1 Samuel 2:18

But the divine discourse returns to the narrative of the chosen boy, so that in him we may more attentively consider not what is to be condemned, but what is to be imitated. And so he is said to have been girded with a linen ephod and to have been in the sight of the Lord. What then is shown in the linen ephod except the brightness of continence? With which ephod we are indeed girded when we are restrained on every side toward the splendor of chastity, when no part of soul or flesh is released from the law of strictness through which we might dissolve into the darkness of luxury. Such a minister, therefore, is in the sight of the Lord, because he is not deceived concerning the hoped-for vision of almighty God, whom he serves with such great splendor of his girding.

Now Samuel was ministering before the face of God, etc. Ephod in Hebrew, in Latin it is called a superhumeral or overgarment; the garment of this name, woven from gold, blue, purple, twice-dyed scarlet, and twisted fine linen, is mentioned in the Scripture of Exodus (Exod. XXV) as allowed only for the high priests. However, the same linen ephod is typified as usable by priests, Levites, and others, as the examples of Samuel, who was a Levite, the priests who Saul slew, and David dancing before the ark of the Lord demonstrate. For it could not have been eighty-five high priests of the same age, but priests of a lesser order. Typologically, the Ephod of various colors shows the manifold grace of virtues in a holy man. Linen, on the other hand, since it is produced from the earth, and through long practice reaches its own beauty, signifies the pure mortification of chaste flesh. Therefore, Samuel ministered before the face of the Lord, a boy girded with a linen ephod; Christ ministered to our infirmity humbly in a man, always carrying a body and soul most clean from every filth of sins. For He did not sin, nor did He do evil before the Lord: He who was conceived without iniquities, and His mother bore Him without sins. The Christian people serve Christ, crucifying their flesh with its vices and desires, chastening their body, and bringing it into subjection.

9. A linen garment is known to be finer than a woolen one. And fittingly Samuel is said to have been clothed with a linen ephod, by whom the order of priests chosen from the nations is designated. For in comparison with the life under the Law, the new manner of life of the Gospel is the fineness of linen. For there something carnal was commanded; there everyone is cursed by whom no seeds of offspring are left in Zion. But in the New Testament, because all things are more refined, whoever follows its precepts is adorned as if with a more delicate linen garment: there indeed abstinence from marriage is condemned, here it is honored with wondrous praises; there priests beget carnally, here they bring forth the fruit of spiritual offspring all the more abundantly, inasmuch as they cannot suffer any loss of chastity even through the good of marriage. And fittingly, when Samuel's garment is described, it is reported to have been linen, so that it might openly show the glory of the new priesthood, which would shine with the splendors of a new chastity. But when Samuel is said to be a minister in the sight of the Lord, he is recorded as girded with a linen ephod, because divine services are then well performed when the person performing them is not defiled by the filth of carnal pleasure; and the gift of ministry is then acceptable to God when, through the purity of holy living, the person of the minister is pleasing to God. And because he was advancing in the beginnings of his newness, there follows further: (Verse 19.) And his mother made him a little tunic, which she brought to him when she went up with her husband to offer the solemn sacrifice to the Lord.