列王紀與歷代志問答 第 1 章 第 1/11 段

Since, having enjoyed divine grace, we have interpreted the book of Moses the lawgiver, and of Joshua the prophet, and of the Judges, and of Ruth, come, let us again entreat to receive the radiance of this same light, and unfold the narratives of Kingdoms.

passing over what is clear, but making plain to readers what requires clarification;

so that we may not leave your request unfulfilled, most beloved of children, Hypatius.

The cause of the obscurity is also this, that those who made the translation were eager to render it strictly word for word;

and those who render the language of the Italians into the Greek tongue suffer this very same thing.

For those translations are full of much obscurity.

First I shall state the subject matter of the narrative.

There have been very many prophets, whose books we have not found, but whose names we have learned from the narrative of Chronicles.

Each of these was accustomed to write down whatever happened to take place in his own time.

For instance, even the first book of Kingdoms is called, both among the Hebrews and among the Syrians, the Prophecy of Samuel.

But this is easy to know for one who wishes to read the aforementioned book.

Those, then, who compiled the book of Kingdoms, having taken their materials from those earlier books, composed it after a very long time.

And certain others, having gathered those materials together, compiled the book of Kingdoms.

And again, in turn, certain other historians arose regarding the things omitted by these;

and the book composed by themselves they called Paraleipomena, that is, Chronicles ("the things left aside");

as one that teaches the things omitted by their predecessors.

Was Samuel a priest, or a Levite? ANSWER

Levi became the father of three sons;

Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

And of Kohath were born sons: Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel;

and of Amram, Aaron, Moses, and Miriam.

And of Izhar, his offspring was Korah, and his descendant was Elkanah, the father of Samuel.

Samuel, then, was fifteenth in line from Levi;

which tribe was preferred above the others, because the high priests flourished from it;

wherefore indeed it was also allotted to them to carry the sacred vessels.

permitting the lesser thing, in order to prevent the greater.

For he measured the laws according to the capacity of those who received them.

This the divine Apostle also says:

"For the law made nothing perfect." QUESTION

thus it is proper to marriage to have union, but it is proper to God to grant assent to nature, and to form the living being.

And it is fitting also to marvel at the moderation of her character.

For though she was insulted as though drunk, she bore it gently, and having removed the false suspicion, she explained her affliction, and obtained the high priest's blessing.

For she heard, "Go in peace; may the Lord God of Israel grant you every request that you have asked of him." And she heeded this blessing so faithfully that she cast off all sorrow, and returned to her husband with confidence, and at once came together with him, and conceived.

And having given birth, she fulfilled her promise.

For she kept his hair uncut, and taught him to drink only water.

For this is the law of the Nazirites.

And immediately after his weaning she offered him to God, together with a calf of the same age, which received the slaughter and sacrifice on his behalf.

And she received in return from God other children;

three sons, and two daughters.

For the Lord is generous and lavish toward those who are mindful of graces formerly received.

Worthy of admiration also is her hymn.

For not only did she hymn the Giver for what she had received, but she also mingled prophecy into the hymn, and partook of the grace given to her son.

For having conceived a prophet, she prophesies after the birth.

For the words, "The Lord will make his adversary weak," foreshow the destruction of the devil;

and the words, "The Lord went up into the heavens, and thundered," foretell the ascension of our Savior, and the descent of the all-holy Spirit, and the loud voice of the apostolic preachings.

"And he will exalt the horn of his Christ." Besides this, she taught us not to trust in wealth, nor in wisdom, nor in power, but only in him who is able both to bestow life and to bring death, and to change prosperity into adversity, and good fortune into ill fortune.

And indeed also the words, "The barren woman has borne seven," proclaim beforehand the fecundity of the Church.

For the number seven is indicative of a multitude.

For in seven days the whole cycle of time revolves, and the children of the Church have filled the inhabited world.

"But she who had many children has grown weak." For Judea, though she had many children, and had begotten many prophets and righteous men, now suffers from barrenness.

Eli the high priest — from what family was he? From that of Ithamar;

but because of the wickedness of his sons, his whole family was deprived of the high-priestly honor.

For the narrative teaches how great were the transgressions they dared to commit.

What is the Ephod? Aquila has called this "a special outer garment."

Why in the world, being a Levite, did Samuel make use of the ephod? For it was set apart for the high priest alone.

It is likely that Eli, having seen the divine grace blossoming upon him — both born in an extraordinary manner, and promised before the birth-pangs, and reared within, in the divine tabernacle — regarded him as one holy and a Nazirite, and one granted in answer to prayer;

for this is what the name Samuel means;

and so gave a share of this honor to one who was still quite young.

For since God was about to foretell evils to Eli through Samuel, in order that Samuel might not be thought to have fabricated the revelation, God so arranged it that Samuel, thinking he was being called by Eli, went to him;

so that, when Eli should perceive that it is God who is calling Samuel, then afterward, when Samuel announces the things declared by God, he might not be suspected of having fabricated the revelation;

but might be believed, that God had truly announced a revelation.

Why did Eli pay the penalty on behalf of his sons, even though he had admonished them with fitting words? The transgression of his sons did not call for gentle remedies, but for the sternest and sharpest.

It was necessary, then, after the first and second admonition, that if they persisted in their wickedness, they should be driven out from the sacred precincts.

For they not only transgressed the law themselves, but also became a pattern of transgression for others.

But since he had valued nature above the One who made it, he was stripped of the God-given grace.

For God made this clear to him also through the prophet:

"I said, Your house, and the house of your father, shall walk before me forever."

"But now it shall not be so," says the Lord; "far be it from me; rather, those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be despised." And this prophecy seems to strip his lineage of the high priesthood;

but it hints at the cessation of the entire Jewish priesthood.

"For I said," it declares, "Your house, and the house of your father, shall walk before me forever." But this he did not promise to Ithamar, but to Aaron.

Therefore he pronounced judgment against their whole family line.

This is also shown by what follows.

"For behold, days are coming, and I will utterly destroy your seed, and the seed of your father's house, and there shall not be an old man of yours in the house."

"And he shall look upon the stronghold that is, in all the things in which he does good to Israel."

"And there shall not be an old man all the days in your house." — Now by "the stronghold that is" he means the God who truly is.

This he has shown more clearly a little further on.

"For I will raise up," he said, "for myself a faithful priest, who will do all that is in my heart and in my soul;"

"and I will build him a faithful house, and he shall walk before my anointed ones all the days." Now these words fit no man at all, but only our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his humanity has been named our high priest.

"For having," it says, "a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus our Lord." And again:

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses;"

"but one who has been tempted in all things according to our likeness, yet without sin." And the phrase "all the days" was not fitting for mortal men who live but a short time.

And by "anointed ones" he has called the sacred apostles, and those who succeeded to their teaching.

The prophecy, then, properly fits the Savior Christ;

but according to the historical sense it fits Zadok, who, tracing his lineage from Eleazar, received the high priesthood through Solomon.

For in the evening they were accustomed to light the sacred lamp;

and around midnight they would add oil to it.

Wishing, then, to indicate the time, the writer said that the lamp had not yet been trimmed.

Why on earth did the God of all appear to Samuel when he was still quite young? The youth was deemed worthy of the divine manifestation as a reproof of the aged high priest.

For he was so very young that he was not yet able to receive the teaching concerning God,

...it would be superfluous to say more; and he understood that it is God who is calling.

"If the one calling calls you, you shall say, Speak, my Lord, for your servant hears." But nevertheless, God preferred even such an age to gray hair;

and passing over the man who had lived ninety-eight years, and had been deemed worthy of a double office for forty years (for he was both judge and high priest), he conversed instead with the smallest child;

teaching how much better than gray hair is youth adorned with virtue.

Eli, however, is clearly adorned by his own right actions,

but on account of the wickedness of his sons he received the sentence of utter destruction.

For, first, he was not ashamed to urge the young man to disclose what had been announced from God;

but he even bound him with oaths and curses, so that he would hide nothing of what had been revealed.

Then, having learned the verdict that had been pronounced, he uttered the praiseworthy words:

"It is the LORD; let him do what is pleasing in his sight." And indeed, even on learning of the slaughter of his sons, the father and old man bore it not ignobly;

but on learning that the ark had been captured by the spear, he fell from his seat, and by the excess of his grief received the end of his life.

For he taught the Hebrews that those living according to the law should take courage in the providence of God;

but those transgressing the law should trust neither in him, nor in the inviolable ark;

For why on earth should they, while transgressing the law, take for their help the ark that has the law stored up within it? These, then, received this benefit from this.

The foreigners, for their part, were afraid when the ark appeared and the Hebrews raised a shout;

but after the victory they grew contemptuous, and having dedicated it as a kind of war-trophy to their own idols, they learned by experience the power of God.

For first they saw their own god fallen before the ark, exhibiting the posture of worship;

Then, having set him up again, they found him on the next day shattered, and deprived of all his extremities.

Then, unwilling to acknowledge the difference, and not rendering to the ark the reverence due, they fell into various diseases.

For as the Seventy translated, "they were struck in the seats"; but as Aquila has it, "they had the sore of gangrene." Josephus, however, taught that the affliction of dysentery came upon them;

but let no one suppose the different versions to be a disagreement.

For the affliction of the seat succeeded the dysentery.

For the frequency of the discharge inflamed the part of discharge;

and in time the sore turned into gangrene.

And they endured the affliction of the seat, inasmuch as they had impiously set the divine ark beside their falsely-named god.

The people of Ashdod were the first to receive this punishment.

For the people of Gath, supposing that the plague was not sent by God, but a sickness arising from some pestilential condition, moved the ark of God to Gath;

but they were immediately subjected to the same calamities.

As for the phrase "The Gittites made for themselves seats of gold," the other translators rendered it thus: "And their seats were dissolved around them." And when the Gittites attempted to move the ark to Ashkelon, those people objected, fearing the divinely-sent plagues.

Then, since no city dared to receive the ark, they left it outside in an open place.

For this the historian has taught us;

for he sent a multitude of mice also upon their vineyards and their crops, which ruined all their fruits.

And through these things he taught that it was he himself who had also brought the various plagues upon the Egyptians.

For that they still had a fresh memory of those plagues, the things said by them bear witness.

"Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of this mighty God? This is the God who struck Egypt with every plague." And after their experience of these evils, their priests and diviners said to them that they should send away the ark with gifts, "that the LORD God of Israel may lighten his hand from off you, and from your gods, and from your land;"

"and why do you harden your hearts, as Egypt and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? Was it not when he had mocked them that he sent away his people, and they departed?" But these impious men, having given this counsel, and having thereby shown the weakness of their own gods — for God first shattered them, and then disciplined those who worshiped them —

and then sent the mice against the growth of the land — they wished to learn by trial whether the plague was divinely sent, or had come about by some chance occurrence.

For having built a new cart, and having yoked to it newly calved cows separated from their calves, they placed upon it the ark, together with mice and seats of gold, made equal in number to the five cities, as gifts to the God who had disciplined them.

And they placed these in a certain vessel, which the Seventy called "boergas," but Josephus called a "glossokomon," that is, a coffer.

And having released the cows at a crossroads without a driver, they waited to see whether they would turn back at the lowing of their calves, or turn aside onto another road, leaving behind the one that leads to the Hebrews;

so that, if either of these two things should happen, they might condemn the ark as powerless;

but if the cows, forsaking the other roads and disregarding their own calves, should go toward the land of Israel, they would truly know that the plagues that had occurred were also sent by God.

For this very reason they followed from a distance, and did not turn back, until the neighboring Hebrews, having beheld the strange sight — a cart guided by no man, yet having the ark as both its cargo and its driver — ran up gladly, and marveled at the victory of God.

"For the sons of Jechoniah," it says, "did not rejoice among the men of Bethshemesh, because they saw the ark of the LORD;"

"and he struck among them seventy men, and fifty thousand men of the people." Now the sons of Jechoniah, being impious and serving idols, were vexed at the sight of the ark, and quite reasonably received the punishment;

but the rest of the people were disciplined, because they had been unwilling to risk themselves beforehand for the ark, having left it seven months among the foreigners, and not having taken up war on its behalf.

and having shown how much reverence it received even from the impious foreigners, he punished them as more impious than the foreigners.

And since those in Bethshemesh, fearing the ark, sent it away, having said, "Who will be able to stand before this holy LORD?" — while Aminadab received it eagerly —

he filled his whole house with every blessing.

That the people impiously despised the ark, what follows bears witness.

For the most divine Samuel exhorted them to return to the LORD with their whole heart, and to remove the strange gods from their midst, and the sacred groves.

Aquila translated 'the groves' as 'Ashtaroth,' that is, the images of Astarte.

They call Astarte 'Aphrodite,' having derived the epithet from the star.

For they relate in myth that the Morning Star belongs to her.

Why in the world, when God had commanded through the Law to worship in one place, did Samuel build an altar? The divine temple had not yet been built, and they worshiped God in various places.

Yet from this too we learn that God, knowing the people's readiness to fall into impiety, confined the divine worship to a single place.

For to the pious, who understood the purpose of the Law, every place was consecrated for the worship of God.

though the Law called for one place, he built an altar on Carmel and offered a sacrifice.

For what reason did Samuel not pay the penalty for the transgressions of his sons? Their deeds were wrongdoings, not impieties.

For they did not break up marriages, nor did they, by such lecheries, outrage the divine tabernacle;

nor did they assign the choicest portions of the sacrificial victims to the belly, overturning the order of the sacrifices.

And the prophet did not even know of this.

For he lived far away from them.

For he himself dwelt at Ramah, while they dwelt at Beersheba.

For what reason was he grieved when the people asked for a king? Because the request was contrary to the divine Law.

But the prophet was a minister, something like a governor, or a general, or a popular leader.

And God made this clear when He said to him:

'Listen to the voice of the people;'

'for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them, according to all the deeds which they have done to me, from the day I brought them out of Egypt even to this day,' and so forth.

How did he call Saul 'good'? He did not thereby testify to virtue of soul in him, but to his form and stature.

'There was not a man among the sons of Israel better than he;'

'from the shoulders upward he was taller than everyone in the land.' QUESTION.

Some say that Samuel prophesied for money, because Saul said, 'Behold, we will go — but what shall we bring to the man of God, since our bread has run out?' This is evidence of Saul's suspicion, not proof that the prophet took bribes.

For he supposed that something ought to be brought to him, as to a ruler and a prophet;

but on the contrary, he enjoyed very great hospitality instead.

And the prophet's freedom from bribery is taught by his own words, spoken before all the people:

'Whose calf,' he says, 'have I taken from any of you? Or whom of you have I oppressed? Or whom of you have I extorted? Or from whose hand among you have I taken a bribe, or even a sandal, and hidden my eyes on account of it? Tell me, and I will restore it to you.' And the testimony of the people confirmed the prophet's words.

For this term does not refer to the eyes of the body;

but to spiritual perception.

As for 'bama,' however, Aquila translated it 'high place';

and by 'guests' were meant those who had been invited.

And this portion he set before him, as one who was about to become king and to face danger first on behalf of the people.

'Behold, a reserved portion; set it before you and eat, for it has been kept for you as a testimony from the people.'

Why, having anointed him, did he also kiss him? He thereby imparted to him the grace that dwelt within him.

For indeed the Lord too, having breathed on the apostles, said:

'Receive the Holy Spirit.' For 'of his fullness we have all received.' Thus the prophet kissed the king who had just been ordained, so that he might impart to him the grace dwelling within him.

Why in the world did he give him so many signs? He saw that he was doubting, and confessing his own lowliness.

'Am I not,' he says, 'the son of a Benjamite, of the smallest tribe among the tribes of Israel, and is not my family the least of all the families of Benjamin?' For this reason, Samuel confirmed the promise of the kingship by predictions concerning all these things.

And first, those bringing him good tidings concerning the donkeys;

then those going up to Bethel to worship God, and bringing him first-fruits from the offerings being brought to God;

'For they will ask you concerning matters of peace,' he says, 'and will give you first-fruits of bread, and you shall receive it from their hand.' Then, the company of prophets, and the band of those dancing with them, using flutes and lyres and harps and timbrels, and the grace of the Spirit leaping forth from that company, making him too ready to prophesy.

...another heart? Because he was a rustic, knowing only how to farm, so having made him king, God gave him a kingly disposition.

What is meant by, 'He finished prophesying'? He did not possess the gift of prophecy continually.

But for the manifestation and demonstration of the spiritual gift, he prophesied at that particular time.

Thus also the seventy elders, whom the great Moses chose, were, as soon as they were chosen, deemed worthy of prophetic activity.

But after this they prophesied scarcely at all;

yet, being made wise by the divine gift, they resolved the disputes of the people.

Why in the world, after Samuel had anointed Saul, and had heard from the God of all that it was fitting to appoint him king, did he command the tribes to cast lots? Those who lived in wickedness did not even believe the divine prophets.

In order, then, that they should not suppose the decision to be a matter of human favor, he ordered that lots be cast.

Then, when the tribe of Benjamin had been chosen by lot, and it was again divided into families, and houses, and men, the lot fell upon Saul.

But when he tried to hide himself (for he saw that the authority exceeded his own worth), he was disclosed to the prophet by God, and received his appointment before all the people.

For what reason did Nahash the Ammonite gouge out the right eyes of the Israelites? He wished to render them useless for war.

For he who holds his shield forward with his left hand thereby covers his left eye, and sees the enemy with his right eye.

He, then, who had lost his right eye became easy to overcome in battle.

...he chose the greatest of all, since they admired not virtue of soul, but greatness of body.

For what reason, having gathered the people together, did the prophet remind them of his own manner of life? Being a judge, he was relinquishing his authority, and handing it over to the king.

Very reasonably, then, he recounted the things concerning himself, and made the people witnesses in agreement to his praiseworthy manner of life, thereby teaching that authority to be lawful.

How is the phrase, 'Saul was a son of one year when he began to reign,' to be understood? Symmachus rendered it thus:

But he did not continue in this innocence for very long.

Whence the narrator added:

'And he reigned two years over Israel' — instead of meaning, 'With this simplicity he reigned two years;'

then, having turned aside to wickedness, he was stripped of the divine grace.

Whence the remaining time, during which he continued to reign, is reckoned to the leadership of Samuel.

'Jonathan struck the garrison of the Philistines that was on the hill'? The Philistines, having conquered the Hebrews, had established garrisons in the more fortified places. He therefore called the garrison a 'hypostēma' (outpost).

This garrison Jonathan utterly destroyed.

As for the phrase, 'The slaves have broken faith,' Aquila translated it, 'Let the Hebrews be heard.'

What is meant by, 'And he waited seven days, until the appointed time, as Samuel had said'? Samuel had instructed Saul to wait for him seven days, and then, having thus duly offered sacrifice, to array for battle.

Saul, then, seeing the Philistines gathered together, did not wait for the prophet according to the command.

Whence the prophet, finding him in the act of sacrificing, rebuked him very sharply, and foretold to him the loss of the kingdom.

'For the Lord,' he says, 'will seek out for himself a man after his own heart;'

Aquila translated it as 'the gazelles.'

Hence they used to have their farming implements made among them [the Philistines].

As for "the tooth," Symmachus rendered it "the plowshare," while Aquila rendered it "the plow."

The shekel they called a "stater."

When reckoned as a weight, the shekel weighed a half-ounce;

but as coined silver, twenty obols.

Why ever did Jonathan, when he wished to attack the enemy, give certain signs to his armor-bearer? He did not give them as omens, but, being faithful, wished to know the will of God, and gave himself signs of the divine will:

namely, that if the enemy should call them up, they would attack, since God was clearly working together with them;

"And we will go up, for the Lord has delivered them into our hands";

"this shall be the sign for us." "But if," he says, "they say to us, 'Stand off there,' we will not go up against them." That, trusting in God, he delivered himself to manifest danger, his own words bear witness:

And having thus trusted, he was not disappointed of his hope.

For immediately attacking, and shooting an arrow, and hurling stones, he threw the enemy's camp into confusion.

For not recognizing one another, they killed one another, being men gathered together from different cities, and they treated one another as enemies.

Saul, seeing this from afar, and having learned of the victory through the priestly vestment, he too rushed against the Philistines;

then, seeing them routed, he foolishly and quite senselessly pronounced a curse upon anyone who should partake of food or drink before evening.

If he pronounced the curse foolishly, why then did God confirm the curse? For when he asked whether he should continue the battle, God did not answer him.

First, He reproves him for having cursed unreasonably.

Then He also teaches us not to despise even such curses as this.

Here, indeed, the intention was pious;

for it was ordained for the honor of God.

But he ought to have considered the exertion of those fighting, and that it was likely that some, worn out by exertion, would be pressed by thirst and compelled to transgress the limit.

For this indeed happened even to the admirable Jonathan;

but he transgressed the limit of the curse unknowingly.

For after tasting the honey, he heard of his father's curse from others who reported it.

But nevertheless, though he had the defense of ignorance, he came into danger of his very life.

He was delivered from slaughter through the people's just advocacy and earnest supplication.

How is one to understand the saying, "I have repented that I anointed Saul as king"? We have often said that God's "repentance" is [in fact] a change of dispensation.

For instance, He commanded Saul to be appointed on account of his comely, striking bodily appearance;

not because He Himself takes delight in the largest bodies;

for He Himself is the maker both of the great and of the small;

but rather, doing a favor to the people, who made use only of eyes of sense-perception.

Samuel is a witness to this, who, though young, was deemed worthy of the divine manifestation.

Wishing to appoint this one as king, and to preserve the kingdom for his seed, on account of the King of creation who was to be born of him according to the flesh, He, conversing with men, used human words, and said:

"I have repented that I anointed Saul as king" — that is, in place of saying, "I wish to give the authority of the kingdom to another, and to remove this one from power."

And why ever, out of loving-kindness, did He strip him of the kingdom? He had foreknown his future transgressions of the law — the plots against his benefactors, the slaughter of the priests, the violations of oaths, the running to the woman with the familiar spirit;

and yet it was only the transgression of the commandment concerning Amalek that brought upon him the final punishment.

For the fool ought to have understood that one drop of divine loving-kindness surpasses all the goodness of men.

But the wretched man, when God had commanded punishment, showed pity; and when God had passed sentence of death, he himself granted, as he supposed, life;

and when God had commanded that nothing be gained from the plunder, he himself carried off the fattest of the flocks and the herds, and the best of everything else, and returned.