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January 29 - 1 Samuel 20 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's shown here. It is Monday the 29th of January
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  and you have tapped on play Made Some space in your day to invite
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  me in so that you and I can unwrap and read the next chapter
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  of God's Word. As we continue on this
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  fascinating story of David coming into his own and saw
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  being squeezed out. The the whole book of Samuel 1st
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  and 2nd is not written as a biographical account of what
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  happened and who did what. This is the story that is
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  theological. This is a story teaching us
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  about God, about God establishing his covenant with
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  David and about God establishing his kingship through David and
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  beyond. There is so much going on and a
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  lot of the story really does revolve around David and we will
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  hear Saul doing all sorts of terrible mean and and we will
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  hear soul really becoming quite an unlikable character in
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  today's reading. And this is all to say that this
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  is not David who came along and snatched the throne from Saul,
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  but saw really disqualified himself from continuing in that
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  role as king, and God takes it from him and gifts it to David.
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  David is not in the business of snatching Thrones, but he is
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  receiving that responsibility from God.
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  That is enough from me. Let us read this together.
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  Let's open up and read First Samuel chapter 20.
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  David now fled from Naioth in Ramah and found Jonathan.
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  What have I done? He exclaimed.
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  What is my crime? How have I offended your father
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  that he is so determined to kill me?
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  That's not true, Jonathan protested.
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  You're not going to die, He always tells me.
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  Everything is going to do, even the little things.
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  I know my father wouldn't hide something like this from me.
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  It just isn't. So then David took an oath
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  before Jonathan and said your father knows perfectly well
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  about our friendship. So he has said to himself, I
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  won't tell Jonathan why should I hurt him?
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  But I swear to you that I am only a step away from death.
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  I swear it by the Lord and by your own soul.
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  Tell me what I can do to help you, Jonathan exclaimed.
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  David replied. Tomorrow we celebrate the New
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  Moon Festival. I've always eaten with the king
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  on this occasion, but tomorrow I'll hide in the field and stay
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  there until the evening of the third day.
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  If your father asks where I am, tell him I asked permission to
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  go home to Bethlehem for an annual family sacrifice.
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  If he says, fine, you will know all this well.
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  But if he is angry and loses his temper, you will know he is
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  determined to kill me. Show me this loyalty as my sworn
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  friend, for we made a solemn pact before the Lord.
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  Or kill me yourself if I've sinned against your father.
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  But please, don't betray me to him.
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  Never, Jonathan exclaimed. You know that even if the
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  slightest notion my father was planning to kill you, I would
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  tell you at once then? David asked.
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  How will I know whether or not your father is angry?
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  Come out to the field with me, Jonathan replied.
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  And they went out there together.
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  Then Jonathan told David, I promise by the Lord, the God of
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  Israel, that by this time, tomorrow or the next day at the
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  latest, I will talk to my father and let you know at once how he
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  feels about you, Even if he speaks favourably about you.
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  I will let you know. But if he is angry and wants you
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  killed, may the Lord strike me and even kill me if I don't warn
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  you, so you can escape and live. May the Lord be with you as you
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  used to be with my Father, and may you treat me with the
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  faithful love of the Lord as long as I live.
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  But if I die, treat my family with this faithful love, even
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  when the Lord destroys all your enemies from the face of the
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  earth. So Jonathan made a solemn pact
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  with David, saying, May the Lord destroy all your enemies.
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  And Jonathan made David reaffirm his vow of friendship again.
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  For Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.
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  Then Jonathan said, Tomorrow we celebrate the New Moon festival.
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  You will be missed when you're placed at the table is empty the
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  day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where
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  you hid before and wait there by the stone pile.
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  I will come out and shoot 3 arrows to the side of the stone
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  pile as though I was shooting at a target.
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  Then I will send a boy to bring the arrows back.
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  If you hear me tell him they're on this side, then you will know
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  as surely as the Lord lives at all, is well and there is no
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  trouble. But if I tell him, go farther,
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  the arrows are still ahead of you.
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  Then it will mean that you must leave immediately, for the Lord
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  is sending you away. And may the Lord make us keep
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  our promises to each other, for He has witnessed them.
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  So David hid himself in the field, and when the New Moon
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  Festival began, the King sat down to eat.
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  He sat at his usual place against the wall, with Jonathan
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  sitting opposite him and Abner beside him.
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  But David's place was empty. Saul didn't say anything about
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  it that day, for he said to himself, something must have
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  made David ceremonially unclean. But when David's place was empty
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  again the next day, Saul asked Jonathan why hasn't the son of
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  Jesse been here for the meal, either yesterday or today?
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  Jonathan replied. David earnestly asked me if he
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  could go to Bethlehem. He said.
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  Please let me go, for we are having a family sacrifice.
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  My brother demanded that I be there, so please let me get away
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  to see my brothers. That's why he isn't here at the
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  King's table. Saul boiled with rage at
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  Jonathan. You stupid son of a whore.
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  He swore at him. Do you think I don't know that
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  you want him to be king in your place, shaming yourself and your
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  mother? As long as that son of Jesse is
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  alive, you'll never be king. Now go and get him so I can kill
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  him, but why should he be put to death?
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  Jonathan asked his father. What has he done then?
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  Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan, intending to kill him.
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  So at last, Jonathan realised that his father was really
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  determined to kill David. Jonathan left the table in
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  fierce anger and refused to eat on that second day of the
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  festival, for he was crushed by his father's shameful behaviour
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  toward David. The next morning, as agreed,
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  Jonathan went out into the field and took a young boy with him to
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  gather his arrows. Start running, he told the boy.
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  So you can find the arrows as I shoot them.
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  So the boy ran, and Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.
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  When the boy had almost reached the arrow, Jonathan shouted.
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  The arrow was still ahead of you.
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  Hurry, hurry. Don't wait, said the boy quickly
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  gathered up the arrows and ran back to his master.
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  He, of course, suspected nothing.
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  Only Jonathan and David understood the signal.
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  Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows to the boy and told him
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  to take them back to town. As soon as the boy was gone,
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  David came out from where he had been hiding near the stone pile.
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  Then David bowed three times to Jonathan with his face to the
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  ground. Both of them were in tears as
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  they embraced each other and said goodbye.
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  Especially David. At last, Jonathan said to David.
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  Go in peace, for we have sworn loyalty to each other in the
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  Lord's name. The Lord is the witness of a
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  bond between us and our children for ever.
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  Then David left and Jonathan returned to the town.
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  Lord Jesus, thank you for this week.
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  Thank you for the opportunities we will have to further your
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  Kingdom. Thank you for the people that
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  you were placed in our path, that we can approach them not
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  with anger or with selfishness, but with love, with justice and
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  with forgiveness. Thank you that you give us this
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  anti example in Seoul who is just so moved by his own
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  ambition that it blinds him. Lord, I pray that your ambition
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  would always trump our own. As we choose which path to
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  travel each day, in every moment where we're faced with different
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  possibilities of ways that we can choose to go thank you.
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  That you don't just love us, you don't just forgive us.
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  You don't just invite us into your family, but you invite us
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  to be agents of your Kingdom. Lord, I just pray that we follow
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  your heart, that you shape us and mould us to do this work,
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  but most importantly to do the work of knowing in our heart
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  that we are loved and forgiven, children of you, our Most High
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  God and Saviour. And it's in Jesus name that we
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  pray. All of this I mean.