Scripture Daily

Context No. 4244 of 4322 · 1 Samuel

Context · Reflection

1 Samuel 20:1-8: in context

1David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?” 2He said to him, “Far from it; you will not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me. Why would my father hide this thing from me? It is not so.” 3David swore moreover, and said, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, ‘Don’t let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved;’ but truly as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.” 4Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever your soul desires, I will even do it for you.” 5David said to Jonathan, “Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to dine with the king; but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening. 6If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem, his city; for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’ 7If he says, ‘It is well,’ your servant shall have peace; but if he is angry, then know that evil is determined by him. 8Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you; but if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?”

David, fleeing for his life from Saul, comes to Jonathan, Saul's own son, and pours out his fear. And Jonathan's response is remarkable: whatever you desire, I will do it for you. Though David was the very man who stood between Jonathan and the throne he would otherwise inherit, Jonathan pledges to help and protect him, bound to him by a covenant of loyal love. Deal kindly with your servant, David asks, for you have brought me into a covenant of the LORD with you.

What stands out is the depth and selflessness of this friendship. Jonathan loved David faithfully, even though David's rise meant Jonathan's own loss. He put his friend's welfare above his own interest and even his own life, standing by David when it would have been easier and safer to side with his father. Theirs was a bond of covenant loyalty, a friendship that held fast under pressure and cost.

True friendship is loyal, seeking the other's good even at cost to oneself, standing by a friend in danger and difficulty rather than only in ease. Jonathan's love for David, faithful even against his own interest, is a model of the kind of steadfast, self-giving loyalty that real friendship calls for. Such friends, who love faithfully and put our good above their own advantage, are among God's great gifts.

Am I the kind of faithful friend Jonathan was to David, loyal and self-giving, seeking my friends' good even at cost to myself and standing by them in danger and difficulty, rather than offering only the easy friendship of good times?

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