1 Samuel 20

David, hunted by King Saul, turns to his friend Jonathan. The two make a plan to learn whether Saul truly means to kill David, and they renew their covenant of loyalty. Saul’s rage at the New Moon meal settles the matter, and the friends part in tears, with David a fugitive.

1 Samuel 20:1

David flees from the prophets at Naioth, where God had protected him from Saul. He pours out three questions to Jonathan: what has he done, what is his guilt, what is his sin? He is innocent, and he cannot understand the hatred.

BSA: iniquity (“moral evil, sin”): David asks whether he has done any real moral wrong that could explain Saul’s murderous hatred.

1 Samuel 20:2

Jonathan cannot believe it. His father usually shares everything with him, so he assumes Saul has not really decided on murder. His loyalty to his father makes him slow to accept the truth, though his words are kind and sincere.

BSA: Far from it (“God forbid”): Jonathan rejects the thought strongly, as something that should never be.

1 Samuel 20:3

David answers that Saul knows of their friendship and has deliberately kept Jonathan in the dark to spare him pain. He swears by the LORD’s life and Jonathan’s life that death is only a step away. It is a plain picture of how narrow his escape is.

BSA: step (“single, small”): The gap between David and death is no more than one small pace.

See also: 1 Samuel 19:1-2.

1 Samuel 20:4

Jonathan offers David a blank cheque of friendship: whatever David wants, he will do. It shows costly, self-giving love. It is a love that will place him between his father and his friend.

BSA: desire (“your heart’s wish”): Jonathan offers to act on David’s deepest need, not just a passing request.

1 Samuel 20:5-7

David proposes a test. The New Moon was a monthly feast with sacrifices, and the king expected him at table. David will hide, and Jonathan will say he went to Bethlehem. Saul’s reaction will reveal his heart: calm means safety, rage means danger.

BSA: safe (“will have peace, experience shalom”): David hopes for shalom, the wholeness of being at peace with the king.

Hebrew: שָׁלוֹם (shalom, H7965) — “peace, wholeness.” The word translated ‘safe’ is shalom, a rich word for well-being. David is really asking whether things are well between him and the king.

1 Samuel 20:8

David appeals to the covenant they made before the LORD. If he is truly guilty, he asks Jonathan to kill him himself rather than hand him to Saul. It is the boldness of a man who knows his conscience is clear and trusts his friend.

BSA: covenant (“a solemn agreement, a bond of promise”): Their friendship rests on a sworn promise made before God, not on mere feeling.

See also: 1 Samuel 18:3.

1 Samuel 20:9-10

Jonathan will hear nothing of David dying by his hand. He promises to tell David if Saul means harm. David then raises a practical worry: how will he hear the news if Saul replies harshly?

1 Samuel 20:11-13

In the open field, away from listeners, Jonathan swears by the LORD to sound out Saul and send word. He calls a curse on himself if he fails. He then asks that God be with David as He was with Saul, showing he already senses where God’s favor is moving.

See also: 1 Samuel 18:12.

1 Samuel 20:14-15

Jonathan asks David for kindness in return: to protect him while he lives and never to cut off his family, even when David’s enemies are gone. He foresees David as king and asks for mercy for his house. This promise is remembered later.

BSA: loving devotion (“kindness, mercy”): This is faithful, covenant-keeping love that stays loyal when it costs something.

Hebrew: חֶסֶד (chesed, H2617) — “loyal, covenant love.” Chesed is steady, faithful kindness that keeps its promises. Jonathan asks for it, and David will later show it to Jonathan’s son.

See also: 2 Samuel 9:1-7.

1 Samuel 20:16-17

The covenant now includes David’s whole house. Jonathan has David repeat his vow, not from doubt but from love, since he loved David as his own self. Real friendship is rooted in love and sealed with promises.

BSA: loved (“with the same intensity as”): Jonathan loved David as strongly as he loved his own life.

See also: Proverbs 17:17.

1 Samuel 20:18-23

Jonathan sets out a secret signal. David is to hide near the stone Ezel while Jonathan shoots arrows and sends a boy to fetch them. Arrows near means safe; arrows beyond means flee. The LORD stands as witness to their agreement.

BSA: witness (“observer, overseer”): God watches over the promise between the two friends and holds both to it.

1 Samuel 20:24-26

At the feast Saul sits in his usual place with Jonathan and Abner, and David’s seat is empty. On the first day Saul says nothing, thinking David is ceremonially unclean. Such uncleanness could keep a person from a sacred meal for a time.

BSA: ceremonially unclean (“not pure, ritually impure”): Saul assumes a ritual reason for David’s absence, which shows how he first read the empty seat.

See also: Leviticus 7:20-21.

1 Samuel 20:27-29

On the second day Saul asks pointedly why ’the son of Jesse’ is absent. He will not even speak David’s name. Jonathan gives the agreed excuse: a family sacrifice at Bethlehem, which is a plain cover story for David’s flight.

BSA: permission (“leave, consent”): Jonathan presents David as a loyal subject who asked leave, not as a man in hiding.

1 Samuel 20:30-31

Saul explodes. He insults Jonathan and his mother and accuses him of shaming them by siding with David. Saul sees that David stands in the way of Jonathan’s throne, yet Jonathan is the one person who does not mind. Jealousy has made Saul blind.

BSA: perverse (“wicked, evil”): Saul uses a harsh word of contempt, striking at Jonathan’s whole family in anger.

Hebrew: נַעֲוַת (na’avat, H5753) — “twisted, crooked.” The word pictures something bent out of shape. Saul calls Jonathan’s mother crooked, showing how far his rage has bent his own judgment.

1 Samuel 20:32-34

Jonathan asks the fair question: what has David done? Saul answers with a thrown spear. Jonathan now knows the truth. He leaves in burning anger, eating nothing, grieved at the shame done to David.

BSA: grieved (“hurt, pained”): Jonathan’s anger is mixed with real heartache over how his father has treated David.

See also: 1 Samuel 18:10-11.

1 Samuel 20:35-39

The next morning Jonathan carries out the plan. He shoots the arrow beyond the boy and calls out urgently, ‘Hurry! Make haste! Do not delay!’ The boy understands nothing. The words are the signal David needs to hear: run now.

BSA: arrangement (“matter, affair”): Only the two friends understood the matter, since the whole signal rested on a secret between them.

1 Samuel 20:40-42

Jonathan sends the boy away, and the friends meet alone. David bows three times, they kiss and weep, and David weeps most. Jonathan sends him off in peace, reminding him of their oath before the LORD. It is a painful parting between two men of faith.

BSA: peace (“shalom, completeness and wellness”): Jonathan blesses David with wholeness of life, even as they face a hard separation. witness (“a testimony, a reminder”): God Himself is the lasting reminder of the promise between the two families.

See also: 1 Samuel 23:16-18.