Jonathan and His Times

1 Sam. 14
There is a remarkable similarity between Jonathan in the Old Testament and Barnabas in the New. Both were gracious and affectionate; both were signally used of God in their day, but both manifested deplorable weakness in a moment of crisis. Barnabas broke with Paul, a special vessel of the Spirit in his time. Jonathan parted with David, Jehovah's choice for the throne of Israel. In both cases natural affection was the snare; Barnabas could not give up John Mark, and Jonathan could not give up Saul.
The breakdown of these truly excellent saints is recorded for our instruction. Perhaps there is nothing that so hinders full loyalty to Christ as natural affection. We find it so difficult to give Him the place of absolute supremacy in our hearts and lives. Levi is specially commended in Deut. 33:8-11 because in the day of the golden calf he "said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children.”
In Luke 14:26, the Lord Jesus points out a similar path for all who would be His disciples. The natural must be subservient to the spiritual if we would follow him. The rejected One—our God in "the likeness of sinful flesh"—laid it down emphatically, "He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me." Matt. 10:37. What a test for our hearts!
Jonathan means "Jehovah hath given" (as real a gift from God to Israel as Paul to the Church). He came forward at a very evil time in Israel. The king of the people's choice was already a failure. The very enemy from which he was specially appointed to save Israel (1 Sam. 9:16) was oppressing the nation sorely. The people had everywhere been disarmed (the king and his son only being permitted to keep their swords), and even the blacksmiths' shops were closed by order of the Philistines lest they should forge weapons.
God's time had not yet come for David to be brought upon the scene, and the whole position seemed utterly hopeless. The awfulness of this will only be realized as we remember that Israel was God's chosen people for the blessing and guidance of all the nations upon earth. They had become utterly degraded and impotent by unfaithfulness to God. Is there any picture here of the present forlorn and powerless condition of the Church of God?
God is never without resource. In every emergency He has His man. So Jonathan was raised up, that fair flower which God caused to blossom in the wilderness of Israel at that sorrowful moment. In 1 Sam. 14 he so acquitted himself that the people declared "he hath wrought with God this day." v. 45. It is a great thing to work with God, and it must not be confounded with working for God. To work with God is to have His mind for the moment, so that the worker moves as God moves, and along the line that He marks out. We see this illustrated in the Acts of the Apostles, and it is the secret of spiritual success. Such discernment is the fruit of exercise of heart before God. It cannot be acquired otherwise.
Jonathan was distressed by the condition of things in Israel. We doubt not prayer was behind it when he said to his armor-bearer one day, "Come, and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison that is on the other side." It was a step of faith: two men with only one sword between them, marching out to attack a powerful foe encamped on craggy heights, practically inaccessible!