(1 Samuel) Patching Things Up

1 Samuel, chapter 19. Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants that they should kill David. Wow, huh? Saul is the king.

Jonathan is the crown prince. David is the up-and-coming star among the Israelites. And Saul was jealous of David.

You see, after David killed Goliath and was honored among the people for this, everything changed in his relationship with Saul. Once Saul heard the people singing, Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands, it hit Saul's heart like a sword going through his soul and it made him think, what more can David have but the kingdom? Now it's going to come and he's going to replace me as king. And Saul allowed this jealousy, this envy to infect his heart.

And as 1 Samuel, chapter 18, verse 9 says, so Saul eyed David from that day forward. He had his eye on him. His eye was pegged on David.

He looked at everything David was and everything David did in a different light from that day on. And since that time, Saul had repeatedly attacked David with one persistent goal, to eliminate him. Twice, Saul tried to kill David by pinning him to the wall with a spear as David played music for Saul.

Saul offered his oldest daughter Merab to David as a trap, hoping the dowry he would arrange would result in David's death. Saul tried to lead David into the sin of rebellion or treason by suddenly giving Merab to another man when she was promised to David. Saul tried to put David into a place where the Philistines would kill him and demanding a dowry of a hundred Philistine foreskins for marriage to his other daughter, Michael.

But none of this worked. But none of it changed Saul's heart. 1 Samuel, chapter 18, verse 29 says, Saul was still more afraid of David, so Saul became David's enemy continually.

Now Saul persists in his efforts to eliminate David. Saul spoke to Jonathan, his son, and to all his servants that they should kill David. David was a marked man and Saul's staff was instructed to kill him.

The Philistines wanted to kill David. Saul's staff was told to kill David. And David's closest friend, Jonathan the crown prince, was instructed by his father, by his king, to kill David.

Now what a difficult place this was for Jonathan, the son of Saul. Jonathan loved David, and God had made a wonderful bond of friendship between them, sealed by a covenant. Jonathan knew that David was to be destined the next king of Israel, even though Jonathan himself was officially the crown prince.

And at the same time, Jonathan's father and king tells him to kill David. I can see it now in my mind. Saul comes to Jonathan, Son, I've been having a little Bible study and I was reading in Exodus 20, verse 12.

And there it says, Honor your father and mother, and I'm your father, and I'm telling you, go out and kill David. I'm your father. I'm your king.

You must submit to me as father and king. Go kill David. And Jonathan, you're in the perfect place to do it, because he trusts you.

God has put you in that place so that you can obey me now and eliminate my enemy. Was Jonathan supposed to submit to that? What a difficult place it was for the servants of Saul. Did you know that all the servants of Saul, all of Saul's royal staff, his courtiers, the assistants, the ministers of state, the attendants, I don't know, the court jester too, for all I know, they all loved David.

1 Samuel 18, verse 5 says that David was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. They loved David. Yet they were commanded by their king, by their boss, to kill David.

What a difficult place for David. David, who can you trust? Even if David said, I know that I can trust Jonathan. I know that he would never betray me.

Surely he knows that at least there's one lackey, one bootlicker, one sycophant on Saul's staff, at least one who would do whatever Saul said without regard to right or wrong. What happens? Don't you just love it? How the Lord keeps putting David in these impossible situations. David, you're out tending the sheep.

Here's a lion and a bear. Impossible. David defeated them.

David, you're taking some supplies to your brothers in the army. And you end up taking on a giant. David, you go out and fight the Philistines and you're just a young man.

You don't have any formal... You didn't go to the Israeli equivalent of West Point. You don't know these things. Impossible.

God preserves. David, you have a king after you. And you're hopelessly naive and loyal to this king.

And he wants to kill you. And he's throwing spears at you. And he's manipulating things and putting you in danger, and doing everything he can to kill you.

Impossible. Now David is a marked man among all the staff of King Saul. Impossible.

Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David. So Jonathan told David, saying, My father Saul seeks to kill you.

Therefore, please be on your guard until morning and stay in a secret place and hide. And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are. And I will speak with my father about you.

Then what I observe, I will tell you. And David, Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David. And we can know that Saul, and probably at least some of Saul's staff, had criticized David a lot.

I mean, that's how it would always go. They don't sit around saying, David, what a fine, admirable man. David, what a great guy.

David, what a super guy. Now let's go kill him. People never do it that way.

You know, they build up the justification in their mind. And you know that they look for any chink in David's armor that they could find. They look for anything that they could bring against him.

And if they could find nothing, then they would twist or exaggerate something to make it seem something. And you know that Jonathan got an earful of this, don't you? But it didn't matter to Jonathan. He still delighted much in David.

I think that's why it says it there at the end of verse 1. To let you know that through all of this, it didn't change Jonathan's opinion of David. He still loved him. He still admired him.

And so what does he do in verse 2? So Jonathan told David. Now, if you were Saul, how would you feel about that? You would be furious. What, I put a price on this guy's head? I tell all my staff to kill him and you go warn him? Thanks a lot, son.

Jonathan knew that he was doing right. But wait a minute, wait a minute. Jonathan, how can you justify disobeying your father? How? Because Saul, his father and his king, commanded him to do something that was clearly disobedient to God.

And friends, this was an easy one. In issues of submission and authority, they're not always this easy. But this was an easy one.

Jonathan knew that the Bible said, You shall not murder. Exodus chapter 20, verse 13. By the way, it's right after honor your father and mother.

You shall not murder. Jonathan didn't have to spiritualize the meaning of murder or consider this just as a matter of disagreement. The Bible was clear.

And by the way, Saul was on record as saying that they should kill David. There's no doubt about it. This is murder.

I'm not going to kill my father. Jonathan said, I'm not going along with it. Even though my father, even though my king.

And Jonathan had a responsibility to submit to Saul, both his father and king. I'm not going along with it. Friends, we are under authority.

And we are commanded by God to submit to God's order of authority in many different areas. There is a biblical, commanded submission from children to their parents, from citizens to their government, from employees to their employers, from Christians to their church leadership, and from wives to their husbands. Yet even in all of those areas of relationship, we are never excused from sin because we obeyed an authority who told us to sin.

If Jonathan would have gone out and murdered David, which he had the capability of doing, Jonathan could not have come before the Lord and said, Hey Lord, I'm not guilty. I was just submitting to Saul. The Lord would have said, No, because you knew my word.

You knew my clearly revealed command. And you knew that obeying me was more important than obeying or submitting to that command. And in this instance, it would have been wrong for Jonathan to obey his father and to kill David.

This was a case where Jonathan could say what the apostles said when they were told to stop preaching the gospel. I mean, they were told by people who had some measure of authority over them, Stop preaching the gospel. And you know what they responded? They said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

But you know, Jonathan also had the heart of the apostles in Acts chapter 5. Because after the apostles said, We ought to obey God rather than men. Do you know what happened to him after that little speech? They got beaten and beaten severely as a punishment. But they were willing to take their lumps for what was right before God.

Rejoicing, it says, that they were counted worthy to suffer for his name. So Jonathan was willing to obey God rather than man. But Jonathan was also willing to take his lumps for his obedience to God and not whine about it.

So he goes to David and he says, My father Saul seeks to kill you. Therefore, please be on your guard until morning and stay in a secret place and hide. And I think this is very significant.

Look at Jonathan's heart in action in all this. First of all, Jonathan refuses to do the sinful thing that Saul told him to do. Saul, you're telling me to murder? The Bible says, Thou shalt not murder.

I'm not having any part of it. And so he refuses to do what Saul told him to do. But he did more than refuse to help Saul.

Jonathan helped David. Now, he could have just said, Look, I want no part of this. I'm not going to help my father do something that I know is wrong, but I won't try to stop it either.

I'll just be neutral and let God work it out. But Jonathan didn't take that attitude either. Now, certainly that is the right attitude to take sometimes.

The Bible does say that we should, and this is in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, that we should aspire to lead a quiet life and to mind your own business. And sometimes you just need to butt out and say, It's none of my business. I have no business taking sides one way or the other on this.

I'm going to butt out. It's just none of my business. And it's easy for us to get mixed up into things that are none of our business.

But it would have been wrong for Jonathan to adopt that thinking in this situation. Because it's also wrong to stay neutral when God doesn't want you to. It took courage for Jonathan to take David's side in this matter, but he did.

You know, we often let others down because we lack the kind of courage that Jonathan had. Maybe we have enough courage to say, I'm not going to do the evil thing that's required me. I'm not going to help the person who's in the wrong, but neither am I going to help the person who's in the right.

I'll just stay in between. Friends, we just need discernment from the Lord. That's all I can say.

Because in some situations, it's none of our business and we should stay out of it. But there's other situations in which it's not enough, not just to help the wrong. We need to go over and help the right.

So what made Jonathan put himself on David's side? What's in verse one again? He delighted much in David. He trusted David. He was behind him all the way.

He knew that God was with David. And so he wanted to be supportive of David all the way. He says, I delight in you.

I'm behind you, David. I know God's hand is upon you. I don't know about you, but when I read that, you just read it and you go, wow.

Don't you wish somebody would stick up for you like that? You think, man, isn't that great? What a friend that David had in Jonathan. Isn't that neat? You think, wow, for somebody to be that delighted in you, that they'd stick up for you like that. You go, isn't that fantastic? And I go back and think, you know, when you come right down to it, I think probably only Jesus Christ delights in us as much as Jonathan may be delighted in David.

And that's who's going to stick up for you all the time in every instance. If you're banking on people to do it, you're going to be disappointed at least from time to time. Not all the time, but sometimes you will be.

But you know what? Jesus Christ always delights in you. Always. Why? Because you or because I were so great.

Like God's looking out over the earth and goes, oh, wow, there's a really good one. I'm going to delight in them. Oh, boy, they're so great.

We all know that that's not true. We see how sinful we are and how far we fall. And if we fall short of what God has for us and what God wants us to be, then why would Jesus ever delight in us that much? Because He loves us.

Well, why does He love us? I mean, I have to give Him a reason to love me, don't I? No, I don't. The reasons are in Him. No, I don't want that.

That sounds like charity kind of love. I don't want that. I only want God's love.

If I can earn it, then you'll never have it. Just give up trying to give God a reason to love you and just receive His love. Just receive it.

He delights in you. That's what gets you excited tonight. Jesus Christ delights in me that much.

He's always going to stick up for me. Right now, Jesus Christ is my intercessor in heaven. He's yours.

He's my high priest praying for me. Jesus Christ is sticking up for me right now. The devil comes before the throne of God and accuses me before the throne of God.

And let me tell you, some of the stuff the devil accuses me of before the throne of God, it's dead-on true and I'm guilty of it. Other parts, it's lies. And I feel like, well, that's not fair.

Jesus Christ is there defending me. He's my Jonathan to me being David. I say, thank you, Jesus, that you delight in me.

And you stick up for me that much. That doesn't end here. Verse 4, after Jonathan warns David, he says, Now Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul, his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he's not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you.

For he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine. And the Lord brought about a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced.

Why then will you sin against innocent blood to kill David without a cause? This gets better and better. Jonathan did more than not help his father. He did more than secretly help David with information.

He went to his father and he spoke well of David to Saul, his father. Jonathan let Saul know. He said, Father, I know that you have a certain opinion of David, but I don't share that opinion.

I love David. I support him and you should also. But you know what? That took a lot of courage, but it was the right thing.

It was a wonderful thing for Jonathan to support David secretly. When it was just him and David. You know, there they are out there.

Jonathan's saying to David, Hey, David, you know, I'm behind you. It's great. I'm praying for you.

Do this. They're out to get you. That's a gift from the Lord.

But it was another thing, probably even a greater thing. For Jonathan to support David before others and before those who were against David. But friends, you know, that's what supporting someone is really all about.

You can't measure a person's support by what they say about you to your face. You measure their support by how they back you when you are not around. And that's what Jonathan's doing.

David's nowhere around. But he's there before his father, Saul, saying, Father, No, you've got the wrong idea about this. You know, it's a funny dynamic that goes on.

Jonathan couldn't be silent about this. He had to let his father know that he had a different opinion of him. And I think that's an important dynamic, because as Saul would have gone on saying, Well, you know, we got to get David.

He wants to take your throne, Jonathan. You're the one next in line to be king. Why, David? He's a traitor.

He's got a bad heart. All this fame, all this glory, it's gone to his head, Jonathan. And as Saul would go on and on about this, about David, it would have been easy for Jonathan just to stand back and say, you know, and just kind of say nothing and listen.

But in this situation, you know how that always works, is that your silence is taken as approval, as agreement. Jonathan wasn't going to be silent. It was hard, but he said, Dad, I have to speak up.

You're wrong. He said, let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he's not sinned against you and because his works have been very good towards you. Did you see what he said to his dad? He said, let not the king sin against his servant.

Jonathan was bold enough to tell his father that his anger and his jealousy against David was sin. And he said he has not sinned against you. I'm sure that Saul felt that David had sinned against him in some manner.

And I'm sure that he felt righteous in his cause. But Jonathan delivered a needed word of correction. Father, you've got this wrong.

And then he goes on and he explains in verse five. Let me demonstrate this to you, Father. He took his life in his hands and he killed the Philistine.

And the Lord brought about a great salvation for all Israel. Why did Jonathan remind Saul of these events? Do you think Saul forgot? Do you think Saul said, oh, yeah, that Goliath thing. I forgot all about it.

No, Saul knew it. Every time he turned on the radio, that hit song was on. Saul was slain as thousands and David as ten thousands.

Of course, Saul knew that David had killed Goliath. It wasn't because Saul forgot. It was because Saul had spun these events that justified his jealous desire to murder David.

See, Saul knew that David had killed the Philistine, but Saul could not believe that David did it for a righteous reason. In his mind, he thought, well, David just did it to become famous and to take my throne. He's a grasping traitor.

I'm justified in killing him because I have to kill him before he kills me. Jonathan was just trying to bring Saul back to reality. He reminds Saul, you sought and rejoiced.

Remember, Dad? When you first, when David first killed Goliath, you rejoiced just like everyone. Now Satan has filled your mind with envy and jealousy. Go back to how it was first in your mind when you sought and rejoiced.

Then he concludes there in verse five, he says, why then will you sin against innocent blood to kill David without a cause? Don't you see, my friends, that in Saul's mind, there was a cause. But do you think Saul said, well, I'll kill David just for the fun of it? In Saul's mind, there was a tremendous cause to kill David. In Saul's mind, David was not innocent.

But the truth was that he was innocent and that there was no cause to kill him. And Jonathan is calling Saul back to this reality. You see what happens? Look at verse six.

So Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan and Saul swore as the Lord lives, he shall not be killed. You're surprised, aren't you? I mean, you're like, whoa, is this Saul? This took real humility for Saul. Saul was tripped out on pride.

But for some reason, he got his head together in verse six. Some commentators believe that Saul never meant this at all. He was just saying this because, well, you know, Jonathan's onto my plan.

And I'm just, I don't think so. I think Saul meant it at the time. I think it says that he heeded the voice of Jonathan.

I think at the time, Saul meant it with all of his heart. And he even swore as the Lord lives, he shall not be killed. And this shows that I think the Lord had genuinely touched Saul's heart and Saul had allowed it.

God used Jonathan, but it wasn't the work of Jonathan. It was the work of the Lord. And Saul recognized it by declaring this oath.

Wow, what a change. It takes some humility, doesn't it? It takes humility for a king to receive counsel and to be rebuked by the prince. For a father to take counsel and to be rebuked by a son.

It's not easy. It takes a humble heart in the part of Saul. And like I say, we're like surprised to find it here.

And then he makes the promise again in verse six. As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed. I mean, Saul, knowing the end of the story, it seems like a pretty hollow promise, doesn't it? But you know, Saul was more accurate than he even knew.

Look at what he said. He didn't say, as the Lord lives, I won't try to kill him. That's what he meant, of course.

But what did he actually say? As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed. And you know what? Just like Caiaphas or Ananias spoke prophetically of Jesus when he said, it's good for one man to die on behalf of the nation. So Saul was speaking accurately here.

As the Lord lives, David would not be killed. But that was no credit to Saul who kept trying to do it. But as the Lord lives, David would not be killed.

So what happens? Verse seven. Then Jonathan called David and Jonathan told him all these things. And so Jonathan brought David to Saul and he was in his presence as in times past.

Man, do you hear the violins in the background and the sweet music and the hugs and the tears? I'm so sorry. And it's all great. And you know, if we were just to leave it there at the end of verse seven, we'd be going, oh, yes, thank you, Lord.

It's so sweet. And just, oh, thank you, God. Just a beautiful reconciliation.

Saul's humbled himself. And it's just wonderful. And you know what? It is good.

I don't want to belittle this. It diminishes. Oh, it's good.

What happens at the end of verse seven? But when something good like that happens. The devil always wants to take it away. So how's he going to do it? Look at verse eight.

And there was war again. Now, in context, this speaks of more war between Israel and the Philistines. But don't you know it was also true spiritually? There was war.

I mean, you go at the end of verse seven, everything's peaceful spiritually. Oh, it's just such peace. It's unity.

It's so great. Oh, thank you. Oh, it's so.

Oh, yes. Love you, Lord. Oh, how good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell again in unity.

And next verse. And there was war again. That's how it is spiritually, isn't it? At the end of First Samuel, chapter 19, verse seven, there was a truce in the spiritual war involving David and Saul.

I say involving David and Saul. The spiritual war wasn't between David and Saul. The spiritual war was between the forces of darkness and David.

And Saul was used as a pawn as much as the forces of darkness wanted to use him. But spiritually, the war was not between David and Saul. Spiritually, the war was between Satan and David.

And whenever we're at a time of ceasefire in the spiritual war, you can know this. That battle is going to start up again. And it can always be said of our lives.

Friends, I don't know if you're into making lifetime Bible verses or, you know, nice little thoughts about it. Here's a good lifetime Bible verse for any one of us. And there was war again.

Because it's going to come. It can be said of any one of our lives. What happened in this war versus Satan? David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a mighty blow.

And then they fled from him. Oh, praise the Lord, David. Yes, the Lord's behind you.

The unity. Isn't it great? You're going out and you just, oh, you're getting the Philistines. That's how it should be.

But you know, don't you, what's going to happen? When David's successful, how does Saul feel? Insecure. Threatened. Spiritually, these are warning clouds of a coming storm.

It was David's success that aroused Saul's jealousy before. When David was successful again, surely Saul would be tempted to jealousy again. So here's the question.

Saul, you're tempted to jealousy. What are you going to do with that temptation? Verse nine. Now the distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand and David was playing music with his hand.

The evil spirits were more than ready to attack Saul when he was most vulnerable. The attack was on the way. Now, here's the question, Saul.

What are you going to do with the temptation? What are you going to do with the spiritual attack that will come against you? And finally, if you notice there in verse nine, what was Saul doing? Sitting in his house with a spear in his hand. Good or bad? Bad, Saul. Saul has a bad track record with spears.

He's in a bad place. He's tempted. He's spiritually attacked.

And now he's put himself in a potentially sinful situation. You know, when you're tempted, when you're spiritually attacked, by all means, keep yourself out of potentially sinful situations. You know, it's like the couple, you know.

Well, I don't understand. We go up on Inspiration Point and park together in the car and I don't understand. We get all tempted.

I don't know. We give into the flesh. Hey, wake up.

Keep yourself out of the potentially sinful situation. Saul, you're tempted, you're spiritually attacked. Don't sit around with a spear in your hand.

David was playing music with his hand, but Saul knew spears much better than music that praised God. And so what did Saul do? Look at verse 10. Then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul's presence and he drove the spear into the wall.

David fled and escaped that night. Here we go again, right? What happened to Saul's change of heart? What happened to the tears? What happened to the oath before the Lord? As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed. All of that was thrown away just as easily as the spear was thrown.

Friends, please understand, the throwing of the spear in verse 10 didn't just happen. It was a natural consequence of Saul's attitude towards temptation. Saul was unprepared to handle temptation, unprepared to handle spiritual attack, and he had the opportunity to sin close at hand.

Most anybody is going to trip up under those circumstances. So what do you do? You prepare yourself against temptation, you prepare yourself against spiritual attack, and you keep the opportunity to sin away from you. What happened with David? Verse 10, he slipped away from Saul's presence and he drove the spear into the wall.

David was gone. The spear was left in the wall. The thing that Saul didn't need, that spear, right? Like Saul really needed a spear, huh? He didn't need it, but it was left.

And the one thing that Saul really did need, David. David was gone. Saul was a loser on both counts.

Remember verse 8 of this chapter? And there was war again. Saul lost the war and Saul lost it completely. Friends, remember this.

David won the war. Where did he win it? Look at verse 10. When he slipped away from Saul's presence.

David, you're just a winner again. Because Saul had just made another determined effort to kill him. And David could have returned the spear with fury.

He could have said, that's it. You've been doing this long enough, Saul. I'm not taking it anymore.

And David could have done it. And we all would have been praising him for his forbearance up until now. Well, you know, man can only take so much.

And he finally struck back. Good for you, David. But he wouldn't do it.

David said what he had said before. He said, Lord, you put that man on the throne. If he's going to be removed, you're going to have to do it because I won't.

I will not raise my hand against you. It says in verse 10, so David fled and escaped that night. There is a lot more in those last few words of the verse than you probably realize.

Do you know when David would return to the palace of Israel? Oh, something in the neighborhood of 20 years later when he was king. For the next 20 years until Saul dies, David lives his life as a fugitive out on the run. David was probably scared and angry and hurt when he left the palace.

So he thought, Lord, I thought you were on my side. I thought you would protect me. How could I have been so stupid to believe that oath of Saul? Where was Jonathan when I needed him? I should have killed Saul.

I can't believe I passed up the chance and left that spear on the wall again. But if David thought any of those things, he didn't cling to them. He let him go.

We look at him and say, Lord, how could you allow this? I can imagine David asking that question. And if he didn't ask it that night, you better believe he asked it a lot over the next 20 years. That is not fair.

How could you allow this? It's not fair, Lord. And it seems so unfair on a human level. God needed to make David into a man of God.

And so he allowed it. One of the favorite books I've ever read in my life, and certainly one of my favorite commentaries on this whole section of 1 Samuel, is by Alan Redpath. And Alan Redpath titles his collections of sermons on the life of David here, The Making of a Man of God.

Friends, God doesn't make men of God in palaces. He makes men of God out among the sheep, being a shepherd. He makes them out in the wilderness, being a fugitive.

Now, make no mistake about it. Saul meant it for evil. Saul didn't wake up that, Lord, how can I be used, Lord? Oh, you want me to send David out in the wilderness? Oh, okay, Lord.

Well, I'll just throw the spear at David. And send him on his way. How can I be used? No, Saul meant it for evil.

But the Lord meant it for good. God is big enough to work all things together for good. In your life, in my life.