1 Samuel 20:1-23

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are at 1 Samuel chapter 20, verses 1 through 23. We're going to talk about Saul's boy, Jonathan. Find out what he's got to do with this other anointed king, even though his dad is king. So, let's have some coffee. We'll pray. We'll get into God's Word. I already had enough coffee. Okay. You want to pray or would you like me to pray? I can pray? All right.
God, we thank you so much for the blessing of being able to read your word, and we thank you for the blessing of giving us your word. We pray that your Holy Spirit would please teach us, instruct us, lead us, help us, Lord, in how we are to think, behave, even feel about things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Here we go. 1 Samuel chapter 20. We'll just go kind of paragraph by paragraph like normal.
Then David fled from Naoth and 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? 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. 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. So Jonathan said to David, Whatever you yourself desire, I will do it for you. 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, and I may hide in the field until the third day at evening. If your father misses me at all, then say, David earnestly asked permission. of me that he may run over to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.
And 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. 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?
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? 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. So both of them went out into the field. Then Jonathan said to David, Jehovah, 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 sin to you and tell you. May Yehovah do so 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. And you shall not only show me the kindness of Jehovah while I still live, that I may not die, but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever." No, not when Jehovah has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.
So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David saying, let Jehovah require it at the hands of David's enemies. Now Jonathan again caused David to vow because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul. Then Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, because your seat is empty.
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 as zeal. Then I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target, and there I will 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. But if I say this to the young man, Look, the arrows are beyond you, go your way, for the Lord has sent you away. And as for the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed the Lord be between you and me forever. Okay, so we'll go ahead and stop there and we'll ask ourselves our three questions. A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize? And C, what are we called to do? All right, so what's this about Deborah?
Jonathan and David make a covenant. Why would they make a covenant? Because they're They're friends, and Jonathan's dad is trying to kill David. Yeah, right. And so David's even like, Jonathan's like, no, my dad's not trying to kill you. And David's like, yes, he is.
I'm telling you so. And so Jonathan comes up with a plan, right? Like, hey, I'll tell him you're going to go to Bethlehem for a sacrifice, and I'll see how he responds. and we'll have like this code. We'll meet in the field and if it's good, I'll tell you. If it's bad, I'll send you away. I'll protect you but somehow Jonathan knows that David's the rightful king. So you're right.
They make a covenant. God has inclined Jonathan's heart to David and they love each other. They're like best bros. Live and die for each other. so they make this covenant, they love one another, but is a covenant just for Jonathan? Who's it for? David. Well, it's for David and Jonathan, yeah, but it's also for Jonathan.
His kids. Yeah, it's his family, right? Like, remember my family when you become king. It's kind of like, In Lord of the Rings, when there's like that moment that, who's the king of Gondor, or the son of the king, he's not really king, but son of the king of Gondor, who fails Frodo. Boromir? Is that it? I don't remember his name. Boromir, right? And Boromir is like, you know, he's supposed to be that close to Frodo.
But I think this is the type of friendship between Samwise and Frodo. Samwise loves Frodo. Like, I'm here to serve you, man. But binds them together. Why would Samwise Gamgee take care of Frodo like that? Because he knows he's important and Sam's not. Yeah, but Sam is humble. Even though Sam's, I think Sam is one of the strongest characters in the entire book. Even when Frodo can't bring himself to take the ring and take it into Mount Doom and he can't find the strength to do it, who's the one who carries him up the hill? Sam. Sam. I think that's a type of heart friendship that these two have between Jonathan and David. They make promises to each other before the Lord.
What do you think is the best verse to summarize this section? What would you underline in your Bible? Probably 17. 17. Yep, I got that underlined. See, for he loved him as he loved his own soul. I also have verse 23, and as for the matter with which you and I have spoken of, indeed the Lord be between you and me forever.
So, what do you think this C calls you to do, or how does it point you to Jesus Christ? To be humble, know that um that we don't have to be like the main character to play a very important role yeah no it reminds me of reminds me of john the baptist his disciples come hey baptizing more people than we are What's he say? He must increase and I must decrease.
No, I'm all on team Jesus. It's not about me. It's not about my glory. It's not about my pride. It's not about my little fiefdom, my own little kingdom. It's about Jesus' kingdom. That's what I'm going to go for. He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Sometimes it's about taking our eyes off ourselves and loving others. It's about serving others. Not that we don't have needs, not that we're not important, but as we look towards others' needs and we surround ourselves with people who are also showing that same type of love, it's a better society, it's a better community. But if everybody's trying to love themselves, how does that look? Bad. Yeah, it looks selfish. Again, do you have certain needs in your life? Yes. And should you speak up about those needs? Yeah.
But if your whole life is just about serving your own needs and not thinking lovingly, sacrificially about others, like Jesus, sacrificed and served, then we're missing a huge blessing in our lives. Does that make you a doormat? No. People should just walk all over you because you should be serving others? no no this christianity stuff is weird you serve others because you love them and yet you're not supposed to be a doormat yeah yeah we serve out of love we can also set boundaries we can also be like no no hold on you're taking advantage of me you ready to pray all right Father, we pray that you would please teach us to walk in your ways. Help us, Lord, to be like your Son, Jesus Christ, who came and served. Lord, we pray that you would please help us to be like Christ, looking not to be served, but to serve.
Lord, we pray that you would please help us to love you and follow in your footsteps. You are a wonderful God, and thank you for sending us a great Savior. Father, please give us your Spirit to teach us to walk in your ways. Thank you that you have brought us one even better than David, Jesus himself. In his name we pray. Amen. May God bless you. May you walk in the joy and the peace of Jesus. We'll see you next time. Bye.