Prophet.

1. However, Saul was not disposed to persevere long in the state wherein
he was, for when he saw that David was in great esteem, both with God
and with the multitude, he was afraid; and being not able to conceal
his fear as concerning great things, his kingdom and his life, to be
deprived of either of which was a very great calamity, he resolved to
have David slain, and commanded his son Jonathan and his most faithful
servants to kill him: but Jonathan wondered at his father's change with
relation to David, that it should be made to so great a degree, from
showing him no small good-will, to contrive how to have him killed. Now,
because he loved the young man, and reverenced him for his virtue, he
informed him of the secret charge his father had given, and what his
intentions were concerning him. However, he advised him to take care and
be absent the next day, for that he would salute his father, and, if he
met with a favorable opportunity, he would discourse with him about him,
and learn the cause of his disgust, and show how little ground there was
for it, and that for it he ought not to kill a man that had done so many
good things to the multitude, and had been a benefactor to himself, on
account of which he ought in reason to obtain pardon, had he been guilty
of the greatest crimes; and "I will then inform thee of my father's
resolution." Accordingly David complied with such an advantageous
advice, and kept himself then out of the king's sight.

2. On the next day Jonathan came to Saul, as soon as he saw him in a
cheerful and joyful disposition, and began to introduce a discourse
about David: "What unjust action, O father, either little or great, hast
thou found so exceptionable in David, as to induce thee to order us to
slay a man who hath been of great advantage to thy own preservation, and
of still greater to the punishment of the Philistines? A man who hath
delivered the people of the Hebrews from reproach and derision, which
they underwent for forty days together, when he alone had courage enough
to sustain the challenge of the adversary, and after that brought as
many heads of our enemies as he was appointed to bring, and had, as
a reward for the same, my sister in marriage; insomuch that his death
would be very sorrowful to us, not only on account of his virtue, but
on account of the nearness of our relation; for thy daughter must
be injured at the same time that he is slain, and must be obliged to