I Samuel 20:14 And thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of the LORD, that I die not
I really admire Jonathan, the son of Saul and friend of David, of whom you read in I Samuel 20 and other chapters. What a wonderful man and unsung hero. He was a crown prince and should have been the next king except that God chose David to be the next king. Jonathan could have been resentful, possessive, and competitive about that, but he was not. Not only did he accept God’s choice of David, but he embraced David, God’s choice and God’s man.
In I Samuel 18:1 we read that the very event that drew Saul away from David and made him hate David, David’s victory over Goliath, caused Jonathan’s love of David. Jonathan is an amazing man. For that reason you come to the covenant that Jonathan made with David and think, “What generosity and courage!” That is true.
In I Samuel 20:14 Jonathan says to David, “And thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of the LORD, that I die not, but also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the LORD hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth.” Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “Let the LORD even require it at the hand of David’s enemies.” Jonathan didn’t seek to kill David or have ascendency over him. He protected and loved David and made a covenant with him.
What caused this? Sometimes we see people’s actions and misinterpret their motive. This can be good or bad. Sometimes we think there is some vice or virtue behind what they are doing, but oftentimes we can miss it. What caused Jonathan to make this covenant with David? First, you might think it was courage. For sure, Jonathan had courage. In fact in I Samuel 14 Jonathan went up against an opposing Philistine force and said to his armor-bearer, “There is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.” That was courage, but it was beyond courage because it had to do with the Lord. You can see that in his statement about going against the Philistines.
In I Samuel 20:33 when Jonathan was defending the honor of David, his father Saul became so enraged at Jonathan that he cast a spear at him to kill him whereby Jonathan knew that Saul was planning to kill David. Talk about understated. “It was a bad day. Dad tried to kill me and I realized Dad was not in a good mood.” So, Jonathan was a man of physical and moral courage, but making this covenant with David was not primarily a matter of courage though it may have risked his life at the moment.
Second, it was not primarily generosity that caused Jonathan to make this covenant. Indeed, he was the crown prince. David was on the run from Saul, yet back in chapter 18 we read about Jonathan giving David his own kit. He took the “robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.” That was generosity to this poor shepherd, but it was also more than that. It wasn’t merely courage or generosity that resulted in Jonathan’s actions. It was something different.
In a nutshell, it was obedience. He knew God’s choice and he was okay with that. Now, his choice to make a covenant endangered his own life. He gave things to David, but it wasn’t really virtue; it was wisdom. What I mean by this is that faith sees reality beyond your current circumstance. His current circumstance was being the crown prince while Saul was on the rampage and David was endangered.
His covenant with David employed three words: while, when, and LORD. “While yet I live shew me the kindness of the LORD.” That was the present. When was the day that was most certainly coming. No one could have guessed it by looking at the current circumstance, but Jonathan knew it was coming because he trusted what God had said. That is why LORD is the third important word in this covenant. Jonathan was living by what God had said, not by what he saw. That is important because what God said was more realistic and reality than his current circumstance even was. There is no way anyone could have guessed how the tables would turn. Jonathan wasn’t guessing; he was obeying, being wise, and responding to what God had said.
Faith sees beyond your current circumstance. How do you want to live this summer? What kind of virtues do you want to characterize your life? Do you want courage, generosity, honesty? There are so many. I think that no matter how bad we are in our nature, there are so many things we want to be but we can’t be. Being that kind of person is not a matter of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, but knowing what God has said and acting on it.
God has every quality you would want to have on your best day. Sometimes I don’t want to be generous and courageous, but on my best days I want those qualities. God has every quality you want to have on your best day. It is not a matter of doing better or more. It is matter of trusting God, what has God said. Am I going to trust that beyond my current circumstance? My current circumstance may be danger, poverty, or some kind of conflict. Faith lets me live beyond that. Faith sees reality beyond your current circumstance. That is what Jonathan did and why he was also a man of courage and generosity.
How do you want to live this summer? Think about the kind of person you wish to be and trust God to animate in you that which you cannot do on your own.