Saul, Jonathan, and David

1 Samuel 18-19

            What an interesting reading! The first thing it’s about is friendship, specifically the friendship between Jonathan and David. I don’t have a study Bible or any commentaries near me, but it sure seems like giving David his royal robe and his kingly weapons is Jonathan’s way of calling David his superior. I don’t know about that. But I do appreciate that Jonathan loved David like himself.

            Jesus named loving one’s neighbor as oneself as the second commandment, second only to the command to love the Lord with one’s whole being. Tellingly, Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13), and then, of course, Jesus goes and lays down His life for His disciples. In the love that Prince Jonathan showed to his servant and friend, David, he was foreshadowing the love of Jesus. And in some ways, all friendships are that way. After all, friendships are relationships independent of family ties and obligations. Friends are friends purely from love.

            A second thing I note is the jealousy of Saul. This was foreshadowed earlier in the reading. We’ve all heard that power corrupts, and we see it at work with Saul. He does not want anyone encroaching on his throne. So, because David receives such praise and threatens to overshadow Saul, Saul decides to kill David. (It’s a theme we’ll see played out through the rest of 1 Samuel.)

            The most interesting thing in the text, at least for me, is tied to Saul’s jealousy, because it says, “The Lord sent an evil spirit to torment Saul.” Interesting, but also very difficult. Some things we can say for certain. 1) The Lord God controls all things, even his enemies. For example, in the Old Testament, He regularly uses pagan kings to punish Israel and call her to repentance. And Jesus commands demons and they obey. It’s not so strange that he would co-opt even the evil spirits for His purposes. 2) The Lord is not vindictive. He is not tormenting Saul for kicks. Saul has been willfully disobedient, making sacrifices he shouldn’t have and sparing lives he should have taken. I think it’s a good conclusion that the Lord is afflicting Saul to call him back to faithfulness. It might be too late for Saul to remain king, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late for Saul to be a faithful Israelite.

            The Bible is clear that the Lord will use life’s afflictions to move us to repentance and faith. Of course, it doesn’t always work out for the good. Sometimes people experience life’s troubles and reject the Lord altogether. If there’s a lesson here, perhaps it's just that the good father disciplines his children for their good. If we don’t always understand the discipline, that just reminds us we children in the presence of God, not adults. It reminds me of something my dad used to say when I was a child. I’d justify my behavior, saying, “But I thought…” at which he would cut me off and tell me, “You’re not paid to think.” Not the nicest thing in the world to say, but it drives the point home: children don’t always know what their parents are up to or why, but we trust our parents to know better than we.