John Chrysostom, On David and Saul

He refused the marriage, not because of the danger, nor because of the fear of the enemies, but because he considered himself unworthy of the kinship with him, and he says these words to his servants: Is it a light thing in your eyes to make me a son-in-law to the king? But I am a humble man, and not honorable. And yet the matter was a debt, and a reward and recompense for his labors; but he had such a contrite heart, that after so many great achievements, and so brilliant a victory, and an acknowledged promise, he considered himself unworthy to receive the reward owed to him; and he thought these things, when he was about to face danger again. But when he prevailed over his enemies, and took the king's daughter, David played the harp again, and Saul sought to strike him with the spear, and he struck; and David slipped away; and the spear struck the wall. Whom would these things not have provoked to anger, even among those who know well how to be philosophical, and if nothing else, convinced him, providing for his own safety, to kill the one who was unjustly plotting against him? For the act would no longer have been murder, but even so he was then about to transgress the measure of the law. For that law commanded to gouge out an eye for an eye; but this man, if he had even killed him, would have committed one murder for three, three murders that had no reasonable pretext. But nevertheless he attempted none of these things, but rather chose to flee, and to be cast out from his father's house, and to be a wanderer, and to be a fugitive, and in his hardship to provide for his necessary food, than to be the cause of the king's slaughter. For he did not consider how he might avenge himself, but how he might deliver that man from his passion. For this reason he removed himself from the eyes of his enemy, so as to draw off the swelling, and to quell the inflammation, and to soothe the envy. It is better, he says, for me to endure hardship 54.682 and suffer countless terrible things, than for this man to be judged by God for an unjust slaughter. Let us not only hear these things, but also imitate them, and let us endure all things, both to do and to suffer, so that we may deliver our enemies from their hatred towards us; and let us not seek this, whether they hate us justly or unjustly, but only that, how they might no longer be hostile towards us. For the physician considers this, how he might deliver the sick man from his disease, not whether he brought the illness upon himself justly or unjustly. You, therefore, are a physician to the one who has caused you grief; seek one thing only, how you may take away his illness. Which this blessed man also did, choosing poverty instead of wealth, wilderness instead of a homeland, toils and dangers instead of luxury and security, continuous flight instead of staying at home, that he might deliver that man from his hatred and enmity towards him. But not even so did Saul gain anything, but he pursued and went about everywhere seeking the one who had wronged him in no way, but had been wronged in the extreme, and who had done him countless good things in return for these; and without knowing it, he then falls into David's own nets. For there was a cave there, it says, and Saul went in to relieve himself. And David and his men were sitting in the innermost part of the cave. And David's men said to him: Behold the day, as the Lord said: I give your enemy into your hands, and you shall do to him what is pleasing in your eyes. And David arose, and secretly cut off the corner of Saul's robe. And after this David's heart struck him, because he had cut off the corner of the robe, and David said to his men: Far be it from me from the Lord to do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to lay my hand upon him, because he is the Lord's anointed. Have you seen the nets stretched out, and the prey caught, and the hunter standing by, and everyone urging him to plunge the sword into the enemy's breast? Behold for me, then, the philosophy, behold the struggle, the

διεκρούσατο τὸν γάμον, οὐ διὰ τὸν κίνδυνον, οὐδὲ διὰ τὸν φόβον τῶν πολεμίων, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ νομίζειν ἀνάξιον ἑαυτὸν εἶναι τῆς πρὸς ἐκεῖνον συγγενείας, καὶ ταυτὶ πρὸς τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ λέγει τὰ ῥήματα· Εἰ κοῦφόν ἐστιν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ὑμῶν ἐπιγαμβρεῦσαί με τῷ βασιλεῖ; ἐγὼ δὲ ἀνὴρ ταπεινὸς, καὶ οὐκ ἔντιμος. Καὶ μὴν ὀφειλὴ τὸ πρᾶγμα ἦν, καὶ μισθὸς καὶ ἀνταπόδοσις τῶν πόνων· ἀλλ' οὕτως ἦν συντετριμμένην ἔχων τὴν καρδίαν, ὡς μετὰ τοσαῦτα κατορθώματα, καὶ λαμπρὰν οὕτω νίκην, καὶ ὑπόσχεσιν ὡμολογημένην, ἀνάξιον εἶναι νομίζειν τοῦ λαβεῖν τὸν ὀφειλόμενον αὐτῷ μισθόν· καὶ ταῦτα ἐνόμιζε, πάλιν μέλλων κινδυνεύειν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τῶν πολεμίων ἐκράτησε, καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα ἔλαβε τοῦ βασιλέως, πάλιν Ἔψαλλεν ὁ ∆αυῒδ, καὶ ἐζήτει Σαοὺλ τοῦ πατάξαι αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ δόρατι, καὶ ἐπάταξε· καὶ ἐξέκλινεν ὁ ∆αυΐδ· καὶ ἐπάταξε τὸ δόρυ ἐν τῷ τοίχῳ. Τίνα οὐκ ἂν καὶ τῶν σφόδρα φιλοσοφεῖν ἐπισταμένων εἰς θυμὸν ταῦτα ἐξήνεγκε, καὶ εἰ μηδὲν ἕτερον, τῆς οἰκείας προνοοῦντα ἀσφαλείας ἔπεισεν ἀνελεῖν τὸν ἀδίκως ἐπιβουλεύοντα; Οὐδὲ γὰρ φόνος τὸ πρᾶγμα λοιπὸν ἦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ οὕτω τὸ μέτρον τοῦ νόμου τότε ὑπερβαίνειν ἔμελλεν. Ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ ὀφθαλμὸν ἀντὶ ὀφθαλμοῦ ἐξορύττειν ἐκέλευεν· οὗτος δὲ εἰ καὶ ἔσφαξεν, ἀντὶ τριῶν φόνων ἕνα εἰργάζετο, τριῶν φόνων οὐδεμίαν εὔλογον ἐχόντων πρόφασιν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐδὲν τούτων ἐπεχείρησεν, ἀλλ' ᾑρεῖτο φυγεῖν μᾶλλον, καὶ τῆς πατρῴας οἰκίας ἐκπεσεῖν, καὶ πλανήτης εἶναι, καὶ δραπετεύειν, καὶ ταλαιπωρούμενος τὴν ἀναγκαίαν πορίζειν τροφὴν, ἢ τῷ βασιλεῖ γενέσθαι σφαγῆς αἴτιος. Οὐ γὰρ ὅπως ἑαυτὸν ἐκδικήσειεν, ἀλλ' ὅπως ἐκεῖνον ἀπαλλάξειε τοῦ πάθους ἐσκόπει. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑπεξήγαγε τοῦ ἐχθροῦ, ὥστε ὑποσῦραι τὸν ὄγκον, καὶ καταστεῖλαι τὴν φλεγμονὴν, καὶ παραμυθήσασθαι τὴν βασκανίαν. Βέλτιον ἐμὲ, φησὶν, ταλαιπω54.682 ρεῖσθαι καὶ μυρία πάσχειν δεινὰ, ἢ τοῦτον ἀδίκου σφαγῆς παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ κρίνεσθαι. Ταῦτα μὴ μόνον ἀκούωμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μιμώμεθα, καὶ πάντα ὑπομένωμεν καὶ ποιεῖν καὶ πάσχειν, ὥστε ἀπαλλάξαι τοὺς ἐχθροὺς τῆς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀπεχθείας· καὶ μὴ τοῦτο ζητῶμεν, εἰ δικαίως, ἢ ἀδίκως πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀπεχθάνονται, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνο μόνον, ὅπως μηκέτι καθ' ἡμῶν ἐχθραίνοιεν. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ ἰατρὸς τοῦτο σκοπεῖ, ὅπως ἀπαλλάξειε τοῦ νοσήματος τὸν κάμνοντα, οὐκ εἰ δικαίως, ἢ ἀδίκως τὴν ἀῤῥωστίαν ἑαυτῷ ἐπεσπάσατο. Καὶ σὺ τοίνυν ἰατρὸς εἶ τοῦ λελυπηκότος· ἓν ζήτει μόνον, ὅπως αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀῤῥωστίαν ἀνέλῃς. Ὃ καὶ ὁ μακάριος οὗτος ἐποίησε, πενίαν ἀντὶ πλούτου, ἐρημίαν ἀντὶ πατρίδος, πόνους καὶ κινδύνους ἀντὶ τρυφῆς καὶ ἀδείας, φυγὴν διηνεκῆ ἀντὶ τῆς οἴκοι μονῆς ἑλόμενος, ἵνα ἐκεῖνον ἀπαλλάξῃ τῆς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀπεχθείας καὶ ἔχθρας. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν οὐδὲ οὕτως ἐκέρδανεν ὁ Σαοὺλ, ἀλλ' ἐδίωκε καὶ πανταχοῦ περιῄει ζητῶν τὸν ἠδικηκότα μὲν οὐδὲν, ἀδικηθέντα δὲ τὰ ἔσχατα, καὶ μυρία αὐτὸν ἀντὶ τούτων ποιήσαντα ἀγαθά· καὶ οὐκ εἰδὼς, εἰς αὐτὰ λοιπὸν τοῦ ∆αυῒδ ἐμπίπτει τὰ δίκτυα. Ἦν γὰρ ἐκεῖ σπήλαιον, φησὶ, καὶ εἰσῆλθε Σαοὺλ παρασκευάσασθαι. Καὶ ∆αυῒδ καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ τῷ ἐσωτέρῳ ἐκάθηντο. Καὶ εἶπον οἱ ἄνδρες ∆αυῒδ πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἰδοὺ ἡ ἡμέρα, καθὼς εἶπε Κύριος· ∆ίδωμι τὸν ἐχθρόν σου εἰς τὰς χεῖράς σου, καὶ ποιήσεις αὐτῷ τὸ ἀρεστὸν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς σου. Καὶ ἀνέστη ∆αυῒδ, καὶ ἀφεῖλε τὸ πτερύγιον τῆς διπλοΐδος Σαοὺλ λαθραίως. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπάταξε τὸν ∆αυῒδ ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἀφεῖλε τὸ πτερύγιον τῆς διπλοΐδος, καὶ εἶπε ∆αυῒδ πρὸς τοὺς ἄνδρας αὐτοῦ· Μηδαμῶς μοι παρὰ Κυρίου ποιῆσαι τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο τῷ κυρίῳ μου, τῷ χριστῷ Κυρίου, ἐπενεγκεῖν τὴν χεῖρά μου ἐπ' αὐτὸν, ὅτι χριστὸς Κυρίου ἐστίν. Εἶδες τὰ δίκτυα τεταμένα, καὶ τὸ θήραμα ἐναπειλημμένον, καὶ τὸν κυνηγέτην ἑστῶτα, καὶ πάντας ἐγκελευομένους βαπτίσαι τὸ ξίφος εἰς τὸ τοῦ πολεμίου στῆθος; Θέα μοι λοιπὸν τὴν φιλοσοφίαν, θέα τὴν πάλην, τὴν