{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-1370","native_reference":{"book_number":90,"chapter_from":3,"chapter_to":3,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":7,"verse_to":7},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Bede</b>: Moreover, Samuel did not yet know the Lord, etc. Moreover, the Savior, whose name is God, was not yet recognized by the carnal as always knowing all the secrets of the Father, nor before He was baptized did John see and bear witness that the heavens were opened to Him, and that the voice of the Father was made upon Him from above. Thus, in the manner of Holy Scripture, the ignorance of the blessed Samuel in his childhood concealed demonstrates the wisdom of the Son of God in the infancy of the flesh. For it is not said in vain: Because in Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom (Col. II), clearly to be manifested in the faithful, believing.<br/><i>— Commentary on Samuel</i></p><p><b>Gregory the Dialogist</b>: 13. But because what follows is, \"Moreover Samuel did not yet know the Lord,\" and above he is reported to have ministered to the Lord, what is said seems very contradictory, because he could not be ignorant of the one whom he was serving. For who serves one whom he does not know? But indeed through what is added, it becomes clear by what fitting reasoning that which sounds contradictory ought to be understood: \"Nor had the word of the Lord been revealed to him.\" By which it is surely given to understand that the one whom he knew by love and ministry, he did not know by the revelation of His word. For he had not yet heard calling him the one whom he testified that he had known both by the devotion of ministry and by the power of love. But this is fittingly understood in the life of the faithful; for many advance well under another's guidance, who in the time of their newness perform services to almighty God, and yet do not attain by the purity of contemplation to the vision of His inner beauty. When by the merit of their submission they also receive the gift of divine contemplation, they understand by the experience of inner vision that they did not yet know the one whom they were serving. This Jacob well represents, setting out to receive a wife, who after the labor of his journey saw the Lord through the sleep of rest, but awakening from sleep said: \"Truly the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it\" (Gen. 28:16). For he who perceived that He exists everywhere could not have doubted that the Lord was there before he fell asleep; but because he then learned Him more perfectly, he declared that he had been ignorant of Him when he had not known Him more intimately. For the way by which one travels to a wife is the intention of devoted obedience, by which the fruitfulness of inner charity is desired to be attained. Jacob therefore sleeps on the way when the faithful subject, the supplanter of the evil spirit, is received through the labor of obedience into the rest of inner vision. Who will indeed then confess that he has come to know the Lord, because while he marvels at that vision of inner light to which he has been newly raised, he recognizes by the experience of revealed beauty how much he did not know before. For by faith, as if by report, we know God, but by the love of contemplation He who became known to us by report is revealed to us as if by the showing of His presence. And rightly the subject advancing through obedience, while he is led to the height of contemplation, is said to have long been ignorant of the Lord, because He is found as if from the truth of His presence, who before seemed as if unknown by report and not known as if present.</p><p>14. But because it is said separately, \"He did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord been revealed to him,\" it can be understood more subtly. For in one and the same internal contemplation of God, both a wondrous charity is poured into the one contemplating from the fruit of so great a glory, and a great amazement at the revelation of the secret word. Some therefore know the Lord and receive the revelation of His word, because they are both filled with wondrous sweetness from that infusion of so great a charity which they draw from habitual practice, and they are instructed with great wisdom by the revelation of the word. But by some the Lord is known to whom the word of the Lord is by no means revealed, because certain simple men, yet perfected by a great manner of life, receive indeed an ineffable sweetness of love by contemplating the glory of divine contemplation, but nevertheless do not reach the height of His revealed word, because they have been taken up into the order of those who love, not to the loftiness of preaching. The word is indeed revealed to him so that it may be loved, and lest it be preached, it is hidden. But it is well said of him who is raised to the ministry of preaching, \"He did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord been revealed to him,\" so that while he, still unformed, indicates the things he does not yet possess, he openly shows with what good things a preacher ought to be enriched. For he who has not yet received that power of intimate love assuredly does not know the almighty Lord—whom he knows by faith as if by report—by the great presence of His charity. And if he loves ardently but does not yet know how to examine the secrets of the mysteries through the Spirit, he indeed already knows the Lord, but has not yet arrived at the revelation of His word. But concerning the obedient boy it is immediately added: (Verse 9) \"So Samuel went and lay down to sleep.\"<br/><i>— Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 2, Chapter 4</i></p><p><b>Gregory the Dialogist</b>: 11. What is it that Eli commands the boy who was called to return to sleep, except that he shows preachers to prepare themselves through quietness of mind for receiving the gift of interior grace? And it should be noted that it says: \"Return.\" For Samuel returns when the chosen preacher goes back from meditation on sacred Scripture to the secret of interior contemplation. Having returned, therefore, he slept, because he rested in the intention of interior contemplation. In this passage it should also be noted that Samuel is called three times by the Lord, and three times again is commanded by Eli to go back to sleep:</p><p>12. What is this, if not that we have learned, with Truth itself teaching, that there are three degrees of love? \"You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole strength\" (Matt. 22:17). But what do we understand by the heart, if not counsel? What by the mind, if not the will? And what is signified by strength, if not the affection of love? But through counsel, what else do we seek than the certainty of truth? And through the will, what do we desire when loving, if not to ardently long for good things? Through affection, what do we seek if not the full enjoyment of true joy? For we are raised up to the highest things through the degrees of love, when truth is revealed to the counsel of our heart, and true goodness is granted to the will of the mind, and spiritual and true joy is given to the affection of our strength through the infusion of divine grace.</p><p>13. Samuel was therefore called three times by the Lord, because when the order of preachers, still young in the Church, stretched itself toward heavenly pursuits, it sought truth in the reasoning of counsel, goodness in the choice of the will, and true joy in the intention of the affections. He also went three times when called to Eli, because concerning every desire of his he consulted Sacred Scripture with the eagerness of meditation. Likewise three times he heard that he was not being called by him, because through meditation he learned that our Fathers handed down to us the sacred words written for our instruction; nevertheless, they are utterly unable to give us spiritual gifts. What then does it mean to say \"I did not call you,\" except \"I did not give you the desire for spiritual gifts\"? For if Sacred Scripture, or any one of the writers, could confer spiritual gifts, then as many as read the sacred words, as many as heard the expositors of Holy Scripture, would be adorned with spiritual gifts. But in truth, since many read Sacred Scripture and hear preachers expounding, and after the pursuit of reading and the exhortation of preaching, some remain in the old coldness of their vices while others burn through grace with love of holy virtues, it is plainly evident that the order of venerable Fathers shows us the gifts of virtues through the Scriptures they produced, but the love of the virtues they set forth is bestowed upon us by the Creator alone. Therefore James also devoutly admonishes, saying: \"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights\" (James 1:17). Hence Paul says: \"Neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase\" (1 Cor. 3:7). What else then does it mean to say \"I did not call you,\" except to show by plain instruction that the fact that a faithful soul is raised to heavenly desires is produced solely by the infusion of divine grace? Because therefore he is called three times by the Lord and three times ordered by his master to return to sleep, he indicates how those three degrees of love are acquired. For since we have applied counsel to the heart, and counsel indeed desires to find truth, a great sleep is certainly necessary, lest the lover awaken before the sought truth is found. Let the boy therefore return and sleep, so that he who desires to find the light of truth may, through rest, take care not to admit the darkness of errors into himself. Let him also sleep a second time, so that he may devote the service of love to almighty God with his whole mind, that the good things he loves may shine with pure simplicity and not be obscured by any veil of evils. Because this indeed is recognized only by the great subtlety of discernment, the boy, called by the Lord, is ordered by Eli to return and sleep. For if he neglects to sleep for the sake of ascending this degree of love, he does not acquire what he seeks from virtue, because even if we can already love good things by God's inspiration, unless we judge with great quietness of mind what the very good things we desire truly are, we do not discern them rightly. Samuel is therefore sent to sleep three times, because indeed the new order of preachers is admonished to love with all its strength. And since we have referred virtue to the affections, and the affection of the mind is perfected by spiritual joy, Samuel had a great quiet of sleep; and while the order of preachers, made certain through rest, learned spiritual things, it did not receive a foreign joy under the appearance of true joy. For just as with other virtues, so also regarding the progress of contemplation, the mind of the contemplator often becomes vainly elated. Samuel therefore slept again, because surely the order of teachers, unless it carefully examined itself in contemplation, would sometimes think it was rejoicing with true joy when it was rejoicing vainly. And so he slept the first time, because while he directed his mind to knowing the truth, he rejected all erroneous things with great subtlety of counsel. He slept a second time, because when he learned to love the Creator with his whole mind, he arranged within himself with great quiet that he would not mix any reprobate things with the good things he desired. He also slept a third time, so that while he perceived the supreme joy from divine contemplation, he might be able to reject vain gladness with a deliberate mind. And because this is said of Samuel while he was still advancing, it is fittingly added: (Verse 7.) \"Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him.\"</p><p>14. For at that time the order of preachers did not know the Lord with that perfection to which it later advanced. Or perhaps he is said not to know the Lord because he was not yet revealing to his still weak and untrained hearers the deep and profound things that he knew. Hence, Truth says to those wishing to know the day of the Lord's coming — things which He who knew all things did not wish to disclose: \"But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone\" (Mark 13:32). What does it mean that the Son, who knows all things, does not know the day of judgment, except that among all the things He knew, though He knew the day, He did not know it so as to speak of it, but He knew its time and its nature? Hence John the Baptist, who knew the Lord perfectly, sent his disciples to Him as though not knowing, saying: \"Are you He who is to come, or do we look for another?\" (Luke 7:20). For Samuel was preaching as though not knowing the Lord, just as the evangelist Matthew, passing over the divinity of the Redeemer, began from His humanity alone, saying: \"The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham\" (Matt. 1:1ff.). But he assuredly knew the Lord, and the word of the Lord had been revealed to him, just as John, undertaking to expound His divinity in lofty terms, said: \"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God\" (John 1:1). He did not know the Lord when Paul was speaking, saying: \"I became all things to all men, that I might save all\" (1 Cor. 9:22). For he who became weak with the weak, and little with the little, and all things to all, surely was also ignorant with the ignorant. For to use the very word of that ignorance, speaking to the Corinthians he says: \"I judged myself to know nothing among you except Christ Jesus, and Him crucified\" (1 Cor. 2:2). For with the wise he both knew the Lord and had His word revealed. Hence he also says: \"But we, beholding the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are transformed into the same image, as by the Spirit of the Lord\" (2 Cor. 3:18). Hence he likewise speaks, saying: \"We speak wisdom among the perfect, not the wisdom of this world, nor of the rulers of this age, but we speak the wisdom of God, which is hidden in mystery\" (1 Cor. 2:6). Hence he likewise proclaims Him whom he knew as Lord, saying: \"Who, being the brightness of His glory and the figure of His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His power, making purification of sins, sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having been made so much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say: 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You'?\" (Heb. 1:3–5). Therefore, he is said not to know the Lord not through ignorance of knowledge, but under the guise of simplicity. There follows: (Verse 9.) \"Eli therefore understood that the Lord was calling the boy.\"<br/><i>— Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 1</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"ff440b975be562fdcda9cc44fcae2169152defbfa082b34da1eac034f4d2357f","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":1370,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"6bf13c7d010fe663e0d1748a78e9dd306c3c2310c1da4f8d80825a16a54fdaf2","translator":null,"work":null}