Bede

Here are the golden mice, etc. All, both small and great, strong and weak, must repay the Lord with golden vessels for their sins, that is, with the splendid gifts of contrition and humility, gentleness and chastity, and the other spiritual fruits. For who is clean from impurities? Not even if his life on earth be but a single day. And if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (Job XVIII; 1 John I; Job XX). For who will boast of having a pure heart, who has not in some way deviated from the path of truth in one of the five well-known senses, or whose thoughts or good actions have not occasionally been gnawed at by the bite of the ancient adversary, so that he must rightly ask for the remedies of penance for these, and from the memory of the vices he committed or the temptations he endured, he has to insist more sharply on practicing virtues? For it is to repay the Lord corrected with golden five-fold for the mice and corruptors and corrupted ones in which he was punished for erring. And it is beautifully said that the metropolis of any province, with its adjoining cities and villages, returned one golden mouse and anus each, because we duly pay the debt for sin when the rich and poor, the learned and unlearned, signified by the difference of a walled city and a village deprived of a wall, all made one in Christ, strive to see the one and the same will of God, perceive the same good fragrance of Christ, taste together how sweet the Lord is, and equally hear and do His words. But those who refuse to repent and pay the debt of penance for sin will not escape the hand of the stringent Judge, but driven into outer darkness, will not come out until they have paid the last farthing. To whom the wise of the Philistines above, suggesting better things, said: "Why do you harden your hearts, as Egypt and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? Did they not, after being struck, then let them go, and they departed? Which is to say openly about the reprobates: Did they not, after receiving the sentence of eternal death, then first cease to sin and do harm to the good?"

But he smote certain men of Beth-shemesh, etc. Not the priests and Levites, whose office it was to carry the ark; but the ignoble common people, to whom it was not even lawful to look upon it, he smote. To prevent this, in Exodus the people stood afar off and prayed, and Moses alone went up to the Lord. For only those perfect in knowledge and action know how to direct their mind to the contemplation of heavenly things in this life. But if anyone less perfect should presume to handle divine matters among human, it must be cautioned lest his unconsidered rashness be struck down either by heresy, or despair, or any other danger. But perhaps it is better to take this smiting of the people who had seen the ark of the Lord in a good sense; for the more anyone begins to look upon the secrets of divine majesty, the more soon, feeling humble about himself, he trembles and faints from all his confidence in his own virtues. With this most salutary wound he trembled who said: I will speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes (Exod. XVIII). And also the Psalmist, when he said: My eyes fail looking for your salvation (Psalm CXVIII). Which means to say: the higher I contemplate the most sacred mysteries of your salvation, that is, Jesus, the more quickly I, struck by a vital wound, despise my own deeds which I thought were strong. In this wound, not only struck but also dead, he rejoices who said: For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God: I have been crucified with Christ (Gal. II). To this same sense the number of the slain, fifty or seventy, which principally regards signifying rest and the grace of the Holy Spirit, also agrees. For both the seventh day and the fiftieth year were consecrated by law for rest. And the Holy Spirit, whose sevenfold grace Isaiah writes about, descended on the Church on the fiftieth day of the Lord’s resurrection. For while now having eternal years in mind they console their soul, and are delighted by the sole memory of God, and their spirit fails for a while, then, exalted by the Spirit of God, they strive towards perpetual rest. To both senses fits aptly what follows:

And it came to pass, from the day the ark remained in Kiriath-jearim, etc. Here, observe the difference between active and contemplative perfection. Behold, the ark of the Lord, which could scarcely remain even one day in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite when it arrived; and not only could it not ascend to Gabaa, that is, the high place of Bethshemesh, but it could not even clearly enter its very gates. However, reaching Kiriath-jearim and being brought to its hill, it remained there for almost twenty years, with days of virtues multiplied until the year was complete, because the contemplation of heavenly life can scarcely be tasted for even a moment by the holy ones living in the flesh. For the body, which is corrupted, weighs down the soul, and the earthly habitation depresses the mind that thinks of many things (Wisdom IX). On the other hand, active life can be celebrated with much longer duration and in the companionship of cooperating brethren, so much so that the Decalogue in it, doubled by the grace of the Gospel, or certainly perfected by the body and mind, is shown to be fulfilled almost as if it were the twentieth year of the ark remaining with them, proven by the merits of good deeds.

And the whole house of Israel rested after the Lord. It symbolically designates the final happiness of Judah converted at the end, to which the entire previous passage particularly refers, although it can generally be applied to the whole church. Also, according to the letter, some think that the period of twenty years in which the ark rested in Cariathiarim indicates both the manner and the status of the time when Samuel governed Israel. For it is not to be supposed, as some chronographers are mistakenly troubled, that the twenty years during which the ark remained there extends to the eighth year of David's reign, when it was transported to Jerusalem by him. For we read below, in the beginning of Saul's reign, that it was in Gabaa of Benjamin, with the Scripture saying: "And Saul said to Achia: Bring the ark of God. For the ark of God was there on that day with the sons of Israel" (1 Samuel 14). Therefore, we must understand, although Scripture is silent about it, that it was brought back from Gabaa of Benjamin to Gabaa, that is, the hill of Cariathiarim, from where it was transferred to Jerusalem during David's reign. Do not believe that the ark of the Lord was moved through various places without the significance of mystery, so that now it visits the Lord of the Solomites, now it enters the city of woods, now it appears as a helper among the camps, now it returns to the city of woods, and having left Shiloh, rejected the tabernacle of Shiloh (Psalm 78), finally ascending the mountain of Zion, which He loved; nor does it fail to be brought back and forth even then between the camps. Moreover, Uriah, speaking with David during the Ammonite war, indicated that it was under tents (1 Chronicles 17). And this continued until the time of the dedication of the house of God, wherein it received a permanent dwelling in the Holy of Holies. Know that these things are not done in vain, but in the type of the Church, which in its manifold but most peaceful diversity of its members now enjoys the sweetest light of the theoretical life, tasting and seeing that the Lord is good, now penetrates the dense active devotion, though nourished by a lesser burning or light of the mind, yet not less fruitful in good works; now it arms the spiritual militia of virtues against the dangers of the opposing world; nor does it desert its fruitful way of life suitable for resisting adversaries, but diligently takes care lest, after recognizing the mysteries of spiritual life, it seeks the literal observance of the law, like the tabernacle of Shiloh, by a perverse choice; now in those who have already departed from the body and escaped the labors of the changing world, it ascends to the vision of eternal peace. However, even through those reigning in the seat of heaven, it does not cease to fight by praying for its members still struggling against the enemy on earth, until with the brilliance of the resurrection's glory, which is its blessed dedication, it is lifted as the triumphant one over death into the heavenly Holy of Holies eternally.

"From the day the ark of the Lord remained in Cariathiarim, the days were multiplied, etc." [1 Samuel 7:2] What is said, that from the day the ark remained in Cariathiarim, the days were multiplied, indeed it was already the twentieth year, and all the house of Israel rested after the Lord, should not be understood as if the twenty years in which the ark stayed in Cariathiarim until the eighth year of David’s reign, when the gathering crowd of the people brought it to Jerusalem, ought to be counted. For it is found later that in Saul's times, it was taken out from this city and brought into the camp, while he fought against the Philistines. Thus it is written: And Saul said to Achia: Bring the ark of the Lord, for the ark of God was there on that day with the children of Israel. And because it is certain that David brought it to Jerusalem, having taken it from the house of Abinadab, into which it is said to have been brought, it remains to understand that in the days of Saul, it was brought back from the camp and into the aforementioned city, from which it was brought again to Jerusalem, during David’s reign. Therefore, the meaning of the aforementioned passage is that from the time the ark stayed in Cariathiarim, it was the twentieth year (Book of Antiquities VI, chap. 13), when it happened to be transferred from there during Saul’s times because of the war. Or certainly it was the twentieth year, when all the house of Israel still rested after the Lord, having cast away idols, serving Him alone. What it did during the entire time of Samuel’s leadership, which, as testified by Josephus, was completed in twelve years; and in the first period of Saul’s reign, which, according to the same historian, lasted for twenty years, no one curious about sacred history is ignorant of. For afterwards, when the spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit troubled him, especially in pursuing the innocent and just David, it was necessary that a part of his military or populace participated in his wrongdoing.