1 Samuel 18

The Friend Of David

The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 1 Samuel 18:1.

I want to speak today about something which all boys and girls possess. Some have a great many, others only a few, others again just one, but that one is a very special one. Some are changing them every day, each morning they have a new one. Others have kept theirs for months or years, and they intend, if possible, to keep them all their life.

Would you like to know what this wonderful and mysterious thing is? Well, it is just a friend.

All of you have friends; some more, some fewer, and very often you hear people telling you how necessary it is to choose the right kind of friend. Yes, that is very important; but there is something just as important, if not more so, and that is how to be the right kind of friend.

Now in this book there is the story of a friendship which is perhaps the finest in the world. And I should like you to read that story and think a great deal about it, partly because it is very beautiful, but chiefly because it shows us better than any other tale does the kind of friend we should choose and be. It is the story of David and Jonathan.

Jonathan met David on the day that the young shepherd slew Goliath. Saul had expressed a desire to talk with the conqueror of the giant and David was brought into his presence. And when the shepherd boy had made an end of speaking, “the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” They were bound in one for ever and ever.

Did you ever think how strange it was that Jonathan should fall in love with David just then? It is true that there was much to admire in the young conqueror. He had done a glorious deed and delivered his countrymen out of the hands of the Philistines. He was brave and daring. He was good to look upon, and winsome and modest in his manner.

Yes, but David had just carried off the laurels that might have been Jonathan's. For Jonathan was no coward. A few years before he, with the help of only his armor-bearer, had climbed the face of a precipitous rock, fallen upon the garrison of the Philistines, and slain twenty men. We cannot tell why Jonathan did not fight Goliath. Perhaps Saul prevented his going. Samuel the prophet had told Saul that his son would never reign, and Saul may have feared that the prophecy would be fulfilled by Goliath's killing Jonathan.

Whatever the reason, Jonathan did not grudge David the triumph. He rejoiced with him. It made his heart glad to see that the boy was so brave and chivalrous. His love was too big and generous to find any room for jealousy.

And it was the same all through. For it was not long before Jonathan came to know that David was the man whom God had chosen to succeed Saul on the throne, that David was the man who was to fill the place that was his (Jonathan's) by right. The knowledge filled Saul with mad envy, but Jonathan never showed anything except pride and gladness in regard to it. David's gain was always Jonathan's loss, and yet Jonathan was ever able to rejoice in that gain. Again and again Jonathan might have got rid of David simply by delivering him into Saul's hands, but he never betrayed his friend. Instead of that he comforted and reassured David, he pleaded with his father for him, he risked his own life to save him.

Now the question is. Can our friendship go the length that Jonathan's did? Can we be glad when our best friend at school carries off the prize we have worked so hard to win? Can we be glad when he succeeds at the price of our failure or loss? Well, it is very, very difficult, but there is just one way we can do it by putting ourselves absolutely in the background.

There is a fine story told of the great English painter Turner, At one time Turner was on a committee for arranging about the hanging of pictures which were to be exhibited in London. the last moment, when all the walls were full, a picture by an unknown artist came in. Turner said, “This is a good picture. It must be hung.” But the other members of committee replied, “That is impossible. There is no room for it.”

Very quietly Turner said, “I will arrange it.” And he took down one of his own pictures and hung the new one in its place.

Don't you think that was a fine thing to do? And, boys and girls, it is the people who are truly great who can do things like that. Ask God to give you a big, generous, self-forgetting heart. Then, and then only, will you be able to be a friend like Jonathan.

There are just two other things I should like you to notice about Jonathan's friendship for David. They are the marks of the truest and best friendship wherever you find it.

And, first, Jonathan was an absolutely loyal friend, absolutely loyal and courageous. When he found out that Saul wanted to take David's life he went and “spake good of David unto Saul his father.” And that was a difficult thing to do. It was difficult because he risked his own life in doing it, and it was difficult because it is always hard to stand alone and plead for some one who is unpopular or out of favor.

Jonathan was loyal, too, because he stuck to David through thick and thin, through evil fortune and good He was as much David's friend when the latter was a hunted outlaw as when he was in the king's court. He was more his friend, for it was when David was in trouble that Jonathan helped him most.

And so if you would be like Jonathan, be loyal and faithful to your friends. Defend them when others are running them down. Be even more their friend in the dark days, for they need you more then.

And the other thing I want you to notice about Jonathan's friendship is that it was always helpful and uplifting. David was never the worse of Jonathan's company, but always the better. Jonathan cheered him when he was in despair; he lifted him up and put courage and faith into him.

Charles Kingsley was once asked what was the secret of his beautiful life, and he replied, “I had a friend.”

Wouldn't you like to be a friend like that, a friend that makes the lives of others gladder and better and more beautiful? Wouldn't you like to be a friend like Jonathan?

There is just one Friend in all the world who is a better Friend than Jonathan, and that is Jesus, the Friend of little children. He loves you, not because you are good, or kind, or brave, or loving, but just because you are you. He loves you when you are naughty, He loves you when you are sad, He loves you when you are glad, He loves you and He died for your sake. He loves you and He wants you for His very own. Will you choose Him as your Friend? Will you give Him your love in exchange for His?