My life felt as if it was ending. Seeing David marry my sister Michal was bad enough. My stomach boiled with envy thinking about the two of them together. And now David was gone. He had to flee because my father was paranoid about losing the throne and wanted to kill him. He wanted his son, me, to inherit the throne so badly that he was willing to kill the only person in the world I truly cared about.
I had to see David. I needed to know that he was alright. I needed to do anything I could to help him. But nobody knew where he was; I had no way to find him.
Until he appeared in my window.
“Jonathan,” he hissed, and I jumped so high I hit my head on a shelf.
I spun around. “David!” I whispered, running to him.
“What have I done?” he asked me, his eyes brimming with tears. “What is my guilt? And what is my sin against your father that he is trying to take my life?”
I helped him climb in through the window and sat beside him on the floor. “Far from it!” I replied. “You shall not die. My father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me; and why should my father hide this from me? Never!”
“Your father knows well that you like me,” David whispered, looking in my eyes. My face flushed, and I wanted to look away, but I knew I might not have much time left with David, so I forced myself to drink in the deep brown of his eyes. “Your father knows well that you like me; and he thinks, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be grieved.’ But truly, as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”
In that moment, I decided to make a clear declaration of my loyalty to David above even my loyalty to my father. “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”
David nodded. “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at the meal; but let me go, so that I may hid in the field until the third 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 family.’ If he says, ‘Good!’ it will be well with your servant; but if he is angry, then know that evil has been determined by him. Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a sacred covenant with you. But if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?”
“Far be it from you! If I knew that it was decided by my father that evil should come upon you, would I not tell you?”
“Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
The sound of footsteps in the hall quieted us quickly. I held my breath, watching the door, praying that nobody would come in and find David. Thankfully, the footsteps subsided. I turned to David and said, “Come, let us go out into the field.
When we arrived in the field, I told David, “By the LORD, the God of Israel! When I have sounded out my father, about this time tomorrow, or on the third day, if he is well disposed toward David, shall I not then send and disclose it to you? But if my father intends 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, so that you may go in safety.”
Again, I made a covenant with David and his house. And then, realizing that my time with David might be limited, I swallowed my fear and asked him to make a covenant to me as well. “Swear by your love for me,” I said, “for I love you as I love my own life.”
“I swear,” David whispered, “I love you as I love my own life as well.”
Hearing these words, my eyes immediately swelled with tears. I quickly finished describing the plan to send him a message explaining whether my father intended to kill him or not. Then I said of our covenant of love, “As for the matter about which you and I have spoken, the LORD is witness between you and me forever.”
So, David hid in the field, and I walked back to the palace to prepare for supper. I felt as though I was going to be ripped in half as fear of my father and his anger threatened to drag me down while unbearable joy over David’s love for me threatened to lift me into the heavens.
1 Samuel 19, 20
Neglected Word 