1 Samuel 20:4 (ESV)
Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do
for you.”
If you want to know what true friendship is, the greatest
biblical model that I know of is that of David and Jonathan. Jonathan was the
son of David’s enemy, King Saul. Saul was out to kill David because he was
insanely jealous of him and knew that he would replace him on the throne of
Israel. Saul’s son Jonathan knew this and was such a loyal friend of David that
he alerted David of the danger and literally saved his life when he found out
that Saul wanted to kill David. Jonathan told David that, “Whatever you want me
to do, I’ll do for you”
Jesus told us to love our neighbor as ourselves and
Jonathan loved David “as he loved himself” fulfilling this Royal Edict from
Christ (Mark 12:31).
Jonathan was a loyal friend to David and made a plan to
warn him whether he could come to King Saul’s table or whether Saul would kill
him do he devised a signal for 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”
Jonathan risked his life for David because, “Saul’s anger
flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious
woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame
and to the shame of the mother who bore you? As long as the son of Jesse lives
on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send
someone to bring him to me, for he must die!” “Why should he be put to death?
What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. But Saul hurled his spear at him
to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David”.
Jonathan understood that he would be next in line for the throne if David was
taken out of the way and could have easily betrayed David and had the throne of
Israel for himself, but Jonathan’s love and loyalty for his friend David was
evident by his selfless act of saving David’s life. Jonathan was willing to
risk his own life for his friend David and with the understanding that Jonathan
would sacrifice his chance to rule Israel. David’s friendship was more important
that the throne of Israel to Jonathan. Jonathan loved David more than a brother
and he proved it by his actions in I Samuel 20.
So Jonathon sent a messenger boy to shoot arrows for the
signal that it was not safe for David to return to King Saul’s presence for he
would surely be killed. What a touching show of affection that Jonathan showed
David because, “After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the
stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground.
Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most. Jonathan
said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in
the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD is witness between you and me, and
between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and
Jonathan went back to the town”. David showed such respect to Jonathan that he
“bowed down three times before Jonathan“, even though David knew that God had
anointed him to be the eventual king. Here is the future King of Israel; the
greatest earthly kind that Israel would ever have, bowing to the son of is
enemy, King Saul. And “then they kissed each other and wept together – but
David wept the most”.
The fact is that friends are indispensable in this life.
The older a person gets the more valued their friendship becomes. Many friends
are closer than brothers or sisters are to each other. There is something special
about having a friend that you can confide in, tell your troubles too, and
share your life with. It has been said that a sorrow shared is halved, but a
joy shared is doubled. Proverbs 27:10a says, “Do not forsake your friend or a
friend of your family” because you may need that friend in a day of trouble.
The value of friends is one of the most important things in a person’s life:
Their worth is not diminished by time, not devalued by inflation, not worn out
by use.
Dear Lord, we thank You for our friends! Help us to work
to make our friendships stronger. Help us to be the friend to someone today. In
the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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