Gregory the Dialogist : 8. But because he was speaking to the weak and carnal, he continued by declaring: "If you will not hear the voice of the Lord, but will provoke His word, the hand of the Lord will be upon you and upon your fathers." The hand of the Lord is the severity of divine vengeance. This hand is indeed stretched out over sons and fathers when, by the merit of divine contempt, both reprobate prelates and subjects are punished. This same hand is also stretched out for vengeance when the voice of the Lord is not heard, when His words are provoked: because those who reject the divine commandments as harsh and unbearable are weighed down by an intolerable burden of punishment in the future. For it is the foolish audacity of man that, where he refuses to undergo for a short time those things that seem harsh to him, he thereby subjects himself to harsher things for eternity. For if he were wisely wise, he would persuade himself of this very thing that displeases him: that through the hard and harsh things of this very brief time, he might escape the hard and harsh things of future damnation. Indeed, the hardened hearts of the carnal hear these things quickly, but they cannot easily be softened by salutary counsel. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 2