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* Footnotes
- A.M. 2944.
*H And David came to Nobe, to Achimelech, the priest and Achimelech was astonished at David's coming. And he said to him: Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?
Ver. 1. Nobe. A city in the tribe of Benjamin, to which the tabernacle of the Lord had been translated from Silo. Ch. — It was about 12 miles south-west of Gabaa. Tudelensis. — There was another Nobe on the east side of the Jordan, to which Serarius thinks David was three days in travelling. But when David made that assertion, he wished to conceal the real state of his affairs, as he had not seen Saul since he was at Najoth, v. 5. Nobe was afterwards accounted a sacerdotal city, v. 19. 2 Esd. xi. 32. — Achimelech, who is perhaps the same with Achia (C. xiv. 3,) and Abiathar. Mark ii. 32. — With thee. He would not expose his men to the resentment of Saul, (C.) though he afterwards gave the priest to understand that he had some attendants, (v. 2) as the gospel relates. Mat. xii. 3. He dismissed them before he entered Geth. C.
*H And David said to Achimelech, the priest: The king hath commanded me a business, and said: Let no man know the thing for which thou art sent by me, and what manner of commands I have given thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place.
Ver. 2. The king, &c. This was an untruth, which David, like many other great men, might think lawful in such an emergency. But it is essentially evil. C. — And such, which he deems it unnecessary to specify. Sept. retain the Heb. words, "Phelanni almoni." See Ruth iv. 1.
*H And the priest answered David, saying: I have no common bread at hand, but only holy bread, if the young men be clean, especially from women?
Ver. 4. If the young men be clean, &c. If this cleanness was required of them that were to eat that bread, which was but a figure of the bread of life which we receive in the blessed sacrament; how clean ought Christians be when they approach to our tremendous mysteries? And what reason hath the Church of God to admit none to be her ministers, to consecrate and daily receive this most pure sacrament, but such as devote themselves to a life of perpetual purity. Ch. — Women. God required this on many occasions. Ex. xix. 15. Urgent necessity determined Achimelech to grant the loaves, as our Saviour intimates, though it is probable that he first consulted the Lord. C. xxii. 16. C. — David perhaps went to Nobe on purpose to ask advice. M. — We have here an example of a dispensation, and of the distinction between lay, or common, and holy bread. W.
*H And David answered the priest, and said to him: Truly, as to what concerneth women, we have refrained ourselves from yesterday and the day before, when we came out, and the vessels of the young men were holy. Now this way is defiled, but it shall also be sanctified this day in the vessels.
Ver. 5. Vessels, i.e. the bodies, have been holy; that is, have been kept from impurity: (Ch). in which sense S. Paul uses the word. 1 Thess. iv. 4. It also includes garments, arms, &c. All was to be clean. Sept. "my men are all purified." C. — Defiled. Is liable to expose us to dangers of uncleanness, (Ch). as we shall perhaps have to fight. H. — Sanctified. That is, we shall take care, notwithstanding these dangerous circumstances, to keep our vessels holy; that is, keep our bodies from every thing that may defile us. Ch. — The text is very obscure. Heb. "the way is impure, because to-day it shall be purified in the vessel." C. — Prot. "and the bread is in a manner common, yea though it were sanctified this day in the vessel." We might eat of it in a case of such necessity. H. — Though laics be commonly debarred from tasting of it, we will partake of it with all due respect. C. — Sept. "the journey is (of a disagreeable nature, or) impure, therefore it will be rendered holy by my vessels," or arms, in the king's cause. H. — He seemed to be going towards the infidel nations. M.
* Footnotes
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*
Matthew
12:3
But he said to them: Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and they that were with him:
*H Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, within the tabernacle of the Lord: and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of Saul's herdsmen.
Ver. 7. Within. Heb. nehtsar, "detained, or assembles before the Lord." Theodoret thinks he was possessed; others believe he had made a vow, &c. — Edomite. Some Greek copies read, a Syrian, as also C. xxii. 9. C. — He had embraced the Jewish religion. M.
*H And the priest said: Lo, here is the sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Terebinth, wrapped up in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take this, take it, for here there is no other but this. And David said: There is none like that, give it me.
Ver. 9. This. Chaldee observes, he gave this sword "after he had consulted the Lord with the ephod." In a just war, the ornaments of the temples may be used. Pro republic î plerumque templa nudantur. Seneca. Grot. Jur. iii. 5. 2. C. — Tostatus believes that David would restore this sword, as soon as he had procured other arms.
*H And David arose and fled that day from the face of Saul: and came to Achis, the king of Geth:
Ver. 10. Achis. He is elsewhere called Achimelech. This bold step was taken by God's order, (Salien) or secret impulse, as the high priest and Doeg knew not whither David had directed his course. H. — Sanchez thinks David received no express declaration, as the event was not very prosperous. M. — Many great men have taken refuge among their greatest enemies, as Themistocles, Alcibiades, and Coriolanus fled respectively to the Persians, Lacedæmonians, and Volscians, and were received with great respect. Indeed the acquisition of such men is equivalent to a victory. C. — Though David might expect that his name would be hateful at Geth, as he had slain their great champion, &c. yet he had done it in an open manner, and had displayed the most heroic courage, so that the king and nobility might raise their thoughts above the vulgar sentiments of jealousy and revenge. Salien. — David only retired from the court of this king, to avoid the hatred of the courtiers; he returned again, and was kindly received. C. xxvii. 1. C.
*H And the servants of Achis, when they saw David, said to him: Is not this David, the king of the land? Did they not sing to him in their dances, saying: Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
Ver. 11. Land, equal to a king in glory. M. — Perhaps they had heard of the rejection of Saul, and reflected that their own country belonged to him, according to the terms proposed by Goliath. C.
*H And he changed his countenance before them, and slipt down between their hands: and he stumbled against the doors of the gate, and his spittle ran down upon his beard.
Ver. 13. Countenance. Heb. "sentiment, (C.) or, behaviour." H. — Chal. "reason." He no longer acted as a prudent man, but like a fool. — Down; not fainting, (C.) but like one in an epileptic fit. H. — Heb. "he feigned himself mad." Chal. "stupid." — Stumbled. Heb. "wrote, or made figures upon." Sept. "beat the drum upon the gates of the city, and he was carried about, or acted the fool, in his hands, (parefereto en taiV cersin, autou: Amama would have, αυτων, their) and he fell against the doors of the gate," &c. They seem to give a double translation. S. Aug. says, "we cannot understand how David could be carried in his own hands. But we understand how it was verified in Christ. For Christ was carried in his own hands at his last supper, when he gave, or commending, his own body, he said, This, &c. for he then carried his own body in his own hands." In Ps. xxxiii. conc. i.) Ferebat enim illud corpus in manibus suis. Amama may laugh at S. Augustine's ignorance of Hebrew, but the holy doctor was at least a sincere Catholic. H. — Beard. We find some wretched objects doing the same. Mar. ix. 17. The spittle was deemed infectious. Et illic isti qui sputatur, morbus interdum venit. Plautus in Captivis.
* Summa
*S Part 3, Ques 111, Article 1
[II-II, Q. 111, Art. 1]
Whether All Dissimulation Is a Sin?
Objection 1: It seems that not all dissimulation is a sin. For it is written (Luke 24:28) that our Lord "pretended [Douay: 'made as though'] he would go farther"; and Ambrose in his book on the Patriarchs (De Abraham i) says of Abraham that he "spoke craftily to his servants, when he said" (Gen. 22:5): "I and the boy will go with speed as far as yonder, and after we have worshipped, will return to you." Now to pretend and to speak craftily savor of dissimulation: and yet it is not to be said that there was sin in Christ or Abraham. Therefore not all dissimulation is a sin.
Obj. 2: Further, no sin is profitable. But according to Jerome, in his commentary on Gal. 2:11, "When Peter [Vulg.: 'Cephas'] was come to Antioch:--The example of Jehu, king of Israel, who slew the priest of Baal, pretending that he desired to worship idols, should teach us that dissimulation is useful and sometimes to be employed"; and David "changed his countenance before" Achis, king of Geth (1 Kings 21:13). Therefore not all dissimulation is a sin.
Obj. 3: Further, good is contrary to evil. Therefore if it is evil to simulate good, it is good to simulate evil.
Obj. 4: Further, it is written in condemnation of certain people (Isa. 3:9): "They have proclaimed abroad their sin as Sodom, and they have not hid it." Now it pertains to dissimulation to hide one's sin. Therefore it is reprehensible sometimes not to simulate. But it is never reprehensible to avoid sin. Therefore dissimulation is not a sin.
_On the contrary,_ A gloss on Isa. 16:14, "In three years," etc., says: "Of the two evils it is less to sin openly than to simulate holiness." But to sin openly is always a sin. Therefore dissimulation is always a sin.
_I answer that,_ As stated above (Q. 109, A. 3; Q. 110, A. 1), it belongs to the virtue of truth to show oneself outwardly by outward signs to be such as one is. Now outward signs are not only words, but also deeds. Accordingly just as it is contrary to truth to signify by words something different from that which is in one's mind, so also is it contrary to truth to employ signs of deeds or things to signify the contrary of what is in oneself, and this is what is properly denoted by dissimulation. Consequently dissimulation is properly a lie told by the signs of outward deeds. Now it matters not whether one lie in word or in any other way, as stated above (Q. 110, A. 1, Obj. 2). Wherefore, since every lie is a sin, as stated above (Q. 110, A. 3), it follows that also all dissimulation is a sin.
Reply Obj. 1: As Augustine says (De QQ. Evang. ii), "To pretend is not always a lie: but only when the pretense has no signification, then it is a lie. When, however, our pretense refers to some signification, there is no lie, but a representation of the truth." And he cites figures of speech as an example, where a thing is "pretended," for we do not mean it to be taken literally but as a figure of something else that we wish to say. In this way our Lord "pretended He would go farther," because He acted as if wishing to go farther; in order to signify something figuratively either because He was far from their faith, according to Gregory (Hom. xxiii in Ev.); or, as Augustine says (De QQ. Evang. ii), because, "as He was about to go farther away from them by ascending into heaven, He was, so to speak, held back on earth by their hospitality."
Abraham also spoke figuratively. Wherefore Ambrose (De Abraham i) says that Abraham "foretold what he knew not": for he intended to return alone after sacrificing his son: but by his mouth the Lord expressed what He was about to do. It is evident therefore that neither dissembled.
Reply Obj. 2: Jerome employs the term "simulation" in a broad sense for any kind of pretense. David's change of countenance was a figurative pretense, as a gloss observes in commenting on the title of Ps. 33, "I will bless the Lord at all times." There is no need to excuse Jehu's dissimulation from sin or lie, because he was a wicked man, since he departed not from the idolatry of Jeroboam (4 Kings 10:29, 31). And yet he is praised withal and received an earthly reward from God, not for his dissimulation, but for his zeal in destroying the worship of Baal.
Reply Obj. 3: Some say that no one may pretend to be wicked, because no one pretends to be wicked by doing good deeds, and if he do evil deeds, he is evil. But this argument proves nothing. Because a man might pretend to be evil, by doing what is not evil in itself but has some appearance of evil: and nevertheless this dissimulation is evil, both because it is a lie, and because it gives scandal; and although he is wicked on this account, yet his wickedness is not the wickedness he simulates. And because dissimulation is evil in itself, its sinfulness is not derived from the thing simulated, whether this be good or evil.
Reply Obj. 4: Just as a man lies when he signifies by word that which he is not, yet lies not when he refrains from saying what he is, for this is sometimes lawful; so also does a man dissemble, when by outward signs of deeds or things he signifies that which he is not, yet he dissembles not if he omits to signify what he is. Hence one may hide one's sin without being guilty of dissimulation. It is thus that we must understand the saying of Jerome on the words of Isa. 3:9, that the "second remedy after shipwreck is to hide one's sin," lest, to wit, others be scandalized thereby. _______________________
SECOND
*H Have we need of mad men, that you have brought in this fellow, to play the madman in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?
Ver. 15. House. David had not rushed into the palace of his own accord, but wished to remain concealed. Some of the people however knew him, and would have him to enlist as one of the soldiers of Achis; (M.) or even designed to get him put to death, which made him have recourse to this expedient. Some of the saints have imitated him, to avoid worldly honours and dignities of the Church. H. — Thus the conduct of Jesus Christ himself, was accounted foolishness by worldlings. Mark iii. 21. Luke xxiii. 11. 1 Corinthians i. 23. V. Bede. W.