Sworn Friendship

1 Samuel 20:1-42

Key Verse: 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.”

King Saul’s murderous pursuit for David’ life did not stop. David had to make a decision to flee from Saul’s grip for good.  Before his decision, he wanted to confirm Saul’s intention for sure.  Only Jonathan is trustworthy and  could help him to find out Saul’s deep inner motive.  In this passage, we can see a beautiful friendship between David and Jonathan.

Read verses 20:1-10. What is David’s desperate plea to Jonathan for his innocence? (1) What is Jonathan’s response to David’s pleading? (2)  How does David explain to Jonathan that his life is truly in danger and how does Jonathan respond? (3-10)

Read verses 20:1-10. 

Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?”

² “Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!”

³ But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”

⁴ Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.”

⁵ So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. ⁶ If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.’ ⁷ If he says, ‘Very well,’ then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. ⁸ As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the LORD. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”

⁹ “Never!” Jonathan said. “If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?”

¹⁰ David asked, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”

What is David’s desperate plea to Jonathan for his innocence? (1) 

“Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?” (1)  

David had no place to hide any more.  So he desperately made plea to Jonathan for his innocence.  David knew only Jonathan could understand and help him.

What is Jonathan’s response to David’s pleading? (2)  

² “Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!”

Jonathan was caught between his father and his best friend.  He still believed his father would not kill David.

How does David explain to Jonathan that his life is truly in danger and how does Jonathan respond? (3-10)

David explained that Saul may have hidden his intention from Jonathan because he knew Jonathan loved David. So David asked Jonathan to do a favor for him to find out Saul’s deep inner motives whether Saul truly wanted to kill him or not.  Only Jonathan, Saul’s most trusted son, could find out this. It is a difficult task for Jonathan and unless David trusted Jonathan deeply, he would not ask this.

Read verses 20:11-23.  How does Jonathan do to let his father’s intention toward David be revealed and what does he ask David? (11-15)  How does Jonathan make a covenant with house of David? (16-17)  What is Jonathan’s plan to save David in the New Moon feast(18-23)

Read verses 20:11-23.  

¹¹ “Come,” Jonathan said, “let’s go out into the field.” So they went there together.

¹² Then Jonathan said to David, “I swear by the LORD, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? ¹³ But if my father intends to harm you, may the LORD deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the LORD be with you as he has been with my father. ¹⁴ But show me unfailing kindness like the LORD’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, ¹⁵ and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family—not even when the LORD has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”

¹⁶ So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD call David’s enemies to account.” ¹⁷ And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.

¹⁸ Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon feast. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty. ¹⁹ The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. ²⁰ I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. ²¹ Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,’ then come, because, as surely as the LORD lives, you are safe; there is no danger. ²² But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, because the LORD has sent you away. ²³ And about the matter you and I discussed—remember, the LORD is witness between you and me forever.”

How does Jonathan do to let his father’s intention toward David be revealed and what does he ask David? (11-15)

He swore by God that he would do as David asked him to do and would find out his father’s intention.  He blessed David and asked him his kindness to his family.

 How does Jonathan make a covenant with house of David? (16-17)

¹⁶ So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD call David’s enemies to account.” ¹⁷ And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.

Jonathan’s love was truly sacrificial love toward David, his friend because humanly David was the enemy of his family and Saul’s dynasty, which he was supposed to inherit.

What is Jonathan’s plan to save David in the New Moon feast ? (18-23)

As David suggested, he would test Saul’s true intention and confirm it.

Read verses 20:24-34. What happens to the New Moon Feast? (24-29) When Jonathan explains to Saul why David is not coming, how does Saul respond? (30-31) How does Jonathan reason with Saul and what is Saul’s response?(32-33)  Why does not Jonathan eat at the second day of the feast? (34)

Read verses 20:24-34. 

So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon feast came, the king sat down to eat. ²⁵ He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan,^{[ HYPERLINK "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Samuel+20&version=NIV" \l "fen-NIV-7756a" \o "See footnote a" a]} 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.” 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 someone to bring him to me, for he must die!”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.

³⁴ Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.

What happens to the New Moon Feast? (24-29)

New Moon feast was day of each month consecrated to the Lord by the bringing of special sacrifices (Nu 28:11-15) and blowing of trumpets (Nu 10:10).  At the feast, normal work was stopped and people apparently enjoyed the feast, especially at the beginning of the seventh month (Lev 23:24-25, Nu 29:1-6).  At the New Moon Feast, Saul, Jonathan, and Abner had a celebration of the feast and David was also supposed to attend the feast.  However, he hid in the field and did not attend the feast.  For the second days in a row David’s absence raised Saul’s suspicion in the New Moon feast. 

 When Jonathan explains to Saul why David is not coming, how does Saul respond? (30-31) 

When Saul asked about absence of David, Jonathan made an excuse for David as he suggested. Then, Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan. He pointed out that neither Jonathan or his kingdom would be established as long as David lived and he even tried to kill Jonathan when he sided with David.  Saul clearly determined to kill David.

How does Jonathan reason with Saul and what is Saul’s response?(32-33) 

Jonathan asked his father, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father truly intended to kill David.

Why does not Jonathan eat at the second day of the feast? (34)

³⁴ Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.

Read verses 20:35-42.  How does Jonathan let David know Saul’s intention to kill him? (35-40)  How do Jonathan and David part each other? (41) What is Jonathan’s farewell word to David? (42)  What can learn from David and Jonathan’s friendship?

Read verses 20:35-42.  

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 about 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.^[ HYPERLINK "http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Samuel+20&version=NIV" \l "fen-NIV-7773b" \o "See footnote b" ^b]

How does Jonathan let David know Saul’s intention to kill him? (35-40)

As he made a covenant with David (20:21), Jonathan shot the arrow and called out after  the boy, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?”, which meant Saul intended to kill David.  Jonathan determined to save David in spite of his father’s intention.

  How do Jonathan and David part each other? (41)

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.

David appreciated for Jonathan’s love and favor and they knew that it would be the last time they see each other.

 What is Jonathan’s farewell word to David? (42) 

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. 

Jonathan loved David as a friend and saved him from his father’s anger.  

What can learn from David and Jonathan’s friendship?

Humanly they were rivals for the kingship.  No two kings can exist in a country, so they could not live on earth together under the heaven.  However, they overcame their own interest and loved each other.  Jonathan saved David’s life and helped him escape from his father. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)  David was the happy man who had a great friend like Jonathan.

Conclusion:  This chapter teaches us the beautiful friendship between David and Jonathan.  David trusted Jonathan deeply and asked him a favor and Jonathan did not hesitate to save David’s life without concerning of his own interest and his kingdom.  Jesus is our dearest friend who lay down his life for us.  Amen.

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