Gregory the Dialogist : There follows: "He will also take your male servants and female servants, and your best young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work." The male and female servants of the saints are those who supply them with temporal necessities. They are male and female servants because, while they provide them with bodily necessities, in this same work of mercy some are stronger than others. And the best young men: because both those who can do much and those who can do little, when they expend all that they are able in the work of mercy, like chosen young men, they powerfully carry out divine services. The donkeys of the elect are also those upon whom the burdens of obedience to be borne are imposed, so that they may help their frailty by bearing with them what they could by no means bear without them. But what does it mean that they are foretold to be put to the king's work? Those who are put to the king's work fulfill on appointed days the debt of compulsory labor owed to the authority of the public power. What then does it mean that the male and female servants and the best young men are foretold to be put to the king's work, except that when carnal men are in authority, both the ministers of the elect and the hearts of those who devoutly obey are frequently stained? For while they unceasingly behold their reprobate life, they gradually decline so far as to imitate something of their deeds. Through long custom indeed they serve the elect; but since they often see the eminence of their high position, they sometimes desire to be served by others through the impulse of pride. They also give their own possessions mercifully, but often by the example of tyrants they take what belongs to others. But because they are servants of the saints, they cannot depart from their authority. They can indeed be abandoned for a time, but from the error into which they fall, they are easily raised up through divine mercy. Because therefore those who quickly come to their senses fall through the examples of the wicked, they are put to the king's work as if by compulsory labor: in which they do not long remain through continuous servitude. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 2 Gregory the Dialogist : After all these things, the servants and maidservants of the Israelites, the best young men, are declared to be taken away and put to the king's work. Who are the servants of the carnal, except those who, by the example of the wicked, have been so corrupted by long habit that they seem to have perpetually subjected the necks of their minds under the yoke of most wicked imitation? Their servants, therefore, are taken away when, by the zeal of chosen preachers, even those abandon their sins who seemed to be vehemently subjected to the reprobate imitation of the carnal. They are also called the best young men. They are young, indeed, because they are strong in evil; they are also called the best because they are more wicked than the rest of sinners. To whom, of course, it is said through the prophet: "Woe to you who are mighty at drinking wine, and men of strength at mixing drunkenness" (Isaiah 5:22). They drink wine, indeed, who by deliberation of mind recklessly take in the heat of concupiscence, and they mix drunkenness, because while they are inflamed by the fires of their lusts, they know not how to return to the ways of righteousness, their reason being lost. They are mighty and strong both at drinking and at mixing drunkenness, so that on account of their fervent devotion to evil they are shown to be, as it were, the best servants. These best young men the divine word likewise points out when it describes the greed of the devil, saying: "His food is choice" (Habakkuk 1:16). For the ancient enemy is greatly refreshed by the wickedness of those who are more wicked than the most wicked. By the name of maidservants, that most wicked condition of sinners is designated—those who through iniquity are exceedingly depraved and furnish examples of wickedness to others. For like maidservants they bear slaves, since they are not only workers of great iniquity but also mothers of it. But because through the preaching of the saints even such people are converted, who afterward render great services to almighty God, the servants and maidservants are fittingly said to be taken away and placed in the work of the king. Did not the King of kings then take a maidservant when He said of that great sinful woman: "Her many sins are forgiven, because she loved much" (Luke 7:47)? And He placed her in His work when He entered the village and she received Him in her house (Luke 10:38). He also placed her in His work because, rising from the dead, He entrusted to her the proclamation of His resurrection (Mark 16:7). He also took a servant when He called Matthew from the profit of the tax booth to follow Him. He placed him too in His work, because Matthew provided a banquet for Him in his house and He made him a preacher to Ethiopia, an Evangelist of the converted world (Matt. 9:9; Mark 1:14; Luke 5:27). Therefore, because through the ministry of preachers even those return to the Lord of whose salvation human thought could have despaired, the servants and maidservants and finest young men are fittingly described as being placed in the work of the king. By the name of male and female servants, the movements of the heart and its affections can be understood. For when they suggest wicked things to us, they are male servants; when the affections of the mind desire to submit themselves to the suggestions of depraved impulses, they are female servants. Then indeed it is necessary that we master both through the rigor of our resolve. Preachers take away our male and female servants when they instruct the movements of our hearts and affections as to how they should be directed toward the service of God. They place them in the work of the king when we now exercise that very service of almighty God which we learned through their instruction. Moreover, what is more fittingly represented by donkeys than the lustful movements of the soul? They are placed in the work of the king when that mind which was accustomed to be moved to lasciviousness by depraved thoughts profits from the preaching of the teacher and directs its affections toward the desire of imitating chastity. By the name of male servants, female servants, and donkeys can be designated those who vigorously render bodily service to worldly men. But they are placed in the work of the king, because once converted to the service of almighty God, they endure spiritual labors all the more devoutly for eternal recompense, the more clearly they recognize that they had been enduring great things without fruit. The king is also said to tithe the flocks, because whoever desires to please almighty God must be clean through innocence and intent upon the pursuit of good works. By the former he is a good tree; by the latter he also bears fruit. Since indeed we employ many things in order to preserve innocence and to be able to perform good works, these very crowds of innocent thoughts are our flocks. What then does it mean that they are tithed, except that the subtlety of thoughts is not easily discerned? For often we think we are thinking good things which, when carefully examined, are not good. Therefore the flocks must be tithed, so that only what is contained in the number ten belongs to the king's right. This is rightly accomplished in us when, through the instruction of our preachers, we learn to be perfect not only in the performance of works but also in the examination of thought. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 4, Chapter 4