Bede : If the Lord incites you against me, etc. If, he says, led by the Spirit of God you persecute me, it is necessary that I appease the divine mercy with sacrifices and prayers; but if not by the will of the Lord, but against His will, having been corrupted by the deception of wicked men, you thought it right to rage for a time against the innocent; it is certain that those are held worthy of a curse in the divine examination, who, by wicked persuasions repelling me from His tabernacle and holy land, compel me to live among idolaters, whom I utterly detest. And if this flame of persecution has arisen from men, as I said, it is just in every way that my blood should not be shed by the impious, which the hands of persecutors have thus far unjustly sought. According to the mystical understanding, it is the voice of the members of Christ, that is, of His faithful, who, caught by the persecution of wicked men, are accustomed to diligently examine their hearts. And if for their sins they recognize that punishment of chastisement is inflicted upon them by the Lord through such men, they immediately strive to purge these with sacrifices of due contrition. But if they see themselves unjustly suffering injuries or deaths from the impious, so that they may be called away from the path of truth, they indeed understand those who do these things as deserving eternal curse from the Lord; because they wish to turn the faithful of Christ from the inheritance of the Catholic faith even to the idolatry of gentility or any kind of heresy. However, those who innocently suffer these things rejoice, being saved by the Lord from all death and corruption, and indeed even anticipating receiving the palm of their patience. We can also accept it as said in the person of the apostles to the persecuting Jews: If the Lord incites you to persecute us, His wrath is appeased by our prayers; but if, which is more true, the sons of men, they are accursed by the Lord, who have driven us out preaching divine things, so that we do not dwell in Judea and Jerusalem; they said, Depart; and because you believe Jesus to be God, serve Him rather among the nations, who are accustomed to worship alien gods. — Commentary on Samuel