Sermon Tone Analysis
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David and Jonathan’s friendship was formalized in a covenant—a binding commitment, an agreement, a formal obligation to one another.
And that covenant, reaffirmed and extended, is the focus of the chapter as a whole.
The word itself only occurs once (v.
8), but the provisions of he oath, the allusion to the Lord as witness, Saul’s knowledge of his son’s commitment to David, and Jonathan’s parting words at the end of the chapter make this clear:
1 Samuel 20 is about covenant.
David is running from Saul.
You remember why: Saul chucked a spear at David and few times, sent David into battle several times, ordered his men to kill David a handful of times.
David finally gets the “what”: Saul wants him dead.
David simply doesn’t understand the “why”.
Why does Saul want him dead?
David escapes Saul’s clutches and escapes, showing up at Jonathan’s house in Gibeah.
David doesn’t seem to understand why Saul wants him dead, he just knows he does.
And so he asks Jonathan, “What’s up with that?”
David turns to Jonathan, the friend who made a covenant (a binding agreement) with him.
The covenant they made had the Lord Yahweh has witness.
The covenant involved firm promises and solemn commitments.
This—covenant—is why David turns to Jonathan.
David could fall back on the covenant; covenant is a safe haven in a dangerous and crazy time.
What does covenant mean?
Security
Jonathan is not convinced that there is any real danger for David.
Saul hasn’t let Jonathan know about any new plot to kill David.
Jonathan assures David, saying: “You are not going to die!”
David replies, “There is only a step between me and death.”
In the verses we just read, David hatches a plan for the New Moon festival.
David’s gonna hide in a field and wait and see what Saul has to say.
David knows and tells Jonathan, “I’m supposed to dine with [Saul].”
Really?
After all that?!?
After all Saul’s attempts to kill David and have David killed?
David tells Jonathan Saul will have one of two reactions to David’s absence: he’ll be fine (“Very well”), or he’ll lose his temper.
This is where David pleads with Jonathan on the basis of covenant:
Outwardly, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to turn to the son of Saul for safety when Saul is out to get you.
But, Jonathan and David have a covenant, a covenant of which the Lord Yahweh is witness and guardian.
David turns to Jonathan because of the covenant they have.
There, with his friend and because of their covenant, David finds safety.
Security.
Security is no small thing.
The promise of security, the knowledge of security means a great deal.
In 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge was completed.
It cost $77 million.
It was built in two stages: the first slowly, and the second rapidly.
In the first stage, 23 men fell to their death.
And the work ground to a halt because fear paralyzed the workmen as they helplessly watched their companions plummeting from the structure to the water far below.
Finally, an ingenious person thought, “There needs to be a net.”
So they put together, for $100,000, the largest net ever built and hung that net beneath for the workmen.
When Phase 2 began, 10 workers were saved who fell into that net.
The work proceeded 25% faster until the job was done.
-Walter Knight
Security changes things.
The thought of no safety net caused the workforce to slow to a crawl.
Add a net, some safety and security, and it affected the productivity of the workmen.
Covenant security is what comforts David and assures him of his safety even in the midst of a madman like Saul.
Jonathan promises that he would never— “Never!” —harm David himself or hand him over to Saul.
In fact, once again, Jonathan speaks of the security their covenant provides: “If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?”
Covenant means security.
What does covenant mean?
Love
We might skip right past this part of David and Jonathan’s covenant if not for someone pointing it to us.
David expects Jonathan to act with hesed toward him because of their covenant.
Do you remember what hesed is? It’s an extremely important Hebrew word.
We’ve practiced saying it before.
English versions of the Bible vary in their translation.
The term occurs nearly 250 times in the OT.
The KJV translates hesed most of the time as “mercy.”
It’s “steadfast love” in the RSV.
It’s “lovingkindness” in the NASB and simply “love” in the NIV.
Lovingkindness is far and away my favorite translation of hesed.
Hesed carries the ideas of love, compassion, affection, loyalty, reliability, faithfulness.
Hesed isn’t merely love, but loyal love; not merely kindness, but dependable kindness; not merely affection, but committed affection.
Here in 1 Samuel, David appeals to Jonathan to treat him with hesed—a devoted love.
This is what their covenant assures.
The covenant gives him all the reason he needs to look for and depend upon hesed, devoted love.
Covenant and lovingkindness are corollaries.
Berit and hesed go together.
Jonathan’s covenant with David is an expression of love, but it’s also initiated by love.
The lesson is this: in confusion and trouble, when you’re fearful and uncertain, take yourself to the one person who has made a covenant with you.
David’s a young man, being hunted by the whackadoodle king of Israel.
His world is disintegrating, but there is still one word he can hang onto: hesed.
David’s covenant with Jonathan began with and was based on hesed—that “never-stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.”
(Sally Lloyd-Jones)
Because of covenant, for David, there was kindness in a terribly unkind world.
Amid all the forces of hate, there was love.
And it goes both ways.
Jonathan depends on the covenant love:
Covenant means love.
Jonathan has a plan all worked out for the day of the New Moon Festival:
That’s the plan, and here’s how it all plays out:
There were two possible responses from Saul.
Option 1, he’d be fine.
Option 2 (and probably more likely), he’d be ticked.
This we know about Saul at this point in his life: he’s an angry, tormented, madman.
Dude’s a lunatic:
Saul shouldn’t be allowed to have a spear.
There should have been some level of spear-control in the ANE, but the king would probably be above any such regulation.
Just like Saul chucking his spear at David, now he hurls the thing at his own son.
The plan hatched by Jonathan and David marches on:
David has his signal to leave when Jonathan calls out to the arrow-retrieving servant boy: Isn’t the arrow beyond you?
This might not have been the phrase David was hoping to hear, but at least it was clear to him.
David understood from this that Saul was still after him and that his covenant with Jonathan meant he was secure and loved.
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