1 Samuel 20:24-42 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 20:24-42. As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first. See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
1 Samuel 20:24-29 (NIV)
24 So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon festival came, the king sat down to eat.
25 He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan, and Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty.
26 Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean–surely he is unclean.”
27 But the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”
28 Jonathan answered, “David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem.
29 He said, ‘Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
On verses 24-29: Here we see Jonathan protecting David as he had promised and speaking to his father on David’s behalf. Jesus does the same for us (see 1 John 2:1).
1 Samuel 20:30-31 (NIV)
30 Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you?
31 As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send and bring him to me, for he must die!”
On verses 30-31: Saul sensed Jonathan’s affinity to David and was jealous. In verse 30 Saul tells Jonathan that Jonathan is bringing shame to himself and his family by siding with David. In verse 31 Saul says that as long as David lives, Jonathan’s kingdom will not be established. But Saul was short-sighted and wrong. It is true that Jonathan sought to establish David’s kingdom instead of his own. Saul thought Jonathan was being foolish, but it was the wisest move Jonathan ever made. For as a result, though Jonathan never became the king of Israel himself, he stands as one of the greatest men in the Bible, a co-heir of God’s kingdom, and one of the most Christ-like men in all the Old Testament. Jonathan traded a kingdom that wouldn’t last for a kingdom that would last forever. Likewise, when you seek first Christ’s kingdom and live for His honour, God in turn will honour you (see John 12:26).
1 Samuel 20:32-33 (NIV)
32 “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father.
33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.
On verses 32-33: Under the pressure of not seeing David as he had planned, Saul has an angry, violent outburst. What can we learn from this? Pressure has this way of revealing what is truly in our hearts.
1 Samuel 20:34-42 (NIV)
34 Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the month he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.
35 In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him,
36 and he said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
37 When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?”
38 Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master.
39 (The boy knew nothing of all this; only Jonathan and David knew.)
40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, “Go, carry them back to town.”
41 After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side [of the stone] and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together–but David wept the most.
42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.'” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.
On verses 34-42: Seeing that his father really was intent on killing David, Jonathan advises David to flee for safety. Their sad parting in verses 41-42 shows just how much David and Jonathan meant to each other. Yet Jonathan was still able to tell David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship in the name of the Lord…The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever” (v42).
What can we learn from this? All of us one day will need to say goodbye to those we love. But when you are friends “in the name of the Lord” — that is, both of you have placed your trust in the Lord — that friendship is truly forever (v42). When you are friends in the name of the Lord, you can live with the confidence and hope that while you are apart, God will take care of both of you, and even if you can’t see each other again on earth, one day you will be with each other again in heaven.
Father, thank You that the wisest thing I can do is to side with Your Son Jesus and live to establish His kingdom, not my own. In doing so, I’m making my own inheritance permanently secure as well. Thank You so much for the friends I have in You and because of You. Thank You that those friends really are forever. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
