It seems strange that Saul would have expected David to join him at the New Moon festival given the fact that he had very obviously sought to have him killed.1 Probably Saul expected David to blame Saul's most recent schemes on his ongoing challenges with the evil spirit (see 1 Samuel 16:14; 1 Samuel 18:10; 1 Samuel 10:9). Alternatively, it is possible that the narrator has ordered events out of sequence in order to legitimize David’s right to kingship and provide more insight into his and Jonathan’s character.2 Exactly where the event would then fit chronologically is unclear. It seems better, and more in keeping with the details of the text, to accept that the events described took place after the events from 1 Samuel 19:1–24.
27 But on the second day, the day after the new moon, David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has not the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”