Bede : He said to him: Behold, there is a man of God in this city, etc. For this is the patience and faith of the saints, this is continuous love, this long expectation seeing from afar and greeting the joy of the Lord's incarnation and the restoration of humanity; this, I say, is the frequent plea in the Scriptures of saving grace: Stir up your strength, and come to make us safe. Arise, why do you sleep, Lord? arise, and do not reject us to the end; why do you turn your face away (Psalms 79, 43)? and other such things. Behold, they say, there is in the city of worldly conversation, most noble by heavenly grace, and without any doubt the truest chorus of the prophets. Now therefore let us go there, and from contemplating the glory of your divinity, which is only apparent to pure hearts, let us also come to perceive the mysteries of humanity, once promised and now long desired. Blessed indeed are the eyes that have seen, and the ears that have deserved to hear these things (Matthew 12). Perhaps with these things resounding about you, and affirming the path of our devotion, with the help of the proclamations of the prophets, the world will begin to believe, and we ourselves, with those who were lost brought back to life, will rest from the long effort of so much time. The word of doubt is placed to show the severity of human error and the difficulty of healing, according to the Savior's saying: Do you think he will find faith on earth? and: If you believed Moses, you would perhaps believe me too (Luke 18). Similar to this passage, the wise lover speaks to Christ in the song of her love: Who will give you to me, my brother, nursing at the breasts of my mother, that I might find you outside and kiss you (Cant. 8)? As if she openly said: Whom I believe, confess, and adore as invisible God within, him also I long to see and speak to outside in the form of my substance. — Commentary on Samuel Bede : Saul said to his servant: Behold, we will go, etc. Saul, indeed, and his servant were wandering, in that they thought to seek the gifts of prophecy from the man of God, and therefore they were disturbed in vain, because they had not even taken a small offering with them, which could have been given to him as a travel provision. The small offering, beautifully woven from palm leaves, though the bread which was within it had run out, is usually given as a gift during a greeting, if the holy man had not been accustomed to say truthfully to everyone of his own accord. But the order of the allegorical sense does not err, because the Lord diligently urges His chosen servants with frequent chastening, so that they may not come empty in mind or deed to hear the word of God and to seek His way, which is Christ (for no one comes to the Father except through Him), but may carefully inquire what of appropriate obedience, what of other virtues they should show to their teacher, to whom the word should be rightly entrusted. And also in the Old Testament, whoever desired that Christ would come into the world to fulfill the prophecies of the prophets, who wished that Saul would enter the city of Samuel and do what he taught, were then taught by Christ Himself through secret inspiration to pursue good works, so that they might be found worthy to see and hear what many just men and kings had previously desired but did not hear or see. Behold, he says, we will go; what shall we bring to the man? The bread has run out in our supplies, and we do not have a small offering. Behold, the time is pressing for the prophecy to be fulfilled in Christ, what good works do we have, by which we may recommend ourselves to the preachers of that time, and deserve to learn from Him whom we need? Indeed, the observance of the law has been corrupted by the traditions of the Pharisees, or rather it has itself been worn out by its antiquity and as if by long use, it has run out in our deeds; and we have not been able to achieve the conversation of new grace, which awaits the kingdom of heaven, before He comes and teaches to whom it is reserved. For the plaited palms, which used to be given as a reward to the victors, signify actions worthy of heavenly reward; vessels woven from palm leaves demonstrate hearts expanded with the hope of eternal joys. — Commentary on Samuel Gregory the Dialogist : He calls Samuel a man of God, in whom we have already said that the preachers of Holy Church are designated. He is indeed called a man out of reverence for his holy manner of life, and everything he speaks is declared to come without ambiguity: because whatever he threatens concerning eternal punishments, whatever he promises to the just concerning eternal joy, comes to pass just as he announces it, and the impious shall go away to punishment and the elect to glory. He is also said to be in the city: because a chosen pastor is known to be always vigilant in the common guardianship of the people subject to him. The pastor is in the city, because while he guards others, he is fortified in himself. Whence also through the prophet, in the praises of all men of God, it is said under the description of one: "He shall dwell on high; the fortifications of rocks shall be his loftiness" (Isa. 33:16). For the higher he is raised up in the vision of the eternal citizens, the stronger he is found to be in himself, and the more useful to his neighbors. He is also called noble: because he is conspicuous for his heavenly manner of life, and has nothing of the rusticity of worldly life. For he is seen to be noble from the same source whence he is a citizen. For secular men, because there is no composure of morals in them, are rustic, as though nurtured in outlying places. For from their habitual dishonesty of mind, they produce unseemly movements of body; and like those who are very degenerate, they do not know the bearing of urbane custom, while through everything they do, they cover the appearance of their life with the vileness of earthly obscurity. On the contrary, the men of God are noble, who while they vigorously pursue the things that are divine, shine with heavenly light in all their work: and they have nothing of degeneracy, who in the great light of all their conduct display the rays of their celestial origin. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 4