Returning to sacred history, after Samson, Eli judged the people. He was also a priest and is named a priest rather than a judge from the more dignified office. When the priesthood was transferred from the sons of Eleazar, Eli was the first of the sons of Ithamar to seize it. Perhaps, when he himself had become judge, he transferred the priesthood to himself.
He began to judge in the 356th year after the departure from Egypt, in the 761st year of the Third Age—that is, from Abraham—and in the 2,709th year of the world. He judged for forty years. In his time occurred the history of Ruth treated above. Under him the prophet Samuel was born, as is contained in the First Book of Kings. We therefore proceed with Samuel’s history from that book.
The first book relates that Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Hannah was barren but was more loved by her husband. Peninnah was fruitful and reproached Hannah for her barrenness. Greatly saddened by this, Hannah approached the temple, prayed, and made a vow in order to obtain a son. When Eli the priest rebuked her for praying as though drunk, she humbly excused herself and disclosed her affliction.
The Lord heard Hannah’s prayer and gave her a male child, the prophet Samuel. When he had been weaned, she offered him to the Lord at God’s tabernacle and left him there to serve in it.
Chapter 2 gives the song “My heart has rejoiced,” and so forth, which Hannah composed while giving thanks to God. It then relates that Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who ministered in the tabernacle, were gluttons. Through their servants they caused their own portion to be taken from animals offered in sacrifice before the animals were burned, contrary to the law. They also slept with women in the tabernacle, that is, in its courts. When Eli heard this, he rebuked them, but far too mildly.
In chapter 3 a certain prophet reproved Eli for his negligence in correcting his sons and foretold that they would be killed on account of their crimes. It also relates how Samuel, called three times in his sleep by the Lord, thought Eli was calling him and went to him. The third time, Eli taught him that if he were called again, he should say, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.” When Samuel observed this, the Lord spoke to him about Eli’s failure and that of his sons and their future punishment. When Eli questioned him, Samuel related everything.
In chapter 4 the Philistines proceeded to battle against Israel, put them to flight, and killed four thousand Israelites. Because of this, the Israelites caused the Lord’s ark to be carried into their camp to assist them. When the people of Israel rejoiced over it, the Philistines were saddened, saying, “Woe to you,” and so forth. Nevertheless, they encouraged one another, entered battle against Israel, and defeated them. The ark was captured and Eli’s sons were killed. When their father heard this, he fell backward and died.
In chapter 5 the Philistines carried God’s ark to Ashdod and placed it in the temple of their idol Dagon. Twice they found Dagon cast down upon the ground before the ark. The Philistines were also struck with ulcers on their buttocks. Wherever they carried the ark, that plague followed, while mice arising from the earth gnawed them in their hinder parts.
In chapter 6 the Philistines, after taking counsel, sent the ark back with five golden buttocks and mice, according to the number of their five cities. They placed it upon a wagon drawn by two milk cows whose calves had been shut away from them. Lowing as they went, the cows carried the ark by a straight road to Beth-shemesh, which is in Israel. Fifty thousand of the Beth-shemites who saw the Lord’s ark died.
In chapter 7 the ark was transferred from Beth-shemesh to Kiriath-jearim. Samuel admonished the people to cast aside their idols and return to the Lord by serving Him. They did this, celebrating a fast and performing penance. When the Philistines went against them in battle, Samuel prayed and offered a lamb for Israel. The Lord terrified the Philistines, and they were defeated. Samuel judged the people, traveling each year through different places to direct them.
In chapter 8 Samuel, now old, appointed his two sons in his place to judge the people at Beersheba. They turned aside into avarice and perverted judgment for gifts. Scandalized by this, the people asked Samuel to appoint a king over them. Samuel took this badly and consulted the Lord about it. The Lord answered that he should hear them, but should declare the king’s right to them, namely that they would suffer many burdens from him. When Samuel had done this, they nevertheless asked that a king be given to them, just as the other nations had.
In chapter 9 Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin, taller than the others from his shoulders upward and a man better than whom there was none in Israel, went at the command of his father Kish to search for his father’s lost asses. He came to Samuel with a quarter of a silver stater to inquire about the asses from him as one who knew hidden things. The Lord revealed to Samuel that this man was to be made king. Samuel therefore kept Saul with him to eat and placed before him the shoulder of a cooked animal.
In chapter 10 Samuel anointed Saul as king when they were alone. He foretold three things that would happen to him on the way as a sign of what the Lord had ordained. The third sign was that Saul would find a company of prophets—that is, persons like religious—who were prophesying with musicians, and that he would prophesy with them. This was fulfilled.
Finally, when all the tribes were gathered at Mizpah and lots were cast, the lot fell upon Saul. When he was not present there, the Lord revealed that he was hidden at home, namely out of humility. He was therefore brought forward and declared by Samuel to be king of Israel. When certain men despised him, he pretended not to hear them.
In chapter 11, after a month, Nahash, king of the Ammonites, proceeded to war against the men of Jabesh-gilead. When they sought terms from him and offered to serve him, he answered that he would make this covenant with them only if he tore out the right eyes of them all. The men of Jabesh therefore came to Saul for aid. Saul gathered a very great army of Israel, defeated Nahash, and freed them. Because of this victory the people renewed Saul’s kingship at Gilgal.
In chapter 12 Samuel declared to the people the innocence of his conduct among them: in judging he had neither falsely accused anyone nor extorted anything from anyone. He then recalled the benefits God had bestowed upon that people and their deliverance from servitude to tyrants through the hands of the judges. Although they now had the king they had requested, if they withdrew from God’s commandments, they would perish together with their king.
To show, however, that they had done wrong in asking for a king, Samuel caused rain to descend, thunder to roar, and lightning to appear while the air was clear. When he prayed for them, these things ceased.
In chapter 13 the Philistines gathered in a very great multitude to wage war against Israel. King Saul likewise gathered an army to resist them and waited seven days for Samuel at Gilgal. When Samuel had not come, Saul himself offered the sacrifice. Samuel afterward came and rebuked him for this, saying that his kingdom would not continue farther, but that the Lord had provided another king for Himself.
Chapter 14 relates that Jonathan, Saul’s son, without his father’s knowledge, approached a Philistine outpost with his armor-bearer by a very difficult path. He killed twenty Philistines with a bow in a small space. Because of this the Philistine camp was thrown into confusion, its men killing one another, and many Israelites who had fled returned to assist them.
As Saul pursued the Philistines, he issued an edict under pain of death that no one in the army should eat until evening. Jonathan did not know this. Finding a honeycomb from a beehive on the way, he tasted it with his staff and took a little honey. A great slaughter was then inflicted upon the Philistines.
After the army had rested, Saul consulted the Lord as to whether he should pursue the Philistines farther. When the Lord did not answer, Saul suspected that a sin had been committed. He therefore sought by lots to learn who was responsible. The lot fell upon Jonathan, who disclosed that he had eaten honey contrary to the prohibition. Saul wished to kill him, but the people did not permit this, because the victory had proceeded from him. Saul had many other victories against the Philistines.
In chapter 15 the Lord commanded Saul through Samuel to go against the Amalekites and put everyone and the pack animals to the sword, sparing no one. Saul defeated Amalek but preserved King Agag and certain better pack animals. When Saul returned from the battle, Samuel rebuked him on the Lord’s behalf for his disobedience. When Saul excused himself, Samuel answered that obedience pleases God more than sacrifices.
When Samuel wished to depart from him, Saul held him by his cloak. When it was torn, Samuel told Saul that the Lord had torn his kingdom away and given it to a better man. Nevertheless, at his request Samuel accompanied him and killed Agag, king of Amalek.
In chapter 16 the Lord commanded Samuel no longer to mourn Saul, because He had cast him away, but to go to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king of Israel. Samuel therefore went to Bethlehem as though to offer a sacrifice. When seven of Jesse’s sons had been brought before Samuel at his request, the Lord revealed that he should anoint none of them, but the youngest of all, David, who was in the pastures. When David was finally brought, Samuel anointed him.
An evil spirit troubled Saul. When he heard that David, Jesse’s son, played the harp well and was handsome, warlike, and prudent, he caused David to come to him so that the evil spirit’s vexation would cease or be diminished through his playing of the harp. This occurred, and David was made his armor-bearer.
Chapter 17 relates that, when the Philistines gathered to battle against Israel, the giant Goliath came out from the Philistine army against Israel and challenged it to single combat. While David was in the pastures, his father sent him to visit his brothers, who were in the army with Saul. Seeing the giant run about, David asked about the matter and heard that whoever defeated him would become the king’s son-in-law and possess great riches. David offered himself for the combat.
When he was presented before Saul, he told how he had killed both a bear and a lion in the pastures. Finally, casting aside the armor in which he had been clothed, he went against the Philistine for combat. David cast a stone from his sling and struck Goliath in the forehead. When Goliath fell to the ground, David cut off his head with Goliath’s own sword and carried it to Saul. His army then advanced against the Philistines and laid them low.
In chapter 18, when David presented himself to Saul, Jonathan, Saul’s son, who was present there, formed so great a friendship with him that he caused David to be clothed with all his own garments. When Saul and David ascended with the people into Jerusalem in victory, choirs of girls came to meet them, singing with musical instruments, “Saul has struck down a thousand and David ten thousand.” Saul was saddened through envy and feared that the kingdom would pass to David.
One day, while David played the harp before him, Saul sought to pierce him with a spear. Afterward he made David a commander over the armed peoples. Saul promised to give his daughter Michal to David as a wife if David brought him one hundred foreskins of Philistines. By this he intended that the Philistines would bring about David’s death. David agreed and brought two hundred foreskins, having killed the men in a just war because they were enemies of the people of Israel.
In chapter 19 Jonathan, who loved David greatly, reconciled him by his words to his father Saul, who sought to kill him. After David inflicted a great slaughter upon the Philistines in battle, Saul again sought to transfix him with a spear while he played the harp before him, but David avoided the blow.
When David fled to his house, Saul sent attendants to capture and kill him. His wife Michal warned him and lowered him through a window. When Saul was told that David was at Naioth with Samuel, he sent several different groups of officials three times to capture him. On arriving, they found men prophesying with Samuel and David, and they too prophesied with them, praising God. Finally Saul himself came, and he too prophesied with them, stripping himself naked.
In chapter 20 Jonathan promised David, at David’s request, that he would disclose Saul’s disposition toward him, whether good or evil. David was to hide in a field on a certain day. Jonathan would signify Saul’s disposition by means of three arrows he shot and by the way he spoke to the boy sent to gather them. If he said that the arrows were beyond the boy, this would be a sign of Saul’s evil intention toward David; if he said that the arrows were this side of him, it would be a sign of reconciliation.
Jonathan did this and indicated that Saul was ill-disposed toward David. Finally, after swearing to show mercy to one another in themselves and in their offspring, they departed from one another after much weeping.
In chapter 21 David came to the priest Ahimelech. When David asked for something to eat, Ahimelech, having nothing else at hand, gave him and his companions the loaves of proposition, and also Goliath’s sword. David then went to Gath. When the king learned of this and commanded that he be seized, David pretended to be a fool and thus escaped.
In chapter 22 Saul heard that Ahimelech had consulted the Lord for David and had given him the loaves and sword. He sent for Ahimelech and caused him to be killed with eighty-five other priests. He subjected their city, Nob, to sword and fire.
In chapter 23 David inflicted a great slaughter upon the Philistines who were besieging Keilah and liberated it. The Lord revealed that Saul was coming to capture him, so David withdrew. When Saul was told that David was in the desert of Maon, he came with an army to capture David and his companions. When he was on the point of capturing him, news came that the Philistines had come against Israel. Saul turned back and abandoned the siege and capture of David.
In chapter 24 Saul heard that David and his men were at En-gedi and came there with three thousand men to capture him. On the way Saul entered a certain cave to attend to the needs of nature. David was in the inner part of it with some companions. They urged him to kill Saul, but he refused and secretly cut off only the edge of his cloak.
When Saul left the cave and continued his journey, David called after him. He explained how he could have killed him and complained of Saul’s unjust persecution. Hearing this, Saul confessed with tears that he had done wrong.
In chapter 25, when Samuel died, all Israel mourned him. David heard that Nabal was holding a great banquet on Mount Carmel while shearing his many flocks of sheep. He sent messengers to ask Nabal to send some of the feast to him and his men. Nabal refused and spoke harsh and insulting words to them. Angered by his words, David arranged to go with his men to kill him.
Abigail, Nabal’s very beautiful and prudent wife, perceived her husband’s hardness. She went to David with asses laden with food, met him on the way, offered him everything, and begged him to spare her husband for that inhumanity. Pacified by her words, David did so. When she returned and told her husband of the danger, he died from fear. David afterward took Abigail as his wife.
In chapter 26, when the Ziphites told Saul that David was in the desert of Ziph, Saul came with an army to capture him. While everyone slept at night, David secretly entered Saul’s tent with Abishai. Although Abishai urged him to kill Saul when he was able, David refused. Taking the spear and cup that were beside Saul’s head, they withdrew without anyone noticing.
From a distance David called to Abner, reproaching them for their negligence in guarding their lord. He told how he had entered Saul’s tent and could have killed him. Hearing this, Saul groaned, accusing himself and praising David.
In chapter 27 David, lest he fall into the hands of Saul who pursued him, went with his men to Achish, king of Gath, and asked for a dwelling in one of his cities. Achish gave him Ziklag. Although David frequently carried out slaughters and raids against the Philistines, he told King Achish that he had done them against the people of Israel.
In chapter 28 the Philistines gathered for battle against Israel, and Saul came with his men to Gilboa. Fearing the Philistine camp and unable to receive an answer concerning the battle’s outcome either through prophets or through priests, Saul approached a female diviner in a changed disguise. By her art he caused Samuel, already dead, to be raised. Samuel foretold that Saul and his sons would be killed in battle and Israel defeated. Whether it was the true Samuel who appeared or the devil in his form is treated in Cause 26, question 5, Nec mirum.
In chapter 29 the Philistines gathered with their satraps, among whom was Achish, king of Gath. When the satraps saw David and his Hebrews with Achish, they complained, thinking that he would not act faithfully but fraudulently against them. They therefore commanded Achish to send him back and not allow him to be with them in battle. Achish immediately did so.
In chapter 30 David returned to Ziklag and found it burned by the Amalekites, who had captured it and carried away its possessions, David’s wives and sons, and those of the others. The troubled army wished to stone David. But strengthened by the Lord and given God’s answer that he would overtake the Amalekites, David proceeded against them.
On the way he found an Egyptian servant of one of the Amalekites who had taken the plunder. Because he was weak, his master had abandoned him, and he was in danger from hunger. After the man had been refreshed, he showed David the Amalekites’ way. David fell upon them with him, defeated them, and recovered everything that had been taken. He gave a share of the plunder to the two hundred men who had stopped when exhausted in order to guard the baggage.
In chapter 31 Saul and his three sons, Jonathan, Aminadab, and Melchishua, were killed by the Philistines in battle on Mount Gilboa. Saul, wounded by them, fell upon his own sword to kill himself. Because he was not entirely dead, he commanded a certain Amalekite servant standing near him to kill him completely. The servant did so, and all Israel was put to flight and defeated.
§ I: On the Second Book of Kings
Chapter 1 of the Second Book of Kings relates that the young Amalekite who, at Saul’s request, had completed his killing came to David and reported it as though it were good news. Grieving on account of this, David caused him to be killed. David and his men wept over the deaths of Saul, Jonathan, and the others among the people of Israel; they tore their garments and fasted.
The era of the kings therefore began with Saul, and the era of the prophets so called began with Samuel. While Samuel lived, Saul reigned for seventeen years, and after Samuel’s death for two years. The Third Age, containing nine hundred years, ends at Saul’s death.
Homer is thought to have lived at this time. Among the Athenians he was held to be insane because he said that the gods had waged war against one another. As they say, he was unable to explain some slight question sailors proposed to him. When they mocked him more shamelessly and at greater length, this man of modest disposition was as though pierced to death by the poisoned dart of confusion and breathed out his spirit, as Valerius reports.
Flavianus asserts this of Plato in his book On the Footsteps of the Philosophers, saying that it was fabricated by Xenophontines against Plato’s glory. There were those who thought that Homer was a synonym for Plato.
In these times two kingdoms began, namely those of the Lacedaemonians and the Corinthians. According to Eusebius in the Chronicles, in the fifteenth year of Saul’s reign Eurystheus was the first to reign at Lacedaemon. Eight men reigned successively after him. The last was called Thalchamenes, under whom that kingdom failed in the forty-ninth year of the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah.
At the same time, namely in the fifteenth year of Saul’s reign, Alethes was the first to reign at Corinth. Ten kings reigned successively after him. The last of them was called Telestes, under whom the kings of the Corinthians failed in the forty-second year of the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah.