Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 20:3

"And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father knoweth well that I have found favor in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death." — 1 Samuel 20:3 (ASV)

Your father certainly knows that I have found grace in your eyes. —David urges that his fall, and even his death, had been decided upon by Saul. Knowing how Jonathan loved him, Saul would shrink from confiding to his son his deadly plans concerning his beloved friend. David, with his clear, bright intellect, looked deeper into Saul’s heart than did the heroic, guileless son. He recognized only too vividly the intensity of the king’s hatred for him; and we see in the next verse that the mournful earnestness of the son of Jesse had its effect on the prince, who consented to make the public test of Saul’s real mind that his friend asked for.