1 Samuel 20:14-15

The construction of this passage is very difficult if we retain the three negatives of the Masoretic text; but most commentators, following the reading of the Syriac as regards at least one of them, consider that the Masorites have been mistaken in the vowels which they have attached to the consonants (see on 1 Samuel 1:7 ). Read with other vowels, two of these negatives become interjections of desire— O that ; and the whole may be translated, "And O that, while I still live, yea, O that thou wouldst show me the kindness of Jehovah,— i.e. great unfailing kindness, such as was that of Jehovah to Israel,—that I die not, nor shalt thou cut off thy kindness from my house forever." It was the sanguinary custom in the East on a change of dynasty to put all the seed royal to death. As then Jonathan foresaw that it was Jehovah's will to transfer the kingdom to David, he binds him by the memory of his own true love to him to show mercy to his race.