Saul Seeks to Kill David

191 Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted much in David. 2 Jonathan told David, saying, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Now therefore, please take care of yourself in the morning, and live in a secret place, and hide yourself. 3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will talk with my father about you; and if I see anything, I will tell you.” 4 Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Don’t let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you; 5 for he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and Yahweh worked a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?” 6 Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, “As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.” 7 Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as before.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Samuel 19:1-7

Commentary on 1 Samuel 19:1-10

(Read 1 Samuel 19:1-10)

How forcible are right words! Saul was, for a time, convinced of the unreasonableness of his enmity to David; but he continued his malice against David. So incurable is the hatred of the seed of the serpent against that of the woman; so deceitful and desperately wicked is the heart of man without the grace of God, Jeremiah 17:9.