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Saul was tried once more; Samuel came to him, and said: "Thus saith the Lord: I remember all that Amalec hath done to Israel, how he opposed them in the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now therefore go, and smite Amalec, and utterly destroy all that he hath. Spare him not, nor covet anything that is his; but slay both man and woman, child and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.'" Saul went and overthrew the Amalekites, and took prisoner Agag their king. Instead however of destroying everything as he had been commanded, he destroyed only that which was vile and good for nothing, and spared Agag and the best of the spoils. The word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying: "It repenteth Me that I have made Saul king for he hath forsaken Me, and hath not executed My commandments." Samuel was grieved, and cried unto the Lord all that night.

Saul in the meantime had erected for himself a triumphal arch and was holding a high feast, when Samuel came unto him. Saul on seeing him, saluted him, saying: "Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have fulfilled the word of the Lord." Samuel said: "What meaneth then this bleating of the flocks, which soundeth in my ears, and the lowing of the herds, which I hear. And Saul said: "They have brought them from Amalec: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the herds that they might be sacrificed to the Lord thy God, but the rest we have slain." And Samuel said to Saul: "Suffer me, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night." And he said to him: "Speak." And Samuel said: "When thou wast little

in thy own eyes, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee to be king over Israel. And the Lord sent thee on the way, and said: 'Go, and kill the sinners of Amalec, and thou shalt fight against them until thou hast utterly destroyed them.' Why then didst thou not hearken to the voice of the Lord: but hast turned to the prey, and hast done evil in the eyes of the Lord?" And Saul said to Samuel: "Yea, I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord, and have walked in the way by which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalec, and Amalec I have slain. But the people took of the spoils sheep and oxen, as the first-fruits of those things that were slain, to offer sacrifice to the Lord their God in Galgal." And Samuel said: "Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams. Because it is like the sin of witchcraft, to rebel; and like the crime of idolatry, to refuse to obey. Forasmuch therefore as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee from being king.' And Saul said to Samuel: "I have sinned because I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words, fearing the people, and obeying their voice. But now bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord." Samuel at first refused, but at length he turned again after Saul: and Saul adored the Lord. And Samuel said: "Bring hither to me Agag the king of Amalec." And Agag was presented to him very fat,

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and trembling. And Agag said: "Doth bitter death separate in this manner?" And Samuel said: "As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women." And Samuel hewed him in pieces before the Lord in Galgal. And Samuel departed to Ramatha: but Saul went up to his house in Gabaa. And Samuel saw Saul no more till the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, because the Lord repented that he had made him king over Israel.

§ 67. David is anointed king over Israel.

And the Lord said to Samuel: "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, whom I have rejected from reigning over Israel? fill thy horn with oil, and come, that I may send thee to Isai the Bethlehemite for I have provided me a king among his sons. And Samuel said: "How shall I go? for Saul will hear of it, and he will kill me." And the Lord said: "Thou shalt take with thee a calf of the herd, and thou shalt say: 'I am come to sacrifice to the Lord.' And thou shalt call Isai to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou art to do, and thou shalt anoint him whom I shall shew to thee." Then Samuel did as the Lord had said to him. And he came to Bethlehem, and the ancients of the city wondered, and meeting him, they said: "Is thy coming hither peaceable ?" And he said: "It is peaceable: I am come to offer sacrifice to the Lord, be ye sanctified, and come with me to the sacrifice." And he sanctified Isai and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. And when they were come

in, he saw Eliab, and said: "Is the Lord's anointed before Him?" And the Lord said to Samuel: "Look not on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature:

TYPE OF THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION.

because I have rejected him, nor do I judge according to the look of man: for man seeth those things that

EXPLANATION OF THE TYPE OF DAVID ANOINTED.-David's Anointing is a type of the Sacrament of Confirmation, which is given by the holy chrism, in this respect, that David was not anointed in order to come at once into possession of his kingdom, but to pass through a variety of dangers and difficulties, during

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appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart." And Isai called Abinadab, and brought him before Samuel. And he said: "Neither hath the Lord chosen this." And Isai brought Samma, and he said of him: "Neither hath the Lord chosen this." Isai therefore brought his seven sons before Samuel: and Samuel said to Isai: "The Lord hath not chosen any one of these." And Samuel said to Isai: "Are here all thy sons?" He answered: "There remaineth yet a young one, who keepeth the sheep." And Samuel said to Isai: "Send, and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither." He sent therefore and brought him. Now he was ruddy and beautiful to behold, and of a comely face. And the Lord said: "Arise and anoint him, for this is he." 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.

§ 68. David and Goliath.

After this, David was sent for to the court of Saul to play upon the harp before the king, when Saul was troubled with an evil spirit from the Lord. But when a war rose up between Israel and the Philistines, and his three brothers went with the army, David returned home. As the armies stood opposite to each other, with a valley between them, a Philistine of Gath, Goliath

which his faith in the truth and promises of God was tried and put to the test. In the same manner, in the sacrament of Confirmation we receive the holy chrism, as an anointing to make us good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and to enable us to obtain a victory over all the temptations and difficulties which may come in our way.

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