2024-04-28 - 1 Samuel 20:9-?

9 But Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I knew certainly that evil was determined by my father to come upon you, then would I not tell you?”

10 Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me, or what if your father answers you roughly?”

11 And Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So both of them went out into the field.

They went to the field to further discuss and talk. This way none of Saul's spies would hear what was conversed next.

Next we see in verses 12-17 that Jonathan is going to review the covenant from 1 Samuel 18:1–4 Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 Saul took him that day, and would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore. 3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.” (Take a look at this to refresh our memories) that David had just reminded him of.

----------Pause----------

12 Then Jonathan said to David: “The Lord God of Israel is witness! When I have sounded out my father sometime tomorrow, or the third day, and indeed there is good toward David, and I do not send to you and tell you,

13 may the Lord do so and much more to Jonathan. But if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will report it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. And the Lord be with you as He has been with my father.

14 And you shall not only show me the kindness of the Lord while I still live, that I may not die;

Jonathan acknowledged that David would one day be king. And he asked for protection from Him when that day came.

15 but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever, no, not when the Lord has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.”

16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “Let the Lord require it at the hand of David’s enemies.”

17 Now Jonathan again caused David to vow, because he loved him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

After Jonathan reviewed the covenant and vowed himself again VS. 16, He asked David to vow again as well to uphold their covenant.

Jonathan says, even if I do die and I can’t serve along side of you when you are king, promise that you won’t kill my descendants and that you will take care of them.

We see later on that David does do this with Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9.

The MacArthur Bible Commentary 2. The Defense of David by Jonathan and Michal (19:1–20:42)

A deep concern and affection was the basis of the covenantal relationship between Jonathan and David. This is the affection commanded by God when He said, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:39).

----------Pause----------

18 Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon; and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.

19 And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed; and remain by the stone Ezel. (Ezel may mean “departure stone.”) The location of this stone is unknown today, but, in the day, it was a well-known landmark in the field where David was hiding.

20 Then I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target;

21 and there I will send a lad, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to the lad, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them and come’—then, as the Lord lives, there is safety for you and no harm.

22 But if I say thus to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you’—go your way, for the Lord has sent you away.

23 And as for the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed the Lord be between you and me forever.”

24 Then David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast.

----------Pause----------

25 Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty.

26 Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him; he is unclean, surely he is unclean.”

The MacArthur Bible Commentary 2. The Defense of David by Jonathan and Michal (19:1–20:42)

At first, Saul did not question David’s absence at the feast, assuming that he was ritually unclean and, thus, could not participate in the meal (cf. Lev. 7:20, 21; 15:16).

Be Successful (2. Saul—A Spiteful King (1 Sam. 20:24–42))

The feast consisted primarily of meat from the new moon fellowship offerings, and anyone ceremonially unclean was prohibited from participating. Perhaps David had touched something unclean, or he may have had relations with his wife. If so, all he had to do was separate himself from other people for that day, bathe his body, and change clothes, and he could come back into society the next day.

27 And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?”

Be Successful 2. Saul—A Spiteful King (1 Sam. 20:24–42)

when the men met for their meal the second day, again David was missing, which suggested to Saul that his son-in-law’s absence was caused by something more serious than simple ritual defilement. An unclean person could remove the defilement in a day, but David had been missing for two days.

Be Successful 2. Saul—A Spiteful King (1 Sam. 20:24–42)

Saul asked Jonathan why David was absent, disdainfully calling him “the son of Jesse” rather than by his given name that was now so famous. Later, Saul would try to humiliate the high priest, Ahimelech, by calling him “the son of Ahitub” (1 Sam. 22:11–12).

28 So Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem.

Be Successful 2. Saul—A Spiteful King (1 Sam. 20:24–42)

Jonathan also used a verb that means “to get away, to make a quick visit” so that Saul wouldn’t suspect David of going home for a long visit and rallying his own troops so he could seize the throne.

29 And he said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.”

30 Then Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?

Saul was cursing Jonathan and telling him that he was a shame to even his mother who birthed him. Why? B/C he had sided with Saul's enemy David.

Be Successful 2. Saul—A Spiteful King (1 Sam. 20:24–42)

When hateful feelings are in the heart, it doesn’t take much for angry words to come out of the mouth

Matthew 12:34–35 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.

Be Successful 2. Saul—A Spiteful King (1 Sam. 20:24–42)

Saul had probably been brooding over how David had insulted him by refusing to attend the feast, and the longer he brooded, the more the fire raged within. But instead of attacking David, King Saul attacked his own son! Had the Lord not intervened back in Ramah, Saul would have killed David in the very presence of the Prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 19:22–24), and now he reviled his own son while eating a holy feast!

In essence, Saul was saying:

Jonathan you are slandering your own mother

Jonathan's mother was

a common prostitute,

a rebel against the Law of Moses,

a woman who practiced perversion.

Because Jonathan helped David and didn’t protect his father’s throne, he had shamed his mother as much as if he had exposed her nakedness.

Jonathan's mother bore him to be the successor to his father, and now Jonathan had refused the crown in favor of the son of Jesse.

“You are no son of mine!”

“You must be illegitimate!”

----------Pause----------

31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.”

32 And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, “Why should he be killed? What has he done?”

33 Then Saul cast a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David.

Be Successful 2. Saul—A Spiteful King (1 Sam. 20:24–42)

The king’s tirade seems to disparage his own wife, but rightly understood, his words describe his son as the lowest of the low. According to Saul, Jonathan’s treachery in befriending David indicated that he was not Saul’s son at all but the son of some other man, for a son of Saul would never betray his father.

----------Pause----------

34 So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully.

Wouldn't you leave the table if your dad treated you like this and threw a spear at you to kill you?

35 And so it was, in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad was with him.

Be Successful 2. Saul—A Spiteful King (1 Sam. 20:24–42)

Jonathan waited until the next day and then went out into the field with one of his young attendants as though he were going to practice shooting arrows.

Be Successful (2. Saul—A Spiteful King (1 Sam. 20:24–42))

36 Then he said to his lad, “Now run, find the arrows which I shoot.” As the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.

37 When the lad had come to the place where the arrow was which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out after the lad and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”

38 And Jonathan cried out after the lad, “Make haste, hurry, do not delay!” So Jonathan’s lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master.

39 But the lad did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter.

40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad, and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.”

Be Successful

As he promised David, he shot three arrows (v. 20), one of which was sent far beyond the boy, making it necessary for Jonathan to shout to the lad. But his words were meant for David’s ears: “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t linger!” When the boy came back with the arrows, Jonathan gave him the bow and sent him back to the city, and then he ran out to meet David.

----------Pause----------

41 As soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another; and they wept together, but David more so.

The MacArthur Bible Commentary 2. The Defense of David by Jonathan and Michal (19:1–20:42)

bowed down three times. David’s bowing down more than once acknowledged Jonathan as the prince, and expressed humble affection for him.

Be Successful 2. Saul—A Spiteful King (1 Sam. 20:24–42)

This was not their last meeting (23:16–18), but it was certainly a profoundly emotional farewell. They both wept, but David wept the most. He didn’t know how many years of exile lay before him, and perhaps he might never see his beloved friend again.

Be Successful 2. Saul—A Spiteful King (1 Sam. 20:24–42)

Eastern peoples aren’t ashamed to weep, embrace, and kiss one another when they meet or when they part

42 Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, since we have both sworn (The oath they both made together) in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘May the Lord be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, forever.’ ” So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city (Gibeah).

Be Successful 2. Saul—A Spiteful King (1 Sam. 20:24–42)

Ten years later, the Philistines would kill Saul, Jonathan, and his brothers on the battlefield (1 Sam. 31:1–6).