שמואל א, פרק י״ט, פסוק ה׳

Jonathan presents King Saul with a sharp and thoughtful defense of David, highlighting his extreme self-sacrifice and the immense benefit his actions brought to both the nation and the king. To protect Israel, David willingly placed himself in mortal danger [רד״ק, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This extreme risk is compared to someone holding a precious object in an open, unprotected palm, where it can easily be snatched away or lost at any moment. In exactly this way, David exposed his own life to the immediate threat of destruction when he stepped forward to fight the Philistine [מצודת דוד].

Through this act, God brought a great salvation to all of Israel. Jonathan builds his defense using a very clever approach. Rushing into such extreme danger could easily have been viewed as reckless or careless on David's part. However, Jonathan takes this potential weakness and uses it to clear David's name and calm the king's hatred. He emphasizes that from this terrible danger came a double blessing: a widespread national benefit for the entire country, and a deeply personal benefit for Saul himself, who had watched the victory unfold and rejoiced [מלבי״ם].

Given these facts, Jonathan concludes with a clear challenge. Because David has done absolutely nothing to justify a death sentence, executing him would be completely baseless. Any harm done to him now would simply be the terrible sin of shedding innocent blood for no reason [מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ].