Bede : Those who were filled have hired themselves out for bread, etc. The Jews, having previously been refreshed by the living bread of Scriptures, now, dissembling within themselves, lack amidst the spiritual feasts of the church at the feast of the good father, who gratefully received the returning younger son, and those who were once guests of the covenants, now taste and see that the Lord is good. — Commentary on Samuel Bede : The barren has borne many, etc. Isaiah explains that the children of the desolate are many more than of her who has a husband (Isaiah LIV). The translators of the Septuagint wrote, "For the barren has borne seven." Saba, a Hebrew word, indeed designates both seven and many. But even the sense of that version becomes clear to those recognizing the number seven, which signifies the complete perfection of the church. This is why the apostle John writes to the seven churches (Revelation I), showing himself thus writing to the fullness of one; and in the Proverbs of Solomon, prefiguring this before: Wisdom has built a house for herself, she has hewn seven pillars (Proverbs IX). — Commentary on Samuel Gregory the Dialogist : Who were previously filled, if not those who had the knowledge of God before the other peoples? Who then should be understood as previously filled other than the Jews, who were instructed in faith in the Creator almost from the very beginning of the world? They indeed hired themselves out for bread. For what do "breads" signify in this place, if not the mysteries of the divine Incarnation? And the place for finding the breads is Sacred Scripture. Hence also the Bread who descended from heaven says to those who do not know where to find him: "Search the Scriptures, for it is they that bear witness about me" (John 5:39). They therefore hired themselves out for bread, because they had received all the Scriptures so that in them they should have found the sacraments of the divine Incarnation. But when the Bread came, the Synagogue, which had hired itself out for bread, abandoned the place in which it should have found the bread it was seeking. It had the Scriptures, as I said, for recognizing the Redeemer, but it rejected him when he came according to the Scriptures. The hungry, therefore, were satisfied, because those from the Gentiles who believed, while they reverently receive the mysteries of the divine Incarnation, possess heavenly food for the enjoyment of interior delight. They are indeed called hungry because, before the coming of the Redeemer, cast out by the famine of unbelief, they had no food of spiritual refreshment. Or certainly they are called hungry because they receive the sweetness of spiritual food with great eagerness. But let the filled, who hired themselves out for bread, hear the one they were awaiting: "I am the living bread who came down from heaven" (John 6:33, 41 ff.). But because they did not deserve to recognize him, they answered: "Is this not the son of Joseph? How does he say that he came down from heaven?" (Luke 4:22; John 6:42). But he himself, who knew all things, was prophesying that the hungry would come to the banquet of his delight, saying: "Amen I say to you, that from the East and the West they will come, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness" (Matt. 8:11-12). The filled, therefore, hired themselves out for bread, but the hungry are satisfied, because the children of the Synagogue had in the Holy Scriptures the nourishment of faith concerning the future Incarnation of the Redeemer; but now, with them cast aside, while the Gentiles truly believe in him, they receive the sacraments of his divinity and humanity in the refreshment of innermost delight. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 1, Chapter 3 Gregory the Dialogist : For since it is said by the distinguished Doctor: 'They all ate the same food, and all drank the same spiritual drink (for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ)' (1 Cor. 10:3-4), it can reasonably be gathered that those ate and were not satisfied, while these ate and were satisfied. Which is indeed rightly said by holy Church against the Synagogue, so that those who are under grace may be shown to surpass with wondrous exaltation those placed under the law. For what was it for them to hire themselves out for bread, except to search out in sacred Scripture the mysteries of the coming Redeemer? Of whom indeed each one ate and was not satisfied, because he believed in the future Incarnation of the supreme Only-begotten but did not see it present. For him, to eat was to sweetly hold the divine Incarnation in the desire of his mind, and not to be satisfied was not to see His longed-for presence. But the weak, who were to be girded with strength, heard the proclamations of their satisfaction from the bread by which they were satisfied: 'Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. Amen I say to you, that many kings and prophets wished to see what you see and did not see, and to hear what you hear and did not hear' (Matt. 13:16-17). For those who wished to see were already eating the bread of inmost delight through desire; but because they could not see, they had the joy of desire but did not have the enjoyment of satisfaction. For even if Scripture says: 'That bread having every pleasantness and all sweetness, God gave to them' (Wis. 16:20), it is said to be received by them in the way it was known—in the way that, known by them through faith, it could be longed for through the desire of charity. Therefore, against the Synagogue glorying in the early fathers, those girded with strength are set above, so that while the new and lofty summit of the elect is beheld, it may no longer glory in vain. And because the food of life is never taken away from the table of holy Church, intimating things future as well as past. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 1, Chapter 3 Gregory the Dialogist : Who is the barren one, if not holy Church, as we have already said more fully above in the type of Anna? What then does it mean that the hungry are satisfied until the barren woman gives birth, if not to possess the bread of life until the end of the world? Which He Himself also promises, saying: "Behold, I am with you even until the consummation of the age" (Matt. 28:20). For those whom holy Church brings forth are none other than the hungry. Therefore, as long as she gives birth, the hungry are satisfied, because until the end of the world she begets children for God, who, while they believe that the Redeemer has come in the flesh, eat the bread of life which they desire and are filled with fullness. But while the barren woman gives birth to very many, she who had many sons is weakened. For the Synagogue to be weakened is to be unable to bring forth by the institution of the old law. For she who lost the faith of her former husband now gives birth to the devil and no longer to God. And rightly it is said, "She who had many sons," because while in the truth of the Scriptures she anciently taught the people subject to her to desire the coming of the future Redeemer, she was bringing forth sons from the embrace of the heavenly Bridegroom. But now she who had sons is weakened and has no sons. She indeed presents the Scriptures to her hearers, but because she denies the Redeemer, she never begets children for God. Therefore she is said to be weakened, to whom spiritual fruitfulness is denied. And because both the rejection of the Synagogue and the election of the Gentiles were accomplished by the incomprehensible judgment of God. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 1, Chapter 3 Gregory the Dialogist : 13. Those are filled first who, while they receive the foods of pride as refreshment for the mind, cannot take in the delights of holy virtues, as though already full of food. But nevertheless they hire themselves out for bread, because in the Scriptures which they understand they think they receive spiritual gifts of virtues according to the greatness of wisdom. But they cannot be satisfied, because they can in no way add the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the fullness of arrogance. For the spirit of discipline itself flees from what is feigned, and does not dwell in a body full of sins (Wisdom 1:5). Hence it is also written: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (1 Peter 5:5). In vain, therefore, do they eagerly desire to receive the things of God, who by the very fact that they are proud make the bestower of gifts their adversary. Therefore they cannot be satisfied, because they do not obtain the gifts of spiritual graces. But who are the hungry, if not those empty of the foods of vices, fasting from pride? The hungry, therefore, are satisfied, because holy men, endowed with the stronghold of humility, while they do not think highly of themselves, merit the lofty gifts of virtues. For through the good of humility they become seats of the Holy Spirit, and while they receive him abiding in them, they are more fully filled with his gifts. Whence the Lord also says through the Prophet: "Upon whom does my spirit rest, if not upon the humble, and quiet, and the one trembling at my words" (Isaiah 66:2)? Greatly, therefore, are the hungry satisfied, because in the fullness of gifts the Holy Spirit rests upon the humble. 14. This, however, can not unfittingly be said against negligent ministers of the sacred altar and presumptuous receivers of the Lord's body. For those who hire themselves out for bread were filled beforehand and saturated with the food of vices, because they do not prepare their body for the reception of the Eucharist. They indeed eat and cannot be satisfied, because even though they receive the sacrament with their mouth, they are in no way filled with the power of the sacrament. They therefore fast from that power of the sacrament precisely because they had been filled beforehand. For they do not receive the fruit of salvation in the eating of the saving host, who carry in their mind the sins with which they had filled themselves. Therefore none are satisfied except the hungry, because those who perfectly fast from vices receive the divine sacraments in the fullness of their power. And because even the elect cannot be without sin, what remains except that they strive to be emptied daily of the sins with which human frailty does not cease to stain them? For he who does not daily drain off what he commits in transgression, even if the sins he heaps up are small, little by little the soul is filled, and they rightly take from him the fruit of interior satisfaction. Paul, urging us to empty ourselves of this fullness, says: "Let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup" (1 Cor. 11:28). For what does "prove" mean in this passage, except, having emptied out the wickedness of sins, to present oneself approved and pure at the Lord's table? Concerning those who are full he also adds: "For he who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment upon himself." Therefore, since we sin daily, let us daily run to the laments of repentance, because that alone is the power which empties out what guilt accumulates in the belly of the soul. And then the hungry are truly satisfied, because the more diligently we are cleansed by the lament of repentance, the more abundant the fruit of divine grace we receive in spiritual refreshment. Because this satisfaction of the elect extends all the way to the end of the world, she adds and says: "Until the barren has borne many, and she who had many children has grown feeble." 15. Who therefore is signified by the name of this barren woman, if not she of whom Paul speaks, saying: "The Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother" (Gal. 4:26, 27)? Whence also shortly after he fitted to her the prophecy of Isaiah, saying: "For it is written: Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who do not travail, for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her who has a husband" (Isa. 54:1). But how is Jerusalem understood as barren—namely, the holy society of the blessed angels—when according to the meaning of its name it is fruitful with everlasting joy from the eternal vision of peace? But if she is the mother of the elect among men, she was indeed barren when the human race had perished in Adam. For she was as though unable to bring forth, since she lost through the persuasions of the fallen spirit him in whom she ought to have extended the bosom of her fruitfulness. The weak are girded so long until the barren one gives birth, because we have need of the powerful ministry of the humble angels until as many as are predestined to life from the human race are gathered together, even to the end of the world. For the Son of Man will send His angels, and they will gather His elect from the four winds (Matt. 24:31; Mark 13:27). For they are to be sent then to gather those for whose salvation they are sent daily, because they will not gather into the kingdom any except those to whom they now offer assistance through the strength of their girding. Even until the end of the world the hungry are filled. But rightly is this barren woman said to bear very many, because not all men, but only the elect, are led to eternal joys. Fittingly therefore she is also said to give birth, because through the ministry of angels we are taught to seek heavenly things, so that we may be able to attain their goods. But when this barren woman gives birth, she who had many children is weakened, because the fuller the gains of the elect that the heavenly kingdoms receive through the ministries of angels, the more the children of this Babylon are diminished. For she is as though weakened in her childbearing, who through the disordered love of passing things cannot, as she was accustomed, bear children. For everywhere the heavenly kingdoms are now preached, and indeed while the minds of the faithful love what they hear, while they also seek those things through good conduct, Babylon is as though constricted in her childbearing, because our mother Jerusalem brings forth throughout the world for God those whom Babylon was accustomed to bear for hell from her exhausted womb of perdition. Yet the strength of those who are girded is ascribed not to themselves, but to Him by whom they are girded. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 2, Chapter 1 Origen of Alexandria : "They that were filled with loaves were led into servitude." She shows that it is blameworthy to be filled with loaves, because Jacob ate and drank, and was filled, and grew fat, and the beloved kicked. "They that were hungry were forsaken." She means those who had been filled with loaves, because they forsook the hungry. There came a famine, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. Therefore "they that were hungry were forsaken, until the barren bore seven, and she that was fruitful in sons was made weak. For many are the sons of the deserted, more than of her that hath a husband." Barren is our mother the Church; she bore seven, that is, the number seven, to which rest is ascribed. "And she that was fruitful in sons was made weak." I should like to see how the Jews, the patrons of the letter, assert that she who is fruitful in sons is made weak, and how the barren bore seven: but, their fables despised, let us consider, whether perhaps each one of us may have within himself the barren woman who bore seven, and may have also the woman fruitful in sons who is made weak. Fruitful in offspring was my flesh, having very many fruits of the flesh: fornication, uncleanness, wantonness, idolatry, sorceries, enmities, contentions, jealousies, provocations, dissensions; these were the numerous progeny of our flesh. But when we came to the faith of the cross of Christ, and to the mortification of Jesus, we began to carry about in our body, and to mortify our members which are upon the earth, and to present them to serve righteousness and sobriety: then the fecundity of this shameful generation was shut out, and in this way she that was fruitful in sons was made weak. But how the barren woman bears seven, let us see. Barren in me was my soul, it brought no fruits of righteousness: but now, when through the faith of Christ it merited the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the spirit of wisdom and understanding filled it, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of righteousness and mercy, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord filled it: it is certain that the barren woman bore seven, and she that was fruitful in sons was made weak. — HOMILIES ON 1 SAMUEL 1.18