Bede : And the Philistines were humbled, etc. When they came to that assisting stone, to which the Psalmist according to the Hebrew truth alone sings: "Be to me a strong rock and a fortified house, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress" (Psalms 30), our enemies will be humbled, nor will they again invade the borders of our strength, when they see themselves defeated with us glorified before the Lord. For as long as we toil in this world, the wars of temptations will never be lacking. — Commentary on Samuel Bede : And the hand of the Lord was upon the Philistines, etc. The grace of Christ was made to crush the enemies of the primitive Church wherever the light of the Gospel shone in Judea, nor is it repulsed by disbelief and persecution. And the souls deceived by unclean teachers or spirits, are rendered and brought back to the society of the Church, from those who remained sterile of good works, to those who not only remained fruitless for themselves but also tried to oppress those who were fruitful. For Accaron turns into sterility, Geth into a winepress. And indeed, the understanding of sterility is clear, because every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire (Matthew III). The winepress, however, signifies persecutors of the good, as the Psalms inscribed for the winepresses, and the action of the winepresses themselves demonstrate. For the wood cut from the root, stripped of leaf and bark, and utterly deprived of any hope of bearing fruit, is compacted solely for the pressing of grapes or olives. While pressed by weight, with the husks crushed and skins emptied, the most joyous must and the richest streams of oil flow; the precious liquid indeed is stored in the cellars, but the waste shells are thrown out. Indeed, the winepresses remain empty of fruit, only eagerly awaiting when they begin to press something, until even themselves, worn by long use, are consigned to flames to be burned. Thus, surely, thus the torturers of the Church not only lack the greenery of faith, the leaves of confession, and the good fruits of operation; but also do not cease to weary the fruitful souls engaged in works of mercy and love, and other virtues' pursuits, up to the dissolution of the flesh. For they have nothing more to do after these things, when the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it, and they, always being adversaries to the good, are forever consigned to the flames of Gehenna at the appointed time. Yet because some from such individuals, through Christ's mercy, reclaim the salvation they lost in the first man, it is rightly said that Israel's cities, from Accaron to Geth, that is, from sterility to the winepress, are restored. Indeed, the Accaronite was Sergius Paulus the proconsul, the Accaronite was Dionysius the Areopagite. The Gethite was that young man aspiring to threaten and kill Christ's disciples. Finally, the most noble cluster, crowned by rank, name, and passion, to be offered to Christ in the first fruits of the Church, was stripped of the burden of the flesh by the pressure of stones. But while they came from paganism to faith, and he from being a persecutor even to the grace of apostleship, indeed the cities—sterility and the winepress—when captured by the enemy, are reclaimed by the Church. — Commentary on Samuel Gregory the Dialogist : 23. These things indeed so express the deeds of each of the elect, that they indicate both the battle array and the joys of recompense of the holy catholic Church. For blessed Paul showed this victory of the universal Church as yet to come after the glory of our resurrection; who, as though present at the future incorruption, taunted death, saying: "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1 Cor. 15:54-55). He also saw the Philistines humbled, because, making mention of the apostate angels, he kindled the elect to love of their future dignity, saying: "Do you not know that we shall judge angels?" (1 Cor. 6:3). For then indeed the Philistines are humbled, when the demons are cast into the fires of eternal flame prepared for them from the foundation of the world. And they no longer attempt to come into the borders of Israel, because they do not go out to tempt the hearts of the elect. But what are the borders of Israel, if not the heavens? And how shall the evil spirits come into the borders of Israel, who are so condemned in the depths of hell that they never rise up from the submersion of their punishments? Because, therefore, they are cast down by eternal oppression, it is fittingly added: "And the hand of the Lord was upon the Philistines all the days of Samuel." 24. For what are the days of the good teacher, if not those springlike rays of shining eternity? These are fittingly said to belong to Samuel: because even though they are common to all the elect, by a certain special grace they shine for the joys of preachers. Or certainly they belong to preachers, because they shine more especially in the minds of those by whose preaching they are now made known to the holy Church. Moreover, the hand of the Lord is said to have been upon the Philistines all the days of Samuel, because the divine power always oppresses evil spirits, which in the glory of eternal brightness never ceases to gladden the elect as well. Then indeed the losses of the angels are repaired, when whatever had been taken away from blessedness out of the order of created spirits by their pride is made up from elect men. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 5