1 Samuel 20:4 Commentary and Bible Study

Jonathan realises how convinced David is that Saul is set on David’s destruction, and he is determined to be a true friend to David. He will not desert him in this time of need. He is ready to take David’s side, or rather, the Lord’s side against his father, and be completely open about any hostility in his father’s heart. From one family David has his greatest enemy and his greatest friend. Certainly natural families are divided by the kingdom of heaven. Family loyalty is good, but it must always give way to loyalty to the Lord. David has his own family nearby, and a band of men that adhere to him, but no one is a greater friend than Jonathan. The providence of God brings together those who are from disparate backgrounds and makes them fellow-believers and companions on earth, who love one another for Christ’s sake in this brief life. As living stones they are positioned next to each other in walls of the temple of God, and those friendships will endure in heaven. The Lord provided David with this much needed friend without whom his position would have been much worse, a friend who was eager to show him that this friendship could be relied upon. How good it is to know that we have those who speak the truth to us, and whose assurances will not prove to be empty words. David needed practical help and Jonathan was a friend in need, and not just in word. This must have been a great encouragement to him, and was a sign that the Lord would not desert him. David proposes a plan to test Saul’s attitude towards him. It is a suitable plan, because it would have been entirely reasonable that David should take his absence for the reason given. It was a new moon feast, a time when Saul expected all to be present, and yet it was legitimate that at such a time David should request to be at Bethlehem, the city of his birth. If Saul accepted this and responded with calm words of peace, then it would reveal that there was no great resentment towards David in his heart. But if he overreacted and that hatred, which David suspected was there, burst forth in murderous threats, then it would be obvious what he really thought. The situation would have triggered his wrath in a way that he could no longer hide from Jonathan.And so there is the agreement between them, and the plan that Jonathan will inform David. There is the story that is invented about David needing to be in Bethlehem. It was not true; he tells Jonathan in verse 5 that he intends to go not to Bethlehem, but to hide in the field. It was a fiction to suit the occasion, and you could say that failure of faith soon lead to purely human fleshly solutions to our problems. Suddenly David with all his normal integrity is beginning to get tied up in lies and stories that have to be concocted to find an alternative way of securing information or safety. What a shame, when he had never put a foot wrong before! But he would later recover. David appeals to the covenant between them, a covenant which is precious to him. In his effort to convince Jonathan of his complete integrity he extravagantly suggests that, if he is not being honest in all that he says, then let Jonathan slay David there and then, and not bother to bring him to his father for him to do it. David does not intend to seriously question his own integrity; it is his powerful way of saying that he knows that he must be free from all hypocrisy, and he is.