Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 18:9

"And Saul eyed David from that day and forward." — 1 Samuel 18:9 (ASV)

And Saul eyed David. —From the hour when the king listened to the people’s lilt in honor of the young hero, in Saul’s troubled mind hate alternated with love. He still in his heart longed for the presence of the only human being who could charm away his ever-increasing melancholia, but he dreaded with a fierce jealousy the growing influence of the winning and gifted man whom he had taken from the sheepfolds; and now through the rest of the records of this book we will see how the hate gradually obscured the old love. All our memories of Saul seem bound up with his life-long murderous pursuit of David.