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1 Samuel 24

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The Whosoever Study Bible
Whosoever will, may come.
the first book of samuel
Samuel (with Nathan and Gad contributing) · c. 1010 BC
Chapter the Twenty-fourth
And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.
Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.
And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily.
And it came to pass afterward, that David’s heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.
And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.
So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.
David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself.
And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men’s words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?
Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD’S anointed.
Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it.
The LORD judge between me and thee, and the LORD avenge me of thee: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.
As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.
After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.
The LORD therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand.
And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.
And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.
And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the LORD had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not.
For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the LORD reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day.
And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand.
Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father’s house.
And David sware unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men gat them up unto the hold.
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PROVISIONIST · DISPENSATIONAL · PRE-TRIBULATIONAL

Chuck Smith on 1 Samuel 24

Verse by verse, the C2000 series. Permission granted by The Word For Today.
Verses 1-13 Now it came to pass, when Saul was returned from the Philistines, they told him, David's in Engedi. So Saul took three thousand of his chosen men out of all of Israel, they went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. [Engedi means, "wild goats".] And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to cover his feet: [That is to go to sleep.] and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave. [So David was hiding in this cave, and Saul came to, and you know went to sleep in the very cave where David and his men were hiding up in the sides of the thing.] And the men of David said unto him, [Aha,] Behold, the day of which the Lord said unto you, Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good unto thee. So David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe secretly. Now it came to pass after, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. [He did it and then he thought, "Oh that's not right. This guy's a king and shouldn't have his skirt cut off." and he felt bad about it.] And David said, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him, seeing he is anointed of the Lord. So David stayed his servants with these words, and he would not allow them to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up and went out of the cave and went his way. [The men of course wanted to do Saul in, and David forbid them to do it.] And after Saul had gotten down the hill away, David arose also afterward, and he went after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself. And David said to Saul, Why do you listen to men's words, saying, Behold, David is seeking to hurt you? Behold, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today in my hand in the cave: and some of them were begging me to kill you: but I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord; for he is the Lord's anointed. Moreover, my father, see, here is the skirt of your robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and I didn't kill you, you ought to know, and see that I have neither evil nor transgression in my hand, I've not sinned against you; and you're hunting my soul to take it. And the Lord judged between me and thee, and the Lord avenged me of thee: but my hand shall not be upon thee. As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked: but my hand shall not be upon thee ( 1 Samuel 24:1-13 ). Here's an interesting proverb. "Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked." It is the same as saying, "A man sins because he is a sinner." You see we often think, "Because I sin, I am a sinner." No. Because I'm a sinner, I sin. You say well what difference-it's an important difference. Only horsethieves steal horses. If you were not a horsethief you couldn't steal a horse, no matter what the circumstances are. Stealing a horse doesn't make you a horsethief. It only proves you are. If you weren't a horsethief to begin with, you could never have stolen it. The same with sin; sinning doesn't make you a sinner; it only proves that you are. I am a sinner by nature. If I try to deny the sinful nature, I'm calling God a liar. His truth isn't in me. All of us are sinners by nature, and because we are sinners by nature, sin is the fruit, or the effect, or the result of what I am. I sin because I'm a sinner. Now even so in Christ Jesus, I am now righteous, therefore the righteousness that I do doesn't make me righteous, I do it because I am righteous. Because of God's work in my life in making me righteous, I do now the deeds of righteousness. But we've got to keep in our minds from this fallacy of thinking, "Because I do deeds of righteousness, I am righteous." Not so. "But wickedness proceeds from the wicked." If you're wicked, wickedness is gonna proceed from your life. It doesn't make you wicked, it only proves that you are wicked. So it's an interesting proverb of the ancients. It is a true proverb indeed. It's in keeping with the basic doctrines of the scriptures. After whom [David said] is the king of Israel come out? who are you pursuing? you're looking for a dead dog, you're looking for a flea. The Lord therefore be judge, and judge between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand. It came to pass, when David had made an end of his speech, that Saul said, Is this the voice, of my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. ["Oh my son David, oh my son."] And he said to David, You are more righteous than I: for you have rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded you evil. And you have shewed this day how that you have dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the Lord had delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away well? wherefore the Lord reward thee good for thou hast done unto me this day. And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand ( 1 Samuel 24:14-20 ). Verses 14-20 He knew it and yet he sought to fight it all the way. He knew what God's will was and still he sought to fight the will of God. The Bible says, "Woe unto him who strives with his Maker"( Isaiah 45:9 ). How many times people are trying to fight what they know to be the will of God. Sad but true. Saul expresses now, "I know that some day God's gonna make you king, the kingdom's gonna be established in your hands." Swear now therefore by the Lord, that you will not cut off my children after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house. And so David sware unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men went into the hold ( 1 Samuel 24:21-22 ). "

Commentary on 1 Samuel 24

Whosoever Will · the Seven Threads Commentary

1 Samuel 24:1

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:2

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:3

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:4

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:5

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:6

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:7

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:8

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:9

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:10

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:11

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:12

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:13

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:14

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:15

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:16

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:17

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:18

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:19

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:20

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:21

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17

1 Samuel 24:22

The years between David's anointing and his coronation are the years of the fugitive: hunted by Saul, protected by Jonathan, living in caves and among Israel's enemies. The contrast runs through the whole final section of 1 Samuel: the LORD was with David and had departed from Saul. Jonathan is the sacrifice that the story requires. As Saul's eldest son he is the natural heir to his father's throne. He knows David has been anointed. He makes a covenant with David: gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. He strips himself of everything that marks him as crown prince and gives it to the man God has chosen instead. The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Saul's descent is the mirror. He throws a spear at David twice. He sends him into dangerous battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. He pursues him through the wilderness of Ziph and En-gedi. Twice David has Saul in his power and refuses to strike. The LORD's anointed, he says, cannot be touched by my hand. The restraint is not weakness; it is faith that the throne does not need to be seized, only received. Thread 3 is the long wait for what the anointing guaranteed: Thread 3 operating across time, through suffering, to its appointed arrival. Thread 4 is David's genuine choices not to take the throne by force even when he could. Thread 1 is in Jonathan's selfless covenant love, the God who cannot stop reaching using the love of a friend to protect the anointed king through the years when the kingdom had not yet come.
The LORD was with David and was departed from Saul. The two sentences side by side describe the dispensational shift that the anointing enacted; Saul has the throne but not the Spirit; David has the Spirit but not yet the throne.
וְנֶפֶשׁ יְהוֹנָתָן נִקְשְׁרָה בְּנֶפֶשׁ דָּוִד (ve-nefesh Yehonatan niqsherah be-nefesh David): the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David: niqsherah (was knit, bound, Niphal of qashar, to bind, tie together; the binding is complete and passive, it happened to Jonathan's soul; the covenant friendship that follows is one of the most extraordinary in the OT, a model of selfless love that sacrifices dynastic ambition for genuine covenant loyalty)
threads t1 · t3 · t4 · see 1 Samuel 20:17 · 1 Samuel 26:9-11 · Proverbs 17:17
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