And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, Is this your voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.
Read Chapter 24
John Chrysostom
AD 407
What then did Saul say? Having heard David saying, “See, here is the corner of your cloak in my hand,” and everything else by which he mounted his defense along with this, he said, “Is this your voice, my child David?” O, what a great change had suddenly taken place: the one who could never bear even to call him by name, and instead hated the very mention of it, even admitted him to kinship, calling him “child.” What could be more blessed than David, who turned the murderer into a father, the wolf into a lamb, who filled the furnace of anger with heavy dew, turned the tempest into tranquility and allayed all the inflammation of resentment? Those words of David, you see, penetrated the mind of that enraged man and effected this total transformation, as you can see from those words. He did not even say, “Are these your words, my son David?” but “Is this your voice, my child David?” He was now heartened by his very utterance. Just as a father hears the voice of his son returning from somewhere and is excited not only at the sight of him but also at the sound of his voice, so Saul too, when David’s words penetrated and drove out the hostility, now recognized him as holy, and in setting aside one passion he was affected by another. That is to say, by driving out resentment he was affected by benevolence and fellow feeling. - "Homilies on David and Saul 3"
