Love Pledging Fidelity
(No. 2774)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, APRIL 13, 1902.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, APRIL
3, 1881.
Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his
own soul."
1 Samuel 18:3.
"And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he
loved him as he loved his own soul."
1 Samuel 11:17.
MANY books have been written concerning that surly old Prophet Jonah,
yet here is a man with a name somewhat similar–Jonathan–but scarcely
anybody has had much to say about him. Yet there was more sweetness in
the little finger of Jonathan than in the whole body of Jonah! A
wonderfully noble, lovable, magnanimous man was that heir apparent to
the throne of Israel. I admire, beyond measure, the disinterested,
unselfish affection which he had for the young shepherd-hero. It must
have been perfectly clear to Jonathan that David had supplanted him.
Jonathan himself had been the bravest of the brave–accompanied only by
his armor bearer, he had gained a notable victory over the Philistines
and now, here comes another young man who becomes even more
distinguished than he and who takes his place as commander-in-chief of
the army. Most young men in such a position as that would have been
very jealous of the newcomer–and something of the envy of Saul, the
father, might very naturally have been begotten in the heart of
Jonathan the son. But it was not so, for Jonathan loved David as he
loved his own soul.
Moreover, Jonathan knew very well that David was ordained of God to
mount the throne. That throne was his by hereditary right, yet he
foresaw that neither he nor any of his descendants would sit upon it,
but that David would occupy it. Yet there was no trace of jealousy, or
envy, or malice towards David–Jonathan loved him as he loved his own
soul. It was a case of love at first sight, for he had no sooner looked
upon David than "the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David"
and it was also a case of love that was strong as death, for he clung
to David to the last–and David, on his part, loved him intensely and,
after Jonathan had fallen upon the fatal mount of Gilboa, lamented his
death in sweetest strains of poetry.
But I am not going to talk much about the friendship of Jonathan and
David. I want rather to use the union of heart that existed between
them, and the consequences that resulted from it, as a lesson to those
of us who have the sacred fire of love burning within our heart towards
the Well-Beloved, even our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose love
toward us is marvelous, matchless, unspeakable Divine love, the likes
of which has never been seen on earth!
There are two observations which I wish to make and to emphasize. They
are taken from our two texts. The first is that great love desires to
bind itself to the beloved one– "Jonathan and David made a covenant,
because he loved him as his own soul." And, secondly, great love
desires renewed pledges from its object–"Jonathan caused David to
swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own
soul."
I. Now, first, GREAT LOVE DESIRES TO BIND ITSELF TO THE BELOVED ONE.
I am going to speak of the greatest love that ever was–the love of
Jesus Christ to His chosen–and I want you to notice how the love of
Christ to His people made Him desire to bind Himself to them. Think of
this wondrous theme with all your hearts, so that, however feebly I may
speak, the ardor of your imagination will put life into my poor words.
And, first of all, remember that Jesus bound Himself to His people by
Covenant bonds. Of old, or before the earth was, our Lord Jesus had set
His heart upon a people whom He foreknew. And His delights even at that
time were with the sons of men. He delighted to think upon them as a
people that should be His forever and, therefore, He accepted them to
be His own by a Covenant gift from His Father's hands. His Father gave
to Him all those who should thereafter believe on Him and His great
heart of love was set upon all the chosen ones who were thus given over
to Him to be His portion and heritage forever and ever. This was the
first link between Christ and the Church.
Then, in the fullness of time, our Lord's great love to us led Him into
visible union with us, for, as He had undertaken, when His Father gave
us to Him, that He would save us and keep us, He came into the world to
begin that great work by taking upon Himself our Nature. That was a
wondrous union with us when He, who had made all things, did hide
Himself away in the body of a Baby–when He, whose Presence filled the
heavens and the earth, deigned to find a dwelling place in this world
in the form of a carpenter's Son, for, "the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us, (and we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the
Only-Begotten of the Father), full of Grace and truth." For this cause
did the Son of God leave His Father's house, that He might be joined
unto His Church and they two became one flesh. "This is a great
mystery," said the Apostle, "but I speak concerning Christ and the
Church." Because He loved us as His own soul, nothing would satisfy Him
until He had partaken of the Nature of those who had been given to Him
to become His portion and His heritage. "Bone of our bone, and flesh of
our flesh," is the eternal Son of God now that He is also the Son of
Man, "for we are members of His body of His flesh, and of His bones."
This being done, Jesus determined that the Covenant between Himself and
His people should be kept up as an indivisible union right through–
"'Yes, said the Lord, with her I'll go Through all the depths of care
and woe. And on the Cross will even dare The bitter pangs of death to
bear.
He had come into the closest possible union with His Church because He
loved her as His own soul–and He determined to maintain that union
although it involved a life of toil, humiliation, poverty and pain. And
although it also involved death, "even the death of the Cross." But He
would, at all costs, carry out the Covenant that He had made with His
Father to be the Surety and the Substitute for His own people–"Having
loved His own, which were in the world, He loved them unto the end."
Because of this close connection with His Church, our Lord Jesus Christ
has bound Himself to every believing soul by very definite promises.
Christ so loves you, Beloved, that He has said to each one of you, "I
will never leave you nor forsake you." Up in Heaven, He maintains your
right and defends your cause. And He has pledged His honor to secure
your eternal safety and has linked His own cause and Kingdom, and His
future success, with your being ultimately delivered from all sin and
sorrow. It is wonderful to note how Christ, in entering into Covenant
with His people, has bound Himself by every conceivable tie to those
whom His Father gave Him–and whom He has redeemed with His precious
blood!
Then, next, Jesus would have us bound to Him on our part. This kind of
bond can never be all on one side, for true friendship leads to mutual
love. To my mind there is a measure of mystery in both my texts–"Then
Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own
soul." Which is the, "he," and which is the, "him," referred to in this
verse? Is the, "he," David, and the, "him," Jonathan? Or is the, "him,"
David, and the, "he," Jonathan? There is the same indefiniteness in the
second text. There is a kind of mixing up of the pronouns and I like
that, because a true friend or a true love is one's other self–the two
persons are so closely joined to one another that they have become one!
So our blessed Lord Jesus, who has linked Himself with us by many
strong ties, also would have us link ourselves with Him by many ties.
Let us see whether we have bound ourselves to Him in that way. How is
it done?
Our first conscious love-union to Christ is when we come and submit
ourselves entirely to Him, that He may save us. Have all of you done
this? I remember when I first realized that there was nothing I could
do to save myself and that Christ had done it all. I was quite content
that He should be my Savior on those terms. Content, did I say? No,
more than that–I was delighted just to lay myself down at His dear
feet that He might save me entirely.
After that submission to Him, there next came into my soul an ardent
love to Him. I feel sure that it was so with all of you who have
believed in Him–when you realized that He had saved you, you felt so
glad and so thankful that you could not help loving Him who had done so
much for you! That is the kind of union that Christ desires on our part
to-
ward Himself–that we should be grateful for His redeeming love,
grateful for the forgiveness of our sin and then that we should love
Him in return. You did feel that love once, did you not? Do you feel it
now? Let me stop a minute and ask you to think of Christ as actually
being here. He is a real Christ you know–no dream, no mere imaginary
person who has simply figured in the pages of fiction. He is a real,
living Christ, and if you have submitted yourself to Him to save you,
He has saved you! Then, do you not love Him? Give your love an
opportunity of expressing itself! Look your Savior in the face and say
to Him–
"Do not I love You, O my Lord? Behold my heart and see."
And if you can truthfully do it, let your soul as well as your voice
sing those well-known words–
"My Jesus, I love You, I know You are mine,
For You all the follies of sin I resign!
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou,
If ever I loved You, my Jesus, 'tis now." Because Jesus loves you as
His own soul, He wants you to avow your union with Him by expressing
the love which you really feel in your heart towards Him. That love
should constrain us to confess that we belong wholly to Him, with all
we are and all we have. There is not anything about us which is not our
Lord's–from the crown of our head to the soles of our feet, He has
redeemed us with His precious blood! So let us acknowledge that we are
"bought with a price." Because Christ loves us, He wants us to
acknowledge that we are His as surely as that He is ours–and not only
to admit this in our own heart, but also to confess it before men by
casting in our lot with His people. Has my Lord Jesus a visible Church
anywhere on earth? Then, let me share the lot of those who are its
members! What are its fortunes? Let them be mine. Is the Church
dishonored and despised, maligned and persecuted? Then let me take the
rough side of the hill with her–and bear the brunt of the storm with
her rather than, in a cowardly manner, be ashamed of my Master and
shrink from saying that I belong to Him. Because He loves you as His
own soul, He wants you to openly declare that you are really His! In
the presence of men and angels, or even in the presence of legions of
devils, be not ashamed to let it be known that you belong to Jesus,
just as Jonathan and David were not ashamed to let it be known that
they were fast friends to one another.
Then, Beloved, it will delight Christ's heart if you show kindness to
all who belong to Him. You remember how David looked after poor
Mephibosheth, the lame son of Jonathan? When he found him, he took care
of him for Jonathan's sake. So, dear Friends, look after Christ's lame
people, Christ's poor people, Christ's despondent people and Christ's
sick people. Visit them in their affliction, relieve their distresses,
comfort their hearts and do it all for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake.
And because Jesus loves you, He wants you, Beloved, to merge all your
life's interests more and more in His and to find your gain in
advancing His honor. He wants you to come to this point–that you will
be rich when His cause prospers–that you will be poor when His Church
declines–that you will be happy when Christ is honored and that you
will be sad when He is not loved. It will be to Him a great joy when He
shall see you more and more entering into Covenant with Him, as He has
already, to the fullest possible extent, entered into Covenant bonds
with you.
If this is our Lord's desire, shall we not fulfill it? I think I hear
some of you say, "We know all this and we have done all this." Then
keep on doing it! As you sit in your pews, try to feel more than you
have ever done before, the bonds of love which bind Christ to you and
which also bind you to Christ. Say, with the Apostle, "We love Him
because He first loved us."
These bonds are mutual and they are indissoluble. With confidence we
may repeat the Apostolic challenge, "Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ?" For we know that nothing can make Him leave off loving
us and nothing can make us leave off loving Him!
Further, as David accepted Jonathan's presents, we accept, O gracious
Savior, all the priceless gifts that You bestow upon us! We see You
taking off your royal robe and girding it around us. You laid aside all
your bright array, that we might be clothed as princes of the
blood-royal of Heaven! "Even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his
belt" did Jonathan give to David–and our Lord Jesus has done the same
for us, so that we have "the Sword of the Spirit," with which we may
"fight the good fight of faith." And from His bow we may shoot upward
the pointed arrows of prayer, and that we also may be girt about with
the belt of the Truth of God. There is nothing, O Lord, which You have
that You have
not given to us and with both our hands we do accept of that which is
Yours and of Yourself, also, for You, too, are given to us and, in
return, we give ourselves to You–"It's all that we can do."
Let it really be so with us now! Let our love embrace the Well-Beloved!
Let this be a time of love with us! Look up at His blessed face and
then ask, "Was there ever any other so fair as He is?" Then look into
His heart and enquire, "Was there ever another heart so tender, so
true, so kind, as His?" Then count His royal and Divine honors and see
whether any other lover ever wooed with such bejeweled hands and such a
crown of Glory as He wears upon His blessed brow! Yes, look Him all
over and see if there ever was such Incarnate Love in any other as you
behold in Him. Did any other man ever love so intensely, or did any
woman ever expend such a wealth of love as He has bestowed on us in
stooping from the highest heavens to the lowest depths of misery and
shame, and even to the grave, itself, that He might lift us up to sit
forever with Him on His Throne?
O Heart! Heart! Heart! You ought to be smitten till you break into a
thousand fragments if you do not love the Well-Beloved! What is wrong
with you, cold Soul, lukewarm Soul, that you do not burn and glow with
such good matter as this when you are speaking of the things which
concern the King! Come, Beloved, let us love our Lord, or die! If we
really are Christians, our hearts would sooner cease to beat than cease
to love our blessed Savior!
Thus much, but all too poorly said, upon the Truth of God in our first
text–great love desires to bind itself to the Beloved One.
II. Now, secondly, we learn from our second text that GREAT LOVE
DESIRES RENEWED PLEDGES FROM
ITS OBJECT–"Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved
him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul."
It was not out of distrust, but by reason of a sort of sacred jealousy
that "Jonathan caused David to swear again." He did not fear that his
friend would prove untrue, but he needed to have every possible
confirmation of the covenant of love which they had made with one
another. And, believing Soul, though Christ does not distrust you, He
knows what is in you and He is jealous of you. Our Savior is as jealous
of us as His Father is–the immeasurable greatness of the love of Jesus
Christ to us moves Him to feel an Infinite jealousy of us. He loves us
so much that He will have all our love and, if you are really His
beloved ones, He will adopt ways and means of extracting from you the
last particle of your love, that He may have it all for Himself. As
Rutherford said to a noble lady who had lost a number of children, one
after the other, "The Lord Jesus loves you so much that He will not let
one drop of your love go in any other direction than towards Himself."
And though He may not deal in that way with us, by taking away our
friends and kindred, yet I am sure that where He loves us much, He will
have the whole of our love. He cannot bear that our heart should be
divided, or in any measure taken from Him. So, again, and again, and
again, He causes us to renew our vows and our Covenant with Him. So
would He have us renew our love to Him.
Further, this is the only return we can make for His love. Your little
children, on your knee, cost you much care and anxiety–and when they
kiss you and fondle you, and tell you how much they love you, they may
well do so, for that is all they can do. They cannot help you in your
daily toil, or bear any share of your heavy burdens and, in like
manner, all that we can do for Christ is to love Him. Alas, that we do
so little of that! I fear that sometimes we are more ready to preach,
or teach, or give away tracts, or do something in the way of active
service for Christ, but, after all, the accepta-bleness of these things
is to be measured by the love to our Lord that is in them. To love Him
is the chief thing–it is our love that Christ longs for above
everything else. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your
mind." This is the first and greatest Commandment of all and,
therefore, does our Savior wish us again and again to renew our vows of
love to Him.
Besides, it is for our highest benefit that we should do this. Our love
is often so feeble and cold that it needs to be stirred up again. The
fire in our heart continually burns low so that we need to constantly
have the flame fanned and fresh fuel put on, that we may love our Lord
more and more.
And chilly as we are in ourselves, we are often tempted and allured by
other loves, and are apt to lend a listening ear to the charmer's
fascinating voice. You know that it is so, Beloved. We are not true to
our Lord as we ought to be and, therefore, He asks us again, and again,
and yet again, "Do you love Me? Do you love Me? Do you love Me?" And if
we are grieved that He asks us the question a third time, "Do you love
Me!" we ought to remember that we have grieved
Him many more than three times–it is our unfaithfulness to Him that
lays upon Him the necessity of putting this enquiry to us so often.
It is also for our benefit that we should often renew our pledges of
love to our Lord because we cannot be happy unless we are wholly taken
up with love to Him. "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," said Solomon.
And we may well say the same. There is nothing upon earth that can give
solid satisfaction to a Christian apart from Christ. You may make him
rich, you may lavish upon him all conceivable delights, but these
things will all mock him, like the mirage of the desert, unless his
heart is right with Christ, is filled with the love of Jesus and the
sunlight of the Divine Presence is there. I am sure that it is so! You
unconverted people may be happy enough in your way, without Christ, but
a true-born child of God cannot have any bliss apart from His Lord. If
you mean to be a Christian, you must remember there remains but one
source of true delight to you–but that one Source of delight contains
more than all other springs ofjoy put together! If you do but drink of
it, you shall be more than satisfied. But if you turn aside from that
Fountain of Living Waters, your soul will thirst and faint. It is God's
decree that you shall mourn until you come back to the Beloved and yet
again swear allegiance to Him, for He will have you do it because He
loves you as He loves His own soul.
I wish that all of us who love the Lord would at once renew our
Covenant with Him. It may help us to do so if I remind you of the past
times when we have given ourselves up to Him. I remember well the first
surrender of my soul to my Savior. Do you not remember the same
hallowed season? Turn over the leaves of your diary till you come to
the record of it. "On such a day, I was born-again. On such a day, I
was married to Christ. My heart was wholly given to Him and I rejoiced
in Him." Recollect that solemn surrender and, as you recall it, say
over again, as you said then–
"Here, Lord, I give myself away. It's all that I can do."
Do you remember your Baptism–you who were, in Scriptural fashion,
buried with Christ in Baptism? I recollect mine. What did I mean by it?
I meant that as I gave up my body to be temporarily buried in the
river–as the water rolled over me and I was as one dead and buried, so
did I declare that I was dead to sin, dead to the world and buried to
it all. And I also meant that as I rose again from the stream, so would
I live for Christ, alone, in newness of life, as one who had been dead,
buried and had risen again. To me that was the most solemn day of my
life! I remember rising early, at the break of day, that I might have
some hours of prayer before starting, for I had some miles to walk
along a country road. And all the way I was thinking of the public
dedication of myself to my Master. I meant that to be my funeral day to
all except Himself and the day of my resurrection with Him! And I hope
it was, and also hope it was the same with you. If so, I pray you do
not belie your Baptism! I charge you who have been buried with Christ,
that you bear in your body the marks of the Lord Jesus, not in one
place only, as was the fashion under the old Law–but in your entire
body, that you may be wholly Christ's, completely Christ's, henceforth
and forever.
Since that time of our Baptism, how often have we renewed our vows of
love to our Lord as we have come to His Table! We have partaken of the
bread and the wine as the memorials of His love to us and I think that,
there, we have often given ourselves up to Him again. Do so again,
Beloved, as you come presently to the Communion Table. Come as if you
were coming for the first time. Say, "My Savior, I take You to myself,
to be my life and the food of my life. And I will, by Your Grace, live
to You and to You alone."
Some of us have a further reason for renewing our vows of love to our
Lord, because we have lately risen from a sickbed. Shall not the life
that has been prolonged be wholly the Lord's? If He has taken away from
us the heavy burden of terrible pain–the iron yoke of deep depression
of spirit–do we not feel bound to yield ourselves up to Him as though
we were beginning our Christian life over again? And I think that
others of you who have not been in pain and have not been depressed in
spirit, ought to feel as though, because of God's great mercy to you in
keeping you out of such trials, you should yield yourselves anew to
Him.
Some of you may have reached another anniversary of your birthday, or
you may have come to some other period of your life that is memorable.
Perhaps you have taken a new business, or have gone to live in another
house–well, I hardly like to think of going into a new house, or even
sleeping in another room without once more saying, "Come here with me,
my Lord. I am Yours wherever I am, on land or sea, in this country or
in a foreign land–I am eternally joined to You, and Your servant would
I be at all times." It would not be amiss to renew your Covenant with
your Lord every
morning when the day breaks–and to renew it yet again every night as
you fall asleep, for, oh, it is most helpful to the spirit to be often
coming to Christ–to be constantly committing your soul into His dear
hands!
I am sure that Christ is pleased with you when you do this, for He
loves you as He loves His own soul. He is never tired of hearing you
tell Him how much you love Him–you can never continue speaking on that
theme so long as to weary Him by your confession of love to Him! You
can never praise Him so much that He is tired of your song! You can
never implore His mercy to the point He is weary of your prayers! That
can never happen! And when you come and bring yourself–poor, poor
self, as it is–to Christ, He never disdains your love! A little child
delights to caress its mother and, as the mother is never happier than
when she is receiving the child's love, so, believe me, it is with
Christ. Yet some of you seem to think that He does not want your
affection. Or you fancy that it does not matter how you express your
love–that a few hurried words of prayer will suffice, or a dull,
formal hymn of praise–but it is not so. Do you not want to make Him
happy? My Brother, in his prayer, thanked God that it was possible for
us to add even to the bliss of Christ in Heaven, and it is so. The
shepherd rejoices when he finds the sheep that was lost, but does his
joy end when he finds it? Oh, no! The father had great joy when the
prodigal returned, but did his joy end when his boy came home? Oh, no!
And, likewise, Christ is always glad of conversation and communion with
His beloved ones, so give Him much of it. Say to Him sometimes–
"With You all night I mean to stay, And wrestle till the break of day."
And sometimes, hour by hour, do nothing but commune with Him. Yes,
always, when about your business, or whatever else you have to do,
abide in Him, for He would have you do it.
In closing, I would earnestly urge those who love the Master to take
frequent opportunities of getting alone with their Beloved, that they
may express their love to Him. Do you often do that, dear Friends? To
my mind, that is one of the choice forms of devotion–just to tell the
Savior how you love Him–to sit down, or kneel, or stand, or walk, and
say, "My gracious Lord, I do love You. Teach me to love You more." Tell
Him why you love Him. Rehearse His deeds of Grace towards you. Keep on
at that theme till your heart burns within you with a vehement flame of
love to your Lord!
Another acceptable thing to do is, every now and then, to do something
specially for Christ Himself or to give something directly to Christ
Himself–as directly as it can be done. As the woman washed His feet
with her tears and wiped them with the flowing tresses of her head–and
kissed them unceasingly and anointed them with the precious
ointment–so do you something for Him. Some will think it wasteful to
break the alabaster box and to anoint Him thus, but do it, whatever
they may say. There is nothing too precious to be lavished upon Christ.
Possibly you can find some poor saint to whom you will do some great
deed of love because you are doing it for Christ. Or you may know of
some part of the work of Christ that needs help that will cost you much
self-denial to render. Do it, but tell nobody about it! Never let your
name be seen in the matter, but do it for Him. If you do really love
Him and He is your All-in-All, you will not need any urging to do this.
When we are in love, we need no one to urge us to give tokens and
pledges of love–it is a joy to us to do anything that will give
pleasure to our beloved. It is no misery to the tree to produce its
luscious fruit and it is no severe task to a Christian to perform deeds
of love to Christ! So I will not urge you to it, but leave the matter
with you, and with the Well-Beloved of your souls.
But what shall I say to those who do not love Christ? Do not love
Christ. O you blind, you dead, you foolish ones! The Lord have mercy on
you! If He does not, remember that this is the text that belongs to
you, "If any man loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema
Maranatha"–"let him be accursed, for the Lord comes." And every godly
soul must say, "Amen," even to that dreadful sentence, for he who loves
not the blessed Lord must be accursed!
God save you all from that terrible doom, for Jesus' sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 SAMUEL 18:1-16; 20:1-17.
1 Samuel 18:1. And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking
unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David,
and Jonathan loved him as his own soul Jonathan, the brave young
soldier who had himself
done great exploits, naturally admired the youthful warrior who had
slain the Philistine giant, and also admired the modesty of his speech
when he returned with the head of Goliath in his hand. "The soul of
Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his
own soul."
2-4. And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to
his father's house. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he
loved him as his own soul And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe
that was upon him. No doubt one suitable to his rank as the
heir-apparent to the throne of Israel.
4, 5. And gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to
his bow, and to his belt And David went out wherever Saul sent him, and
behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war. Probably
Jonathan had previously occupied that position, but now that David is
called to supplant him, Jonathan is not jealous of him, but he loves
him as he loves his own soul.
5-7. And he was accepted in the sight of all thepeople, and also in the
sight of Saul's servants. And it came to pass as they came, when David
was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came
out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul,
with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music. And the women
answered one another as they played, and said. Singing in chorus, with
answering refrains–
7-9. Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And
Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They
have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed
but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul eyed
David from that day forward. This shows how envy will destroy a man's
own peace of mind, as well as make him plot against the one of whom he
is envious. Instead of being thankful to God for sending him such a
valiant champion as David to deliver both himself and his people, Saul
is full of malice towards the young hero simply because he receives his
due need of praise for his victory over the giant. "Saul eyed David"
with an evil and envious eye–looked askance upon him and determined to
do him mischief whenever he could.
10. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God
came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house. Probably
talking wildly and foolishly.
10. And David played with his hand, as at other times. That is, as he
had at other times, played upon the harp to chase away the evil spirit.
10-12. And there was a javelin in Saul's hand. And Saul cast the
javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And
David avoided out of his presence twice. And Saul was afraid of David.
David was not afraid of Saul, although Saul was the man with the
javelin, and with the murderous, malicious spirit which prompted him to
hurl it at the young harpist. David–guileless, brave, honest,
trustful, was not afraid of Saul–but "Saul was afraid of David."
12-14. Because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul
Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a
thousand; and he went out and came in before thepeople. And David
behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him. And,
young man, you also will be wise if God is with you! And you will be
able to behave yourself wisely, discreetly, prosperously, as the word
seems to mean. Even when malicious eyes are fixed upon you, they will
not be able to find any fault in you if the Lord is with you. You will
win favor where you least expect it if you do but so live that God can
be with you–if you keep the vessel of your nature so pure that the
Master can use it. May it be your portion and mine to have it said of
each of us, "The Lord was with him!"
15, 16. Therefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he
was afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he
went out and came in before them. This love of the people only caused
Saul's hatred of David to be carried to a still greater excess. But
Jonathan still loved David and promised to cleave to him whatever might
happen. In the 20th Chapter we can read still more concerning this
faithful friendship.
1 Samuel 20:1, 2. And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and
said before Jonathan, What have I done? What is my iniquity? And what
is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life? And he said unto
him, God forbid; you shall not die. Jonathan could not think that his
father really intended to take the life of his friend!
2, 3. Behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, but that
he willshow it to me; and why shouldmy father hide this thing from me?
It is not so. And David swore moreover, and said, Your father certainly
knows that I have found favor in your eyes: and he says, Let not
Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the LORD lives,
and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death. He
had so often escaped, as it were, by the skin of his teeth,, from his
cruel persecutor, that he knew himself to be in a position of extreme
peril.
4. Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatever your soul desires, I will
even do it for you. Such was his love for David that he would make no
exception–whatever there was that David wished him to do, he would do
it for him.
5-10. And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon,
and I should not fail to sit with the king at dinner: but let me go,
that Imay hide myself in the field unto the third day at even. Ifyour
father at allmisses me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me
that he might run to Bethlehem, his city: for there is a yearly
sacrifice there for all the family. Ifhe say thus, It is well; your
servant shallhave peace: but ifhe is very angry, then be sure that
evilis determined by him. Therefore you shall deal kindly with your
servant; for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD
with you: notwithstanding, if there is in me iniquity, slay me
yourself; for why should you bring me to your father? And Jonathan
said, Far be it from you: for if I knew certainly that evil were
determined by my father to come upon you, then would Inot tell you?
Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? Or what ifyour father
answers you roughly?What am I to do in such a case as that? If your
father should turn against you as well as against me, what is to be
done then?
11. And Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let us go out into the
field. And they went out both of them into the field. To get quite
alone that they might express to one another the feelings of their
inmost hearts, and also might consult together without any risk of
being overheard.
12-17. And Jonathan said unto David, O LORD God of Israel, when I have
sounded my father about tomorrow any time, or the third day, and,
behold, if there is good toward David, and I then send not unto you,
and show it to you; the LORD do so and much more to Jonathan. But if it
please my father to do you evil, then I will show it to you, and send
you away, thatyou may go in peace: and the LORD be with you, as He has
been with my father. Andyou shallnot only while yet I live show me the
kindness of the LORD, that I die not: but also you shall not cut off
your kindness from my house forever: no, not when the LORD has cut off
the enemies of David, everyone from the face of the earth. So Jonathan
made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the LORD even
require it at the hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan caused David to
swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own
soul. Thus were these two men bound together by ties of mutual
love–may we be thus bound to Jesus! Oh, that there may be such love
between us and our Lord as shall even excel the love of Jonathan and
David!