1 Samuel 20--Jonathan Warns David

1 Samuel 20
English Standard Version

Jonathan Warns David
20 Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?” 2 And he said to him, “Far from it! You shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me. And why should my father hide this from me? It is not so.” 3 But David vowed again, saying, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thinks, ‘Do not 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.” 4 Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.” 5 David said to Jonathan, “Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit at table with the king. But let me go, that I may hide myself in the field till the third day at evening. 6 If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the clan.’ 7 If he says, ‘Good!’ it will be well with your servant, but if he is angry, then know that harm is determined by him. 8 Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you. But if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?” 9 And Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! If I knew that it was determined by my father that harm should come to you, would I not tell you?” 10 Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you roughly?” 11 And Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So they both went out into the field.

12 And Jonathan said to David, “The LORD, the God of Israel, be witness! When I have sounded out my father, about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if he is well disposed toward David, shall I not then send and disclose it to you? 13 But should it please my father to do you harm, the LORD do so to Jonathan and more also if I do not disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. May the LORD be with you, as he has been with my father. 14 If I am still alive, show me the steadfast love of the LORD, that I may not die; 15 and do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever, when the LORD cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” 16 And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD take vengeance on David's enemies.” 17 And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

18 Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19 On the third day go down quickly to the place where you hid yourself when the matter was in hand, and remain beside the stone heap. 20 And I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I shot at a mark. 21 And behold, I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you, take them,’ then you are to come, for, as the LORD lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger. 22 But if I say to the youth, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, for the LORD has sent you away. 23 And as for the matter of which you and I have spoken, behold, the LORD is between you and me forever.”

24 So David hid himself in the field. And when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food. 25 The king sat on his seat, as at other times, on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat opposite, and Abner sat by Saul's side, but David's place was empty.

26 Yet Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him. He is not clean; surely he is not clean.” 27 But on the second day, the day after the new moon, David's place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has not the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?” 28 Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. 29 He said, ‘Let me go, for our clan holds a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away and see my brothers.’ For this reason he has not come to the king's table.”

30 Then Saul's anger was kindled 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? 31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Therefore send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.” 32 Then Jonathan answered Saul his father, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” 33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death. 34 And Jonathan rose 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 disgraced him.

​35 In the morning Jonathan went out into the field to the appointment with David, and with him a little boy. 36 And he said to his boy, “Run and find the arrows that I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37 And when the boy came to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the boy and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?” 38 And Jonathan called after the boy, “Hurry! Be quick! Do not stay!” So Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows and came to his master. 39 But the boy knew nothing. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter. 40 And Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and said to him, “Go and carry them to the city.” 41 And as soon as the boy had gone, David rose from beside the stone heap and fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed one another and wept with one another, David weeping the most. 42 Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD shall be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, forever.’” And he rose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.

---

We get the feeling of Michael W. Smith's song Friends from this passage of Scripture.  David knows that Saul is out to kill him, but really isn't sure why.  Jonathan is sure that he can use his position being close to the king to give information to David and to help save him, but David is certain that Saul already suspects Jonathan and that he will exclude Jonathan from information about David, or that he might even feed Jonathan false information to test him.  It is better for David to leave and live like a fugitive and an outlaw so as to not put Jonathan's life in danger.

However, David had to make up some excuse for why he left, and Jonathan would have to be the one to deliver the news to the king, which might put Jonathan at risk.  There were supposed to be New Moon festivals every month, though this appears to be an even more special one that happens at the beginning of the year.  There would be additional sacrifices made and the people would feast together.  David being one of Saul's servants would have a seat at the king's table, but David makes the excuse that he wants to go back and celebrate this feast with his father's family because it was a time for family to come together and celebrate.  So, Jonathan relays the message that David has gone to his home town of Bethlehem to attend the feast and annual sacrifices with his family.  However, David did not really plan on going to Bethlehem at all--he was going to be hiding in a field near the palace the whole time so that he could get information from Jonathan and hear some of what was going on.  He was interested in how Saul would react to this news that David had gone to Bethlehem because it would be something he should have celebrated that David wanted to be part of this feast with his family and he should have been more than willing to give him a bit (maybe up to a week) to celebrate with them, but if it angered Saul that David left, it would only be because Saul was trying to kill David and David made it harder to get to him.

Jonathan swore an oath to David that he would make sure to tell David one way or another if he was in danger or not in danger (Jonathan saw the place where David was hiding), and the professed their unbreakable love of friendship for one another (this is not a romantic covenant--I've had these kinds of friendships before, usually with other Christian brothers where I feel they are closer than my own family and we are almost certain that we will be friends for our entire lives).  They loved each other as they loved themselves and they were both willing to lay down their lives for the other and to avenge the death of the other should anything happen.

Jonathan then comes up with a signal that he's going to use to tell David whether it is safe to return or not.  On the third day of the feast, Jonathan will go out and shoot three arrows towards the pile of rocks that David is hiding under as if it is a mark that he's trying to aim at (This will get David's attention so that he will know to listen for what Jonathan is going to say next).  Jonathan will then send a boy out to fetch the arrows for him.  If he tells the boy that the arrows were "on this side of him" (closer to Jonathan) then that is to mean that it is safe for David to come home.  However if he tells the boy that the arrows are beyond him (he needs to go farther away from Jonathan) then that is to mean that it is not safe for David to return home and he is to run for his life.  No matter what happens though, their friendship is unbreakable with each other because it is based first in their love for the LORD.

So David's seat was empty when the feast took place.  Jonathan was sitting towards the head of the table next to Saul and across from Abner who was the general in charge of the army.  Saul originally thought that David did not come that day because he was ceremonially unclean and that would prevent him from participating in the sacrifices and the feast that night, for he would be unclean until sundown of that day, but he would be clean the next day (there are many ways this could happen under the Law).  However, on the second day, Saul is concerned because if David had been unclean the first day, he should have been ceremonially clean the second day.

Saul is angry with Jonathan's answer that David has gone to Bethlehem to be with his family.  He knows that Jonathan has chosen to take sides with David to protect him and Saul thinks that Jonathan should want to kill David too because as long as David lives Jonathan will never be king--but Jonathan wants David to be king.  In fact we're actually going to have the other problem that as long as any of Saul's sons are alive there will people that will never accept David as king.  We'll get to that later though.  Saul then hurls his spear at Jonathan to try to kill him in the same way that he had done in the past to try to kill David and Jonathan is sure that Saul means to kill David to force Jonathan to be king.  Jonathan, understandably, got up from the table and refused to eat any more food that day (I wouldn't want to sit at the table with a homicidal maniac father either, even if he was the king).  However, it is not for his own life that he won't eat, but because he is so grieved that his father wants to kill David.

In the morning, Jonathan goes out to the field and shoots his arrows towards the rocks as they had agreed upon and he tells the boy fetching the arrows that the arrows are beyond him (telling David that he needs to run for his life), adding to the signal, "Hurry!  Be quick!  Do not stay!"  The boy with Jonathan did not understand the signal, but David and Jonathan did.  After the boy retrieved the arrows, Jonathan also gave him his bow and told him to return to the city with them.  Once the boy was gone, Jonathan went out to meet David to say goodbye to him one last time and they wept together, David weeping the most that this probably meant that he would never see his best friend again.  They renewed their covenant with each other and said that no matter what, their offspring would always be at peace with one another (we'll see that David will remember this promise and will take care of one of Jonathan's offspring later and treat him like he is David's own family).  They parted ways there with David headed away (he'll live in the wilderness as a fugitive and outlaw for many years) and Jonathan headed back into the city towards the palace.  They are uncertain at this point if they will ever see each other face-to-face on this side of eternity.  I'm going to embed the song that I referred to at the beginning of this article as some of you may not be familiar with it.  It likely is based on this very passage of Scripture, though he doesn't directly reference it anywhere in the song.