The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Covenant” it comes from the Hebrew Word “beriyth” which means “a binding covenant.”
Jonathan devises a secret signal to warn his best friend about his father’s true intentions. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is 1 Samuel 20.
David flees to Jonathan, asking desperately what he has done to deserve Saul’s determination to kill him. Jonathan, still doubting his father’s true intentions, agrees to a careful plan, David will hide during a feast where his absence would normally be noticed, and Jonathan will gauge his father’s reaction, reporting back honestly whether it is safe for David to return.
At the feast, Saul notices David’s empty seat and grows angry when Jonathan explains David asked permission to visit family in Bethlehem, revealing his true murderous intent by hurling his javelin at Jonathan himself and declaring that as long as David lives, neither Jonathan nor his kingdom will be established. Jonathan, grieved and angry at his father’s shameful treatment, goes out to warn David using their prearranged signal with arrows.
Once the coast is clear, David comes out of hiding, and the two friends weep together, David weeping the most. They reaffirm the “covenant,” “beriyth” in Hebrew, they had already sworn between them in the name of the Lord, that peace would remain forever between their families, even extending to their descendants. Jonathan sends David away in peace, and the two part ways, each returning to the city, with Jonathan remaining loyal to his father’s household while David becomes a fugitive.
Jonathan’s loyalty to David never wavered, even once he fully understood that his own father intended to secure the throne by killing his best friend, a friend who would ultimately take the very kingdom Jonathan might otherwise have inherited. Genuine friendship here proved stronger than personal ambition or even family loyalty to a increasingly dangerous father.
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