How to acknowledge our rightful king? (1 Sam 20:1-23)

In my gap year, when I was a volunteer in a youth hostel in Israel, I worked together with a girl my age who had come to faith not long before I arrived. She had a lot of emotional baggage to work through and, for some reason, my presence often became the trigger for her passionate outbursts. I felt tossed about in a whirlwind of accusations and wondered what I had done wrong. It was only as I felt God vindicating me that I was able to confront her and probed why she acted towards me as she did. To my surprise, her belligerence crumbled. She broke down in tears and shared a little of the terrible things that had happened to her in the past. That clearing of the air between us became the beginning of a friendship. Not all stories of conflict have a happy ending, but in any relationship where there is conflict, there comes a point when it is time to seek clarity as to what is really going on.

Testing motivation

In Saul’s conflict with David, that time has come. David was initially loved and promoted, then attacked and hounded. His anguished questions now (1 Sam 20:1) affirm his innocence (he had done nothing wrong), but also highlight for the reader the troubling aspect of this story of kingship. If God’s will is for David to be king, why does He not remove Saul? How can the king after God’s own heart be only one step ahead of death (1 Sam 20:3)? And what is really in Saul’s heart? Jonathan initially disbelieves Saul’s continued murderous intent but is willing to test his father’s intentions (1 Sam 20:2-4). Can Saul even now repent and step aside? Is there a resolution that can save David from suffering? The test (1 Sam 20:5-7) will make clear Saul’s motivation and what lies ahead for David: continued presence in court or becoming a fugitive (1 Sam 20:21-22). Yet, it is significant that Jonathan sees the Lord’s hand even in the latter option (‘the LORD has sent you away’, v.22). Here is the possibility that the road to true kingship and power will lead through humiliation and suffering first.

Costly loyalty

In all this, Jonathan’s behaviour is admirable. Caught between loyalty to his friend and his father, his commitment to the truth is unwavering, though it will cost him dearly. His wish that the Lord be with David as He had been with Saul suggests that he understands David’s future as Israel’s king (1 Sam 20:13). Although Jonathan is the crown prince and David describes himself as ‘your servant’ (1 Sam 20:8), this son of Saul knows that one day the tables will be turned. Jonathan is not even sure that he will survive the coming conflict and appeals to David’s covenant loyalty (‘lovingkindness’ in NASB, ḥesed in Hebrew) to spare him and his descendants later (1 Sam 20:14-15). Jonathan’s willingness to step aside and give up his kingship is rooted in his love for David (1 Sam 18:1) and his conviction that this is the Lord’s will (note, it is the LORD who will cut off David’s enemies, v.15).

Who is our rightful king?

Our reading circles around questions of kingship and the characters’ relationship to it. Saul is tested whether his terrible grasp on power may loosen. Can he still repent? If not, then he must destroy the legitimate king. This being so, David’s path to kingship will be through suffering, even exile (symbolic of death in Israelite thinking). There is no other way. David’s story foreshadows Jesus’ kingship that came through suffering and death. For Him, too, there was no other way. Jonathan’s humility in stepping aside for the sake of God’s king echoes something of what is required of us as the people of God. As sinful human beings, we want to be masters of our own lives. It is costly to step aside and recognise ‘another king’ and it must not be done grudgingly. Rather, like Jonathan, we submit to the rule of David’s Son, Jesus Christ, because we recognise this as God’s will and because we have come to love Him as the King after God’s own heart. May we obey our King out of love and true conviction.

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