1 Samuel 14:24

At all events, Saul himself, when engaged in battle, clearly enjoined this duty: "Cursed (be) the man who shall have eaten bread until evening, until I am avenged against my enemy"; and his whole company did not taste (food), and (yet) the whole earth was breakfasting! So solemn a sanction, moreover, did God confer on the edict which enjoined that station, that Jonathan the son of Saul, although it had been in ignorance of the fast having been appointed till a late hour that he had allowed himself a taste of honey, was both presently convicted, by lot … and with difficulty was exempted from punishment through the prayer of the people: for he had been convicted of gluttony, although of a simple kind.

Saul, as it is written in the first book of Kings [Samuel], pronounced a curse on him who ate bread before the evening, and until he had avenged himself upon his enemies. So none of his troops tasted any food while all the people of the land ate.

Whence it is also added: (Verse 24.) "And every man of Israel was joined together on that day." Indeed every man is joined to the preacher when no condition of men is left from which those who are converted are not led to a good way of life. But those who are joined to Saul are called men, because whatever we may be in the world, we are admonished to be strong in the service of almighty God. For unless they are men, they are by no means joined to the preachers, because they do not agree with them unless they themselves do the brave deeds which those preachers praise in their teaching. But now that the enemies have been defeated, now that the strong have been joined to him, what the king does must be carefully considered. There follows: (Verse 24.) And Saul adjured the people, saying: Cursed be the man who eats until evening, until I am avenged of my enemies. The enemies of preachers are those about whom the Psalmist pleads, saying: "Deliver me from my enemies, O my God, and free me from those who rise up against me" (Psalm 58:1). The enemies of the saints are rightly called unclean spirits, because the saints detest with great zeal embracing the enticements of the world which those spirits suggest. For whoever still finds something pleasing in the counsels of the evil spirit is certainly not his enemy, because he has not yet learned to hate one whose enticements he does not reject. They are also called enemies of the saints, as is revealed from sacred Scripture. For through everything they suggest, through everything by which they flatter, they strive to destroy those souls whom they pleasingly favor. What then does it mean that he adjures the people not to eat until evening, until he takes vengeance on his enemies? But it should be noted that he was saying these things when the enemies had already been defeated. […]

And the man of Israel was joined to himself on that day. With the enemies scattered in different directions, the Church, divided throughout the whole world, rejoices always with one and the same love of brotherhood.

Distressed - With hunger, and weakness, and faintness, and all by reason of the following oath. Avenged - As Saul's intention was good, so the matter of the obligation was not simply unlawful, if it had not been so rigorous in excluding all food, and in obliging the people to it under pain of an accursed death, which was a punishment far exceeding the fault.