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Did he not know? Because he was not God, but a man. For it is of God to know all things; but of a prophet, the things shown by God. Besides, the prophet's ignorance revealed the divine decree. For if he had immediately rushed to David, he would have been suspected of having done this out of some prejudice. But since he came to the first, and the second, and the third, and the seven, they knew that it was God who was rejecting these, but choosing him. For if, even when the anointing happened in this way, his brothers laid bare their envy upon seeing David in the battle line, what would they not have suffered if it had not happened in this manner? QUESTION 38. How is this to be understood: "An evil spirit from the Lord troubled Saul?" When the divine Spirit departed, the most evil spirit took its place. From this we are taught to cry out with David: "Take not your holy Spirit from me." Thus, when the apostolic grace left Judas, the devil entered into him. 80.565 QUESTION 39. How was it that when David played the lyre the evil spirit grew quiet? David had received the grace of the divine Spirit. Therefore, when this Spirit was working through David, the evil spirit grew quiet. QUESTION 40. What is the meaning of, "You will take their pledge?" Symmachus translated: "You shall know whatever they need; you shall learn their purpose." QUESTION 41. Why does Saul, when all others refused single combat with Goliath, dissuade David who was eager to do this? He was a youth of fifteen years, or sixteen. For he died at seventy, and he reigned for forty years. Therefore he was thirty when Saul was killed. But it was said before that Saul, having reigned lawfully for two years, was stripped of divine grace. Therefore, he spent all the rest of the time warring with David; but nevertheless David persuades Saul to be confident of victory. For he was compelled to relate how, while shepherding, he choked a lion and a bear that attacked; "And this uncircumcised foreigner," he says, "shall be as one of them; shall I not go and strike him, and take away the reproach from Israel today? For who is this uncircumcised man, that he has reproached the army of the living God?" He who lives with impiety, he says, and is stripped of divine assistance, is no different from wild beasts. But I trust in that assistance. For he added this: "The Lord who delivered me from the mouth of the lion, and from the hand of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this uncircumcised foreigner;" Rushing forth with this faith, he did not miss his hope; but being unarmed he conquered the fully armed man; 80.568 and he who tended sheep conquered the one trained in wars and victories; and he who was small and young, conquered the one who boasted in so great a size. "For Goliath," it says, "saw him and disdained him, for he was a youth; and he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes." For those of the body imitated those of the soul. For they saw sharply, and beheld the invisible one; whence he said: "I come to you in the name of the Lord of Sabaoth, the God of the army of Israel, whom you have reproached today; and the Lord will deliver you today into my hands, and I will kill you, and I will take your head from you; and I will give your limbs, and the limbs of the camp of the foreigners, on this day to the birds of the sky, and to the beasts of the earth; and this whole assembly will know that the Lord does not save with the spear, nor with the sword; for the war is the Lord's, and he will deliver you into our hands." And as he draws up for battle he prophesies, and foretells the knowledge of God for the world; "For all the earth," he says, "will know that there is a God in Israel." And his mouth utters oracles, but his hand proves its valor, and with a stone he slays the foreigner. Since he praises the stone cut from him according to the flesh. "For the stone," he says, "which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner." And using the foreigner's own sword, he cut off his head, prefiguring the victory of the one who sprung from him according to the flesh. For the devil, having nailed our

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ἠγνόησεν; Ὅτι οὐ Θεὸς ἦν, ἀλλ' ἄνθρωπος. Θεοῦ γὰρ τὸ πάντα εἰδέναι· προφήτου δὲ, τὸ τὰ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ δεικνύμενα. Ἄλλως τε καὶ τοῦ προφήτου ἡ ἄγνοια τὴν θείαν ἀπεκάλυπτε ψῆφον. Εἰ γὰρ εὐθὺς ὥρμη σεν ἐπὶ τὸν ∆αβὶδ, ὑποπτεύθη ἂν ἐκ προλήψεώς τινος τοῦτο πεποιηκέναι. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν πρῶτον ἦλθε, καὶ τὸν δεύτερον, καὶ τὸν τρίτον, καὶ τοὺς ἑπτὰ, ἔγνωσαν ὡς ὁ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ τούτους μὲν ἀποκρίνων, ἐκεῖνον δὲ ψηφιζόμενος. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τῆς χειροτονίας οὕτω γεγενημένης, ἐγύμνωσαν οἱ ἀδελφοὶ τὸν φθόνον, ἐν τῇ παρατάξει τὸν ∆αβὶδ θεασάμενοι, τί οὐκ ἂν ἔπαθον, εἰ μὴ τοῦτον ἐγεγόνει τὸν τρόπον· ΕΡΩΤ. ΛΗʹ. Πῶς νοητέον τὸ, "Πνεῦμα πονηρὸν παρὰ Κυρίου ἔπνιγε τὸν Σαούλ;" Τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος ἀποστάντος, χώραν ἔλαβε τὸ παμπόνηρον πνεῦμα. ∆ιδασκόμεθα δὲ ἐντεῦθεν μετὰ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ βοᾷν· "Τὸ Πνεῦμά σου τὸ ἅγιον μὴ ἀντ ανέλῃς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ." Οὕτω τῆς ἀποστολικῆς χάριτος τὸν Ἰούδαν καταλιπούσης, εἰσελήλυθεν εἰς αὐτὸν ὁ διάβολος. 80.565 ΕΡΩΤ. ΛΘʹ. Πῶς τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ψάλλοντος τὸ πονηρὸν ἡσύχαζε πνεῦμα; Τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος ὁ ∆αβὶδ τὴν χάριν ἐδέδεκτο. Τούτου τοίνυν διὰ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ἐνεργοῦντος, τὸ πονη ρὸν ἡσύχαζε πνεῦμα. ΕΡΩΤ. Μʹ. Τί ἐστι τὸ, "Ἐρσουβὰ αὐτῶν λήψῃ;" Ὁ Σύμμαχος ἡρμήνευσεν· Ὅσα χρῄζουσι γνώσῃ· τὸν σκοπὸν αὐτῶν μάθῃς. ΕΡΩΤ. ΜΑʹ. ∆ιατί ὁ Σαοὺλ, πάντων τὴν πρὸς τὸν Γολιὰθ μονομαχίαν παραιτησάντων, ἀποτρέπει τὸν ∆αβὶδ τοῦτο προθυμούμενον δρᾶσαι; Μειράκιον ἦν πεντεκαίδεκα ἐτῶν, ἢ ἑκκαίδεκα. Ἑβδομηκοντούτης μὲν γὰρ ἐτελεύτησε, τεσσαρά κοντα δὲ ἐβασίλευσεν ἔτη. Τοιγάρτοι τριακοντούτης ἦν, ἡνίκα Σαοὺλ ἀνῃρέθη. Προείρηται δὲ, ὡς δύο ἔτη ὁ Σαοὺλ βασιλεύσας ἐννόμως, τῆς θείας χάριτος ἐγυμνώθη. Τὸν ἄλλον τοίνυν ἅπαντα χρό νον πολεμῶν τῷ ∆αβὶδ διετέλεσε· πείθει δ' ὅμως ὁ ∆αβὶδ τὸν Σαοὺλ θαῤῥῆσαι τὴν νίκην. Ἠναγκάσθη γὰρ ἐξειπεῖν, ὅπως ποιμαίνων λέοντα καὶ ἄρκτον ἐπιοῦσαν ἀπέπνιξεν· "Καὶ ἔσται, φησὶν, ὁ ἀλλό φυλος οὗτος ὁ ἀπερίτμητος, ὡς ἓν τούτων· οὐχὶ πορεύσομαι καὶ πατάξω αὐτὸν, καὶ ἀφελῶ σήμερον ὄνειδος ἀπὸ Ἰσραήλ; Ὅτι τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἀπερίτμητος οὗτος, ὅτι ὠνείδισε παράταξιν Θεοῦ ζῶντος;" Οὐδὲν, φησὶν, θηρίων διενήνοχεν ὁ δυσσεβείᾳ συζῶν, καὶ τῆς θείας ἐπικουρίας γεγυμνωμένος. Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐκείνῃ πέποιθα τῇ ῥοπῇ. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἐπήγαγε. "Κύ ριος, ὃς ἐξείλετό με ἐκ στόματος λέοντος, καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς τῆς ἄρκτου, αὐτὸς ἐξελεῖταί με ἐκ χειρὸς τοῦ ἀλλοφύλου τοῦ ἀπεριτμήτου τούτου·" Μετὰ ταύτης ὁρμήσας τῆς πίστεως, οὐ διήμαρτε τῆς ἐλπίδος· ἀλλὰ γυμνὸς ὢν τὸν καθωπλισμένον ἐνί 80.568 κησε· καὶ ὁ πρόβατα νέμων τὸν ἐν πολέμοις καὶ τροπαίοις γεγυμνασμένον· καὶ ὁ σμικρὸς ὢν καὶ νέος, τὸν ἐπὶ τοσούτῳ γαυριῶντα μεγέθει. "Εἶδε γὰρ αὐτὸν, φησὶ, Γολιὰθ, καὶ ἐξουδένωσεν αὐ τὸν, ὅτι ἦν παιδάριον· καὶ αὐτὸς πυῤῥάκης μετὰ κάλλους ὀφθαλμῶν." Ἐμιμοῦντο γὰρ τοὺς τῆς ψυχῆς οἱ τοῦ σώματος. Ὀξὺ γὰρ ἑώρων ἐκεῖνοι, καὶ τὸν ἀόρατον ἐθεώρουν· ὅθεν ἔλεγεν· "Ἐγὼ ἔρχο μαι πρὸς σὲ ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου Σαβαὼθ, Θεοῦ πα ρατάξεως Ἰσραὴλ, ὂν ὠνείδισας σήμερον· καὶ συγκλείσει σε Κύριος σήμερον εἰς τὰς χεῖράς μου, καὶ ἀποκτενῶ σε, καὶ ἀφελῶ τὴν κεφαλήν σου ἀπὸ σοῦ· καὶ δώσω τὰ κῶλά σου, καὶ τὰ κῶλα τῆς παρ εμβολῆς τῶν ἀλλοφύλων, ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ τοῖς θηρίοις τῆς γῆς· καὶ γνώσεται πᾶσα ἡ ἐκκλησία αὕτη, ὅτι οὐκ ἐν δό ρατι, οὐδὲ ἐν μαχαίρᾳ σώζει Κύριος· ὅτι τοῦ Κυρίου ὁ πόλεμος, καὶ παραδώσει ὑμᾶς εἰς χεῖρας ἡμῶν." Προφητεύει δὲ παρατασσόμενος, καὶ προαγορεύει τὴν τῆς οἰκουμένης θεογνωσίαν· "Γνώσεται γὰρ, φησὶ, πᾶσα ἡ γῆ, ὅτι ἐστι Θεὸς ἐν Ἰσραήλ." Καὶ τὸ μὲν στόμα χρησμολογεῖ, ἡ δὲ χεὶρ ἀριστεύει, καὶ λίθῳ τὸν ἀλλόφυλον ἀναιρεῖ. Ἐπειδὴ τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ κατὰ σάρκα τμηθέντα λίθον ὑμνεῖ. "Λίθον γὰρ, φησὶν, ὃν ἀπεδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, οὗτος ἐγενήθη εἰς κεφαλὴν γωνίας." Καὶ τῇ ῥομφαίᾳ τοῦ ἀλλοφύλου χρησάμενος, ἀπέτεμεν αὐτοῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν, τοῦ ἐξ αὐτοῦ κατὰ σάρκα βλαστήσαντος προδιαγράφων τὴν νίκην. Σταυρῷ γὰρ ὁ διάβολος τὸν ἡμέτερον προσηλώσας