9 And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people.
And they cut off the head of Saul, etc. The corruptors or demons persecuted Judea with the weapons of impiety to such an extent that they completely deprived it of the principal kingdom itself and snatched away the defenses of the sacred law, by which they prevailed against all adversities. Their downfall was soon spread widely by heralding to their accomplices as a sign of their own triumph and a cause of joy; and the increase of wickedness in the armor of God, which the blessed apostle Paul commanded us, who are to fight against the spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians VI), and who first put it on, fought the good fight, finished the race, kept the faith, receiving from the Lord the crown of righteousness (II Timothy IV); this, I say, the armor of heavenly warfare. The Jews, deceived and deceiving, tried to carry the divine words into infernal places, that is, to equate the doctrines of demons. It is evident that they did this and are doing this in two ways; either by carnally interpreting spiritual words perversely, or by treating the same divine letters, as common and not supported by any divine authority, according to their wishes. Indeed, the very nation deprived of the stronghold of the kingdom of Judea, reduced to nothing, and handed over to the power of enemies, the deceivers publicly displayed as a joke and a common proverb; which figuratively is the body of Saul, truncated on the wall of Bethshan, that is, displayed as an enemy’s house, suspended by impious hands. But even heretics, struck down by the arrows of preceding sins, deprive themselves of the protection of charity, which is the fortress of all virtues. Just as the impure spirit cuts off the head of Saul when they persuade to follow their own sense rather than that of the Scripture. They strip them of arms when they pervert the divine words to their own, that is, diabolical sense. They place the arms of Saul in the temple of Ashtaroth. Ashtaroth indeed, not only because it is an idol, but also because it means the creation of spies, signifies the doctrine of malignant spirits, who, wandering around the folds of the faithful daily, explore if they can devour someone. When they perversely change the works with which they had served God to the service of their own wickedness, they hang the members, truly devoid of light and life, on the wall of the enemy’s house.
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 31:9