Although he [Saul] was a king, he sinned if he killed the innocent. Finally, even David, when he was in possession of his kingdom and had heard that an innocent man named Abner was slain by Joab, the leader of his army, said, "I and my kingdom are innocent now and forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner," and he fasted in sorrow.

These things I have written not to disconcert you but that the example of kings may stir you to remove this sin from your kingdom, for you will remove it by humbling your soul before God.4 You are a man, you have met temptation—conquer it. Sin is not removed except by tears and penance. No angel or archangel can remove it; it is God himself who alone can say, "I am with you";(1 Cor 15:50) if we have sinned, he does not forgive us unless we do penance―St Ambrose of Milan

The nations that surrounded Judah rushed in with the sole intention of destroying the kingdom of Judah and of removing the sons of the kingdom from its midst. So too with their corruption they corrupted the high priests, scribes and Pharisees—and even the heretics. They forbade the sons of the kingdom (certainly, a reference to the leaders of that kingdom) from preaching or worshiping the grace of the Holy Spirit in their sincere heart. That is the meaning of their striking down Jonathan, "the gift of the dove." They forbade praising the Father through a worthy confession, who made us his sons not by nature but by adoption. The death of Abinadab pointed to this, for his name means "Father of his own volition." They resisted so that they would not believe in the salvation that was coming into the world through Christ‘s kingdom. The death of Malchishua pointed to this, since his name means "My king is my salvation." I believe that the philosopher who seduced Arius killed Malchishua, as it were, just as the one who seduced Macedonius killed Jonathan, and the one who seduced Mani killed Abinadab. I say that because the master of corruption taught Arius to deny the omnipotence of Christ the king, Macedonius to detract from the gift of the Holy Spirit, and Mani to blaspheme the goodness of our great God―Bede

Why, even now the followers of Simon [Magus] (Acts 8) are so confident of their art that they undertake to bring back the souls of the prophets from hell. And this, I believe, because their power lies in their ability to deceive. This power was actually granted to the witch of Endor, who brought back the soul of Samuel after Saul had consulted God in vain. Apart from that case, God forbid we should believe that any soul, much less a prophet, could be called forth by a demon. We are told that "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" (2 Cor 11:14)—and more easily into a man of light—and that at the end he will work marvelous signs and show himself as God, so much so that, "if possible, he will deceive even the elect." (Mt 24:24) He hardly hesitated to declare to Saul that he was the prophet [Samuel] in whom the devil was then dwelling.

So, you must not think that the spirit which created the apparition was different from the one who made Saul believe in it; but, the same spirit was in the witch of Endor and in the apostate [Saul], and so it was easy for him to suggest the lie that he had already made Saul believe. Saul‘s treasure, indeed, was then where his heart was (Mt 6:21), where God most certainly was not. Thus, he saw only the devil, through whom he believed he would see Samuel, for he believed in the spirit who showed him the apparition―Tertullian

That souls survive I have shown to you from the fact that the soul of Samuel was called up by the witch, as Saul demanded. It appears also that all the souls of similar righteous people and prophets fell under the dominion of such powers, which is certainly to be inferred from the very facts in the case of that witch. For this reason God, by his Son, also teaches us—for whose sake these things seem to have been done—always to strive earnestly and at death to pray that our souls may not fall into the hands of any such power—Justin Martyr

Also, some can be sent to the living from the dead, just as in the opposite direction divine Scripture testifies that Paul was snatched from the living into paradise (2 Cor 12:2). Samuel the prophet, although dead, predicted future events to King Saul, who was alive, although some think that it was not Samuel himself who was able to be called forth by some magic, but that some spirit so allied with evil works had feigned a likeness to him—yet the book of Ecclesiasticus, which Jesus the son of Sirach is said to have written, but because of some similarity of style is thought to be the work of Solomon, contains in praise of the fathers the fact that Samuel prophesied even though dead (Sir 46:16–20). If there is objection to this book on the ground that it is not in the canon of ancient Hebrew Scripture, what are we going to say of Moses, who in Deuteronomy is certainly recorded as dead and again in the Gospel of Matthew is reported to have appeared to the living along with Elijah who did not die—St Augustine

David had two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite, and Abigail, whom he took later. The first was somewhat severe, the other full of mercy and graciousness, a kindly and generous soul who saw the Father with face unveiled, gazing on his glory. She received that heavenly dew of the grace of the Father, as her name is interpreted. What is the dew of the Father but the Word of God, which fills the hearts of all with the waters of faith and justice?

Beautifully does the true David say to this soul what was said to Abigail: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me, and blessed be your customs." And again he says to her, "Go in peace into your house, behold now I have heard your voice and have honored your face." In the Canticles, too, these are the words of the bridegroom to his bride: "Show me your face and let me hear your voice." (Song 2:14)

Then she was sent away, since she had another husband who was called, in Hebrew, Nabal, which, in Latin, means foolish, harsh, unkind, ungentle, ungrateful, for he did not know how to show gratitude. Later, when her husband died, David the prophet took her as his wife, since she was set free from the law of her husband. Through this union is signified the mystery of the church of the Gentiles which would believe, for, after losing her husband to whom she was at first united, she made her way to Christ, bringing a dowry of piety, of humility and of faith, and enriched with the heritage of mercy―St Ambrose of Milan

For if it is a bad thing to flee, it is much worse to persecute. The one party hides himself to escape death, the other persecutes with a desire to kill. It is written in the Scriptures that we ought to flee; but he that seeks to destroy transgresses the law and also is himself the occasion of the other‘s flight. If then they [the Arians] reproach me with my flight, let them be more ashamed of their own persecution. Let them cease to conspire, and those who flee will immediately cease to do so. But they, instead of giving up their wickedness, are employing every means to obtain possession of my person, not perceiving that the flight of those who are persecuted is a strong argument against those who persecute. For no one flees from the gentle and the humane, but from the cruel and the evil-minded.

"Every one that was in distress and every one that was in debt" fled from Saul and took refuge with David. But this is the reason why these men [those persecuting Athanasius] desire to cut off those who are in concealment, that there may be no evidence forthcoming of their own wickedness. But in this their minds seem to be blinded with their usual error. For the more the flight of their enemies becomes known, so much the more notorious will be the destruction or the banishment which their treachery has brought upon them. So whether they kill them outright, their death will be the more loudly noised abroad against them, or whether they drive them into banishment, they will but be sending forth everywhere monuments of their own iniquity―St Athanasius

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―St Ambrose of Milan

Why do you grieve, my friend, when you yourself have suffered no misfortune? Why are you hostile to someone who is enjoying prosperity, when he has in no way caused your own possessions to decrease? If you are vexed even upon receiving a kindness [from the object of your spite], are you not quite clearly envious of your own good? Saul is an example of this. He made David‘s great favors to himself a motive for enmity with him. First, after he had been cured of insanity by the divine and melodious strains of David‘s harp, he attempted to run his benefactor through with a spear. Then, on another occasion, it happened that he and his army were delivered from the hands of the enemy and saved from embarrassment before Goliath. In singing the triumphal songs commemorating this victory, however, the dancers attributed to David a tenfold greater share in the achievement, saying, "Saul killed his thousands and David his ten thousands." For this one utterance and because truth itself was its witness, Saul first attempted murder and tried to slay David by treachery, then forced him to flee―St Basil the Great

You are human, and so you know other people only from the outside. You think as you see, and you see only what your eyes let you see. But "the eyes of the Lord are lofty." "Man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart." So "the Lord knows them that are his" (2 Tim 2:19) and roots up the plant which he has not planted. He shows the last to be first, he carries a fan in his hand to purge his floor. Let the chaff of light faith fly away as it pleases before every wind of temptation. So much the purer is the heap of wheat which the Lord will gather into his garner―Tertullian