1 Samuel 20:1-42

And David fled from Naioth, in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan.

David and Jonathan

1. It will be suitable for us to dwell on the remarkable friendship between David and Jonathan--a beautiful oasis in this wilderness history.

(1) It was a striking proof of the ever mindful and considerate grace of God, that at the very opening of the dark valley of trial through which David had to pass in consequence of Saul’s jealousy, he was brought into contact with Jonathan, and in his disinterested and sanctified friendship, furnished with one of the sweetest earthly solaces for the burden of care and sorrow. In merciful adaptation to the infirmities of his human spirit, God opened to him this stream in the desert, and allowed him to refresh himself with its pleasant waters; but to show him that his great dependence must be placed, not on the fellowship of mortal man, but on the ever-living and ever-loving God, Jonathan and he were doomed, after the briefest period of companionship, to a lifelong separation.

(2) In another view, David’s intercourse with Jonathan served an important purpose in his training. The very sight he constantly had of Saul’s outrageous wickedness might have nursed a self-righteous feeling, might have encouraged the thought that as Saul was rejected by God for his wickedness, so David was chosen for his goodness. The remembrance of Jonathan’s singular virtues and graces was fitted to rebuke this thought; for if regard to human goodness had decided God’s course in the matter, why should not Jonathan have been appointed to succeed his father?

(3) But there was one feature of the friendship of Jonathan and David that had no parallel in classic times--it was friendship between two men, of whom the younger was a more formidable rival to the older. It is Jonathan that shines most in this friendship, for he was the one who had least to gain and most to lose from the other.

(4) Besides being disinterested, Jonathan’s friendship for David was of an eminently holy character. Evidently Jonathan was a man that habitually honoured God, if not in much open profession, yet in the way of deep reverence and submission. And thus, besides being able to surrender his own prospects without a murmur, and feel real happiness in the thought that David would be king, he could strengthen the faith of his friend, as we read afterwards (1 Samuel 23:16). What a priceless blessing is the friendship of those who support and comfort us in great spiritual conflicts, and help us to stand erect in some great crisis of our lives!

2. We cannot turn from this chapter without adding a word on the friendships of the young. It is when hearts are tender that they are more readily knit to each other, as the heart of Jonathan was knit to the heart of David. But the formation of friendships is too important a matter to be safely left to casual circumstances.

(1) It ought to be gone about with care. A friend is very useful, if he is rich in qualities where we are poor.

(2) But surely, of all qualities in a friend or companion who is to do us good, the most vital is, that he fears the Lord. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)

A friendly prince a princely friend

I. The princely friendship.

1. An unselfish and self-denying avowal. He had soon to learn by experience, and he must have known the fact then, that to befriend David was to displease Saul. Yet is there no faltering in his fidelity. However contrary the waves may be, he changes not the vessel’s head; undeterred, he abides faithful. Calumnies and adulations change him not.

2. The religious character of this friendship is forced upon us. He begins with a covenant. Are any friendships worth cultivating whereupon we may not ask the Divine blessing?

3. Such a friendship was not only the affection of a man. He drew the power to thus “love on” from the Great Source of Love.

II. The purpose this friendship served.

1. God gave David a friend at court.

2. Another purpose the friendship of Jonathan served was to strengthen David’s faith. During his exile, especially in the early past, when his fortunes changed so suddenly, David’s faith became clouded. It is his voice that exclaims, “There is but a step between me and death.” The strong confidence is breathed by Jonathan (1 Samuel 20:14). When pressed almost beyond endurance and weary with continual flight, it is Jonathan who directs the trembling heart to God (1 Samuel 23:16).

Lessons:

1. Sanctified friendships are God’s hands of guidance. Such lead us always to Himself and never from Him.

2. Friendships formed for social or temporal gain are akin to traffic and bargain driving on the Temple floor, and must end in ruin. That is no real friendship which fails to lead us to God.

3. True friendships are stable. Human alliances are as fragile as the flowers the frost has traced upon the window, which melt away before the pure beams of love or the heat of trial from within. All friendships that are worth anything must begin with a covenant. (H. E. Stone.)