let Him hunger, thirst, sleep, be seized, scourged, mocked, crucified, and buried."
Hence also the saints, who either underwent martyrdom or mortified their flesh and crucified it with its vices, play the harp to God on their harps (Revelation xiv, 2).
Symbolically, Rupert takes the harp to mean the sweetness of the preaching of the Gospel: for this by its sweetness drew all nations to itself. "Amphion moved stones by singing": much more did Christ break stony hearts by preaching.
Tropologically, the spiritual harp is gentle and kind speech; likewise a learned and pious sermon or exhortation; also psalmody and prayer, by which the hard, proud, angry, and avaricious minds of men are softened and bent to piety, according to Proverbs xv, 1 and 4: "A soft answer turns away wrath; a soothing tongue is a tree of life." A gentle man is a physician of the heart. And Sirach vi, 5: "A sweet word multiplies friends and mitigates enemies." Thus Luke says of the Jews listening to Christ, ch. iv, v. 22: "They marveled at the words of grace which proceeded from His mouth." So Angelomus: "When the mind of the powerful is turned to fury through pride, it is fitting that it be recalled to the health of the mind by the tranquility of our speech, as by the sweetness of a harp." Eucherius has the same in the same words.
Finally, he who praises God and gives Him thanks both in adversity and in prosperity plays the harp for God and men. Hear St. Augustine on Psalm 22: "Praise the Lord on the harp: whether you have abundance of something, give thanks to Him who gave it; whether you lack something, or even if something is taken from you by misfortune, play the harp without worry. For He who gave has not been taken from you, even though what He gave has been taken away. Even so, I say, play the harp without worry, certain in your God, touch the strings in your heart, and say as on a harp sounding well from its lower part: The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it has been done; blessed be the name of the Lord."
FOR THE EVIL SPIRIT WOULD DEPART FROM HIM. — It seems, therefore, that the demon, who was at first driven back by the striking of the harp, being finally completely conquered by the same striking often repeated and continued, departed from Saul. For instead of "would depart," the Hebrew and Greek have "departed," and therefore Saul, now healed, sent David home to his father Jesse. Hence in the following chapter Saul did not recognize David when he returned; but when David won the victory over Goliath, and Saul heard the people acclaim him: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands," burning with envy and hatred against him, he again began to be tormented by the demon, as is clear from ch. xviii, 10; nor is he read to have been freed from it thereafter, because he could no longer bear David as a rival, nor his harp.
Moreover, David, dismissed by Saul, returned to his father and his sheep; not because war with the Philistines was threatening Saul, as Josephus and Abulensis say, but because Saul, now cured, no longer needed David, and David loved the sheepfold more than the court, that is, the private life more than the courtly one. Then, says Chrysostom in his Homily on Psalm 50: "David as a young man, fleeing cities and crowds, lived as a philosopher in the desert, having nothing in common with worldly affairs — no business dealings, no money-lending, nothing burdensome of this world — but even at a young age he dwelt in the desert of silence; and as if in a tranquil harbor, sitting in the wilderness and caring for his sheep, he meditated on the heavenly kingdom; and not by bodily strength but by the virtue of faith he killed bears and lions that attacked his flock," as he himself says in the following chapter, vv. 35 and 36.