Who holds the edge
and what is left over?
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The entire royal family is drawn into David's orbit.
If Saul was the first to "love" David, now Jonathan's soul is "bound wth the soul of David""--an echo of Jacob's all-consuming love for Jonathan's ancestor Benjamin--his soul is bound with his soul (Genesis 44:30). "Jonathan loved David as himself," and indeed they are doppelgängers, David's fearless charge toward Goliath foreshadowed by Jonathan's own sortie against the Philistines, both united by an imminent sense of God's presence and involvement. Now the nation's former beloved hero strips himself to give all to the new beloved, taking "off the cloak and tunic he was wearing... together with his sword, bow, and belt."
As Jonathan gives all in love, Merav, Saul's older daughter, is offered to David as a wife, and Michal, his other daughter, "fell in love with David." The text is silent about whether David loves back. Vayichrot, the verb used for the covenant between Jonathan and David, is in the singular, indicating either complete merging--or one-sidedness.
To Saul, this is fatal attraction. The bons of love are a "snare", which he can only hope to turn against David rather than get caught in himself (regardless of the cruelty to his own daughter).
The dancing women--recalling the ambiguous salvation of Saul's tribe after the incident in Geva--are the trigger that turns love to jealousy, which quickly transforms to fear. Vayar 'see,' 'fear' is part of a key lexical set that revolves around eyes: who is seeing the whole picture, and who is right to be afraid?
David's playing, formerly a healing intimacy, becomes an opportunity for growing paranoia and attempted murder, as Saul attempts in vain to literally pin down his enigmatic rival. In the end, all he can do is "remove" David, as God has removed himself from Saul.
