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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadSpurgeon Verse Expositions - 1 Samuel 20:1 - 20:17
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1Sa_20:1-2. And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what is mine iniquity? and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life?
And he said unto him, God forbid; thou shalt not die: He could not think that his father really intended to take the life of his friend.
1Sa_20:2-3. Behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, but that he will shew it me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so. And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes: and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.
He had so often escaped, as it were by the skin of his teeth, from his cruel persecutor, that he knew himself to be in a position of extreme peril.
1Sa_20:4. Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee.
Such was his love for David that he would make no exception; whatever there was that David wished him to do, he would do it for him.
1Sa_20:5-10. And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even. If thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city: for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family. If he say thus, It is well; thy servant shall have peace: but if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him. Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the LORD with thee: notwithstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father? And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee: for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what if thy father answer thee roughly!
What am I to do in such a case as that? If thy father should turn against thee as well as against me, what is to be done then?
1Sa_20:11. And Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field.
To get quite alone, that they might express to one another the feelings of their inmost hearts, and also might consult together without any risk of being overheard.
1Sa_20:12-17. And Jonathan said unto David, O LORD God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about to morrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and shew it thee; the LORD do so and much more to Jonathan: but if it please my father to do thee evil, then I will shew it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace: and the LORD be with thee, as he hath been with my father. And thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of the LORD, that I die not: but also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the LORD hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the LORD even require it at the hand of David’s enemies. And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
Thus were these two men bound together by ties of mutual love; may we be thus bound to Jesus! Oh, that there may be such love between us and our Lord as shall even excel the love of Jonathan and David!
This exposition consisted of readings from 1Sa_18:1-16; 1Sa_20:1-17.