Bede : And Abiathar applied the ephod to David, etc. Those things which His saints do by the inspiration of the Lord, He Himself is said to do according to the manner of the Scriptures, since He aids them to do it; just as it is also said of the Holy Spirit, who has power and operation together with the Father and the Son: For He intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered, because He makes those whom He has filled to groan and to pray to the Lord for their salvation. Therefore David, having applied the priestly stole to himself, consults the Lord whether he ought to pursue the robbers; while the pastors of the Church, enlightened inwardly by the grace of their Creator, through the reading of the Holy Scripture, with which teachers must always be clothed in the ministry of the word, seek the counsel of the divine will as to how they should act towards erring ones. The Lord responds that the robbers must be pursued by David, and that the plunder should be recovered from them, just as in the same reading He has taught that heretics must be pursued by the teachers of the Church through debate, overcome by overpowering them, and the plunder should be recovered from them by calling back to the Church those souls previously seduced by their deceit. — Commentary on Samuel