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[0:00] Take your Bibles tonight and open them, if you would, to 1 Samuel.

[0:18] ! We're making our way through this book, this Old Testament book. We are ready tonight for chapter 20, 1 Samuel chapter 20.! Sometimes I do it this way.

[0:29] Sometimes I don't. Tonight I'm going to, and that is I'm going to read the entire chapter before we get into it, 42 verses. So, let's get the story in our minds, all of it together here.

[0:46] Chapter 20, verse 1. Then David fled from Nioth in Ramah. Ramah is where Samuel is. If you remember last time when we were in chapter 19, that's where David fled to so that he could be under the protection of Samuel.

[1:03] All right, so he fled from there, though, in Ramah, and went and said to Jonathan. Now, it doesn't say where he fled to, but he fled to where Jonathan is.

[1:15] And Jonathan, I'll just go ahead and tell you, is at home. He's at home, in the palace. And so this is what he said to Jonathan. What have I done? What is my iniquity?

[1:27] And what is my sin? Before your father, that would be Saul, that he seeks my life. So Jonathan said to him, by no means.

[1:39] 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 from me?

[1:50] It is not so. Then David took an oath again and said, Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes. And he has said, Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.

[2:05] But truly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death. All right? So Jonathan said to David, Whatever you yourself desire, I will do it for you.

[2:22] And David said to Jonathan, Indeed, tomorrow is the new moon or feast of the new moon or new month. Some of you might have that in your translations. And I should not fail to sit with the king to eat.

[2:36] But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening. If your father misses me at all, then say, David earnestly asked permission of me that he might run over to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.

[2:55] If he says thus, It is well, your servant will be safe. But if he is very angry, be sure that evil is determined by him, evil toward me.

[3:11] Therefore you shall deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into the covenant of the Lord with you. Nevertheless, if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself.

[3:21] For why should you bring me to your father? There is no need to bring me to your father. If I have sinned, I would rather you kill me. But Jonathan said, Far be it from you.

[3:35] For if I knew certainly that evil was determined by my father to come upon you, then would I not tell you? Then David said to Jonathan, Who will tell me or what if your father answers you roughly?

[3:48] And Jonathan said to David, Come, let us go out into the field. So both of them went out into the field as they went out to a place where they could talk privately. Then Jonathan said to David, The Lord God of Israel is witness.

[4:03] When I have sounded out my father sometime tomorrow or the third day, and indeed there is good toward David, And I do not send you and tell you, May the Lord do so and much more to Jonathan.

[4:19] But if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will report it to you and send you away that you may go in safety. And the Lord be with you as he has been with my father.

[4:33] And you shall not only show me the kindness of the Lord while I still live, that I may not die, but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever.

[4:45] No, not when the Lord has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the Lord require it at the hand of David's enemies.

[4:58] And Jonathan again caused David to vow because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul. Then Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed because your seat will be empty.

[5:13] When you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed and remain by the stone Ezel.

[5:24] Then I will shoot three arrows to the side as though I shot at a target, and there I will send a lad saying, Go find the arrows. And if I expressly say to the lad, Look, the arrows are on this side of you.

[5:39] Get them and come. Then, as the Lord lives, there is safety for you and no harm. But if I say thus to the young man, Look, the arrows are beyond you.

[5:50] Go your way, for the Lord has sent you away. And as for the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed the Lord be between you and me forever. That is, this matter being the covenant, the covenant they've made with one another and now also with their households.

[6:07] Then David hid in the field, and when the new moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast. Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall, and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Jonathan's side, but David's place was empty.

[6:26] Nevertheless, Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought something has happened to him, that is, to David. He is unclean. Surely he is unclean. You know, meaning that he's not at the feast because he's ceremonially unclean, and so he just assumed that.

[6:44] And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David's place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan, his son, Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat either yesterday or today?

[6:58] So Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem. And he said, Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there.

[7:11] And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers. Therefore he has not come to the king's table. Then Saul's anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, You son of a perverse, rebellious woman, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?

[7:35] For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.

[7:47] And Jonathan answered Saul, his father, and said to him, Why should he be killed? What has he done? And Saul cast a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew, and I think you'd sort of know, that it was determined by his father to kill David.

[8:06] So Jonathan arose 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 had treated him shamefully.

[8:17] And so it was in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field, at the time appointed with David, and a little lad was with him. Then he said to his lad, Now run, find the arrows which I shoot.

[8:30] As the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. When the lad had come in place where the arrow was, which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out after the lad and said, Is not the arrow beyond you?

[8:44] And Jonathan cried out after the lad, Make haste, hurry, do not delay. So Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master. But the lad did not know anything.

[8:57] Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter, that is, knew of this signal. Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad, and he said to him, Go, carry them to the city.

[9:09] As soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another, and they wept together, but David more so.

[9:23] Then Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, May the Lord be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.

[9:36] So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city. All right. Really an interesting story, and I would imagine, pretty safe to say, that this thing about the arrows, and the signal there, you probably have heard this story before.

[9:54] And it's an interesting story. In fact, just using this signal that they had worked out, I've decided to entitle the message tonight, An Arrow in David's Heart.

[10:05] An Arrow in David's Heart. Now, of course, I use the word arrow in a metaphorical sense. All right. Because David did not receive a real arrow in his heart.

[10:19] Though he could have, I suppose, if Jonathan had been treacherous, and David's out there in the field, and Jonathan. But he didn't receive an arrow in his heart. Not really, of course.

[10:29] And when Jonathan then shot the arrow, he did not strike him. And more importantly, neither did Saul successfully drive an arrow, or spear, or anything else, into the heart of David.

[10:42] Though he attempted to do it many, many times. But rather, the whole ordeal here, with Saul and Jonathan, pierced David's heart.

[10:56] And you really get this pretty clear when you come to the end of this chapter. This whole thing was so tragic to him.

[11:07] Pierced his heart, really. Not with an arrow, but with sorrow. Sorrow. And why? Well, first, though, Saul was David's mortal enemy. I mean, you couldn't interpret it any other way.

[11:22] Saul had already tried to kill David a couple of times, and ordered others to kill him, and even tried to kill him himself. And he's going to try again.

[11:34] And so, obviously, Saul was David's mortal enemy. But even though, David loved him. David loved him, respected him, honored him as his king.

[11:48] But second, really, and more importantly, David deeply loved Saul's son, Jonathan. Loved him.

[12:01] Contrary to those wacko liberals out there. He didn't love him in some homosexual way, okay? So just put that out of your mind. You know what we sometimes do, I hope you don't, I try not to, is to interject our own cultural thinking back into the text.

[12:20] Just because the two guys kissed one another doesn't mean that they're gay, okay? That is ludicrous insult to Scripture, to God himself.

[12:32] But David did deeply love Jonathan. Deeply loved him. Their souls were knit together. They loved each other as they loved their own selves. He loved him.

[12:44] And so, because of that, the result of this little test that they're having, the result of it with the arrows and so forth revealed the truth about Saul's murderous desires toward David, of course.

[13:00] And what did that mean? It meant that David would have to leave. And he would be parted from Jonathan actually for the rest of his life. Jonathan, of course, will eventually die in battle.

[13:14] David had to leave the palace, leave the company of Saul, of course, for his own good. And that would mean leaving the company of Jonathan, his dear, dear friend.

[13:29] So, there's like an arrow that pierced David's heart, this whole ordeal. So, I want us to look at this story tonight. And even though I've read the entire chapter, we'll reread a little bit of it as we go along.

[13:44] And really, I've kind of divided this into three parts. First part of it is about the plan, and I call it the perilous plan. You know, the perilous plan, even though it worked, worked exactly as they intended for it to work.

[13:59] It was able to communicate, convey the truth of the matter, and therefore, help David make the right decision that would preserve his life, but the plan was perilous, perilous.

[14:13] And really, this part of the chapter focuses so much on the relationship between David and Jonathan. And so, the plan is kind of coming out of that relationship, and in the course of us understanding this plan to find out the truth of the matter, we really discover some important details about their friendship, the depth of their friendship.

[14:45] It's extremely deep, and of extreme worth and value mutually for both of them, and it is a friendship that will lead them then to devise this plan that the outcome of it, the purpose of it, was to save David's life.

[15:03] All right, so I want you to think about the friendship then, and first, let's look at it from the perspective of David. That is, the depth of David's friendship for Jonathan, and on David's side of the friendship, we see a couple of interesting things here.

[15:26] In fact, right off the bat, something that would be easy to miss, we just kind of pass over it, you know, some historical details, details there, and yet, those details reveal something about the depth of David's love for Jonathan, a kind of love for him that really led him to risk his own life, David's own life, by what he did, and what I'm talking about is because of the friendship, his friendship with Jonathan, and David runs straight toward his enemy.

[16:02] You say, well, where is that in here? Well, it's right there at the very beginning, right there in the very first verse, and David fled from Nioph in Ramah and went and said to Jonathan, so he fled from a place of safety to the very home of his enemy.

[16:24] Now, again, just to remind you, in the last chapter, in chapter 19, in verse 18, David had fled to Ramah, to Ramah and the protection of Samuel.

[16:37] I mentioned that at the outset. This is where Samuel is, and Samuel still wielded a great deal of power in the kingdom, and this would be a safe place for David.

[16:50] Saul really, and we discovered this in chapter 19, or discovered it when we studied it, that Saul really couldn't do anything to get at David while he was under the protection of Samuel, even though Saul certainly tried.

[17:06] Saul tried to take care of David, even though he was under the protection of Samuel. Remember, Saul sent three separate, kind of, we could call them assassination squads, you know, some soldiers to go there, and when they got there, you know, the Holy, the Spirit came upon them and they couldn't do what they were sent there to do, and so Saul sent another group of assassins, and the same thing happened to them, and then a third group, and the same thing happened to them, and finally Saul goes to take care of this business, and the same thing happened to him.

[17:43] And so there was no way that Saul was going to get at David while he's under the protection of Samuel there in Ramah, and yet he tried, and so we're to understand with the first verse of chapter 20 that David fled Ramah, he fled from there and went to Jonathan, and again, where's Jonathan?

[18:08] He's in the palace, he's in the household of Saul, and Saul is there too, we're to learn in this chapter, and why would he do that? Well, there's only really one explanation, and that is his relationship with Jonathan, his friendship for Jonathan, a friendship that really desired at all cost to get this thing settled, to get this taken care of, to find the truth of the matter, and to get it settled, so it shows the depth of this friendship that David had for Jonathan, that he would risk all, and we, you know, we certainly understand from this that David did not fear Saul, he really didn't fear him, I mean, why would he?

[18:55] David, who didn't fear Goliath, I think he's going to fear Saul, didn't fear him, but rather he feared losing Jonathan as a friend, and so he wants to get this matter settled, and so that's one thing we see about David's side of the friendship toward Jonathan, but there's a second thing here, because of his friendship with Jonathan, David will humble himself before his enemy, he will just totally bear his soul, humble himself, verse 1 says, what have I done?

[19:37] What have I done? What is my iniquity? Saul's trying to kill me, he's already attempted it a number of times, and why? What have I done?

[19:48] What is my iniquity? What is my sin before your father that he seeks my life? Now David's not just, you know, paying some kind of lip service here, he really means this, he really means it.

[20:03] What have I done to your father? In fact, a little bit later, remember, in verse 8, he said to Jonathan, he said, if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself.

[20:16] Now that's a depth of loyalty and friendship. It certainly reveals the depth of David's own honesty and integrity within his own heart.

[20:28] And I believe he's really thinking within himself, you know, maybe I have sinned, I've actually sinned. See, Saul, because he's under the law, under the commandment, he had no right to kill David, unless David had sinned.

[20:48] And then under the law, he would have the authority to do that. But, and so David is just honest, he's opening his heart, what have I done, where's my iniquity, that your father would want to kill me?

[21:03] And of course, Jonathan responds, God forbid, there's nothing you've done. In fact, Jonathan is not even convinced that his father really and truly had this ongoing murderous attitude toward David.

[21:20] All right, so the depth of David's friendship with Jonathan, this kind of leading us to this plan they're going to devise. And so next, we want to just see Jonathan's side of it, the depth of Jonathan's friendship with David.

[21:35] And so first of all, from Jonathan's side of the friendship, Jonathan plays the part of a spy for David in his own household.

[21:50] He becomes David's spy. He's going to check this out. He goes where David could not go. Jonathan is the only one who can discover Saul's intentions concerning his dear friend's father.

[22:04] David, remember he said, my dad doesn't do anything unless he shares it with me. So I'll find out. And he said to David in verse 4, whatever you yourself desire, I will do it for you.

[22:19] Jonathan's not willing to accept the fact that David has sinned. And that's the reason that his father wants to have him killed. And rather, Jonathan loves David so much, he's willing to put himself out there and find out what the real problem is.

[22:39] And whether there is a problem at all. Secondly, though, because of his friendship with David, Jonathan accepts David's divine destiny to rule Israel after his father.

[22:54] See, Jonathan knows this. If you look, it's interesting, if you look again at verse 13, Jonathan said, May the Lord do so and much more to Jonathan, but if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will report it to you and send you away that you may go in safety.

[23:12] And then notice this last part of the verse, and the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. Be with you in the same way in the sense of he is with my father as the anointed king of Israel.

[23:27] And Jonathan said, May he also be with you as he was with my father. Jonathan knows that David is going to be the next king. Rather than Jonathan being the next king.

[23:39] Right? So he knows this. Jonathan has the right to rule after his father. Be a part of a dynasty. That's just normal.

[23:50] It would be expected. That's not what God chose and Jonathan knew that. And then if you look at verse 14, and you shall not only show me the kindness of the Lord while I still live, that I may not die.

[24:05] And this too fortifies the fact that Jonathan knew that David, and he accepted the fact that David would be the next king. And so it means when you come to power as king, do not destroy me, which also would have been kind of a normal thing, the expected thing.

[24:27] Not necessarily normal for Israel. Of course, remember, they're pretty new at this king thing, this monarchy thing, because Saul was their first king. But they understood how it usually worked in monarchies, and when a new king would come to the throne, would not be a part of the old dynasty, then that king had every right, it was almost expected to clean house, because anyone left over from the previous dynasty would be a threat, a possible threat to his kingship.

[25:00] And so what is Jonathan saying? I know you're going to be king, and so here's what I ask you, don't kill me. Don't kill me. And then verse 15 goes a step further, but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever.

[25:14] No, not when the Lord has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth. And that's a pretty amazing statement, because Jonathan knows that that means his father, when God cuts him off.

[25:29] And so Jonathan is asking David to promise, to covenant with him, that he would deal kindly with Jonathan's offspring, for they will never be David's enemies.

[25:44] enemies. This is Jonathan's thinking. And to make this official and binding, it calls for a covenant, to cut a covenant.

[25:57] And they made a covenant here at this point, even though the Bible doesn't go into the details. Remember, they've already done this. A covenant between themselves. You know, promising, Jonathan promising, I will not kill you, and you will not kill me.

[26:13] I will look out for your interest. You'll look out for mine. They've already made this covenant, but now it's not so much a new covenant, but it's an additional provision to this covenant.

[26:25] And so verse 16 says, so Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, remember, I mean, notice the house of David, verse 17, okay, which implies his legacy as king of Israel, his administration.

[26:48] He made a covenant with the house of David, saying, let the Lord require it at the hand of David's enemies. Verse 17, now Jonathan again caused David to vow because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

[27:01] So, see, you notice then, this goes further than the initial covenant between Jonathan and David because the covenant now includes their respective families. The depth of their friendship.

[27:15] From Jonathan's perspective, from David's perspective, and there's one other at least from Jonathan's perspective, because of his friendship with David, Jonathan will now risk his father's wrath to protect David.

[27:33] Both of them, even though it's kind of unsaid, and you see little glimpses, little implications of it, but both of them know how dangerous this is going to be, possibly could be, in what Jonathan is going to do for David.

[27:49] He's going to risk his father's wrath so that Jonathan can protect David. And so, just look again there at verse 5 of chapter 20.

[28:01] David said to Jonathan, indeed, tomorrow is the new moon, the new month. It's a festival prescribed by the law, Numbers 10.10 is where you can find the reference for this.

[28:14] That was a very important festival or feast. And I should not fail to sit with the king to eat, but let me go that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening.

[28:26] So, if your father misses me at all, then say, David earnestly asked to go to Bethlehem. You remember, as we read it, the story. And basically, he asked permission.

[28:37] This is part of the plan here. Asked me permission to go and have this very feast in Bethlehem with his father, with his household. His brothers had requested it, and so forth.

[28:48] Now, the question, of course, is, is Jonathan going to lie about this. Well, it could be that David actually did go to Bethlehem. It's not very far. And then came back, you know, to be there for the, as the rest of this plan unfolded.

[29:06] But if he says, it's well, your servant will be safe. But if he is very angry, be sure that evil is determined by him. By him. So Jonathan's going to go in, deceive his father.

[29:24] Really. Even though he may not be out and out lying. And this is very risky. There's risk here. David knows it.

[29:36] Jonathan knows it. And there is at least one mention of it here, though it's kind of cryptic. In verse 10, then David said to Jonathan, who will tell me?

[29:47] That is, we work out this plan, and you go in, and Saul asks, where's David? And you tell him where David has gone, and so forth, and see how Saul reacts, and so forth.

[30:01] And then you're going to, of course, report back to me and tell me the outcome of this test. But he's asking here in verse 10, who's going to tell me if something bad happens to you? That's basically what he's saying, verse 10.

[30:13] What if your father answers you roughly? And that's putting it mildly. And we're not jumping to conclusions here because, you know, later on we see how Saul reacted.

[30:28] There's great risk here for Jonathan. And Jonathan's willing to do it. Willing to take the risk. Even though his father might even kill him. And indeed his father does attempt to.

[30:41] But for love of David, Jonathan will risk, risk all. Now, you know, I would say that Jonathan is not taking all the risk.

[30:53] There is some risk for David. I mean, remember how is Jonathan going to communicate the results of this little test? He's going to shoot some arrows past David.

[31:06] He knows where David's hiding, okay? But really, we say that, but there's no risk there because their souls are knit together and they love each other as they love their own selves.

[31:18] So, then we have this very risky, risky plan that they have devised and they're going to go through with this thing.

[31:34] And so, that leads us to the second part of the story. That is what I would call a proven psychopath. Okay, I like that. Who's the psychopath here?

[31:46] Here. Well, it's Saul, of course. And so, look again at verse 24 of chapter 20. Verse 24, Then David hid in the field. This was the plan. And when the new moon, the new month festival had come, the king sat down to eat the feast.

[32:05] They're all gathered there. Very important kind of celebration. Kind of like having Christmas, you know. Expect everybody to be there for this thing. Now, the king sat on his seat as at other times.

[32:20] That is kind of his throne there. Special seat. A seat by the wall so his back would be against the wall. Some have supposed that perhaps this is kind of an indication of Saul's paranoia.

[32:35] You know. I thought of Tom Holland. I saw Tom walk in here. He's out there, I guess. Maybe he can hear me. I'm not saying, Tom, that you're a paranoiac. Okay. But if you've ever gone to a restaurant with Tom, he always sits where his face is toward the door.

[32:53] Okay. Police officer. Learned that over the years. All right. So, it kind of reminded me of that. But here's Saul. He's making sure that he can see everybody in the room. And he's got the vantage point there.

[33:03] And he doesn't have his back to anybody. Especially not to the entryway to this banquet hall, whatever it may have been. So, there he is. He's sitting there back against the wall.

[33:16] And there's Abner there, his general. Sat by Saul's side. David's place was empty. So, Jonathan is there. David's seat is empty.

[33:28] Nevertheless, Saul did not say anything that day for he thought, well, maybe David's unclean. I mean, this was a particular kind of feast that was prescribed by the Levitical law.

[33:43] Numbers 10.10 again. You had to be ceremonially clean. And so, he's just assuming that maybe David's not clean. All right. So, it happened the next day.

[33:56] The second day. And by the way, according to the law, the second day is there's no such law governing cleanliness or particular ceremonial cleanliness.

[34:07] And so, David's absent the second day. So, now Saul knows there's something up here. Now, why is Saul interested in David being there? You can't read this and forget all about chapter 19.

[34:20] Saul has tried to kill David. And so, now it almost seems like, well, you know, let's just let bygones be bygones. Well, Saul wants David to be there.

[34:33] He wants to take care of this guy. Not in a good way. So, it's empty again. And Saul said to Jonathan, his son, why has the son of Jesse not come to eat either yesterday or today?

[34:46] So, kind of the gig is up here. So, Jonathan gives the answer that's already been predetermined about David wanting to go to Bethlehem and so forth.

[34:57] And Saul knows he's lying or he suspects it. He's certainly angry. So, Saul's anger was aroused against Jonathan.

[35:11] And he said to him, you son of a perverse, rebellious woman. And, who's he talking about?

[35:23] Talking about his wife. Now you know Saul is just, this guy's lost it. I don't think he felt that way about her.

[35:36] But he's angry. Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame? And to the shame of your mother's nakedness?

[35:50] What does that mean? It means the mother who gave you birth. It's simply the expression what that means. Now, you know, on the one hand, he calling his wife David's mother perverse and rebellious.

[36:07] The next minute, he's upset with Jonathan because he shamed his mother. You've shamed her. So, you know, you see, he's putting jabs into Jonathan. You shame yourself.

[36:19] You've shamed your mother. And then the third jab is, verse 31, for as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established nor your kingdom.

[36:31] Now, therefore, send and bring him to me. He shall surely die. So, here are the three-pronged jabs at Jonathan. This is shameful what you're doing.

[36:42] And you're shaming your mother and you are forfeiting your right to be king of Israel to carry on the dynasty of my family.

[36:54] Really, Saul's more interested in that than he is of Jonathan. Jonathan answered Saul, his father, said to him, why? Why? Why? Why kill him?

[37:06] Why should he be killed? What has he done? Basically, he's calling his father to task about the law, which was a mistake for Jonathan.

[37:17] You didn't say things like that to Saul. And Saul cast a spear at him to kill him. That was his intent.

[37:28] Kill his own son. By which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David. So, Jonathan arose 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 had treated him shamefully.

[37:46] Shamefully. Grieved for David. He wasn't afraid of his father. He wasn't angry about what his father did. He was angry about David being shamed and his life being threatened.

[38:05] Someone has said that Saul slings a spear and Jonathan gets the point. Not really the point. He gets the point of the whole thing. He knows that Saul is now murderous.

[38:17] He's a psychopath. He's not going to stop until he has snuffed out David's life. And that leads us to one final thing. A passionate parting.

[38:31] Two friends parting. And so, you know, we don't have to reread the story. We know what has been prearranged and now Jonathan knows the truth of his father's intentions.

[38:44] And so, he'll carry out the way that it would be communicated to David. You know, shooting an arrow one particular spot, calling out to his armor bearer or his servant, you know, it's out there and that would signal to David that everything's alright.

[39:05] Or shooting it in another direction, saying what he said to the servant and that would tell David that you need to leave. Flee. And of course, that was the case.

[39:18] And so, we have this final kind of parting, very sad parting, very tearful parting between two very close friends. Verse 41, as soon as the lad had gone, David arose from the place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, bowed down three times, and they kissed one another, and they wept together, but David more so.

[39:45] Why David more so? Well, he had lost his friend, right? That is, in the sense that they would no longer have any opportunity to be together and enjoy that friendship in any kind of personal way.

[40:01] But now, Jonathan is saying, may the Lord be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.

[40:33] So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city. So, this final reference to their covenant together. Covenant that meant that they would preserve each other's lives, and not just their personal lives, but the lives of their offspring.

[40:56] And all we have to do is go to 2 Samuel chapter 9, and we find the example of that played out with Mephibosheth, which is a beautiful, wonderful story.

[41:06] and a vivid picture of Christ. Of Christ. And really, we have, you know, just a small little reference to that here, when he says, may the Lord be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, for how long?

[41:27] Forever. So this covenant that they made with one another, and that later David would honor this covenant, as a picture of the covenant that we have with Christ that is everlasting.

[41:41]  Everlasting. music