Ambrose of Milan, on 2Sam 23:14

“And David was then in a hold. and there was a garrison of the Philistines then in Bethlehem.”

“Finally, whom among men shall we consider better and stronger than the holy David, who could not take for himself the water he desired from the Bethlehem lake, which was cut off by the enemy army, but could he mitigate it? For we cannot find that it was lacking for others. That is, with so great a number of soldiers, when he certainly could have had much less water shortage than the king from other sources; having endured a certain irrational desire, he desired that water which was surrounded by the enemy's fortification, from which it could not easily be brought without great danger. Therefore he said, 'Who will give me a drink from the well that is in Bethlehem at the gate?' And when the three men were found who had cut through the enemy's camp and brought the water that he had desired so eagerly, knowing that the same water had been obtained at the risk of others' lives, he poured it out to the Lord, so that it would not seem that he was drinking the blood of those who had brought it. This incident shows that desire indeed comes before reason, but reason resists desire. Therefore, David underwent suffering so that he might desire irrationally. But that is praiseworthy, which he wisely thwarted with a rational remedy. While I praise men who blushed at the desire for their king and preferred to bring an end to their own modesty or the danger to their own safety, I praise him even more who blushed at his own desire and purchased the blood of a dubious fate with a worthy price, as if he poured out water to the Lord with his victorious desire restrained, so as to show that he could restrain his desire with the comforting word.”

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