1 Samuel 20:37
And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee? And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee?
This cry belongs to the period after David defeated Goliath, when Saul kept David with him and would not let him return to his father's house. It stands in the story of the covenant friendship in which Jonathan's soul was knit to David's soul and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. In that friendship Jonathan and David made a covenant to be united as brothers, and Jonathan gave David his robe and garments with his sword, bow and girdle, while David was entrusted with important responsibilities yet kept his modesty and won the affection of the people and the royal household. That friendship was brought about by the Lord so that Jonathan could be the means of preserving David's life when Saul sought to kill him.
David and Jonathan had agreed that David would stay hidden in a field for three days while Jonathan tested Saul's intent at the new moon feast, and Jonathan would reveal Saul's mind by the direction of the shot arrows. Saul showed murderous anger over David's absence at the feast and even hurled his spear at Jonathan. Jonathan's cry that the arrow was beyond the lad was the appointed signal that it was not safe for David to return to court and that he must flee for his life. After the signal the two friends wept together and parted in covenant peace, with the Lord between them and their descendants forever. The sacred bond of union between Jonathan and David remained unbroken until the deaths of Saul and Jonathan.