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The City of God

Chapter 7.--Of the Disruption of the Kingdom of Israel, by Which the Perpetual Division of the Spiritual from the Carnal Israel Was Prefigured.

Again Saul sinned through disobedience, and again Samuel says to him in the word of the Lord, "Because thou hast despised the word of the Lord, the Lord hath despised thee, that thou mayest not be king over Israel." ¹ And again for the same sin, when Saul confessed it, and prayed for pardon, and besought Samuel to return with him to appease the Lord, he said, "I will not return with thee: for thou hast despised the word of the Lord, and the Lord will despise thee that thou mayest not be king over Israel. And Samuel turned his face to go away, and Saul laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and rent it. And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom from Israel out of thine hand this day, and will give it to thy neighbor, who is good above thee, and will divide Israel in twain. And He will not be changed, neither will He repent: for He is not as a man, that He should repent; who threatens and does not persist." ² He to whom it is said, "The Lord will despise thee that thou mayest not be king over Israel," and "The Lord hath rent the kingdom from Israel out of thine hand this day," reigned forty years over Israel,--that is, just as long a time as David himself,--yet heard this in the first period of his reign, that we may understand it was said because none of his race was to reign, and that we may look to the race of David, whence also is sprung, according to the flesh, ³ the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. ⁴

But the Scripture has not what is read in most Latin copies, "The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel out of thine hand this day," but just as we have set it down it is found in the Greek copies, "The Lord hath rent the kingdom from Israel out of thine hand;" that the words "out of thine hand" may be understood to mean "from Israel." Therefore this man figuratively represented the people of Israel, which was to lose the kingdom, Christ Jesus our Lord being about to reign, not carnally, but spiritually. And when it is said of Him, "And will give it to thy neighbor," that is to be referred to the fleshly kinship, for Christ, according to the flesh, was of Israel, whence also Saul sprang. But what is added, "Good above thee," may indeed be understood, "Better than thee," and indeed some have thus translated it; but it is better taken thus, "Good above thee," as meaning that because He is good, therefore He must be above thee, according to that other prophetic saying, "Till I put all Thine enemies under Thy feet." ⁵ And among them is Israel, from whom, as His persecutor, Christ took away the kingdom; although the Israel in whom there was no guile may have been there too, a sort of grain, as it were, of that chaff. For certainly thence came the apostles, thence so many martyrs, of whom Stephen is the first, thence so many churches, which the Apostle Paul names, magnifying God in their conversion.

Of which thing I do not doubt what follows is to be understood, "And will divide Israel in twain," to wit, into Israel pertaining to the bond woman, and Israel pertaining to the free. For these two kinds were at first together, as Abraham still clave to the bond woman, until the barren, made fruitful by the grace of God, cried, "Cast out the bond woman and her son." ⁶ We know, indeed, that on account of the sin of Solomon, in the reign of his son Rehoboam, Israel was divided in two, and continued so, the separate parts having their own kings, until that whole nation was overthrown with a great destruction, and carried away by the Chaldeans. But what was this to Saul, when, if any such thing was threatened, it would be threatened against David himself, whose son Solomon was? Finally, the Hebrew nation is not now divided internally, but is dispersed through the earth indiscriminately, in the fellowship of the same error. But that division with which God threatened the kingdom and people in the person of Saul, who represented them, is shown to be eternal and unchangeable by this which is added, "And He will not be changed, neither will He repent: for He is not as a man, that He should repent; who threatens and does not persist,"--that is, a man threatens and does not persist, but not God, who does not repent like man. For when we read that He repents, a change of circumstance is meant, flowing from the divine immutable foreknowledge. Therefore, when God is said not to repent, it is to be understood that He does not change.

We see that this sentence concerning this division of the people of Israel, divinely uttered in these words, has been altogether irremediable and quite perpetual. For whoever have turned, or are turning, or shall turn thence to Christ, it has been according to the foreknowledge of God, not according to the one and the same nature of the human race. Certainly none of the Israelites, who, cleaving to Christ, have continued in Him, shall ever be among those Israelites who persist in being His enemies even to the end of this life, but shall for ever remain in the separation which is here foretold. For the Old Testament, from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, ⁷ profiteth nothing, unless because it bears witness to the New Testament. Otherwise, however long Moses is read, the veil is put over their heart; but when any one shall turn thence to Christ, the veil shall be taken away. ⁸ For the very desire of those who turn is changed from the old to the new, so that each no longer desires to obtain carnal but spiritual felicity. Wherefore that great prophet Samuel himself, before he had anointed Saul, when he had cried to the Lord for Israel, and He had heard him, and when he had offered a whole burnt-offering, as the aliens were coming to battle against the people of God, and the Lord thundered above them and they were confused, and fell before Israel and were overcome; [then] he took one stone and set it up between the old and new Massephat [Mizpeh], and called its name Ebenezer, which means "the stone of the helper," and said, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." ⁹ Massephat is interpreted "desire." That stone of the helper is the mediation of the Saviour, by which we go from the old Massephat to the new,--that is, from the desire with which carnal happiness was expected in the carnal kingdom to the desire with which the truest spiritual happiness is expected in the kingdom of heaven; and since nothing is better than that, the Lord helpeth us hitherto.

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput VII: De disruptione regni Israelitici, qua praefiguratur perpetua divisio Israelis spiritalis ab Israele carnali.

Rursus peccauit Saul per inoboedientiam, et rursus Samuel in uerbo Domini ait illi: Quia spreuisti uerbum Domini, spreuit te Dominus, ut non sis rex super Israel. Et rursus pro eodem peccato, cum id confiteretur. Saul et ueniam precaretur rogaretque Samuelem, ut reuerteretur cum illo ad placandum Deum: Non reuertar, inquit, tecum; quia spreuisti uerbum Domini, et spernet te Dominus, ne sis rex super Israel. Et conuertit Samuel faciem suam, ut abiret; et tenuit Saul pinnulam diploidis eius et disrupit eam. Et dixit ad eum Samuel: Disrupit Dominus regnum ab Israel de manu tua hodie et dabit proximo tuo bono super te, et diuidetur Israel in duo; et non conuertetur neque paenitebit eum; quoniam non est sicut homo, ut paeniteat eum; ipse minatur, et non permanet. Iste, cui dicitur: Spernet te Dominus, ne sis rex super Israel, et: Disrupit Dominus regnum ab Israel de manu tua hodie, quadraginta regnauit annos super Israel, tanto scilicet spatio temporis, quanto et ipse Dauid, et audiuit hoc primo tempore regni sui; ut intellegamus ideo dictum, quia nullus de stirpe eius fuerat regnaturus, et respiciamus ad stirpem Dauid, unde exortus est secundum carnem mediator Dei et hominum, homo Christus Iesus.

Non autem habet scriptura, quod in plerisque latinis codicibus legitur: Disrupit Dominus regnum Israel de manu tua; sed sicut a nobis positum est inuentum in Graecis: Disrupit Dominus regnum ab Israel de manu tua; ut hoc intellegatur de manu tua, quod est ab Israel. Populi ergo Israel personam figurate gerebat homo iste, qui populus regnum fuerat amissurus, Christo Iesu Domino nostro per nouum testamentum non carnaliter, sed spiritaliter regnaturo. De quo cum dicitur: Et dabit illud proximo tuo, ad carnis cognationem id refertur; ex Israel enim Christus secundum carnem, unde et Saul. Quod uero additum est: bono super te, potest quidem intellegi "meliori te"; nam et quidam sic sunt interpretati; sed melius sic accipitur bono super te, ut, quia ille bonus est, ideo sit super te, iuxta illud aliud propheticum: Donec ponam omnes inimicos tuos sub pedibus tuis; in quibus est et Israel, cui suo persecutori regnum abstulit Christus; quamuis fuerit illic et Israel, in quo dolus non erat, quoddam quasi frumentum illarum palearum; nam utique inde erant apostoli, inde tot martyres, quorum prior Stephanus; inde tot ecclesiae, quas apostolus Paulus commemorat, in conuersione eius magnificantes Deum.

De qua re non dubito intellegendum esse quod sequitur: Et diuidetur Israel in duo; in Israel scilicet inimicum Christo et Israel adhaerentem Christo; in Israel ad ancillam et Israel ad liberam pertinentem. Nam ista duo genera primum simul erant, uelut Abraham adhuc adhaereret ancillae, donec sterilis per Christi gratiam fecundata clamaret: Eice ancillam et filium eius. Propter peccatum quidem Salomonis regnante filio eius Roboam scimus Israel in duo fuisse diuisum atque ita perseuerasse, habentibus singulis partibus reges suos, donec illa gens tota a Chaldaeis esset ingenti uastatione subuersa atque translata. Sed hoc quid ad Saulem, cum, si tale aliquid comminandum esset, ipsi Dauid fuerit potius comminandum, cuius erat filius Salomon? Postremo nunc inter se gens Hebraea diuisa non est, sed indifferenter in eiusdem erroris societate dispersa per terras. Diuisio uero illa, quam Deus sub persona Saulis, illius regni et populi figuram gerentis, eidem regno populoque minatus est, aeterna atque inmutabilis significata est per hoc, quod a diunctum est: Et non conuertetur neque paenitebit eum; quoniam non est sicut homo, ut paeniteat eum; ipse minatur, et non permanet; id est, homo minatur, et non permanet; non autem Deus, quem non paenitet, sicut hominem. Vbi enim legitur, quod paeniteat eum, mutatio rerum significatur, inmutabili praescientia manente diuina. Vbi ergo non paenitere dicitur, non mutare intellegitur.

Prorsus insolubilem uidemus per haec uerba prolatam diuinitus fuisse sententiam de ista diuisione populi Israel et omnino perpetuam. Quicumque enim ad Christum transierunt uel transeunt uel transibunt inde, non erant inde secundum Dei praescientiam, non secundum generis humani unam eandemque naturam. Prorsus quicumque ex Israelitis adhaerentes Christo perseuerant in illo, numquam erunt cum eis Israelitis, qui eius inimici usque in finem uitae huius esse persistunt; sed in diuisione, quae hic praenuntiata est, perpetuo permanebunt. Nihil enim prodest testamentum uetus de monte Sina in seruitutem generans, nisi quia testimonium perhibet testamento nouo. Alioquin, quamdiu legitur Moyses, uelamen super corda eorum positum est; cum autem inde quisque transierit ad Christum, auferetur uelamen. Transeuntium quippe intentio ipsa mutatur de uetere ad nouum, ut iam non quisque intendat accipere carnalem, sed spiritalem felicitatem. Propter quod ipse magnus propheta Samuel, antequam unxisset regem Saul, quando exclamauit ad Dominum pro Israel, et exaudiuit eum, et, cum offerret holocaustosim, accedentibus alienigenis ad pugnam contra populum Dei tonuit Dominus super eos, et confusi sunt et offenderunt coram Israel atque superati sunt: adsumpsit lapidem unum et statuit illum inter Massephat nouam et ueterem, et uocauit nomen eius Abennezer; quod est Latine lapis adiutoris, et dixit: Vsque hoc adiuuit nos Dominus. Massephat interpretatur intentio. Lapis ille adiutoris medietas est Saluatoris, per quem transeundum est a Massephat uetere ad nouam, id est ab intentione, qua expectabatur in carnali regno beatitudo falsa carnalis, ad intentionem, qua per nouum testamentum expectatur in regno caelorum beatitudo uerissima spiritalis; qua quoniam nihil est melius, huc usque adiuuat Deus.