1 Samuel 20:31, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to the time after David slew Goliath, when Saul kept David with him and would not let him go back to his father's house. In that same time the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David in love, and the two made a covenant to be united as brethren, with Jonathan giving David his robe and his garments, even to his sword and to his bow and to his girdle. In that same time David was entrusted with important responsibilities, yet he kept his modesty and won the affection of the people as well as of the royal household.

The immediate occasion was the second day of the new-moon feast, when Jonathan explained that David had gone to Bethlehem for his family's sacrifice, and this provoked Saul's ungovernable anger. Saul then declared that as long as David the son of Jesse lived upon the ground, Jonathan could not be established nor come to the throne of Israel, viewing David as the one standing in the way of Jonathan and his kingdom being established. He recognized that David's rise would mean the loss of his own throne and that his own descendants would not inherit royal honor. His repeated prediction that his posterity would perish because of his sins reflects the judgment behind his demand. He therefore demanded that David be sent for and fetched immediately to be put to death, for he shall surely die.

Jonathan's heart was knit with David's in a most sacred bond of union that remained unbroken till the death of Saul and Jonathan. That friendship was the Lord's doing, so that Jonathan might be the means of preserving David's life when Saul would try to kill him. God's providence connected David with Saul, so that by wise behavior David might obtain the confidence of the people, and by a long course of hardships and vicissitudes be led to put entire trust in God while God was preparing him to become ruler of His people.