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1 And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons. 2 And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he Will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD. 3 And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee. 4 And Samuel did that which the LORD spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? 5 And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. 6 And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD's anointed is before him. 7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this. 9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this. 10 Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these. 11 And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. 12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. 14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. 15 And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. 16 Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. 17 And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. 18 Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him. 19 Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep. 20 And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. 21 And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer. 22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight. 23 And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.
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[AD 325] Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius on 1 Samuel 16:1
The Jews had before been directed to compose a sacred oil, with which those who were called to the priesthood or to the kingdom might be anointed. And as now the robe of purple is a sign of the assumption of royal dignity among the Romans, so with them the anointing with the holy oil conferred the title and power of king. But since the ancient Greeks used the word chriesthai to express the art of anointing, which they now express by anleiphesthai, as the verse of Homer shows, “But the attendants washed, and anointed them with oil”; on this account we call him Christ, that is, the Anointed, who in Hebrew is called the Messiah.

Source: EPITOME OF THE DIVINE INSTITUTES 4.7
[AD 420] Jerome on 1 Samuel 16:1
[Daniel 9:2] "I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years concerning which the word of the Lord had come to the prophet Jeremiah, that seventy years would be accomplished for the desolation of Jerusalem." Jeremiah had predicted seventy years for the desolation of the Temple (Jeremiah 29:1-10), at the end of which the people would again return to Judaea and build the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. But this fact did not render Daniel careless, but rather encouraged him to pray that God might through his supplications fulfil that which He had graciously promised. Thus he avoided the danger that carelessness might result in pride, and pride cause offense to the Lord. Accordingly we read in Genesis that prior to the Deluge one hundred and twenty years were appointed for men to come to repentance (Genesis 6:3); and inasmuch as they refused to repent even within so long an interval of time as a hundred years, God did not wait for the remaining twenty years to be fulfilled, but brought on the punishment earlier which He had threatened for a later time. So also Jeremiah is told, on account of the hardness of the heart of the Jewish people: "Pray not for this people, for I will not hearken unto thee" (Jeremiah 7:16). Samuel also was told: "How long wilt thou mourn over Saul? I also have rejected him" (1 Samuel 16:1). And so it was with sackcloth and ashes that Daniel besought the Lord to fulfil what He had promised, not that Daniel lacked faith concerning the future, but rather he would avoid the danger that a feeling of security might produce carelessness, and carelessness produce an offense to God.

Source: St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER NINE
[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on 1 Samuel 16:1
We have touched on these things as they pertain to the literal meaning; now let us see the election of our nobles as we look at the meaning beneath the literal one. When Samuel was told to fill the horn with oil, what else could it mean than this: he who is to be selected as a pastor in the holy church must not be someone clearly known as a transgressor but must be commended by wondrous praise as an example to others. The horn, you see, is the spear of an animal. But the authority and rebuke of even the highest bishop is nothing but his weapon. Indeed, they strike with their horn, whenever they lock horns with sinners as they issue their rebukes. They strike with their horn whenever they sharply confute sinners. The horn is filled with oil, then, whenever the loftiness of preachers does not have the harshness of threats but the allurements of grace. Or the horn is filled with oil when both the sublimity of the heights and the virtue of unction are given to a chosen pastor at the same time, that is, when he both ascends to a high degree, but the one who is taken into the heights is filled with the riches of merits. The priests were anointed with a full horn of oil, inasmuch as they arrived at the highest degree with a full possession of graces. When a fire is lit in a lamp of oil, the oil of the teacher is the love of the heart. A fire is lit in it, for the virtue and grace of the Holy Spirit burns in the richness of the mouth. Since a teacher ought to have the richness of great love, the king is said to have been anointed with a full horn of oil when he was ordered to be anointed. The fullness of the horn refers to the perseverance of the graces. For those who fail before they reach the end are not worthy to be anointed with a full horn of oil.

Source: SIX BOOKS ON 1 KINGS 6
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:1
Fill your horn with oil, and come, etc. Leaving behind, he says, the care of the carnal kingdom, embrace rather that dominion, which by the light of the Holy Spirit is ascertained to be most rich, to be hoped for and loved. This not coming from yourselves, but sent by my Spirit, carefully disclose to that people, which separated from the enticements of the world, sighs for the joys of eternal salvation. For I have provided for myself a king among the sons of the same people. For Isaiah is interpreted as an island of holocaust or sacrifice, Bethlehem as the house of bread. But an island is each faithful soul; the whole Church of the saints is an island, which by seeking higher things is separated from the waves of this world, now purifying itself entirely by the fervor of the Holy Spirit, making itself an acceptable offering to God, and making its heart a dwelling place of the living bread.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:2
And Samuel said: How shall I go? etc. The prophets said to the Lord, and the apostles said: How can we preach the kingdom of the New Testament? For the zealous Jews of the law will hear and kill us. Which of the prophets did they not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of Christ. To whom the Lord responding, commanded that his body, separated from the conversation of the people, be taken up by the hand of stricter continence, and worn ready to embrace death for the Lord, and also to inflame his listeners to undertake the glory of martyrdom, as if commanded to call Isaiah to the sacrifice. For death is never better overcome than when it is endured with divine love. And I, he said, to you, O my prophets, and heralds of the future, not by men but by the infusion of my Spirit, will show what you should say or do, and who, where, or when Christ will come. These can be specially understood of John the Baptist, whom the Jews heard evangelizing about Christ and killed; but he, ready in body and mind for martyrdom, called his listeners to the sacrifice, that is to the baptism of repentance. Not any human teacher, but God Himself showed him what he should do; and having given the sign of the Holy Spirit, he taught to whom he should give the testimony of divinity from all those who he baptized.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:4
And he came to Bethlehem, etc. When the prophecies about Christ arose in the world from the prophets, those who were more prudent, meeting the same prophets with a devout mind, already deemed their words worthy of a miracle, and with eager intention inquired whether these same oracles of the prophets signaled peace to come to the ages; or if they were going to impose an unbearable yoke similar to the Mosaic Law upon the necks of the disciples. And the prophets answered, and each of them proclaimed in their books, that they were sent to the city by God to bear witness to the one who was to come to reconcile the earthly with the heavenly; and after the long discriminations of enmity that human iniquity deserved, to reconcile the world to God through the venerable mysteries of His blood. This can be understood in the same manner about John, because the people, admiring his life and doctrine, thought he was Christ, and inquired deeply about his situation. But he testified that he was announcing peace to come to the earth,

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:5
I have come to sacrifice to the Lord, etc. That is, I have come to teach and suffer for the Lord; be baptized and believe with me, so that we may live together in Christ.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:5
Therefore, he sanctified Jesse and his sons, etc. He sanctified them all, but anointed David alone with the oil of chrism; because the Church has many members, but one head. John baptized many, but the dove descended upon one.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 1 Samuel 16:6-7
They have gone beyond the limits of impropriety. They have invented mirrors to reflect all this artificial beautification of theirs, as if it were nobility of character or self-improvement. They should, rather, conceal such deception with a veil. It did the handsome Narcissus no good to gaze on his own image, as the Greek myth tells us. If Moses forbade his people to fashion any image to take the place of God, is it right for these women to study their reflected images for no other reason that to distort the natural features of their faces?In much the same way, when Samuel the prophet was sent to anoint one of the sons of Jesse as king, and when he brought out his chrism as soon as he saw the oldest son, admiring his handsomeness and height, Scripture tells us, “The Lord said to him: ‘Look not on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For man sees those things that appear, but the Lord beholds the heart.’ ” He finally anointed not the one who was fair in body but the one who was fair of soul. If the Lord places more importance on beauty of soul than on that of the body, what must he think of artificial beautification when he abhors so thoroughly every sort of lie? “We walk by faith, not by sight.”

Source: CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 3.2.11-12
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Samuel 16:6-7
You are human, and so you know other people only from the outside. You think as you see, and you see only what your eyes let you see. But “the eyes of the Lord are lofty.” “Man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart.” So “the Lord knows them that are his” and roots up the plant which he has not planted. He shows the last to be first, he carries a fan in his hand to purge his floor. Let the chaff of light faith fly away as it pleases before every wind of temptation. So much the purer is the heap of wheat which the Lord will gather into his garner.

Source: PRESCRIPTIONS AGAINST HERETICS 3
[AD 390] Gregory of Nazianzus on 1 Samuel 16:6-7
Do not say, “I do not mind a mere priest, if he is a celibate, and a religious [person], and of angelic life; for it would be a sad thing for me to be defiled even in the moment of my cleansing.” Do not ask for credentials of the preacher or the baptizer. For another is his judge and the examiner of what you can’t see. For humans look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

Source: ON HOLY BAPTISM, ORATION 40.26
[AD 420] Jerome on 1 Samuel 16:6-7
He goes to Bethlehem and considers every son of Jesse to be the very person that the Lord was looking for.… He makes the same mistake in each case, and he is reproved in each case, giving evidence of the weakness of the human mind.

Source: Against the Pelagians 1.33
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:6
And when they had entered, he saw Eliab, etc. He introduces the sons of Jesse, the first, the second, and the third. Among them, none is found worthy to be anointed: because the Synagogue produced doctors of the law, prophets, and psalmists; but all these are participants, in none of them is the author of human salvation found.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:10
Therefore Jesse brought seven of his sons before Samuel, etc. The number seven is fitting to the law because of the sabbath, just as the number eight is fitting to the Gospel because of the mystery of the resurrection. Therefore, none of those who are perfect according to the law, hoping for the sabbath either of the body in the present or even of the Spirit in the future age, preach, perceive, even though being high in merits and strong in virtues, can suffice to save the world.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:11
And Samuel said to Jesse: Are all the children finished? etc. After the teachers of the law, the herald of prophecy, the sweetness of psalmody, and the long devotion of the people had been sent forth into the world, with the people instructed in divine services by the law of Moses, prophets, and psalmists, the incarnation of Christ was still to come in the fullness of time. Of which it is rightly understood what Jesse said: There is yet the least one, and he tends the sheep. For a child is born to us; a son is given to us (Isaiah IX). He who speaks in the Gospel: I am the good shepherd, and I know mine, and mine know me (John X). Nor without a certain reason of mystery is the same little one said to have tended the sheep before being anointed by the prophet; because that good Shepherd, who came that they might have life and have it more abundantly, tended ninety-nine sheep in heaven before he sought and found the hundredth on earth. He completed the number eight; for he gave us both the hope of our resurrection and his own example. Indeed, the day on which the Lord rose, from the day of his passion was the third, but from the day of the first creation, it is the eighth. Thus also after the six ages of this world, and the seventh, which is now being conducted in this life, the Sabbath of souls, as it were, the eighth age of our resurrection is hoped to come.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:11
And Samuel said to Jesse: Send and bring him, etc. The prophets of that time said to the holy ones: Send the devoted intention of your mind, and with prayers frequently offered to God, obtain the advent of Christ, saying: Show us, O Lord, your mercy, and grant us your salvation (Psalm 34); and other such things. For indeed, we cannot recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, until the Son of God, humble and poor, comes and, having broken the snare of death, grandly opens for us the gates of life. For He himself in the Gospel testifies that we cannot recline, that is, rest in the kingdom, by our own means but by His grace: Amen, I say to you, that He will gird Himself, and make them recline, and will come and serve them (Luke 12).

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:11
So he sent, and brought him, etc. The old man Simeon desired, as did the other saints of that time, for the Lord to come in the flesh, and He came. However, he was red from the blood of the Passion; because the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10). He was also fairer in form than the sons of men; because He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth (Psalm 44; 1 Peter 2). This is similar to what the bride speaks in his praise: My beloved is white and ruddy (Song of Solomon 5); white in action, ruddy in blood. And what follows there, Chosen from thousands; this is what is signified here as David, rejected by his brothers, is anointed alone.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 585] Cassiodorus on 1 Samuel 16:13
So clearly holy David was filled with heavenly inspiration, and not through human actions, the birth of twins, angels, visions, a dream, a cloud and a voice from heaven, or any other way of that kind. As the first book of Kings [Samuel] says of him: “And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.” The Lord himself too says in the Gospel: “If David in the spirit calls him Lord, how do you say he is his son?” By these words we realize that the psalms were clearly expressions of prophecy through the holy Spirit.

Source: EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS, PREFACE 1
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:13
So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him, etc. The prophet received the task of proclaiming the glory of the true king, and said: "You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God has anointed you" (Psalm 44). He who was conceived of the Holy Spirit never ceased to have the fullness of that same Spirit from the hour of his conception. John received the duty of bearing witness to Christ; and when the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the midst of those he baptized, he saw and bore witness that this is the Son of God; and Jesus went forth in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:13
Samuel arose and went to Ramah. Having completed the duty of anointing, Samuel returned home; for now, with the coming of the Lord who was foretold to come, the proclamations of the prophets were silenced. For the Law and the prophets prophesied until John (Matthew 11), from then on the kingdom of God is preached. But John himself, by the duty of his forerunning, said: "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3).

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 220] Tertullian on 1 Samuel 16:14-15
The devil has power that might be called his own, only over such as no longer belong to God, the heathen whom he considers once for all as a drop in a bucket, as dust on the threshing floor, as spittle in the mouth—and, as such, totally handed over to the devil as a quite useless possession.Otherwise, he may do nothing by his own right, against those who dwell in the house of God, because the cases that are noted in Scripture show us when—that is, for what reasons—he may touch them. The right to tempt a person is granted to the devil, either for the sake of a trial, as in the texts cited above, whether God or the devil initiates the plan, or for the purpose of the reprobation of a sinner, who is handed over to the devil as to an executioner. This was the case with Saul. “The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled and stifled him.” Again, it may happen in order to humble a person, as Paul tells us that there was given him a thorn, a messenger of Satan, to buffet him, and even this sort of thing is not permitted for the humiliation of holy ones through torment of the flesh, unless it be done so that their power to resist may be perfected in weakness.

Source: ON FLIGHT IN TIME OF PERSECUTION 2.6-7
[AD 345] Aphrahat the Persian Sage on 1 Samuel 16:14-15
I will instruct you of that which is written, that the Spirit is not at every time found with those that receive it. For it is written about Saul, that the Holy Spirit, which he received when he was anointed, departed from him, because he grieved it, and God sent to him instead of it a vexing spirit. And whenever he was afflicted by the evil spirit, David used to play upon the harp, and the Holy Spirit, which David received when he was anointed, would come, and the evil spirit that was vexing Saul would flee from before it. So the Holy Spirit that David received was not found with him at every time. As long as he was playing the harp, then it used to come.

Source: DEMONSTRATION 6.16
[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on 1 Samuel 16:14-15
Therefore, when a person falls from the Spirit for any wickedness, if he repents after his fall, the grace remains irrevocably to the one who is willing; otherwise he who has fallen is no longer in God (because that Holy Spirit and Paraclete which is in God has deserted him), but this sinner shall be in him to whom he has subjected himself, as took place in Saul’s instance; for the Spirit of God departed from him and an evil spirit was afflicting him.

Source: Discourses Against the Arians 3.25.25
[AD 420] Jerome on 1 Samuel 16:14-15
Again, that you may be sure that God curbs the spirit of pride, recall how the good spirit of God departed from Saul and an evil spirit troubled him. Holy Writ says, “And an evil spirit of God troubled him,” a spirit from God. Does God, then, have an evil spirit? Not at all. God had withdrawn so that afterwards an evil spirit might trouble Saul. In that sense, the spirit of God is called evil. Finally, holy David, knowing that God could take away the spirit of princes, entreats him, “And do not take your holy spirit from me.”

Source: HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 9 (PS 75)
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:14
But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, etc. As the proclamation of Christ increased, the grace of the Spirit soon deserted the hearts of the faithless Jews, and incited them with impious fury to persecute his name; and this the Lord permitted by just judgment, so that the tested ones might be made manifest in the Church, and the wicked, by their deserving merits, might be plunged further into the depths of their own malice.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:14
Behold, the evil spirit of God agitates you, etc. The apostles said to the Jews, desiring in all things to serve their salvation: See and recognize how evil the spirit is, which, because of your fault, has been sent by the Lord against your minds, to oppose the name of his only begotten Son, and has led you to conspire against him: yet now, having performed penitence for your errors, flee to the aid of the life-giving wood, where the innocent limbs of the same spotless Lamb of God and our Lord Jesus Christ are stretched out. For we seek, that is, we will obtain for you, faith by explaining it more fully if you wish, that man, very well known to us but still unknown to you, endowed with singular knowledge among men, who by the saving wood of his cross knows how to put to flight all the deadly weapons of the harmful adversary: so that whenever the devil begins to move you to envy against the grace of the Gospel, under the shadow of the law, the memory of the Lord’s passion may be present, and may soon restrain your hearts from furious intention.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on 1 Samuel 16:14
From the Lord: An evil spirit, by divine permission, and for his punishment, either possessed or obsessed him.
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:17
Provide for me someone who sings well, etc., Indeed, he said, I know many who are skilled in singing, but provide and bring to me someone who sings well; which is like the Jews agreeing with the words of the apostles, saying, indeed we know many who have been crucified for their sins, but we have recognized that they are of no benefit to themselves or to us. Therefore, ensure that you imbue us with his sacraments, instructing us in his faith and love in our hearts, who, by mortifying his limbs on the wood, would redeem us from eternal death.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on 1 Samuel 16:18
It is agreeable to lift up eyes of faith to the power of this Worker, and to look here and there at our ancestors in the Old and New Testaments. With the eyes of faith open on David, Amos, Daniel, Peter, Paul and Matthew, I wish to analyze the nature of the workman, the Holy Spirit. But I fail in my analysis. The Spirit filled a boy who played upon a harp and made him a psalmist, a shepherd and herdsman who pruned sycamore trees and made him a prophet, a boy given to abstinence and made him a judge of mature men, a fisherman and made him a preacher, a persecutor and made him the teacher of the Gentiles, a tax collector and made him an evangelist.What a skillful workman this Spirit is! There is no question of delay in learning. It no sooner touches the mind in regard to anything it chooses than it teaches; its very touch is teaching. It changes a human mind in a moment to enlighten it; suddenly what it was it no longer is, suddenly it is what it was not.

Source: FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 30
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:18
Behold, I have seen the son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, skilled in playing, etc. One of the youths is the unity of the humble of Christ, with one and the same heart and soul agreed. To the Jews inquiring about the faith, and knocking step by step, so to speak, on the locked doors of the life-giving cross, immediately clearer answers to the questions of faith, and illuminating the mysteries of the Lord's dispensation: Behold, he says, with the eyes of either flesh or faith I have seen and known the one born from the root of Jesse, in Bethlehem of Judah, a man knowing how to bear infirmities, and submitting to the gibbet of death, able to vanquish the aerial powers, sublime in both strength and prudence; indeed, the very power of God, and the wisdom of God, beautiful in form beyond the sons of men, in the innocence of life and the exhibition of heavenly deeds; and, to put it succinctly, he is the one who alone could say: I am in the Father, and the Father is in me; and, He who sees me, sees also the Father (John XIV); whose exceptional virtues indeed celebrate the glory of the name. For he is called David, that is, strong with the hand, or desirable. He is strong with the hand, indeed, in the power of his passion, because he laid low his adversaries. Desirable in the splendor of the resurrection, by which he exalted his own. For it is written of him: The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle: he is the one whom the angels desire to behold (Psalm XXIII); and who, as the prophet says, will come as the Desired of all nations, and the glory of the house of the Lord will be filled (Haggai II).

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:19
Saul therefore sent to Jesse, saying: Send David to me, etc. Newly catechized Jews sent words of their intention as signs to those who had gone before in Christ, saying: Believe in our fellowship of salvation through baptism in Christ, whom we have always learned in our hearts by faith, hope, and charity, to be born, ministering the pastures of eternal life to all the blessed, both angels and men. Complying with the just petitions of the brethren, they lent to them the mysteries of Christ to be received. They did not do this hesitantly, but according to him who, saying to his disciples: Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28): he immediately added and said, Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you (Ibid.). Among the sacraments of faith, with which they were initiated outwardly, they also sent examples of virtues, by which they were inwardly nourished: for bread and wine are spiritual virtues and doctrine. For bread strengthens the heart of man (Psalm 103). And your cup, he says, inebriating, how glorious it is (Psalm 22)! A kid from the goats is a humble sign of repentance, separated from the wanton flock of sinners: for a kid used to be offered for sins according to the law. These David carries to Saul on a donkey given by Jesse, when any wise teacher by the grace of Christ instructing his listeners, frequently recalls that the grace of virtues which they should imitate abounds in the humble and those despised by human judgment. It is notable that in the anointing of Saul, which also signifies the kingdom of Christ, donkeys, bread, a jug of wine, and also kids are found: as has been discussed in its proper place.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:21
And David came to Saul, etc. The Lord came to the hearts of the believing Jews through faith and stood before them with the indefatigable desire of that acknowledged and coveted sweetness. To those who loved him, he ministered abundant and invincible weapons of faith and truth against all the malign strife of the enemy: indeed, the breastplate of justice, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians VI).

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 395] Gregory of Nyssa on 1 Samuel 16:23
Once when he came to Saul, who was frenzied and out of his right mind, he healed him by soothing his passions with song, so that Saul’s understanding returned to him again in accordance with nature. The goal, then, of the symbolism of the singing is clear from these words. It recommends that we achieve the subjugation of those passions which arise in us in various ways from the circumstances of life.

Source: ON THE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PSALMS 1.3.24
[AD 414] Nicetas of Remesiana on 1 Samuel 16:23
After this, you will find plenty of men and women, filled with a divine spirit, who sang of the mysteries of God. Among these was David. As a boy, he was given a special call to this office, and by God’s grace he became the prince of singers and left us a treasury of song. He was still a boy when his sweet, strong song with his harp subdued the evil spirit working in Saul. Not that there was any kind of power in the harp, but, with its wooden frame and the strings stretched across, it was a symbol of the cross of Christ. It was the passion that was being sung, and it was this which subdued the spirit of the devil.

Source: LITURGICAL SINGING 4
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Samuel 16:23
You, a man of the church, ought to be better instructed by the music of the church than by Pythagoras. Think what David’s lyre did for Saul, who was harassed by an evil spirit but recovered from this disturbance when the holy man played his lyre; beware of thinking the concupiscence of the flesh is a good merely because it is sometimes checked by musical sounds.

Source: AGAINST JULIAN 5.5.23
[AD 585] Cassiodorus on 1 Samuel 16:23
The discipline of music incorporates great power and knowledge which brings delight; teachers of secular literature, through the generosity of God who grants all that is useful, have made it possible through theoretical texts to ascertain what was earlier regarded as hidden from view in the nature of the world. The first division of this discipline, then, is into harmonics, rhythmics and metrics. The second division, that of musical instruments, is between percussion, strings and wind. The third division is into six harmonies, the fourth into fifteen tones. In this way the virtue of this most beautiful discipline is unfolded by such distinctions drawn by people of old. We read in secular works that many miracles were brought forth by these measures. But we need say nothing of this fabulous material; we read that by means of David’s tuneful harp the demon was expelled from Saul. The divine reading attests that the walls of Jericho at once collapsed at the din of trumpets. So there is no doubt that sounds of music, at the Lord’s command or with his permission, have unleashed great forces.

Source: EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 80.4
[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on 1 Samuel 16:23
Indeed, we should not disregard the fact that whenever the evil spirit possessed Saul, David took his harp and soothed his madness. What is symbolized by Saul but the pride of the mighty and what by David but the lowly life of the saints? As often, therefore, as Saul was possessed by the unclean spirit, his madness was soothed by David’s singing. So, too, whenever the disposition of people in power is turned to raving anger by pride, it is proper that we should recall them to a healthy frame of mind by gentle words, sweet tones of the harp, as it were.

Source: PASTORAL CARE 3.2
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 16:23
Therefore whenever the evil spirit of God seized Saul, etc. The sense is clear from the preceding, and it is suitable not only to the faithful Jews but also to us. For it must be that whenever any temptation of the evil spirit seizes our mind and turns it away from the tranquility of its state, whoever of the spiritual brothers is present should bring to our memory the humility of the Lord's passion, earnestly exhorting us; because He who was innocent and just sustained the punishment of the cross for us voluntarily, leaving indeed an example that following His steps, we may act innocently in prosperity and patiently in adversity. Thus it will come to be that, refreshed by brotherly consolation as if by David's playing of the harp, we may bear it more lightly. For David always signifies our Redeemer, but sometimes in himself, sometimes in his members: and with the departure of the dire spirit's influence, immediately the grace of the Holy Spirit succeeding will enlighten us. But if it moves anyone why the Spirit is called both of God and evil; let him know that it is called of God indeed because of His most just permission, but evil because of the most wicked will of that spirit. For God uses even evil spirits for the testing of some, for punishment or correction, or even for the maintenance of good things. For testing, indeed, as the Lord tested blessed Job by allowing Satan; for punishment, as the lying spirit deceived King Ahab to perish in battle because of his preceding crimes by the Lord's permission; for correction, as the Apostle handed over the sinner in Corinth to Satan (I Cor. V), that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Furthermore, for the preservation of virtues, as the same Apostle, lest he be exalted by the greatness of revelations, received an angel of Satan to buffet him (II Cor. XII). Josephus mentions this passage in his history of Antiquities: "And Saul was suddenly seized by certain passions and demons, bringing him suffocations and distress;" and a little later: "They ordered, he says, that when demons attacked and disturbed him, standing over his head, he should play the harp and sing hymns." For it is not to be thought that that harp, however sweetly sounding, could have had such great power as to drive away evil spirits; but the figure of the holy cross, and the very passion of the Lord which was sung, already then was breaking the audacity of the devil; just as the destroying angel of Egypt did not pass by because of the virtue of the blood placed on the doorposts (Exod. XII), but because that blood was a type: the place of the middle lintel, and of each doorpost, where it was anointed, expressed the very figure of the salutary cross. The angel passed by the houses of the Hebrews, seeing them marked, unharmed, by the divine foreknowledge, indicating the coming of Him in the flesh who would by His blood through the cross free us from eternal death.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on 1 Samuel 16:23
Departed from him: Chased away by David's devotion.