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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Samuel 20:35 - 20:35
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The next morning Jonathan made David acquainted with what had occurred, by means of the sign agreed upon with David. The account of this, and of the meeting between Jonathan and David which followed, is given very concisely, only the main points being touched upon. In the morning (after what had occurred) Jonathan went to the field, דָּוִד לְמֹועֵד, either “at the time agreed upon with David,” or “to the meeting with David,” or perhaps better still, “according to the appointment (agreement) with David,” and a small boy with him.
1Sa 20:36
To the latter he said, namely as soon as they had come to the field, Run, get the arrows which I shoot. The boy ran, and he shot off the arrows, “to go out beyond him,” i.e., so that the arrows flew farther than the boy had run. The form חֵצִי for חֵץ only occurs in connection with disjunctive accents; beside the present chapter (1Sa 20:36, 1Sa 20:37, 1Sa 20:38, Chethibh) we find it again in 2Ki 9:24. The singular is used here with indefinite generality, as the historian did not consider it necessary to mention expressly, after what he had previously written, that Jonathan shot off three arrows one after another.
1Sa 20:37-39
When the boy came to the place of the shot arrow (i.e., to the place to which the arrow had flown), Jonathan called after him, “See, the arrow is (lies) away from thee, farther off;” and again, “Quickly, haste, do not stand still,” that he might not see David, who was somewhere near; and the boy picked up the arrow and came to his lord. The Chethibh הַחֵצִי is evidently the original reading, and the singular is to be understood as in 1Sa 20:37; the Keri הַחִצִּים is an emendation, according to the meaning of the words. The writer here introduces the remark in 1Sa 20:39, that the boy knew nothing of what had been arranged between Jonathan and David.
1Sa 20:40
Jonathan then gave the boy his things (bow, arrows, and quiver), and sent him with them to the town, that he might be able to converse with David for a few seconds after his departure, and take leave of him unobserved.
1Sa 20:41
When the boy had gone, David rose (from his hiding-place) from the south side, fell down upon his face to the ground, and bowed three times (before Jonathan); they then kissed each other, and wept for one another, “till David wept strongly,” i.e., to such a degree that David wept very loud. הַנֶּגֶב מֵאֵצֶל, “from the side of the south,” which is the expression used to describe David's hiding-place, according to its direction in relation to the place where Jonathan was standing, has not been correctly rendered by any of the early translators except Aquila and Jerome. In the Septuagint, the Chaldee, the Syriac, and the Arabic, the statement in 1Sa 20:19 is repeated, simply because the translators could not see the force of הַנֶּגֶב מֵאֵצֶל, although it is intelligible enough in relation to what follows, according to which David fled from thence southwards to Nob.
1Sa 20:42
All that is given of the conversation between the two friends is the parting word spoken by Jonathan to David: “Go in peace. What we two have sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever:” sc., let it stand, or let us abide by it. The clause contains an aposiopesis, which may be accounted for from Jonathan's deep emotion, and in which the apodosis may be gathered from the sense. For it is evident, from a comparison of 1Sa 20:23, that the expression “for ever” must be understood as forming part of the oath. - 1Sa 21:1. David then set out upon his journey, and Jonathan returned to the town. This verse ought, strictly speaking, to form the conclusion of 1 Samuel 20.
(Note: In our English version it does; but in the Hebrew, which is followed here, it forms the opening verse of 1Sa 21:1-15. In the exposition of the following chapter it has been thought better to follow the numbering of the verses in our version rather than that of the original, although the latter is conformed to the Hebrew. - Tr.)
The subject to “arose” is David; not because Jonathan was the last one spoken of (Thenius), but because the following words, “and Jonathan came,” etc., are in evident antithesis to “he arose and went.”