1 Samuel 20, What Is a Covenant?, Dr. John B. Carpenter

1st Savior chapter 20, be reading the entire chapter, hear the word of the Lord. Then David fled from Naoth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, what have

I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin before your father that he seeks my life?

And he said to him, far from it. You shall not die. Behold my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me.

And why should my father hide this from me? It is not so. But David vowed again saying your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes

And he thinks do not let Jonathan know this lest he be grieved But truly as the

Lord lives and as your soul lives there is but a step between me and death. Then Jonathan said to David whatever you say

I will do for you and David said to Jonathan behold tomorrow is the new moon and I should not fail to sit at table with a king

But let me go that I may hide myself in the field till the third day at evening if your father misses me at all then say

David earnestly asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem his city for there is a yearly sacrifice

There for all the clan if he says good it will be well with your servant But if it he is angry then know that harm is determined by him

Therefore deal kindly with your servant for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the

Lord with you But if there is guilt in me kill me yourself for why should you bring me to your father and Jonathan said far be it from you if I knew that it was determined by my father that harm should come to you

Would I not tell you then David said to Jonathan? Who will tell me if your father answers you roughly and Jonathan said to David come let us go out into the field

So they both went out into the field and Jonathan said to David the Lord the God of Israel be witness when

I have sounded out my father About this time tomorrow on the third day behold if he is well disposed toward David Shall I not send then and disclose it to you?

But should it please my father to do you harm? The Lord do so to Jonathan and more also if I do not disclose it to you and send you away

That you may go in safety May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father if I am still alive

Show me the steadfast love of the Lord that I may not die and do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever when the

Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth and Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David saying may the

Lord take vengeance on David's enemies and Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him for he loved him as he loved his own soul

Then Jonathan said to him tomorrow is the new moon and you will be missed Because your seat will be empty on the third day go down quickly to the place where you hid yourself

When the matter was in hand and remain Beside the stone heap and I will shoot three arrows to the side of it as though I shot at a mark and behold

I will send the young man saying go find the arrows if I say to the young man Look, the arrows are on this side of of you

Take them then you are to come for as the Lord lives it is safe for you and there is no danger

But if I say to the youth look the arrows are beyond you Then go for the Lord has sent your way and as for the matter of which you and I have spoken behold

The Lord is between you and me forever So David hid himself in the field and when the new moon came the

King sat down to eat food The King sat in his own his seat as at the other times on the seat by the wall

Jonathan said opposite and Abner set by Saul's side But David's place was empty yet Saul did not say anything that day for he thought something has happened to him.

He is not clean. Surely he is not clean But on the second day the day after the new moon

David's place was empty and Saul said to Jonathan his son Why has not the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today and Jonathan answered?

David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem He said let me go for our clan holds a sacrifice in the city and my brother has commanded me to be there

So now if I have found favor in your eyes Let me get away and see my brothers for this reason.

He has not come to the king's table Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan and he said to him you son of a perverse rebellious woman

Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?

For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth neither you nor your kingdom shall be established

Therefore send and bring him to me for he will surely die Then Jonathan answers

Saul his father. Why should he be put to death? What has he done? But Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him so Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put

David to death and Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food the second day of the month for he was grieved for David Because his father had disgraced him in the morning

Jonathan went out into the field to the appointment with David and with him a little boy and he said to his boy run and find the arrows and that I shoot and as the boy ran

He shot an arrow beyond him and when the boy came to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot

Jonathan called after the boy and said is not the arrow beyond you and Jonathan called after the boy hurry be quick Do not stay so Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows and came to his master

But the boy knew nothing only Jonathan and David knew the matter and Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and Said to him go and carry them to the city and as soon as the boy had gone

David rose from beside the stone heap and fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times and they kissed one another and Wept with one another and David weeping the most then

Jonathan said to David go in peace Because we have sworn both of us in the name of the

Lord saying the Lord shall be between me and you and between my offspring and your offspring forever and he rose and departed and Jonathan went into the city

May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word On December 8 1941 the day after the day of infamy

President Franklin Roosevelt gave a speech to Congress. It took him only six and a half minutes. It was only 520 words long of those 520 words 150

Decried broken promises the nation that attacked the USA the day before Had broken their word.

I think what's going through their mind. Sure. We understand they sank our battleships they bombed our bases and they killed over 2 ,400 people, but He was also shocked that they quote deliberately sought to deceive

Americans at 1941 couldn't understand The treachery we were negotiating for peace and they acted like they were for it.

They even gave us the USA Peace medals, you know medals like in the military, but were for tokens of peace and we thought

There were expressions of their earnestness that they were serious and all that time

They were planning the attack. It was all a ruse He Roosevelt and the rest of the country was so appalled by that Nearly 30 % of his speech is about that.

I Think if that happened today You know We were negotiating for peace with some other nation or a terrorist group and they use that as an opportunity to attack us

I think we'd be mad about the attack But not about the treachery we would kind of understand that we think of course they broke their promise

We never took their word seriously anyway, but four score and four years ago Americans were so enraged by unfaithfulness that when the next

April Americans launched a bombing raid on Tokyo They took those peace medals that the

Japanese government had given us and they strapped them to the bombs Giving them back like saying well, here's your peace medals back

American Christians say a lot now about how America has declined Mostly all true declined morally.

There's so much divorce. There's so much sexual immorality There's even a celebration of the pride in sexual immorality, especially this month

There's a decline in church membership and attendance, but they hardly notice Promise breaking that is making commitments and then just walking away from them

They hardly notice that that is now Acceptable. It's kind of normal We've enshrined it in law with our no -fault divorce

Now think about that you make a commitment before God in this congregation to love honor and cherish until death do us part but then

According to our law if either one of you just feels like you don't want to keep that vow any longer

You can break it with no fault According to the law covenant breaking is so now

Normal the idea of covenant keeping is Strange and that seeped into the church

I had one Christian leader tell me by email that I was quote over interpreting Jesus's words to let your yes be yes

You know what Jesus saying? Oh, but when you say something, it's your word is your bond. You keep your word I was told

I was over interpreting that which I still haven't figured out what that means I think it means but that's just excessive. You don't really take that literally to you.

Well, yes Well, the result of this has been the decline through the 20th century until today of the church covenant

Originally congregational and Baptist churches were founded on and they were held together by their covenant when other churches claimed that they were a church because Christ founded them with the

Apostles and that status has been passed down to them through what they called apostolic succession by their denomination

With something I find very unconvincing Unconvincing, I mean just biblically because there's no scripture to say that There's as many scriptures teaching apostolic succession as there are teaching infant baptism.

It's a round number put that way But not only on the scripture, but we all know that organizations drift away from what they're founded on it's particularly over thousands of years, but Congregational as a

Baptist they did not found their churches based on that They said whether what makes us a church what like what

Jesus said in Matthew 18 is what we gather in His name that is our commitment to be a gather

You're not just a chance you happen to meet in a coffee shop and you're gathered two or three meet together No, it's in his name you commit to be a gathering that is to be members

Committed to walking together in Christian love that commitment is expressed by The Covenant and the

Covenant then becomes the constitution of the church that is the church is constituted Based on made up made by the

Covenant that Covenant gives us the right then to be a church That is to preach the word to minister the

Lord's Supper and to baptize But now in this culture when keeping your word, even when it hurts like Psalm 15 says and that seems strange

Church covenanting has become rare many older churches may have a

Copy of their church covenant. Sometimes I've seen huge like big copies of it Framed hanging on the wall, but they don't really pay it much attention

It has placed no part of the life of the church. Probably most new churches don't have one at all after all when no one feels bound by their word when formal commitments seem

Confining and oppressive and living together. Well a covenant that is a marriage that is normal What's the covenant about?

What's this covenant about? If someone asked me once For about the church.

Why have a covenant? Why not just have a vision statement? What is a covenant?

We see the importance the vitality the power of a covenant here in three

Conversations three conversations characterized by first Jonathan's faith second solves rage and third

David's tears what is a Covenant perhaps no one better shows what a covenant is

Than Jonathan who first made a covenant by his own initiative with David after David had killed

Goliath He recognized that David was anointed by the Lord that he was an anointed one a small

M Messiah Thus in Greek a small C Christ. And so when you see who the

Christ is You want to commit to him to attach yourself to him?

To covenant now here are David. He's bewildered. He's breathless.

He's agitated And he calls on that Covenant David fled from Naoth and Rama as Saul was incapacitated by the

Spirit. He had first fled there Because that's where the Word of God was now. He flees to Jonathan because That's where the covenant is

You can hear David's Desperation in verse one. What have

I done? What is my guilt? And what is the sin? Before your father that he seeks my life

Jonathan doesn't know what David is talking about He's scratching said what are you talking about?

Jonathan had interceded with his father Saul for David before and Saul had vowed in the name of the

Lord Using the name of the Lord to pledge he pledged Calling on the name of God that he would not kill

David Here he imagines no Jonathan imagines that Saul he could not be going back on his word on his vow

That's that's impossible in verse two far from it. Jonathan says you shall not die

It can't be true It would be treacherous of Saul to have vowed to not kill

David To now be seeking to do that very thing Jonathan naively believes that his father

Saul will keep his oath He gave covenant medals. Well, maybe

We don't really know that I'm making that up He'll keep his promise Jonathan is assuming besides he says my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me

And why should my father hide this from me? It is not so Notice how sure he is.

There's no doubt in Jonathan's mind. This cannot be He can't imagine that his father would break his commitment.

He can't imagine that Because he never would But David still breathless agitated in verse 3 he vows he makes a vow he swears this is true

It's true. Your father knows well that I found favor in your eyes and things don't let Jonathan know this lest he be grieved

That explains why Jonathan has been kept in the dark about the plot to kill David It doesn't really explain why

Saul has broken his promise David can't explain that promise breaking

Doesn't really make any sense At least if you're a part a truthful person a person of an integrity now untruthful people do it

To be a ruse to fool people to make them vulnerable and then take advantage of them But the whole purpose if you have integrity of a promise of a commitment is to keep it

You make commitments when you feel like making them so that you'll keep them when you don't feel like keeping them

That is other other words if you're an honest person you make this commitment now you're saying I'm holding myself accountable

If there's a time later on when I don't feel like doing this I'm saying to myself in the future time

No, you will do this Even if you don't feel like doing it, that's why you make a commitment

If you vow at your wedding, I will love honor and cherish until death do us part And then when it's not fun anymore and say

I want a divorce Well, why did you vow it in the first place? You just like the sound of the words

Why did Saul vow in the name of the Lord not to kill David if he was gonna go back on his vow? Was it just to put

Jonathan off? placate him for a little while David doesn't know why Saul has broken his promise, but he knows that he has and so he insists

Truly is the Lord lives and as your soul lives There is but a step between me and death in other words

David say I'm a hunted man. I'll make the wrong step. I'm dead Jonathan replies in verse 4

Whatever you say I will do for you That is I'll do whatever you propose To prove if Saul has really broken his vow and if he's really seeking to kill you out

What do you what are you proposing here David? What's your plan? Well David knows it we know it after chapter 19

But Jonathan isn't convinced yet. How are you going to prove it David? Well, David has an idea

Tomorrow's the new moon feast which they have every month it actually consisted of whatever for two days kind of like we have to meet each month to eat and David is expected to be there as part of the

Kings court Now we know that Saul has been sending hit squads to David But all outsiders can see is that Saul sent messengers.

Maybe they're just conveying a message You know just giving them a piece of information or maybe they're an escort to bring him to the

Kings court And so he has an entourage Their bodyguards who knows Saul doesn't know that David knows that he's trying to kill him

And so he's going to expect him to be at the monthly meal The test is how

Saul will react when David doesn't show up if Saul is plotting to kill him there

Right, he's been plotting to kill him before So I can track him down. And so if his plan now is aha

David's gonna be at the meal I'll catch him there and kill him there and if that's his plan Well, first of all, he'll be sure to notice that I'm not there because he's planning to kill me

Now if he misses me at all, David says maybe now we got to understand Maybe he'll miss me for an innocent reason.

Maybe he just wants to talk But then tell him if that's the case tell him about the our yearly sacrifice and Bethlehem We have our big festival there and my family wants me to be there and if he says good

Well, that means that he's not really seeking to kill me after all and I'm okay. Maybe McCall Had bad information.

Maybe she was deceived. I miss but if he's angry That is his plot to kill me is once again foiled.

Well, he's gonna get angry then it's gonna he's being frustrated again That's the case that he shows anger then know that harm is determined by him

So that's the plan how will Saul react when David does not show up and then in verse 8 the appeal to the

Covenant David pleads therefore Because of your commitment the

Covenant you made it first and the promise just now when you said Whatever you say

I'll do for you deal Kindly Is the

English translation here on the English which I woefully insufficient I think but deal kindly with With me your servant kindly is the translation of the

Hebrew word chesed Usually translated as steadfast love and one verse at loving kindness is the word repeated in the first four verses of Psalm 118

The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever It's on that wall over there from Chronicles same verse actually same phrase the steadfast love of the

Lord endures forever chesed It expresses the warmth of God's mercy and the security of God's faithfulness

It is one of and perhaps the most important words in the Bible Except of course for the name of God I'm not sure how better to translate it.

I kind of criticized kindly, but I've got a simple that if you're a translator What's the better word if you got to have one word?

He said David is saying because of our Covenant deal with me steadfast lovingly

You know loyally. Yeah, but loyally does it get the does it convey affection?

the warmth covenantally Do that because you have brought your servant in to a covenant with you

We have a covenant So act like it he expects Jonathan to he expects it

But just in case he's appealing to the covenant. Remember your covenant Jonathan how

Jonathan responds depends on his faith and His faithfulness if he believes that David is a

Christ He's the Lord's anointed one Then he'll keep its covenant with him If he doesn't really believe that if he looks around and thinks, you know, it's better for me

If I go along with the king, you know, dad, it's Father's Day after all I go along with dad Probably when

Father's Day there but but he thinks you know, I'm gonna grasp the throne for myself Count equality with the king a thing to be grasped in his time.

Of course if that's the way he thinks Then he won't keep its covenant It all depends on Jonathan's faith

And then David says at the second half of verse 8 if I'm guilty of anything deserving death, then you execute me now

Don't bother handing me over to your father's men you do it yourself. In other words, you have to take sides either me and Dave, you know

David saying, you know me I can't offer you anything now. I'm a fugitive from the law I have nothing going on for me.

Nothing on my side except the Lord's anointing Well, the only reason to side with me

David saying is because of your covenant or with your father Who can give you the kingdom?

So you can continue your life of royalty you can have your dynasty

What does Jonathan believe? If he has faith in David a

Christ He'll be faithful to him if not He'll let his father take care of him

Jonathan said Far be it from you He doesn't believe David has done anything deserving death now, he's not convinced yet that his father's out to kill him

But he's sure that David hasn't done anything that he deserves to be killed for If I knew that it was determined by my father that harm should come to you.

Would I not tell you? I'm not doing a ruse here. I'm not trying to fake you out here I don't think

I have heard nothing about this what you're talking about He doesn't know and so David asked you verse 10.

How are you going to get word to me if you find out that I'm right? And he's plotting to kill me

How are we going to communicate? Jonathan might be followed by Saul's men after all we've seen Saul has the spies around his agents

And they may make it impossible for Jonathan to get word to David They're sitting in apparently they're sitting in Jonathan's living room

They go. Hmm Looking around come to think of it. There may be a servant or someone He's dropping around the corner someone listening in so they say let's go outside So they go out in the field where they're sure no one is eavesdropping in verses 12 to 17

And Jonathan declares the lord is Yahweh the god of israel be witness He's using the name of the lord and calling on the lord to hold him to this promise

If Saul is okay with you, he's well disposed This has all been one big misunderstanding.

It's all just it's paranoia things got misunderstood and Went from one extreme to another The the those guys who came to your house, oh, they weren't a hit squad david they were just messengers

Saul didn't go track you down and nail the rama to kill you. He went there to prophesy If that's the case, then i'll send word to you, you know, then you're not in trouble.

But if you're right verse 13 Should it please my father to do you harm? And then

He kind of cuts himself off the middle of sentence Because he's talking about how to communicate but before getting to the practical matter of how to get word to him he deals with The covenant the covenant intrudes here.

He's made a covenant with david if he's going to keep it then this this supposed plot Against david means that he has to choose jonathan has to choose between his father

And david a christ he has to choose between his father And christ as jesus said in matthew chapter 10 verse 37 whoever loves father

More than me is not worthy of me Your faith in christ

Must be greater than your faith in your father who can give or deprive you of an inheritance

Of course for jonathan That's a big inheritance That's the situation jonathan's in which one jonathan chooses depends on his faith

He promises first. Well if it's bad news, i'll get word to you So that you may go in safety

He promises in the name of the lord the lord do so to jonathan speaking of himself in the third person

May the lord bring on me the death. Saul has plotted for you if I do not disclose it to you

He's binding himself to get word to david to warn him that the plot is for real if if it is and then second at End of verse 13 may the lord be with you as he has been with my father my father the king

Expressing faith that david is the next king When that happens when you're enthroned as king

And you're blessed and you're reigning like saul was then in verse 14 if i'm still alive jonathan speaking show me

The steadfast love there's that word again of the lord And before in verse 8, it was david appealing to that covenant

Now is jonathan When you are a king Show me the lord's chesed that loyal affectionate Covenant love the warmth of god's mercy and the security of his faithfulness have that for me

Do that That I may not die Now is the common practice in the ancient world that when a new dynasty took over that is a new family came to power

That the old dynasty would be purged That everyone from the previous ruling family would be killed generally so that No one would be left from the old dynasty who could

Claim the throne from that old regime who could say the power rightly belongs to us

You know, what's a way to keep them from power where you just kill them all and that was just like common practice And jonathan is here so sure that david will be the next king that is asking david to promise

Because of their covenant that when he takes over when you take over david Don't purge

Me or my family Show me the steadfast love that chesed that coveted love of the lord that I may not die and in verse 15

Do not cut off your steadfast love The same coveted commitment from my house that is from my family forever

Promise me jonathan's saying To this desperate man, we kind of look tend to look back on it.

Well, it's king david Of course you're going to do that at this point david is nothing but a man on the run He has no house no dynasty to speak of all he has is a wife.

He has no children. He has nothing And yet jonathan can see that he's the lord's king and he says when

Notice that when Not if but when The lord cuts off the enemies of david from the face of the earth

Have mercy on me So certain is jonathan that david will reign

He pleads for a covenant To save him when that time comes

And with that in verse 16 jonathan made a covenant says now with the house of david verse 16

Notice that with the house of david not just with david himself as in chapter 18 But with his dynasty here before david has had too many children david's house right now

Consists only of himself and his wife mccall, which is who is jonathan's sister But jonathan has so much faith and the lord's blessing is promised to david that he commits himself to that family

That doesn't even exist yet And he covenants then to the son of david and he pledges

May the lord take vengeance on david's enemies He says this now in the context of his own father saul

Allegedly being one of david's enemies now if so If you're right david

Then may the lord take vengeance on him even on my own father And with this jonathan is a picture

Of the believer He could inherit the treasures of the world. He could inherit kingdom

But he chooses rather to trust A christ david even the house of david

Thus the son of david thus The christ jonathan has faith

In christ Well back to the practical matter of communication

Maybe saul's agents will have him shadowed and he won't be able to see david again And and so he devises a little code with arrows david will hide

Where he had before and jonathan will go out for target practice with a boy if he shoots short And tells the boy the arrows are on the near side

Well, it's safe if he shoots long and he tells the boy look the arrows are beyond you

Then you're right Saul is out to get you notice in verse 22 if it's bad news jonathan says go

For the lord has sent you away The lord is in control of this too

Saul in his derangement Is not out of god's control

This this betrayal Jonathan is saying if it's true Is god's way of sending you he's in control of it all

And jonathan keeps his covenant because in verse 23, he believes the lord is between me and you forever

Now covenants are made in the presence of god

Such as jonathan's faith And the second conversation over dinner

We see saul's rage David hides the next day and saul has his new moon celebration and saul sits down by the food

Jonathan is across the table abner the general is at saul's side. And so david's place

Is empty now saul notices that the first day And just assumes david is ceremonial unclean

So that he can't come to the meal, but that only lasts ceremonial and cleanness only lasts one day

And so when the next day david still isn't there He asks, you know jonathan.

Where's he at? And jonathan gives this long polite It's full of royal etiquette

Excuse of why david isn't there and it sounds plausible enough They have this big to do in bethlehem this time of year and his brother insisted he be there and jonathan puts it so respectfully

If I have found favor in your eyes That kind of language so nothing about the excuse or the way it is put should be offensive

But saul is still enraged by it Exploding at jonathan insulting him you son of a perverse rebellious woman

Which I don't think he's meaning to insult his own wife, which just what I found just a weird insult But it means you jonathan you are perverse and rebellious, which of course we know is not true and then he

Shouts at him you have chosen the son of jesse to your own shame Well, it's true.

He's chosen david But it's to his own glory As we're admiring his faith today

Saul screams at him in verse 31 as long as the son of jesse lives on the earth

Neither you nor your kingdom shall be established And that's what matters to saul.

That's what it's all about to saul He doesn't care about the lord or the lord's anointing or anything for israel

Our family our dynasty our kingdom that we can rule The kingdom for himself and his family his dynasty david must die because he gets in the way of us reigning

Jesus was crucified because of the religious leaders figured that if people believe in him Then the romans will take the land and the temple away

And they were thinking we'll lose our kingdom. We have to he has to die Because we will lose our kingdom people today forsake jesus the christ

He gets in the way of their little kingdoms. Maybe he gets in the way of their family being united Or he gets in the way of them making more money

And so if they have to choose They choose their kingdoms They choose their money or their family or their reputation

This answers the question what jonathan would not at first believe When david told him that saul has broken his vow and is out to kill david, but jonathan still can't believe it.

It's just so Mind -boggling for him. So in verse 32 we ask Why should he be put to death?

Why is he done? Is there a reason behind all this? And saul answered him in his rage

By throwing a spear at him knows how deranged that is I mean just insanity

In his derangement. He's so crazy He claims that he has to kill david to ensure that jonathan gets the throne and yet he then tries to strike him with a

Spear which of course if he had hit the target would have deprived jonathan of ever sitting on the throne And jonathan had sided with david

And so is now treated like david If we side with christ

We shouldn't be surprised when the world treats us like it treated christ

Thankfully jonathan Dodges like david had before and so in the middle of verse 33 finally jonathan sees that his father was determined To put david to death

He finally understood That That saul had broken his oath He responded with a righteous rage

Of his own rising from the table eating nothing grieve for david who is now a fugitive though innocent

And his father in his rage Had put himself to shame

The third conversation is marked by david's tears In verse 35 jonathan goes out into the field to do his target practice

With a boy who fetches arrows He shot the arrows beyond him. He called out to the boys so that david could hear him and his hiding place

Is not the arrows beyond you? Then hurry jonathan wanted to get this over with And then he sent the boy back to the house

Who never really knew what was going on? And looking around ensure that no one else is watching

David comes out of hiding prostrates himself on the ground three times and sees jonathan prostrate himself and gets up and does it again and then again as he approached jonathan whose most extreme display of respect

And love for the nobility of the king

King jonathan jonathan had proven his true nobility He's a covenant keeper

They finally embraced the kiss on the cheeks in a middle eastern way and wept they wept because the house of saul was now determined in opposition to the house of david

As in psalm 2 the nation's rage The people's plot in vain the kings of the earth set themselves

Against the lord and against his anointed and we weep not because we're afraid they might win

But because of the destruction they bring on themselves for daring to oppose the lord the world hates god

And we weep for the world because of all the destroyed lives their futile attempts at overthrowing the lord produce

People think they can set themselves against the lord by worshiping Ancestors following buddha chasing dollars living for wealth or immediate pleasures celebrating pride by their immorality striving to Be on the quote the right side of history the newest cause

We we should weep for the world because at the end the only thing their determination to replace christ with Whatever they try money pleasure pride the party the self the only thing it will produce

Is destruction destroyed lives Saul's determination to kill david will only and can only

Destroy him kiss the sun Lest he be angry and you perish in the way

So they weep david weeps the most David had no intention of overthrowing purging undermining opposing saul

He would have been a loyal servant to saul But saul couldn't believe in the lord and so in his quest to destroy the lord's anointed

He destroys himself And david sheds tears for him

David sheds tears also I think because of saul's deranged plot will mean that david doesn't get to see his friend

Any longer now some people I think they're rare in our culture But there's probably a few left some people will keep a commitment they'll keep a covenant because they think they should even though they feel no no bond

No affection to the people they're committed to their covenants are cold Legalistic there's no warmth

If they are released from their commitment They'll leave them without tears David is not

Like that He has tears Because the covenant expressed his heart

He feels like in the song we sang When we are called to part It gives us inward pain

But we shall still be joined in heart and hope to meet again

And jonathan tells david in that last verse go In peace Shalom Shalom Don't be agitated anymore david be secure

Be well after all We have sworn both of us

In the name of the lord We made a covenant And we're going to be loyal to it

It's not just fleeting feelings of a passing fondness. It's steadfast and warm Like the lord's covenant love

We made a covenant david It's not just for ourselves. It's between my offspring his little children and david kept that by the way saving jonathan's son

People like jonathan people like me say believers who trusted christ more than they trust in family or money or royalty

Or in all the vain things that charm us most jonathan is saying our offspring the children of faith

Are bound to your offspring david the son of david The king who puts all his enemies under his feet

Even finally death We have a covenant So we could be at peace

In eternity past the lord foreknew his people

Now that doesn't just mean he knew what they would do and he kind of looked forward through time and seeing what they would do He chose them based on what they what they would do.

No it means He knew us Beforehand, he loved us.

He made a commitment to us. He covenanted With us

We have a covenant And when the world rages against god like saul and against his anointed against christ

We can weep for all the lives that will be destroyed And then we can laugh like the lord

At the futility of their opposition And then we can be at peace because we know

He will hold us fast We don't have to worry That he will be treacherous or that we do something that exhausts

His steadfast love that his promises are a ruse and in the end he'll betray us. No, he will hold us fast because of his covenant

So we know That neither life nor death nor things present nor things to come nor powers like saul

Nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the steadfast love of god in christ jesus our lord because we