Gregory the Great, on 1Sam 15:6

“And Saul said to the Cinite: Go, depart and get ye down from Amalec: lest I destroy thee with him. For thou hast shewn kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. And the Cinite departed from the midst of Amalec.”

“Who is the Kenite, who is known to dwell with Amalek, and who is compelled to depart, lest he be equally entangled with him? But perhaps this is the one about whom the Apostle says: "Let the husband render to his wife what is due, and likewise the wife to her husband" (1 Cor. 7:3). The name also fits him, because "Kenite" is said to mean "possessing." These married persons, because they are bound by marriage, are not compelled to abandon everything. What then does it mean when it is said to the Kenite, "Depart from Amalek," unless that by these words all the foulness of obscenity among married persons is condemned? Indeed, those who are joined in the manner of harlots are united with Amalek. The teacher commands them to depart from Amalek when he strives to recall them to marital decency. As if to say: If you cannot contain yourselves from one another, let marriage be honorable for you, and the bed undefiled. Therefore, to depart from Amalek is for spouses to use one another not for the foulness of harlot-like obscenity, but for the temperance of decency and for the fruit of offspring. Hence the same excellent teacher says of the widow who cannot remain so according to his counsel: "But if she cannot contain herself, let her marry, only in the Lord" (ibid., 9). Not in Amalek, but in the Lord; so that she who cannot prevail to abstain from marriage may avoid obscene acts within the covenant of marriage. He also threatens, saying: "Lest I entangle you with him." To be entangled with sinners is to be condemned to eternal punishment. Hence the Lord also says of the wicked servant in the Gospel: "Bind his feet and hands, and cast him into outer darkness" (Matt. 22:13). Now therefore, preachers do not entangle reprobate hearers, because even if they despise the word, they can still return to repentance as long as they live, when they wish. Therefore, marital decency must be urgently commanded to married persons, because with a stern penalty it is said: "Go, depart without harm. Depart from Amalek, lest I entangle you with him." Without harm indeed one departs now, but not then, because those who are made entirely like the foul will not be free from their harm. He is also said to have shown mercy to the children of Israel when they were ascending from Egypt, because the weak children of holy Church, since they cannot preserve the good of perpetual continence, are received through the compassion of marriage. Indeed they ascend from Egypt, because they abandon the darkness of luxury and fornication. And they receive mercy from the Kenite, because they obtain the indulgence of marriage. Hence the teacher of the nations also says: "I say this by way of indulgence, not by way of command" (1 Cor. 7:6). And because holy Church persuades her chosen subjects of the good things she sets forth by speaking, there follows: (Verse 6.) And the Kenite departed from the midst of Amalek. The spouse departs from the midst of Amalek, but cannot depart from the part, because even if one avoids the act of shameful conduct, one cannot avoid the inclination toward pleasure. For married couples can temper the fire through honorable conduct. They go out, therefore, from the midst of Amalek, because even if they cannot be entirely free from carnal desires, they nevertheless moderate the very dominion of the flesh under the bond of the precept of honorable conduct. There follows: (Verse 7.) And Saul struck Amalek from Havilah until you come to Shur, which is opposite Egypt.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.