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Context No. 717 of 4322 · 1 Samuel

Context · Reflection

1 Samuel 20:35-42: in context

35In the morning, Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little boy with him. 36He said to his boy, “Run, find now the arrows which I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37When the boy had come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the boy, and said, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” 38Jonathan cried after the boy, “Go fast! Hurry! Don’t delay!” Jonathan’s boy gathered up the arrows, and came to his master. 39But the boy didn’t know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter. 40Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy, and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.” 41As soon as the boy was gone, David arose out of the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. They kissed one another and wept with one another, and David wept the most. 42Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have both sworn in the LORD’s name, saying, ‘The LORD is between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, forever.’” He arose and departed; and Jonathan went into the city.

David is in hiding, and Jonathan, Saul's son and heir, has learned that his father truly means to kill him. The two have sworn a covenant of friendship, and now Jonathan carries out the signal they arranged. He goes out to a field with a young boy to fetch his arrows, and shoots one past him, calling out, is not the arrow beyond you? Hurry, do not delay. It is a coded all-clear turned warning: the way is not safe; run. The boy, who knows nothing, gathers the arrows and is sent back to the city, and only then does David come out from his hiding place.

What follows is one of the tender scenes in the Old Testament. David bows three times, and the two men kiss and weep together, and the text notes that David wept the most. Then Jonathan sends him away with the oath that binds them past their own lives: the LORD is between you and me, and between my offspring and yours, forever. What makes it costly is what Jonathan knows. He is the crown prince, and he is helping the man who will have his throne instead of him. He loves David more than his own inheritance, and gives up his claim without a fight, so his friend can live to take it.

Jonathan helped David toward the very throne that should have been his own, and wept to see him go. Is there a friend whose rise would mean my own stepping aside, and could I love them through it?

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