1And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and went and said to Jonathan's face, What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before your father, that he is seeking my life? 2And Jonathan said to him, Let it not be! You shall not die! Behold, my father will do nothing either great or small but that he will disclose it in my ear. And why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so! 3And David swore and said, Your father has perceived to know that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But surely, as Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death. 4And Jonathan said to David, Whatever your soul desires, I will do it for you. 5And David said to Jonathan, Behold tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should remain to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third evening. 6If your father notices and misses me, then answer, David has asked for himself a leave of absence that he might run to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family. 7If he says thus: Good, your servant will be safe. But if he burns with fury, then know that evil is determined by him. 8Therefore you shall deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Jehovah with you. However, if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father? 9And Jonathan said, Let it not be! For if I perceived to know that evil was determined by my father to come upon you, then would I not tell you? 10Then David said to Jonathan, Who will tell me? Or what if your father answers you harshly? 11And Jonathan said to David, Come, and let us go out into the field. So both of them went out into the field. 12And Jonathan said to David: Jehovah the God of Israel is witness! When I have searched out my father sometime tomorrow, or the third day, and there is good toward David, and I have not disclosed it in your ear, 13may Jehovah do so and much more to Jonathan. But if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will disclose it in your ear and send you away, that you may go in peace. And Jehovah be with you as He was with my father. 14And you shall not only show me the kindness of Jehovah while I still live, that I not die; 15but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever, no, not even when Jehovah has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth. 16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let Jehovah require it at the hand of David's enemies. 17And Jonathan again caused David to swear, because he loved him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul. 18Then Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the New Moon; and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed; and remain by the stone Ezel. 20And I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target; 21and there I will send a lad, saying, Go, find the arrows. If I answer to say to him, Behold, the arrows are on this side of you; get them and come; then, as Jehovah lives, there is peace for you and nothing else. 22But if I say thus to the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond you; go your way, for Jehovah has sent you away. 23And as for the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold Jehovah is between you and me forever. 24So David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat food. 25Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall. And Jonathan rose up, and Abner sat by Saul's side, but David's place was empty. 26Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, Something has happened to him; he is not clean, surely he is not clean. 27And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David's place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, either yesterday or today? 28And Jonathan answered Saul, David has asked for himself a leave of absence to go to Bethlehem. 29And he said, Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and thus my brother has commanded me. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers. Therefore he has not come to the king's table. 30Then Saul's anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, You son of perverse rebellion! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? 31For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he is a son of death. 32And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, Why should he be killed? What has he done? 33And Saul threw a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David. 34So Jonathan rose up from the table in burning anger, and ate no food the second day of the new moon, for he was grieved for David, because his father had shamed him. 35And so it was, in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little boy was with him. 36And he said to the boy, Now run, find the arrows which I am shooting. As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37When the boy had come to the place where the arrow was which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called out after the boy and said, Is not the arrow beyond you? 38And Jonathan called out after the boy, Make haste, hurry, do not delay! So Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows and came back to his master. 39But the boy did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter. 40And Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy, and said to him, Go, carry them to the city. 41And as soon as the boy had gone, David rose up from a place on the south side, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another; and they wept together, but David more so. 42And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of Jehovah, saying, May Jehovah be between you and me, and between your seed and my seed, forever. So he rose up and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 DAVID CONSULTS WITH JONATHAN FOR HIS SAFETY. (
1Sam 20:1-10)
David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan--He could not remain in Naioth, for he had strong reason to fear that when the religious fit, if we may so call it, was over, Saul would relapse into his usual fell and sanguinary temper. It may be thought that David acted imprudently in directing his flight to Gibeah. But he was evidently prompted to go thither by the most generous feelings--to inform his friend of what had recently occurred, and to obtain that friend's sanction to the course he was compelled to adopt. Jonathan could not be persuaded there was any real danger after the oath his father had taken; at all events, he felt assured his father would do nothing without telling him. Filial attachment naturally blinded the prince to defects in the parental character and made him reluctant to believe his father capable of such atrocity. David repeated his unshaken convictions of Saul's murderous purpose, but in terms delicately chosen (
1Sam 20:3), not to wound the filial feelings of his friend; while Jonathan, clinging, it would seem, to a hope that the extraordinary scene enacted at Naioth might have wrought a sanctified improvement on Saul's temper and feelings, undertook to inform David of the result of his observations at home.
5 David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to-morrow the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat--The beginning of a new month or moon was always celebrated by special sacrifices, followed by feasting, at which the head of a family expected all its members to be present. David, both as the king's son-in-law and a distinguished courtier, dined on such occasions at the royal table, and from its being generally known that David had returned to Gibeah, his presence in the palace would be naturally expected. This occasion was chosen by the two friends for testing the king's state of feeling. As a suitable pretext for David's absence, it was arranged that he should visit his family at Beth-lehem, and thus create an opportunity of ascertaining how his non-appearance would be viewed. The time and place were fixed for Jonathan reporting to David; but as circumstances might render another interview unsafe, it was deemed expedient to communicate by a concerted signal.
11 THEIR COVENANT RENEWED BY OATH. (
1Sam 20:11-23)
Jonathan said to David, Come, let us go into the field--The private dialogue, which is here detailed at full length, presents a most beautiful exhibition of these two amiable and noble-minded friends. Jonathan was led, in the circumstances, to be the chief speaker. The strength of his attachment, his pure disinterestedness, his warm piety, his invocation to God (consisting of a prayer and a solemn oath combined), the calm and full expression he gave of his conviction that his own family were, by the divine will, to be disinherited, and David elevated to the possession of the throne, the covenant entered into with David on behalf of his descendants, and the imprecation (
1Sam 20:16) denounced on any of them who should violate his part of the conditions, the reiteration of this covenant on both sides (
1Sam 20:17) to make it indissoluble--all this indicates such a power of mutual affection, such magnetic attractiveness in the character of David, such susceptibility and elevation of feeling in the heart of Jonathan, that this interview for dramatic interest and moral beauty stands unrivalled in the records of human friendship.
19 when thou hast stayed three days--either with your family at Beth-lehem, or wherever you find it convenient.
come to the place where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand--Hebrew, "in the day," or "time of the business," when the same matter was under inquiry formerly (
1Sam 19:22).
remain by the stone Ezel--Hebrew, "the stone of the way"; a sort of milestone which directed travellers. He was to conceal himself in some cave or hiding-place near that spot.
23 as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of--The plan being concerted, the friends separated for a time, and the amiable character of Jonathan again peers out in his parting allusion to their covenant of friendship.
25 SAUL, MISSING DAVID, SEEKS TO KILL JONAHAN. (1Sa. 20:24-40)
the king sat upon his seat, as at other times . . . by the wall--The left-hand corner at the upper end of a room was and still is in the East, the most honorable place. The person seated there has his left arm confined by the wall, but his right hand is at full liberty. From Abner's position next the king, and David's seat being left empty, it would seem that a state etiquette was observed at the royal table, each of the courtiers and ministers having places assigned them according to their respective gradations of rank.
Jonathan arose--either as a mark of respect on the entrance of the king, or in conformity with the usual Oriental custom for a son to stand in presence of his father.
26 he is not clean--No notice was taken of David's absence, as he might be laboring under some ceremonial defilement.
27 on the morrow, which was the second day of the month--The time of the moon's appearance being uncertain--whether at midday, in the evening, or at midnight, the festival was extended over two days. Custom, not the law, had introduced this.
Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse--The question was asked, as it were, casually, and with as great an air of indifference as he could assume. And Jonathan having replied that David had asked and obtained his permission to attend a family anniversary at Beth-lehem [
Acts 20:28-
Acts 20:29], the pent-up passions of the king burst out in a most violent storm of rage and invective against his son.
30 Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman--This is a striking Oriental form of abuse. Saul was not angry with his wife; it was the son alone, upon whom he meant, by this style of address, to discharge his resentment. The principle on which it is founded seems to be, that to a genuine filial instinct it is a more inexpiable offense to hear the name or character of a parent traduced, than any personal reproach. This was, undoubtedly, one cause of "the fierce anger" in which the high-minded prince left the table without tasting a morsel.
33 Saul cast a javelin at him--This is a sad proof of the maniacal frenzy into which the unhappy monarch was transported.
35 Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed--or, "at the place appointed."
36 he said unto his lad, Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot--The direction given aloud to the attendant was the signal preconcerted with David. It implied danger.
40 Jonathan gave his artillery unto his lad--that is, his missive weapons. The French word artillerie, signifies "archery." The term is still used in England, in the designation of the "artillery company of London," the association of archers, though they have long disused bows and arrows. Jonathan's boy being despatched out of the way, the friends enjoyed the satisfaction of a final meeting.
41 JONATHAN AND DAVID LOVINGLY PART. (
1Sam 20:41-42)
David . . . fell on his face to the ground, and bowed three times--a token of homage to the prince's rank; but on a close approach, every other consideration was sunk in the full flow of the purest brotherly affection.
42 Jonathan said to David, Go in peace--The interview being a stolen one, and every moment precious, it was kindness in Jonathan to hasten his friend's departure.