Jonathan Is Loyal to David
1 Kingdoms 20, verse 1. Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came before Jonathan and said, “What have I done, and what fault is mine? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 2. So Jonathan said to him, “There is no fault on your part. You shall not die. Indeed, my father will do nothing either great or small without first telling me. And why should my father hide this thing? It is not so!” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 3. Then David answered Jonathan and said, “Your father certainly knows I have found favor in your sight, and Saul has said, ‘Jonathan should not come to know about this. He will not want this to happen.’ But as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, so I say to you, there is only a step between me and death.” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 4. So Jonathan said to David, “What does your soul desire? What shall I do for you?” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 5. And David said to Jonathan, “Indeed, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I will not sit with the king to eat. I will hide in the field until evening. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 6. If your father asks about me, say, ‘David earnestly asked permission of me that he might go to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for his whole tribe.’ 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 7. If thus he says, ‘Peace be to your servant’; it is well. But if he answers you harshly, know that he determines to do evil. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 8. Therefore you shall provide an act of mercy to your servant, for you brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. And if there is wrongdoing in your servant, kill me yourself. Why should you bring me to your father?” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 9. But Jonathan said, “By no means will I do this to you! For if I know for sure that my father intends evil against you, I will come to you. If otherwise, I will tell you in your cities.” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 10. Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father should answer you harshly?” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 11. And Jonathan said to David, “Go and remain in the field.” And they both went out into the field. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 12. Then Jonathan said to David, “The Lord God of Israel knows that I will question my father three times, and behold, should there be good concerning David and I do not send for you in the field, 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 13. may the Lord do this to Jonathan and add to this even more, as also I shall discuss the evil against you. I will disclose it to your ear, and I will send you away. You shall depart in peace, for the Lord will be with you as He was with my father. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 14. In return, you shall deal mercifully with me while I still live, and if I die, 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 15. you shall not cut off your mercy from my house forever, even if the Lord does not cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth; 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 16. or removes the name of Jonathan from the house of David; or the Lord does seek out the enemies of David.” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 17. And yet again, Jonathan swore to David, for he so loved him as his own soul. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 18. Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the first of the month, and you will be asked about, because your seat will be seen as empty. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 19. You will do this for three days, and you will be looked for. So go to the place where you may be hidden in the day of the deed. You shall wait by that mound. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 20. And then I will shoot three arrows, as aiming at a target. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 21. And behold, I will send a lad, saying, ‘Come here! Find my arrows.’ If I speak to the lad saying, ‘Look, the arrows are here, on this side from you, get them here. Come!’—it is well with you, and as the Lord lives there is no reason to hide. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 22. But if I say this to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are there and beyond you,’—you go, for the Lord has sent you away. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 23. And as for the word which you and I discussed, indeed the Lord is a witness between you and me forever.” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 24. So David hid in the field, and when the first of the month came, the king sat down to the table to eat. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 25. As usual, the king sat on his seat by the wall and arrived before Jonathan. Abner sat by Saul's side, but David's place was seen as empty. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 26. Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something happened so that he is not clean; he has not cleansed himself.” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 27. And the next day, the second day of the month, David's place was noticed as being empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the table yesterday or today?” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 28. So Jonathan answered Saul and said to him, “David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem his city. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 29. And he said, ‘Please let me go, for our tribe has a sacrifice in the city, and my brothers commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go away safely and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king's table.” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 30. Then Saul's anger was aroused greatly against Jonathan, and he said to him, “Son of traitorous girls! Do I not know to your own shame and the shame of your mother's nakedness that you are an accomplice with the son of Jesse? 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 31. For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, your kingdom shall not be established. Now then, send and bring the young man, for he is a son of death.” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 32. And Jonathan queried Saul, “Why should he be killed? What did he do?” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 33. Then Saul lifted up a spear against Jonathan to kill him, and Jonathan knew the evil from his father to kill David. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 34. So Jonathan leapt up from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month. For he was grieved for David because his father plotted against him. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 35. And so in the morning, Jonathan went out to the field at the appointed time, as a testimony for David. A lad was with him. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 36. Then he said to his lad, “Run, find for me the arrows I shoot.” As the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 37. And when the lad came to the place where Jonathan shot the arrow, Jonathan cried out to the lad and said, “There is the arrow beyond you.” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 38. And Jonathan cried out after his lad, “Make haste, hurry, do not delay!” So Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows for his master. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 39. And the lad knew nothing of what was happening. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 40. Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad, and said to the lad, “Go, enter into the city.” 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 41. As soon as the lad left, David arose from the mound, fell on his face, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another and wept for each other. 1 Kingdoms 20, verse 42. Then Jonathan said, “Go in peace, and as we both swore in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will be a witness between you and me, and between your seed and my seed, forever.’”