1 Samuel 4:3

So the people sent to Shiloh, etc. The people sent in anticipation of their future devotion of faith; and they took unto themselves the grace of God, superior to all things, which they had learned through the occasion of the law, as their helper. It is to be noted that during the whole time of seeking and bringing the ark to themselves, the camps of Israel remained quiet; but when it arrived, they were disturbed by the enemy, because that same people did not hesitate to despise, persecute, and hate in some of its members the faith of the Lord's Incarnation, which they had eagerly sought to come.

Why has the Lord struck us down today before the Philistines? etc. The wisest among the people of Israel at that time sought a way to attain salvation, inquiring, in fact, why those who received the law and wanted to fulfill it were unable to accomplish it, and why they were struck down by the Lord before the Philistines—that is, why, with the Lord permitting it and His grace not helping them, they lusted, while reading and being devoted to the law, which says, "Thou shalt not covet" (Exod. 20). Lastly, they found a useful counsel, that by seeking the grace of Christ, which is frequently promised in the Scripture of the law to the fathers (Deut. 5), they might find the grace of Christ signified in the law, through whom they might desire to be freed, that is, they should remember the ark of the covenant placed inside the veil of the tabernacle in Shiloh, and that it be brought by the people to obtain the help of salvation. We have said above in what manner Shiloh holds the type of the law.

5. For "why" in this place is not an interrogation of inquiry, but a complaint of amazement. They ask about the defeat, then, with amazement, because they were unable to arrive at the reason by which they had observed that the men of their religion had received the faith of the Redeemer. And it should be noted that those who ask with amazement are recorded to have been the elders of Israel, because indeed all the proud, glorying in their own wisdom, were in no way able to arrive at the knowledge of divine mysteries. Whence also in the Gospel the Lord speaks to the Father, saying: "I confess to you, Father, King of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the prudent and wise, and have revealed them to little ones" (Matt. 11:25). They indeed complain that they were struck, because while they observed that through those who believed the old custom of the law was being dissolved, they supposed that certain wounds of a blow had been inflicted upon them by the incomprehensible judgment of God, which they might proclaim with shared grief. But those who complain that others have fallen add by what plan they prepare themselves to resist: (Verse 3.) "Let us bring to ourselves the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh, and let it come into our midst, and let it save us from the hand of our enemies." And concerning the carrying out of this same counsel it is immediately added: (Verse 4.) "Therefore the people sent to Shiloh, and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts sitting upon the cherubim." 6. This is certainly the plan, this is the work of Israel against the battle of those falling by the cup — but indeed an unheard-of plan and work, because it is not of Israel according to the spirit, but of Israel according to the flesh; that is, not of one who sees God, but of one who thinks he sees the God whom he despises. For what is it to send to Shiloh, except to have recourse to the law of Moses, to whom it is said by the Lord: "Come, I will send you to Pharaoh" (Exod. 3:10)? What is it to bring the ark of the Lord, except to bring forward the sacraments of the old law by recalling them in order to refute the truth of the new faith? And because they allow none of their own to be ignorant of the same knowledge of the law, the ark is ordered to be brought into their midst. What likewise is the meaning of what they say, "And…