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1 Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, 2 Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent. 3 And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear. 4 And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal. 5 And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Beth-aven. 6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. 7 And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. 8 And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. 9 And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. 10 And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. 11 And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash; 12 Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering. 13 And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. 14 But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee. 15 And Samuel arose, and gat him up from Gilgal unto Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were present with him, about six hundred men. 16 And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in Gibeah of Benjamin: but the Philistines encamped in Michmash. 17 And the spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies: one company turned unto the way that leadeth to Ophrah, unto the land of Shual: 18 A nd anot her company turned the way to Beth-horon: and another company turned to the way of the border that looketh to the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness. 19 Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears: 20 But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock. 21 Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads. 22 So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found. 23 And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of Michmash.
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[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:1
Saul was one year old when he began to reign, etc. The sense is this: after Saul was elected, and anointed by the blessed Samuel with holy oil as king, he remained humble and similar to a private person for the whole first year, nor did he care to dress in royal attire and take up the other insignia of the kingdom: which was also proven above at the time of the Ammonite war where he was driving oxen from the field as a rustic, the beginning of which war Josephus reports happened after a month of all his honor. However, in the second and third years, he indeed assumed a royal mindset and ruled the people with royal care. Yet, he did not choose soldiers from the people who would adhere more familiarly to his side until the beginning of the fourth year. Allegorically, the son of one year represents the people of the faithful, whether in the Synagogue or in the Church, when they begin to reign, because anyone becomes associated with the kingdom of faith, and can be incorporated into the members of the eternal king, when they have first learned that there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. He reigns for two years and thus chooses three thousand soldiers for himself from Israel: because when he has learned to unite hope and love with the unity of faith, he immediately chooses teachers for himself who diligently teach that same faith, hope, and charity to him and his own, and protect them from the enemy's raid. This is to be understood in two ways; namely, we choose both the ancient teachers of the Church, who reigned with Christ long ago and are now masters to us, whose writings or examples we follow, and we appoint new ones daily in place of those who preceded, whom we deem worthy to defend the believers, the hopeful, and the loving from the enemy.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on 1 Samuel 13:1
Of one year: That is, he was good and like an innocent child, and for two years continued in that innocency.
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:2
And there were with Saul two thousand in Michmash, etc. The Church chooses for itself the strongest and those worthy of a thousand in number, by whose sword of the word and shield of faith it is fortified; furthermore, it sends back the weaker in faith to protect the tabernacles of their own conscience, in which they are strangers to the Lord. However, since both Saul and Jonathan pertain to the kingdom, but the merit of both is not the same; of whom, to pass over other things in silence, one persecutes God's chosen David as an enemy, while the other loves him as his own soul, a dual order of believers or preachers seems to be signified in them. One of them says: Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name (Matthew VII)? The other hears: But you are those who have remained with me in my temptations (Luke XXII). Hence, Saul is rightly called "desired," without doubt referring to him about whom the Lord speaks to the apostles: Behold, Satan has desired to sift you as wheat (ibid.). Jonathan, however, is interpreted as the gift of the dove, or he gave the dove, or the gift of the Lord: signifying those who attribute all virtue they have to the spirit of grace and confess they have received it from him. And Saul remained in Michmash and in the mountain of Bethel, that is, in humility and in the mountain of the house of God: Jonathan, however, in Gibeah of Benjamin, that is, on the hill of the son of the right hand with his soldiers. Because even the reprobate sometimes seem to exercise or even teach spiritual virtues with a left or unstable mind, but only those endowed with dove-like simplicity are proven to belong to the exalted kingdom of Christ, who is at the right hand of God. Also, the fact that there were two thousand with Saul, but a thousand with Jonathan, surely teaches that the more perfect they are, the fewer they are. Or certainly, the two thousand are devoted in humility and on the mountain of the house of God, by the purity of faith and advanced in the height of hope: while the thousand in the hill of the Son of the right hand are glorious in the perfection of charity, which never fails.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:3
And Jonathan struck the garrison of the Philistines, etc. And every humble teacher conquers, and with the grace of the Holy Spirit helping, contends against the ranks of malignant spirits, exposing their snares, by which they endeavor to snatch away the height of heavenly life from men.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:4
And Israel rose up against the Philistines. With the word ministers pressing on, either to crush the enemies of their virtue, or with the trumpet of lofty preaching to rouse their neighbors to the path of virtue, the spirits of the listeners are aroused to undergo the spiritual struggle, to investigate, avoid, and overcome the wiles of the airborne powers.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:4
Therefore the people cried after Saul in Gilgal, etc. As the zeal for performing virtues increases in the good, so also increases the zeal of the unclean spirits to hinder and break the same virtue; who, seeing the friends of the faithful risen against them, strive to assail these hills of various snares and deceptions with their forces: and as if they ascend in chariots, the Philistines, when numerous cohorts of gentiles, or of perfidious synagogues, or assemblies of heretics, ascend with the most wicked enemy against the army of virtue: they sit on horses, when they compel the hearts of the perverse, constricted by the bridle of error, to oppose the faithful: they proceed on foot, when they lay traps for themselves. Of which it is aptly subjoined:

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:5
And the remaining crowd, like the sand which is on the shore of the sea, is numerous. For this sand is exposed to the frequent waves of neighbors' vices, and also always unstable and fleeting due to the wind of pride, above which the house constructed without the foundation of the rock of faith collapses when the moment of temptations arrives, and its ruin is great. Not without a specific mystery, the army contrary to virtue is encompassed by the number thirty and a hundred, or even a thousand, which are accustomed to signify the perfection of faith and work. For even Satan transforms himself into an angel of light (II Cor. 11). What wonder, then, if his ministers are transformed as ministers of righteousness? Among such often-transformed deceptions, they also show themselves to be perfect in faith or work. Otherwise, they are included in the number six and do not know how to ascend to the number seven, who, loving only this life which was created in six days, neglect to strive for the future rest. Thirty also, because they figuratively express the wicked, is understood, because the Lord Savior was not only once sold by Judas for thirty pieces of silver, but also is daily sold by many false brethren; for whoever, neglecting the truth of the faith with which they were imbued, subject all their senses of the body to the allurements of this world, as if betraying the Lord for thirty pieces of silver multiplied by five.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:5
And going up, they camped in Magmas, etc. Magmas, as we have said, signifies humility; Bethaven sounds like the house of an idol, or a useless house. But ascending from their hidden machinations, unclean spirits, either by secretly persuading like a common pedestrian crowd, or like horse riders and charioteers seducing through deceived men, first attempt to take away all the defenses of humility from their conquerors so that, by which they themselves fell from heaven, they insert the plague of pride into human hearts; striving together that whatever useless house of the mind dedicated to themselves they find, camping as if to the east of Bethaven, they block all the rising of true light with their intermediary darkness.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:6
When the men of Israel heard this, that they were positioned on high places, etc. When the faithful perceive the snares of the ancient enemy to be prepared to combat, either within themselves or in their neighbors by means of humility's walls, or perhaps even some of the weaker ones afflicted by their frequent incursions, it is necessary at once to resort to the bulwarks of spiritual readings, fasts, alms, prayers, and other virtues by which they may be defended and hidden from the contradiction of tongues; and the Father, who sees in secret, may have mercy and help.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:7
But the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. Those who are more perfect, under the pressures of enduring temptations, set aside all the affairs of the world, in which the reprobates descend and slip into the world, and whose snares either try to catch them or they are usually caught when tempted; they also surpass the swelling pride, on account of which Satan descended from heaven with his followers, healthily inclined; for the obstacles of such vices, the Jordan River, not only by its name, because it is called their descent or apprehension—namely of the unclean, whether men or demons—but also by its nature, flowing into the Dead Sea and losing its praiseworthy waters, symbolically shows. Because certainly all worldly enticements and the flood of carnal concupiscence are extinguished in the lowest darkness of perpetual death. Indeed, those who traverse this Jordan, that is the apprehension and descent of the wicked, enter the land of Gad and Gilead, that is, the land of the prepared and the heap of testimony; because they ascend to a mind endowed with the constant exercise of virtues, and always fruitful in good works, which bear praiseworthy testimony about themselves. And it is fitting that those who are said to cross over the opposing river of vices are called Hebrews, that is, those who cross over. And to whom one says, seeing the wicked exalted and lifted up above the cedars of Lebanon, "I passed by, and behold, he was not." And elsewhere: "And with my God, I shall leap over a wall."

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:8
And he waited seven days according to Samuel’s appointed time, etc. The assembly of legal scholars, together with their listeners, waited for the advent of Christ in the flesh throughout the entire time that the Sabbath was observed in the law, knowing that He would come in the last days of legal observance; but as He delayed, so that He might come at the fullness of time which He had predestined, a considerable portion of their listeners, having slipped away, deserted the camp of the spiritual army. And indeed, concerning those who waited well, the prophet says: “But My just one lives by faith” (Habakkuk 2). But concerning those who fell away, he adds: “But if he draws back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him” (Hebrews 10).

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:9
So Saul said: Bring me the burnt offering, etc. Seeing that the people had slipped away from him, but not seeing Samuel approaching, Saul offered the burnt offering. The legal scholars of that time, greatly degenerating from the perfection of the early leaders, saw the people slipping away from adherence to the law, and, not knowing that the time of the Lord's incarnation was near, established their own traditions to be observed, as if they would be pleasing to the Lord in every way. This interpretation is supported by what follows, when Saul replied to Samuel rebuking him for his foolish rashness, saying:

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on 1 Samuel 13:11-12
Now this we all in common do charge you, that every one remain in that rank which is appointed him, and do not transgress his proper bounds; for they are not ours but God’s.… And those things which are allotted for the high priests to do, those might not be meddled with by the priests; and what things were allotted to the priests, the Levites might not meddle with; but every one observed those ministrations which were written down and appointed for them. And if any would meddle beyond the tradition, death was his punishment. And Saul’s example does show this most plainly, who, thinking he might offer sacrifice without the prophet and high priest Samuel, drew upon himself a sin and a curse without remedy. Nor did even his having anointed him king discourage the prophet.

Source: CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 8.5.46
[AD 400] Pseudo-Ignatius on 1 Samuel 13:11-12
Saul also was dishonored because he did not wait for Samuel the high priest. It behooves you, therefore, also to reverence your superiors.

Source: LETTER TO THE MAGNESIANS 3
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on 1 Samuel 13:11-12
And mark it, he [the devil] desired to bring Saul into [the] superstition of witchcraft. But if he had counseled this at the beginning, the other would not have given heed; for how should he, who was even driving them out? Therefore gently and by little and little he leads him on to it. For when he had disobeyed Samuel and had caused the burnt offering to be offered, when he was not present, being blamed for it, he says, “The compulsion from the enemy was too great,” and when he ought to have bewailed, he felt as though he had done nothing.Again God gave him the commands about the Amalekites, but he transgressed these too. Then he proceeded to his crimes about David, and thus slipping easily and little by little he did not stop, until he came to the very pit of destruction and cast himself in.

Source: HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 86.3
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:11
Because I saw that the people were slipping away from me, etc. The mystical sense of these words, as is clear from what was explained above, is easily understood. He immediately added, and said: Moreover, the Philistines were gathered together at Michmash, which means in humility; for unless they were deprived of humility, they would by no means prefer themselves to the Lord; nor unless the spirits of pride besieging the gates of the heart, would they, who dwell in high places and yet observe the humble, arrogantly despise Him.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:12
I said: Now the Philistines will come down upon me to Gilgal, etc. The Pharisees and scribes, fearing that they might be either submerged by demons or in the mire of vices, or rendered useless in the revelation of the given law, began to have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge; and as the Psalmist testifies, “There they were in great fear, where no fear was” (Psalm 52).

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 380] Apostolic Constitutions on 1 Samuel 13:13-14
As, therefore, it was not lawful for one of another tribe, that was not a Levite, to offer anything or to approach the altar without the priest, so also do you do nothing without the bishop; for if any one does anything without the bishop, he does it to no purpose. For it will not be esteemed as of any avail to him. For as Saul, when he had offered without Samuel, was told, “It will not avail for you,” so every person among the laity, doing anything without the priest, labors in vain.

Source: CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 2.4.27
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Samuel 13:13-14
In the same vein, take the words Samuel said to Saul.… These words are not to be taken to mean that God had intended for Saul himself to reign forever and subsequently had decided otherwise on account of Saul’s sins (for God knew Saul was going to sin). They mean merely that God had planned for him to have such a kingdom as would typify an everlasting kingdom. Hence the added precision: “But your kingdom shall not continue.”The kingdom which Saul’s kingdom symbolized has continued and will continue—but not for Saul; for neither was he personally destined to rule forever, nor was even his progeny after him (at least in the sense of his blood successors following one after another) to make good the pledge “forever.”

Source: City of God 17.6
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:13
And Samuel said to Saul: You have acted foolishly, etc. And the Lord Himself in the Gospel, and the prophets, in their respective times, rebuke those who, as though sacrificing without Samuel, neglecting the help of the divine word, worship God in vain, teaching doctrines and commandments of men.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:13
But if you had not done this, the Lord would have now prepared your kingdom, etc. This should not be understood as if God had established an eternal kingdom for Saul and later did not want to preserve it because he sinned, whom He had foreseen would sin; but He had prepared his kingdom in which there would be a figure of the eternal kingdom. But also every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven, bringing forth from his treasure new things and old, reigns over Israel forever (Matthew 11). Namely that Israel, which he made to be spiritual by teaching and ruling; to such people the apostle says, "For what is my crown or joy? Is it not you in the presence of our Lord Jesus?" (1 Thess. 2). Hence, to the servant who, trading well, that is, acquiring many through his teaching, it is said as he enters into the joy of his Lord: "You shall have authority over ten cities" (Luke 9); that is, from the merits and knowledge of those whom you have instructed spiritually from the law, you will shine more gloriously in the kingdom. But if some teacher has preferred his own understanding to the words of Scripture, and through those doctrines which he himself has composed, has led his listeners to carnal things rather than spiritual things; which is as Saul offering sacrifices without Samuel, sanctifying his army for battle, the foolish one will lose the kingdom. But if he had not done this, he could have had an eternal kingdom over Israel. About such people, the Savior in the Gospel: "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5). For such a person is the least in the present kingdom of the Church, entirely foreign to the future one.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 62] Acts on 1 Samuel 13:14
The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it. And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot. And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. [1 Samuel 13:14] Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:
[AD 99] Clement of Rome on 1 Samuel 13:14
What shall we say of the celebrated David, to whom God said, “I have found a man after my own heart, David the son of Jesse, in eternal mercy I have anointed him.” But even he says to God, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy, and according to the multitude of your tender mercies blot out my iniquity. Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin; for I knew my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.”

Source: 1 CLEMENT 18
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Samuel 13:14
And is it surprising that a person previously of good repute should afterwards fall? Saul, though good beyond all others, was afterwards overthrown by jealousy. David, a good man after the Lord’s heart, was afterwards guilty of murder and adultery. Solomon, whom the Lord had endowed with all grace and wisdom, was led by women into idolatry. To remain without sin was reserved for the Son of God alone. If then a bishop or deacon, a widow, a virgin or a teacher, or even a martyr, has lapsed from the Rule of Faith, must we conclude that heresy possesses the truth? Do we test the faith by persons or person by the faith? No one is wise, no one is faithful, no one worthy of honor unless he is a Christian, and no one is a Christian unless he perseveres to the end.

Source: PRESCRIPTIONS AGAINST HERETICS 3
[AD 345] Aphrahat the Persian Sage on 1 Samuel 13:14
Also David was persecuted, as Jesus was persecuted. David was anointed by Samuel to be king instead of Saul who had sinned; and Jesus was anointed by John to be high priest instead of the priests, the ministers of the law. David was persecuted after his anointing; and Jesus was persecuted after his anointing. David reigned first over one tribe only and afterwards over all Israel; and Jesus reigned from the beginning over the few who believed on him, and in the end he will reign over all the world. Samuel anointed David when he was thirty years old; and Jesus when about thirty years old received the imposition of the hand from John. David wedded two daughters of the king; and Jesus wedded two daughters of kings, the congregation of the people and the congregation of the Gentiles. David repaid good to Saul his enemy; and Jesus taught, “Pray for your enemies.” David was the heart of God; and Jesus was the Son of God. David received the kingdom of Saul his persecutor; and Jesus received the kingdom of Israel his persecutor. David wept with dirges over Saul his enemy when he died; and Jesus wept over Jerusalem, his persecutor, which was to be laid waste. David handed over the kingdom to Solomon and was gathered to his people; and Jesus handed over the keys to Simon and ascended and returned to him who sent him. For David’s sake, sins were forgiven to his posterity; and for Jesus’ sake sins are forgiven to the nations.

Source: DEMONSTRATION 21.13
[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on 1 Samuel 13:14
The doctrines of the gospel were well known to holy and blessed David in his capacity of prophet, and although it was under the law that he lived his bodily life, he yet filled, as far as in him lay, the requirements of the apostolic concern and justified the witness borne to him by God in the words: I have found a man after my own heart, David, the son of Jesse. He did not avenge himself upon his foes by war, he did not oppose force of arms to those that laid wait for him, but after the pattern of the Lord, whose name and whose meekness alike he foreshadowed, when he was betrayed he entreated, when he was in danger he sang psalms, when he incurred hatred he rejoiced; and for this cause he was found a man after God’s own heart.

Source: HOMILIES ON PSALM 53 (54).1
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on 1 Samuel 13:14
So whom should we cite in discoursing on clemency? Who else than the one receiving testimony from on high and especially remarkable in this case? “I found in David, son of Jesse,” Scripture says, remember, “a man after my own heart.” Now, when God gives his opinion, there are no grounds left for opposition: that verdict is proof against corruption, God judging not from favor or from hatred but making his decision on the mere virtue of the soul. It is not for this reason alone, however, that we cite him, that he received the verdict from God, but also because he is one of those nourished in the old dispensation. You see, while there is nothing remarkable for anyone in the ages of grace to be found free of resentment, forgiving enemies their sins and sparing abusers—that is, after the death of Christ, after such wonderful forgiveness of sins, after the directives redolent of sound values—in the old dispensation, by contrast, when the law permitted an eye to be plucked out for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and vengeance to be taken on the wrongdoer in equal terms, who amongst the listeners is not struck by someone found to surpass the norm of the commandments and attain to New Testament values?

Source: HOMILIES ON DAVID AND SAUL 1
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Samuel 13:14
You ask, “Why did the Lord, undoubtedly having foreknowledge of the future, say ‘I choose David according to my own heart,’ although this very man committed such serious sins?” As a matter of fact, if we understand this statement concerning David himself, who was king of Israel after Saul had been condemned and slain, it was especially because God has foreknowledge of the future that he foresaw in him such great holiness and such true repentance, that he numbered him among those of whom he himself said, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one to whom the Lord has not imputed sin.” Therefore, since God foreknew that he would sin and would wash his sins away by holy humility, why should he not say, “I have found David according to my own heart?” He was not going to impute sin to him who was doing so many good acts and living in such great holiness and by this same holiness offering the sacrifice of a contrite spirit for his sins. For all these reasons, it has very truthfully been said, “I have found David according to my heart.” For, although the fact that he sinned was not according to God’s heart, the fact that he atoned for his sins with a fitting penitence was according to God’s heart. Only this, then, in him was not according to God’s heart, which God did not impute [David’s sins] to him. So, when this has been removed, that is, has not been imputed, what remains but that it be very truthfully said, “I have found David according to my own heart”?

Source: EIGHT QUESTIONS OF DULCITIUS 5
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:14
But your kingdom shall not arise anymore. For every plant, He says, which My heavenly Father has not planted, shall be uprooted.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:14
The Lord sought for Himself a man after His own heart, etc. Under the persona of David, he signifies Christ and the leaders of the Christian people; hence he specifically mentions his own people, and does not add Israel; so that even the Gentiles might be shown to belong to this leader’s command. However, the Lord did not seek as if He did not know, speaking to men in a human manner, even thus speaking, He seeks us. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19). We were already known to Him, so that we existed in Him before the foundation of the world. Therefore, the Lord sought for Himself a man after His own heart, that is, one who would recognize the counsel of His will with a pure mind, and who would follow it with pious devotion. This is rightly understood of David, who, understanding beyond all his teachers, recognized the uncertain and hidden things of divine wisdom by manifest revelation, and sang of them with wonderful sweetness (Psalm 51). But it is much better and perfect to understand it of the angel of great counsel, who alone is the conscious revealer of the Father’s secrets. For it is not to be believed that the heart of God, according to the Anthropomorphites, is a member of a human body, but rather signifies the inner secret of divine counsel and wisdom. As indeed it was said above, when the new priesthood of Christ and the Church, as well as here the kingdom, was prophesied to come, with the old one put aside, as the man of God said to Eli: And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to My heart and soul (1 Samuel 2).

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:15
But Samuel rose up and went up from Gilgal, etc. The prophet demonstrates the same change of the kingdom which he had predicted by word also by changing the place. For even the Lord, who said of the unbelievers: "Arise, let us go from here" (John 14); having left the Synagogue, ascended the hill of the Son of the right hand, that is, the high hearts of that people; who wished to be the Son not of any earthly, but of heavenly and eternal blessedness; and the prophetic word illuminated by the dispensation of the Savior, through the literal revelation, by which rough minds were imbued, taught those perfected in the higher and more sacred mysteries of Christ and the Church. Indeed, what was said about the two peoples, we see carried out daily in individual persons. For the people set in Gilgal by Saul are terrified, while each of the faithful, either in the revelation of knowledge, which he received as less strong; or in the mire of vices, in which he shamefully fell, weakly fixed, the soul conscious of its frailty is troubled, and for the sake of seeking its own salvation, usefully stirs up itself, lest perhaps the spiritual adversary Machmas, that is, humility, which he especially desires, be overcome; lest the revelation of heavenly doctrine be taken away; lest the walls of the other virtues be broken through by the deceitful victor. Saul waits seven days, according to the agreement of Samuel, while someone in tribulation, with faith and diligent action, seeks the promised help of the Lord. For seven consists of three and four; three pertains to faith because of the confession of the Holy Trinity; four to works, because of prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice; by which four as corners the whole structure of spiritual virtues is established. But when someone perfectly completes these seven days, that is, the light of sevenfold devotion, according to what the Psalm advises: "Wait on the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage" (Psalm 27); the Lord will come into the heart, and making his abode in it, will immediately destroy all the snares of the hostile army by the illumination of his coming. But he who has less of this perfection, less patient in adversity, less confident in the regard of divine aid, having forgotten that of Ecclesiasticus: "Do not delay in the time of distress" (Ecclesiasticus 10); loses all at once the ranks of virtues in which he had congratulated himself, by despairing; just as Saul, because on the seventh day not yet well completed, he despairs of Samuel’s promised arrival, is abandoned by the people as they slip away; who, if he had completed the appointed time, would not have lacked the promised aid of the prophet: "For the Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth" (Psalm 145). But Saul increased his sin, not only by wavering about the promises of the prophet, but also by offering the burnt offering himself, which was fitting for the priest. Pelagius increases blasphemy, another so-called faithful increases it, while less diligent about divine grace, he confidently believes he can be saved by his own strength; and what is the gift of the high priest alone, he foolishly thinks to acquire by the decision of his own will. Therefore, according to the Apocalypse of John: Another comes, and receives the promised kingdom and the crown of life and blessing from such people. This change was signified not by the counsels of supernal beings, but by the human affairs themselves, as Samuel himself, when with the rejection of the unfaithful, and the election of the most faithful king foretold, he rose up and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. Because the word of God sent into the world will not return to him void, but will accomplish whatever he wills, and will prosper in those to whom he sent it (Isaiah 55). And having left behind the hypocrites and cunning ones, who provoke the wrath of God, he seeks the simple and faithful, whom he may elevate to the heavenly kingdom, as hearers.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:16
Both Saul and Jonathan his son, and the people, etc. Machmas is humility, as often said, Gabaa of Benjamin sounds like the hill of the son of the right hand. It must be questioned how, with the gates of humility besieged by unclean spirits, on the perfect hill of virtues either masters or listeners can pitch their spiritual camps; and it must be seen what is written below, because Saul with his six hundred was dwelling at the far end under a pomegranate tree. Indeed, under the pomegranate tree, the people who can say: But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. VI). For the fruit of the cross reddened with the Lord's blood, like a pomegranate, encompasses many grains of believers as if with one rind of charity and hope. But at the far end of Gabaa, it has the same tree of life under which he rests; he who is not yet perfectly consummated laments with the Apostle, saying: I delight in the law of God according to the inner man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members, and so forth (Rom. VII).

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:17
And three companies went out to pillage from the camps of the Philistines, etc. And everyone who legitimately fights in her camps feels that the Church is daily tested by these three companies. For three companies go out to pillage from the camps of the Philistines when impure spirits attempt to assault the guard of our inner man, either his rational part, or his irascible part, or his concupiscible part, trying to strip them of the riches of virtues, whether individually in each of them or all in one. To these parts, indeed, also correspond the names of those places and the said companies that went out. The way of Ephrath, which means the growing one, against which the first company marched, is the concupiscible part of the soul; rightly named thus, because it never ceases seeking increase; indeed, of good things, if it is ruled by Israel, that is, by the soul that longs for uprightness and the vision of God; but of evil things, if setting itself against the laws, it is ravaged by the wickedness of vices and unclean spirits. And it is fitting that when speaking of the first company, he said, “It marched against the way of Ephrath,” he added, "to the land of Saul"; for the first and indeed greatest aim of the wicked spirits is to turn the leaders themselves of the holy struggle away from the undertakings of virtues by the concupiscence either of the soul or of the flesh; so that from the deprivation of the leaders of justice, the wicked contagion may more freely spread among the unsuspecting people. The road to Bethoron, which means the house of wrath, to which the second company was heading, indicates even by its name the passion of the mind it signifies. This house was well governed by the Israelite owner when that exceedingly meek man, who was more meek than all the men who dwelt on the land, left Pharaoh, being greatly angered, to liberate the people of God. The Philistine, however, was plundered, when Cain, who was of the evil one, greatly angered by the righteousness of his good brother, was provoked to such an extent that by his wrath he broke the first laws of brotherhood through murder. The valley of Seboim, which means of the roes or the deer, to which the third company turned, figuratively announces the rational insight of the mind. For these animals are said to excel in keen sight; hence they are also called Dorcades by the Greeks from keen seeing; and it is not for nothing that they are so often mentioned in the Song of Songs under the praise of Christ and the Church. And rightly, not a mountain but the valley of the roes is mentioned, rightly placed against the desert; because we always need the help of humility, especially when discerning good and evil, lest our judgment goes astray, and the humbler one is, the more they understand what of the world is less to be loved and sought. Therefore, the road to the boundary of the impending valley of the Dorcades holds the way of the growing one, and also the way of the house of wrath, possessed by Israel in peace, when the people of God or any faithful person, with humble intent, recognizes what should be followed and what should be scorned, and endeavors to grow in the things that they usefully recognize should be followed until the perfect day; strives to be healthily angry and not to sin for anything that attempts to hinder either their spiritual insight or their progress and course; so that anyone who foolishly chooses evil for good by erroneous reasoning, and harmfully desires to pursue these harmfully chosen things, and thinks it necessary to be angry for everything that resists such concupiscence, all the paths and bounds of this person's mind are devastated by the bitterness of the invisible enemy.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 425] Sulpicius Severus on 1 Samuel 13:19-21
For, as a result of the king’s sin [Saul’s offering of the sacrifice], fear had pervaded the whole army. The camp of the enemy, which was lying at no great distance, showed them how real the danger was, and no one had the courage to think of going out to battle: most had absconded to the marshes. For besides the lack of courage on the part of those who felt that God was alienated from them on account of the king’s sin, the army was in the greatest need of iron weapons; so much so that nobody, except Saul and Jonathan his son, is said to have possessed either sword or spear. For the Philistines, as conquerors in the former wars, had deprived the Hebrews of the use of arms, and no one had had the power of forging any weapon of war or even making any implement for rural purposes.

Source: SACRED HISTORY 1.33
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:19
Moreover, a blacksmith was not to be found, etc. It is indeed clear what chiefly provides the enemy the space to ravage the land of promise, that is, the virtues of the Church: namely, if it lacks a teacher and the maker of spiritual arms, which the Apostle teaches are to be held against the fiery darts of the wicked. For the wicked tempters take great care, as much as they can, that we do not put on the armor of God, so that double-edged swords do not appear in our hands to exact vengeance upon them (Eph. VI).

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:20
Therefore all Israel descended to the Philistines, etc. And today, some descend, leaving behind the elevation of the word of God, to which they ought to have ascended to hear, and they listen to worldly fables and doctrines of demons, and by reading philosophers, rhetoricians, and poets of the Gentiles, to exercise earthly intelligence, as if going to the blacksmiths of the Philistines to sharpen tools for wild or rural cultivation, they come unarmed, that is, deprived of spiritual knowledge.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:22
And when the day of battle came, neither sword nor spear was found, etc. When the day of battle against adversarial powers is a daily occurrence, many content with their rusticity, very few proceed properly armed for this battle with a fitting reading or hearing of the Scriptures; hence, aided by our lethargy, the spiritual adversary now does to us what it is described the carnal adversary did to Israel then.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 13:23
But the station of the Philistine went out to pass over into Michmash. Indeed, by not having arms, Israel betrayed the country to the enemies; and through our neglect of reading or of inquiring from spiritual teachers, like the negligence of forging arms or of seeking out Israelite blacksmiths, we give the enemies the opportunity, after overcoming the humility which the besieged Michmash signifies, to also bring weapons of impiety to the rest of the virtues, as to the boundaries of the holy land. But to repel these most terrible weapons of the enemy, not the skill of human art, but aided by the grace of the Holy Spirit, the exhortation of heavenly teachers must be sought.

Source: Commentary on Samuel