From: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14
Duties Towards Parents
[12] O son, help your father in his old age,
and do not grieve him as long as he lives;
[13] even if he is lacking in understanding, show forbearance;
in all your strength do not despise him.
[14] For kindness to a father will not be forgotten,
and against your sins it will be credited to you.
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Commentary:
3:1-16:23. Throughout the book each doctrinal passage is followed by a section
to do with practical applications, sapiential thoughts on moral conduct, eulogies
of virtues and sapiential advice on where to seek things that are truly good, etc.
This is the first such section. In it the reader will find an exhortation to prudence
in all its various forms.
3:1-16. Traditional wisdom encourages people to be observant and to reflect on
life in order to discover the best route to happiness. Here it focuses on the rela-
tionship between children and their parents: honoring one’s parents brings bles-
sings.
However, Ben Sirach’s viewpoint is primarily a religious one. “Whoever fears the
Lord will honor his father” (v. 7, RSV note m). The Decalogue laid this down very
clearly: “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded
you; that your day may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you, in the
land ...” (Deut 5:16; cf. Ex 20:12), and these verses are a valuable commentary
that is generous in its praise of those who attend to that commandment. Very
appropriately, the Church uses these verses as the first reading on the feast of
the Holy Family, for God honors Mary and St Joseph by entrusting Jesus to
their care.
Finally (cf. vv. 12-26), the passage dwells on children’s duties to their parents
when they can no longer look after themselves: The fourth commandment re-
minds grown children of their “responsibilities toward their parents”. As much
as they can, they must give them material and moral support in old age and in
times of illness, loneliness or distress. Jesus recalls this duty of gratitude (cf.
Mk 7:10-12)” (”Catechism of the Catholic Church”, 2218).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: 1 Samuel 1:20-22, 24-28
Birth of Samuel (conclusion)
Consecration of Samuel
[24] And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a
three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine; and she brought him to
the house of the LORD at Shiloh; and the child was young. [25] Then they slew
the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. [26] And she said, “Oh, my lord! As
you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, pra-
ying to the LORD. [27] For this child I prayed; and the LORD has granted me my
petition which I made to him. [28] Therefore I have lent him to the LORD; as long
as he lives, he is lent to the LORD.”
And they worshipped the LORD there.
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Commentary:
1:1-7:17. The books of Samuel begin with an account of the birth of the man from
whom they take their name, that is, Samuel, who will become a judge of Israel
and a prophet. The beginning is like the book of Exodus, which also begins with
a birth — that of Moses. In fact, many of Moses’ features apply to Samuel: just
as Moses inaugurated a new and very important stage in the history of the peo-
ple, so Samuel marks the start of the monarchical period, which will forever leave
its imprint on the religious profile of Israel.
The story of Samuel comprises only the first part of 1 Samuel, the first seven
chapters, which also contain the history of the ark. The narrative includes three
distinct accounts arranged in such a way that the first and last have the same
protagonist — the birth, calling and activity of Samuel as a prophet (chaps. 1-3),
the history of the ark (chaps. 4-6), and then Samuel’s activity as a judge (chap.
7). Although these narratives may have been independent originally, in the final
biblical text they form a perfect unity in doctrinal terms, from the point of view of
the setting of events (the shrine at Shiloh), and in the identity of their protago-
nists, Samuel and the priests, the sons of Eli. The shrine at Shiloh, which was
located between Bethel and Shechem and which was a main centre of worship
in the era of the judges (Judg 21:19-21), acquires special importance at this
point: Shiloh will be where the monarchical power begins, and its splendour will
transfer to the temple of Jerusalem when the ark moves there.
The sons of Eli were the last priests of Shiloh. Whereas Samuel was perfectly
faithful to the will of God, the Sons of Eli had gradually corrupted the practices
of their priestly function; with their death, the temple at Shiloh ceases to have
any importance.
The doctrinal thread moving through the three episodes is God’s active interven-
tion in all these important events in the life of the people: to him is due the prodi-
gy of Samuel’s birth (1:1-20) — Samuel, the man chosen to open the way to the
monarchy; it is God who exposes the sin of the sons of Eli (chap. 2) and initiates
the charming dialogue in which Samuel receives his calling (chap. 3). In the epi-
sode of the ark, it is the Lord who punishes his people by taking away the ark,
the sign of his presence (chap. 4); it is he who visits countless misfortunes on
the Philistines who have taken possession of the ark (chap. 5) and it is he who
forces them to return it to Israel, which receives it with delight (chap. 6). Finally,
the Lord makes Samuel a judge over his people (chap. 5), able to exercise his
function at all the shrines of Israel — in Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah (7:15).
From the very start, the book of Samuel is a sort of religious interpretation of his-
tory, in the sense that it puts more emphasis on the meaning of the events it nar-
rates than on their chronological order or their geographical situation. Samuel is
a figure of Christ who will initiate the final stage of salvation through his complete
obedience to the will of God (cf. Phil 2:8).
1:1-28. Samuel’s birth is described with all the elements denoting a miraculous
event, emphasizing divine intervention and the child’s importance. With no hope
of a human solution, a childless woman, humiliated by her husband’s (other) fer-
tile wife, seeks a way out of her anguish by asking God, her only hope, to give
her a son. Her husband loves her, but he cannot understand her (v. 8); Eli, the
priest and head of the shrine at Shiloh, comes to bless her but even he cannot
understand her (vv. 15-17). God is the only one who listens to her, and he ac-
cepts the vow she has made to him (v. 11). Hannah follows in the line of Sarah,
Rachel and the mother of Samson — other women in whom the action of God
could be seen very clearly when he took away the stigma of their barrenness.
But, above all, she is the prototype of the devout woman who perseveres in pra-
yer, convinced that it will be heard. “Why is it necessary to list here all those
who, by praying as they ought to do, won from God the greatest gifts? For it
would be easy for anyone to take an abundant sample of cases based in holy
Scripture. Hannah gave birth to Samuel, who was to be compared with Moses
himself (cf. Jer 15:1), because although she was sterile, she had faith and
prayed to the Lord (1 Sam 1:9ff). [...]
How many favours each of us could tell of if we recalled with gratitude the gifts
we have received in order to praise God for them! Once they have been watered
by the grace of the Holy Spirit through constant prayer, souls that have gone for
a long time without bearing fruit, sterile in the most noble part of their being and
with the signs of death on their souls, think wholesome thoughts and are filled
with the knowledge of the truth” (Origen, “De Oratione”, 13, 2-3). Hannah, who
will bear Samuel in her womb, is a figure of Mary and also “a symbol of the
Church which carries the Lord. Her prayer is not clamorous, rather it is calm
and refined; she prays in the depths of her heart because she knows that God
listens to her there” (St Cyprian, “De Oratione Dominica”, 5).
Samuel comes into the world as a gift from God; he is the one who was “asked
for of the Lord” (cf. v. 20), according to a popular etymology of his name. His
mission on earth will be as exceptional as his birth; Hannah presents him at the
shrine: “as long as he lives he is lent to the Lord” (v. 28). Samuel is brought up
by the priest at the shrine of Shiloh (cf. Judg 18:31; 21:19), that is, within the
ancient institutions of the time of the judges; thus, the new institutions he will
establish do not imply any break with or rejection of what went before.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.