Gregory the Dialogist : For what else does it signify that Saul first sought to bring the ark near, then commanded the priest to withdraw his hand, except that we ought to arrange obscure matters by consulting, and fulfill with haste those things that become more clearly known? But for the preacher to hear the tumult gradually increasing is to recognize the devotion of converted sinners. It is said to increase gradually, because while the Spirit directs our mind toward good works, he gently leads it toward better things through daily progress. But what does it mean that Saul and all the people who are with him shout, except that they join themselves to the warriors? And they come even to the place of battle. The place of battle is the heart of the one hearing the word of God. It is called the place of battle because the word that is received wars against one's former way of life. For the heavenly things he hears now please him, but old habit rises up and suggests that he despise what he has heard. The fight becomes still fiercer, because what the preacher praises, the malignant spirits disparage by dissuading, and they raise themselves up as if in battle against the saints, while by warring they destroy what is proclaimed by the voice of the latter. What then is it to come to the place of battle, except to arrive through the approach of inquiry at the secrets of the hearer's heart, where one may swiftly find the enemies and powerfully strike them down? For those who do not know how to examine interior things cannot reach the place of battle. Or the place of battle is where the frequent fame of great religion exists. For when countless people hasten there—those who desire both to put off the old life and to put on the new—it is rightly called the place of battle, because daily the army of spiritual virtues fights there against the multitude of vices. There indeed, the greater the battles, the more glorious the victories. There, the more frequent the assaults of the enemies, the more praiseworthy the number of triumphs: where not only is the lofty virtue of the great exalted, but the common valor of all is displayed in a wondrous demonstration of fortitude. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4