10 And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
Therefore the Philistines fought, and Israel was slaughtered, etc. The adversaries of truth, whether men or their leaders, the unclean spirits, fought against the believers in Christ; by whom, either openly raging, or covertly persuading, or injecting examples of depravity, some were slaughtered either by denial or martyrdom, others were repelled more urgently to abandon the tents of their firm faith.
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 4:10