Saul also was dishonored because he did not wait for Samuel the high priest. It behooves you, therefore, also to reverence your superiors. LETTER TO THE MAGNESIANS 3.^[1]

Again God gave him the commands about the Amalekites, but he transgressed these too. Then he proceeded to his crimes about David, and thus slipping easily and little by little he did not stop, until he came to the very pit of destruction and cast himself in.

As, therefore, it was not lawful for one of another tribe, that was not a Levite, to offer anything or to approach the altar without the priest, so also do you do nothing without the bishop; for if any one does anything without the bishop, he does it to no purpose. For it will not be esteemed as of any avail to him. For as Saul, when he had offered without Samuel, was told, It will not avail for you, so every person among the laity, doing anything without the priest, labors in vain. CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 2.4.27.^[1]

The kingdom which Saul’s kingdom symbolized has continued and will continue—but not for Saul; for neither was he personally destined to rule forever, nor was even his progeny after him (at least in the sense of his blood successors following one after another) to make good the pledge forever.

Also David was persecuted, as Jesus was persecuted. David was anointed by Samuel to be king instead of Saul who had sinned; and Jesus was anointed by John to be high priest instead of the priests, the ministers of the law. David was persecuted after his anointing; and Jesus was persecuted after his anointing. David reigned first over one tribe only and afterwards over all Israel; and Jesus reigned from the beginning over the few who believed on him, and in the end he will reign over all the world. Samuel anointed David when he was thirty years old; and Jesus when about thirty years old received the imposition of the hand from John. David wedded two daughters of the king; and Jesus wedded two daughters of kings, the congregation of the people and the congregation of the Gentiles. David repaid good to Saul his enemy; and Jesus taught, Pray for your enemies.^[1] David was the heart of God; and Jesus was the Son of God. David received the kingdom of Saul his persecutor; and Jesus received the kingdom of Israel his persecutor. David wept with dirges over Saul his enemy when he died; and Jesus wept over Jerusalem,^[2] his persecutor, which was to be laid waste. David handed over the kingdom to Solomon and was gathered to his people; and Jesus handed over the keys to Simon^[3] and ascended and returned to him who sent him. For David’s sake, sins were forgiven to his posterity; and for Jesus’ sake sins are forgiven to the nations.

For, as a result of the king’s sin [Saul’s offering of the sacrifice], fear had pervaded the whole army. The camp of the enemy, which was lying at no great distance, showed them how real the danger was, and no one had the courage to think of going out to battle: most had absconded to the marshes. For besides the lack of courage on the part of those who felt that God was alienated from them on account of the king’s sin, the army was in the greatest need of iron weapons; so much so that nobody, except Saul and Jonathan his son, is said to have possessed either sword or spear. For the Philistines, as conquerors in the former wars, had deprived the Hebrews of the use of arms, and no one had had the power of forging any weapon of war or even making any implement for rural purposes.

The reason for this is rather obvious. It clearly offers the enemy an opportunity to devastate the land, that is to say, to corrupt the virtues of the church, if there is no teacher and smithy of the spiritual arms which the apostle teaches we must employ against the fiery darts of the evil one. For the wicked tempters take care with all their might to keep us from putting on the armor of God so that the two-edged sword might not appear in our hands and exact vengeance upon them.

Although the day of battle against the hostile powers daily looms, many are content with their rustic life and few set forth properly armed for this battle with a suitable reading or hearing of the Scriptures. Thus our spiritual enemy, aided by our laziness, daily does to us what the physical enemy of Israel is described as having done at that time. . . .

Because Israel did not have arms, it abandoned the country to its enemies. We too grant our enemy an opportunity by our laziness in reading or consulting spiritual teachers, just as the Israelites did by their neglect of making arms or seeking Israelite smiths for them. Consequently, the enemy uses the opportunity to bring in their weapons of godlessness against the other virtues, just as the Philistines invaded the boundaries of the holy land. (The fact that Michmash was besieged refers to humility and subjugation.) But we must not summon the experience of human arts to repel the arms of this most foul enemy, but we must summon the exhortation of the heavenly teachers as the grace of the Holy Spirit aids us.