1 Samuel 20:24-42

Hey, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions where I don't have any coffee, but we do have devotions. Let's go ahead and have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. We'll find out about how Jonathan interacts with Saul and whether or not Saul is really still out to kill David, or if David's going to be kept safe. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word, and we pray that you would please help us, even though we may be tired and without coffee this morning. Lord, we know that you are good, and we pray that your Holy Spirit would please lead us and guide us, teach us, let us walk in your ways. In Jesus's name, amen. 1 Samuel chapter 20, beginning at verse 24.
Then David hid in the field. And when the new moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast. Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side. But David's place was empty. Nevertheless, Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, something has happened to him. He is unclean. Surely he is unclean. And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David's place was empty.
And Saul said to Jonathan his son, why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, neither yesterday or today? So Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked me permission to go to Bethlehem. And he said, please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.
Therefore, he has not come to the king's table. Then Saul's anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, you son of a perverse, rebellious woman. Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, he shall not be established, nor your kingdom.
Now therefore send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.' And Jonathan answered his father Saul and said to him, Why should he be killed? What has he done? Then Saul cast a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David. So Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully.
And so it was the morning that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David. and a little lad was with him. Then he said to his lad, now run, find the arrows, which I shoot. As the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. When the lad had come to the place where the arrow was, which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out after the lad and said, is not the arrow beyond you? And Jonathan cried out after the lad, make haste, hurry, do not delay. So Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master. But the lad did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter. Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad and said to him, Go, carry them into the city.
As soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place where, 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 sea. Another one of those days where the yawns catch him. Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to this? So A, what is this about? David and Jonathan have made this covenant in chapter 20, just above this, where David's supposed to show kindness to Jonathan and to his descendants forever. And Jonathan is saying, you're the rightful king. These guys are bosom brothers. They love one another. They're bros. They're right there with each other all the time. Jonathan is much like John the Baptist with Jesus.
He must increase and I must decrease. Jonathan says, OK, we'll see if my dad's really trying to kill you. I've not heard of that, but we'll see. So he made this plan. You go, and I'll say you went to Bethlehem. He's telling this lie to his father to try to see if this is the case or not. By the way, this is not a moral story to try to tell you whether or not it's right or wrong to lie. Sometimes we look at the scriptures like that, and we just back that up.
There's a plot to try to possibly kill David. They set it up to try to find out, uncover the truth. You can have ethics conversations about this all day, but that's not the main point of the story. The main point of the story is Saul was intent in his pride to do anything possible to establish his dynastic line and to keep his throne, to keep his power and to see Jonathan become king and God rejected Saul.
And so you have this whole thing where He doesn't show up. David doesn't show up for two days. And Saul, you see the paranoia. He doesn't come up the first day. He must be unclean. He must just be unclean. He's trying to convince himself because he's paranoid that maybe David is doing something to try to take over the kingdom.
And then the next day he addresses Jonathan. Jonathan says, yeah, well, David asked me, begged me to go home. I said, OK, go ahead. And Saul goes berserkers on him. Right? He says, essentially, cursed be the day that your mother bore you. He deals shamefully with Jonathan and even tries to pin him to the wall. He throws his spirit and tries to kill his own son. And David, or sorry, and Jonathan walks out. Rightfully so, in anger, because he had dealt shamefully with David.
And so they have this meet-up in the field, this secret way that he's able to tell him, like, you're in danger. I'm going to shoot my arrow. It's going to go beyond you. And you'll know then that you're in danger. So he does this and they meet up in the wheat, knowing these best friends are never going to see each other again. It's a goodbye. They love each other. Yet they know it's probably never, their friendship is never going to be able to continue.
This is this beautiful story of this loyalty, of love, and what sin and pride does, how pride leads to paranoia and ruins relationships, keeps away from what should be. This is the story of Saul and it's just going to send him down a spiral. But you see God is setting up David's kingdom. Saul is going to decrease and David will increase and that's what this is getting at. So what's this about? This is about Jonathan finding out his dad really was going to murder David and him saving his friend's life. What's the best verse to summarize this? Well, I think in my Bible, I'd probably underline verse 41.
So, as soon as the lad had gone, David arose from his place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. They kissed one another and they wept together, but David more so. And then, I'm 42 as well, right? Then Jonathan said to David, go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of Jehovah, saying, may the Lord be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever. What a sad goodbye, but I think that's what's getting out the heart here. It's the last seed calling.
What are we called to do? How does this show us Jesus Christ? I think this is this beautiful act of sacrificial love. And this is a love that is shown to us more perfectly in Christ Jesus. The one who is willing to lay down his own life for us. who loves us with covenant love, who cares for us and watches over his people. This is that beautiful picture of loyal love that Jesus so perfectly portrayed even with his disciples and promised to those who would believe in him. So we get to trust that this is just this microcosm, this little picture of even how much God has loved us.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you sent us one even better than David and that you have loved us. Lord, we pray that we may have a loyal love. Lord, we pray that we may be those who, because of the love that you have shown us and the covenant you have made with us, that we would trust in you, love you, follow after you all the days of our lives. You are truly an amazing God. Please, Lord, help us to walk in your ways. In Jesus' name, amen. May God bless you. May you walk in the loyal love that flows from being united to Jesus. And I'll see you next time. Bye.