1 Samuel 20:1 - Meaning and Application

Here David tells Jonathan, Saul’s son and his close friend, about the trouble he is in. While Saul was restrained by his trance at Naioth, David escaped to the court and found a chance to speak with Jonathan. It was a great mercy for David that he had such a friend at court when he had such an enemy on the throne. If some people hate and shame us, we should not be shaken by that, for others love and honor us. God has set these things in balance, and we must learn to do the same.

Jonathan was the kind of friend who loved at all times. He loved David just as much in his distress as he had when David was honored (1 Samuel 18:1), and he was the brother who is born for trouble (Proverbs 17:17). David first appealed to Jonathan about his innocence. He did not need to say much to prove it, only asked that if Jonathan knew of any real offense against Saul, he should tell him so David could humble himself and ask forgiveness: “What have I done?” (1 Samuel 20:1).

David then tried to show Jonathan that, innocent or not, Saul was seeking his life. Jonathan, out of a loyal son’s respect for his father, was very unwilling to believe Saul would do such a wicked thing (1 Samuel 20:2). He hoped this more readily because he knew nothing of any such plan, and Saul had usually let him in on his counsel. Jonathan tried to hide his father’s shame as far as that could be done without betraying justice or David. Love is not quick to suspect evil, especially in a parent (1 Corinthians 13:5).

So David gave him a solemn oath about his danger. “As the Lord lives,” he said, and as surely as Jonathan himself lived, there was only a step between David and death (1 Samuel 20:3). Saul’s keeping this from Jonathan was easy to explain. He knew Jonathan and David were friends, so he would not choose Jonathan as his helper in such a shameful plan. Jonathan was fit to help him in what was right and honorable, but Saul knew he was too upright to be his partner in the murder of David.

Jonathan then offered David his help with generous friendship (1 Samuel 20:4). David did not need to add any condition about what was lawful and honest, because Jonathan knew him too well to think he would ask for anything wrong. This is true friendship. In the same way, Christ shows his love to us by saying, “Ask, and it will be given to you,” and we show our love to him by keeping his commandments.

David then asked Jonathan only to find out for himself and then tell David whether Saul truly meant to kill him. He may have wanted this as much for Jonathan’s sake as for his own, since David himself was already convinced. The test he proposed was very natural and would clearly reveal Saul’s feelings. The next two days Saul was to dine publicly at the new moon feast, when special sacrifices were offered and meals were shared from them. Saul had been rejected by God, and the Lord’s Spirit had left him, yet he still kept up the outward observance of holy days. People may keep the outside of religion even when the life of it is gone.

At these feasts Saul either sat with all his children, and David had a place as one of them, or he sat with his officers, and David had a place as one of them. Either way, David planned to be absent for those two days, something that never normally happened at a sacred feast (1 Samuel 20:5). He would stay away until the feast was over and let the matter be decided by Saul’s reaction. If Saul accepted his excuse and was fine with his absence, David would take that as a sign that Saul had changed and was reconciled to him. But if Saul took offense and became angry, then it was plain he meant him harm, since he could not truly love David and still want him there for any other reason than to find a chance to hurt him (1 Samuel 20:7).

The excuse David asked Jonathan to give for his absence was, most likely, a true one. David said he had been called to Bethlehem, his hometown, by his older brother to keep the new moon feast with his family there, because besides the monthly gathering with all Israel, they also had a yearly sacrifice and feast for the whole family (1 Samuel 20:6). They kept a day of thanksgiving for their blessings and prayed for their continued mercy. This shows that David came from a very godly family, a home that had a church in it.

David also gave Jonathan strong reasons to do this kindness for him (1 Samuel 20:8). First, they had made a covenant of friendship together, and Jonathan himself had begun it: “You have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you.” Second, David would not ask Jonathan to support his cause unless he was sure the cause was right. “If there is iniquity in me,” he said, meaning if he had done wrong, then he did not want Jonathan bound to him in that wrong. He was willing to be left alone in it, and even wished the punishment might fall on him first: “Kill me yourself.” No honest person will ask a friend to do something dishonest for his sake.