Bede, 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.”

“And Saul said to the Kenite, "Go, depart, etc." The holy history reports that the Kenites were the relatives of Moses, saying: "Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the rest of the Kenites, the sons of Hobab the kinsman of Moses; and had pitched his tent as far as the valley which is called Sennim, and he was near Kedesh" (Judges IV). Therefore, Saul commanded the Kenite to withdraw from Amalek. An excellent teacher takes care that if he finds anything among the vices which he reproves, that he may embrace virtues found among them, keeping them unharmed. For you will find many even among pagans who are meek, humble, kind, patient, and serving with almsgiving and prayers in the example of the centurion Cornelius. Surely, these virtues, because they are close to the law of God as if by kinship, emerging from the depths of the worldly darkness, help to reach the promised rest and light, and should not be destroyed among the vices but separated from the catalog of all vices, so that they may benefit their possessor. For a Kenite, which means "possessor," should be separated from all vices. Thus, at Saul's command, the Kenite, who is to be saved, departs from the perishing Amalek when the rigorous teacher separates the virtues that help from the vices that weigh down in the examination of those to be instructed; so that the virtues, which are diligently practiced among the reprovable vices, may not be detested because of someone's bad vices. Nor, on the other hand, should someone's vices, which, as humans, cannot be free from among the virtues, be judged to be embraced because of their proximity to virtues; but with fair judgment, let the crooked be corrected in all things, which impede the way of salvation, and let the right be preserved, which help.”

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