Jonathan’s Love and Saul’s Jealousy

1 Samuel 18:1-19:24

Key verse: 18:3

“And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.”

Last time we learned about the famous story of David and Goliath. The whole Israel army was paralyzed in fear by Goliath. But the young shepherd boy David trusted in God saying, “I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty!” He was bold and courageous and victorious when he had faith in God as well as a shepherd’s heart for God’s people and a fighting spirit. Through this we learned how to overcome our Goliath’s of fear and unbelief.

In today’s passage, we see the bonding between David and another young hero from earlier chapters, Jonathan. Jonathan’s love for David was so deep and sometimes hard for independent minded American’s to understand. It was an unlikely friendship. It stood as a stark contrast to Jonathan’s father King Saul’s jealousy of David. But God would use that for David’s good as well. May God give us loving and godly friendships.

I. Jonathan’s Godly Love for David (18:1-4)

Read v.1. “After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.” At the end of ch.17, David had been talking with Saul after his stunning victory over Goliath. Saul asked David, “Whose son are you, young man? David said, ‘I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.” It looks like Saul’s son Jonathan was there to witness David’s great victory. Jonathan was the hero back in ch.14 when he and his armor bearer took on a Philistine outpost killing 20 Philistines. That battle spread to an even larger victory for the army of Israel over the army of the Philistines. It was almost a parallel story to that of David and Goliath. Jonathan had become a great war hero. He was the prince of Israel. He was in line to one day become the king as his birthright. A young man could not ask for a more promising future. But now this shepherd boy David entered the scene out of nowhere. David was the new hero. “Hurray for David! He defeated Goliath when no one else could!” People seemed to forget about Jonathan. How would you feel if you were Jonathan? A little bit left out? Frustrated? Could we say, jealous?

But Jonathan was not jealous of David. To the contrary, v.1 says “Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.” Jonathan has the exact opposite reaction toward David then we would expect. Rather than viewing David as his rival for fame as the future promising leader of Israel, he loved David as himself. It says he became one in spirit with David. It means they shared the same desires and motivations in their heart. Before facing Goliath, David said, “It is not by the sword that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands.” (17:47) Do you remember what Jonathan said before his battle? “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.” (14:6) (slide…) What was the common link between these two young men? Their faith in God to save them. Their love for God. Their devotion to God. When they shared the same heart for God, Jonathan loved David as himself. Verse 3 says, “Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.” A covenant is a binding agreement between two people. Marriage is a covenant. Two people promise to love one another until death. Jonathan loved David so much he made this kind of covenant relationship with David. It was a sworn friendship before God which was not to be broken. But Jonathan’s love for David was not just in words.

Read v.4. “Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.” To fully demonstrate his love, Jonathan gave gifts to David. There were not just small gifts like a Ravens t-shirt or $10 itunes card. They were his own treasured personal possessions. First was his robe. It must have been a royal robe of a prince. Probably it was worth hundreds of dollars. Maybe it was one of a kind. He also gave his princely tunic, a long elegant shirt. There is a saying like, “He would help you to the point of giving you the shirt off his back.” That’s what Jonathan did. Not just his royal clothes, but he also gave his weapons- his sword, bow and belt. Jonathan fought many battles with these weapons. They became a kind of extension of himself. He defended his life with these weapons. How could he give them away? Such was the extent of his love for David. He left himself defenseless and vulnerable to David- David could trust him. Here we see godly friendship is giving and sacrificial. Many human friendships are based on give and take… you give me some benefit, I’ll take it. But then it’s expected I give you something in return sooner or later. When I was a college student sometimes I made friends with the smart students. That way I could get their help to do better in classes. Some people make friends with those who make us look cool like in high school or some professional association which gives us networking contacts. We think, “What can I get from these guys?” But godly friendship is the opposite. What can I give to my friend whom I love in God like myself. M. Paula shared that she is thankful for godly friendships with Baltimore women coworkers. They share the same love for Jesus. They care for one another. They pray for one another. How wonderful when women are not full of jealousy and gossiping, but helping and praying for each other. Jonathan’s sacrificial love is a model for all of us. It is a foreshadowing of Jesus who gave his life to cover our sins and defeat the power of the devil. So Jesus told us, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn 15:13) Jonathan and David’s friendship was not based on human qualities. It was their shared faith in God. I am Italian American and M. Victor is from Nigeria. We have many human differences. But through our shared faith in God we can be true friends. May God bless us with godly friendships that are giving and sacrificial.

II. Saul’s Jealousy (18:5-19:24)

Now that we’ve seen Jonathon’s sacrificial loving friendship with David, we will look at Saul’s opposite relationship toward David through jealousy and how God would use it. V.6-9 describe how as the men were returning home after their victory over the Philistines and David killing Goliath there were victory parades. The banners in the street read: “Welcome Home Soldiers!” There was live music, singing and dancing. The women danced and sang joyfully for the troops with the lyrics: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” It seems like tens of thousands of the Philistines were defeated by the Israel army following David’s killing Goliath. So David received credit for the victory. But v.8-9 says, “Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. Then he said: ‘They have credited David with tens of thousands, but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?’ And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.” Saul was the king. For David to get more credit that Saul was viewed as a threat to Saul’s rule. So his heart was filled with jealousy and he watched David with suspicion. V.10-11 say the next day David was playing the harp for Saul, as he had done in the past. Then an evil spirit came forcefully upon Saul until he hurled his spear trying to pin David to the wall, but David eluded him twice. When Saul allowed his heart to indulge in jealousy towards David, what happened? He opened the door of his heart to an evil spirit that filled Saul with murderous fury. In v.12-16 it says Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David and had left Saul. How terrible it was that the Lord had left Saul after repeated instances of disobedience and pride and now jealousy. The result was Saul was inflicted with fear, including fear of David. He feared David would rise to power over him. Actually, that’s what God was doing, but Saul was too pride and blind to accept it. Saul tried to get David out of his mind so he sent him away with command over a thousand men. Then David’s men experienced great victories. V.14 says, “In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him.” God was with David and gave him success. Then Saul was more afraid of David. His jealousy made him a slave of fear. He tried others attempts to kill David including using his daughters as bait for marriage but first prove himself worthy of their hand by fighting the Philistines. His plan was David would be killed by the Philistines. But God kept giving David victory. Verse 28-29 say, “When Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.”

Here we see the dangers of jealousy in our lives. Jealousy is defined as being resentful and envious toward a rival. That was pretty much what Saul’s attitude was toward David. At our Bible study we all admitted we have fallen into the trap of jealousy many times. We can be jealous of classmates: that guy thinks he smart…I’m smarter. That girl thinks she’s so pretty… I’m prettier. There is jealousy in the workplace- we want the bosses attention so we can get promoted. There is jealousy in the family- sibling rivalry…fighting for Mom and Dad’s attention and affection. M. David said jealousy comes when we are lacking something, but we don’t know what is the true blessing and how to get it. So we constantly compare ourselves with others- how do we measure up? We live before people rather than living before God. Essentially we love ourselves rather than loving God and loving others. Cain was jealous of his brother Abel and killed him. Abel loved God, Cain loved himself and didn’t repent as God counseled him to do. Joseph’s brothers were jealous of their father’s love for Joseph until they wanted to kill him, but settled for selling him into slavery. The Pharisees were jealous of Jesus and had him put to death. We see it over and over in the Bible. We must guard our heart against jealousy and hatred or we will become slaves of fear and hurt others. Most people think they are good because they haven’t hurt anyone, but Jesus said (Mt 5:22), “…anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject..” to the judgment of murder. Our jealousy comes from lack of love and trust in God’s love. Instead Jesus taught us, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Jesus called this the first and greatest commandment. Jesus also said, “The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt 22:37-39) Does this sound familiar? Look at 18:1 again, “Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.” One in spirit is their shared love for God. And he loved David as himself. When we reject God’s love, we become jealous and fearful of those God loves and is blessing, as Saul was doing to David. But when we have love for God, we are generous and giving and loving like Jonathan.

In ch.19 Saul does not repent but continues to try and kill David. Here we see Jonathan again. In v.1 Saul tells his son Jonathan and all his attendants to kill David. When he saw his plan for David to die at the hands of the Philistines wasn’t working he resorted to premeditated murder. Jonathan warned David. Then he went and spoke with his father trying to reason with him.

Read v.4-5. “Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, ‘Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly. He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The Lord won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?” Jonathan reminded his father of David’s help in the past. Saul himself rejoiced that God used David. He got his father to listen to reason and calm down. V.6 says, “Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: ‘As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be put to death.’” Jonathan was able to persuade his father not to bring harm to David. Jonathan did his best to protect David. It was dangerous. He risked his father’s unstable character and fury, which had lashed out against Jonathan in the past and would happen again in the near future. He reminds us of 1 Cor.13:6-7, “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” David was weak and vulnerable. But Jonathan came to his protection in love. He again shows us how to be loving and godly friends through protecting one another in our weaknesses. But once David comes back into Saul’s presence, Saul again tries to kill David under the influence of an evil spirit and becomes obsessed with trying to kill David.

We can wonder, “Why did God secretly appoint David as king in ch.16, give David victory over Goliath in ch.17, give him godly friend in ch.18, but then allow him to be harassed by Saul’s jealousy in these chapters and the ones to follow. God was training David to be the future king. Heb.12:7 says, “Endure hardships as discipline. God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?” Look what happened to Saul. He became king as Israel demanded, but he did not respond well to discipline and hardships by turning to God. As a result he became a very unstable man. If David has an easy rise to power, what would happen to him? He would be similar to Saul. Through the hardship David was enduring he would learn to be humble and depend on God. And God did not leave him alone but gave him a wonderful friend and coworker to support him- Jonathan. In my past I suffered under my boss so much. I thought I would die. But God used it to train me so I would not take leadership for granted and always depend on God. Ishaya had his big training in Pharmacy school, but God gave him Sh. Cyril to be like Jonathan and encourage him. Then Ishaya came to personal faith in Jesus. God can raise him to be a humble shepherd leader like David. He is always a good friend to all the students like Kenny, Joseph, Andrew, Matt and others. M. Victor will share his life testimony. We will see how God trained him to be a good shepherd as well. May God give us proper perspective and faith in him during the trials we face as God’s training and love for us. May God fill us with his love so we love God and love one another as godly friends.

Read key verse 18:3