Gregory the Great, on 1Sam 3:11

“And the Lord said to Samuel: Behold I do a thing in Israel: and whosoever shall hear it, both his ears shall tingle.”

“But to the one listening, He adds what He desires to make known; for it follows: (Verse 11.) And the Lord said to Samuel: Behold, I am doing a thing in Israel, at which both ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle. And opening up this same word, He says: (Verses 13 and 14.) For I have foretold to him that I would judge his house forever for the iniquity, because he knew that his sons were acting unworthily, and he did not correct them. Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of his house shall not be expiated by sacrifices and offerings forever. 21. For what else is designated by these words than the rejection of the Jews, already explained so many times? For the house of the preacher is the multitude of the people subject to him, which he inhabits as if by possessing it, while he preserves it through the care of his solicitude. The house of Eli, therefore, that is, of the old priesthood, was Judea, which, while he cultivated it through a reprobate manner of life, he made unclean with the stains of his depravity. He indeed saw his sons acting unworthily, because the supreme priesthood saw the priests of a lesser order raging against the Redeemer, and did not rebuke them, nor recalled them by any authority from the shedding of so great blood. Therefore it is promised to him by divine threat that his house would be judged forever. For to judge, in God's case, is to condemn. Therefore it is judged forever, because it is decreed to perish by eternal punishment. And because this happens by God's eternal judgment, He declared that He had affirmed by oath that the iniquity of the house of Eli would not be expiated forever by prayers or offerings. Which we see fulfilled in manifest truth, because the Jewish people perseveres in the obstinacy of its unbelief. For what is the present hardness and blindness of a people once so chosen, if not the oath of divine judgment? For he confined himself under eternal death by a fitting punishment, who did not shrink from forcing eternal life to death in time. But what He asserts by oath, He says He had foretold, because indeed to the subsequent doctors of the holy Church that became known concerning the rejection of Judea which He had previously made manifest to their predecessors, because what is now said through Samuel to Eli is what was said to him above through the man of God. There follows: (Verse 15.) Samuel slept until morning.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.