1 Samuel 14:44

Die. We may here admire the respect which the ancients had for an oath, without seeking for any modification; and the blindness of Saul, who condemns his son with as much haste as he had pronounced the curse, thinking thus to honour God. The thing surely required some deliberation, and he ought to have consulted the Lord about it. The action of Jonathan was not criminal, and the former silence of God did not prove that he deserved death. (Calmet) --- If it had, the people would never have been able to have rescued him, no more than the unhappy Achan, Josue vii. (Haydock) --- If Saul had been more enlightened, and more humble, he would have concluded that God was displeased at him, and not at Jonathan. (Calmet) --- Yet Cajetan and Serarius find fault with the latter. (Menochius)