1 Samuel 20:1 Commentary and Bible Study

David, for his part, even after he had unburdened himself to Samuel, immediately goes to see Jonathan at court, while the Saul was delayed at Naioth, and they comfort each other. And David says – and it's almost unbelievable to read this – ‘I cannot understand Jonathan, why your father is attacking me. I haven't done anything that could be interpreted by your father as my mounting a coup or plotting or scheming. I behaved myself in absolute subjection. I have been a completely obedient servant. What can he think I have done, for him to be so persistently after my life?’ He appeals to the innocence of his conduct before the king. He has done nothing to warrant this treatment. But he expresses too much surprise and confusion at Saul’s hostility. Suddenly, David has forgotten all he has been taught about the life of the believer. Isn't that extraordinary? He seems to have lost his spiritual view of things. He knew full well what this was all about. He knew all the way back to Genesis 3:15: the war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. He knew the hostility directed from Saul to himself, from the world to the church. He had a spiritual view; he understood it perfectly. But now he says to Jonathan, his closest ally and friend, ‘What have I done? What is this for? This is utterly unreasonable; this shouldn't be happening to me.’ What is my sin before thy father? He knew just moments before. But even after speaking to Samuel, even after the four miracles of frustration of Saul and his officers.Up to this point all the way along, he has seen everything spiritually. I am to be Israel's deliverer; therefore I must expect opposition and attack and resistance. Even when God prospers me in the eyes of the people from some other direction, I'll get rejection and attack.’ Now he has forgotten to view things spiritually. ‘I'm trying to figure out’, he says to Jonathan, ‘what I could possibly have done to upset your father.’ David, go back to where you were. This is not something you can rationally figure out; this is a spiritual battle. He has seen God's miraculous dealings protecting him and helping him and enabling him previously, and now he is seeing them again even while being pursued. It is as though God is saying, ‘My promises are sound and I will keep them, and your life is safe. You are not going to be taken and killed. Look, here are three parties and the king himself, and they were unable to come to you.’ But none of this seems to stem the collapse, for the moment, of David's faith. We are not denigrating David for one moment; the pressures upon him were immense. But the Bible is faithful, and when even the great heroes of faith stumble, we are told, because it is a lesson to us.