The inquiring mind might well ask, Why did God permit the lot to fall on Jonathan instead of Saul, seeing the former was innocent and the latter had many times shown clear evidence of his guilt? Certainly God had not approved of the oaths Saul had taken (vs. 24, 39), and most certainly He was not agreeing to the execution of Jonathan after so miraculously directing him during the day. But as in Christ’s day, by permitting the innocent One to be condemned, God exposed the evil course of Israel’s leaders, so now, by permitting the lot to fall on the innocent Jonathan, God most effectively exposed the evil course of the king. Saul, who had begun his reign in all humility, had now fallen into a hopeless state of self-justification. Unless some extraordinary experience should expose him in such a way as to shake him out of his delusion that a king could do no wrong, Saul would soon ruin his usefulness as a leader.