The New Moon feast is approaching and it is mandatory that all the members of the royal family and all the top government officials attend the celebration at Saul's residence. David knows Saul will note his absence and remark upon it. In yesterday's study David and Jonathan devised a ruse in which Jonathan will claim David has gone to Bethlehem to celebrate the holiday with his family. If Saul accepts this answer without becoming upset, David will know the king is no longer in a murderous rage. If Saul flies off the handle when he realizes David isn't in Gibeah, David will know Saul intended to have him taken into custody during the feast and then executed.
A signal must be arranged so that Jonathan can let David know how Saul reacts to his absence. It's not safe for David to appear publicly in Gibeah at the moment so he must hide someplace nearby until Jonathan gets word to him. It won't be safe for Jonathan to come out and speak to David himself, not after Saul gets back from Ramah. It also won't be safe for Jonathan to send a messenger to David; the situation is too serious to trust the messenger not to talk to anyone about it afterwards. Today the two friends will come up with a way for Jonathan to get word to David from a distance, without involving anyone else and without running the risk of anyone knowing David is in the area. But first Jonathan will elicit a promise from David never to forget his kindness toward him.
Our passage begins with David asking Jonathan to let him know if Saul flies into a rage when he learns of his absence. "David asked, 'Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?'" (1 Samuel 20:10) "'Come,' Jonathan said, 'let's go out into the field.' So they went there together." (1 Samuel 20:11) Jonathan responds by taking him into a nearby field where the signal can be given to him. Momentarily Jonathan will explain how the signal will be given and how it will be interpreted.
But first Jonathan restates his loyalty to his best friend and asks for the same level of loyalty to be shown to himself and to his descendants. "Then Jonathan said to David, 'I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? But if my father intends to harm you, may the Lord deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the Lord be with you as He has been with my father. But show me unfailing kindness like the Lord's kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family---not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David's enemies from the face of the earth.' So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, 'May the Lord call David's enemies to account.' And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself." (1 Samuel 20:12-17)
The Lord established Saul as the king of Israel and was very much with him in the beginning of his reign because at that time Saul had not forsaken the Lord and His laws. Jonathan's words indicate a belief that the Lord is still with Saul, and in a very real sense He is, for He has not yet removed Saul as king and He still loves Saul and wants him to repent. To facilitate him acknowledging and repenting of his sins, the Lord has surrounded him with people able to be a godly influence on him. Saul does not have to descend into madness and perdition; indeed, the Lord has done everything possible to keep Saul from going down that road. Yet Saul is determined to keep traveling in the wrong direction and at some point he must be stopped, for he cannot be allowed to kill David or to take his anger out on David's family. Jonathan understands that a day is coming in which Saul will be removed from the throne, possibly by force due to Saul's violent intentions toward David and David's loved ones, and that David will be within his rights to wipe out the entire royal family when he ascends to the throne of Israel. When that day comes, Jonathan asks David to remember his kindness toward him and not kill him or his family. Jonathan poses no threat to David's right to rule. If Jonathan wanted to be king someday, he would not be helping David. If Jonathan wanted to be king someday, he could already have eliminated David as a rival.
Now Jonathan tells David how he will get word to him after Saul realizes David isn't coming to the feast. "Then Jonathan said to David, 'Tomorrow is the New Moon feast. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty. The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. Then I will send a boy and say, 'Go, find the arrows.' If I say to him, 'Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,' then come, because, as surely as the Lord lives, you are safe; there is no danger. But if I say to the boy, 'Look, the arrows are beyond you,' then you must go, because the Lord has sent you away. And about the matter you and I discussed---remember, the Lord is witness between you and me forever.'" (1 Samuel 20:18-23)
The Lord is being merciful both to David and to Saul. David isn't ready to become king. The years he's about to spend in exile will provide the training he needs to lead the nation. His relationship with the Lord will continue to grow and he will learn the value of patiently waiting for the Lord's timing. While David waits to be made king, Saul will be given many more opportunities to see the error of his ways and to give his heart to the Lord. He won't respond appropriately to those opportunities but it can never be said that the Lord wasn't loving, merciful, and longsuffering toward him. The next several years will prove to be quite difficult for both David and Saul, and for different reasons, but only one of them will come out the better for it.
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