And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.
All Commentaries on 1 Samuel 13:23 Go To 1 Samuel 13
Bede
AD 735
Although the day of battle against the hostile powers daily looms, many are content with their rustic life and few set forth properly armed for this battle with a suitable reading or hearing of the Scriptures. Thus our spiritual enemy, aided by our laziness, daily does to us what the physical enemy of Israel is described as having done at that time.…
Because Israel did not have arms, it abandoned the country to its enemies. We too grant our enemy an opportunity by our laziness in reading or consulting spiritual teachers, just as the Israelites did by their neglect of making arms or seeking Israelite smiths for them. Consequently, the enemy uses the opportunity to bring in their weapons of godlessness against the other virtues, just as the Philistines invaded the boundaries of the holy land. (The fact that Michmash was besieged refers to humility and subjugation.) But we must not summon the experience of human arts to repel the arms of this most foul enemy, but we must summon the exhortation of the heavenly teachers as the grace of the Holy Spirit aids us.
