Covenant, Chesed, and Christ (pt.II)
1 Samuel • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 6 views“In 1 Samuel 20, cḥesed is covenant love that proves dependable in uncertainty, radical in faithfulness, costly in commitment, and anchoring in peace—ultimately fulfilled in Christ, the covenant-keeping Friend.”
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When life unravels, covenant holds. That’s what David discovers as Saul’s rage drives him into hiding and fear. In Jonathan, David finds a friend bound to him by covenant faithfulness—a reminder that God’s love toward His people is steadfast, loyal, and sure. When our hearts are unsettled, covenant becomes our comfort.
Turn with me to 1 Samuel 20.
Covenant and Comfort (v.1-9)
Covenant and Comfort (v.1-9)
Remember that at the end of the last episode, so to say, Saul is seeking David’s life, pursuing him to Naioth. But, God graciously intervenes, strips Saul bare, and causes him to prophesy instead of pummeling David. From there, David flees to Jonathan, his tried and true trusted ally in all of this.
He asks, “What have I done? What is my guilt?” He wants to know how he has transgressed Saul, Jonathan’s father, to bring this murderous pursuit upon himself. Jonathan tries to sooth the situation — you’re not going to die! I know everything my father does, and I’d know if he was going to kill you.
David’s not buying it, not because he doesn’t trust Jonathan, but because of what he knows about Saul. After three hurled spears, I’d doubt your intentions as well. He essentially tells Jon, “Your dad knows how close we are. He’s protecting you by not telling you, but I’m serious when I say, one misstep and I’m done for.”
So, Jonathan asks for David’s plan, and David lays it out: the New Moon is coming up, and I’m not going (obvi reasons). When I’m not there, let’s see how Saul responds. He’ll ask you why I’m not there, so tell him I had to go sacrifice with my family…tell him I begged you to go…and see how he responds. If it’s cordial, no big deal, then we’ll know it’s fine. But if he responds in anger, we’ll know his true intentions.
Then he appeals to covenant faithfulness between the two.
Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you.
But if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?”
A covenant binds two parties together in deep, solemn commitment. It often included signs and often sacrifice. We see this prominently in God’s covenant with Abraham. When a covenant sacrifice was made, the animal was split in two, and the parties passed between the halves of the dead animal. It was a way of saying that the covenant was bound by life itself. It’s one of the reasons we say in marriage ceremonies — until death do us part.
For David, this covenant was a “bastion of certainty, a safe haven” during a time when he is literally running for his life. And because of this deep dedication to one another, David appeals to Jonathan — show me chesed. This is a rich word in the Hebrew, one we’ve talked about before, but we typically see it in reference to God and His dealings with His people. The term is equal parts love, loyalty, grace, and mercy. There may not be a single term equal to it in the English language. It is the type of rich commitment that transcends transgression and perseveres until the end. That is why it is frequently used in connection to God’s covenantal love for His people.
Lastly, the covenant is a “covenant of YHWH.” This is why David can appeal to that devoted love. God Himself is the protective witness in their commitment to one another.
As we contemplate the covenant between Jonathan and David, we should remember that the text is doing more than describing a friendship. It’s reminding us of a deeper theological truth: we can run to covenant faithfulness when life feels like a row boat caught in a hurricane storm surge.
Now before you say, “Yeah, but I don’t have any friends like that.” Well, have I got some good news for you. First:
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Who does this refer to? I think its fullest expression is pointing us to Jesus:
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
There is an invitation in the death of Christ…an invitation to come to Him and receive His grace and His mercy and His life, to be co-seated, co-raised, co-heirs with Him in the forever kingdom…an invitation to enter into a covenant relationship with Jesus where we know His love and mercy and grace and loyalty. Those who enter into this covenant relationship have a refuge that is constant, a safe harbor, and lighthouse in the storms of life, a place of retreat to run to when life feels like it’s just out to get you. And, this covenant provides the hope of eternal life, even if this life does “get you,” Jesus gives us a hope that says even if this world takes my life from me, so be it, for to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Second, once we receive the eternal hope of a covenant relationship with Jesus, we also receive a whole host of brothers and sisters in Christ. We share an eternal relationship with them, and we truly should be to one another David’s and Jonathan’s.
Covenant and Faithfulness
Covenant and Faithfulness
If you told the story of chapter 20 and left out verses 12-17, would it really make a difference? Honestly, you’d go from the plan put in place to the plan carried out. So, why does the writer interrupt the normal narrative to include this? Maybe it’s more instructive than we would initially think.
First, Jonathan goes on record through an oath that he is committed to David. He calls God to witness his commitment, and says that when he’s “sounded out” or examined and questioned his father about the matter, he will indeed report back to David. In essence, Jon is saying that what he did for David in 19:2-3, he will always do for David. Again, this is why I say Jonathan might be the best among men, save JTB. You don’t save your rival — you destroy him. It’s this type of chesed commitment to David that will actually enrage Saul against his own son…more on that in a moment.
Then, when we get to vv.14-16, we see that Jonathan is fully aware of what may…what WILL come because of his covenant with David. There will be a time when he is the man on the run. Jonathan is aware that David will come to power, and he asks that David repay him with chesed kindness, just as Jonathan has shown David. And it’s here that we see David’s faithfulness. If Jonathan is a fool for protecting his rival, David is a fool for not purging the kingdom of his when he comes to power. While everyone else in the ancient world knew the political policy “liquidate and eliminate,” here are two bound by covenant, expressed through chesed kindness, trampling common customs.
And sure, we don’t live on the cusp of changing monarchies and kingdoms. No matter, for consider two things, one practical and the other theological.
First, there is an aspect of this covenant faithfulness present when, say, we pledge ourselves to one another — in sickness and in health. Have you ever seen and husband care for his wife or a wife care for her husband even when perhaps late stages of dementia or alzheimers has set in? How they will not leave the side of their spouse? How they care for them often at their own expense? And, it’s odd how soon a spouse may pass after finishing the care for their elderly partner, as if their work was finished, their mission done, their covenant chesed fulfilled.
But second, we cannot read the accounts of David without also casting an eye again to the Greater David, his descendant, Jesus Himself. We are reminded that in placing our faith in His finished work, He will never leave us, never forsake, but we are safe and securely His. He who began a good work in us is faithful to complete it. We are sealed by His Spirit for the day of redemption. And this covenant rests solely in His blood and in His faithfulness. We are secure because we are united with Christ and He cannot deny Himself.
David’s faithfulness to Jonathan is expressed in his kindness to Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s crippled son who is discovered by David and brought to king’s table, seated at a table where he does not belong, eating in the presence of a king whose company he does not deserve.
That’s our story. I love the way it’s expressed in a song by the band Leeland, reflecting on Mephibosheth and also our own relationship with Christ:
I’m carried to the table,
Seated where I don’t belong.
Carried to the table,
Swept away by His love.
And I don’t see my brokenness anymore,
When I’m seated at the table of the Lord.
Has the grace of Christ carried you, broken by sin and left lame by the world, to His table of mercy where He will never cast you away from His presence? If not, would you turn and surrender to Jesus today?
Covenant and Cost
Covenant and Cost
David and Jonathan put a plan in place that will communicate to David, either come back or fly like the wind. Jon arrives for the party, and it’s pretty business as usual. Saul’s in his seat, Abner’s present, Jonathan is there, but David’s chair is empty. Saul’s first inclination is inclination is that David is ritually unclean. David’s commitment to YHWH is no secret, and Saul apparently knows David wouldn’t offend God through ritual uncleanness.
But day two rolls around, and Saul finally asks about David. This is just as David thought, so now we are waiting on Saul’s response — calm or chaos?
When Saul gives the pre-planned excuse, the test for Saul’s true intentions, notice what happens:
Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan…
Jonathan is committed, yes to David, but consider also that he committed to YHWH above all:
He is committed to God’s servant David.
He is committed to God’s word and the fact that Saul has been rejected and the kingdom promised to David.
He is committed to God’s kingdom, forsaking any personal “right” to the throne.
In Jonathan, we see a bit of the character of Christ and His Christians — he is emptying himself of any personal claim, that’s Jesus (Phil.2:7) — and the call of Christianity as he willingly suffers the loss of all things for the sake of the kingdom (Phil.3:8).
Jonathan’s selflessness and commitment to YHWH incited what can only be described as murderous rage from Saul. He attacks Jon’s character — “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman!” He tries to shame Jon — “You chose the son of Jesse to your own shame,” and tries to use his mother as guilt — “and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness!” In a move not unlike Satan himself, he appeals to Jonathan’s greed and pride — “neither you nor your kingdom shall be established.” Finally, a move we’ve seen frequently before:
But Saul hurled his spear at (Jonathan) to strike him.
So Jonathan’s response? The renowned man of war, utterly capable on the battlefield? Oh, he was angry alright, but it seems he…fasted?…and instead responded in grief for David because Saul had disgraced him.
In all of this, it seems Jonathan instructs us through example in at least two way. First,
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
Second, this life is not about us. It’s about the glory, fame, and honor of Christ. As Jesus Himself even taught us to pray:
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
This life isn’t about us. It’s not about our position. It’s not about our kingdoms. It’s about God, and our aim is simply faithfulness and surrender to Him, living in such a way that we proclaim Jesus as the greatest Treasure and love in our lives.
Covenant and Peace
Covenant and Peace
As the narrative comes to a conclusion, Jonathan goes out and through signal, lets David know — your life is in danger. It’s time to flee. And, as they part ways, Jonathan gives an almost comedic good-bye:
“Go in peace…”
It’s comedic because it’s ironic. As David leaves, he will know nothing of the sort for the next 15 years of his life. He will know conflict. He will know strife. He will know difficulty. He will know danger. He will know everything that seems the opposite of peace. How, then, can Jonathan send him away with such a good-bye?
The verse goes on to say,
“Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord,”
Once again, it’s covenant. Covenant establishes peace even when the world is thrown to chaos.
This is the picture of peace that we have in covenant with Christ. We are not promised the absence of conflict. Quite the opposite. As we studied just a couple of weeks ago, we are saved to suffer that we might be sanctified. But the peace of Christ runs deeper than the absence of conflict. Yes, there is a joy that is deeper than the struggle of our circumstances. There is a comfort that last longer than the chaos of our current conundrums. There is a hope that hangs on in the midst of our horrors. There is an easement that erases the pain of our errors.
There is a King who is sitting on His throne who has entered into covenant chesed relationship with us, and He will never fail us, He will never let us down, and He will never let us go.
He is our rock.
He is our fortress.
He is our strong deliverer.
And He has bound Himself to us in love. So let us find solace in His never stopping, never giving up, never ending love.
Conclusion/Wrap-up
The story of David and Jonathan reminds us that covenant love is both our refuge and our calling. In seasons of fear, like David, we can find comfort in the steadfast faithfulness of God—a covenant love that shelters us when life feels unsafe. In Jonathan, we see the beauty of covenant faithfulness, a love that sacrifices personal ambition for the sake of God’s kingdom and commits to another’s good no matter the cost. Their bond foreshadows the greater covenant we have in Christ, whose loyal love secures our place at His table and whose faithfulness never fails, even when ours does. Following Him means embracing that same costly love—laying down pride, comfort, and self for the glory of our King. And though the path of obedience may lead through suffering and loss, covenant peace remains unbroken, because Christ Himself is our peace. Bound to Him by grace, we rest secure in His steadfast, unending chesed.
