1 Samuel 20:1-4
Verse 3 But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”
Now that King Saul has arrived in Ramah, David knows it is time to get out of town but he doesn’t run in the direction which we would have expected, that is until we think about the reason he ran to where he did. Most of us run away from danger and often we will turn to a good friend to help us cope and gain a stability for what we are going through. David runs towards his friend, Jonathan, but that also means running towards the place of danger.
Saul may have had the Spirit of the Lord come onto him in Naioth but that wasn’t a filling of the Spirit for the rest of his life, and that means he was still going to be pursuing David. David knows this but the king’s son can’t believe that about his dad. Apparently the spear that Saul had thrown at David didn’t seem abnormal to Jonathan. Maybe he had been on the receiving end of his father’s anger before and therefore couldn’t bring himself to believe his dad’s anger was truly dangerous.
Jonathan also feels very close to his father in business. The king was likely working at making sure that his son would know the ins and outs of being a king so his son would know how to be a king himself someday. Jonathan was sure that his father couldn’t have anything he was hiding from him. His loyalty to his father is admirable but misplaced as his best friend quickly points out.
David needs his friend to see that being friends with him was actually making Jonathan’s father lie to him. For all the king was, he was not blind to the fact that his beloved son was best friends with the man he despised. There was no way the king would tell his son of his plan to kill David. Jonathan had already proven with that chat in the field days or weeks earlier that Jonathan couldn’t see the truth that David was out to take the throne from him.
With Jonathan’s response to David we can see that Saul was right, Jonathan’s loyalty leaned more towards his friend than it did towards the family. Full devotion until the end. That is true friendship.
Making It Personal
What kind of loyalty do you have towards your friends? Do you have that kind of loyalty with God? Have you ever had to prove your loyalty to Him?
Making It Personal Kids
What does it mean to be loyal? Are you loyal to your friends? Are you loyal to Jesus?
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for always be loyal to Your character and caring for Your people in every possible way. Give us the wisdom on who to be loyal to and how to prove our loyalty to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.