1 Samuel 20
Ambrose of Milan · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
1 Samuel 20:12-13
But good will also goes together with generosity, for generosity really starts from it, seeing that the habit of giving comes after the desire to give. But generosity may be distinguished from good will. For where generosity is lacking, there good may abide—the parent, as it were, of all in common, uniting and binding friendships together. It is faithful in counsel, joyful in times of prosperity, and in times of sorrow sad. So it happens that any one trusts himself to the counsels of a man of good will rather than to those of a wise one, as David did. For he, though he was the more farseeing, agreed to the counsels of Jonathan, who was the younger. — On the Duties of the Clergy 1.32.167
1 Samuel 20:30-34
For that commendable friendship which maintains virtue is to be preferred most certainly to wealth or honors or power. It is not apt to be preferred to virtue indeed, but to follow after it. So it was with Jonathan, who for his affection's sake avoided neither his father's displeasure nor the danger to his own safety. — On the Duties of the Clergy 3.21.124
1 Samuel 20:30-34
Who would not have loved him [David], when they saw how dear he was to his friends? For as he truly loved his friends, so he thought that he was loved as much in return by his own friends. No, parents put him even before their own children, and children loved him more than their parents. Therefore Saul was very angry and strove to strike Jonathan his son with a spear because he thought that David's friendship held a higher place in his esteem than either filial piety or a father's authority. — On the Duties of the Clergy 2.7.36