1 Kings 16:13
Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward: and Samuel rose up, and went to Ramatha.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Tulit ergo Samuel cornu olei, et unxit eum in medio fratrum ejus : et directus est spiritus Domini a die illa in David, et deinceps. Surgensque Samuel abiit in Ramatha.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἔλαβεν Σαμουὴλ τὸ κέρας τοῦ ἐλαίου καὶ ἔχρισεν αὐτὸν ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐφήλατο πνεῦμα Κυρίου ἐπὶ Δαυεὶδ ἀπὸ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης καὶ ἐπάνω· καὶ ἀνέστη Σαμουὴλ καὶ ἀπῆλθεν εἰς Ἁρμαθάιμ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיִּקַּ֨ח שְׁמוּאֵ֜ל אֶת קֶ֣רֶן הַשֶּׁ֗מֶן וַיִּמְשַׁ֣ח אֹתוֹ֮ בְּקֶ֣רֶב אֶחָיו֒ וַתִּצְלַ֤ח רֽוּחַ יְהוָה֙ אֶל דָּוִ֔ד מֵהַיּ֥וֹם הַה֖וּא וָמָ֑עְלָה וַיָּ֣קָם שְׁמוּאֵ֔ל וַיֵּ֖לֶךְ הָרָמָֽתָה
Haydock's commentary
Brethren. Some say, without informing him, (Calmet) or them, (Menochius) what the unction meant. If he told the brothers, he would no doubt take the necessary precautions to keep it secret, as the whole family would have been in imminent danger, if the transaction had come to the ears of Saul, ver. 2. Josephus says, that Samuel only informed Isai in private: and David's brothers treated him with no peculiar distinction. Whence it is inferred, that they had not been present when he was anointed. Some witnesses seem, however, to have been requisite, as the title of David to the regal dignity depended on this ceremony, and none were more interested than his own family to assert his pretensions. He now had a right to the kingdom, but not the possession; being like a son expecting his father's estate as his future right, of which, as yet, he cannot dispose. (Calmet)
Came upon, to make him prosper. (Menochius)
Hebrew, "came with prosperity; (Septuagint) impetuosity." God endued him with all those graces which might render him fit to command. (Calmet)
So David prays himself, "with a princely spirit confirm me;" (Psalm l. 14.) or, strengthen me with a perfect spirit. Salien observes, that he did not now receive the spirit of charity, as if he had hitherto been in enmity with God, (chap. xiii. 14.) but he began to advance in virtue with more rapid strides, while Saul became every day more criminal and abandoned to the devil. (Haydock)
David received the spirit of fortitude and of prophecy, of which Saul had formerly had some experience, when he was first elevated to that high dignity, chap. x. He was changed into a new man, and adorned with all that could render a king most glorious. Though he returned to his wonted occupations, the spirit of the Lord enabled him to destroy wild beasts, as in play, (Ecclesiasticus xlvii. 3.) and to compose and sing many of those divine canticles [the Psalms] which we still admire. (Salien, the year of the world 2969.)
Read on
Whether he composed all the Psalms, as St. Chrysostom endeavours to prove, (præf.) we shall examine hereafter. (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Hippolytus The Refutation of All Heresies, Chapter IV
But if any one, he says, is blind from birth, and has never beheld the true light, “which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world,” by us let him recover his sight, and behold, as it were, through some paradise planted with every description of tree, and supplied with abundance of fruits, water coursing its way through all the trees and fruits; and he will see that from one and the same water the olive chooses for itself and draws the oil, and the vine the wine; and (so is it with) the rest of plants, according to each genus . That Man, however, he says, is of no reputation in the world, but of illustrious fame in heaven, being betrayed by those who are ignorant (of his perfections) to those who know him not, being accounted as a drop from a cask. …
St John Chrysostom A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily IV on Acts ii. 1, 2
But let us look over what has been said from the beginning. (Recapitulation.) “And when the day of Pentecost,” etc. “It filled,” he says, “the house.” That wind πνοὴ was a very pool of water. This betokened the copiousness, as the fire did the vehemence. This nowhere happened in the case of the Prophets: for to uninebriated souls such accesses are not attended with much disturbance; but “when they have well drunken,” then indeed it is as here, but with the Prophets it is otherwise. ( Ez. iii. 3 .) The roll of a book is given him, and Ezekiel ate what he was about to utter. “And it became in his mouth,” it is said, “as honey for sweetness.” (And again the hand of God touches the tongue of another Prophet; but here it is the Holy Ghost Himself: ( Jer. i. …
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Heliodorus, Monk
9. Not all bishops are bishops indeed. You consider Peter; mark Judas as well. You notice Stephen; look also on Nicolas, sentenced in the Apocalypse by the Lord’s own lips, whose shameful imaginations gave rise to the heresy of the Nicolaitans. “Let a man examine himself and so let him come.” For it is not ecclesiastical rank that makes a man a Christian. The centurion Cornelius was still a heathen when he was cleansed by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Daniel was but a child when he judged the elders. Amos was stripping mulberry bushes when, in a moment, he was made a prophet. David was only a shepherd when he was chosen to be king. And the least of His disciples was the one whom Jesus loved the most. My brother, sit down in the lower room, that when one less honorable comes you may be bidden to go up higher. …
St Gregory Nazianzen Funeral Oration on the Great S. Basil, Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia
73. Further, to run over the Judges, or the most illustrious of the Judges, there is “Samuel among those that call upon His Name,” who was given to God before his birth, and sanctified immediately after his birth, and the anointer with his horn of kings and priests. But was not Basil as an infant consecrated to God from the womb, and offered with a coat at the altar, and was he not a seer of heavenly things, and anointed of the Lord, and the anointer of those who are perfected by the Spirit? Among the kings, David is celebrated, whose victories and trophies gained from the enemy are on record, but his most characteristic trait was his gentleness, and, before his kingly office, his power with the harp, able to soothe even the evil spirit. …