Bede

But a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line, etc. The people who remained from the Jews perishing because of their perfidy, hearing from the apostles: "Save yourselves from this crooked generation" (Acts 2), came to instruct those who, having been emptied of Christ, still boasted in the law and kept the tabernacle of the Lord in Shiloh without the ark of the covenant; in order to provoke the listeners more easily to repentance, tearing off every old habit, and despising all former reliance on their strength as nothing, appeared in mourning. This man is said to have well descended from Benjamin, that is, the son of the right hand, because indeed the Church, in comparison to the Synagogue, because the heavenly Jerusalem, namely our mother, compared to the present one, stands out as the right hand to the left. This man of Benjamin therefore suggests either the people of the primitive Church or some teacher of that age, the son of the right hand of faith, or certainly the apostle Paul, who also descended from the tribe of Benjamin, who, though he was the last of the apostles, labored more than all in preaching (1 Cor. 15).

The man was an old man, and advanced in years, etc. That priesthood had become aged at that time, once glorious with rich virtue, and it showed, at the appropriate time, judgments of the divine law, which is encompassed in the Decalogue, to the people of Israel through chief priests, elders of the people, scribes, and Pharisees who are also called doctors of the law. Moreover, according to the figurative interpretation of the law, each of us ought to keep the ark of the covenant within the tabernacle interiorly, and, when the time comes, while preparing to fight against the Philistines, he must offer this with himself; that is, he must always maintain firm faith and a chaste conscience; and when the situation demands, he must bring it forth as his aid in spiritual warfare against the impure, be they humans or demons, carrying with him two priests as guards, namely, the vigilant senses of twin love. For the Apostle does not deem just any faith worthy of praise, but rather that which works through love (Gal. V). And if, perhaps, while we are fighting, the impure spirits or heretics snatch away the ark of faith and kill the priestly and devout senses, it is necessary for a Benjamite man, distinguished by mourning dress, that is, a mind uplifted by the hope of heavenly piety, to come humbly and penitently, bringing back to our minds our errors and inducing the whole city of our ruler into mourning and tears, until, through God's mercy, the captured ark is returned, and a better priest is given to us in place of the lost ones, that is, a more chastened sense, after the labors of penance, and more vigilant and careful. Neither does the time of the seven months during which the Philistines held the ark diverge from the figurative form of penance. For it is well established that the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is said to be sevenfold, must be obtained by undertaking penance for the committed sins and seeking forgiveness; and the Fathers declare that this forgiveness must be sought in seven ways. Indeed, the expositors of the Psalter suggest seven penitential psalms, by which heavenly piety should be implored to obtain the remission of sins. However, there are those who convert the remembrance, recognition, and sorrow of sins not to seek remedy, but as Judas to augment their previous crimes. Since they have become aged among all their enemies, with their eye of the mind disturbed by the wrath of God, they have also lost the light of faith, and suddenly returning to the seat of judicial discretion, immediately perishing, they leave; and although they seemed to have lived discreetly for a while and managed themselves well according to the precepts of the law and the Gospel (for this is to judge Israel for forty years), nevertheless, upon the onset of the trial, they succumb to a miserable death.

And they set it beside Dagon. And they erected the churches of Christ among the nations, while in some places the worship of idols still remained. For Dagon, which is interpreted as the fish of sorrow, signifies not only the person, but also by name, him who, existing from the beginning as the author of our miseries, is called by the prophet the king of all that are in the waters. Concerning whom the Lord narrates many things in blessed Job under the figure of Leviathan (Job 40). And whom Tobias, which is interpreted as the good of God, by the guidance of the archangel, draws out from the waves, dissects, roasts, eats, salts, and carries with him for remedies and provision. That is to say, the Lord Savior overcomes by His divine power the devil who desires his fleshly food, snatches him from his hidden traps; and cutting off his members of iniquity, seasoned with the salt of wisdom, and cooked by the fire of the Holy Spirit, transfers them into the members of His body, which is the Church, and through these provides aids of salvation to others. For by means of those whom the Lord saves, taken from the devil, He will save both the pagan from the deception of idolatry, and the Jews, from whom He took flesh, from the error of their unbelief at the end of the world. It is clear, therefore, what Tobias signifies, when through the entrails of the dissected fish, he liberates both his wife from the demon, and his parent from blindness.