1 Samuel 15:27

In many Latin versions we find one of the above verses in the following form: "The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from your hand." But I have quoted from the Greek text: "The Lord has torn the kingdom from Israel from your hand"—the expression "from Israel" being equivalent to "from your hand." In this way, Samuel stood figuratively for the people of Israel which was to lose the kingdom when our Lord Jesus Christ would come to reign—spiritually, not carnally—in the New Testament. The reference to him in the words "and he has given it to your neighbor" is an allusion to the racial relationship, for Christ in the flesh derived from Israel just as did Saul.

Again Saul sinned by disobedience, and again Samuel addressed to him the Lord's word: "Inasmuch, therefore, as you have rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord has also rejected you as king." And again, because of the same sin, when Saul admitted it and sought pardon, beseeching Samuel to go back with him and appease God, the prophet said, "I will not return with you, because you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel." And Samuel turned about to go away; but he grabbed hold of the skirt of his mantle, and it tore. And Samuel said to him, "The Lord has torn the kingdom from Israel from your hand this day and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you, and Israel shall be divided in two. But the triumpher in Israel will not spare and will not be moved to repentance; for he is not a man that he should repent. He threatens and does not persist."Actually, the man to whom these words were spoken, "The Lord shall reject you as king over Israel," and, "The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day," ruled over Israel for forty years—for the same duration as David did—and he heard this pronouncement in the early part of his reign. Accordingly, we are to understand it to mean that no one of Saul's posterity was to rule after him—an admonition to look to David's stock whence was to stem, according to the flesh, Jesus Christ, the Mediator between God and humanity.

And Samuel turned to depart, etc. When the grace of prophecy turned away because of sins to depart from the Jews, they did not grasp the full garment of prophetic reading by which they could warm their souls with faith and adorn them with works; …

29. What are the garments of a teacher, if not to teach the qualities of the subjects adhering to him? Concerning these garments, indeed, a promise is made to the great shepherd through the prophet: 'As I live, says the Lord, you shall clothe yourself with all these as with a garment' (Isa. 49:18). And through the Psalmist it is sung: 'The Lord has reigned, He has put on beauty; the Lord has put on strength' (Ps. 93:1). For He put on beauty, who joined to Himself the splendid minds of the faithful, as it were garments.

Political prosperity is the business of emperors; the condition of the church is the concern of shepherds and teachers. Any other method is piracy, brothers. Saul tore Samuel's cloak, and what was the consequence? God tore the kingdom away from him and gave it to David the meek.… We will obey you, O emperor, in those matters which pertain to our daily lives: payments, taxes, tributes; these are your due, and we will give them to you. But as far as the government of the church is concerned, we have our pastors, and they have preached the word to us; we have those who interpret the ordinances of the church.