Bede : And Saul struck the Amalekites, etc. Evila, which is said to mean "suffering" or "labor," signifies the beginning of conversion, which is not initiated without a certain painful and laborious birth of the new man. Sur, which translates to "right," represents the final perfection of correction. This solitude well described in the region of Egypt implies that one preserves the rectitude received, better if always mindful of the pressure of the darkness from which they have been delivered. In Evila, positioned with the sword of the word, he says: Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out (Acts III). But also the Apostle James says: Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to sorrow. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up (James IV). By striking the same ones, he comes to Sur, which is opposite, as Scripture elsewhere states, against the face of Egypt; as the Apostle Paul says: For you were once darkness, but now are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (Ephesians IV). And he himself positioned in Sur did not neglect to observe Egypt from which he had exited, saying: Who am not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God but obtained mercy (I Corinthians XV). He shows himself struck beneficially so that he might live better after the blow, when he says: Nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me (Galatians II). Not only those who are converted but also those who, having received the word of truth, do not care to turn away from depravity, are struck from Evila to Sur: because perpetually allocated to sufferings, they endure the just sentence of divine strictness, which is opposite Egypt; because he will repay them according to the wickedness of their pursuits. And these too, at Samuel's command, Saul strikes, while the same teacher of the Church, according to the admonitions of holy Scripture, corrects the obedient for life and rightly predicts the damnation of the despisers. — Commentary on Samuel Gregory the Dialogist : Havilah is interpreted as "one who gives birth," Shur as "anguish," Egypt as "darkness." But concupiscence gives birth to sin. Rightly, therefore, concupiscence is designated by the name of "one who gives birth." The Prophet also, fearing to fall into the anguish of an impenitent heart, beseeches, saying: "Let not the deep swallow me up, neither let the pit shut its mouth upon me" (Psalms 68:16). The teacher, therefore, strikes Amalek from Havilah to Shur when he suppresses in the hearts of his hearers the vices of conceived delight and the resolve of deliberate choice. He also strikes Shur when he appears to draw to the love of chastity those minds which had purposed to end their life in the stench of lust. For those who, already captured, are bound by the snare of evil habit are in anguish. And it should be noted that Shur is shown to be opposite Egypt, because he who resolves to end his life in lust is even now enclosed in interior darkness, from which he will be led to exterior darkness. But let this book also be closed, so that we may come through silence to the consideration of what follows. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 6, Chapter 1