Yet, the one troubled by those demons, who exhibited power over them via the psaltery, instead struck the wall with a spear, missing David entirely. Ultimately, Saul, driven by malice, searched for David but found nothing on the bier except for the aforementioned “corpse and goat's liver.”
The enigmatic nature of this narrative becomes apparent as it reveals deeper truths: David symbolizes the One who is to come from his lineage. The term "anointed" directly refers to Christ; the psaltery represents a physical human instrument, with the music embodying the divine revelation brought forth by the Incarnate Word. His mission is to vanquish demonic oppression, thus silencing the “tongue of demons” (Psalm 95:5). Saul, harboring demons himself, is rendered impotent once the spirits flee upon hearing the psaltery, resulting in his abortive attack with the spear—this spear, likened to a tree armed with iron, impacts the wall rather than David. Here, the wall symbolizes the earthly temple, and in it, we perceive the corporeal form that represents the tree of the cross equipped with iron. Nevertheless, this David, both anointed and sovereign, is impervious to suffering, for the divine essence is not subject to crucifixion.
Mention of Michal, Saul's descendant and David's consort, should not astound us; rather, it should be viewed in light of the implications. We understand that God did not create death; it was brought into the world through the wicked one, who ended his own life. “By the envy of the devil death entered in” (Prem. 2:24), and “death reigned from Adam” until the law (Rom. 5:14). However, the apostles desire that this reign ceases in us, within our mortal “body” (Rom. 6:12). Thus, one who has overcome death for all dwells in the house of Michal, whose name signifies kingship, indicating that prior to this, sin held dominion over humanity. Yet the one who resides in this abode escapes through the window, which represents a return to the light of Him who has shone upon those “sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Matthew 4:16). The “shadowy sepulcher” of Christ is evident upon the bier, as the angel questions those seeking the Lord in the tomb: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen” (Luke 24:5-6), and here lies “the place where He lay” (Matthew 28:6). Observers found the tomb of the Lord unoccupied, devoid of the body they sought, with only grave clothes remaining. Thus, we comprehend that the resurrection of the Lord is represented by the “burial shrouds” on David's bier, marking the true removal of death from among us.
Moreover, since there is no blood in the pierced wall we liken to a body, to fulfill the vital symbols represented in the sacrament of our redemption, I assert that blood exists and is in the “cheek-burial.” The liver is the sole organ that produces blood; without it, blood cannot exist. Hence, if the blood originates from the liver, and a liver resides in the “flesh-comb,” we find no deficit of blood in that which has become crucial to our redemption from death. The animal from which the liver is taken also serves as the appointed sacrificial offering for sins, and likewise represents the Passover lamb (Ex. 12:5). Moses stated that the same animal should be used for the atonement of the people’s sins (Leviticus 16:7-10), where two goats were presented and selected by lot—one for the Lord and the other cast into the wilderness bearing the sins. Consequently, the liver of this animal becomes a symbol of the blood that wards off death from those afflicted by it, through the resurrection of our Lord, signified by the term “cheek-burial.”
THEOSIS