1 Samuel 20:42

THE BEST OF FRIENDS MUST PART

‘And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, the Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever,’ etc.

1 Samuel 20:42

This was the last meeting and the final leaving of two young men whose friendship has been a proverb for nearly thirty centuries.

I. There are partings in every life.—The ties of yesterday are loosened to-day, and will be broken to-morrow. We are closely bound to each other by the strong bonds of circumstances one moment, and the next we are severed and each goes on his way to strive or to suffer, and to conquer or to fall, alone. The hour of parting came to David and Jonathan, and nought remained but this, ‘Jonathan said to David, Go in peace.’

II. There was one thought which took away some of the bitterness of that moment and allowed them to go each on his way with a firm step and a strong heart, for theirs had been no light and trifling friendship, which had sprung up in a day and might be dissolved in an hour, but a serious, manly, steadfast love, rooted in a common faith and held together by a common object animating their lives; and therefore the one could say to the other, ‘Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord.’ One might go back to the haunted house, where Saul would curse and rave, and the other might wander abroad in the wilderness; but come what might, they were both prepared for good or evil fortune. Both had sworn to put their trust in the living God.

—Canon Jessop.

Illustrations

(1) ‘Dean Church, talking about Hurrell Froude and Newman, says that “each had the capacity for whole-hearted friendship.” Probably that capacity for friendship is a rarer possession than we think. But it belonged pre-eminently to David and to Jonathan, and being found there in connection with pure and noble natures, it has cast a glamour of undying interest over the short story of their intercourse.’

(2) ‘The last interview between the two friends was most touching. By that time Jonathan had come to a clear prevision that David was God’s predestined king, and he loved him well enough to be content. Love could go no further. We are reminded of the words of the Baptist, “He must increase, I must decrease.” Only see to it that whenever you meet with your friends, under whatsoever circumstances, you always strengthen them in God. “Jonathan came to David there, and strengthened his hand in God.” All that these words imply it is not easy to write; our hearts interpret the words, and imagine the stream of holy encouragement that poured from that noble spirit into the heart of his friend. He must be strong who would strengthen another; he must have God, and be in God, who would easily give the consolations of God to his brother; and we can easily understand how the anguish of Jonathan’s soul, torn between filial devotion to his father and his love to his friend, must have driven him back on those resources of the Divine nature which are the only solace of men whose lives have been cast in the same fiery crucible.’

(3) ‘In heaven’s vaults there are what are known as binary stars, each probably a sun with its attendant train of worlds revolving around a common centre, but blending their rays so that they reach the watcher’s eye as one clear beam of light. So do twin souls find the centre of their orbit in each other; and there is nothing in the annals of human affection nobler than the bond of such a love between two pure, high-minded and noble men, whose love passes that of women. Such love was celebrated in ancient classic story, and has made the names of Damon and Pythias proverbial. It has also enriched the literature of modern days in the love of a Hallam and a Tennyson. But nowhere is it more fragrant than on the pages that contain the memorials of the love of Jonathan and David.’