you are fortified A by the shield of faith and covered by the helmet of salvation, and girt about with the sword of the spirit, the arrows of the mighty will be weakened by such defenses. For if a fiery arrow is shot against you, by the shield of faith you are immediately shielded against it. He shot another arrow, and it was repelled by the breastplate of justice. He shot a third, and it was cut down by the sword of the spirit. He sends a fourth, which is likewise cast aside by the helmet of salvation. And when, through these things, the man of God has remained invulnerable, then the bow of the mighty is in no way weakened by as many arrows as are aimed at him.
17. "And the weak were B girded with strength." If we see how "God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to confound the strong," you will understand how the weak are girded with strength. The people of the Gentiles were weak, in that they were aliens to the testament of God: yet this people attained strength. What strength? "The Lord is my strength and my praise, and he has become my salvation." Therefore, my strength itself is Christ the Lord, with whom we are girded, though we were once aliens to the testament of God and without God in this world.
18. "They that were full have hired themselves out for bread." C He shows that it is a blameworthy thing to have been full, for "Jacob ate and drank, and was filled, and grew fat, and the beloved kicked." "They that were hungry have abandoned them." He tells those who were full, because they have forsaken the hungry. Famine comes, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. "Therefore, those who were hungry have forsaken [their hunger], while the barren woman has borne seven, and she that was weak in children has become pregnant." For many children of the desert have more than she who has a husband; the "barren one" is our mother, the Church; she has borne seven, the D heptad, so to speak, in which rest is inscribed. "And she who was weak in children has become pregnant." I would like to see how the Jews claim that she is fruitful who was weak in children, and how the barren woman has brought forth seven: but let us disregard their fables, lest perhaps one of us should have within himself *a barren one* who has brought forth seven, and have *a fruitful one* who is weak in children. She was fruitful in lineage who had the fruit of the flesh, such as fornication, impurity, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, contentions, emulation, provocations, dissensions; these were the numerous progeny of our flesh. But we have come to the faith of the cross of Christ, and to the mortification of Jesus; we have begun to carry about in our body the mortification of those members which are upon the earth, and to yield them unto justice and sobriety: then, indeed, the fruitfulness of this shameful generation is excluded, and in this way she who was "weak in children" has become pregnant. But as for how the barren woman brings forth seven, let us see. "The barren woman was in my soul," she did not bring forth the fruits of justice: but now, where through the B faith of Christ I have merited the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of justice and mercy have filled that soul with the fear of the Lord: it is certain that the barren woman has brought forth seven, and she who was weak in children is pregnant.
19. "The Lord kills and makes alive." Whom does the Lord kill, and whom does He make alive? He kills me when He makes me dead to sin. And He makes me alive when He makes me live for God. The sinner is dead, and I was living in sins: He killed me to my sins, made me die to my C former life, and will make me live in His fear, and in His faith, so that I may no longer live to sin, but to Him 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 for ever and ever. Amen.
490 Origen on the First Book of Kings: Chap. XXVIII — On the Ghost-Speaker
The things which have been read are many: and since the discourse must be divided into two parts, we shall speak first of these. That which was read comprises the D follow-up concerning Nabal the Carmelite. Then after this, the history concerning David being hidden by the Ziphites and being slandered by them; and Saul having come, wishing to take David, and having come to watch for a time; and David having come upon Saul and having taken, while he and those guarding him were asleep, the spear and the cruse of water; and after this, having brought a rebuke upon those who were entrusted indeed to guard him, but had fallen asleep. Then the history which followed was the third, that David fled to Achish, son of Maoch, king of Gath, and how much favor David found with him after many brave deeds, concerning whom he said, "I will make you my chief bodyguard." Next to these was the well-known history concerning the ventriloquist (ghost-speaker) and concerning Samuel, that the ventriloquist seemed to have brought up Samuel, and Samuel prophesied to Saul.
There being four passages, 4 of which each does not offer few problems; but for those able to examine them, they provide the means of being occupied for not one, but for many hours of instruction, or rather of several gatherings; and whenever the bishop wishes to propose one of the four, so that we may occupy ourselves with these concerning the ventriloquist, let him speak, and let it be examined. Some indeed, concerning these histories, say that they do not touch us, or rather [that these are not] histories, because we do not arrive at anything in the reading (for to every man, no matter how knowing, to read or to hear things read is useful to all, such as for example the history of Lot and his daughters). If, however, the reading has something useful, God knows, and to whom He might grant the speech to examine those things; but if one seeks it according to history, what profit is there to me from the history concerning Lot and his daughters? Likewise, what profit is there to me from the history concerning Saul and the ventriloquist if it is said simply? B But the divine and true reading touches everyone; for he who has departed from this life, who would want to be under the authority of a demon, so that a ventriloquist might bring up not just any one of the believers, but Samuel the prophet? Concerning whom God says through Jeremiah: "Even if Moses and Samuel stood before my face, I would not listen to them," and concerning whom the prophet says in the hymns: "Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his name; they called upon the Lord, and he heard them; he spoke to them in a pillar of cloud," and elsewhere, "If Moses and Samuel stood and prayed," and the rest. C Is it, therefore, the case that if such a man was under the earth, and the ventriloquist brought him up, a demon has authority over a prophetic soul? What shall we say? These things are written; are they true, or are they not true? To say that they are not true encourages disbelief (let this fall upon the heads of those who say so), but to say they are true provides for us an inquiry and a difficulty. And yet, at any rate, we know some of our brethren who have looked directly at the Scripture and say: "I do not believe the ventriloquist. The ventriloquist says that she has seen Samuel; she lies. Samuel was not brought up; Samuel does not speak."
But just as certain false prophets say, "Thus saith the Lord," and "The Lord hath spoken," B so too does this demon lie, promising to bring up the one requested by Saul: "For whom, I say, shall I bring up? Bring me up Samuel." These things are said by those who maintain that this history is true—that Samuel is brought up from Hades; that Samuel is brought up by the ventriloquist, he who is the preeminent one among the prophets; consecrated to God from his very birth, termed to be in the temple before he was born; before he was weaned from his mother, clothed in an ephod and wearing a mantle, and made a priest of the Lord, while he was yet a boy, unto whom the Lord spoke; Samuel in Hades; Samuel among the dead; the one who succeeded Eli, condemned by Providence for the sins and impieties of his children; Samuel in Hades, whom the Lord heard in the time of the wheat harvest and granted, so that rain might come from heaven? Samuel in Hades, who said these things plainly and candidly: "Whose ox have I taken? Whose ass have I taken? Whom have I defrauded?" He did not take a calf, he did not take a sheep; he judged, he condemned the people, yet he remained poor; he never desired to take anything from such a great and numerous people. Why is Samuel seen in Hades? What Hades follows Samuel? Why are not Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in Hades? Are they in Hades? Why not Moses, and Samuel, was it said: "If Moses and Samuel stood before me, I would not hear them?" Samuel in Hades? Why are not Jeremiah, and Samuel in Hades, unto whom it was said: "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee?" Are Isaiah and Jeremiah in Hades, and all the prophets in Hades? These things at least will be said by one who does not wish to accept the struggle, but who says that Samuel is truly brought up, because it is necessary to be discerning in listening to the Scriptures, and thus the discourse has led us so as to truly move and [concern] whether this is the person of the Holy Spirit, from whom the Scripture is believed to have been written, or the person of another? For the narrative voice everywhere (as those who have been involved in every kind of discourse know) is the voice of the writer; but the writer of these words is believed to be not a man, but the Holy Spirit who moved the men. Therefore, the Holy Spirit says: "And the woman said, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel." Who is it that says: "And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice"? We shall say to that person who has thundered so much at us and said ten thousand things—as if Samuel were not in Hades—that the woman saw Samuel; this is what the narrative voice said, "And the woman cried with a loud voice and said to Saul, Why hast thou deceived me? For thou art Saul." And the king said unto her, "Be not afraid: what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth." And he said unto her, "What is their form?" And she said unto him, "An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle of ephod."
B She declares that she has seen it, and the priestly vestment. I know that he who opposes the word says, "It is no wonder. For Satan himself transforms into an angel of light." It is no great thing if his ministers also transform into ministers of righteousness. But it is what the woman saw of Samuel; yet it is written that Saul knew that it was Samuel, C and he bowed down to the ground and worshipped. Again the Scripture says, "And Samuel said to Saul: Why have you troubled me by bringing me up?" It says, D "Scripture must be believed," and Samuel said, "Why have you troubled me by bringing me up?" Then in response to him Saul says, "The Philistines are warring against me, and God has departed from me, and does not answer me any more; and I have called through the prophets and through dreams, to show me what I should do." Again, the Scripture did not say otherwise, but that Samuel himself said, "And why have you asked me? And the Lord has departed from you." Is he telling the truth or lying in saying these things: "The Lord has departed from you, and has turned against you, and has done to another as He spoke by my hand, and He will tear the kingdom from your hand," and is a demon prophesying concerning the Israelite kingdom? What does the opposing argument say? See how much of a struggle there is in the word of God, having need of hearers capable of hearing sacred words, great and ineffable, concerning the exit, while the former things are still being questioned and the second things are not yet clear, but the word is still being examined. I say that both the history and the examination concerning it are necessary, so that we may see what awaits us after the exit. "He has spoken by my hand, and the Lord will tear the kingdom from your hand and will give it to your neighbor, to David." But a demon cannot know the kingdom of David, which was appointed by the Lord. "Because you did not hear the voice of the Lord, you did not execute the ire of His wrath upon Amalek." Are these not the words of God? Are they not true?
Indeed, Saul did not execute the will of the Lord; rather, he kept the king of Amalek alive. And before he slept, Samuel reproached Saul for this very thing, saying, "And because of this deed, the Lord does this today. And the Lord delivers Israel himself into the hands of aliens." Can the devil predict the Lord's dealings regarding the people of God and the tabernacle of Israel? And does the Lord deliver Israel into the hands of aliens? "And you, Saul, shall tomorrow be destroyed, you and your son with me." B And this the devil can know, namely that the king anointed with prophetic chrism, because the next day Saul was to finish his life, and his sons also with him—"tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me."
These things, then, signify that the words written above are not false; it is Samuel who is the author of them. What then does the ventriloquist do here? What does the ventriloquist have to say about the bringing up of the soul of the just man? He fled from the previous account, saying that—lest he have to struggle with so many other things sought in this place—"It is not Samuel; the demon lies, for the Scripture cannot lie." But the words of Scripture are not spoken from the person of the demon himself, but from the person of the Scripture itself: "And the woman saw Samuel." Saul said what had been spoken by Samuel. C How, then, are the things regarding the ventriloquist explained away as being dissolved in this place? I ask the one who spoke the previous things—"Samuel in Hades? And the rest"—and let him answer what is asked: Who is greater, Samuel or Jesus Christ? Who is greater, the prophets or Jesus Christ? Who is greater, Abraham or Jesus Christ? Here, no one who has once come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, the one proclaimed by the prophets, will dare to say that Christ is not greater than the prophets.
When, therefore, you confess that Jesus Christ is greater, was Christ in Hades, or was He not there? Is it not true, what is said in the Psalms, interpreted by the apostles in their Acts concerning the Savior having descended into Hades? It is written that the text in the fifteenth Psalm refers to Him: "For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you give your holy one to see corruption." D Then, if Jesus Christ was in Hades, are you afraid to say that yes, He also descends there to prophesy and to come to other souls? And after this, if one answers that Christ descended into Hades, I shall say: Christ descended into Hades to do what? To conquer or to be conquered by death? And He descended into those regions not as a servant of those there, but as a Master to wrestle, as we were saying earlier when explaining the twenty-first Psalm: "Many calves have encircled me; fat bulls have surrounded me. They have opened their mouth against me, as a lion ravaging and roaring. My bones have been poured out." We remember, if indeed we remember, the sacred writings; for I remember these things having been spoken concerning the twenty-first Psalm. Therefore, the Savior descended to save; did He descend there having been proclaimed by the prophets or not? But here He was proclaimed by the prophets, while elsewhere He descends not through prophets? And Moses proclaims Him as one about to visit the race of men, so that it is well said by our Lord and Savior: "If you believed Moses, you would believe me." For it is clear that what was happening did not please God; and what did not please Him, He would not have commanded to be done.
If through the zeal of Israel and Judah, Saul attempted to destroy the Gibeonites, with whom Joshua the son of Nun and all the people had made covenants, and because of this seven of Saul's descendants born of his daughters were destroyed, for what reason are the tribes not held at fault, but those who had wronged no one have paid the penalty? For this is unjust. Unless someone were to say that Saul, being king, could not have resisted the Israelites and the tribe of Judah, nor dissolve the covenants of the forefathers with the Gibeonites. I, however, would add to these that it was a dispensation of God for the entire house of Saul to be consumed, as much as was ever suspected of laying claim to the royal dignity, and for this reason to rise up against David and his sons. And the Gibeonites exposed them before the Lord on the mountain, instead of having them killed and buried; they let them lie under the sun. And they were exhausted, it says, and Dan, the son of Joa, of the descendants of the giants, took them.
A ...not as a slave like those others, but as a Master striving, as I said before while explaining the psalm: "Many bulls have encompassed me, fat bulls have beset me round; they opened their mouth against me like a ravening and a roaring lion. My bones were scattered." I remember—yes, I remember—the divine scriptures; for I remember what was said in the Psalm. So has the Savior come down to save? Did he come down having been proclaimed by the prophets? Or not? But he was proclaimed here by the prophets; does he descend elsewhere not through the prophets? And does Moses himself proclaim his sojourn to the human race, so that he is rightly called by our Lord and Savior: "If you believed Moses, you would believe me: for he wrote of me." If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? B And Christ has come into this life, and Christ is proclaimed as coming into this life. If Moses proclaims him here, do you not see that the One who descended is he who preached Christ as migrating? What then? Does Moses do this? Do the other prophets not do this? Does not Samuel? What is absurd if the physician of physicians descends to those who are suffering? What is absurd if the Prince of physicians descends to the sick? They were indeed physicians, and many of them, at that; but my Lord and Savior is the Chief of physicians. For indeed, that internal desire which cannot be healed by others is healed by Himself: that which could be healed by no one among the physicians, Christ Jesus heals. Do not fear. Do not be amazed. Jesus has gone to Hades, and the prophets before him, and they proclaim the coming of Christ. Furthermore, I will add something I know not what from Scripture itself. Samuel ascends; and behold, Saul says he saw a spirit—no, he says he saw a man. He feared when he saw: "Whom do you see?" he says, "gods ascending from the earth." C And perhaps Samuel did not ascend alone then to prophesy to Saul; but it is likely, just as it says here: "With the pious you will show yourself pious, and with the innocent man you will be innocent, and with the elect you will be elect," and there are dwellings there of the holy with the holy, and not of the holy with sinners. And if ever the dwelling of the holy is with sinners, it is for the sake of saving the sinners too. Thus, perhaps, there ascended with Samuel, as he was ascending, holy souls of other prophets, or they were angels who had ascended with their spirits. Perhaps you will ask if they were angels over their spirits? The prophet says: "The angel who speaks in me," and "all things are filled with those needing salvation," and "they are all ministering spirits sent forth for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation." Why do you fear to say that every place needs Jesus Christ? The one who needs Christ needs the prophets; for it is not the case that he needs Christ, but does not need those who prepare for the coming and sojourn of Christ. Also John, than whom no one greater has arisen among those born of women according to the testimony of our Savior who says:
This John, then, who leapt [in the womb] before his birth, who said, "This is he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has ranked before me,'" and "He who sent me said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is the Son of God,'"—do they say that he no longer knew Jesus Christ? For he knew him in the womb. But on account of the excess of his glory, he has done something similar to Peter. What is similar? Peter knew something great about Christ. "Who am I? Who do men say that I am?" And he [replied] this and that. "But who do you say that I am?" "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." For which he is also blessed, because flesh and blood did not reveal it to him, but the Father who is in heaven. B Since, therefore, he heard great things about Christ and conceived great things, he did not accept the divine [counsel] addressed to him: "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and he will be perfected," and, "The Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the chief priests and elders, and be killed, and on the third day rise," he says, "God be merciful to you, Lord!" He knew great things about Christ; he did not wish to accept the more humble things concerning him. Consider John in a similar way. He surely wishes to say that the giant, having taken those who were placed under the sun, lifted them up, already loosened by the solar flame. C [The passage concerning the Gibeonites is obscure, unless perhaps we say that when he was sitting in Gibeah to wage war, Saul routed the Philistines and destroyed the Gibeonites with them. And the story is in the 32nd and 33rd [chapter] of the first [book of] Kings, and in the 37th [chapter], where it says: "And he waged war around all his enemies," and the rest. But what the text says is this: Saul acted unjustly against them, and from his house the vengeance of the injustice against Jesus has come to pass. But those who received their being from him are not treated unjustly when they are gathered with the one in the beginning. For from wherever they had their being, from there they had their non-being, if they were worthy of any good by themselves, later receiving this.] D It is asked how David, having forgiven Shimei, commands Solomon to put him to death—he who was unmindful of wrongs and gentle—but also Joab, who labored with him. Why, then, were these things managed in such a way?
A But to the holy; where, then, is he holy, holy indeed? Do we not also affirm this of Christ? For even if He was at times in the underworld, was He not the Son of God, even if He was in the subterranean places, so that every knee should bow in the name of Jesus, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth? Christ was no different, even if He was below, so that I might put it this way, and even if He acted in the lower place, He was superior in will. In the same way, the prophets and Samuel, although they descend to where the souls in Hades are, are in a lower place indeed, yet not lower in will. I ask, however, have they prophesied things on high? But I can in no way grant such power to a demon, that it prophesies of Samuel and the people of God, and prophesies of the kingdom of David, that he is about to reign. B Those who say such things will know those matters of the truth which apply to the place; they will not be able to demonstrate how a holy one might not also become such for the salvation of those who are ill, for the sake of the place where the ill ones are. Let there be physicians for the places of the soldiers who are suffering, and let them enter where the foul odors of their wounds are; this is what medical philanthropy suggests. Thus, the Word and the prophets have suggested this to the Savior, both to come here and to descend to Hades. And this must also be added to the argument: if Samuel was a prophet, and upon his departure the Holy Spirit departed from him, and prophecy departed from him, then the Apostle does not speak the truth when he says: "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." Therefore, the perfect is after this life. And if Isaiah prophesied anything, he prophesied in part with all boldness; but David is testified to here regarding the perfection of prophecy. Samuel, therefore, did not cast away the prophetic grace. And that he did not cast it away, he used it in such a way as those speaking in tongues, so that one might say: "My spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful"? C And yet, he who speaks with a tongue does not edify the church; for Paul also says that he who prophesies edifies the church, saying in these very words: "But he who prophesies edifies the church." If, therefore, he who prophesies edifies the church, and he had the prophetic grace (for he would not have lost it had he not sinned; for only he loses prophetic grace who, after prophesying, has committed deeds unworthy of the Holy Spirit, so that He abandons him and flees from his governing principle; which is what David feared at that time after his sin, and was saying: "And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me"); if, then, the Holy Spirit prophesies, and Samuel was a prophet, and he who prophesies edifies the church, whom does he edify? Does he prophesy to heaven? To whom? To the angels, who have no need? Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill. D
A For this reason, Abraham is seen by the one being punished, and the rich man, though existing in torments, lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham—even if he saw him from afar, yet he saw him, and Lazarus in his bosom. Therefore, the patriarchs and prophets and all were waiting for the arrival of my Lord Jesus Christ, so that he might open the way. "I am the way, I am the door." The way is toward the tree of life, so that it may come to pass that if you pass through fire, the flame shall not burn you. What kind of fire? He stationed the Cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way of the tree of life. For this reason, those blessed ones waited there, acting according to the dispensation and being unable to reach where the tree of life was, where the paradise of God was, where God is the husbandman, where B the blessed and elect and saints of God are. There is therefore no stumbling block regarding that place, but all things have been written and understood miraculously by those to whom God reveals them. But we have something more, we who have arrived at the consummation of the ages. What is this something more? C If we depart having become beautiful and good, not burdened with the loads of sin, we shall pass through and even toward the land where we wait for Christ, those of us who have fallen asleep before his arrival; we shall pass through, being harmed nothing by the flaming sword. "Each man’s work shall the fire itself test. If any man’s work shall be burned up, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, so as through fire." We shall pass through, then. And we have something more, and we are not able D to depart badly if we have lived well. The ancients could not, neither the patriarchs, nor the prophets. We cannot say, if we live well, that it is better to be dissolved and to be with Christ; therefore, having this something more and much gain at the consummation of the ages, we are the first to receive the denarius. For hear from the parable, that "the one beginning gave the denarius starting from the last." But the first thought that they would receive more. You, therefore, being first, having arrived last, receive your wages from the master of the house in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.