Homilies on 1 Samuel (1 Kingdoms) — Homily 1: On Elkanah, Peninnah, and Hannah
Homily I on 1 Kingdoms / 1 Samuel 1–2 (Elkanah, Peninnah, Hannah, Samuel, Eli, Hophni and Phinehas), surviving only in Rufinus's Latin translation; this is a fresh English translation, none having previously existed. The base text is Migne, Patrologia Graeca 12 (coll. 995–1012), reprinting Delarue's text of Rufinus's Latin. Origen's biblical quotations follow the Septuagint as rendered in Rufinus's Latin, and are translated from his wording (which sometimes differs from the Masoretic and Authorized Version). Released into the public domain.
On Elkanah and Peninnah, and Hannah and Samuel, Eli, and Hophni and Phinehas.
[§1] Not only in that first age did God plant a paradise, but so long as the life of mortals endures, so long as the salvation of men is provided for by divine institutions, there is always coming to pass what the voice of the righteous man prays in the Psalms, when it says: "Bringing them in, plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance." And so we all pray that we may be a planting of God; for if anyone should not be a planting of God, sentence has once for all been pronounced by the Judge of all, our Savior, when he says: "Every planting which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." God therefore plants, and there is a certain husbandry that is properly God's own; and it is necessary that the field which God tills and plants should not have one kind of tree only, but, like the estate of a rich and powerful farmer, should be filled with every sort of growing thing. Now how all things are contained in the field of God, let us consider from the fields of this earth which men cultivate. Does the householder, the farmer, have his field all vines, or all figs, or all apples, or all palms? No, the diligent and industrious tiller has his field planted and filled with all of these together. So then let us understand also concerning that field which God plants, that there is not one single kind of tree, which alone bears sweet fruits, but some sweet, some harsh, yet each of its own usefulness and grace. Do not, therefore, require in us that which you have in Pope Alexander. For we confess that he surpasses us all in the grace of gentleness; of which grace I am not the only one to proclaim it, but you all know it by experience and approve it. And therefore we can indeed be, and we wish to be, plants of the same field, yet not to yield the same flavor. In our fruits, indeed, we confess that we have something of bitterness in the taste, or perhaps something that seems to be more bitter than it is; because the word of reproof does indeed seem bitter while it reproves, but becomes sweet when it amends. Consider too the words of our very Lord and Savior, that they do not all contain blessing, nor do they all declare pardon and indulgence, but there are among his words certain things also that are harsh and grievous. For just as he says, Blessed are they who do this and that, so he says, Woe to them who have done this and that. This too I have searched out in the prophets, and I have found it granted to but few of the prophets never to speak anything bitter or grievous to the peoples, but always sweet and gentle things. Yet it has been observed by our predecessors that in the Psalms it is only to those which are entitled "To the sons of Korah," in these alone, that no bitterness or harshness seems to be introduced, but this has been granted to them as by a divine gift, that the Psalms of their name should always contain glad things. There is therefore also among the prophets themselves much diversity: some announce grievous things, others glad things. But the apostle Paul himself too, who is an imitator of Christ, says that he has a rod—for those, of course, who are in need of discipline—and says that he comes in the spirit of meekness—for those, assuredly, whose life was free of faults. And so there is found in one and the same epistle of his both a bitter and a sweet word. Just as he says to the Corinthians, in the first part of the earlier epistle, that "in all things ye were made rich in him, in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ." And going on a little further, see how his speech is roughened when he says: "It is reported altogether that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even among the gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who hath done this deed might be taken away from your midst." Now he wrote this for the reason that not all to whom his word was directed were worthy of praise, nor did all deserve to be confuted or reproved; and therefore he mingles bitter things with sweet, so that the praise is referred to the best among them, but the reproof to the worst. These things we have said in the preface for this reason, that I know you have been accustomed always to hear the sweet discourses of your most gentle father, but the little tree of our planting has something of harshness in the taste—which nevertheless, if you pray, will become for you a medicine of salvation; for certain medicines too are sweet, but certain are harsh, and some even bitter, and yet each in its own place affords remedies, if they be taken with measure and at the fitting time.
[§2] A narrative has been read to us from the first book of Kingdoms, which seems so difficult that without the grace of divine power its explanation cannot be set forth. It is related there, then: "There was one man of Ramathaim-zophim, of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah." And when it had enumerated his whole ancestry, it says: "And he had, it says, two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the second was Peninnah: and there were born to Peninnah sons, but Hannah had no son. And that man went up out of his city from year to year, to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. There were Eli and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, priests of the Lord. And there came a day on which Elkanah sacrificed, and he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and daughters, portions: but to Hannah he gave one portion. For she had no sons, because the Lord had shut up her womb." Then next the Scripture relates that Hannah was grieved, because, whereas Peninnah had received very many portions along with her sons, she herself had received one portion only; and that, stricken with this sorrow, she entered the temple of the Lord and wept and prayed in silence, so that her voice was not heard; and that Eli the priest, thinking her to be drunken, rebuked her, but she, answering with humility, satisfied the priest, and prayed to the Lord that she might conceive a son, promising that she would consecrate to God whatever she should bear. And when she had received a son according to the promise, it is related that, having weaned him from the milk, she offered him to the Lord. For she could not offer him to the Lord before she had weaned him from the milk. She offers him, then, in a certain prayer marked out with prophetic mysteries. We have abridged, as much as we could, the substance of the reading.
[§3] Let us now see what is also indicated by these things which we have set forth. For perhaps someone who has lately come to the hearing of our law may say to us: The Christian religion professes chastity, to such a degree that, if it be possible, we should not so much as touch a woman at all. For thus says the Apostle: "It is good for a man not to touch a woman." But this righteous man of yours, Elkanah, who is set before us by Scripture as an example, is described as having had two wives at once; of whom she who is named first has no son—that is, Hannah—while Peninnah is said both to have many sons and to have received many portions. But that first one received one portion only, because she herself is alone, and complains of barrenness. Ought we too, then, to be grieved because we have no sons, and ought our virgins to be grieved because they live without sons? These things I have said, taking on the person of those who, not yet fully instructed concerning the things that are read in the ancient Scriptures, are wont to be moved rather scrupulously. But I entreat you all, that since we are attempting to open up the meaning of things so difficult, and to unfold to the ears of the Church the things that are covered with a veil (for in the reading of the Old Testament, as the Apostle says, a veil is laid), you would ask of the Lord by your prayers that he would deign, when we are turned to him, to take away the veil also from this reading which we have in hand, and to unlock more fully for us the things that are covered, so that we too may, with unveiled face, behold in these things that are covered the glory of the Lord.
[§4] "There was, it says, one man of Ramathaim, of Mount Ephraim." It does not escape me that in the first place, in some copies it stands: "There was a certain man"; but in those copies which we have approved as more correct it stands thus: "There was one man." And in this the Hebrews too, who contradict us in other things, agree with us. There was, then, one man. See whether this very thing does not pertain to the praise of the righteous man, that it is said of him: "There was one man." We who are still sinners cannot acquire this title of praise, because each one of us is not one, but is many. For observe the countenance of someone now angry, and again sad, and a little later once more rejoicing, and again troubled, and again gentle; at one time consulting about divine things and the acts of eternal life, but a little after contriving the things that pertain either to avarice or to the glory of the world. You see how he who is thought to be one is not one, but there seem to be as many persons in him as there are moods, because also, according to the Scriptures, "the fool is changed as the moon." Whence the moon too, although it seems to be one, through the changing of its substance is nevertheless always other than itself and always different; and so even in it there stands the fact that the one is many. So then we also, who are still foolish and imperfect, because we are always changing our opinions and always desiring and perceiving different things, cannot be called one. But of the righteous, not only is each singly called one, but even all together are fittingly called one. And why should not all be called one, whose heart and soul are described as being one? They all meditate always one wisdom, they savor one thing, they perceive one thing, they venerate one God, they confess one Lord Jesus Christ, they are filled with one Spirit of God. Whence deservedly they too all are called, not only one thing, but even one man, as the Apostle also indicated when he said: "All indeed run, but one receives the prize." You see plainly that of all the righteous, it is one who receives the prize. For the righteous man who is such truly imitates the one Lord. For, as I judge, that saying too which is spoken through the prophet, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God," designates him as one not merely in number—he who assuredly is to be believed to be above all number—but rather is to be understood to be called one for this reason, that he is never made other than himself, that is, is never changed, is never turned into anything else, as David also testifies of him, saying: "But thou art the selfsame, and thy years shall not fail." But that too looks to this sense which is written: "I am the Lord your God, and I am not changed." Unchangeable, therefore, is God: and for this reason he is called one, that he is not changed. So then the righteous man too, the imitator of God, who has been made to the image of God, is himself also called one when he has come to perfection, because he too, when he stands in the summit of virtue, is not changed, but remains always one. For as long as each one is in wickedness, he is divided through many things and scattered into diverse things; and while he is in the many kinds of wickedness, he cannot be called one. Therefore, since according to this wonderful unity the righteous man is one, indeed since even many righteous are one, for this reason also the holy Apostle exhorts the whole Church, saying: "That ye all say the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you, but that ye be perfected in the same mind and in the same knowledge." Therefore also in the Acts of the Apostles the heart and soul of the believers is said to be one. But if we wish to consider something still more subtle, we can find another unity as well. For example, if I have so mortified my members that the flesh no longer lusts against the spirit, nor the spirit against the flesh; if there be no longer another law in my members which fights against the law of my mind, and leads me captive into the law of sin; if all the things that are within me be perfected in one and the same mind, and be moved by one and the same purpose—then I too shall be one man.
[§5] This praiseworthy man of two wives, then—first of all let us see whence he is: "Of Mount Ephraim," it says. Therefore the righteous man is not of the valleys, nor of the plains, nor of any lower places, nor even of the hills. Of the mountain, it says, he is. Of what mountain? Of Mount Ephraim, which is interpreted 'fruitfulness.' Therefore he is of a fruitful mountain, and his place is fruitful. See also the Scripture, what praise it speaks to the mountains: "God," it says, "is the God of the mountains, and not of the valleys." But the name too of this righteous man is Elkanah, which is interpreted 'possession of God.' It is certain that he of whom it was said that he was one man is a possession of God and not a possession of demons. For him whom demons possess is not one, but many: as the demons themselves also answered concerning him whom they possessed, that Legion is his name. But Elkanah is one, who is a possession of God, who also has for his fatherland Mount Ephraim, the fruitful mountain. This man, then, so praiseworthy, had two wives. The name of the one Hannah, and the name of the second Peninnah. But he had sons of the second, Peninnah: the former wife was barren, she who was also the nobler. Similar things you will find also in Genesis. For divine Scripture is akin to itself. You will find there that the first wife of Abraham, Sarah, was the nobler, but the second, the Egyptian Hagar, was ignoble; and that Abraham became a father of the ignoble one before he did of the noble one. But afterward he becomes a father also of the noble spouse. So then now too Elkanah here, who is a possession of God, first becomes a father of the second wife, since indeed God had shut up the womb of Sarah. But after the many childbearings of Peninnah, the womb of Hannah too is opened by prayers and entreaties, and she too becomes the mother of a son, whom she offered to God. What then these things contain in themselves of the sacrament, let us see. Peninnah is interpreted 'conversion,' but Hannah is interpreted 'grace.' Each one of us, therefore, who wishes to be made a possession of God, let him join to himself these two wives, and celebrate his nuptials with them. Let him join to himself first her who is the nobler and more well-born, grace. This is joined to us first through faith, as the Apostle also says: "By grace ye are saved, through faith." But let him be joined secondly to Peninnah, that is, to conversion: because after the grace of belief there comes the amendment of morals and the conversion of life. But although this is the order of the nuptials, another order of procreation comes about. For Peninnah first bears us sons, because we bring forth the first fruits from conversion, and we procreate the first germinations of righteousness from our acts and works. For the first work of righteousness is to be converted from sins: because unless we first are converted and turn aside from evil, we shall be able neither to be made fathers of Hannah, nor to beget sons from grace. Let us see, then, now the differences of each. Peninnah has sons, but such as do not attend upon God. For the sons of conversion cannot be such as to attend and cleave to God. Nor yet are they empty and wholly alien from the things of God. For they receive portions of the divine sacrifices, and eat of the victims of God. Each one of us, therefore, first is converted from sin, and out of conversion begets works of righteousness. But afterward, Hannah being roused up in us through zeal and emulation of the good, pours forth a prayer to God, that she too may beget sons. What sons, then, does Hannah, who is grace, beget? Such as sit beside God. "For grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." This, then, is the son of grace, who is free for God and for the word of God. But do you wish me to show you a more evident form of this kind of understanding even in the Gospels—a form which in the Law indeed is adumbrated through wives, but in the Gospels is already described as present through sisters? See Martha and Mary: of whom Martha indeed is troubled, and is busy about much ministry, and fulfills the works of conversion, and through these begets, as it were, sons of conversion. But Mary, intent at the feet of the Word of God, is said to have chosen the best part, and through these is understood to procreate, as it were, the germinations of grace. So then now too Hannah begets a son. What son? Samuel, it says, who attends upon God, of whom it is said in the Psalms: "Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name." But Jeremiah too says: "If Moses and Samuel should stand before me, I will not let them go." If, then, so great and such a one is the son of grace, let us too hasten indeed to the nuptials of Hannah, but let us act patiently, so that first sons may be born to us from conversion, so that first we may please in good works, and then afterward may procreate a son also from grace and the gift of the Spirit. And what kind of son? Such as is this son, Samuel, it says, who is interpreted 'There God himself.' You see what kind of sons grace begets? For thus it is written of those who have obtained the grace of the Spirit, the Apostle saying: "But if a prophet enter, or an unlearned, or an ignorant man, into your assembly, he is discerned by all, and the hidden things also of his heart are made manifest: and then, falling on his face, he will worship God, saying that God is indeed in you." This, then, is what Samuel is interpreted, 'There God himself.' For where the grace of the Spirit is, there God himself is said to be. But this kind of son cannot be born to us unless first the sons of Peninnah go before; for unless the works of conversion go before, we do not merit the grace of the Spirit, nor can we from it beget the gift of the Spirit.
[§6] But let us see also to what place Elkanah came together with his wives, "to sacrifice, it says, to the Lord in Shiloh. But there were, it says, Eli, and his two sons Hophni and Phinehas, priests of the Lord." Shiloh is the name of the place in which sacrifices were offered to the Lord, before the temple was built in Jerusalem. In this place, then, which is called Shiloh, victims for sins were offered, and there was made the purgation of sins. Now Shiloh is interpreted 'avulsion' or 'unshoeing,' that is, the loosing of the sandal, and either sense is fittingly applied. For the place in which sins are purged is rightly named avulsion, where the heart of stone is torn away, and a heart of flesh is inserted: or unshoeing, because all of us, until we come to the holy place, are unshod; but when we have arrived at it, we are commanded to be unshod. So it is said to Moses: "Loose the strap of thy sandal. For the place in which thou standest is holy ground." And do we suppose that in these things there was not something of mystery hidden, but that God abhorred the bodily sandals of Moses, and therefore these things were commanded? Or is this rather to be supposed, that when he came out of the land of Egypt, he had sandals of dead skins, and was, as it were, bound about with a certain mortality: but when he began to advance toward virtue and to ascend the mountain of God, and there to minister immortal mysteries, then he says to him that he should cast off the tokens of mortality, which are designated in the sandals of skin? I think that for this reason too the Savior commanded his apostles not to have sandals on their feet, so that their feet, which ran to announce eternal life, should lack every token of mortality: inasmuch as they trod that way which says: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." For no one treads the way of life with a token of mortality. Such, then, is that place likewise where Eli is, a man less praiseworthy. For on account of sin, falling backward, he expired. And let us not suppose that he alone, falling backward, expired, but even now, if anyone falls backward, if anyone turns back from faith and truth, it is necessary that he fall, and that he straightway die. But in Deuteronomy too a threat is aimed at sinners, when it is said: "And an incurable opisthotonos." Now opisthotonos signifies a sickness of the back and of the hinder parts, and assuredly not without cause, when there are so many kinds of human ailment, is this kind of ailment above all ascribed to the sinner. For in Genesis too the wife of Lot, who was turned back, is said to have transgressed the divine precept, by which it had been commanded her that she should not look backward, nor stand in all the region round about; and therefore she was made a little pillar of salt. Our Lord and Savior too in the Gospel: "No one, he says, putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." And moreover, when he had taught concerning many things, he adds this also, saying: "Remember Lot's wife." It is best, therefore, to forget the things that are before, to forget the things that are past, so that the opisthotonos, the incurable ailment, may not seize us, and that we may not fall backward like Eli, and die.
[§7] Now there were there the two sons of Eli. Eli is interpreted 'Arab,' or 'outsider.' For he is an outsider from God who does not maintain discipline, who does not chastise the offending son, does not reprove him that he may amend, who is indulgent to vices, who does not punish faults, as the Apostle also says: "But if ye are without discipline, of which all are made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." This, then, is Eli, who on account of these things is punished by God. But let us see who his sons also are. Hophni, it says, and Phinehas. Now Hophni is interpreted 'excess of conversion.' Of Peninnah we said a little before that she was conversion: but this one, who exceeds, and is made far from amendment, and will not be converted to the Lord, therefore remains impious. But also, whoever he be, whom we see after sin not converted to the Lord, and not doing penance, nor receiving the desert of the future judgment, and of the divine word that commands: "Doth not he who falls add to rise again? Or he who is turned away, shall he not return?"—of him too we rightly say that he is Hophni, and exceeding beyond conversion. But the other son of his is called Phinehas. We know two in the Scriptures called by this name, that Phinehas the righteous, the son of Aaron, and this unrighteous one, the son of Eli. Whence fittingly too we find two interpretations of this name. For Phinehas signifies in our tongue 'obturation of the mouth,' or 'sparing the mouth.' The sinner, therefore, and he who has not firmness, has his mouth obstructed for speaking: but the righteous man spares his mouth. Today too among the priests of the Lord there is found either Phinehas; there is found also Eleazar, who in the Scriptures is the first named bishop, as it is written in Numbers. There are, then, today too among the priests those who spare their mouth, and no evil word by any means proceeds from their mouth. There are priests from whose mouth no scandal, no lie, no guile, nor any falsehood is uttered, and these are deservedly compared to that Phinehas the son of Aaron. But there are also some priests according to that Phinehas the son of Eli, who have their mouth obstructed, whether by the vice of ignorance, or by the conscience of sins. But this is what I entreat, that if there is anyone who sees himself admitted into the priestly order, let him take pains to give heed to instruction and amendment, and let him hasten to be made of that number of the blessed, lest perhaps he be found among those priests who are both reprobate and punished by God.
[§8] But it is now time to recall also a few things concerning the prayer of Hannah, which she poured forth when offering to God Samuel, whom she had weaned from the milk. In which, first indeed, we say this, that the boy who is offered to God could not be offered before he was weaned from the milk. In which it is shown that no one can be consecrated to God who is still nourished with milk, and is a boy in his senses, and is without part in the word of righteousness, nor can he administer the priestly sacraments unless he desists from childish things, and ascends to greater things from those to whom the Apostle says: "Milk I gave you to drink, not meat. For ye were not yet able." Otherwise, according to the letter, what does it seem worth the trouble that a little boy lately weaned from the milk should be offered to God, where the mother will not be present, nor nurses cherish him, nor any supports for the rearing of the boy be at hand? But see that the discourse of Scripture is so apt that it teaches figuratively that everyone who is first converted to the faith is nourished with milk and not with strong food, of whom in another place it is said: "And ye have become such as have need of milk, and not of strong food. For everyone who is nourished with milk is a stranger to the word of righteousness. For he is a little child. But solid food is for the perfect, who, according to their capacity for taking it, have their senses exercised to the discerning of good and evil." Therefore whoever is not yet weaned from the milk, but is a little child, cannot ascend to the temple of the Lord, cannot ascend to the ministries of the priests, nor be present at the sacrifices; but neither does his mother ascend, though she is able to ascend. For Hannah, his mother, is grace, who keeps and guards him and nourishes him, so that at the fitting time she may ascend together with him. And when she has seen that the time is at hand for him, so that now, departing from the milk, he uses solid and strong foods, so that he may be able both to be present with the priests and to eat of the sacrifices of the altar, then she consecrates him to God. See whether in another place in the holy Scriptures you find someone signified as weaned from the milk. I, however, so far as memory suggests for the present, remember Isaac: of whom it is written that Abraham made a great banquet on that day on which Isaac his son was weaned from the milk. Among the men of this age indeed, parents are wont to celebrate the birthday of their sons: but Abraham does not celebrate the birthday of Isaac his son, but he keeps that day as a feast, and reckons it for gladness, and celebrates banquets, when he weans him from the milk, and applies him to strong and solid foods, as though through these Isaac were saying: "When I became a man, I put away the things that were of a child." It is fitting, therefore, that such should be he who is offered to God, that he may dwell among the holy things, who can feed on holy flesh, of which it is written: "Be sanctified, that ye may eat flesh."
[§9] But let us see with what kind of prayer Hannah, that is, grace, consecrates him to God. For we shall observe something new in the very beginnings. For she says: "And Hannah prayed, and said." And nowhere do I find her, as it were, praying to God, or speaking, except through two words only, where she says: "I rejoiced in thy salvation," and the other: "Because there is none beside thee." But the beginning has it thus: "My heart exulted in the Lord." She did not say, My heart exulted in thee. For if it were a prayer, it were consistent to speak thus: My heart exulted in thee. And again in the following verse of hers she says: "My horn was exalted in God." She did not say: My horn was exalted in thee, but in God. "My mouth was enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoiced in thy salvation." One utterance, as I said, contains a prayer: "I rejoiced in thy salvation," and in what follows she does not say that there is none holy but thou, but, "There is none holy as the Lord," and, "There is none beside thee." This utterance does not seem to have kept the order of prayer. But at the very last, in the manner of a long supplication, she introduces even certain agitations, saying: "Do not multiply to speak evil things, neither let evil-speaking come out of your mouth, because the Lord is strong in knowledge." In which she does not even seem to be any longer speaking to the Lord. What, then, shall we say of these things? When I once read in the Apostle that he said: "Pray without ceasing," I asked whether this precept could possibly be fulfilled. For who can never cease from prayer, so that he has no time either for taking food or drink? Since indeed, if these things be done, prayer seems to have to be interrupted. But neither does prayer, commonly understood, grant, according to this precept, leave for sleeping or for doing anything else of human use. Let us see, then, whether perhaps all the acts of him who is engaged in the divine office, and all the deeds or words which he does and speaks according to God, are reckoned toward prayer. For if prayer be understood as only that which we commonly know, then neither will Hannah seem to have prayed in these words, and never can any of the righteous, according to the Apostle's precept, pray without ceasing. But if every act of the righteous man, which he does according to God and according to the divine commandment, is reckoned prayer, then, because the righteous man without ceasing does the things that are righteous, through this the righteous man will pray without ceasing, nor will he ever cease from prayer unless he cease to be righteous. For when we do something unrighteous or offend, it is certain that at that time we also cease from prayer. I think that we are taught this too in the Psalms, when it is said: "The lifting up of my hands is an evening sacrifice." For I do not think that, if anyone should lift up or stretch out his hands to heaven (as is wont to be the posture of those who pray), he has straightway offered a sacrifice to God. But let us see whether perhaps this is what the word of God there indicates, that by the hands works are understood. He lifts up his hands who lifts up his acts from the earth, and whose conversation, while yet he walks on earth, is in the heavens. Lofty acts, therefore, and sublime, which men seeing magnify the heavenly Father, are called the lifting up of the hands, and an evening sacrifice. Was not this too taught through a mystery in the Law, when, as Moses lifted up his hands, Israel was conquering; but when he let them down and cast them downward, Amalek was conquering? And if "all these things happened to them figuratively, but were written for our sakes, upon whom the ends of the ages have come," then we ought to understand that, so long as the servant of God lifts up his acts to God, the people of God conquers: but when he has cast down and let down his hands, that is, his acts, Amalek, the enemy of God, conquers. Or what does it seem? (for I wish to linger a little with those who are unwilling to understand these things spiritually, but according to the letter) is it to be supposed that the omnipotent God was looking to the hands of Moses, and if indeed he saw them lifted up on high, would give the victory to Israel; but if cast down below, to the Amalekites? Is it thus worthy to think concerning the words of the Holy Spirit? Or is this rather to be supposed, that he was prefiguring future mysteries in these things? Which indeed, that they are to be understood of the sacrament of the cross and of the affixing of the Savior's hands, is now commonplace, and has often been discoursed of by many. But since he who lives according to the Gospel is always bidden to be renewed, and the New Testament ought always to be illustrated by new meanings, and we are bidden to sing to the Lord a new song, and our inner man (Paul did not say that it is renewed and stands still, but "is renewed from day to day")—it was fitting that we too should explain, both concerning the manner of prayer, how one is to pray without ceasing, and concerning the lifting up of the hands, which is called an evening sacrifice, not only by the usual and worn-out expositions, but also by somewhat renewed ones.
[§10] Let us see, then, what this reasoning of Hannah's prayer means, which if we shall have learned, perhaps we too shall be able to pray likewise. "My heart, it says, exulted in the Lord." Necessarily she added: "In the Lord." For there is an exultation which is not in the Lord, as that too is said: "Rejoice in the Lord." For a man can rejoice in carnal things, and not in the Lord. For if I rejoice because I have found a visible treasure, that is a joy of the flesh, and not in the Lord. If I rejoice because men praise me, and perhaps not according to desert, this is not to rejoice in the Lord. If I rejoice in things frail and perishing, all these have no praiseworthy joy. But if I rejoice because I have been held worthy to suffer injury for the name of the Lord, that joy is in the Lord, because he himself said concerning these things: "Rejoice and exult, because your reward is great in the heavens." If I rejoice when unjust hatreds are exercised against me, if I rejoice when I am assailed on account of the word of God, if I rejoice when I am chastised in ailments, in persecutions, in straits—if I receive all these things gladly, that joy is in the Lord. And therefore the Scripture teaches us that, casting away earthly joys, frail and perishing, we should exult in the Lord over eternal joys, so that we may deservedly say what Hannah said: "My heart exulted in the Lord." And since, while these things are being said, a certain one of the bystanders has been filled with an unclean spirit, and has cried out so that there was a running-together of the people, let us too say with Hannah, who says: "My heart exulted in the Lord." The contrary spirit could not bear our exultation in the Lord, but wishes to change it, so that, this being taken away, it may introduce sadness, and prevent us from saying, "My heart exulted in the Lord." But let us not be hindered, but rather more and more say: "My heart exulted in the Lord:" and for this very thing, that we see the unclean spirits scourged, let us rejoice, because through these things too many are converted to the Lord, many are amended, many come to the faith; and there is nothing that the Lord does without cause, nor does he permit anything to be done in vain. For since there are many who do not believe the word, nor receive the reason of the teaching, when the demon has leaped upon them, then they are converted, so that where the offense abounded, grace may superabound: and where the malign power has worked, there afterward the grace of the Lord may work the more: because when the grace of the Lord has expelled the malign spirit, it introduces the Holy Spirit: and the soul which had been filled with an unclean spirit is afterward filled with the Holy Spirit. Therefore for all these things let us say: "My heart exulted in the Lord. And my horn was exalted in my God." There are certain horns of the righteous which they use either in doing something or in speaking, as when they say: "In thee we will toss our enemies with the horn." In the Greek it is said keratioumen, which is, We will strike with the horn, or, We will toss. But elsewhere too it is said: "And the horns of the righteous shall be exalted." We ought, therefore, to have those horns, which are conferred on the righteous, for just causes, by the points of the cross of Christ, so that with them we may destroy and cast down the adversary powers from our soul, which being laid low and expelled, a vineyard may be able to be planted in us, because "a vineyard was made to the beloved on a horn, in a fruitful place." Exalted, therefore, is the horn both of this righteous grace, and of every righteous man, in the Lord. "My mouth was enlarged over my enemies." It is written: "Enlarge thy mouth, and I will fill it," and now this righteous woman says: "My mouth was enlarged." If I have been made fit and strong in the word, and mighty in wisdom, so that not with narrow assertions, but with enlarged and abounding ones, I may be able to confute every knowledge that exalts itself against the faith and truth of Christ: or when, reproving the unbelief or perfidy of the Jews, out of the Law and the prophets I shall have shown Christ Jesus, and in all things I shall be able to refute the enemies of the truth: then worthily I too can say: "My mouth was enlarged over my enemies." If Basilides should stir up a contest with me, and I should vehemently crush him: if a disciple of Valentinus should meet me and toss me with questions, and I should come forth victor from this contest: if, these being laid low, Marcion should meet me, and he too should depart overcome: "My mouth was enlarged over my enemies." If, these being confuted, the philosophers should meet me, insulting the simplicity of our faith, and clamoring that we are ignorant and unlearned, and I should turn also to them, and with the powers of true wisdom should scatter the mist of false and painted wisdom, and should destroy not only the wisdom of this world, but even of the princes of this world, then more fully is my mouth enlarged over my enemies. This voice, therefore, is of the holy and perfect man, who by the very facts and by the truth can utter a discourse of this kind resting on solid ground, and say: "My mouth was enlarged over my enemies." We ought, therefore, first to enlarge our mouth, so that God may fill it. But how do we first enlarge the mouth? By the meditation of the divine word, so that we may be able to advance so far as to come from the enlargement of the mouth even to the enlargement of the heart, and to say with the Apostle: "My heart is enlarged toward you, O Corinthians." For out of the breadth of the heart abundance is ministered to the wise mouth.
[§11] "Because I rejoiced in thy salvation." If I have rejoiced in the salvation of God, then my mouth was enlarged over my enemies. "There is none holy as the Lord." If it were written, There is none holy but the Lord, it would follow that we all renounce ourselves from this hope of being made holy: but now she uses a necessary distinction and says: "There is none holy as the Lord"; that is, although there be many holy, yet none is so holy as the Lord. Many, therefore, can become holy, as the commandment of God also says: "Be ye holy, because I too am holy." But however much anyone advances in holiness, however much of purity and sincerity he acquires, a man cannot be so holy as the Lord; because he is the giver of holiness, this one the receiver; he is the fountain of holiness, but this one the drinker of the holy fountain; he is the light of holiness, this one the beholder of the holy light; and therefore "there is none holy as the Lord, and there is none beside thee." What it is that she says, "there is none beside thee," I do not plainly grasp. If she had said, There is no God beside thee, or, There is no creator beside thee, or had added some such thing, nothing would have seemed to need inquiry; but now, because she says, "there is none beside thee," it seems to me that in this place there is designated this: that none of the things that are has this very thing, that they are, naturally. Thou alone art he to whom what thou art was given by no one. For we all, that is, the whole creation, were not before we were created, and therefore what we are is the will of the Creator. And because at one time we were not, it is not accurate if it be said of us that we are, so far as regards that time when we were not. But God alone is he who has always had what he is, and did not receive that he should be a beginning. In short, when Moses wished to learn from God what his name was, God, teaching him, said: "I am he who is, and this is my name." If, then, anything else among the creatures could be called by this name or with this signification, never would the Lord say that this was his name. For he knew that he alone was, but that the creatures had received from him that they should be. For a shadow, in comparison with the body, is not; and smoke, in comparison with fire, is not. So then also the things that are in the heavens and the things that are on earth, visible and invisible, so far as regards the nature of God, are not; so far as regards the will of the Creator, they are that which he who made them willed them to be. Therefore it is said, that "beside thee, there is none."
[§12] "There is none mighty as God, our God." This is similar to that which was said above, that there is none holy as the Lord. For just as there she did not say that there is not anyone holy, but that there is none holy as the Lord, so that she might show that although there are holy ones, yet none is so holy as the Lord is: so also in this place, although there be someone mighty, "there is none, she says, mighty as our God."
[§13] "Do not multiply to speak lofty things." Why did she not say: Do not speak lofty things? Therefore it is permitted me to speak some lofty things, but to multiply lofty and arduous things is not permitted me; for this seems to be designated by that which was said: "Do not multiply to speak lofty things." What, then, is indicated by this, let us consider. It is not permitted to human nature to speak many lofty things, nor to understand many lofty things. For Solomon too says: "Seek not the things too high for thee, and search not the things too strong for thee, but of the things that are commanded thee, these understand." Therefore in this place too it is said "lofty things," not that thou shouldst not seek at all, but that thou shouldst not multiply questions concerning them. For to one who looks to the weakness of the human condition, let it suffice thee to have either inquired or spoken concerning the lofty and arduous things such things as give life to those who inquire or speak. But what are the things in which it is necessary for me to speak lofty things? When I speak of the omnipotence of God, of his invisibility and everlastingness, I speak lofty things. When I pronounce concerning the co-eternity of his Only-begotten and his other mysteries, I speak lofty things. When I discourse of the magnificence of the Holy Spirit, I speak lofty things. In these things only is it granted us to speak lofty things. After these three, speak thou nothing lofty any longer. For all things are lowly and cast down, so far as regards the loftiness of this Trinity. Do not, therefore, multiply to speak lofty things, except concerning the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And that what we say may be more fully manifest, let us use still, if it seems good, examples. For instance, the gentiles introduce many gods. These multiply to speak lofty things. Certain of the heretics, abandoning the creator of the world, and his Son, feign for themselves some other, I know not what, loftier god, and introduce others likewise, whether those whom they call aeons, or those whom they call gods. These too, then, multiply to speak lofty things.
[§14] "Let not great speech come out of your mouth." See what was said by the Apostle: "Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" This is fittingly said of every man. For wretched is the race of mortals: since indeed we are in peril not only in evils, but even in good things. For example, I have seen certain good visions, and they have become to me an occasion of elation. Signs and wonders have been fulfilled through me, and I have become proud in good things. I have kept righteousness, continence, virtue, but in these I am in peril. For when the Devil has done nothing else, for all these he stirs up pride in me, so that afterward I may have an angel of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted and great speech come out of my mouth, that is, lest I speak great things of myself, since indeed the Lord exterminates deceitful lips, and the boastful tongue of those who said: "We will magnify our tongue." Let not, therefore, great speech come out of your mouth, because the Lord is strong in knowledges.
[§15] "And they did not amend, making excuses;" as it was also said there: "Let not thy heart incline to evil words, to make excuses for excuses in sins with men that work iniquity." And in the Proverbs it is said: "The sluggard takes occasions and says: There is a lion in the way, and murderers in the streets." We find, therefore, that sinners are such as accuse everything rather than themselves, and feign for themselves occasions of excuses, when they say: The Devil supplanted me, the woman seduced me, that man furnished me an occasion to sin—when assuredly one ought to remember the precept that says: "Declare thou thy sins first, that thou mayest be justified": for excuses do not amend, neither here nor in the future, if we have done evil. But that too seems necessarily to occur in passing. For it contains a wonderful sense, that it is written: "The righteous man is his own accuser in the beginning of his speech," whereas nevertheless the unrighteous is not his own accuser but of others. Just as the Devil too is indeed an accuser, but an accuser not of himself, but of the brethren. Meanwhile, it is necessary that all be accused; but if indeed I shall be righteous, I do not wait for another to accuse me, but I myself stand forth as my own accuser. Yet I should like to discuss more fully how the righteous man can be his own accuser. It is certain that as long as anyone sins and remains in offenses, he is neither righteous, nor his own accuser. For he does not accuse what he does. But when he has repented of his offenses, then he is made righteous, and stands forth as the accuser not of another, but of himself.
[§16] "The bow of the mighty was made weak." The darts of the malign one, which are called fiery, are sent forth through the bow of the mighty. Now by the mighty are meant the adverse powers, of which it is said, "for behold, the sinners have bent the bow, and in it have prepared vessels of death." And again: "He made his arrows for them that burn." But now too it is said, that "the bow of the mighty was made weak." For if thou be clothed with the arms of God, if thou be fortified with the shield of faith and covered with the helmet of salvation, and with the breastplate of charity, and girded with the sword of the spirit, the bow of the mighty against thee, because of such defenses, will be made weak. For if he have hurled against thee some one fiery dart, it, received on the shield of faith, is straightway extinguished. He has cast another dart also, and it too is repelled by the breastplate of righteousness. He has cast a third also, and it too is cut off by the sword of the spirit. He sends perhaps a fourth also, which likewise is thrown off by the helmet of salvation. And when, through all these, the man of God who is assailed has remained invulnerable, then by the bow of the mighty he will by no means, though so many darts be aimed, be made weak.
[§17] "And the weak were girded with strength." If we see how "God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might confound the wise, and the weak things of the world, that he might confound the strong," thou understandest how the weak were girded with strength. Weak was the gentile people, inasmuch as it was a stranger to the covenant of God: this obtained strength. What strength? "My strength and my praise is the Lord, and he is become to me for salvation." My strength, therefore, is Christ the Lord himself, with whom we were girded, we who were once strangers to the covenant of God, and without God in this world.
[§18] "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.
[§19] "The Lord kills and makes alive." Whom does the Lord kill, and whom does he make alive? Me myself he kills, when he makes me be dead to sin. And me myself he makes alive, when he makes me live to God. I was a sinner, and lived in offenses: he killed me from sins, he made me die to my former life, and he will make me alive, that I may live in his fear, that I may stand in his faith, that I may live no longer to sin, but to God, who raised me from the dead, that I may walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.
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