1 Kings 14:42
And Saul said: Cast lots between me, and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et ait Saul : Mittite sortem inter me et inter Jonathan filium meum. Et captus est Jonathas.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἶπεν Σαούλ Βάλετε ἀνὰ μέσον ἐμοῦ καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον Ἰωναθὰν τοῦ υἱοῦ μου· ὃν ἂν κατακληρώσηται Κύριος, ἀποθανέτω. καὶ εἶπεν ὁ λαὸς πρὸς Σαούλ Οὐκ ἔστιν τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο. καὶ κατεκράτησεν Σαοὺλ τοῦ λαοῦ, καὶ βάλλουσιν ἀνὰ μέσον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον Ἰωναθὰν τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ κατακληροῦται Ἰωναθάν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֣אמֶר שָׁא֔וּל הַפִּ֕ילוּ בֵּינִ֕י וּבֵ֖ין יוֹנָתָ֣ן בְּנִ֑י וַיִּלָּכֵ֖ד יוֹנָתָֽן
Haydock's commentary
Jonathan was taken. Though Jonathan was excused from sin, through ignorance of the prohibition, yet God was pleased on this occasion to let the lot fall upon him, to shew to all, the great obligation of obedience to princes and parents, (Challoner) the sacred nature of an oath, and at the same time to give Saul a warning not to swear rashly. (Calmet)
How must he have been afflicted, when he saw that he had brought his beloved son into such danger! (Menochius)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St John Chrysostom The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch, Homily XIV
12. Saul then having made this declaration, the people were more afraid than before, and all were in a state of great trembling and terror. But the devil rejoiced, at having rendered them all thus anxious. There was no one, we are told, of all the people, who answered. “And Saul said, Ye will be in bondage, and I, and Jonathan my son, will be in bondage.” But what he means is to this effect; “You are aiming at nothing else, than to deliver yourselves to your enemies, and to become slaves instead of free men; whilst you provoke God against you, in not delivering up the guilty person.” Observe also another contradiction produced by the oath. It had been fitting, if he wished to find the author of this guilt, to have made no such threat, nor to have bound himself to vengeance by an oath; that becoming less afraid, they might more readily bring the offender to light. …