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1 And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. 2 But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself: 3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father of thee; and what I see, that I will tell thee. 4 And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to theeward very good: 5 For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause? 6 And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan: and Saul sware, As the LORD liveth, he shall not be slain. 7 And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan shewed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as in times past. 8 And there was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled from him. 9 And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand. 10 And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night. 11 Saul also sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain. 12 So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped. 13 And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth. 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. 15 And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him. 16 And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster. 17 And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee? 18 So David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth. 19 And it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah. 20 And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 21 And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. 22 Then went he also to Ramah, and came to a great well that is in Sechu: and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they be at Naioth in Ramah. 23 And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?
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[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 1 Samuel 19:20-24
Now, it seems to me that fortuitous circumstance also is sometimes the cause of prophesying, as is true in the present case of Caiaphas. He was high priest of that year [in which] Jesus was to die for the people that the whole nation might not perish. For although others were high priests … no one prophesies except the high priest of the year in which Jesus was to suffer.And it was fortuitous circumstance that caused the messengers of Saul to prophesy when they were sent to David, along with Saul himself. For it is as if the fact that they were seeking David became the cause of their prophecy, such as it was, as has been recorded.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 28.175-76
[AD 395] Gregory of Nyssa on 1 Samuel 19:11-12
The story relates how, when the vehement emotion of the demonic spirit had settled on Saul and the holy David quieted the disturbance of the passion by means of his psaltery, Saul found the spear that was standing by him, aimed it straight at David and hurled it against his benefactor. David, however, avoided the attack on himself by means of the divine alliance, and the assault of the spear fixed itself deeply in the wall. He fled the royal dwellings and was in his own house, in the hope that repentance would alter the king’s anger. But Saul placed his spearmen around David’s house and ordered the executioners to kill him. He barely escaped the dangers by letting himself down into the open through a window and avoiding detection by the guard.

Source: ON THE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PSALMS 2.16.264
[AD 395] Gregory of Nyssa on 1 Samuel 19:13-17
Now Michal’s name means “reign,” because sin reigned over our nature up to that time. And at the very time he himself was born, he [the Lord in the figure of David] went out through a window. And the window indicates the return to the light again of the one who made himself known to those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.And his image is seen on the bed. For the angel says to those seeking the Lord in the tomb, “Why do you seek the living with the dead? He is not here; he is risen.” “Behold the place” in which he lay. Those seeking the Lord saw the tomb in which he was buried empty of the body of the one they were seeking. Only the burial sheets were in it. We think, therefore, that the image of David on the bed signifies the resurrection of the Lord in the tomb, through which the true averting of our death through expiatory sacrifice occurs.

Source: ON THE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PSALMS 2.16.272-73
[AD 395] Gregory of Nyssa on 1 Samuel 19:9-10
Now it is certainly obvious what the sequence is looking to through the figures of the story. The one of David is predicted by means of David, and the one who was anointed signifies the Christ. And the lyre is a human instrument, but the song which comes from it is the Word which has been made manifest to us through the one who was made flesh, whose work is to destroy the derangement that comes from demons so that “the gods of the nations” may no longer be “demons.”That king, however, who had the demons in himself, when the spirits withdrew at the song of him who adapted his instrument to this purpose, smote him with his spear (now a spear is wood which has been equipped with iron), but the wall received the spear instead of him. And we think that the wall is the earthly building, by which we understand the body, in relation to which we see the wood of the cross and the iron. But that David, who is both Christ and king, is without suffering. For the deity does not experience the cross and the nails.

Source: ON THE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PSALMS 2.16.269-70
[AD 395] Gregory of Nyssa on 1 Samuel 19:20-24
For by the arguments by which he [Eunomius] endeavors to destroy the truth, he is often himself unwittingly drawn into an advocacy of the very doctrines against which he is contending. Some such thing the history tells us concerning Saul … when moved with wrath against the prophets, he was overcome by grace and was found as one of the inspired (the Spirit of prophecy willing, as I suppose, to instruct the apostate by means of himself) whence the surprising nature of the event became a proverb … history records such an expression by way of wonder, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

Source: AGAINST EUNOMIUS 3.4
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on 1 Samuel 19:18
Moreover the perfect soul turns away from matter, shuns and rejects everything that is excessive or inconstant or wicked, and neither sees nor approaches this earthly defilement and corruption. It is attentive to things divine but shuns earthly matter. But its flight is not to depart from the earth but to remain on earth, to hold to justice and temperance, to renounce the vices in material goods, not their use. Holy David fled from the face of Saul, not indeed to depart from the earth but to turn away from the contagion of a cruel, disobedient and treacherous man. He fled, cleaving to God, just as he himself said, “My soul has stuck fast to you.”

Source: On Isaac and the Soul, 3.6
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on 1 Samuel 19:18
Therefore let us not be ashamed to flee, for this flight is a glorious one, to flee from the face of sin.… Thus did David, too, flee from the face of King Saul, and from the face of Absalom. Indeed, in his flight he brought about an increase of holiness, for he spared a treacherous assailant and sought after a parricide.

Source: FLIGHT FROM THE WORLD 4.19
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on 1 Samuel 19:13-17
And not in war only, but also in peace the need of deceit may be found, not merely in reference to the affairs of the state but also in private life, in the dealings of husband with wife and wife with husband, son with father, friend with friend, and also children with a parent. For the daughter of Saul would not have been able to rescue her husband out of Saul’s hands except by deceiving her father. And her brother, wishing to save him whom she had rescued when he was again in danger, made use of the same weapon as the wife.

Source: ON THE PRIESTHOOD 1.8
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on 1 Samuel 19:9-10
As also, on the other hand, if we have no works, the Spirit flies away. But if we are deserted by the Spirit, we shall also halt in our works. For when this has gone, the unclean one comes. This is plain from Saul. For what if he does not choke us as he did him, still he strangles us in some other way by wicked works. We have need then of the harp of David, that we may charm our souls with the divine songs, both these, and those from good actions. Since if we do the one only, and while we listen to the charm, war with the charmer by our actions, as he did of old, the remedy will even turn to judgment to us, and the madness become the more furious. For before we heard, the wicked demon was afraid lest we should hear it and recover. But even when after hearing it, we continue the same as we were, this is the very thing to rid him of his fear. Let us sing then the psalm of good deeds, that we may cast out the sin that is worse than the demon.

Source: HOMILIES ON ROMANS 28
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Samuel 19:1
But true martyrs are such as those of whom the Lord says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” It is not, therefore, those who suffer persecution for their unrighteousness and for the divisions which they impiously introduce into Christian unity, but those who suffer for righteousness’ sake, that are truly martyrs. For Hagar also suffered persecution at the hands of Sarah; and in that case she who persecuted was righteous, and she who suffered persecution was unrighteous. Are we to compare with this persecution which Hagar suffered to the case of holy David, who was persecuted by unrighteous Saul? Surely there is an essential difference, not in respect of his suffering but because he suffered for righteousness’ sake.

Source: THE CORRECTION OF THE DONATISTS 2.9
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Samuel 19:20-24
For all who do not love God are strangers, are antichrists. And though they come to the churches, they cannot be numbered among the children of God. That fountain of life does not belong to them. To have baptism is possible even for a bad person; to prophesy is possible even for a bad person. We find that king Saul prophesied: he was persecuting holy David, yet he was filled with the spirit of prophecy and began to prophesy.

Source: HOMILIES ON 1 JOHN 7.6
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on 1 Samuel 19:20-24
The book of Kings [Samuel] gives us an example about prophecy. Saul was the persecutor of David. When he was persecuting him, he sent guards to drag him away to punishment, and those who were sent to bring David to be slain found him among the prophets; and Samuel was there too.… So he had fled to the place where besides Samuel, the most distinguished of all the prophets, there were also many other prophets. Pushing their way among them, while they were prophesying, came the emissaries of Saul, to drag him off, as I said, to death. The spirit of God leaped upon them and they began to prophesy, having come to lead a holy and just man of God to the execution block and snatch him away from among the prophets. They were suddenly filled with the spirit of God and turned into prophets. It’s possible this happened because of their innocence; after all, they hadn’t come of their own accord to arrest him but had been sent by their king. And perhaps they had indeed come to the place where David was but weren’t going to do what Saul had told them to; perhaps they too were intending to stay there. Because such things even happen today. Sometimes a bailiff is sent by high authority to drag somebody out of the church; he dare not act against God, and in order not to face execution himself he stays there, in the place he was sent, to haul someone out of it. So you could say, pleasantly surprised and relieved, that these men suddenly became prophets because they were innocent; the very gift of prophecy bore witness to their innocence. They came because they were sent, but they weren’t going to do what that bad man had told them to. Let us believe that about them.Others were sent; the Spirit of God leaped on them too, and they too began to prophesy. Let’s count them too with the first lot as being quite innocent. A third lot were sent; the same happened to them too; let them all be innocent. When they delayed and what Saul had ordered wasn’t done, he came himself. Was he too innocent? Was he also sent by some authority, and not ill-intentioned of his own free will? Yet the Spirit of God leaped on him too, and he began to prophesy. There you are, Saul is prophesying, he has the gift of prophecy, but he has not got charity. He has become a kind of instrument to be touched by the Spirit, not one to be cleansed by the Spirit. The Spirit of God, you see, touches some hearts to set them prophesying, and yet does not cleanse them.… And so the Spirit of God did not cleanse Saul the persecutor, but all the same it touched him to make him prophesy.
Caiaphas, the chief priest, was a persecutor of Christ; and yet he uttered a prophecy when he said, “It is right and proper that one man should die, and not the whole nation perish.” The Evangelist went on to explain this as a prophecy and said, “He did not, however, say this of himself, but being high priest, he prophesied.” Caiaphas prophesied, Saul prophesied; they had the gift of prophecy, but they didn’t have charity. Did Caiaphas have charity, considering he persecuted the Son of God, who was brought to us by charity? Did Saul have charity, who persecuted the one by whose hand he had been delivered from his enemies, so that he was guilty not only of envy but also of ingratitude? So we have proved that it is possible for you to have prophesy and not to have charity. But prophecy does you no good, according to the apostle: “If I do not have charity,” he says, “I am nothing.” He doesn’t say, “Prophesy is nothing,” or “Faith is nothing,” but “I myself am nothing, if I don’t have charity.” So while he has great gifts, he is nothing; although he has great gifts, he is nothing; because these great gifts which he has, he doesn’t have to his benefit but to his condemnation. It isn’t a great thing to have great gifts; but it is a great thing to use great gifts well; but you don’t use them well if you haven’t got charity. The fact is, it is only a good will that uses anything well; but there cannot be a good will where charity is not to be found.

Source: SERMON 162A
[AD 585] Cassiodorus on 1 Samuel 19:11-12
“Then Saul sent and watched his house to kill him.” This too is fittingly associated with the Lord’s passion, for house indicates the tomb where he rested in a three-day death. The Jews’ leaders sent men to guard it, to destroy so to say the fame of his name, so that by some trick it should not be claimed that he rose again, an eventuality which Christ had been heard earlier proclaiming. It was better that his enemies should of their own accord desire to condemn this, for it allowed the whole world to acknowledge the fact more certainly. The evidence which the unwilling witness offers is beyond doubt; it cannot be called partisan when confirmed by the guilty person.

Source: EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 58.1
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:18
David was allotted the kingdom of the Israelites in place of Saul. He was a humble, innocent and gentle exile, yet he was for a long time tormented by [Saul’s] unjust persecution.… Whoever upon hearing these things begins to strive after humility and innocence and to drive pride and envy from his heart, has, as it were, found a draught of the clearest water, by which he may be refreshed. But if he recognizes that Saul signifies those who persecute, and David signifies Christ and the church; and if he recognizes that on account of the [persecutors’] lack of faith, both their material and spiritual sovereignty has been destroyed, while the reign of Christ and the church will always remain; [with this understanding] he will perceive a cup of wine made from the water, for he will know that he is reading not only about that king but about his own life and reign, where before he read [the story] as if it were an ancient history about others.

Source: Homilies on the Gospels 1.14
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:18
David, however, fleeing, was saved, etc. Ramathaim meaning heights, Naioth interpreted as beauty, which is a place in Ramah. Therefore, with Saul's messengers seeing only the image and goatskin in David's bed, David himself fleeing is saved; and with the Jews during the time of the Lord’s death arguing among themselves that he was a deceiver, and not truly innocent and just, but was crucified for his crime, the Lord, who was confined in the tomb, mighty arising from death, appears in the heights of life, with immortal glory to the disciples, saying: Because thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead (Luke 24); and he goes, and dwells in the beauty of the everlasting kingdom, which is in heaven. The Church has gone after him in hope both in soul and body, and thus will be with the Lord always.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:18
It was announced to Saul by those saying, Behold, David is in Naioth in Ramah, etc. Which also concerning the second messengers, as well as the third, are related in similar order. It was announced to the Jews by the apostles and the disciples of the apostles that the Lord Jesus Christ, after his passion, resurrection, and ascension, sitting at the right hand of the Father, reigns exalted in heaven. But they immediately sent three of their former faith and religion, but now of their impiety and perfidy, namely priests, scribes, and Pharisees, to take away his confession from the believers who were persecuting; all of these persecutors, although bearing the mind of unbelievers, however, where disputing up to the statements of the prophets, to which the apostles with the revelation of the spiritual intelligence of Christ preside, they themselves also protesting these things written by the divine Spirit, simultaneously both loving them with the faithful and believing, though not even understanding, they were singing.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:6
When Saul heard this, placated by the voice of Jonathan, etc. When the people of the Jews heard the voice of the preaching apostles, they were placated from the wrath of former fury; and by the true assertion of faith, they testified that the Church of Christ can never be exterminated from the midst, never can his memory perish, who is before the ages and remains forever. This same people said these things in those who heard the voice of the doctors of spiritual matters, which Jonathan and his merits signify. For in whomever they did not say these things, they are those of whom it is written: And their ears were hard of hearing (Acts XXVIII). And elsewhere: And who is deaf, except to those whom I have sent my messengers?

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:1
(1 Samuel 19) "But Saul spoke to Jonathan his son," etc. The princes of the Jews, together with the elders and scribes, spoke to the apostles, strictly commanding them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:1
Moreover, Jonathan, the son of Saul, loved David greatly, etc. Likewise, the apostles loved Christ greatly, and, recounting the accusations of the faithless, they beseeched Him to defend His Church, to preserve the faith in His name within the Church; remaining secretly in the hearts of the believers, yet hidden from the disturbance of men. We, however, they say, you dwelling fruitfully in the minds of the pious (Genesis 27). For this is truly the field full of fragrance and grace, which the Lord has blessed; we will speak and teach this people in Your name, and those who prefer to believe rather than disbelieve from among them, we will announce to Your holy Church, so that, knowing the state of each, it may learn to join the faithful and to protect itself from the unbelievers.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:5
And he placed his life in his hand, etc. The Lord, they say, commended his love for you, which no one has greater, by placing his life for you; so that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might free those who throughout their whole life were subject to bondage. Many from among our number witnessed the glory of his resurrection, and his ascension into heaven, and rejoiced (Hebr. II).

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:5
Why then do you sin against innocent blood? etc. Why do you sin, trying to extinguish his faith, striving to remove his love from the Church, who alone among mortals could live without fault?

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:13
But Michal took an image and laid it on the bed, etc. The history of the hairy skin, of the skins of goats, is evident; for there was a cushion sewn of goat's skin, which, with its unshorn hairs, feigned the head of a man lying in bed. The statue, however, is an imitation of the true and living; the dead skin of goats is the remains of a dead animal. Therefore, Michal took an image and placed it on David's bed, as he was let down through the window and secretly saved. The Church learned to regard the Jews' Lord, who was laid in the sepulcher, not as Christ, life and truth, but as a likeness of truth and life, declaring himself to be Christ the king. The Church is said to do this in the true manner of speaking, for it bears witness to the deeds done or to be done by the ungodly, as it is written in Leviticus, "Behold, the priest shall declare him unclean" (Lev. 13): not because he could bring leprosy to the clean, but to show what was already present in the unclean. Also, Michal placed the hairy skin of goats at the head of the statue. The Church, at its beginning, discovered the perfidy even of those who not only deny the Lord Savior as Christ but also claim he was burdened with sins, not resurrected from the dead. For it is certain that the goat often holds the type of a sinner, just as a sheep does that of the just. The hairs, brittle and externally superfluous to the body, signify dead works, becoming manifest due to their density and frequency. They place the hairy skin of goats at the head of the statue set up in the bed for David, asserting the flesh of the Savior to be rough and impure due to mortal sins, saying that until now it still holds the bed of the sepulcher, into which he descended dead. However, Michal covers the statue with garments, which the Church, after recognizing such perfidy, rejects; after showing it to the faithful, it immediately demonstrates it condemned and vanquished through outstanding works that no one else could accomplish.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:22
He also went to Ramatha, etc. After Jewish doctrine did not prevail against Christ, both words and weapons were added to persecute the Son of Man who sits at the right hand of God the Father on earth. But even their earthly principality, when searching for the hidden things of the Scriptures concerning Jesus and His disciples, found nothing else in them as a response except that He, along with His own, dwells in Naioth in Ramah, that is, in the beauty of the paternal kingdom, in the heights of the heavens. And therefore, it must be certainly known to all the house of Israel that God has made Him both Lord and Christ. And it is fitting that the cistern, which by the depth and breadth of the waters of the Scriptures corresponds to the abyss, is remembered in Socho, that is, situated in humility; because holy Scripture, being contrary to the custom of secular doctrines, existing as the teacher of humility, produced by humble authors, is open only to humble listeners or readers. But the proud, having heard through these the heavenly glory of Christ, whom they could not follow with the step of the body, nor wished to attain with the step of love, began to pursue Him with the step of nefarious action, so that He Himself, saving a certain person from such and restraining their perfidy, might protest and say from Naioth, which is in Ramah, that is, from the height of the most beautiful seat above: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me" (Acts IX)?

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:10
And Saul attempted to pin David with a spear, etc. The Jews attempted to kill entirely in the flesh of Christ, who is God both soul and flesh. But he, commending his spirit into the hands of the Father, bowed his head and gave it up. Yet the wound of death touched the body alone; he fled the body, and his soul was saved from the sword, and his soul was saved from the hand of the dog (Psalm 21), by the darkness of their own treachery, with the executioners lowered.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:17
And Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me thus? etc. The unbelieving Jews said to the early Church: Why, having neglected our traditions, did you prefer to believe in Jesus and confess that by rising He put our guards to flight? To which she replied: Because He, she said, threatens not just me, but all who refuse to believe in Him and confess these things, with eternal death.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:9
And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, etc. When the Son of God in flesh shone with miracles, the spirit of envy was kindled against him in the hearts of the Jews, the Lord giving them over to the desires of their hearts because of the merits of their preceding sins. They were still sitting peacefully in their kingdom and homeland, and confident in their same kingdom’s splendors, they did not fear to plot the death of their Savior. Moreover, when they opposed him, and even blasphemed, he, turned to rage, by the example of his meekness and patience, tried to recall them to the mildness of spirit and sobriety, as if by the sweetness of a lyre.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:23
And the Spirit of the Lord also came upon him, etc. Indeed, the Jewish persecutor of the Church recognized that holy men of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, spoke; but knowing how to utter their words with his mouth, yet not knowing how to understand them rightly, he did not fear to enter furiously against Him by whom or about whom the words were spoken. However, he prophesied insanely, and indeed still prophesies today; that is, not understanding the true words of the prophets, he recites, reads, loves them, and extends the office of such prophecy to narrating the glory of that same higher beauty which we hope for in the heavens, giving sound without sense, and he reaches the mysteries of the height.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:24
He also stripped himself of his garments, etc. These are clearly the acts of a furious and insane person, to strip oneself, fall down vexed, and lie naked on the ground all day and night. Yet, even through the wrath of such a person, the divine power has something mystical to say for those who hear and discern. For through Balaam, who was of a contrary mind to Him, He foretold so many mysteries beforehand, and through the impious persecutor Caiaphas, He gave the secrets of His saving passion to be prophesied, and through a mute animal speaking with a human voice, He forbade the prophet’s folly; and He Himself through the possessed Saul, in the presence of Samuel and the other prophets, revealed whatever mystical things He wished, so that the innocent David might seize the path to salvation; so the madness of the pursuing Saul might be made evident to all everywhere; and finally, it might be understood how much the presence of the perfect confers on the desires of the humble, which could even lift the proud by the power of prophecy; and thus the future fate of the persecuting people might be marked, who by their hatred deserved to strip Christ of the ornament of His unique kingdom, to fall from the state of the ancient righteousness, advancing amidst the prosperity and adversity of the Church, naked of both heavenly and earthly glory, miserable and adhering only to worldly desires, and among these to hold the writings of prophecy, which would support the faith of the Church by word alone. And it is well said that he prophesied with the others before Samuel; for even now the infidel Synagogue meditates and reads the sayings of the Law and the prophets with the Church; yet the Synagogue lacks spiritual understanding, while the Church knows all those things to be understood about the Lord.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:24
From where the proverb emerged, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" The Jews of the Church have become a proverb, who, with a perverted mentality, make use of Holy Scriptures, which they do not believe or understand, while among the faithful attentive to sacred readings. It is also a proverb for those who will say on the last day: "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?" etc. (Matthew VII). And when you see certain unlearned individuals in the Church presumptuously taking the chair of teaching, and under the guise of a faithful teacher, instead of the commands of God, imposing their traditions to be observed, and their doctrines to be followed on deceived listeners, say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:15
And again Saul sent messengers to see David, etc. When the Church was preaching Christ from the advent of the Holy Spirit, the leaders of the Jews sent [people] to more carefully see what was believed about Jesus, whether He was Christ or a prophet; whether He had risen or still lay in the sepulchre, saying: Proclaim to us who are present; because He has not risen from the dead, but still lying in the bed of earth, He awaited the day of universal resurrection, so that thus faith in Him may be uprooted and eliminated from the world. When the persecutors began to confront the Church, with the faithful rejoicing over Christ's triumph, nothing met the impious except the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense to those who stumbled at the word and did not believe; considering Him as if a leper, struck and humbled by God (Isaiah 53). But He, as the prophet subsequently added: He was wounded for our iniquities, He was crushed for our sins.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:7
And Jonathan brought David to Saul, etc. Jonathan speaks well of David to Saul, and is heard, as the apostles preaching about Christ catechize the Jews, gaining their faith. He introduces the same one when, baptizing them, they refresh them with the flesh and blood of Christ, instruct them in the precepts of Christ, and strengthen them with the love of Christ. He becomes before him as he was yesterday and the day before when the listeners of this age received him with the same faith, hope, and charity that those who saw him in the flesh from that people, recognized him as God, or hoped for him to come in the flesh from ages past.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:11
Therefore Saul sent his messengers to David's house, etc. The chief priests and Pharisees sent their messengers to the Lord's tomb to guard it, hoping that by denying the truth of the resurrection, the memory of His name would be erased in the future. The frequent laments of the Church announced this to Him (for the Lord hears the desire of the poor [Psalm IX]), and trembling from the conspiracy of the faithless, it somehow said: Unless you rise from the dead, the faith and confession of the believers in you cannot firmly persist; unless you invalidate the watchfulness of the guards by overcoming death, the whole faith in the future resurrection will be taken away from the world; at last, it learned that He had left the tomb's location to His guards. He went away and escaped from His executioners and the lying guards; and by appearing to His dear ones after the resurrection, He completely restored their hope and faith. David's harp can specifically and figuratively represent the cross of the Lord; Saul's spear on the wall can represent the nails of the cross, or the very soldier's lance which opened His side. As we have said, David's house is the tomb of the Lord. The leap through the window is the concealed and sudden speed of the resurrection. The wife from whom he escaped through a plan is the Church of believing Jews, who both desired the Lord Savior to rise and taught that He had risen.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:14
Saul, however, sent messengers to seize David, etc. The unbelieving Jews sent ambushers immediately after the celebration of the Lord's resurrection, who, probing the hearts of the faithful, would seize from them the love of Christ either by flattery or by threats. But they, still silent from carnal fear and remaining hidden until the day of Pentecost, sought to return no other response to those asking than that faith languished within them and had not yet flourished well, not being firmed by the fire of the Holy Spirit.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 19:4
Therefore Jonathan spoke good of David to his father Saul, etc. The apostles spoke good of Christ to the Jews, recalling him as a man approved by God among them in the powers and signs and wonders which God had done through him in their midst; who not only could not be accused of sin, but also, being diligent in virtues, went around all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every infirmity.

Source: Commentary on Samuel
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on 1 Samuel 19:18
Najoth: It was probably a school or college of prophets, in or near Ramath under the direction of Samuel.
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on 1 Samuel 19:20
Prophesying: That is, singing praises to God by a divine impulse. God was pleased on this occasion that both Samuel's messengers and himself should experience the like impulse, that he might understand, by this instance of the divine power, how vain are the designs of man against him whom God protects.
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