Because we relate the perfection of the ark to the perfection of the contemplative life, the ark of God remained in Kiriath-jearim, since the learned minds of those who contemplate achieve with delight the gift of their very learning, namely, the brightness of above revealed to them. For twenty years the ark of God remained there, for the elect souls are transported to the pinnacle of innermost exaltation. Thus, they have the number ten, which stands for the perfection of knowledge, but then the number twenty for the delight in things above. For the multiplication of days can be related to the increase of spiritual virtues. Since this is the reason why the days were multiplied and it was expressly stated and asserted that it was the twentieth year: the more richly the elect minds of those who contemplate grazed on the thoughts above, the more fully they would be adorned with the glories of the spiritual virtues.

Now what does it mean when it is said that all Israel lay at rest after the Lord in the twentieth year, except that the height of the perfection of the elect does not consist in the might of a good work but in the virtue of contemplation? To rest after the Lord is to cling to the imitation of our Redeemer with invincible love. And, if someone contemplates those inexpressible joys of our citizenship above but does not learn to love mightily—for often he can be diverted to love of the world—he by no means rests for the Lord. Thus, when the ark remained in Kiriath-jearim and the days were prolonged, all of Israel rested after the Lord. Surely, while the knowledge of the mind of the elect was raised up into the experience of divine delight, and while the lights of the spiritual virtues gathered beneath the light of restored glory, Israel was able to hold on all the more tenaciously to the imitation of our Lord, to the degree that they, illuminated by the immense lights of virtue, were not able to perceive those shadows by which they were divided from the light. Thus Israel is said to be well off as they rested after the Lord, for they saw God. The higher the contemplative individual was carried into divine matters, the further they departed from human affairs. They held those mightily in check and so by no means could they be conquered.

However, Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, ‘If you are returning to the Lord with your whole heart, remove the foreign gods from your midst.’ This passage and whatever follows up to the statement that he built there an altar to the Lord shows in a figurative manner how the Lord taught in Judea, performed miracles, suffered, rose and ascended into heaven and sent the grace of the Holy Spirit, thus making not only the Jews but also the Gentiles partakers of his mercy. Therefore, after Eli had died and Samuel had assumed the priesthood, Samuel told the whole house of Israel to remove the foreign gods from their midst.

He said, And prepare your hearts for the Lord and serve him alone, and he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines. The Lord, the author of a new priesthood which is manifested in the flesh according to the order of Melchi-zedek, teaches the whole house of Israel, that is, the church made up of those desiring to see God, to remove from themselves the traditions of the Pharisees. He teaches them not only to prepare works (a thing that the law also taught) but also to prepare their very hearts for serving the Lord alone. He said, You have heard that it was said by the fathers . . . I, however say to you,^[1] for in this way they would be able to be freed from all their enemies in the life to come.

God alone is substantially and essentially God. When I say alone, I set forth the holy and uncreated essence and substance of God. For the word alone is used in the case of any individual and generally of human nature. In the instance of Paul, that he alone was caught into the third heaven and heard unspeakable words that are not lawful for a man to utter,^[1] and of human nature, as when David says, as for man his days are as grass,^[2] not meaning any particular man but human nature generally; for every human is short-lived and mortal. So we understand these words to be said of the nature, who alone has immortality^[3] and to God only wise,^[4] and none is good save one, that is God,^[5] for here one means the same as alone. . . . In Scripture one and only are not predicated of God to mark distinction from the Son and the Holy Spirit but to exclude the unreal gods falsely so called. As for instance, The Lord alone did lead them and there was no strange god with them,^[6] and then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth and served the Lord only.

At one time the Hebrew people and all the Israelite tribes, because of the offensiveness of their sins, were held under the heavy domination of the Philistines. In order to be able to overcome their enemies, as the sacred history shows, they restored strength of soul and body with a self-imposed fast. They had judged rightly that they deserved that hard and wretched subjection because of neglect of God’s commandments and the corruption of their lives, and that in vain did they fight with weapons unless they had first made war on their sins. By abstaining, therefore, from food and drink they imposed the penalty of severe punishment on themselves, and to conquer their enemies, they first conquered the enticement of gluttony in themselves. In this way it happened that the fierce adversaries and harsh masters yielded to those who were fasting whom they had overcome when they had been full.

We too, dearly beloved, situated as we are among many struggles and battles, if we wish to overcome our enemies in the same way, we may be healed by the same practice. Indeed, our situation is the same as theirs, seeing that they were attacked by bodily adversaries, we by spiritual enemies. If our spiritual enemies may be overcome by the correction of our lives bestowed on us through the grace of God, even the force of our bodily enemies will also give way to us. They will be weakened by our correction, since not their merits but our own sins made them onerous to us.

Therefore, dearly beloved, in order that we may be able to overcome our enemies, let us seek divine help by observing the commands of heaven, knowing that in no other way can we prevail over our foes except by prevailing over ourselves as well.

That stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.^[1] That is the stone that is called Ebenezer in the book of Kings [Samuel]. That stone is Christ. The name Ebenezer, moreover, means the stone of help. HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 46 (PS 133).^[2]

Samuel cried out to the Lord on behalf of Israel, and God heard him; and when he offered a whole burnt offering, and the foreigners approached to do battle with the people of God, the Lord thundered over them, and they were thrown into confusion and panic as they faced Israel, and so they were overcome. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between the old and the new Mizpah and gave it the name Ebenezer, which means the stone of the helper. And he said, So far the Lord has helped us.^[3]

Now Mizpah means aim. That stone of the helper is the mediation of the Savior, through whom we must pass over from the old Mizpah to the new, that is, from the aim which looked for material bliss—a false bliss, in a material kingdom—to the aim which looks for spiritual bliss, the really true bliss, in the kingdom of heaven. And since there is nothing better than this, God helps us so far.