24-0911wc Transcript

Teacher: Mike Mathis

Well, we’re going to finish the lesson we started last week, David and Jonathan, and we saw that when Jonathan met David, I suppose he was in the hearing when he came back from the battle with the Philistines after he slew the giant Goliath and saw that he was the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite. And then when David, that is, had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to David, and David and Jonathan were close. Jonathan was really delightful of David when Saul spoke to Jonathan and all his servants that they should kill David.

But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted greatly in David, and therefore he, in 1 Samuel 19 verse 2, what Jonathan tells David, say, my father seeks to kill you. Therefore, please be on your guard until morning and stay in a secret place and hide. I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you.

Then what I observe, I will tell you. Thus, Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul, his father, and to him, and said to him, let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you. For he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel.

You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood to kill David without a cause? So Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, as the Lord lives, he shall not be killed. Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things.

So Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times past. And so again there was war, and David went out and fought with the Philistines, and struck them with a mighty blow, and they fled from him. Now the distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with the spirit in his hands.

And David was playing music with his hand, and Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear. But he slipped away from Saul’s presence, and he drug the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night.

And it seemed that David had to be secreted even by his daughter, his wife, the daughter of Saul. Her name was Micah. She let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped.

And Micah took an image, laid it in the bed, and put a cover of ghost hair for his head, and covered it with clothes. So when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, David, he is sick. Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David say, bring him up to me in the bed that I may kill him.

And when the messengers had come in, there was the image in the bed with cover of goat’s hair for his head. Then Saul said to Micah, why have you deceived me like this and sent my enemy away so that he has escaped? And Micah answered Saul, he said to me, let me go. Why should I kill you? So David fled and escaped and went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him.

And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naob. Now it was told Saul, saying, take note, David is at Naob in Ramah. And so Saul sent messengers to take David.

And this is where the intervention of God sits in, providence, that when the messengers were there and when they saw the group of prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul and they also prophesied. And so Saul sent other messengers and they prophesied likewise. He sent messengers again the third time and they prophesied also.

Then he went to Ramah and came to the great well that is at Siju. So he asked and said, where are Samuel and David? And someone said, indeed they are in Naob and Ramah. So he went there to Naob and Ramah.

Then the Spirit of God was upon him also. And he went on and prophesied until he came to Naob and Ramah. And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner and lay down naked all that day and all that night.

My boy, they say, is Saul also among the prophets? Now, chapter 20 is where we’re going to spend most of our time now. Now, at the beginning of this chapter, David pleads from Naob and Ramah and went and said to Jonathan, what have I done? What is my iniquity? And what is my sin before your father that he seeks my life? So Jonathan said to him, by no means you shall not die. Indeed, my father will do nothing, either great or small, without first telling me.

And why should my father hide this from me? It is not so. That is, that David would die. And in reality, he really doesn’t.

But yet, it just seems that David, and he’s wanting to know just why his father is seeking to kill him. Then David took an oath again and said, your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes. And he has said, do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.

But truly, as the Lord is, and as your soul is, there is but a step between me and death. So Jonathan said to David, whatever you yourself desire, I will do it for you. So now David and Jonathan are going to make a secret deal where it’s going to be possible that Jonathan is going to be able to give David a particular message that is either going to tell him that he can stay or that he needs to go away.

And so we begin with verse 5. And David said to Jonathan, indeed, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go that I may hide in the field until the third day and evening. If your father misses me at all, then say, David earnestly ask permission of me that he might run over to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.

If he says thus, it is well. Your servant will be saved. But if he is very angry, be sure that evil is determined by him.

Therefore, you shall deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. Nevertheless, if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father? But Jonathan says, far be it from you, for I knew certainly that evil was determined by my father to come upon you. For if I knew certainly that evil was determined by my father to come upon you, then would I not tell you? Then David said to Jonathan, who will tell me? Or what if your father answers you roughly? And Jonathan said to David, let us go out into the field.

So both of them went out into the field. Then Jonathan said to David, the Lord God of Israel is witness. When I have sounded out my father sometime tomorrow or the third day, and indeed there is good toward David, and I do not sin to you and tell you, may the Lord do so, and much more to Jonathan.

But if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will report it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. And the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. And you shall not only show me the kindness of the Lord while I still live, that I may not die, but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever.

No, not when the Lord has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, let the Lord require at the hand of David’s enemies. So Jonathan again caused David to fail, because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

And so he tells David then, that tomorrow is the new moon and you will be missed because your seat will be empty. And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the day and remain by the stone easel. Then I will shoot three arrows to the side of the shot at a target.

And I will send a lad saying, go find the arrows. If I expressly say to the lad, look, the arrows are on this side of you. Let them come.

Then as the Lord lives, there is safety for you and no harm. But if I say thus to the young man, look, the arrows are beyond you. Go your way for the Lord has sent you away.

As for the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed, the Lord be between you and me forever. So Jonathan comes to the mill that King Saul has set and will begin with 27. And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty.

And David, or rather Saul, said to Jonathan, his son, why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today? So Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem. And he said, please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city. And my brother has commanded me to be there.

And now if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers. Therefore he has not come to the king’s table. Then Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan.

And he said to him, you son of a perverse, rebellious woman, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die. And Jonathan answered Saul, his father, and said to him, why should he be killed? What has he done? Then Saul cast a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David.

So Jonathan arose, from the table, in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month. For he was grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully. Now after that, he does go into the field, and he does just as he said he would do for David.

So he had a lad, to his lad, that helped him get the arrows which he would shoot. And he shot. So Jonathan cried out after the lad, is not the arrow beyond you? And Jonathan cried out after the lad, make haste, hurry, do not delay.

So Jonathan’s lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master. But the lad did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter.

Of the matter. Then Jonathan gave his weapons, or his equipment, if a particular translation may have equipment in it, to his lad and said to him, go carry them through the city. And as soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times.

And they kissed one another, and they wept together, but David more so. Then Jonathan said to David, go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, may the Lord be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever. So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went in to the city.

Now, I’ve read all that, and think about how they made covenants with each other. But you know, though, sometimes people will read something, and then for some reason or another think of something that this whole thing just doesn’t say. A question was raised about the relationship between David and Jonathan.

They wanted to know if it was homosexual. Well, first of all, in Leviticus 20.13, God said that if a man lies with a man as he would a woman, he said, they are to be taken and put to death, for this is an abomination. And in 1 Samuel 18.14, it says that David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him.

Well, would the Lord have been with him if he was committing an abomination in the sight of God? I don’t believe so. And secondly, this question was raised based on what King Saul said to his son Jonathan. Now, when he said to Jonathan that he was a son of a perverse and rebellious woman, there is a translation, but it’s not a translation.

It’s a copy that really is not a translation, but they really use vulgarity in this. But then when he says, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s wickedness? Now, that really is making something here and making something out of this that is totally out of order. The shame that King Saul is talking about is that Jonathan is not establishing himself nor his kingdom because of David, the son of Jesse, whom King Saul is considering the enemy, his enemy.

And he is thinking of Jonathan as being established upon the throne after succeeding King Saul. And Jonathan isn’t doing that. But we know that when we read carefully, Jonathan is sure that David is going to come to power.

That’s the reason that he made David vow that he would treat him and his house as long as, that is, Jonathan would live and that he would treat his family. And he knew that. But King Saul just seemed to think that David was going to take over, was going to do, was coming in and going to take over while even he was king.

I believe that is why he spent so much time trying to find David and seeking to kill him. And what the shame, that is the shame that King Saul is talking about. It’s not because the relationship is a sinful relationship.

It’s a relationship that keeps Jonathan from being established on the throne after him, after King Saul. And that is the shame. And furthermore, Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David because his father treated him shamefully.

Now, when we speak of shame in certain instances, the shame may not necessarily be referring to some sort of sin, just like here in verse 34, because King Saul treated David shamefully. The treatment was shameful. And so that had nothing to do with the relationship.

And I just don’t know how that reader got that question up. You know, when we know that the Bible brings up the bad as well as the good. Now, if man had written the Bible, they would have avoided writing about certain sinful things that took place.

That probably left out the fact that David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and that David, in order to avoid being found out by Uriah, he sent Uriah to his death and murdered him. Well, God wasn’t pleased with that, and he said so. He sent a prophet to him to tell him.

And so if this was a sinful relationship, it would have said so. God would not have approved of it. And just like I said, it would not have been with David if David was doing something immoral at this time.

Yes, we know that all that what David did, some of them may be questionable, but David did these things, but God was with him. And so David and Jonathan had a relationship that it surpassed the love of women. This was stated in 2 Corinthians or 2 Samuel, after the death of King Saul and his sons, including Jonathan, that the love of Jonathan surpassed that of women.

But it was not immoral. So David and Jonathan had a close relationship. There can be a relationship down, but it doesn’t need to be questionable.

So that is interesting between David and Jonathan. I believe the relationship was a good one and needs to be imitated. And so in this we can have a relationship.

And you know when it says that Jonathan loved David as his own soul, that brings the memory that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. And so that is in the same vein. So that’s the completion of David and Jonathan.

Someone has a comment to make. If not, let us have a word for her. Father in heaven, we come before you thanking you for this day, for this time that we have had spent in your Word.

We pray that this lesson has been edifying to each one. We pray, O Father, that we will take the lesson that we have learned and apply it to our hearts and our lives. Help us, Lord, to be faithful to you, to walk day by day with you.

Father in heaven, we pray for those that have been mentioned that need our prayers. And we pray especially for this time for Tracy and her family and her mother, Joyce Lewis Graham. We pray that she’ll be with her as if she’s going to go into hospice care.

We pray, O Father, that comfort will be given her as she approaches her final days. We know that her life is in her hands. Be with the family and the loved ones that are caring for her.

And Father in heaven, we pray that you’ll be with us as we depart. May we have another opportunity to gather together to worship you in the name of Christ we pray. Amen.