Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 19

That they should kill David. —The literal translation of the original gives a much better sense: “that he intended to kill David,” or “about killing David.” The latter is the rendering of the Septuagint and the Syriac.

The murderous impulse of the unhappy Saul gradually increased in intensity. First, it showed itself only in the paroxysms of insanity, when the half-distraught king would grasp and poise his heavy spear, as though he would hurl it at the kindly musician as he tried to calm the troubled spirit. Then he would plot and scheme against the hated life, trying to involve this young soldier in some enterprise fraught with deadly peril. Now he speaks openly to his heir and his counsellors of the risk incurred by allowing so dangerous a man to live.

Jonathan told David. —The danger Jonathan saw was a very present one. A very slight expression on the part of a powerful king of his earnest desire to get rid of an obnoxious subject, however eminent or great, is sufficient to stir up unscrupulous men to commit the murder, which they might imagine would be acceptable to their master.

In the field. —No doubt some garden or quiet place, where the king was accustomed to resort with his friends and counselors.

Jonathan spoke well of David. —The heir to the throne—the one above all men most likely to be harmed by David's growing popularity—with great power and intense earnestness, described to his father the king the great virtues, the unrivalled gifts, and, above all, the splendid services of the young soldier whose life Saul was so eager to cut short. “See,” urged the eloquent pleader for his friend’s life, “on that ever-memorable occasion when he fought the giant, when he aimed the pebble of the brook from his shepherd’s sling, he put his life in his hand. Had he missed by a hair’s breadth, the giant would have slain him, and the deliverance then brought about for Israel would never have been accomplished.”

And Saul listened: Jonathan's moving eloquence touched Saul’s heart, and for a short time, something of the old noble spirit influenced the king, and he swore he would not attempt his life.