23:17 I shall be next to you. Though Jonathan will not survive to serve David (31:2), his readiness to let go of personal ambition for the sake of God’s chosen king (18:4; 20:13) is a foil to Saul’s desperate efforts to hang on to a kingdom that is no longer his (15:23).

Saul . . . knows this. See 20:30, 31. Saul’s refusal to accept his rejection (compare Eli’s response in 3:18) cannot be excused on the grounds that he does not know to whom the kingdom should go.