Samuel the Prophet

ON ST. SAMUEL THE PROPHET

IN PALESTINE,

In the year of the world 2979, before Christ 1076.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Samuel the prophet, in Palestine (St.)

BY J. P.

§ I. The plan of writing; the Saint obtained from God by his mother's prayers; his birth, the etymology of his name, his education, his sacred ministry, his prophecies, his marriage; whether he was a priest.

This great man, prophet and judge or governor of the people of Israel, is one — and not the least — of those whom, drawn from the Old Testament, we insert into our Work, following the examples of our predecessors, What manner of writing we here hold to. yet in such a way that, with regard to those things which were said on the first day of May on occasion of St. Jeremiah, and on the first day of July on occasion of St. Aaron, concerning the brevity to be observed in the ancient Saints of the Old Covenant, we shall here enter upon a middle way, and shall avoid both excessive prolixity and excessive brevity; lest from the latter there arise a meagerness, so to speak, and from the former a superfluous digression greater than is sufficient for the present undertaking, and the bulk of this our historical collection grow too great. Wherefore we shall partly take a sampling of the most illustrious deeds of the man from the sacred Scriptures; and partly we shall bid the reader seek them there, other writers besides being assigned to him whom he may consult. Nor does the method which we used on the twentieth day of July in the case of St. Elijah, and on the twenty-first day of the same month in the case of St. Daniel, differ from this which we shall now employ, except that here we shall give our effort to greater brevity.

[2] St. Samuel was born of Elkanah his father and Hannah his mother, Samuel is obtained from God by the prayers of his barren mother. and was obtained by the entreaties and tears of the latter as she bewailed her barrenness before the Lord in the presence of Eli the priest. The sacred Scriptures describe the matter at greater length in the first book of Kings, chapter 1; whence I take these things: There was a certain man of Ramathaim-sophim, of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham … an Ephrathite: and he had two wives, the name of the one Hannah, and the name of the second Peninnah: and Peninnah had sons: but Hannah had no children … For the Lord had shut up her womb. Her rival also afflicted her, and vexed her sorely, insomuch that she upbraided her that the Lord had shut up her womb … Moreover she wept and did not take food … And Hannah rose up after she had eaten and drunk in Shiloh. And while Eli the priest sat upon a stool before the doorposts of the temple of the Lord, when Hannah was in bitterness of soul, she prayed to the Lord, weeping abundantly, and made a vow, saying: O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt look and see the affliction of thy handmaid … and wilt give to thy handmaid a man-child: I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head. And it came to pass, as she multiplied prayers before the Lord … And … after the circuit of days Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, because she had asked him of the Lord.

[3] The time of his birth; the etymology of his name. As to what concerns the Saint's parents, we send the reader to the interpreters of sacred Scripture, and to the Ecclesiastical Annals of the Old Testament, published by our own Salian, volume 2, at the year of the world 2889, number 1 and following, and at the year of the world 2894, numbers 1 and 2. But in volume 3, at the year of the world 2900, number 11 and following, he explains the passage of sacred Scripture which we have just cited, and thinks that St. Samuel was conceived in that same year and born at the beginning of the year next following. The Reverend Father Dom Augustin Calmet, in the Commentary which treats of the three books of Kings, page VI, in the chronological table, fixes his birth in the year 2849. The etymology of the name, indicated above from the sacred text — and she called his name Samuel, because she had asked him of the Lord — Salian explains in these words at the year of the world 2901, number 1: Θεαίτητον ἄν τις εἴποιε, says Josephus: the Septuagint, the Chaldee, and Theodoret agree. And this is more correct than that which some have preferred to render, Placed by God, or his name is from God. For it is derived from the verb Saal, which means to ask, but with the word so corrupted, says Vatablus, that only the first letter has remained; since that name was imposed by a woman, not by a learned man. He indeed says rightly, if she had then to seek the Hebrew tongue from books — which nevertheless was her mother tongue. Calmet, page 11, acknowledges that an elision of certain letters was made there for the sake of euphony, adding that in etymological strictness it ought to be said Saulmeel. But now for the education of our Saint.

[4] The sacred pages in the passage cited record these things: And her husband Elkanah went up, The weaned child is brought to the house of the Lord, and all his house, to offer to the Lord the solemn sacrifice and his vow, and Hannah did not go up: for she said to her husband: I will not go until the child be weaned, and until I lead him, that he may appear before the sight of the Lord and may abide there continually … The woman therefore remained, and gave her son suck, until she took him from the milk. And she brought him with her, after she had weaned him … and she brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. But the boy was still very young: and they sacrificed a calf, and offered the boy to Eli. And Hannah said … I am that woman who stood before thee here praying to the Lord. For this boy I prayed, and the Lord granted me my petition … Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord, all the days wherein he shall be lent to the Lord … And (ibid., chapter 2) Elkanah went to Ramathah to his house: but the boy was a minister in the sight of the Lord before the face of Eli the priest. Concerning the nursing of Samuel, with his mother's joy and reverence, Salian writes at the year of the world 2902, numbers 1 and 2. But at the year 2903 he treats of the time of Samuel's weaning and offering, where both the one and the other are attached to that year, the third of his age; but these things may be read more fully deduced either there or elsewhere among the interpreters. In volume 4 of the Works of St. John Chrysostom, which were lately reprinted in Greek and Latin at Paris, there is found from page 721 the third sermon on Hannah and on the education of Samuel.

[5] But let us see with what excellent gifts of grace and of nature he passed his tender age and the beginnings of his sacred ministry in the house of the Lord. where he excellently adorned the sacred ministry, To the seventh year of Samuel we can not unfittingly refer the beginnings of Samuel's ministry: for nothing in a serious matter can be done conveniently enough at an age more tender than this; much less in the sacred ministry. And Scripture itself hints at this, which calls him a very young child when he was offered; but afterwards, when it makes mention of his ministry, calls him a boy: as Salian observes at the year of the world 2907, number 1. For the boy was still very young, etc. But the boy was a minister in the sight of the Lord, before the face of Eli the priest, as we said a little before. And in the same chapter 2 of the first book of Kings, verse 18: But Samuel ministered before the face of the Lord, a boy, girded with a linen ephod. 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. And in the same place, verse 21: And the boy Samuel was magnified before the Lord. Finally, verse 26: But the boy Samuel advanced and grew on, and pleased both the Lord and men. Then the aforesaid Salian says: By which words the boy's excellent character, and his good rearing, and his childhood training, and his occupation are signified — an outstanding example of a tender age to be consecrated to God in good time, before they be defiled with the filth of this life.

[6] But what his ministry then was, and of what sort his own manners were, and his tender age. Salian sets forth in the same place, number 2. Brief is that saying of St. John Chrysostom in the sermon designated above, page 724: For although his age was immature, yet his virtue was mature; and to all who went up into the temple he became a teacher of much religion. For while they inquired and learned the manner of his birth, they received abundantly great consolation of the hope which is toward God. Nor did anyone go down silent when he had seen the boy; but all glorified him by whom he had been given beyond hope. Furthermore the ephod, of which above, was a linen shoulder-garment which the Levites and priests used, as it were in sign of clerical state, says Salian, number 4, where more may be found. The second scholion at the year 2903 may also be seen. Whether St. Samuel was a priest, and in what sense, will be said below at number 11. Let us meanwhile proceed to his prophecies. Their beginning is fixed in the Annals cited above at the year of the world 2913, the thirteenth of Samuel's age. Consult that year, numbers 1 and 2.

[7] Prophecies Now in a marvelous manner the Lord began to communicate to him the gift of prophecy. And the boy Samuel (1 Kings, chapter 3) ministered to the Lord before Eli … It came to pass therefore on a certain day, Eli was lying in his place, and his eyes had grown dim,

and he could not see. Before the lamp of God went out, Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. And the Lord called Samuel. And he answering said: Here am I. And he ran to Eli and said: Here am I: for thou didst call me. And he said: I did not call: return and sleep. And he went and slept. And the Lord called Samuel again a second time. And Samuel arose and went to Eli and said: Here am I: for thou didst call me. And he answered: I did not call thee, my son: return and sleep. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither had the word of the Lord been revealed to him. And the Lord called Samuel again a third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said: Here am I, for thou didst call me. Eli therefore understood that the Lord was calling the boy. And he said to Samuel: Go and sleep, and if hereafter he call thee, thou shalt say: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.

[8] The Saint Samuel therefore went and slept in his place. And the Lord came and stood, and called, as he had called the second time: Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel said: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. And the Lord said to Samuel: Behold, I do a word in Israel, which whosoever shall hear, both his ears shall tingle. In that day I will raise up against Eli all the things I have spoken concerning his house: I will begin and I will make an end. For I have foretold unto him that I would judge his house for ever, for iniquity, because he knew that his sons did wickedly and did not chastise them … And Samuel slept till morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel feared to tell the vision to Eli … And so Samuel told him all the words … And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and not one of his words fell to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was a faithful prophet of the Lord. Let us here marvel, among other things, at Samuel's outstanding obedience, concerning which Salian says at the year 2913, number 9: The readiness of the youth is the more worthy of praise, in that that age is of deeper sleep and more fond of it; nevertheless in the dead of night, fearing nothing for himself in the darkness, called several times, he always rose promptly, although several times disappointed in his expectation, and went — nay, ran — to the Lord and to Eli as to his own parent. The interpreters have more on the passage of sacred Scripture just now adduced. But we must speak also of the other prophecies of the holy man, whither the words lately cited lead us: And Samuel grew, etc.

[9] The often-cited author of the Annals of the Old Testament, at the year of the world 2926, number 1, records these things: with the gift This is the sabbatical year, the forty-ninth in order, at which time Samuel the prophet was in his twenty-sixth year, and showed daily greater increases of virtue and of divine wisdom; so that that saying could truly be applied to him: "And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him" — beyond the rest of the Israelites, namely, who lacked the gift of prophecy: for he is said to be particularly with those whom he endows with some singular privilege, as Isaac with riches, Joseph with prudence in managing affairs, Gideon with fortitude, Samuel with prophecy: and these words confirm it: "And not one of his words fell to the ground." Which pertains not only to the prophecy uttered against Eli, but to very many other particular ones, which were not recorded in writing except in general, as is had in verse 21 — concerning which matter a little later. Thus he. But in a scholion on the aforesaid year he says: That the words of Samuel are said NOT TO HAVE FALLEN TO THE GROUND, that is, not to have been made void or to have perished, is a metaphor drawn from liquid things, as Vatablus says, which, if they be poured out on the ground, perish. So in Latin we say to pour out words into the winds, which phrase the Hebrews also often use. Then he designates examples.

[10] But at the year 2933, numbers 2 and 3, he presents Samuel as renowned for prophecies, writing thus: he excelled marvelously: Furthermore at this time the glory of Samuel was increasing with great increments among the whole people. For many things were divinely foreshown to him, which, when at God's command he had announced them to the people, and the Lord had confirmed them by the events themselves — he who at the same time was preparing for him an access to the governance of the whole commonwealth — all Israel deservedly revered him. Especially since to this grace of God there was added an integrity of life and blameless manners. "And all Israel," says the Scripture (1 Kings 3, verse 20), "from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was a faithful prophet of the Lord." It was known to all the Israelites, from the town of Dan, which was situated near Lebanon at the sources of the Jordan and the northern quarter of their region, as far as Beersheba, a city set to the south, at the extremity of the tribe of Simeon, that Samuel was a true and faithful prophet of the Lord. And now, that he became famous by not a few predictions is proved in the same place, number 3, from those words of sacred Scripture, 1 Kings 3, verse 21: "And the Lord went on to appear in Shiloh, for the Lord had been revealed to Samuel in Shiloh." The Lord, that is, continued to appear more often to Samuel in Shiloh, because there he had first begun to communicate himself to him, or, as it is in the Hebrew, to offer himself to be beheld. It is not said of one single supervening vision, says Cajetan, but summarily the multiplied divine apparitions made in Shiloh are recorded: and it is said "in Shiloh," to distinguish them from the other visions which Samuel had when he had departed from Shiloh. The Abulensis agrees, and adds that oracles of this kind were not recorded in the sacred codices, because they pertained not at all either to Samuel's exaltation or to the abasement of the house of Eli, which is chiefly treated of in this place.

[11] Having joined these things together in one continuous course of speech concerning the grace and spirit of prophecy of St. Samuel, His marriage. Whether he was a priest. I add briefly these things about his marriage. The repeatedly cited Annalist of the Old Testament, at the year of the world 2926, number 1, had premised these things to our purpose: For the rest, we judge that about this time a wife was taken by Samuel, and that shortly he had of her Joel his first-born, and not long after Abijah. That we should place this the earlier, the office of judge, committed to them by Samuel their father and administered for some time before a king was sought by the Israelites, almost forcibly compels us, as is plainly evident from chapter 8 of this first book of Kings. The same author, at the year of the world 2940, number 4 and following, having reported Samuel's capacity for the principate, presents him as substituted for Eli the priest. Hence the question may be raised whether Samuel himself was also high priest or priest; which matter the same Annalist, leaving aside SS. Augustine and Gregory and others who so hold and whom he cites, thus decides: Nevertheless it is most certain that Samuel was not a priest, from this, that in the Mosaic law that dignity was bound to the one family of Aaron, to which it is by no means doubtful that Samuel did not belong. Of which matter he adduces proof in the same place. Calmet in his Commentary on chapter 25 of the first book of Kings discusses this argument; but having set forth various reasons for the priesthood, he affirms that the contrary opinion appears today to be the more common, and to be supported by proofs and authority no less than that one of which he had treated. Which he deduces at greater length in the same place.

§ II. When St. Samuel was judge; his exhortation; the victory obtained through him; the exercise of judgment, his place of habitation; his sons appointed judges by him; King Saul; pious congregations.

In what year of his age he began to be judge: Particular mention is made in Scripture of the twentieth year of the Ark's sojourn in Kirjath-jearim, in chapter 7 of the first book of Kings. "And it came to pass," it says, "from the day that the Ark of the Lord abode in Kirjath-jearim, the days were multiplied: for it was now the twentieth year." So Salian at the year of the world 2960, and before Christ 1039. But did St. Samuel begin in this year to be judge of the Israelite commonwealth? Since, however, he says, we have set this as Samuel's twenty-first year, and have judged that an anarchy is not to be introduced into the commonwealth of the Hebrews, it nevertheless seems to Serarius, on chapter 7 of 1 Kings, more likely from the text that Samuel came to judge after those twenty years and delivered the discourse of this chapter, so that he began to be prince in the thirty-third year of his age. But this chronology cannot stand. For how could Samuel have begun to be judge in the thirty-third year of his age, and have judged along with Saul for forty years before the reign of David, when to David's reign twenty years and no more remain? How, since Saul reigned after a biennium, could Samuel have grown old and appointed his sons judges of the people, as is had in the following chapter 8, if he was now thirty-three years old? With what probability do they leave twenty years without a supreme magistrate in the most difficult times of the Hebrew commonwealth? True therefore and common is the opinion of Lyranus, of the Abulensis, and of Genebrard, that Samuel was made judge in the commonwealth of the Hebrews immediately after the death of Eli; that he had been engaged in that office now for the twenty-first year; and that he was now in the sixtieth year of his age, and had sons nearly forty years old.

[13] His exhortation to the people the sacred Text describes thus, book 1 of Kings, chapter 7, verse 3: in what places his exhortation was given, And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying: If you turn to the Lord with all your heart, put away the strange gods from among you, Baalim and Astaroth: and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. This discourse is woven into the Ecclesiastical Annals of the Old Testament at the year, as I was saying, of the world 2960, and there, in number 7, the author of the same says: Since it is not recorded in the sacred text, nor in Josephus, where these things were said by Samuel to the Israelites, we can rightly understand with Lyranus and the Abulensis that this was as it were the matter of his exhortations and discourses to the people in the several cities which he went about preaching each year, as is signified below, namely at the end of the same chapter 7. But what was the fruit of the exhortation here treated of? The children of Israel therefore put away Baalim and Astaroth, and served the Lord only. The people therefore, being thus disposed to serve God alone, the holy Prophet summoned to Mizpeh, for a public detestation of idolatry and penance for their offenses, and for reconciliation with God. For Samuel said, in the same place, verse 5: Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, that I may pray to the Lord for you. And they gathered together to Mizpeh: and they drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and they fasted on that day, and said there: We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.

[14] Adrichomius, among the places of the tribe of Benjamin,

which he illustrates, and with what fruit it was held: says on page 18: Mizpah, which is also Mizphat and Mizepha and Mesphe, a city conspicuous on a mountain; and since it is placed by some in Judah, by others in Benjamin, perhaps it may seem that it should be placed on the border of both tribes. There was formerly the ark of the Testament, and thither the people of Israel came together for prayer: for there also was Samuel's place of judgment. Salian treats of the twin Mizpah in the place cited above, number 8; and then, from number 10, of the penance of the Hebrews, of the pouring out of water — which nevertheless was not a sacrifice — and of Samuel's judging; whose vows and prayers were exceedingly acceptable with God and altogether salutary for the people of Israel, as we shall now see.

[15] In book 1 of Kings, chapter 7, verse 7 and following, these things are narrated: [the victory won over the Philistines: the office of judge exercised in various places; his habitation.] And the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together in Mizpeh, and the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard this, they feared before the face of the Philistines. And they said to Samuel: Cease not to cry to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us out of the hand of the Philistines. And Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it whole for a holocaust to the Lord: and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him. And it came to pass, while Samuel was offering the holocaust, the Philistines began the battle against Israel: but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and terrified them, and they were cut down before the face of Israel. And the men of Israel going out of Mizpeh pursued the Philistines and smote them as far as the place which was under Beth-car. And Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Sen: and he called the name of that place, The Stone of help. And he said: Thus far hath the Lord helped us. And the Philistines were humbled, and they did not come any more into the borders of Israel. And so the hand of the Lord was upon the Philistines all the days of Samuel. And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath and their borders: and he delivered Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and there was peace between Israel and the Amorite. And in the same place, at verse 15 and following, there is added a notice of the office of judge exercised by St. Samuel, and of his habitation, in these words: Samuel also judged Israel all the days of his life: and he went every year going about to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh, and he judged Israel in the aforesaid places. And he returned to Ramathah: for there was his house, and there he judged Israel. He built also there an altar to the Lord. Whoever desires an elucidation of these matters may consult the interpreters.

[16] In behalf of his sons, who administered the office of judge badly That Samuel's sons were appointed judges by their father, sacred Scripture thus records in book 1 of Kings, chapter 8: And it came to pass, when Samuel had grown old, that he appointed his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his first-born son was Joel, and the name of the second Abijah, judges in Beersheba. Salian weaves the event into the year of the world which I signified above, 2960, before Christ 1093; on which year, at number 28, he further observes these things: He was then in the sixtieth year of his age, having been born in the first year of this century. Nor indeed can this appointment be deferred longer: for since the people took occasion from their bad government to ask for a king, it must be that the people had for some time experienced their avarice and injustice, that the complaint might seem probable and lawful. This therefore they could experience in this and the following year. But in the third year, wearied of their government, they came to Samuel and asked for a king, as will be said there. That we should not say those judges of Israel were appointed by their father earlier, both the order of narration of Scripture — which no necessity compels us to change — persuades us; and also the age of Samuel, for the easing of whom the burden of government was in part transferred to his younger sons. And this will be the less probable the less advanced in age we say Samuel was when he shared a part of his administration with his sons. In the chronological table in Calmet, designated above, the present event is fixed at the year of the world 2908.

[17] a king is asked for: But of the turning aside of St. Samuel's sons from the right way, and of the king therefore substituted for them, these things are narrated in the same chapter 8: And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after avarice, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel being assembled came to Samuel in Ramathah. And they said to him: Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: appoint us a king to judge us, as all nations have. And the word was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, because they had said: Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel: Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee. For they have not rejected thee, but me, that I should not reign over them … Now therefore hearken to their voice: but yet testify to them, and foretell them the right of the king that shall reign over them. The Prophet obeys the Lord: he foretells the right of the king and the inconveniences that would thence befall the people; but he is not heard by them, as is narrated at greater length in the cited chapter 8, where these things are added: And the Lord said to Samuel: Hearken to their voice, and appoint a king over them. And Samuel said to the men of Israel: Let every man go to his own city. The Annals of the Old Testament repeatedly cited fix the transgression of Samuel's sons at the year of the world 2961, before Christ 1092; but the things transacted between God and Samuel and the people in the asking for a king, at the year next following, 2962. Commentaries either there or elsewhere among the interpreters of sacred Scripture may be consulted on this passage.

[18] Now in a marvelous manner, or, so to speak, by a sport of divine providence, Saul turned aside to Samuel, to which office in a marvelous manner that he might be anointed by him king of Israel. I abridge the event for brevity's sake from the sacred Text, book 1 of Kings, chapters 9 and 10. There was a man of Benjamin named Kish … And he had a son whose name was Saul … Now the asses of Kish, Saul's father, had been lost. And Kish said to Saul his son: Take with thee one of the servants … and seek the asses … And when they were come into the land of Zuph, Saul said to the servant … Come and let us return, lest perhaps my father forget the asses and be concerned for us. And he said to him: Behold there is a man of God in this city, a noble man: all that he saith cometh to pass without ambiguity. Now therefore let us go thither, if perhaps he may tell us of our way for which we are come. And Saul said to his servant: Behold we will go … (Now in Israel formerly thus spoke every man going to consult God: Come and let us go to the Seer; for he that is today called a prophet was formerly called a Seer) … And they went into the city in which was the man of God … And as they were walking in the midst of the city, Samuel appeared coming out to meet them, that he might go up to the high place. Now the Lord had revealed to the ear of Samuel one day before Saul came, saying: At this very hour which is now, tomorrow I will send thee a man of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him leader over my people Israel …

[19] And when Samuel had beheld Saul, the Lord said to him: he is designated by God, and anointed to it by Samuel. Behold the man of whom I spoke to thee … And Saul came to Samuel in the midst of the gate and said: Tell me, I pray thee, where is the house of the Seer. And Samuel answered Saul, saying: I am the Seer. Go up before me to the high place, that you may eat with me today, and I will let thee go in the morning, and I will tell thee all that is in thy heart. And as for the asses which thou didst lose three days ago, be not concerned, for they are found … And Saul ate with Samuel on that day … And when they had risen in the morning, and it was now growing light, Samuel called Saul on the housetop, saying: Arise, and I will let thee go … And as they were going down at the extremity of the city, Samuel said to Saul: Bid the servant go before us and pass on; but do thou stand still a little while, that I may tell thee the word of the Lord. And Samuel took a little vial of oil and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said: Behold, the Lord hath anointed thee prince over his inheritance, and thou shalt deliver his people out of the hands of their enemies who are round about them. But the signs by which the Prophet confirmed his election are had in the cited chapter 10.

[20] But on occasion of those things which are there said by Samuel to Saul, verse 5 — Pious assemblies instituted by him: And when thou shalt have entered the city there (Gibeah), thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place; that is, from the place of prayer and sacrifices in the same city: of which many were then found, in Bethel, in Kirjath-jearim, in Ramathah, in Gibeah of Benjamin, etc., as Salian observes at the said year of the world 2962, number 100 — he relates in the same place, number 101, that religious assemblies were instituted by Samuel, in these words: Some write, among whom are Comestor and Lyranus, that assemblies of religious men of this kind (of whom he had just treated), appointed for the chanting of the praises of God, were instituted by Samuel. And the thing has great probability, nor does it appear, to one who casts his eyes about these times, to whom this invention could rather be attributed than to him who, nourished from tender years in the temple and full of the spirit of God, set no small part of his life in the praises of God. And since he shone most greatly by the reputation of sanctity and by the renown of prophecy — a Levite by race, a Nazarite by vow, a priest by privilege, a judge by dignity, consecrated to God before he was born — it is by no means doubtful that he had many approvers and followers of the same life, who gave themselves into his discipline, and whom he afterwards distributed into various places, who might instill into the peoples the veneration and love of God, together with the delight of religious song. These things therefore, begun in these times, took great increase when David and Solomon held power, as will be said in their places.

[21] things done on occasion of King Saul. But now let us follow out what Samuel did concerning King Saul, with the Scripture in the same place, from verse 17: And Samuel called together the people to the Lord in Mizpeh, and he said to the children of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: I brought Israel out of Egypt … But you this day have cast away your God, who alone hath saved you out of all your evils and tribulations, and you have said: Nay:

but appoint a king over us. Now therefore stand before the Lord by your tribes and by your families. And Samuel brought near all the tribes of Israel, and the lot fell on the tribe of Benjamin. And he brought near the tribe of Benjamin and its kindreds, and the lot fell upon the kindred of Matri, and it came to Saul the son of Kish. They sought him therefore, and he was not found. And after this they consulted the Lord whether he would come thither. And the Lord answered: Behold, he is hidden at home. And so they ran and fetched him thence, and he stood in the midst of the people … And Samuel said to all the people: Surely you see whom the Lord hath chosen … And all the people cried out and said: God save the king. And Samuel told the people the law of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord: and Samuel sent away all the people, every one to his own house. The Annals cited, at the year 2963, number 1, treat of that assembly; but of the other, in which Saul's kingship was renewed in Gilgal, the sacred Text speaks thus in chapter 11: And Samuel said to the people: Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and let us renew the kingdom there. And all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. Thus far concerning the assemblies of the people of Israel: but I do not undertake to review the commentaries upon them, lest this Commentary grow beyond measure, and lest I play the part of an interpreter of sacred Scripture rather than of a historical collector. Let us hear therefore now what our holy Seer did in the assembly which was held at Gilgal.

§ III. The innocence of his life, his rebuke of the people confirmed by a miracle; his acts concerning Saul; his death, burial, mourning, and eulogies.

Israel has nothing whereof to accuse Samuel; who, while he rebukes them, In book 1 of Kings, chapter 12, verse 1 and following, the divine Oracles record these things: And Samuel said to all Israel: Behold, I have heard your voice according to all that you have said to me, and I have appointed a king over you. And now the king goeth before you. But I am old and grey-headed: moreover my sons are with you. And so, having conversed before you from my youth until this day, behold, here I am. Speak of me before the Lord and before his Anointed, whether I have taken any man's ox or ass: if I have wronged anyone, if I have oppressed anyone, if I have received a bribe from any man's hand: and I will despise it this day and restore it to you. And they said: Thou hast not wronged us, nor oppressed us, nor taken aught from any man's hand. And he said to them: The Lord is witness against you, and his Anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand. And they said: He is witness. We have here a testimony, confirmed by an oath through God and the king, concerning the innocence of Samuel's life and his virtue set beyond all reproach. Afterwards, in the same place, verse 6 and following, he accuses Israel of the vice of an ungrateful mind toward the Lord, whose benefits conferred upon them he reviews. Besides this, he exhorts them to serve the Lord.

[23] Finally the holy man confirms his words by a prodigy, he works a miracle saying: But now also stand and see this great thing which the Lord is about to do in your sight. Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, and he will send thunders and rains, and you shall know and see that you have done a great evil to yourselves in the sight of the Lord, in asking a king over you. And Samuel cried to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunders and rains on that day. And all the people feared the Lord and Samuel exceedingly, and all the people said to Samuel: Pray for thy servants to the Lord thy God, that we may not die. For we have added to all our sins this evil, that we asked for a king for ourselves.

[24] A brief observation seems opportune here to declare the greatness of this prodigy. he performs it. If this was a miracle, as indeed it was, says Salian at the year of the world 2963, number 72, inasmuch as it was divinely obtained and given as a sign by God to the whole people, it must be that, by reason of the time at which these thunders and rains occurred, they could not be produced by the powers of nature, although otherwise rains and thunders do not surpass the force of nature. It was also necessary, that the miracle might not be at all doubtful or disputed, that the air was then plainly clear and serene, and that no rains were wont to occur at the time of the wheat harvest. Which certain Hebrews in Vatablus assert; nay, they deny that it rains from the XVII of March until the month of October. In the prophecy of Amos, chapter 4, verse 7, these things are said: "I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest." St. Jerome here says: "Never at the end of the month of June or in the month of July have we seen rains in these provinces (the discourse is about all the regions of the East), and most of all in Judea." Finally in the books of Kings, as a great sign and portent, in the days of summer and of harvest, at Samuel's prayer rains were stirred up.

[25] But now let us proceed to chapter 13 of the first book of Kings, where we shall find other things which pertain to St. Samuel. Some things are briefly touched upon, But it will suffice to have transcribed them hither in compendium. There, therefore, you will find that the Philistines, conquered by Saul, armed themselves with the greatest preparation against Israel; that the terrified Hebrews lay hid in caves; and that Saul, because he offered the holocaust without awaiting Samuel's arrival, was reprobated by the Lord, etc. And these things indeed concerning Saul's reprobation are thus described there: But the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. And while Saul was yet in Gilgal, all the people who followed him were terrified. And he waited seven days according to the appointment of Samuel, and Samuel came not to Gilgal, and the people slipped away from him. Saul therefore said: Bring me the holocaust and the peace-offerings. And he offered the holocaust. And when he had made an end of offering the holocaust, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him, to salute him. And Samuel said to him: What hast thou done? Saul answered: Because I saw that the people slipped away from me, and thou hadst not come according to the appointed days, and the Philistines had gathered together in Michmash, I said: Now will the Philistines come down upon me to Gilgal, and I have not appeased the face of the Lord. Compelled by necessity, I offered the holocaust. And Samuel said to Saul: Thou hast done foolishly, and hast not kept the commandments of the Lord thy God which he commanded thee, etc.

[26] what the Prophet did concerning Saul. Among other things which were revealed to our most holy Seer by the Lord was the sin of Saul in the Amalekite spoil. The event is described in book 1 of Kings, chapter 15. And this is the sum of it. After Saul had been sent by the Lord to destroy the Amalekites utterly, and had reserved Agag their king and much booty, he is accused of disobedience by Samuel, is rejected from the kingdom, and being reprobated is bewailed by him. On these matters see Salian at the year of the world 2968, in the year before Christ 1085, and other interpreters of Scripture. But at the year next following the same writer treats of Samuel's mourning over Saul, and of the anointing of David as king (let the reader consult book 1 of Kings, chapter 16). And of the same king fleeing from Saul's hands, hostile to him, and turning aside to Samuel at Ramathah, and of the departure of both thence to Naioth, chapter 19, and Salian at the year of the world 2973. These things having thus far been set forth summarily, which that great Prophet did in the time of his life, it remains that we speak of his death and of the other matters that followed upon it.

[27] The time of his death The sacred Text, 1 Kings, chapter 25, verse 1, has these things: And Samuel died, and all Israel was gathered together, and they mourned for him, and buried him in his house in Ramathah. Concerning the year of his death and of his age I have no mind to weave an elaborate disputation. Calmet, on the cited chapter, attaches Samuel's death to the year of the world 2947, the year before Christ 1057, and to about the ninety-eighth year of his age. But Salian binds it to the year of the world 2977, the year before Christ 1076; and there, at number 3, he indicates this reckoning of Samuel's years: This death occurred, according to the chronology which we established at the beginning of Eli's magistracy, in the 77th year of his age, in the 38th of his entered magistracy, which he entered at 39 years old. Labbé, in his Chronological Compendium of Sacred and Profane History, volume 1, assigns the same year of the world 2977, but before Christ 1077, to his death, and attributes 77 years to his age. That he departed this life two years before Saul is said in the same place, according to Josephus and Clement of Alexandria. More about this two-year period Salian observes at the year which I cited from him a little before, numbers 1 and 2. But in the scholia which are placed after that same year, the opinion of the Hebrews is refuted, who will have it that Samuel died four months before Saul's decease, as you will find in the same place: for these things, which I have assigned to be read in others concerning the chronological reckoning, suffice for the present undertaking. The reckoning of time which I prefixed at the beginning of this Commentary is Salian's, and set down by me there according to his computation.

[28] As to what concerns the cause of his death, Salian, just now cited, says in the same place, number 4: It appears that the most holy old man died weighed down by grief of mind rather than by the burden of years, and its cause; his burial and wearied of the present state of affairs, and of a commonwealth not a little disturbed in its head, which was gravely ailing, and that he asked of God that he would take away his soul. Then the aforesaid author pursues this argument at greater length; and in the same place, number 7, he adds these things concerning the burial and funeral: But when Scripture says that he was buried in his house in Ramathah, it means that he was buried in the proper and domestic sepulchre of his forefathers, as Sa says. Yet it is to be understood that in some cave there were several sepulchres or vaults distinguished by their own marks … and that Samuel was buried in one of them. Otherwise how could his relics have been separated from the others and translated? Which we shall say was presently done by the emperor Arcadius. But we read in the Itinerary of Benjamin, which Arias Montanus rendered into Latin, that the body of Samuel was kept at Ramathah in the synagogue, and thence was translated by Christians to Shiloh, and that a great temple was raised to him, and the Prophet's sepulchre set there, and the name S. Samuel of Shiloh given to the town. Thus he there. (But Quaresmius disapproves the statement of Rabbi Benjamin, in the work to be cited below at number 36, chapter 5, page 727.) Scripture also signifies the singular celebrity of this funeral, such as we read of at the funeral of Moses, of Aaron, of Joshua, and of other heroes of that kind. Nor would I much doubt that the king himself wished to honor the funeral, either that he might not be ungrateful

toward him by whom he had once been greatly loved and raised to the royal throne, or that he might gratify the whole people, to whom Samuel had been most acceptable; and this Lyranus affirms on chapter 28 of book 1 of Kings, on those words: "And Saul understood," etc. I would also believe that neither mourning for thirty days nor funeral lamentations were lacking, such as we read were rendered to Moses and Aaron. (See the end of chapter 20 of Numbers, and Deuteronomy chapter 34, verse 8.) For Josephus says that the people prolonged their grief for a long time. After these things the same founder of the Annals proceeds, number 8:

[29] All Israel is also said to have been gathered together, the mourning of the people of Israel: either because some came in the public name from the several cities to Ramathah, or because in several places the magistracy paid him his due rites. And so Josephus says that the people mourned, not as at a public funeral, but as though this bereavement pertained properly to each one. For it was fitting that all Israel should honor the funeral of him who had set all the parts of his life, from earliest infancy to his last old age, either in procuring the salvation of the whole people by prayers before God, or in promoting it by a most wise and most upright government. He then carries out this matter through the various classes of men. There may also be read what he has in the same place, number 10 and following, showing that Samuel was a figure of Christ before his birth, in his birth, in the progress of his life, in the founding of prophetic colleges, in prophecy, in an extraordinary priesthood, in the reconciliation of the people, in prodigies, in the victory over the Philistines, in the wickedness of his sons, in his weeping for Saul, in the anointing of kings, in God's love toward him. And these things indeed procure a singular esteem for this holy man, since so many and so great ornaments of grace were heaped upon him by the most munificent hand of God, that he represented a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Holy of Holies. But of Samuel's sanctity, adorned with public honors both in the Latin and in the Greek Church, it will be said below. Now meanwhile let us bring forward some eulogies by which his various endowments are illustrated by the Holy Spirit.

[30] eulogies. The royal Prophet, in Psalm 98, verses 6 and 7, numbering him with Moses and Aaron, indicates that his intercession was of great worth with God. For thus he says: Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name. They called upon the Lord, and he heard them, etc. Jeremiah, chapter 15, verse 1, places him among the most powerful patrons with God, when he signifies that the Lord was not to be bent even by his prayers: for thus the Prophet speaks: And the Lord said to me: If Moses and Samuel shall stand before me, my soul is not toward this people. Cast them out from my face and let them go forth, etc. Longer and altogether singular is the eulogy which is given to St. Samuel in Ecclesiasticus, chapter 46, from verse 16: Beloved of the Lord his God, Samuel the prophet of the Lord renewed the empire, and anointed princes in his nation. In the law of the Lord he judged the congregation, and the God of Jacob saw, and by his faith he was proved a prophet. And he was known to be faithful in his words, because he saw the God of light: and he called upon the Lord almighty, in fighting against the enemies who beset him round about, in the oblation of an unspotted lamb. And the Lord thundered from heaven, and with a great noise made his voice to be heard, and he crushed the princes of the Tyrians and all the leaders of the Philistines: and before the time of the end of his life and of the world, he gave testimony in the sight of the Lord and of his Anointed; moneys and even shoes he took not from any flesh, and no man accused him. And after this he slept, and made known to the king, and showed him the end of his life, and he lifted up his voice from the earth in prophecy to blot out the impiety of the nation.

§ IV. His cultus in the East and the West; the translation of his body; sacred buildings, monasteries.

[31] He is venerated among the Greeks and other peoples, The most celebrated memory of St. Samuel has shone forth in the East among the Greeks and other peoples who follow their rite, as is plain from the sacred Calendars announcing him on this XX day of August, namely from the Typicon which is called that of St. Sabas, from our Slavo-Russian Menology of Sparwenfeld, from the Calendar of the Ruthenians in Possevinus, likewise from another of the proper feasts of the church of Jerusalem in Wadding's Annals of the Minors, volume 3, page 499, from our Arabic-Egyptian Martyrology, and from our Greek transcripts. It will be enough for our purpose to transcribe hither one or two announcements. The great Greek Menaea printed in type report the Saint thus: The memory of the holy and glorious prophet Samuel. These verses follow the announcement:

Μύσας τελευτῇ καὶ Σαμουὴλ ὁ βλέπων, Τὸ ζῶν ἀεὶ φῶς καὶ τελευτήσας βλέπει. Βῆ δ᾽ ὁράων μέλλοντα Σαμουὴλ εἰκάδι ἔνθεν.

With closed eyes dies Samuel the Seer also, And, dead, beholds the ever-living light. On the twentieth Samuel departs hence, who saw things to come.

The poet's allusion I explain thus. Samuel, who, because he was a prophet, was called the Seer (see above, §2, number 18), ceased to see through the death of the body, but through the beatific vision even after death he sees the light which ever lives and never fails. What is then read in the same place concerning our Prophet in the Office of this day, I do not transcribe. Singular is the title of martyr with which he is announced in our Slavo-Russian transcript of Sparwenfeld cited a little before, if it be not foreign to him; in Wadding, cited, he is marked with the title of confessor.

[32] Most ancient also is the memory of St. Samuel in the Latin Calendars. For he is noted on this day in the Martyrology as also among the Latins. which was long since published among us under the name of Bede; Rabanus also reports him, and the old or little Roman, Ado, Usuard, and Wandelbert, who sings of him thus:

The thirteenth after the tenth shall be distinguished by Samuel, Whom from the very cradle his devout mother consecrated to the Lord.

The Roman Martyrology, which the Church of God now uses, records him in these words: In Judea, St. Samuel the prophet, whose sacred bones, as blessed Jerome writes, the emperor Arcadius translated to Constantinople and placed near the Seventh Milestone. Of that translation we shall presently deliver more. The feast of our Saint, as one of the more celebrated, is marked with a rubric by Job Ludolf in the Ethiopic Calendars at the third day of June: on which matter it was then said among us in the Prætermissi. In the chronological Isagoge to the chronological Work published by Calvisius at Frankfurt on the Oder in the year 1620, page 14, in the Julian Calendar, Samuel is marked on the XXIX day of January.

[33] There is no doubt that the greatest propagation and increase accrued to the public veneration of the holy Prophet from that solemn and famous translation of his sacred relics, [His bones, as St. Jerome witnesses, were brought to Chalcedon under the emperor Arcadius,] which was made at the beginning of the fifth century, and was attested by the most weighty words of St. Jerome, then living, in his book Against Vigilantius, where he chastises that heretic's impiety, and which ought to affect with signal shame the followers of the same madness, the saint-fighters of our time, if they had not utterly put off all shame: He grieves, says that holy Doctor, that the relics of the Martyrs are covered with a precious veil, and are not either bound up in rags or in haircloth, or cast upon the dunghill; so that Vigilantius alone, drunken and sleeping, may be adored. Are we then sacrilegious when we enter the basilicas of the Apostles? Was the emperor Constantius sacrilegious, who translated to Constantinople the holy relics of Andrew, Luke, and Timothy, at which the demons roar, and the inhabitants of Vigilantius confess that they feel their presence? Is the emperor Arcadius also now to be called sacrilegious, who after a long time translated the bones of blessed Samuel from Judea into Thrace? Are all the bishops to be judged not only sacrilegious but also foolish, who carried a most worthless thing and dissolved ashes in silk and in a golden vessel? Foolish are the peoples of all the churches who went out to meet the holy relics, and received them with such joy as though they beheld a Prophet present and living: so that from Palestine even to Chalcedon swarms of peoples were joined together, and resounded with one voice in the praises of Christ? Doubtless they were adoring Samuel and not Christ, whose both Levite and prophet Samuel was. Thou suspectest him dead, and therefore thou blasphemest. Read the Gospel: "The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob: he is not the God of the dead, but of the living." From what follows we learn the time and other things which pertain hither.

[34] The Paschal Chronicle published by Du Cange, page 308, records these things: in the year 406, and were brought into Constantinople: In the IV Indiction, Arcadius Augustus for the VI time and Probus being consuls … In the same year the relics of St. Samuel were brought to Constantinople by way of the Chalcedonian Stair in the month Artemisius, on the [] XIV Kalends of June, Arcadius Augustus going before, and Anthemius the prætorian prefect and ex-consul, Æmilianus prefect of the city, and the whole senate: which indeed were for some time deposited in the most holy Great Church. Theodorus Lector, published by Henri de Valois, page 568, says: In the times of Arcadius, when Atticus held the patriarchate, the relics of holy Samuel were brought to Constantinople and deposited in the church of the same Prophet near the Seventh Milestone, on the twelfth day before the Kalends of July. The Alexandrian Chronicle, under the same Indiction, emperor, and consuls, but on the XIV day before the Kalends of June, narrates the event in conformity with the Paschal Chronicle* cited. These chronological marks denote the year 406 of the vulgar era. But what of the day?

[35] on what day? Pagi, in his Critique of Baronius at the said year, number 15, having cited the words of the author of the Alexandrian Chronicle, observes these things: The XIX day of the month of May fell this year on a Saturday; and therefore the custom did not yet obtain that translations of Saints should be made on Sundays, but only in Quinquennial years, and on feasts added of that kind, such as is the present, in which Arcadius exhibited his fifth Quinquennalia. Theodorus Lector, book 2, says that the relics of St. Samuel were deposited ON THE XII DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF JULY, as may be seen in Baronius, that is, on the XX day of the month of June, on which this year the fourth feria fell. Wherefore as to the day and month there is an error in one or the other of these two authors. Thus he. But in truth, although it may seem credible that the Paschal and Alexandrian Chronicles, as also Theodorus Lector, meant to indicate altogether the same day, since the discrepancy between ιβ᾽ Ιοὐλίων and ιδ᾽ Ιοὐνίων is so small that an error could have crept into the text of the same Theodorus — which on this supposition would have to be corrected from both those Chronicles, which joins the month Artemisius or May with the XIV Kalends of June — nevertheless, since in the Valesian edition of Theodorus Lector it is expressly and distinctly written πρὸ δώδεκα (not indeed with the Greek numeral letters ιβ᾽) καλανδῶν Ιοὐλίων, that is, on the twelfth day before the Kalends of July, another way seems to me to be entered upon, so that the three texts adduced may somehow be reconciled with one another, by forming this

conjecture. Why then might it not be possible that Theodorus meant to note the day on which the relics were carried from the great church to the church of St. Samuel, perhaps in the same year 406, since he does not distinguish the time at which that event took place from the time at which they were brought to Constantinople, where a church of St. Samuel could have been built beforehand? Whatever the case, that the thing did not happen after the year 407 is proved by this, that he attaches it to the times of Arcadius, who ended his last day on the Kalends of May in the year 408, as may be seen in Pagi's Critique of Baronius at that year, number 2, and in others. Of St. Atticus, of whom mention was made above, treatment is made among us on the VIII day of January from page 473, and in the Chronological History of the Patriarchs of Constantinople prefixed to volume 1 of the month of August, page 32* and following.

[36] [A certain author is corrected, who did not rightly understand the passage of St. Jerome.] I observe here in a word that those things which I reported above from St. Jerome — Is the emperor Arcadius also now to be called sacrilegious, who after a long time translated the bones of blessed Samuel from Judea into Thrace? Are all the bishops not only sacrilegious, etc.? — were written by that holy Father by antiphrasis, as though he were saying: We are not sacrilegious when we enter the basilicas of the Apostles. The emperor Constantius was not sacrilegious, etc. Neither is the emperor Arcadius now to be called sacrilegious, etc. All the bishops are not only not sacrilegious, etc.; as is most manifest from the sense of the speaker. Wherefore I cannot sufficiently marvel how Quaresmius, in his Historical Elucidation of the Holy Land, volume 2, page 727, treating of the sepulchre of St. Samuel, did not better grasp the sense of St. Jerome. For thus he has it: At present that place is deprived of the sacred pledge: for as St. Jerome teaches against Vigilantius, the sacrilegious emperor Arcadius translated his bones after a long time from Judea into Thrace.

[37] You will ask from what place the sacred pledges of the Prophet were translated to Constantinople. From what place the Saint's bones St. Jerome said above, from Judea; but he does not determine the place further. The body was buried after the Saint's death in his house in Ramathah, as was said before at number 27. But that it was thence translated by Christians to Shiloh, and a great temple raised to him, and the Prophet's sepulchre placed there, and the name S. Samuel of Shiloh given to the town, was narrated at number 28 from the Itinerary of Benjamin. He who holds the testimony of that Itinerary for true seems bound consequently to admit that those relics were carried off to Constantinople from the said town. But, says Quaresmius in the place cited, in favor of the sepulchre in Ramathah and against the statement of that Benjamin: More probable is what was said before, more conformable to Scripture and to a still persevering tradition, and this those who have written of the holy places teach; and at present in those parts there exists no memory of that saying of the said Rabbi. Add that it does not seem likely that this was permitted by the Jews. For the Jews had great care to preserve the sepulchres of their dead inviolate; to which if you add their religious regard, with which they had shown themselves to attend the sepulchres of the Prophets, even of those whom their fathers had slain, according to that which Christ reproaches them with in Matthew, chapter 23, verses 29 and 30: Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who build the sepulchres of the Prophets and adorn the monuments of the just, and say: If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been their partners in the blood of the prophets. And Luke, chapter 11, verses 47 and 48: Woe to you who build the monuments of the prophets: and your fathers killed them. Truly you bear witness that you consent to the works of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, but you build their sepulchres. These things, I say, if you add them to what has been said before, it seems to me to come nearer the truth that the relics of our holy Seer were found in his sepulchre in Ramathah, and thence carried over to Constantinople.

[38] But Ramathah, near to Lydda or Diospolis, on the road which leads from Joppa to Jerusalem, were carried over to Constantinople. is noted in Cellarius, Notitia orbis antiqui, book 3, chapter 13, page 323. In our times, says Quaresmius, page 728, there are seen on its elevated site (he had just treated of the Saint's sepulchre) huge ruins, signs of a great pre-existing building. The Turks possess the place, and it is their mosque: from the entrance of which Christians are barred: therefore those passing by salute it from afar. In the same place he also treats of the fountain of Samuel; which perhaps was so called, as he adds, from the neighboring place of holy Samuel. To it they turn aside for piety's sake, and that the pilgrims, wearied from the journey, may refresh themselves. And when they have arrived there, having drawn water and betaken themselves under some rock or trees, they take food with a blessing, and refreshed, they pursue the journey begun toward Jerusalem. I believe this to be that fountain of which Adrichomius makes mention in Ephraim, number 79, when, speaking of Ramathah, he says: "There is described also a fountain of healthful water near Ramathah."

[39] It remains next that we now add to what has been said some sacred and monastic buildings marked with the Saint's name. Sacred buildings and monasteries of St. Samuel. Of the Constantinopolitan temple near the Seventh Milestone or Hebdomon I made mention above at number 34, on occasion of the translation of the relics; concerning which church also Du Cange, book 4 of Christian Constantinople, from page 104, and he observes that it fell down in that earthquake which occurred in the 31st year of Justinian the Great, as is in Theophanes, page 196 of the royal Parisian edition; that is, in the year 557 of the vulgar era. Baronius and Pagi at that year may be seen. Baronius, in his notes on the Roman Martyrology on this XX day of August, says: Procopius makes mention of a temple erected in honor of the same Prophet Samuel, in book 5 of the Buildings of the emperor Justinian. For which matter the same author is cited by Salian at the year of the world 2977, number 18. But I, in that author, book 5, chapter 9, page 107 of the royal Parisian impression, where he treats of the monasteries, temples, etc., restored in Palestine and in the rest of the East, find only, to our purpose, a well and a wall constructed in the monastery of St. Samuel — in that place perhaps from which his relics had been taken out. But since it is said to have been the Saint's monastery, it could be that a temple under his name also existed there, although in Procopius I do not find that clearly expressed. Two other monasteries at Constantinople Du Cange commemorates, book 4 of Christian Constantinople, page 161: one indeed of Samuel κατὰ τὸν Σκύθην, of which monastery the abbot Paul was present at the Council of Constantinople under Menas together with the rest of the abbots of the city, in the year of Christ 536; see Labbé, volume 5 of the Councils, column 110; and the other Du Cange marks in the same place as of Samuel in Sycæ, or in the Sycene region, τοῦ Σαμουὴλ ἐν Συκᾶις.

. That is, ante diem* (before the day).

§ V. Samuel's writings; the famous apparition made to Saul after his death.

There are ascribed to Samuel In the year 1703 there was published at Naples a work which is entitled Three Books of the Archives of the Old Testament, by Father Scipione Sgambato, a priest of our Society. In book 2, title 19, which is Samuel, from page 278, the author writes to our present purpose the following: The Hebrews attribute three sacred books to him: Judges, Samuel — that is, the first and second of Kings — and Ruth. The book of Judges is believed to have been written by Samuel not only by the Hebrews but by many of our own writers, among whom is St. Isidore, book 6 of the Origins, chapter 2. Of the Hebrews it is enough that it is said in Bava Bathra, chapter 1, which all Jews are compelled to follow. The reasons why this may be judged near the truth are these. No one could better write the book of Judges than the last judge: and this was Samuel: for neither ought anyone earlier than he to have undertaken that work, or could easily have done so, in such turbulent times of that commonwealth; nor anyone later. For in what way would Samuel write the history of the Kings, if no one had set down the earlier times in annals? Samuel therefore, who like Janus or Cecrops saw both states of the commonwealth, committed to letters both the history of the Kings and that of the Judges.

[41] the book of Judges, Sgambato objects to himself that passage of Judges, chapter 1: They did not destroy the Jebusite, the inhabitant of Jerusalem … and the Jebusite dwelt with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this [] day. And presently he says: But the name Jerusalem was imposed on this city much later, and the Jebusites dwelt there longer even than up to the times of Samuel. But neither obstructs: for at what time the name of Jerusalem was first imposed is not established; nor does it matter at all that the Jebusites remained there longer, provided Samuel could say: Unto this day, as R. [] Levi Gersonides and R. David Kimchi note. The other objection which the aforesaid author raises is taken from chapter 18, where these things are said: And they set up for themselves the graven image, and Jonathan the son of Gershom the son of Moses, and his sons, as priests in the tribe of Dan, until the day of their captivity: and the idol of Micah remained with them all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh. And he places the force of the argument in this, that the captivity of which this passage makes mention occurred long after the times of Samuel. And thus he answers it: That certain Hebrews may resolve this argument, they refute R. Solomon, who in this place explains the CAPTIVITY OF THE LAND as that which happened under Sennacherib, and they themselves understand the captivity of the ark, which was in Shiloh, which happened in the time of Eli the high priest. But what he replies to those things I do not transcribe hither. The sum is, he says, that if the captivity in this place be understood as that which happened under Sennacherib, either Samuel wrote this prophetically, or it was added by some one of the later prophets, or by Ezra, as some think. But what writings besides are attributed to Samuel, Sgambato goes on to review thus:

[42] The two books of Kings are ascribed among the Hebrews to Samuel, the two books of Kings, and the book of Ruth. whose name also they bear. Of our own, St. Isidore in the place cited attributes to him only the first. And indeed the second contains those things which happened after the death of Samuel. In chapter 25, verse 1 of the first book also the death of Samuel is narrated; wherefore from there to chapter 31, with which the book is completed, they cannot be Samuel's. For although Samuel was a prophet, yet we are not accustomed to attribute the sacred historical books to those Prophets who lived before those events. Nor is the style the same by which the Prophets narrate past things and by which they foretell things to come. Wherefore, although among the Hebrews the name of the two books was given from Samuel on account of the man's exceptional glory, nevertheless

he judges it probable, following the authors whom he cites, that nothing else was written by him than chapter 25 of the first book. The little book of Ruth … written by Samuel, the Hebrews confirm, he says, by this conjecture, which he brings forward on page 280 in the words of Aben Jechia at the beginning of his Commentary on the Canticle of Canticles; to whom he joins Driedo, Genebrard, and others. At the end of the first book of Paralipomenon it is thus read: Now the acts of King David, the first and the last, are written in the book of Samuel the Seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the volume of Gad the seer. As to what concerns the book of Samuel, R. Solomon thinks it to be the first and second of Kings; others, a Commentary of Samuel, in which were contained those things which happened up to the end of his life, which was afterwards transferred into the first of Kings. And this is nearer the truth, which Bellarmine also, in his Ecclesiastical Writers, under Samuel, judged, as Sgambato observes. In book 1 of Kings, chapter 10, it is said that the law of the kingdom was written by Samuel; but this, says Bellarmine, does not seem to be extant. Of the matter contained in this book Sgambato treats on page 281.

[43] The famous apparition of Samuel, which was made after his death to King Saul, Various are the opinions concerning the apparition of Samuel is described in book 1 of Kings, chapter 28, and has furnished matter for long controversies, the talents of learned writers having long and much been divided upon that subject, not yet hitherto decided in the Church of God by an oracle of lawful authority. Calmet, in the Commentary cited above, prefixes from page XXIII a Dissertation on the present controversy. He sets forth various opinions concerning it, saying that there are some who will have it that that apparition was an illusion of the Pythoness, who wished to deceive Saul and to persuade him that he had seen Samuel, although he saw nothing at all. But he censures this opinion as rash, dangerous, and contrary to the sacred Text. Others hold that Samuel truly appeared to Saul, but disagree in the manner in which it happened; which the said author sets forth. Then he brings forward another opinion, which says that a demon appeared, and laid snares for the Pythoness and for Saul.

[44] of opinions Finally he indicates that there are others who will have it that it was neither Samuel nor a demon, but a phantasm or figure of Samuel, which God by the ministry of angels or by his own immediate power made visible. These opinions being thus set forth, he expounds the chief proofs of each throughout the course of his Dissertation, and embraces that which judges that no other than the true Samuel appeared, and that his predictions are true prophecies, relying on this axiom, upon which all agree, namely, that in expounding the sacred Scriptures one must adhere, so far as can be done, to the sense which the words first present to us, and not have recourse to remote, far-fetched, improper, and singular explanations, unless something stand in the way. But now, since nothing occurs in the history of which we are treating which compels recourse to an improper and alien sense, it follows that Scripture here is to be understood in the proper and literal sense.

[45] Which opinion Salian, at the year of the world 2979, after he had laid down at number 75, first, that Samuel did not come to life again in this apparition, nor was his body, which two years before had been separated from the soul, again joined to it by a true resurrection — for no one, as he adds, says this was done, either by God, whose action alone that is, or by the demon called forth by magical incantations, nor is that necessary to a true apparition of Samuel, etc. — We lay down, he says at number 76, secondly, that the soul of Samuel was truly raised up from the lower regions and appeared to Saul. This is the most open sense of Scripture in this place, which, unless something stand in the way, is to be taken in the simple and proper signification of the words. But that nothing stands in the way will be understood from what follows. Now Scripture six times calls him who was raised up Samuel: since this cannot be taken of the whole composite, as we have said, it must be taken of his soul: nor is there any word from which we could suspect that for Samuel his image or figure is to be understood — which nevertheless was necessary, lest the readers be led into deception. For when the images of Cicero or Sallust or of Rome are taken for the things themselves, this is sufficiently understood from the circumstances of the matter; otherwise the discourse would be faulty, deceptive, and captious. The proofs which the same Salian brings for his opinion may then be read at greater length in him. But what of the form or external appearance in which Samuel appeared visible to the Pythoness? For if his body did not come to life again, how did the true Samuel appear?

[46] is to be preferred to the others. It is enough, as the same author had premised at number 75, that he appeared in an aerial body, as the angels once did to Abraham, and often thereafter: which doctrine, authors being cited for it in the same place, he plainly calls common. For neither, as he goes on, do writers disagree about Samuel being raised from the dead, but about his soul — whether it truly came when called forth, or in its place a demon or some phantasm. For this true and real evocation, this single utterance of the Holy Spirit concerning Samuel in Ecclesiasticus, chapter 46, verse 23, seems to suffice and altogether to settle the matter: After this he slept, and made known to the king, and showed him the end of his life, and he lifted up his voice from the earth in prophecy to blot out the impiety of the nation. In what way and with what appearance of truth can these words be wrested to an illusory, fantastic, or diabolical apparition? The chief, if not the only, difficulty which at least in appearance troubles that real apparition consists in this, that to the devil and to incantations there seems to be attributed a power of calling forth the souls of the Saints. I said in appearance: for that difficulty can be resolved, first, by saying that God anticipated the magic arts of the Pythoness, and called forth Samuel before that woman employed them. Secondly, that Samuel appeared by the power and will of God alone, diabolical superstitions not concurring in that action. Thirdly and finally, that a body was formed for Samuel out of air by God, or by the angels at his command, or, if you will, an image of him, which represented him and gave the answer to Saul. But these things are more than enough for our purpose. We therefore also profess our own name among those authors who hold a true and real apparition of the Saint.

. The Vulgate has præsentem*.

. That is, Rabbinus* (Rabbi).