Hope From the Word

Guest (Male): Today on Hope From the Word, Jonathan sees something that his father does not.

Bill Luebkemann: This is interesting. Saul started out as a humble guy, but now pretty much Saul's a guy that thinks he's doing it all himself, taking all the credit himself. But his son Jonathan knew that the Lord had been with his father because he said, "May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father." Jonathan knows that his father was king, that it was from the Lord, that anything his father did was by the Lord. Saul seems to have lost track of that fact, but not his son Jonathan.

Guest (Male): Imagine having someone hot on your heels, trying to kill you, and they have a lot of power and backing, too. Well, today on Hope From the Word, that's the place we find David, the future king of Israel. God knew David needed an encouraging word, so he sent Jonathan to remind David that God is faithful and is going to keep his promises. That's a good friend. Let's join Pastor Bill Luebkemann for this study in 1 Samuel chapters 19 and 20.

Bill Luebkemann: When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. He went to see the man of God. It is always a good idea to seek God when you're having a problem. In this day and age, this is the way they did it. They went to see a man of God. He and Samuel went down to this town, and they were having a worship service in this town. We are going to see that here in a minute. It was a Calvary Chapel-type deal.

Word came to Saul. Saul heard about it. David is in Naioth at Ramah. He sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came upon Saul's men and they also prophesied. His men coming down there to get David see this worship service going on. Samuel is there leading the worship, and they are all prophesying. The Holy Spirit just comes on these guys and they all start prophesying themselves. They forgot why they were even there. It does not say what they said, but they were speaking forth God's word somehow.

Saul was told about it. Saul, you sent the guys down to get David and the Holy Spirit had other plans. Put your thinking cap on, Saul. The Holy Spirit is not where you are at, so you are not going to win the battle. Maybe you should stop kicking against the goad, as Jesus said to a different one named Saul. Saul was told about it and he sent more men, and they prophesied, too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied. Every time he sent a contingent of guys, they just joined the worship service that was going on at this place.

They are just having a big old worship time. They probably had a bass guitar and some drums, and they were prophesying and talking about the Lord. The Holy Spirit was there in a very powerful and a very real way, and the Holy Spirit was not letting anything else happen there. It is kind of like the cone of silence or a force field, keeping everybody away. Nobody can get in here. In Star Trek, they are running down the hallway and they hit some invisible force field. We are protected by this force field. This was like a force field that sucked them in and they had to worship God. They had to join the worship service.

He sent three different groups of guys here, and this guy is so stupid that even after three groups of guys, he still does not get it. Finally, he himself left for Ramah and went to the great cistern at Seku. He asked, "Where are Samuel and David?" "Over in Naioth at Ramah," they said. Saul went to Naioth at Ramah, but the Spirit of God came even upon him. He walked about prophesying until he came to Naioth. He stripped off his robes and also prophesied in Samuel's presence. He lay that way all that day and night. This is why people say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

When he entered their presence, the Holy Spirit came upon him also, and the Holy Spirit started speaking through him, just like everybody else. That rendered him incapable or unable to achieve his objective, which was to kill David. Of course, you wonder why he even tried to go after sending three different groups of guys. You would think he would have figured out. It is kind of like the parable Jesus told of the vineyard and the workers in the vineyard. First, the owner sent some servants, then some more servants, then some more servants, and then he sent his very own son.

The corollary to that is how God sent prophet after prophet after prophet, and then his very own son. You see a picture of that here. The Lord sent his very own son who died so that we could be forgiven of our sins. He did achieve his objective. Here, Saul sent three groups of guys and then he went himself. He did not achieve his objective, but God achieved his objective. Saul walked around prophesying, stripped off his robes. Some of your Bibles might say naked. It probably really means something along the lines of he was wearing his underwear. He took off his kingly robes, whatever vestments that the king would wear to make him feel important. But he probably was not stark naked or bare naked.

He lay there prophesying all day and all night. That is why people would say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" Is he a prophet? Obviously, God spoke through him. The Holy Spirit came upon him, and you would be reluctant to look at this experience favorably in the light of Saul, since his purpose was to kill David and this whole event here prevented him from doing that.

David moved on from there in Chapter 20. Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, "What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father that he is trying to take my life?" "Never," Jonathan replied. "You are not going to die. Look, my father does not do anything great or small without confiding in me. Why would he hide this from me? It is not so."

Here we have Jonathan. The last thing Jonathan knows, he had brokered a truce between his dad and David. Everything was happy. Now Saul has got jealous of David again and is pursuing him, trying to kill him. Jonathan apparently was out of town on vacation when this happened. When he gets back, David looks him up and says, "What have I done? What is my crime? Why is your dad doing this again? He just said he was not going to do this to me anymore, and now he is chasing me around again."

Jonathan does not believe him. He says, "This cannot be true. I know it is not true because we brokered a deal. My dad agreed not to harm you. Furthermore, my dad would never do anything without confiding in me. He tells me everything. I am his confidant. I am his right-hand man. I am the crown prince. He would have told me so. I would have known something about it. I would have heard somebody talking about this."

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." Jonathan said to David, "Whatever you want me to do, I will do for you." David is saying to Jonathan, "Your dad would confide in you and tell you anything, but he knows you like me. He knows we are blood brothers. He knows we have a pact between us, and he is not going to tell you that. He is keeping a secret from you. He really is trying to kill me and he is not telling you. He is pretending something different because if he tells you, he knows you are going to tell me."

Jonathan says, "Whatever you want me to do." David said, "Tomorrow is the New Moon festival, and I am supposed to dine with the king. But let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. If your father misses me at all, tell him, 'David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.' If he says, 'Very well,' then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself. Why hand me over to your father?"

"Never," Jonathan said. "If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn't I tell you?" David asked, "Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?" "Come," Jonathan said. "Let's go out into the field." So they went there together. Here's the plan. It is very simple. It was like casting a fleece before the Lord. David says, "Tomorrow is the New Moon festival. This was not some pagan thing. They just had a big buffet dinner. David was supposed to be there. If your father misses me, he is going to say, 'Where is David? Why isn't he here dining with us? His chair is empty.' No one is sitting in his chair there."

"What you are going to tell him is, 'David had to go and visit his hometown because his whole family is there, and they needed him.' Maybe it was true. Maybe he did have to go and visit his hometown. Or maybe it was just a scam to set him up to see what kind of reaction. I can accept it either way. Whatever way it was, it does not matter. This is what he is going to tell you. If your dad says, 'Hey, where is David?' and you tell him David had to go, it was his brother that wanted him, we are going to see if your dad is happy with that or not. If he says, 'Very well,' then that means he likes me and he is not going to kill me."

"But if he loses his temper, then you can be sure that he is trying to harm me. As for you, you need to show kindness to me because we made a deal together. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself. Do not hand me over to your father." Jonathan said, "You are crazy. You are not guilty of anything. If I had any idea at all that my father was trying to harm you, I would tell you about it." David says, "How are we going to handle this?" Jonathan says, "Let's go out in the field and work this out."

Then Jonathan said to David, "By the Lord, the God of Israel, I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow. If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? But if my father is inclined to harm you, may the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away safely. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. But show me unfailing kindness like that of the Lord as long as I live so that I may not be killed, and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family, not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David's enemies from the face of the earth."

Jonathan here is saying to David, "No matter what happens, I promise you with God as my witness that by this time in two days, I am going to get you an answer to your question. I am going to find out if my father is really against you. If he is inclined to harm you, I am going to let you know and you will be able to get away safely. I am also praying that the Lord would be with you as he has been with my father." This is interesting. Saul started out as a humble guy, but now Saul is a guy that thinks he is doing it all himself, taking all the credit himself.

But his son Jonathan knew that the Lord had been with his father because he said, "May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father." Jonathan knows that his father was king, that it was from the Lord, and anything his father did was by the Lord. Saul seems to have lost track of that fact, but not his son Jonathan. Jonathan says, "Show me unfailing kindness like that of the Lord so that I might not be cut off." Saul is the king. Jonathan is his firstborn son. Jonathan should be the next king, but he knows David is going to be the king. All throughout history, when someone else got the kingdom away from the royal family, the royal family got all killed and wiped out.

If your son was supposed to be king and some bad guys came in and they killed you and they killed your son and they took over the kingdom, they are going to kill all your descendants so that nobody has any claim to the throne to protect themselves. That is not just in the Bible. That has probably been in history in general. I think Jonathan knows that this is coming, and he says, "Do not cut me off from kindness, even when the Lord has cut off every one of your enemies." Jonathan is saying, "I know you are going to be successful. I know someday all your enemies are going to be cut off and you are going to be the victor and you are going to be the king. All I am asking is you remember me and not cause me any harm. I have been your friend all throughout this thing here."

Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "May the Lord call David's enemies to account." Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him because he loved him as he loved himself. Then Jonathan said to David, "Tomorrow is the New Moon festival. You will be missed because your seat will be empty. The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began and wait by the stone Ezel. I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. Then I will send a boy and say, 'Go find the arrows.' If I say to him, 'Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,' then come, because as surely as the Lord lives, you are safe; there is no danger. But if I say to the boy, 'Look, the arrows are beyond you,' then you must go because the Lord has sent you away. About the matter you and I discussed, remember the Lord is witness between you and me forever."

Here is the plan. You are going to hide in this field here, and in two days, I am going to come out here. This seems like an awful complicated plan. "I am going to shoot three arrows out into the field, and I am going to send a young boy out to get them. I am going to shout, 'Hey, they are over here. You can get them over on that side.' If you hear me say that, you know that you are safe and you can come out of hiding. But if I shoot the arrows too far and they go beyond you, and I say to the boy, 'They are too far, they are beyond you,' then that means you better get out of here because my dad means to get you." The little boy would not know anything about it. Just remember the Lord is witness between you and me about this deal we have forever.

David hid in the field. When the New Moon festival came, the king sat down to eat. He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan, and Abner sat next to Saul, but David's place was empty. Saul said nothing that day, for he thought something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean. "Surely he is unclean." But the next day, the second day of the month, David's place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, "Why hasn't the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?"

The first day when David was not there, he thought the poor kid is probably unclean. He was out in the field and accidentally touched a dead animal, he did something that left him unclean. When you are unclean, you could not participate in one of these ceremonial meals, but it was only unclean for a one-day period. He would be here the next day. When the second day came and he still was not there, now Saul is a little unhappy here. This sentence may be kind of a slur. "Why hasn't the son of Jesse come to the meal?" Jesse was a nobody. David was the youngest son, the most nobody son of a nobody guy.

It is kind of like when they said of Jesus, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" It is kind of like we look down on that. "Why hasn't the son of Jesse come to the meal?" meaning the bum, the kid, the guy who's a nobody, the shepherd. He is not from a royal household. He is not the king. He is never going to be the king. He is just an average nobody. Where is he? Why isn't he here?

Jonathan answered, "David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. He said, 'Let me go because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me go away to see my brothers.' That is why he has not come to the king's table." He said that he did so earnestly. Jonathan is saying, "David asked me to do this and he was earnest about it. He was sincere. He was not making this up. He was not being flippant. It is not that he wanted to offend the king or that he did not realize how important it was for him to be here at this banquet at this big celebration. Family has to come first."

Saul did not like that answer, which was the sign that David was telling Jonathan he was going to see. Saul's anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, "You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don't I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you?" He does not take any of the credit himself. "As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send and bring him to me, for he must die."

His father says, "What do you think, I am stupid? I know he is your friend. Why do you think I didn't tell you I was trying to kill him? Because I knew you would tell him. I know you are lying to me now. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Don't you know as long as this guy lives, you are never going to be the king?" Jonathan was the firstborn son of Saul. He was the crown prince here. He would have been next in line. You would think if anybody wanted to bump off David, it would have been Jonathan. You would think he would have been in cahoots with his dad to get rid of this guy so he could be king.

"Don't you know I am the king? When I die, you are going to be the king. This guy is in my way and he is in your way. We have got to get rid of him. Now go get him. We are going to kill him." Jonathan had integrity here. He was a man of honor. He believed in doing what the right thing was regardless of what anybody else was doing around him. He put himself at great peril. It seems like most of Saul's associates would do anything Saul said. By the way, it would only take one nut job guy to kill David anyway. Even if ten out of twelve of Saul's advisors were on David's side, it just takes only one guy to kill him.

Jonathan's a righteous guy. He would not do such a thing. He says, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?" Jonathan asked his father. But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David. Saul tried to kill his own son. Fortunately for Jonathan and also for David, it seems like Saul is not really good with the aim. He cannot aim that thing as well as David can aim the sling. David got the stone right in the forehead of Goliath on the first try.

You want to bet if David had sent that spear back, he could not have put it right in the right place where it would have done some real harm to Saul? Fortunately, this guy tries to kill his own son. That is all the proof Jonathan needs. At this point, the little light bulb goes on. Ding! Light bulb above his head lights up. "I got it now. David was right. I cannot believe it. He does intend to kill David. He even tried to kill me." Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger. On that second day of the month, he did not eat because he was grieved at his father's shameful treatment of David. We see here a guy who is really after what is righteous.

In the morning, Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him and he said to the boy, "Run and find the arrows I shoot." This must have been fun for the little boy. Little boys like to be with bigger boys. Little girls like to be with bigger girls. "Want to go shoot some arrows? I will shoot them, you can catch them." Surely, maybe the little boy gets to shoot an arrow or two. This little boy was probably excited. He said to the boy, "Run and find the arrows I shoot." Kind of like a batboy or the boy that goes out and gets the golf balls that they shoot out on the driving range.

As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. When the boy came to the place where Jonathan's arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, "Isn't the arrow beyond you?" Then he shouted, "Hurry! Go quickly! Don't stop!" Coded message there for David. The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. The boy knew nothing of all this. Only Jonathan and David knew. Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, "Go, carry them back to town."

You may wonder why he went through all this trouble. Maybe it was because he was afraid he was being shadowed or somebody was watching him. Kind of like the spy thriller and the intrigue here. But here he is shooting arrows and he does not want whoever is looking at him to see him out there with David. He will do it this way so that he can shout the message out in code, and anybody who happens to be watching him will not know what is going on.

After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together, but David wept the most. Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, 'The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.'" Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.