6 And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.
What a virtuous action that was, when David wished rather to spare the king his enemy, though he could have injured him! How useful, too, it was, for it helped him when he succeeded to the throne. For all learned to be faithful to their king and not to seize the kingdom but to fear and reverence him. Thus what is virtuous was preferred to what was useful, and then usefulness followed on what was virtuous.
It was not without God’s influence, you see, that he [David] succeeded in prevailing over those frenzied men [his soldiers who wished to kill Saul]: the grace of God was found on the inspired man’s lips, adding a sort of inducement to those words. It was, however, no slight contribution that David also made: since he had formed them in the past, consequently in the critical moment he found them ready and willing. It was not as leader of troops, you see, but as priest he commanded them, and that cave was a church on that occasion: like someone appointed as bishop, he delivered a homily to them, and after this homily he offered a kind of remarkable and unusual sacrifice, not sacrificing a calf, not slaying a lamb, but—what was of greater value than these—he offered to God gentleness and clemency, sacrificing irrational resentment, slaying anger and mortifying the limbs that are on the earth. He acted as victim, priest and altar: everything came from him—the thought that offered gentleness and clemency, the clemency and gentleness and the heart in which they were offered.
As a Christian judge, you must play the part of a loving father, you must show anger for wrongdoing but remember to make allowance for human weakness; do not indulge your inclination to seek vengeance for the vile acts of sinners, but direct your effort to the cure of the sinners’ wounds.… There is also that well-known example of forbearance on the part of holy David, when his enemy was delivered into his hands and he spared him, an example which shines with greater luster from the fact that he had power to act otherwise. Do not, then, let your power of punishment make you harsh, when the necessity of inquiry did not shake your spirit of mildness.
And he said to his men, “May the Lord be merciful to me,” etc. David is shown to have refrained from killing Saul, despite Saul's most hostile pursuit of him, for two main reasons: first, he remembered him as his lord and as having been anointed with royal chrism. Here, primarily, he venerates the kingdom and the anointing with due honor, which indeed he always knew symbolized the ever inviolable kingdom of the Lord and the spiritual anointing. Furthermore, he also teaches us through moral disciplines that we should not dare to wound our leaders, especially those distinguished by sacred orders, with the sword of harsh words, nor presume to criticize by tearing away even the fringe of their final and unnecessary actions. Yet if we accidentally do such a thing incautiously, we should immediately strike the heart with sorrow and strive to correct the rash deed by repenting. However, according to the established order of explanation, in which we have said that Saul signifies the Jewish people or kingdom and David signifies Christ, we can understand that Christ called the same people or kingdom his lord, because he deigned to take on the form of a servant from it; and he called Christ the Anointed of the Lord, because he had bestowed the anointing of spiritual grace on that people before all other nations. Therefore, he did not wish to strike them down with his hand to utterly destroy the wicked, but, as with the royal robe cut off, he divided them from the earth and overthrew them in their own life. And as another psalm says, “Do not kill them, lest my people forget; scatter them by your power, and bring them down, O Lord our shield.” (Psalm 59).
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on 1 Samuel 24:6-7