And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him: whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David.
And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him. The ordinary way in which commentators understand this clause is with reference to Jonathan; and accordingly the usual heading of the chapter in the English Bible is, 'Saul seeketh to kill Jonathan.' But bad as the character of Saul was, and violent his fits of furious rage, he had never attempted any act like the atrocity of taking his son's life. Supposing, however, that he had made such an unnatural attempt, how could Jonathan know by that cruelty to himself "that it was determined of his father to slay David"? Besides, it appears from the next verse that, after this scene of violence, Jonathan arose from the table with deep but deliberate displeasure, being determined to fast, from grief on account of David. This hardly seems to harmonize with the idea of his having started up from his seat to save his own life, as we must naturally suppose him to have done, if his father aimed a deadly weapon at him across the table. There is no evidence that a javelin was thrown at Jonathan. Let the sentence be read as an interjected parenthesis, in which the sacred historian refers to former attempts upon David's life, as throwing a clear light upon what had now taken place, and all is plain: 'Now Saul had cast a javelin at him to smite him; whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David.' That is, Jonathan, recollecting the former attempt at assassinating David, was convinced that the present threats of his father were by no means empty words; but, coupling the present with the former scene, could not now doubt that his father did really cherish the deliberate purpose of slaying David. (See an article on this passage, 'Christian Observer,' vol. 14:, pp. 715,
716.)