A Parting of Brothers

Having learned the truth—that Saul does indeed want to murder David—Jonathan follows through without hesitation on his commitment to warn his friend. Along with a small boy, he ventures the next morning into the field where David is lying hidden. After shooting his arrows and sending the boy to seek them, he cries out, saying, ” ‘Is not the arrow beyond you?’ ” That one word, beyond, tells David all he needs to know.

In God’s providence, no one else is around, so Jonathan sends the boy back to the city with his bow and arrows, and steals a moment to speak with David. When David rises from his place of concealment, he falls on his face before Jonathan and bows to him three times. “David addressed himself to Jonathan with the reverence of a servant rather than the freedom of a friend … as one deeply sensible of his obligation to him for the good services he had done him,” Matthew Henry writes in his commentary. Indeed, David is keenly aware that, in human terms, he owes his very life to Jonathan and that Jonathan has paid a heavy price to aid him. But Jonathan does not lord it over David as a master; rather, he embraces him as a brother. And so they weep that their friendship must be sundered, but David more so. “The separation of two such faithful friends was equally grievous to them both, but David’s case was the more deplorable; for when Jonathan was returning to his family and friends, David was leaving all his comforts, even those of God’s sanctuary, and therefore his grief exceeded Jonathan’s, or perhaps it was because his temper was more tender and his passions were stronger,” Henry writes.

When at last the moment comes when David can linger safely no more, Jonathan sends him away with a final reminder of his good will: ” ‘Go in peace.’ ” And then he reminds David (and himself, as well) of their covenant, that they have sworn loyal love to one another and to one another’s descendants. Using typical covenant language, Jonathan calls on God to keep watch over them both, to see that they are faithful to do what they have promised to do. And so David flees, while Jonathan returns to Gibeah. They will meet at least once more, briefly and covertly (1 Sam. 23:16), but for the most part these great friends are now parted by the antipathy of King Saul.