Charles Spurgeon Commentary 1 Samuel 20:9-11

"And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee; for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee? Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me if perchance thy father answer thee roughly? And Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field." — 1 Samuel 20:9-11 (ASV)

And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee: for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee? Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what if thy father answer thee roughly? And Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field.

Quite alone, away from their troops, where they could talk together without being overheard. These two good men sought private fellowship.

And do you not think that, if we love Christ, we will want to get alone with him? Will we not say to him, Let us go out into the field? Where there is no private devotion, there is no devotion at all. If we never get alone with Christ, we are altogether strangers both to himself and also to his love.