Synopsis of the Chapter
The Hebrews ask the aged Samuel for a king on account of the wickedness of his sons. This request displeased God and Samuel; wherefore Samuel by God's command recounts and foretells to them the rights and burdens of the king, verse 11. But when the Hebrews persist in their request for a king, verse 19, God commands that he comply and appoint a king for them.
Verse 1: Samuel appoints his sons as judges ¶
1. AND IT CAME TO PASS WHEN SAMUEL WAS OLD, HE APPOINTED HIS SONS JUDGES OVER ISRAEL. — The Hebrews say Samuel was 52 years old, and then died; but they err. For he was old, and after this he lived many more years with Saul. Therefore Abulensis, Salianus, and others more correctly think Samuel was at this time about 60 years old, and after this first created Saul king, and lived with him for another sixteen years, and judged Israel, and died at the age of 77.
He appointed his sons judges — as his vicars, says Abulensis, yet so that Samuel himself remained the supreme judge and leader of the people. He appointed his sons as judges not from carnal affection, but because he had educated them excellently and judged them more worthy than others, says Dionysius; and perhaps at first they were such, but afterwards, grown proud in their new dignity and corrupted by bribes, they became wicked. For honors change character, but rarely for the better.
Verse 2: Judges in Beersheba ¶
2. JUDGES IN BEERSHEBA. — This was the southern border of Judea, which Samuel entrusted to his sons to govern; the northern part he reserved for himself to govern; so Abulensis.
Verse 3: The sons took bribes ¶
3. THE SONS OF SAMUEL TOOK BRIBES AND PERVERTED JUDGMENT. — For bribes blind the eyes even of the wise, as I have often shown elsewhere. See here how the sons of Samuel degenerated from their father's integrity, just as the sons of Eli; namely: "The sons of heroes are a plague." Morally, learn from this not to glory in children, because they are often degenerate. For thus Abraham begat Ishmael; Isaac, Esau; Moses, Gershom; Eli, Hophni and Phinehas; Samuel, the wicked Joel and Abijah; David, Absalom; Solomon, Rehoboam.
Verse 5: Appoint for us a king ¶
5. APPOINT FOR US A KING TO JUDGE US, AS ALL THE NATIONS HAVE. — The cause therefore urging the Hebrews to seek a king was: first, the old age of Samuel and the wickedness of his sons; second, that they might have the splendor of a kingdom and kings, which they saw among neighboring nations; third, because they hoped to be better defended by a king against the Philistines, says Josephus; fourth, because they feared the king of the Ammonites, who was preparing a serious war against Israel, as is clear from ch. XII, verse 12.
Verse 6: The word displeased Samuel ¶
6. THE WORD DISPLEASED SAMUEL — both because the wickedness of his sons, which he was hearing and had hitherto not known, displeased him; and because he loved justice and aristocracy, says Josephus. For although monarchy or kingship is the best form of government, as Aristotle testifies in the Politics, yet the Hebrews sinned here in seeking a king. First, because they sought one without consulting, indeed against the will of God. Second, because God wished to be the proper king and immediate Lord of the Hebrews; whence Josephus, book II Against Apion, significantly says that God had established in Israel not so much a Monarchy as a Theocracy, that is, a Divine Rule. Third, because by this request they were rejecting Samuel their judge. Fourth, because they sought a king such as the Gentiles had, whose royal power was close to tyranny.
Wherefore the Hebrews themselves, recognizing this, later said, ch. XII, 19: "We have added to all our sins, that we asked for a king."
Verse 7: They have not rejected you, but Me ¶
7. THEY HAVE NOT REJECTED YOU, BUT ME, LEST I SHOULD REIGN OVER THEM — as I have reigned until now, governing them so attentively, carefully, and precisely, and caring for them, as if I were their proper and immediate king.
Morally, learn here that he who despises a Prelate, despises God, and he who honors him, honors God. Hear St. Ignatius, letter 6 to the Magnesians: "It is fitting that you also obey the Bishop, and oppose him in nothing. For it is terrible to contradict such a one. For it is not this visible man whom one deceives; but one strives to deceive the Invisible One, who cannot be deceived by anyone."
Allegorically Angelomus: Just as the Jews here rejected Samuel their Judge, so afterwards they rejected Christ, the antitype of Samuel, their king and Messiah, crying before Pilate: "We have no king but Caesar."
Verse 9: Declare to them the rights of the king ¶
9. DECLARE TO THEM THE RIGHTS OF THE KING. — God, in order to dissuade and deter the Hebrews from their demand for a king, enumerates the heavy burdens they will bear under him. Hear St. Gregory: "The rights of men are set before those who despise the rights of God: and to those who have spurned the mild and wholesome counsels of the Divinity, the harsh and unbearable burdens of human servitude are proclaimed."
Verse 11: The right of the king ¶
11. THIS WILL BE THE RIGHT OF THE KING, etc., HE WILL TAKE YOUR SONS, etc. — Many others more correctly think this right is not just, but unjustly usurped by kings. For it is unjust that a king should snatch the sons and daughters of his subjects from their parents at will, and make them his slaves. Therefore God does not sanction or approve this right, but only predicts it. Hear St. Augustine, book IV of the City of God, ch. IV: "Take away justice, he says, and what are kingdoms but great robberies? For what are robberies themselves but small kingdoms?"
Moreover, the true and just right of a king who will rule over the faithful God describes through Samuel below in ch. X, 25, and through Moses, Deuteronomy XVII, where He decrees what the king owes to God, to the people, and to himself.
Verse 13: Perfumers, cooks, and bakers ¶
13. YOUR DAUGHTERS ALSO HE WILL MAKE HIS PERFUMERS AND COOKS AND BAKERS. — Excellently Clement of Alexandria, book II of the Pedagogue, ch. VIII: "It is fitting that men especially among us should not smell of unguents, but of the probity of life. Let the woman breathe Christ, who is the royal anointing, not perfumes."
More forcefully St. Chrysostom, Sermon 1 On Lazarus: "You ought not to smell of unguent, but to breathe virtue. Nothing is more unclean than the soul whenever the body has such fragrance."
Verse 19: The people refused to listen ¶
19. BUT THE PEOPLE REFUSED TO LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF SAMUEL. — Here is a new sin of the people, namely obstinacy; for which they later paid the penalty, says St. Gregory: "It was great rashness to seek a king against the will of God; and of great hardness not to be able to be overcome by the counsels of the Prophet."
21. HE SPOKE THEM IN THE EARS OF THE LORD. — Hear St. Gregory: "We speak in their ears with whom we have the grace of great familiarity: but holy men, because they are joined to almighty God in the bond of great love, also speak in His ears."
Verse 22: Appoint a king over them ¶
22. LISTEN TO THEIR VOICE, AND APPOINT A KING OVER THEM. — But not such a one as they themselves seek, but such as I described in Deuteronomy, who would rule his faithful subjects politically, not despotically. For God so prunes the unjust demand of the Hebrews for a king, that what is just in it He grants, and what is unjust He denies.
St. Gregory asks why God grants what is badly asked for. I answer: because He is angry with the one asking, and wishes to punish and chastise him by his very request, as by a just and fitting retribution. So also St. Augustine on Psalm LI: "The king was not chosen by the Lord to endure, but given according to the hard and wicked heart of the people for their correction."
AND APPOINT A KING OVER THEM. — From this it is clear that Saul was elected and raised to be king not by the Republic nor by the nobles, but immediately by God through Samuel; and therefore he received royal power not from the Republic but immediately from God, just as the Pope, although elected by the Cardinals, yet receives pontifical power not from them or from the Church, but immediately from Christ.