For, [as] the LORD liveth, which saveth Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But [there was] not a man among all the people [that] answered him.
Ver. 39. For, as the Lord liveth.] Saul seemeth to have been a very great swearer, rapping out oath upon oath, which belike he thought he might do by authority. Chrysostom a rightly condemneth this oath of his, how specious soever, Ut temerarium et parricidale, ideoque a Diabolo suggestum, as rash and bloody, suggested by the very devil, for a public mischief.
He shall surely die.] This law was like those of Draco, that punished every peccadillo almost with death; and was therefore said to be written not with black, but with blood.
a Hom. xiv., Ad Pop. Antioch.