Episode 167: Sunday School | David - 1 Samuel 20

So if you haven't been here, we are in the midst of a series looking at the life of David, which basically means that we've been in 1 Samuel. Eventually, we're going to make it into 2 Samuel. And this week, we're in chapter 20. So if you have a Bible and you want to open it up to 1 Samuel chapter 20, that'll help you follow along with what we're doing.

A couple of things, if you haven't been here: what we're trying to do, the reason we're doing this, is not just to understand David's life. Although David is the most discussed, most mentioned person—we have the most information about him of anybody in the Bible with the exception of Jesus. So he's second place behind Jesus, which is pretty good. But we're also trying to not just understand his life; we're trying to understand how do we read biblical narrative. If the author says this happened, what are we supposed to take from that? What's going on? Why were these stories selected as opposed to others? Where does this little story about David fit into the greater story about Jesus?

And it is my contention that all of Scripture, including David's life, the whole thing, really does point to Christ. The whole thing is meant to be a revelation of him. And so as we're reading it, we're not just trying to ask the question, "What does this have to say about David?" but "Why is it here? Where does it fit into the whole bigger picture narrative that we've got?"

The passage we're looking at today is all of chapter 20, which is super long, and there's a ton of stuff in here, so we're going to try to blitz through it. We'll slow down wherever the things are interesting to you. But I will say, while I was going over this, there's just a ton of content. So here's what's happening. We'll pick it up in chapter 20 verse 1. We'll just take it a paragraph at a time. I'll just read a chunk and we'll talk about it.

Jonathan's Denial

Alright, 1 Samuel 20:1. It says:

David fled from this place to that place and went to Jonathan and said, "What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father that he's trying to take my life?"

Jonathan's father is the king, by the way. If you haven't been here, it's King Saul. Jonathan's his kid. But Jonathan and David are best friends.

"Never," Jonathan replied, "you are not going to die. Look, my father doesn't do anything great or small without confiding in me. Why would he hide this from me? It is not so."

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.'"

How does Jonathan's apparent unawareness that his father is trying to kill David strike you? Strange. Why strange?

So there's been multiple times that Saul has thrown a spear at David, tried to kill him, and Jonathan's like, "No, no, no, no, no, this would never happen." What happened?

Okay, good. So it seems like Jonathan has every reason to know that his father is trying to kill him. Does that make sense? Jonathan has every reason to know that his father is trying to kill him.

Okay, very good. And Saul is going to multiple times over these chapters promise he'll never hurt David and his resolve lasts, you know, like a day or something. So yes, Jonathan has that.

Okay, very good. So every time we get to watch the spear getting thrust at David, but maybe Jonathan's not there for those things and hasn't directly seen it. I think that's plausible. Although it strikes me as pretty unlikely that David's not going to tell his best friend that his best friend's father tried to kill him a couple times.

There's some real political naïveté in Jonathan's position here. There is. And I think that's exactly right. So there's some political naïveté in Jonathan's view of this. I would suggest to you that Jonathan has every reason to know that his father is trying to kill him. But I don't think Jonathan's being dishonest. I just think emotions are funny things, and it's hard to look directly at the fact that your father is trying to murder a righteous man. So he's like, "No, no, no, that can't be the case." By whatever means, Jonathan can't see it, and so David has to help move him. "Dude, listen to me. Pay attention. You gotta see what's happening here."

Didn't Jonathan just find out that Saul was trying to kill David in the last chapter? Yes. This is what I'm saying. "It's like, you need to get out of here."

So is it potentially what he's saying less, "My dad doesn't care at all about killing you," but saying, "I don't think he's going to kill you soon because he hasn't told me"? Well, okay, yeah.

So it's possible that Jonathan is saying, you're safe today, you're safe this week. He will let me know. But I don't necessarily get the sense that he's like, it's not time yet, but rather that he says, you're not going to die. My father doesn't do anything. I think that Jonathan is living in a little bit of an artificial realm because it's hard to face the truth of that. And so David's got to correct him.

I think he's living in a place of denial.

It's really hard to admit your father's crazy. It is hard to admit that your father is crazy. Do you need to admit anything? I mean that seriously. In dysfunctional families, everybody's always covering, whether they believe it or not. It's like that could possibly be life. I think a pretty obvious reality going on that Jonathan is surprisingly able to insulate himself from. It's just a strange thing. And so David's like, Listen, you're crazy. Listen up.

And then in verse four, Jonathan says to David, Listen, whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. Like, he surrenders to David's imploring, like, Listen to me. I'm in danger. And David comes up with a plan. I think the plan is pretty clever.

David's Plan

Here's what David's going to do about this. He's been avoiding the spears for a while, but now he's like, I can't live like this. Here's what we're going to do. Let's prove the case.

Tomorrow is a new moon festival. David speaking, verse five. I'm supposed to go down with the king. Let me go hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. And if your father misses me, tell him. David earnestly asked permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan. And 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. As for you, Jonathan, you showed kindness to your servant David, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I'm guilty, then kill me yourself. Why hand me over to your father? And Jonathan says, Never. Listen, if I had the least clue, the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn't I tell you? And David says, Well, who will tell me if your father answers harshly? — 1 Samuel 20

So what's clever? What's David's plan first of all? He's gonna hide. He's gonna go hide somewhere, and just disappear. He ought to be at dinner with the king. He should be there, but he's gonna go hide. Why is this a clever way to pull Saul out, to reveal Saul's true heart? What are the advantages of the way David is doing this?

He's got Saul's affirmation that if he does have a plan to kill David, he's gonna do it today. So his company's invested into this strategy. And therefore, if someone tries to skew away from that, he can go, wait. No. I already have my plan set. So if Saul has a plan, it's going to flush it out.

And there's another advantage: that was the easiest way for David not to actually be in range. That's exactly right. So if you're going to find out that Saul's going to kill you, you'd like to find that out when you're out of range. Right? He goes off and he hides, and he knows that this is going to tick off Saul. He knows how this is going to play out. But when his rage is provoked, he'll already be safely away. If you were to go up to him and confront him, well, now we gotta have hand to hand combat. And David is trying to just get out of the situation.

It also lets Jonathan have to drop any facade of not knowing or not. It spares Jonathan from some danger, it puts David in a safe place, but it's still gonna flush Saul out. And it's showing Jonathan that Saul has premeditation. It's not just that he gets angry and shoots at him or throws a spear at him, but he has a plan. And this is really the goal. The goal is not just to avoid getting killed, the goal is for Jonathan to wake up. So this accomplishes all of those things with minimal risk. That's a pretty good cost benefit analysis that David's pulling.

Which by the way, one of the things that the Bible constantly says about David is that he is extremely wise.

When we watch the narrative about David over and over and over again, David is peculiar in his ability to discern a situation, to know the right thing to do. This is just one of a long string of times where David proves that point.

We also, in this story, begin to see a crack in David's righteousness to this point. David lies to the king for the first time to preserve his life. There's another lie coming, not in this chapter, with much graver consequences. So far David's been all good, and we're going to begin to see, oh wait a second—not quite so good.

Kelly raises a good point about lying. David prompts Jonathan to tell a lie, which he does. Jonathan lies and Michal lies, both to protect their lives. We'll talk about lying when we get to the priests of Nob and how we make sense of the apparent moral use of immoral deception. We'll take that apart in a couple weeks probably.

So they're going to live out this story. If Jonathan doesn't like this plan, David gives him an alternative: just kill me, for crying out loud. Let's just get it over with. David's at an endpoint. This is hard. He knows if you don't wake up and recognize my danger and assist me in this, I'm as good as dead.

We don't go with that option, but now the story's going to change. We're studying the life of David, and we're about to shift track and look at the life of Jonathan. For the next bit of this chapter, David's really going to recede away. He's going to back off stage, and Jonathan steps up to the foreground.

Jonathan's Character

What do you know about Jonathan? He's the oldest son of Saul. He loves David—he's his best friend. He's not much on the bad side. He's a good guy. We like Jonathan a great deal. He is godly, he is wise, he is kind, he is courageous. Jonathan is a top shelf dude.

He's crazy courageous. There's a particular scene that's emblematic of his courage—the story of him and his armor bearer going and attacking a whole troop of Philistines. Like 20 of them. He basically says, if God is with us, he'll hand them over to us.

Let's look at this for a second. It's chapter 14, so if you turn back a couple pages. This is probably my favorite picture of Jonathan.

On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outposts, was a cliff. One was called Bozez and the other Sennah. One cliff stood to the north of Michmash and the other to the south of Geba. And Jonathan says to his young armor bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few." And his armor bearer responds, "Do all that you have in mind. Go ahead. I am with you heart and soul." — 1 Samuel 14:4-7

My favorite word in that passage is "Perhaps." Look at him in verse six. Let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Like, maybe. God didn't say go do this. He has no idea it's going to be him and his armor bearer versus 20 guys. And they're like, you know what? Shoot, man. Let's roll the dice. Let's see what happens. And that is a courageous place to be. He's like, I don't know, but God's on our side. They're constantly a thorn in our flesh. Let's go try to kill them all. And he just comes up with this ridiculous determination. He says, climb up the cliff, and when they see our heads, if they're like, hey, come on over here.

Then we'll be like, "That's it. The Lord has delivered them into our hands," and we'll go. But if instead they say, "Stay there," then we're like, "We're gonna shimmy down the cliff again and be fine." They poke their heads over the cliff, and sure enough they're like, "Hey, you, get over here." And they're like, "Oh, let's dance." And they go in and they slay them all. Right? And he's just a courageous guy. He is not living in denial about his father. He is not a weak man. He's not a sissy. He's this dude is all out there.

Kelly and then Katherine: It just is like David and Goliath.

Mhmm. There's so much similarity.

Well, no. This is the prequel. It's not a sequel.

Oh, you're right. You're right. The prequel. You're right. What? This is Jonathan's.

That's exactly right. Two on 20, that's a good point. And no wonder you guys have such a Kennedy spirit. Yes, yes, these guys are both just awesome.

Okay, Katherine. One of the qualities of Jonathan that I see is that he's loyal.

Oh my gosh. Fable.

And he must be really respected for that armor bearer to say "I'm with you" heart and soul. That's right. So that says something about David too. And I love that you capture that, Catherine, because what the armor bearer is to Jonathan, that he is with him heart and soul, that is what Jonathan himself is to David. Right? And you know, this is how this works in life. So often we are better able to offer to someone else what we have received from another. Right? Jonathan knows the virtue and the value of having a loyal friend who is willing to climb a cliff and pick a fight with 20 armed men. And Jonathan is that for his best friend David. These guys are studs.

Okay, so anyway, they go back to 1 Samuel 20:11. And so they decide they're gonna follow the plan. They're gonna go out to the field. And then Jonathan's gonna make two oaths to David. Okay? He's gonna sign this with him. Listen to the two oaths.

In verse 11, "Come," Jonathan said, "let's go out into the field." So they went there together. And then Jonathan said to David, "By the Lord, the God of Israel, I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow. And if he is favorably disposed towards you, will I not send you word and let you know? But if my father is inclined to harm you, may the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away safely. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father." — 1 Samuel 20:11

What are the two oaths, you guys? Jonathan is locking himself in to two promises. Sound out Saul. Okay. I'm gonna go find out, number one. I promise you, I will sit down at the table with my dad. We're gonna see how this plays out. I'm gonna sound him out. And number two?

What's that?

And I'll let you know. Right? So he's like, "I'm in. I'm gonna do this." And he's making—and it's interesting. You might be like, "I don't know how often you say to somebody, 'By the Lord, the God of Israel, I will surely do the following,'" but probably not very frequently. Right? But this is literally life and death for David. And Jonathan—it could be, and in fact it will be, life and death for Jonathan too. Right, Anne? You know where this story is about to go. So Jonathan is stepping into a place of danger in order to help his friend who is already in danger. Okay? And so he's making a promise. So far so good? You catching the story?

Okay. And then this is going to be important later, but we'll notice it now.

Verse 14, Jonathan responds. Jonathan makes this double promise, but then he also says to David, "but, verse 14, show me unfailing kindness like that of the Lord as long as I live so that I may not be killed. 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." — 1 Samuel 20:14

Just put an asterisk there. We're going to come back to this passage. There's something meaningful that's gonna happen here. There's a future event that's gonna be built on this. In fact, do you know what it is? Kelly, you don't get to play because I know you know. But what is this setting up, you guys? Do you know, Suzanne?

David taking in Mephibosheth. Yes.

Okay. So if I say the name Mephibosheth, is this at all meaningful to you? Who knows his name? Okay. Here's the essence of the story. What's going to happen down the road is Saul is going to be destroyed. Saul's gonna lose the kingdom. David's going to come into the kingdom. He's going to become king. And as he sits in his royal palace ruling over all things, he's going to remember this paragraph, this thing right here. And he's going to remember, "You know what? I made a promise to show kindness to Jonathan's family."

Because Jonathan's not just saying "look at it"—he doesn't just say, "Show me unfailing kindness as long as I live so that I may not be killed." But he also says, "Do not ever cut off your kindness from my family, not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David's enemies."

And so, Kelly, what's the essence of the Mephibosheth story from that point on? Can you do it nice and loud?

Well, when David comes into his throne, his people, his followers clean house. Basically, Saul's line is killed—all of Saul's line is killed. And in that course, the nursemaid who takes care of the little boy Mephibosheth hears news and she runs away. In doing so, she falls and he breaks his legs. He becomes a lame beggar, basically. He goes into hiding. And then one day, David is like, "Is there anyone, anyone at all?" And Mephibosheth is the one. Then he brings Mephibosheth into his courts and adopts him as his own, basically.

That's right. And so we'll look at that story in more detail in a long time, but it's this beautiful picture of the king condescending to someone who could not provide for himself, who is in a place of danger. But because he made a promise and because he loves Jonathan, he's kind to Jonathan's son.

But this moment here, when it all happens and everybody's like, "What are you doing? What are you doing taking on the grandson of the king who's tried to kill you? Why would you?" Because Mephibosheth would have a claim to the throne. He's the descendant of Saul. You ought to just kill him and eradicate the threat. And instead, he elevates him and he feeds him at his table. All of that is set up here in this moment.

So more on that in a couple months.

This just makes me think of David when his own son—that's right—and defending him. David has a very strange kind of split because there are things he has made decisions about. He is not going to lay a hand on Jonathan's children. He's not going to lay a hand on Saul. He's not going to lay a hand on Absalom. And this whole Amnon disaster that goes down. So there are things he just will not do, no matter what it costs him. But then there are other times when he's really bloodthirsty. It's a weird split, and we'll try to explore that as we go.

Yeah, Judy?

I think it's interesting that Jonathan meant from saying "I would know if you're going, my father is going to kill you." He's a burden slip. And then he turns into saying, "I know that you're going to be the king. You're going to eradicate my husband—anyway, my father." And so he obviously, and still his character is that if anybody should kill David, it's Jonathan. He's going to lose his throne. He knows it's going to happen. And yet he maintains his friendship. But at the same time, denial that his father is a favorite here—it is very strange.

And in fact, if it seems strange to you, it does to us in case you didn't hear what Judy's saying. Jonathan has the most to lose by David's ascendance to the throne. Because if David doesn't become king, who's going to become king? It's going to be Jonathan. And Judaism thinks it's strange. Saul thought it was really strange. We're going to see that in a second. Saul's going to appeal to Jonathan. "What is the matter with you? Don't you understand that I'm trying to protect your throne from this guy that's going to take everything from our family?"

So yes, it's very odd. Jonathan—this is why when he is with him heart and soul, he really is, even at the cost of his own throne. It's a big deal.

Was there another hand? A couple of hands? Yeah, John?

Yeah. One thing about the apparent split between David's bloodthirstiness and his restraint—his people, that's right. That's the phrase over and over: "He's the Lord's anointed, so he's hands off." That's right. And even though he appears to have been a crummy father, he still loved his son Absalom. He does. And that whole thing—that's a very complicated story. The Absalom, Amnon, Tamar story—we'll unpack it. So the son of water would kill. That's right, absolutely.

Okay, so let's keep going. So back to 1 Samuel chapter 20, look at verse 16.

So Jonathan makes a covenant with the house of David, saying, "May the Lord call David's enemies to account." And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him because he loved him as he loved himself. — 1 Samuel 20:16

And then they enact the plan. Now it's like go time, let's do it. So Jonathan tells David, "Tomorrow will be the festival. You will be missed because your seat will be empty. The day after tomorrow, toward evening, you go to the place where you hid when this trouble began and wait by the stone easel. And I will shoot three arrows to the side of it as though I were shooting at a target."

Then I will send a boy and say, 'Go, find the arrows.' And 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're safe, there is no danger.' But if I say to the boy, 'Look, the arrows are beyond you, then you must go because the Lord has sent you away.'

And about the matter you and I discussed... "What does that matter that you and I discuss?" — 1 Samuel 20:23

His oath to him is to do what? To first of all find out whether Saul is mad and then tell. Yes, okay. So that's the promise that Jonathan makes to David.

What is the request that Jonathan asks of David? Protect his family. Protect me and protect my family. Right? And when he says, "The Lord is a witness between you and me forever," that's the ongoing, enduring promise. It's like, hey, listen, if I never see you again and you're off and things happen and I lose the kingdom and you become king, remember what you said. Again, this is all setting up the Mephibosheth event.

The Arrow Communication System

Now what's the point of this weird communication method, launching arrows and telling the kid, "Hey, they're further away, they're this way"? What's that about?

Possible deniability. He's not actually talking to David. That's right. It's a stealth way to communicate. I've got to figure out a way to get a message to you. So you're going to be out hiding behind that rock and I'm going to be here, and I can't be like, "Hey David, my dad's trying to kill you, leave." That would be bad. So we've got to have some stealth way that I could yell really loud. And so this is what they come up with.

The expectation is if it's bad news, we're probably never going to talk again. I'm going to say the arrows are far away, and that's it. But it's crucial, especially if that's the message. If the arrows are far away, I can't come and see you because your life is forfeit and so may be mine.

The Shift in Leadership

You've got the whole setup? I find it interesting. David starts the conversation, but then Jonathan plans.

That's right. David recedes away, and you don't see David anymore. And Jonathan comes to the fore and he's really running this whole scene. Exactly right. Jonathan's clearly a soldier. It may be that he was not actually at court when some of these instances of Saul's aggression happened. It's possible he was not a direct witness to those things. Although, I've got to think that he's heard about them. Surely. But not having seen them, it may take on an error. That's right. Yeah, it's a little bit different when you see it live.

God's Sovereign Plan

Something else that Jonathan says in verse 22. There's a really important bit of theology embedded in verse 22 that we should at least mention.

If I say to the boy, 'Look, the arrows are beyond you, then you must go because the Lord has sent you away.' — 1 Samuel 20:22

I might have said that because my dad's going to kill you, right? But Jonathan is understanding that there is a sovereign God over this whole thing. Jonathan does not question for one second that David is going to come to his throne. He just doesn't know the means by which God will bring it about. Perhaps the means by which David is going to ascend to the throne is going to involve him needing to flee. And God does stuff all the time to accomplish his purposes by moving people around the chessboard.

In fact, let's pause really quick. Where else prior to this point in the canon has God moved people around under duress to accomplish his purposes?

Joseph. How so? That's right.

What you meant for evil, God meant for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many people. — Genesis 50:20

So Joseph gets thrown into a pit, left for dead, accused of rape, imprisoned so that he could arise as prime minister over Egypt and save the nation of Israel. What a strange way to do this. And by Joseph's own word, "What you meant for evil, God meant for good"—I.E., God meant this. This was part of the plan. Right? You never would have seen it in the midst of it, but God had a purpose that he was working out.

Where else do you see that? Jonah. Esther? Is that what you're saying? What's the Esther story? Esther went to be a concubine to the king, and when she was there, she was able to save all of the Jewish people. That's right. And so Esther goes into this place. It cannot have been a great scene for her to be under the thumb of this king who loved nothing more than he loves himself, right? And yet there's this great line that Mordecai says about her:

Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? — Esther 4:14

Again, there was a purpose, there was a meaning through this whole convoluted story, and she is in a position to rescue and save Israel because of this place that God has brought her into through a very strange, frankly scandalous set of circumstances. How about one or two more?

Jesus as a Refugee

Jesus started off as a refugee. So Jesus moves to Egypt, right? When Jesus is born, not only does He come to earth born in a manger—we make much of the lowliness of Jesus' birth—but then he has to flee. He flees to Egypt, not unlike Israel, which fled to Egypt for safety before getting brought back. This is all part of the plan to avoid Herod before he comes in and takes his own throne.

Paul's Transformation

I think about Paul because on one side, he was such a passionate, determined force for the Lord—"I'm gonna kill them all." And then when God completely transforms him, he is as passionate about the proclamation of the gospel everywhere he goes. God brings Saul through a very strange set of circumstances. Not only training him, but he becomes trained under Gamaliel, which would be like going to Harvard today. He's at the best, the finest education. He goes through all the situations. Multiple times they try to kill him over and over and over again—Paul's life is at risk—but all to shape him to be the one who will take the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire.

God brings us through weird, painful, awful, miserable, dreadful circumstances to accomplish a good end. He does it all the time.

Israel's Journey

They go into Egypt because there's no food. When Joseph becomes king, he has the wisdom to store food up in silos, so they all come in to this place and God is using that to build up a people. Then he's gonna call them out. I mean, all the time God loves moving people around to accomplish his purposes. Jonathan is able to say this may be one of those, so just strap in.

Moses

How about the baby in the basket? Yes, and just alcohol that was coming into Pharaoh's house and taking it out. How terrible was it for Moses' mom to put her baby in a basket and be like, well, good luck, right? But he ends up getting picked up by the daughter of the Pharaoh, raised in the courts of the king, and becomes uniquely positioned to be the one that calls the people out of Israel.

So again, Jonathan says—the Lord—where does he say it? Let me find it.

"Then you must go because the Lord has sent you away." — 1 Samuel 20:22

Jonathan and some view that God is doing things even if the particulars in the middle of it don't make sense. Don't you wish you had that view? Because I don't like this part going on right now. But maybe the Lord is in it.

David's Empty Seat

Verse 24: David goes out and hides in the field. When the new moon festival came, the king sat down to eat, and he sat in his customary place by the wall opposite Jonathan, and Abner's there. But David's place was empty.

So Saul said nothing that day, for he thought something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean. Surely he is unclean.

That's an interesting thought. What does that reveal about what Saul thinks about David? There are rules that if you become ceremonially unclean for some reason, you can't go do this. What is Saul presuming here? That's respect, right? Because if you're ceremonially unclean, you won't come and make a mess of us. He assumes that David's got a reason to do this because he knows the God that David obeys. He's gonna follow the Torah. So his first thought is like, well, you know, he's kind of religious that way, so he's probably just doing the right thing. Because David does the right thing. His first pass is like, alright, probably good.

But the next day, David's place was still empty. Saul says to his son Jonathan, "Why hasn't the son of Jesse come to the meal yesterday or today?" And this is where it happens.

Jonathan says, "David asked to go to Bethlehem. Let me go. There's a sacrifice. If I find favor in your eyes, let me go see my brothers. That's why he hasn't come."

And in verse 30, it's go time. 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 your mother who bore you?"

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.

Watch what he's doing. Saul is going to appeal to three motives that generally have an awful lot of power in our lives. He's going to appeal to shame, which is incredibly powerful, to guilt if shame doesn't get the job done, guilt probably will, and to greed, which sweeps up all. Shame, guilt, and greed.

What's the shame admonition here? He chose David over. The phrase is: "I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother." So the first thing is this—to your shame. It's like shame on you. How dare you preference the son of Jesse over your own family? This is an act of betrayal.

Where do you see guilt in this? "Shame your mother, how can you do this?" Not only your own shame, but do you know what you're doing to your mother? We've never even met his mother. His mother's just been nowhere. She just gets brought into the table to be like, "And now also your mom."

And then what's the greed? "You won't have it all, Jonathan, you idiot. What are you doing?" So he's going to appeal to shame, to guilt, to greed, but it doesn't work.

Jonathan responds to him in verse 32. He says, "Why should he be put to death?" What's Saul's answer to that? What does Saul think is the reason that David should be put to death? He's taking the kingdom. That's a pretty good reason, right?

"What has he done?" Jonathan asked his father. And so here's the big moment for Jonathan:

But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. And then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.

It's like, alright, he's coming along. Now, what would have happened to Jonathan's kingdom if Saul had succeeded in jamming a spear into him? Saul had him in substance. Yes, the kingdom would still pass, but not to this one. But the very thing to which he's appealing is that if you don't want to be king, fine. And he throws a spear into him. Now Jonathan gets it.

How do you think Jonathan's going to feel right now? What would be your primary emotion? He is super mad. It could be fear, but in fact it's anger. So Jonathan gets up from the table in verse 34, 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.

By the way, how does Saul describe Jonathan? His son? What does he call him in that passage? "Son of the perverse one" or "son of the wicked." That's right. That shows that the insult is common today has deep ancient roots. It does have deep ancient roots. He is not his son. It's like if you started saying, "You are Susan McQuaid's son." You'd be like, "Well, you're my dad." It's a distancing move. He's saying to Jonathan, "You're not my son. You're her son." He's so mad. And you see this relationship tearing apart and off they go. So Saul's distancing him. He's no longer his son. He's got these motives that he's appealing to. But Jonathan is loyal.

Remember the armor bearer? What's the description of the armor bearer's association to Jonathan? Heart and soul. Jonathan is with him, with David. Heart and soul.

The Secret Signal

So take a look:

In the morning, Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. Meeting across the acre and he had a small boy with him. And he said to the boy, "Run and find the arrows that I shoot." And as the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. And when the boy came to the place where Jonathan's arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, "Isn't the arrow beyond you?" And then he shouted, "Hurry, go quickly, don't stop."

Who is Jonathan talking to? David. He's talking to David. And this secret communication has taken place. Jonathan doesn't need to go tell David to leave because he shouted across the field, go get the arrows, but there was a secret message tied to the arrow. There's no cause to meet. In fact, there's no safety to meet, and so they can't meet. Except you know what happens? They meet.

The boy knew nothing of this, only Jonathan and David knew. Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and he said, "Go, carry them back to town," creating a space of privacy. And after the boy was gone, verse 41, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed before Jonathan three times with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together, but David wept the most.

So much for the plan. So much for the stealth. Why do they throw caution to the wind here? Why do they get rid of it? Well, why do they get rid of it?

Why do they throw caution to the wind? Because they love each other. They grieve, they're sad, they're angry. They will in fact see each other one more time—there's gonna be one more meeting, it's brief, later. But as far as they know, it's gone, baby, gone. And so there's this thing where the wisest thing to do is to be cautious, but so what about that? They go and they wish to say goodbye. The whole arrow thing is all turned into worthlessness, but they can't help themselves because they love each other, and the loss is great.

When David needs him to say goodbye, he bows three times to the man who should have been king. And even there is a demonstration that David is not jockeying for this kingdom. He's not manipulating circumstances. He's not gonna touch the anointed. He's bowing. David honors him. He should be king, and in a very real sense, the reason that David will be king is because Jonathan protects him. And so it is a sign of great honor and loyalty to him even though David's gonna take the throne.

It's not exactly like—but because it's on my mind, I'm reading Robinson Crusoe right now. Has anybody ever read Robinson Crusoe? It's the first English novel. First realistic fiction in the English language in all of time. Robinson has been on the island for twenty-five years alone. And do you know how he comes to have his buddy Friday?

This island, on odd occasions every year or two, a bunch of cannibals show up to eat somebody. They bring a captive and then they cook him and eat him. And Robinson is so tired of being alone that he decides the next time they bring somebody over here to eat him, he's gonna rescue him and make him a friend. He's spent twenty-five years alone. So he's literally waiting in the woods for the cannibals to come for over a year and a half, just waiting for the canoes to come. They come, and sure enough, there's this dude that's about to get eaten, and he intervenes and kills two cannibals and rescues Friday.

Now he has a friend. He names him Friday. When this guy realizes that his life has been saved, he's rescued from getting eaten by these other cannibals, he comes to Robinson and he lays down on the ground before him and he picks up Robinson's foot and he places it on his own neck so as to say, "I am yours forever." He becomes his servant, his slave. "You gave your life to me, and now I will serve you." And that's how Friday becomes Robinson Crusoe's friend.

So when David comes and he bows before Jonathan, it is a statement of submission and loyalty and friendship, even though he is soon to be king. But he's recognizing the place that Jonathan has in his life.

What Does This Have to Do with Jesus?

Here's what I want you to hear. Here's what we're always trying to ask this question: So what about that? What does this have to do with Jesus?

I am gonna make the claim week after week that this whole story is pointing us to Christ. How? What are the peculiar things? Sometimes it's not real granular, some little thing like this, but it fits into this great big narrative arc. What is the Lord revealing through this story that gives us a clearer sight to the way that he would redeem us through his own son?

There may be several things perhaps that you thought of that I haven't. This one who will rise to the highest point as king is himself lowly and submissive. That rings a bell, doesn't it?

What else do you see here? When Jonathan takes on the wrath of his father—yes, Jesus took his father's wrath. That's a great point that we're gonna see over and over again throughout the scriptures, including right here: sometimes the act of loving someone requires being willing to step into danger on their behalf. That's exactly what Jonathan does. He's gonna come in. He's gonna drink his father's wrath in order to create a place of safety for David. And in that way, Jonathan himself is stepping into that Christ-like role. Even as sometimes David's gonna step out of it, Jonathan here is stepping into it. It's a fantastic observation.

The principle is this: God is showing us what he's doing in all these things. Isn't this lovely? Isn't this desirable? Isn't this beautiful? And everything lovely and worthy and good, they're all gonna come wrapped together into a bucket, into a package that is Christ.

So all of these things that makes your heart be like, man, I love it when that happens. I love it when someone is with us heart and soul. I wonder when someone enters into danger to make someone safe. All of that is gonna be borne out when the Messiah comes.

Great observation. Okay, one more. Anybody sitting on attack? And I'll sure let you go. This one: who will be king, Ray?

Saul was trying to kill David, God's anointed, just as Herod was trying to kill Christ.

That's what I was about to say. So good job, Ray. Very good. I love that. Right? So this one: before this Messiah, before the King can take his throne, his life will be chased again and again and again. When Jesus shows up, Herod's on him immediately. He's gonna kill him because if he can kill him in the cradle, that'll stop the cross. Satan is gonna come and he's gonna tempt him. He's gonna try to take him off his game. There's all these sorts of things that are gonna happen. And so we should not be surprised that when the Messiah comes on his way to take his throne, there will be relentless opposition to him. And yet he will prevail.

Okay? These are some of the things you're starting to learn to notice in the text. Make sense? Okay. That's all we got. We'll do it again next week. Thanks for coming.