Click *H for Haydock Commentary. *Footnote for footnote etc.
Click any word in Latin Greek or Hebrew to activate the parser. Then click on the display to expand the parser.
* Footnotes
- A.M. 2888, A.C. 1116.
*H And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight: and Israel went out to war against the Philistines, and camped by the Stone of help. And the Philistines came to Aphec,
Ver. 1. And. Heb. inserts here the conclusion of the last verse, whence some would infer that Samuel told the Israelites to make war upon the Philistines. But as it turned out so ill, this would have tended to discredit him; and we find that the Philistines were the aggressors. — Days. This war took place immediately after the threats denounced to Heli; (Sararius) or according to Usher, and the best chronologists, about 27 years after that event. C. — The addition of the Sept. seems to insinuate, that the sons of Heli persevered for a long time in their wicked course. C. iii. 20. H. — Josephus says that Phinees was his father's coadjutor. — Salien observes that this must be considered as a fresh blot in the character of the latter, since he ought to have delivered the delinquents up to execution. Deut. xxi. 21. Tirin, on the contrary, adduces the power of his sons, and the debilitated state of Heli, to excuse his neglect. H. — Help. In Heb. Eben-ezer; so called, from the help which the Lord was pleased afterwards to give to his people, Israel, in that place, by the prayers of Samuel, C. vii. 12. (Ch.) about 21 years afterwards. — Aphec, in the tribe of Juda, not far from Maspha.
*H And put their army in array against Israel. And when they had joined battle, Israel turned their backs to the Philistines: and there were slain in that fight, here and there in the fields, about four thousand men.
Ver. 2. Here, &c. Heb. "in the field" of battle. C. — Sept. "in the ranks, in the field." H.
*H And the people returned to the camp: and the ancients of Israel said: Why hath the Lord defeated us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch unto us the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Silo, and let it come in the midst of us, that it may save us from the hand of our enemies.
Ver. 3. Ancients; the commanders of the respective tribes. Heli was not able to lead on the people to battle, on account of his blindness and great age. — Enemies. All nations attribute much to the exterior marks of religion. The Israelites had witnessed the victories which had been obtained while the ark was present. Jos. vi. 4. See Num. xiv. 45. But they ought to have considered, that their infidelity rendered them unworthy of the divine protection; and that God was more displeased at their profanations, than at the indignity to which the sacred vessels would be exposed. He would know how to vindicate his own honour and glory. The symbols of religion were thus carried in the army, by the Persians, &c. Herod. vii. — The Romans regarded their standards as so many deities. Halicar. vi. See 2 K. vi. 21. 2 Par. xiii. 8. C. — The confidence which the Israelites placed in the ark was commendable, but their sins deserved to be punished. W. Num. x. 35.
*H So the people sent to Silo, and they brought from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, sitting upon the cherubims: and the two sons of Heli, Ophni and Phinees, were with the ark of the covenant of God.
Ver. 4. Ark. On this extraordinary emergency they thought it lawful. Abulensis, q. 6. — They easily obtained the consent of Heli; and his sons went to take it down, and to attend it to the army, as he was incapable of doing duty. We know not what ceremonies were used, nor whether the brothers acted as high priests alternately. C. — Cherubim. The Scripture often represents God in this manner. Ex. xxv. 22. Ps. xvii. 10. Ezec. x. 1. The commonality of the Jews attributed bodies to the angels, but to denote that they were not like those with which we are acquainted, they called them cherubim, or complex and unusual figures. C.
*H And the Philistines were afraid, saying: God is come into the camp. And sighing, they said:
Ver. 7. God: "Elohim." Sept. "these gods." They speak of the true God according to their false ideas. C. — Sighing. Sept. "deliver us, O Lord, this day."
*H Woe to us: for there was no such great joy yesterday, and the day before: Woe to us. Who shall deliver us from the hand of these high Gods? these are the Gods that struck Egypt with all the plagues in the desert.
Ver. 8. Joy. A few days ago the Hebrews were dismayed, now they shout for joy, as they did at the taking of Jericho. Heb. and Sept. "it was not so heretofore." H. — Gods. Heb. may be rendered in the singular, with the Chal. and Arab. But the Sept. and most commentators, explain it in the sense of the Vulg. The title of high, (adirim) or magnificent, was given by the Philistines to Dagon, whom they styled Atergatis. C. — Sept. στερεων, means, "stable, perfect," &c. H. — Plagues, till they were overwhelmed in the Red Sea, which is surrounded with deserts. Some supply, "and (his people) in the desert." Sept. Syr. &c. C.
*H Take courage, and behave like men, ye Philistines: lest you come to be servants to the Hebrews, as they have served you: take courage and fight.
Ver. 9. Fight. To serve those whom they had lately oppressed, would be doubly afflicting. Salien. — If these people had seriously attended to the instructions, which they might have derived from the fall of others, they would surely never have exposed themselves to fight against the high God. But they looked upon him in no other light than their own contemptible idols. Homer often represents them as wounded, and conquered by mortal men.
*H So the Philistines fought, and Israel was overthrown, and every man fled to his own dwelling: and there was an exceeding great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
Ver. 10. Footmen. They had no cavalry, (C.) as God seemed to discourage any. H. — Even after Solomon's time, they had not many horsemen. C. — The Israelites had before lost 4,000: now when they were full of confidence, and fought with valour, they behold 30,000 fall. The ark proved thus fatal to them. H.
*H And the ark of God was taken: and the two sons of Heli, Ophni and Phinees, were slain.
Ver. 11. Slain. Abulensis (q. 17,) thinks they were fighting in defence of the ark, when they might have saved themselves by flight; so that he does not despair of their salvation. God permitted them to lose their lives in the exercise of a holy ministry, which they had so scandalously profaned. C.
*H And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Silo the same day, with his clothes rent, and his head strewed with dust.
Ver. 12. Man. The Jews say that Saul carried these melancholy tidings, and that Goliah slew the sons of Heli. H.
*H And when he was come, Heli sat upon a stool over against the way, watching. For his heart was fearful for the ark of God. And when the man was come into the city, he told it: and all the city cried out.
Ver. 13. Stool. Heb. cisse; "a throne or tribunal," where Heli sat to decide any controversies, and where he had blessed the mother of Samuel. C. — God. He had great reason to fear that this was the day when his sons would perish, and he apprehended that the ark would be in danger. H.
* Summa
*S Part 3, Ques 187, Article 2
[II-II, Q. 187, Art. 2]
Whether It Is Lawful for Religious to Occupy Themselves with Secular Business?
Objection 1: It would seem unlawful for religious to occupy themselves with secular business. For in the decree quoted above (A. 1) of Pope Boniface it is said that the "Blessed Benedict bade them to be altogether free from secular business; and this is most explicitly prescribed by the apostolic doctrine and the teaching of all the Fathers, not only to religious, but also to all the canonical clergy," according to 2 Tim. 2:4, "No man being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with secular business." Now it is the duty of all religious to be soldiers of God. Therefore it is unlawful for them to occupy themselves with secular business.
Obj. 2: Further, the Apostle says (1 Thess. 4:11): "That you use your endeavor to be quiet, and that you do your own business," which a gloss explains thus--"by refraining from other people's affairs, so as to be the better able to attend to the amendment of your own life." Now religious devote themselves in a special way to the amendment of their life. Therefore they should not occupy themselves with secular business.
Obj. 3: Further, Jerome, commenting on Matt. 11:8, "Behold they that are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings," says: "Hence we gather that an austere life and severe preaching should avoid the palaces of kings and the mansions of the voluptuous." But the needs of secular business induce men to frequent the palaces of kings. Therefore it is unlawful for religious to occupy themselves with secular business.
_On the contrary,_ The Apostle says (Rom. 16:1): "I commend to you Phoebe our Sister," and further on (Rom. 16:2), "that you assist her in whatsoever business she shall have need of you."
_I answer that,_ As stated above (Q. 186, AA. 1, 7, ad 1), the religious state is directed to the attainment of the perfection of charity, consisting principally in the love of God and secondarily in the love of our neighbor. Consequently that which religious intend chiefly and for its own sake is to give themselves to God. Yet if their neighbor be in need, they should attend to his affairs out of charity, according to Gal. 6:2, "Bear ye one another's burthens: and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ," since through serving their neighbor for God's sake, they are obedient to the divine love. Hence it is written (James 1:27): "Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation," which means, according to a gloss, to assist the helpless in their time of need.
We must conclude therefore that it is unlawful for either monks or clerics to carry on secular business from motives of avarice; but from motives of charity, and with their superior's permission, they may occupy themselves with due moderation in the administration and direction of secular business. Wherefore it is said in the Decretals (Dist. xxxviii, can. Decrevit): "The holy synod decrees that henceforth no cleric shall buy property or occupy himself with secular business, save with a view to the care of the fatherless, orphans, or widows, or when the bishop of the city commands him to take charge of the business connected with the Church." And the same applies to religious as to clerics, because they are both debarred from secular business on the same grounds, as stated above.
Reply Obj. 1: Monks are forbidden to occupy themselves with secular business from motives of avarice, but not from motives of charity.
Reply Obj. 2: To occupy oneself with secular business on account of another's need is not officiousness but charity.
Reply Obj. 3: To haunt the palaces of kings from motives of pleasure, glory, or avarice is not becoming to religious, but there is nothing unseemly in their visiting them from motives of piety. Hence it is written (4 Kings 4:13): "Hast thou any business, and wilt thou that I speak to the king or to the general of the army?" Likewise it becomes religious to go to the palaces of kings to rebuke and guide them, even as John the Baptist rebuked Herod, as related in Matt. 14:4. _______________________
THIRD
*H And he that brought the news answered, and said: Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter of the people: moreover thy two sons, Ophni and Phinees, are dead: and the ark of God is taken.
Ver. 17. Taken. Every sentence expresses something more distressing to the aged judge and father; the flight and slaughter of his people, the ruin of his children, and the loss of the ark, which must have filled all Israel with a mortal gloom and terror, lest God should have abandoned them. So many dismal circumstances oppressing the heart of Heli, he fainted away, and falling backwards, expired. H. — The Scripture takes notice of his great age, that we might not think that he killed himself in despair. Salien.
*H And when he had named the ark of God, he fell from his stool backwards by the door, and broke his neck and died. For he was an old man, and far advanced in years: And he judged Israel forty years.
Ver. 18. Named the ark, &c. There is great reason, by all these circumstances, to hope that Heli died in the state of grace; and by his temporal punishments, escaped the eternal. Ch. — But many of the Fathers condemn him, and the Scripture says nothing of his conversion, or of that of his children, so that the matter is doubtful. C. — Years. Heb. "and heavy." — Forty. Sept. "twenty," in which they are followed by many Fathers. Euseb. Sulpit. &c. — Some reconcile the two texts by saying, that Heli and Samson judged together for twenty years. But the Sept. is probably corrupted, as the other versions agree with the original. C.
*H And his daughter in law, the wife of Phinees, was big with child, and near her time: and hearing the news that the ark of God was taken, and her father in law, and her husband, were dead, she bowed herself and fell in labour: for her pains came upon her on a sudden.
Ver. 19. Sudden, through extreme affliction. M. — Josephus says the child was only in his seventh month, but alive. Abulensis thinks he did not long survive his mother.
*H And she called the child Ichabod, saying: The glory is gone from Israel, because the ark of God was taken, and for her father in law, and for her husband:
Ver. 21. Ichabod. That is, Where is the glory? or, there is no glory. We see how much the Israelites lamented the loss of the ark, which was but the symbol of God's presence amongst them. How much more ought Christians lament the loss of God himself, when by sin they have drove him out of their souls? Ch. — The ark is often called the glory of Israel. Isai. lxiv. 21. Ps. xxv. 8. Ichabod might remind the people that the greatest loss had been sustained by them, as well as by his family. His mother had both in view the ark, Heli, and Phinees, her husband, (H.) when she exclaimed, icabod, "Woe! or, Alas! the glory." Mendoza. — The Scripture does not mention Ophni's posterity. But besides this posthumous son, Phinees had one elder, who now succeeded Heli in the pontificate, (C. xiv. 3. Josephus. Salien, A. 2940, A.C. 1113,) while Samuel took possession of the civil administration, and almost totally eclipsed the glory of Achitob. Many of the Fathers have even looked upon him as the high priest. But he was only a Levite, though, by dispensation, he acted sometimes as an extraordinary priest. S. Jerom c. Jov. i. and in 1 Cor. He reduced the people to a sense of their duty, and taught them to trust in the true God alone, and they would be protected, though deprived of the ark. This was also presently restored to them. H.