Scripture Daily

Context No. 27 of 4322 · 1 Samuel

Context · Reflection

1 Samuel 20:24-29: in context

24So David hid himself in the field. When the new moon had come, the king sat himself down to eat food. 25The king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on the seat by the wall; and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty. 26Nevertheless Saul didn’t say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him. He is not clean. Surely he is not clean.” 27On the next day after the new moon, the second day, David’s place was empty. Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why didn’t the son of Jesse come to eat, either yesterday, or today?” 28Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem. 29He said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city. My brother has commanded me to be there. Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.”

David had risen from court favorite to marked man. King Saul, eaten by jealousy, has already tried more than once to kill him. Saul's son Jonathan, who is David's closest friend, cannot believe his father truly means it, so the two of them set a test. David will stay away from the king's new-moon feast, and Jonathan will watch how Saul reacts to the empty place at the table. This passage is that feast.

The new moon was a monthly festival with a shared sacred meal, and David's usual seat beside the king sits empty. The first day Saul says nothing, guessing that David is ritually unclean and will come once he is purified. The second day the seat is empty again, and Saul asks where the son of Jesse has gone. Jonathan gives the cover story the two had agreed on: David begged leave to go home to Bethlehem for a family sacrifice.

In the verses right after this, Saul flies into a rage and hurls a spear at his own son, and Jonathan has his answer. But the quiet part is the heart of it. Jonathan, the crown prince, is shielding the very man who will take the throne that would otherwise be his, and lying to his own father to do it. He is spending his inheritance to protect his friend, before he can even be sure how much it will cost. Where am I protecting someone whose gain is my loss, and would I keep it up if it cost me my own place?

Sources