Chapter X

.

[41] _Glossa ordinaria, Lib. Regum_, ii. cap. xi. (Migne 113, col. 571, 572).

[42] _Comment. in Matthaeum_ (Migne 107, col. 734).

[43] Migne 114, col. 67.

[44] It was the way of Bede in his commentaries to speak briefly of the literal or historic meaning of the text, and then give the usual symbolical interpretations, paying special attention to the significance of the Old Testament narratives as types of the career of Christ (see _e.g._ the beginning of the Commentary on Exodus, Migne 92, col. 285 _sqq._; and Prologue to the allegorical Commentary on Samuel, Migne 92, col. 501, 502). For example, in the opening of the First Book of Samuel, Elkanah is a type of Christ, and his two wives Peninnah and Hannah represent the Synagogue and the Church. When Samuel is born to Hannah he also is a type of Christ; and Bede says it need not astonish one that Hannah’s spouse and Hannah’s son should both be types of Christ, since the Mediator between God and man is at once the spouse and son of Holy Church: He is her spouse as He aids her with His confidence and hope and love, and her son when by grace He enters the hearts of those who believe and hope and love. In _Samuelam_, cap. iii. (Migne 91, col. 508). Bede’s monastic mind balked at the literal statement that Elkanah had two wives (see the Prologue, Migne 91, col. 499).

[45] _Com. in Exodum_, Praefatio (Migne 108, col. 9).

[46] Migne 112, col. 849-1088. A number of these dictionaries were compiled, the earliest being the _De formulis spiritalis intellegentiae_ of Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons, who died in 450, ed. by Pauly 1884. In the later Middle Ages Alanus de Insulis (_post_, Chapter XXIX .) compiled one.

[47] These distinctions, not commonly observed, are frequently reiterated. Says Hugo of St. Victor (see _post_,