Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David, You shall this day be my son-in-law a second time.
This chapter illustrates the fact that the godly often suffer through no fault of their own. It shows too that God causes even the worst intentions of the ungodly to strengthen the godly (cf. Psalms 7:12-16; Romans 8:28). We see here that the selfishness of the ungodly can produce irrational behavior (e.g., paranoia, 1 Samuel 18:12, and schizophrenia, 1 Samuel 18:11; 1 Samuel 18:17), and it leads to their ruin. I am not implying that this is the only cause of these mental problems. If we allow jealousy to take root in our hearts, it will devour us like a cancer. We should desire God’s glory, as Jonathan did, rather than our own glory, as Saul did.