1 Samuel 20 David Takes Opportunity to Meet Again With Jonathan
1 Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and went and said to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?” 2 So Jonathan said to him, “By no means! You shall not die! Indeed, my father will do nothing either great or small without first telling me. And why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!” 3 Then David took an oath again, and said, “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.’ But truly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”
“David fled’, whilst Saul lay in an ecstasy, ‘from Naioth in Ramah to Gibeah.’” (Poole) He took advantage of it. David “was evidently prompted to go there by the most generous feelings, to inform his friend of what had recently occurred, and to obtain that friend's sanction to the course he was compelled to adopt.” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown)
And David said to Jonathan, ‘What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before your father,’— what is it which thus incenseth thy father against me? what crime doth he charge me with? — ‘that he seeketh my life’, to wit, to destroy it, as this phrase is oft used, as 1 Samuel 22:23 Psalms 38:12 54:3 63:9.” (Matthew Poole) “The threefold question by which he appealed to the personal knowledge of Jonathan was a threefold denial of any [known] fault on his part.”(Paul E Kretzmann) Yet if there was a sin of omission, David wanted to know it!
“So Jonathan said to him, ‘By no means! You shall not die. Indeed my father will do nothing, either great or small, but he will show it me,’- a proof that Jonathan was, like Joseph before him, and like Daniel after him, eminently trustworthy, and as sound in judgment as he was noble in character. Guileless himself, he suspected no guile in his father; I will secure thee by my interest with my father; nor doth he design to destroy thee; for what he doth in his frantic fits is not to be imputed to him; and when he comes to himself, I doubt not to reconcile thee to him. For Jonathan gave credit to his father’s oath, 1 Samuel 19:6.” (Matthew Poole)
David's certainty can be attributed to his time at the school of the prophets. He knew of his coming exile. “Then David took an oath again,"- first acknowledging Jonathan’s ignorance of the plots by his father's design. "'But truly’: David was not able to take so favourable a view of Saul. So profound was his conviction to the contrary, that in giving his reason for believing that Saul had concealed from his son his real feeling in the matter, and the danger in which he was, he used the solemn language of adjuration: 'as Yahweh liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.’” (Expositor's Bible Commentary)
4 Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever your soul desires, I will even do it for you.”
Jonathan loved David’s soul- his person. If he ordered it, Jonathan would join a mutiny against his own father. Yet, David would not fight against his lord the king, but only wanted only to convince Jonathan of his own innocence and then flee, waiting on the Lord to exalt him. He would not harm Saul, nor damage his reputation. Saul's own deeds would do that.
Morning Repost: 1 Samuel 20 David Desired To Give Jonathan a Sign
5 And David said to Jonathan, “Indeed tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening. 6 If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked permission of me that he might run over to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’ 7 If he says thus: ‘It is well,’ your servant will be safe. But if he is very angry, be sure that evil is determined by him. 8 Therefore you shall deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. Nevertheless, if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?”
Before he fled, David wanted Jonathan to know that it was necessary. David felt an obligation to keep the feast of new moon at Saul's table. According to Numbers 10:9, trumpets were blown to call Yahweh to remembrance of His people in times of war of which David led out.
But also the feasts, like New Moon, were times of gladness and the same trumpets were to blow to call for a holy convocation of His people. “Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings.” (Num 10:10) “'Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly' (Joel 2:15). Here it is a matter of approaching God... We find similar thoughts in the New Testament. The alarm for conflict is alluded to in 1 Corinthians 14:8, so the trumpet must give no uncertain sound. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16, the trumpet of God is to sound to assemble the saints, whether dead or living, to meet the Lord at His coming again.” (F. B. Hole)
“The purpose of the festival was to enhance the unity of national life by reminding the Israelites that God's covenant with their ancestors was permanent and still binding upon the nation.” (Tyndale Bible Dictionary) "In pious families, it should seem by what is said of Jesse's household, these services were much attended to. Job's was of this kind. And was it not with an eye to Jesus, as a feast upon a sacrifice? The sacrifice was to be once offered. But the precious effects of it were to be continually eyed in solemn remembrance... Job 1:5.” (Hawker's Poor Man’s Commentary)
Jonathan pledged, "Whatever you say, I will do for you"— David said, "’Tomorrow is the new moon.’ (5)— “the first day of the month, which was kept solemnly with burnt offerings and peace offerings." (John Gill) See Numbers 10:10 and Numbers 28:11-15 for Mosaic laws pertaining to that day.— “and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat”— David was officially part of the royal family. He desire to sit and eat with Saul at his table, as was his custom, but only if the king desired it in truth.
“But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening.” “His meaning is not that he should hide himself in any certain place all the three days, but that he should secure himself, either at Bethlehem with his friends [family], or in any other place, till the third day.” (Matthew Poole) Then he would come hither. “If thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked [leave] of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city: for [there is] a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.” (John Trapp)
This feast was a time, like at Naioth in Ramah with the prophets, which the Spirit was active. So hostility then would mean that Saul was determined. “‘If he say thus, ‘It is well’; thy servant shall have peace,’ it would be evident that Saul's hostile disposition showed itself only during his attacks of rage [and he would come]; ‘but if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him’, that the destruction of David was a settled thing in Saul's mind. ‘Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant’, show him merciful kindness; ‘for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the Lord with thee’; it was on the basis of this covenant of friendship that David appealed to Jonathan. ‘Notwithstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself’, in case of a trespass on his part, he would rather die by the hand of his friend; ‘for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father?’” (The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann)
Morning Repost: 1 Samuel 20: Two Houses United by an Israelitish Oath
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. 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; 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.”
It seems that Jonathan had the Spirit of prophecy, like the prophets. He knew that David was Yahweh’s anointed king. “There was a dreadful premonition on Jonathan's part that Saul's enmity against David would terminate in Saul's being ‘cut off from the face of the earth.’” (Coffman Commentary) Yet: "Though it should seem, he knew that David would be his father's successor in the kingdom; yet there is no jealousy on his part. His love for David [and their mutual love for Yahweh] threw all other considerations to the ground. ” (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary)
If there was iniquity in David, Jonathan was instructed not take him to his father, but slay him by his own hand. But Jonathan answered , “Far be it from you!” “I abhor the thoughts of either killing thee myself, or giving thee up to my father to slay thee.” (Poole) “There was no sin for which David was bound to atone by death… ‘for if I knew certainly that evil was determined by my father to come upon you, then would I not tell you?' It is a solemn protestation, with the force of an oath.” (Paul E. Kretzmann)
David foresaw danger for not only himself but also for Jonathan, his friend. “Then David said to Jonathan, ‘Who will tell me, or what if your father answers you roughly?’ And Jonathan said to David, ‘Come, let us go out into the field’, namely, out of the city of Gibeah, or the royal residence therein, where this conversation was held. It certainly accords with David’s words to suppose that they wished to escape from observation (Then.), in order to speak further undisturbedly of the matter, and to think over ways and means (Berl. Bib.); but at the same time the context suggests as another aim, that Jonathan wished to point out what he thought a fit place wherein to give his friend by a trustworthy sign the desired information, comp. 1 Samuel 20:19-24. “ (Lange's Commentary)
“‘And Jonathan' [-the brave warrior-] said unto David, in a solemn invocation and vow before ‘Jehovah God of Israel,’” (Kretzmann) to whom he would answer for any transgression on his part. These words portray “how much he felt his friend’s doubts, and how sincere he was, he invokes evil on himself if he fails to tell all.“ (Alexander MacLaren)— “When I have sounded out”— sifted “my father, as opportunity shall serve, thrice” (Haydock)— and indeed there is good toward you, and I do not send to you and tell you, may the LORD do so and much more to me.
“Then the other case is then added without anadversative particle: ‘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.’” (Keil & Delitzsch)
“And the LORD be with you as He has been with my father.” “These words, according to Keil, express the presentiment in Jonathan’s soul that David was yet to occupy the throne of Israel.” (Daniel Whedon)
“Much joy mayest thou have of the kingdom after him; and the will of the LORD be done, whatever becometh of me.“ (John Trapp)
Jonathan promises to tell David his father's intentions. That David would spare Jonathan had been established but now, David was to extend the benefits to his seed. “And you shall not only show me the kindness of the LORD while I still live, that I may not die; but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever.” “So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, ‘Let the LORD require it at the hand of David’s enemies.’” “The covenant which before was personal, he now extends to the whole house of David, expecting a reciprocal enlargement of it on David’s side, which doubtless he obtained.” (Matthew Poole)
1 Samuel 20: The Oath Confirmed and the Plan Made
17 Now Jonathan again caused David to vow, because he loved him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul. 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. 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.”
Jonathan chose Yahweh’s anointed over himself deferring the riches and honor of this world to heaven. He was heir apparent to the throne of Israel by man’s reckoning, but he had cast his lot— his hope of future life— with David, Yahweh's anointed king. Therefore he “‘caused David to swear again’ that there might be a sure and steadfast league with him...” (Trapp)— “‘because he loved him’; and desired his exaltation in Israel, requiring only that he in return honour him and his descendants during his lifetime.
“Then Jonathan said to David, ‘Tomorrow is the New Moon’;— the feast which you mentioned—‘and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.’ I will surely miss you. ‘And when you have stayed three days’; in Bethlehem as you bade me tell your father, 1 Samuel 20:6, "else we must charge him with a downright lie.“ (Matthew Poole)—
"go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed"; our first such meeting; "and remain by the stone Ezel." (‘haa-'Aazel’ Heb)- [prophetically called] ‘the stone of departure’ (Gesenius); so called, probably, from its being the spot whence David separated from his friend.”(Jamieson-Fausset-Brown) Or perhaps the name “commemorated some [other] well known ‘departure’ in the past.” (Peter Pett)
Arrows— “The signal by which David would know whether or not he was an outlaw condemned to flee from the wrath of the king.. ” (Coffman Commentary) Yahweh had spoken of His enemies thus, “I will heap disasters on them; I will spend My arrows on them.” (Deuteronomy 32:23) It indicated certain judgment of God. “We can compare how Elisha arranged for Joash to shoot an arrow as an acted out prophecy of coming victory for him and coming judgment on his enemies (2 Kings 13:14-19).” (Peter Pett) But here are the fiery darts of the wicked one. Thus in this case arrows that went their full length indicated Saul’s judgment determined on David, whereas arrows that fell short indicated that such judgment was not intended upon him by the sitting king of Israel.
If David did not see them, Jonathan’s words would be the guide. There would be no mistake. Either “come”... or the king’s judgments have reached you- “go your way, for Yahweh has sent you away.”
A Greater than David would eventually sit on David’s throne. Jonathan had respect unto the recompense of that eternal reward.
“‘And as for the matter which you and I have spoken of,’— the covenant they had made between them and their families—
'indeed the LORD be between you and me forever’: as a witness of the covenant, and a revenger of those that should break it...” (Gill) unless they repent of evil deeds as the repentant the on the cross did, saying: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42)
My Parting- My Personal Testimony
There comes a time when parting is part of a calling. I know this all too well, but it was needful. Yes, it is dark and lonely, and the future is unknown. Bonds of friendship seem hurt. But I have cast my bread upon the waters, with a promise "for you will find it after many days." (Ecclesiastes 11:1) I have hurt some, no doubt; I am sorry. New ties have not been fully developed. At the same time, to others with no bond in Christ, life seems to go on a usual, as it did to the young lad in the story. He didn’t have a clue as to what was happening. Here is a look at the world. “How little the lad realized the tragedy which was taking place beneath the calm beauty of that morning dawn! The birds were singing and the flowers were unfolding to the sun as usual; but to the two friends the sun was darkened and a pall lay over nature.” (F. B. Meyer) I will also now stay on fb but not post my morning meditations. They are on my site. See uploads for the latest.
"Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad, and said to him, 'Go, carry them to the city.' 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. Then Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, since we have both sworn 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." (1 Sam. 20:40-43)
For Jonathan and David: "When the hour of parting came, the two fond hearts were well-nigh broken.” (F.B. Meyer) They must see each other again! I omitted it but, in 1 Samuel 20:24-39, the words of David came true. Saul’s judgment against David was determined by the king. And Jonathan’s plan to inform him was executed flawlessly. But this farewell in the last three verse was not part of the script; it came from the emotions of the situation. They had planned to not see each other for safety’s sake. Yet, the brave warriors were taken by emotions and had to embrace.
“‘And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south’, for on that side of the rock he had concealed himself, ‘and fell on his face to the ground [in the open], and bowed himself three times’, both to do Jonathan honor and gratefully to acknowledge his efforts in his behalf. ‘and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded’, until David broke out in loud weeping.” (Kretzmann)
“‘David exceeded’ [in weeping] ; as well he might, because he was driven away, not only from his dear friend Jonathan, but also from his wife, and all his relations, and from the commonwealth of israel, and from the service of God; as he acknowledges below, 1 Samuel 26:19.” (Poole)
"May Yahweh be between you and me,” — “not as a divider but as a medium of communication. Are the arrows beyond thee? [Are you and your works judged wrongly by others? Are required by the Spirit to leave your family or friends in church for your conscience's sake?] Be of good cheer; there is something beyond their farthest reach. God is beyond, a kingdom is beyond, songs of overflowing ecstasy are beyond! Arise and go forth into the unknown. If thou shalt take the wings of the morning, thou canst not outstrip the love of God.” (F. B. Meyer)— “and", may it be, "between your descendants and my descendants, forever.”
“‘So he arose and departed’; that is, David arose from the ground, and took his leave of Jonathan, and departed into the country for the safety of his person and life: ‘and Jonathan went into the city’; into the city of Gibeah, where Saul dwelt.” (John Gill) They were both believers with different callings. “God was leading David forth to lay the foundations of the kingdom of the Messiah.” (F. B. Meyer) But Jonathan was the son and soldier of Saul, required of Him to submit to "the domestic authority of his father, and to the civil authority of his king, by obeying Saul, except when obedience to Saul conflicted with obedience to God (cf. 1 Peter 2:13-17).” (Thomas B. Constable) Yet, they were of the same Spirit— one in Christ.
“Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."(Hebrew 13:12-16)