KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD. 1st Samuel 20 When covenants are made, two parties come to an agreement that has binding power on both. The interests of both parties are involved. Mutual agreement is reached, and the form of making the covenant is agreed upon. In Israel, there was a covenant made by giving a shoe. Another was a salt covenant. There were blood covenants. The whole purpose was to establish a consensus in which mutual interests were shared. We are blessed by the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the basis of the "New Testament" (covenant).
The interaction of the two close friends, David and Jonathan, was solidified when they were brought into a covenant relationship before the Lord as the witness. Being open and frank with each other is a benefit of a covenant because faults and blessings can be recognized and addressed. Openness is a characteristic of a covenant in which fellowship and mutual love are a reality. Words are not just passing thoughts but means whereby we communicate from a sincere heart. David and Jonathan had that when David came from Ramah to Gibeah to discuss the crisis in David's life.
Learning the value of true friends is an important part of leadership training. Those who are shepherds are responsible for leading God’s people, and they need to learn the value of the fellowship of suffering. This strengthens their hands and helps them realize there are others with spiritual insight who are useful in serving the Lord. A leader must be a man of his word and trusted to do what is right and what he says despite obstacles. He must never allow a bitter spirit to take away a tender heart toward others and God.
David was open about his concern about what he had done to incur Saul's envy, jealousy, and wrath. On the other hand, Jonathan is either naive or blinded by family ties, and he does not know why his father is so bitter against David. Saul wanted to retain leadership of the kingdom despite God having chosen another person to be king, and he wanted to pass the kingdom's leadership on to Jonathan. Saul never really took God seriously. In his guile-less way, Jonathan realized David would be the king and was satisfied. Saul was not. Jonathan was able to love the man God loved. Saul was not.
Jonathan must have felt loneliness in his heart, as did David because he could see what was ahead of them both. They were able to find sad comfort in their friendship. Jonathan would have deeply felt his father's sin and David's sorrow. Communion with a friend in which both sorrow and comfort are shared openly helps meet the needs of present circumstances and face the uncertain future. Similarly, we can feel the sorrow and wounds of a friend going through times of serious difficulty. When we know a person well, we can empathize with them and would like to help our friend bear the burden or at least ease the load.
At the beginning of David's public life, he was like "a sparrow alone upon the housetop" and "a pelican in the wilderness." He did not know what he had done wrong. It wasn't what he had done wrong that agitated Saul, but what he had done right. Our Lord went through the same kind of abandonment, but He had no "lover and friend" to comfort Him. He truly had "done nothing amiss."
David was willing to die at the hands of his friend Jonathan if he had done wrong because he was assured of the love of his friend, who had proven to be true to him. To die for no reason at Saul's hand made him only a victim of jealousy. The love of these two friends was confirmed when they were in the privacy of an open field. Jonathan bound himself to David in a covenant before the Lord. David saw himself as one about to die. Jonathan saw him by faith as one who would be the king upon the throne of the nation.
"We see Jesus," who was "despised and rejected of men," " now crowned with glory and honor." People of faith look beyond the cross, the grave, and the waiting time to the future when Jesus shall reign over all the earth. Jonathan gets the assurance that when he is gone, David will "show kindness to the house of Saul" for Jonathan's sake. Mephibosheth came into that blessing at a later date. David was a "stranger" in his own country and among his own people, but he would be the one who would reign as the shepherd-king.
We are identified today as Christians, with One whom most people do not accept as the Supreme Authority over the world. But this is only a temporary situation, even though God has full control over all the affairs of men. In the future, our Shepherd-King will bring the lasting peace that has been missing since the fall of man. Standing for what is right because of our love for the Lord will bring conflict from various sources. The flesh will say, "Up with man" and "You can change the world." The world says, "No fear. We have everything under control." The devil says, "No God for me. Do whatever pleases you."
Confirming loyalty and love is the best grace we can bestow on a friend. The bonds of faith in God and each other are of great strength. It is humbling to know that what one says when one asks a favor of a friend is as good as done. A vacant seat can be more significant than nineteen filled when one whose love, loyalty, and faith are not there. They all feel the impact of loss when one is missing. Those who go to heaven are missed, and yet we are happy for them. The loss of one from a table of family or friendship because of unfair rejection is quite different.
In the face of such conflicts, one will have to stand up and declare oneself and leave one's seat beside the Lord's empty seat at the table of the world, the flesh and the devil. The beginning and ending of the feast of the New Moon was not a happy time. There is no lasting joy at that table. A father, Saul, attempted to kill his son, Jonathan. in a fit of rage and envy. We cannot eat of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. We have to choose who we will follow. Ties will have to be broken. That is inevitable. Our Lord is dishonored now, but He should still "have the preeminence" among those who love Him.
When the time comes to face the fact that we "are not of the world," those who love the Lord supremely will have to walk away from those who want to retain ties to the world. Even though we admire and appreciate them and what they do, and have associated with them and care for them, and even though they are children of God, they have to live with the consequences of their choices, and we have to make our choice to follow our Lord to the outside place.
It is not easy to walk alone in a different direction and path from those who have the same desires we have but seek to do the work of the Lord in the way of their own choosing. David and Jonathan parted because Jonathan had earthly ties that held him. He could not bring himself to follow David into exile and leave his father. Saul had lost his sense of discernment when he came under the control of “another spirit.” He could no longer tell justice from injustice, right from wrong, or good from bad. He could not charge David with any wrongdoing, but that very thing was what condemned and angered him.
Saul was hostile to David, and if Jonathan followed him, Saul, in the power of sinful flesh, would be hostile to him even though he was his own son. Jonathan closed the door on his own future, but his faithfulness to David was never lost until his death on the battlefield. His father charged him with shaming his mother because he was David's friend. Jonathan shot his arrow "beyond" but was not willing to follow the direction the arrow pointed. True, the covenant had been made, but only so far was he willing to go.
When we have to leave everything to follow the path of divine guidance, there is sorrow and loss. That path is not a well-traveled road. Most people will not choose that way because of the narrowness, loneliness, difficulties, and personal costs accompanying it. Family allegiance is a good thing, but when it goes contrary to the word of God, our choice must be to follow the Lord wherever He leads us. The call from God to the outside place challenges us to leave and follow Him. "Let us go therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach."
1 Samuel.20:18. “Thou shalt be missed because thy seat will be empty.”