1 Samuel 18:1 Commentary and Bible Study

We have before us the subject of the world and the church in Saul and David: Saul, of course, and his attitude, typifying that of the world; and David's typifying that of the Lord's people, the church, or even at times of Christ himself. Now this is following the victory of David over Goliath, where the victory over Goliath was due to the faith he had in the promise and command of God: that under certain circumstances God would be their defender and give them the victory over their enemies and reward faith. David was convinced of that, and he acted on the authority of the promises in Deuteronomy concerning the divine protection of the children of Israel. He was given that significant victory, and it launched him into immediate fame.We are introduced right at the start of the chapter to another precious jewel of faith. As you go through these books you are not reading mere history; that it purely secondary. These are books showing you people who love the Lord, and know him by faith. In the rest of the chapter there is a great battle of carnal versus spiritual. Who is Saul? He is a king who first and foremost is interested in his position. But isn’t he interested in his people? Only in so far as he has got room left after being interested in himself as king. Is he interested in the future of his people, in the securing of their boundaries, the enlarging of their coasts, their spiritual prosperity? No. Supposing somebody came into Saul's kingdom who would do things for him. Supposing Saul was to be threatened on one of his frontiers – and much of his territory was threatened with defeat from Philistines – and supposing somebody within his kingdom were to rise up, and to thrust back the invaders and secure his kingdom for him. Wouldn't Saul be pleased? No, because it might threaten his reputation, and his position. He would rather lose a chunk of his kingdom than have his own position threatened, because his heart is not first of all for his people, his kingdom or anything like that. His heart is first and foremost for his position. Why is all the ugliness of Saul laid out and left for us in the Scripture? Why is it that First Samuel gives us many chapters devoted to this strange picture of Saul, the establishment man, hounding David, who actually was doing more in the interests of the kingdom than anybody else there? Simply because he thought his own position might seem to be threatened. Twice in the conflict or the skirmishes involving Saul and David, Saul was completely in David's power, and yet David didn't harm a hair of his head. So Saul knew that David was determined to be a loyal subject, until he died, was killed accidentally, or something happened. So why was Saul so concerned? He had no evidence that David was going to attack him, or take his throne. No, but he was an establishment man, and establishment men are hypersensitive. They may have no real evidence that their position is under threat, but they are very sensitive, and even if someone is doing even something advantageous for their kingdom, if they becoming prominent in the process they are likely to be upset.‘And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul,’ – the Hebrew implies they had quite a long conversation, probably about David’s parents, and money, and marriage – ‘that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.’ One thing you can be absolutely clear of in First Samuel is this: David loved the Lord and was a spiritual man. Jonathan also loved the Lord and was spiritual, to the extent that Jonathan knew and believed the promise and the anointing of God that David would be king, and he did not mind in the least. Though Jonathan was heir to the throne, he didn't mind that God had chosen another to be king in his place. Why? Because he was a believer, and he loved the Lord, and the thing that he most wanted in his life was what the Lord determined. And because they were both spiritual, there was this instant bond: they loved one another. We know that they had both passed from death to life, because they loved each other. They had something in common, which they didn't have in common with other people. So the story of David and Jonathan is the story of an instant and inevitable spiritual bond. They both believed that to know the Lord, you had to repent of your sin; to know the Lord you had to be blessed and converted; to know the Lord you had to have the Holy Spirit in you. They believed that in order truly to know the Lord you had to believe that something far better than the nation of Israel was the promise of God to Abraham. We are told in Hebrews 11 that David, in common with others, lived as seeing him who is invisible. He believed in the coming Saviour. He believed that the coming of the Messiah was the real promise of God, and the ushering in of the church age, and the eternal heavens. He saw those things, and he believed those things. He tells us about them in his psalms, and Jonathan had exactly the same view. Jonathan was a man of similar faith and courage. He too had single-handedly (with his armour bearer) led Israel to victory against enormous odds. In chapter 14, one of the most courageous acts in the whole of the Old Testament is carried out by Jonathan. He is a man of valour himself, and so he instinctively recognises the same valour in David at the slaying of Goliath. Does Jonathan know David has been anointed to be king? Saul had discerned this. We are not told that the brothers of David spoke of the private anointing of David, but it is unlikely that they would have been able to keep it to themselves indefinitely. Two chapters on Saul says to Jonathan, ‘For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom’ (1 Samuel 20:31), and not long afterwards Jonathan acknowledges this to David for his encouragement: ‘And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth’ (1 Samuel 23:17). He knows that David is going to eclipse him and take his place, and yet ‘the soul of Jonathan was knit’, and that word is deliberately chosen by the King James translators, because it reflects the Hebrew beautifully. He was knit, bound, tied to David. They were completely joined in conversation, in views, in spiritual outlook: that what mattered was a deliverer for Israel, and the keeping of the promises of God. God had said the great descendant, the Messiah, would come through this people, and so they were to be preserved.