1 Samuel 20 - Introduction
XX. (1 Samuel 20:1) Jonathan and David Seal their Friendship with a Solemn Covenant — David is Declared a Public Enemy — The Last Interview between David and Jonathan.... [ Continue Reading ]
XX. (1 Samuel 20:1) Jonathan and David Seal their Friendship with a Solemn Covenant — David is Declared a Public Enemy — The Last Interview between David and Jonathan.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DAVID FLED FROM NAIOTH IN RAMAH, AND CAME AND SAID BEFORE JONATHAN. — The strange course of events in the prophetic schools by Ramah, while warning David that even the home of his old master, the great seer, was no permanent sanctuary where he could safely rest, still gave him time to fly, and t... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD FORBID; THOU SHALT NOT DIE. — Jonathan even now refuses to believe that his loved father, _when he was himself,_ really wished ill to David; all that had hitherto happened the princely Jonathan put down to his father’s unhappy malady. He urges upon his friend that if the king in good earnest had... [ Continue Reading ]
THY FATHER CERTAINLY KNOWETH THAT I HAVE FOUND GRACE IN THINE EYES. — David urges that his fall, and even his death, had been decided upon by Saul, who, knowing how Jonathan loved him, would shrink from confiding to his son his deadly plans respecting his loved friend. David, with his clear, bright... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NEW MOON. — On the religious ceremonies connected with the day of the new moon at the beginning of each month, see the Mosaic enactments in Numbers 10:10; Numbers 28:11. At the court of Saul the feast seems to have been carefully observed, doubtless with the blast of trumpets, and with solemn b... [ Continue Reading ]
A YEARLY SACRIFICE. — The Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 12:5 and following verses) strictly required these great sacrificial feasts to be kept at the Tabernacle, “unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes;” but ever since the destruction of the Tabernacle of Shiloh there h... [ Continue Reading ]
A COVENANT OF THE LORD WITH THEE. — It may at first sight seem strange that we have these last meetings of David and Jonathan told us in such detail — the speaker’s very words quoted, and so many apparently trivial circumstances related. The question, too, might be asked: Whence did the compiler of... [ Continue Reading ]
FAR BE IT FROM THEE. — Vulg., _absit hoc a te._ This strong expression bears emphatic testimony to Jonathan’s implicit belief in his loved friend’s stainless loyalty. He indignantly refuses to take his life, or even to allow that life to be touched by his father. The sentences here are broken ones;... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO SHALL TELL ME? OR WHAT IF THY FATHER ANSWER THEE ROUGHLY? — The language in the original is here very abrupt and involved. Evidently the very words uttered in the memorable scene by the excited and sorrowful friends are remembered and reported. The “if” supplied in the English Version probably... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD GOD OF ISRAEL. — Now that the two friends have come to a remote solitary spot, Jonathan prefaces his reply to David’s piteous request by a very solemn invocation of that God they both loved so well. The vocative, however, “O Lord God,” &c., of the English Version has been generally looked upo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALT NOT ONLY WHILE YET I LIVE SHEW ME THE KINDNESS OF THE LORD, THAT I DIE NOT. — The Hebrew of this and the next verse is again very confused, abrupt, and ungrammatical, but this is evidently to be attributed to the violent emotion of the speaker. We have, doubtless (as above suggested).... [ Continue Reading ]
SO JONATHAN MADE A COVENANT. — It is not necessary to supply (as in the English Version) “saying,” but it is better to understand this verse as a remark interposed in the dialogue by the narrator, and to translate the Hebrew literally, “So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, and Jehova... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JONATHAN CAUSED DAVID TO SWEAR AGAIN. — Throughout this touching interview it is the prince who appears as the suppliant for the outlaw’s ruture kind offices. Jonathan — looking forward with absolute certainty to the day when his persecuted friend would be on the throne, and he in his grave — dr... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT BE MISSED. — Well then, resumes Jonathan — after the passionate conclusion of the solemn covenant betwixt the friends — the last trial shall be as you propose. At the State banquet of my father tomorrow your seat, as agreed upon, will be empty, then you and I — when King Saul misses you —... [ Continue Reading ]
GO DOWN QUICKLY. — “Quickly” represents, but not faithfully, the Hebrew _m’od._ “Quickly” comes from the Vulg., _descende ergo festinus._ The literal rendering of _m’od_ is “greatly,” and probably Dean Payne Smith’s rendering, “and on the third day go a long way (greatly) down into the valley,” repr... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SHOOT THREE ARROWS. — The two friends agree on a sign. It was a very simple one, and seems to speak of very early primitive times. Jonathan slightly varies from his original purpose. In 1 Samuel 20:12 it seems as though he meant to have sent a special messenger had the news been good, but now... [ Continue Reading ]
SAT HIM DOWN. — The LXX. paraphrases here, “came to the table.”... [ Continue Reading ]
DAVID’S PLACE WAS EMPTY. — All took place as the two friends had calculated. Saul’s seat was by the wall — then, as now, in the East the highest place of honour was opposite the door. The exact meaning of the phrase, “and Jonathan arose,” has been disputed. The LXX. translate here from a different t... [ Continue Reading ]
ON THE MORROW. — David’s continued absence on the second day of the feast awoke Saul’s suspicion, and he asked his son, who was sitting by him, what was the reason of his friend’s absence, aware that no accident connected with ceremonial defilement would keep him away two following days.... [ Continue Reading ]
OUR FAMILY HATH A SACRIFICE IN THE CITY; AND MY BROTHER, HE HATH COMMANDED ME. — Jonathan answers the king’s question in the way previously agreed upon between him and David. He quotes the excuse in David’s own words. The LXX., instead of “my brother,” has “my brothers.” It thus alters the original... [ Continue Reading ]
SAUL’S ANGER WAS KINDLED. — As David expected, his absence kindled into a flame the anger of Saul. Probably he had determined at that very feast, surrounded by his own devoted friends and members of his family, to carry out his evil designs against David’s life. Murder was, probably enough, one of... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT BE ESTABLISHED. — Here the king gives expression to the thought which was ever torturing that poor diseased brain of his — David, his own kind physician, his faithful soldier, and his son’s dearest friend and loved companion, was plotting basely against that master for whom he had don... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JONATHAN ANSWERED. — Jonathan, remembering the effect of his quiet, earnest remonstrance on a previous occasion, again tried to deprecate his father’s unreasoning jealous anger, but this time to no purpose. A paroxysm of madness seized Saul, and he grasped the long spear leaning by his side, and... [ Continue Reading ]
SO JONATHAN AROSE. — “In fierce anger,” so runs the too true record. The son of Saul left the presence, and appeared no more at that fatal feast. The hot anger was stirred up, first, no doubt, by the terrible insult offered him, the prince and heir to the throne, before the assembled great ones of I... [ Continue Reading ]
AT THE TIME APPOINTED WITH DAVID. — This meeting between the friends is not described at any length; all was done as had been pre-arranged, and, alas! everything had come to pass as David in his sad foresight had expected.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHOT AN ARROW BEYOND HIM. — This was the sign agreed on if all was over for David at the court of Saul. Expositors are in a little difficulty, though, here, as only _one arrow_ is mentioned, whereas “three” had to be shot according to the terms of the understanding. We cannot imagine, as some hav... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE SPEED, HASTE, STAY NOT. — Although Jonathan, of course, trusted to a certain extent the youth (probably an armour-bearer) who was with him, still he hurried this attendant away, that he might not see David, who was close by in hiding, and who, _after_ the sign, would presently appear in sight.... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS ARTILLERY. — Literally, _his implements._ The word “artillery,” expressive though it be, would scarcely now be used in this sense; we should now translate the Hebrew word by “arms.”... [ Continue Reading ]
DAVID AROSE OUT OF A PLACE TOWARD THE SOUTH. — If the text be correct here, which is very doubtful, we must understand these words as signifying that as soon as David perceived that Jonathan was alone (as soon as the lad was gone), he rose from the south side of the rock, where he had been lying con... [ Continue Reading ]
GO IN PEACE. — The abruptness of the closing words is most natural, and accords with the evident deep emotion of the speaker. David’s heart was too full to reply to his friend’s words; blinded with tears, he seems to have hurried away speechless. “We may indeed wonder at the delicacy of feeling and... [ Continue Reading ]