Fathers

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What the Fathers say

1 Samuel 14:4

Western Saints

Gregory the Dialogist

Since the life of the elect is lofty in merits, while the condition of malignant spirits is lowly, what does it mean that there is said to be an ascent by which Jonathan tries to reach the garrison of the Philistines? For concerning these same Philistines as a type of demons, it was said not far above: "Going up, they encamped at Michmash" (1 Kings 13:5). But they are said to be above us insofar as we appear lesser in strength. They are also known to be above us in that which we cannot penetrate through understanding. …

Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 4 ↗

Bede

But there were rocky cliffs on either side of the pass, etc. There are frequent dangers lying in wait from both the right and left for the holy teachers striving to ascend against the wiles of evil spirits, that is, in glory and ignominy, in prosperous and adverse situations; and just as teeth are accustomed to chew and deliver food to the stomach, so unclean spirits, formerly broken by the frame of the blessed, seek how to seduce the simple, corrupt the just, defile the chaste, and cast the fallen into the body of their wickedness.

Commentary on Samuel ↗