The Lord’s Day Evening
January 31, 2010
1 Samuel 18
“Friends Forever”
Dr. Derek W. H. Thomas
Turn with me now to 1 Samuel chapter 18.
The last time we were in 1 Samuel it was in the morning service and we
were looking at chapter 17 — David killed the Philistine (pronounced long “i”),
or Philistine (pronounced short “i”), Goliath, and cut off his head.
And then at the end of chapter 17, the king, Saul, inquires — verse 56 —
whose son the boy is. And he asks
his chief military officer Abner who doesn’t seem to know, and sends for David
and asks in verse 58, “Whose son are you, young man?”
And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse, the Bethlehemite.”
And my wife was asking
me on the way home why was Saul asking who David was when he already knew who
David was. David was already in his
service. Well, he’s not asking who
David is, he obviously knew David.
He wanted to know whose family David was from.
It’s a southern question that Saul is asking.
He wants to know David’s pedigree, and that because, at this point at
least at the end of chapter 17, he wants perhaps to ensure that David spend the
rest of his useful military life in Saul’s army and for that perhaps he would
need to ask Jesse, David’s father.
Well now we turn
to chapter 18 and a story about a wonderful friendship of Jonathan and David.
Before we do that, let’s look to God in prayer.
Father, we thank You again for the Scriptures, for the Word of God, for that
which has been breathed out by You and profitable for doctrine and reproof and
correction and instruction in the way of righteousness that the man of God might
be thoroughly furnished unto every good work.
Now grant Your blessing as we read the Scriptures together.
We ask it in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
“As soon as he (that is Saul) had finished (David had finished) speaking to
Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him
as his own soul. And Saul took him
that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.
Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own
soul. And Jonathan stripped himself
of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his
sword and his bow and his belt. And
David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him
over the men of war. And this was
good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.
As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine,
the women came out and all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet
King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.
And the women sang to one another as they celebrated, ‘Saul has struck
down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.’
And Saul was very angry, and this saying
displeased him. He said, ‘They have
ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and
what more can he have but the kingdom?’
And Saul eyed David from that day on.
The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his
house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day.
Saul had his spear in his hand.
And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, ‘I will pin David to the
wall.’ But David evaded him twice.
Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from
Saul. So Saul removed him from his
presence and made him a commander of a thousand.
And he went out and came in before the people.
And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him.
And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of
him. But all
Israel and Judah loved
David, for he went out and came in before them.
Then Saul said to David, ‘Here is my elder daughter Merab.
I will give her to you for a wife.
Only be valiant for me and fight the Lord’s battles.’
For Saul thought, ‘Let not my hand be against him, but let the hand of
the Philistines be against him.’
And David said to Saul, ‘Who am I, and who are my relatives, my father’s clan in Israel, that I should be son-in-law
to the king?’ But at the time when
Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel
the Meholathite for a wife.
Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David.
And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.
Saul thought, ‘Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him
and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.’
Therefore Saul said to David a second time, ‘You shall now be my
son-in-law.’ And Saul commanded his
servants, ‘Speak to David in private and say, ‘Behold, the king has delight in
you, and all his servants love you.
Now then become the king’s son-in-law.’’
And Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David.
And David said, ‘Does it seem to you a little thing to become the king’s
son-in-law, since I am a poor man and have no reputation?’
And the servants of Saul told him, ‘Thus and so did David speak.’
Then Saul said, ‘Thus shall you say to David, ‘The king desires no
bride-price except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be
avenged of the king’s enemies.’’
Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be
the king’s son-in-law. Before the time had expired, David arose and went, along
with his men, and killed two hundred of the Philistines.
And David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the
king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law.
And Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife.
But when Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal,
Saul’s daughter, loved him, Saul was even more afraid of David.
So Saul was David’s enemy continually.
Then the princes of the Philistines came out to battle, and as often as they
came out David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his name
was highly esteemed.”
Well, thus far God’s holy and inerrant Word.
I. Jonathan’s friendship.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; Frodo Baggins and Sam Gandy; Jonathan and
David — friends, exceptional friends.
And I want first of all tonight to examine that section — David’s
friendship with Jonathan, or perhaps more accurately, Jonathan’s friendship with
David. Jonathan was Saul’s son.
He would have been a little older I think than David.
He was already a decorated soldier.
He had gained several military victories in battles in previous chapters
here in 1 Samuel. And he hears his
father Saul asking David about his father and his lineage and has no doubt
watched David in battle against Goliath and there is an immediate bond between
Jonathan and David. “His soul,” the
Scripture says, “was knit to the soul of David.”
“He loved him,” the text says, “as his own soul.”
It’s as one of the puritans says, “It’s almost as though there’s one soul
in two bodies.” Two warriors, two
soldiers — what is it they say, Marines?
“Hooah.” Jonathan and David
– there’s a bond. It goes deeper
than ordinary friendship. It goes
deeper than anything we’ve seen so far in the life of David and Jonathan does
something extraordinary — he makes a covenant with David.
The Hebrew is, “he cuts a covenant.”
It’s that typical Hebraic way of describing what making a covenant
involved.
Think of that passage in Genesis 15 in the life of Abraham when animals are
sacrificed and severed in two pieces and they pass between the severed pieces.
That’s probably what took place here between Jonathan and David — a
ritual of self-maledictory oath.
That is to say, they’re saying to themselves, “May we be sacrificed, may we be
torn apart like these animals if our friendship and the loyalty to our
friendship ceases.” It’s
countercultural. You understand
what a prince like Jonathan, an heir to the throne like Jonathan, what he was
expected to do with an upstart usurper like David.
You kill him. You get rid of
him. You don’t make a covenant with
him. Your soul is not knit to him.
Now of course we can’t read this passage without being aware of contemporary
interpretations of this passage and some of you are grimacing because you can
almost guess where contemporary commentaries have gone.
Yes, this is an example of homosexuality.
This is an example of gay love between two men.
I read several commentaries of a more liberal sort over this week and it
just took my breath away, the liberties that they took with this text.
This is an example of male friendship in its purest form, in it’s most
sublime form — a friendship between two warriors, a friendship between two
soldiers, who had experienced what it is to have one’s life threatened and
almost taken away, that they could relate even though Jonathan and David come
from opposite sides of the tracks.
Jonathan is a prince, an heir to the throne.
David is a pauper. It’s not
clear to me whether Jonathan knows about David’s anointing by Samuel.
He may well not have known that.
His action here is astonishing.
He takes off his robe, hands it to David, his sword, his armor, his belt
— he’s passing over succession rights to David.
It’s an act of self-denial.
This is not the action of an effeminate Jonathan who doesn’t really want to be
in battle and in war. There was a
TV series about a year ago on one of the main channels.
It was playing out the life of David and Jonathan, the early life of
David and Jonathan. Jonathan in
this series was most decidedly gay and homosexual and there were no holes barred
as to how they identified Jonathan.
The series didn’t make series two thankfully.
It was banned. Jonathan is a
soldier but he sees in David a soul mate, someone with whom he can share a male
friendship.
I have a dear friend. I’ve known
him for thirty five years, almost, almost without fail since I’ve been here in
the United States
the last fourteen years, I call him on a Sunday afternoon.
I didn’t call him today.
It’s been a little odd. I didn’t
call him today because it’s his fiftieth birthday and he was out of town.
He and his wife have taken the day off.
I talked to him yesterday, on a Saturday.
Usually when I talk to him it’s Sunday.
He’s in London,
and usually he’s at the end of his day.
He’s preached his two sermons and I’m still frantically trying to think
about my evening sermon. He’s
relaxed and I’m a little frenetic and the conversation always revolves around
“What have you preached and what are you going to preach?”
We’ve shared all kinds of things.
He’s someone I could tell anything to.
I could share the most intimate things of my life and know that I could
trust him, that he wouldn’t email, that he wouldn’t begin calling on the phone.
This is the relationship, this is the bond between Jonathan and David.
It’s a “Band of Brothers” story.
It’s that kind of relationship.
“Your love to me,” David says — you know when Jonathan dies, in the first
chapter of 2 Samuel when Jonathan dies, David says, “Your love to me has been
extraordinary, surpassing the love of women.”
How the mighty have fallen.
C. S. Lewis said, “Friendship is the greatest of worldly goods, certainly to me
it is the chief happiness of life.”
Ligon has really close friends and in staff meeting, sometimes when he’s been
around them, you can sense how meaningful they are to him.
Have you got a friend like that?
I want you to take care of that relationship.
That friendship needs to be nurtured and fed and thanked for, to thank
God that in His providence He’s given you a friend, a friend — what does the
book of Proverbs say? “A friend who
sticks closer than a brother.”
Maybe it’s your spouse, or maybe it’s not a friend like Jonathan and David, but
maybe it’s Jesus. What did Jesus
say? You know it’s interesting to
me that when the gospels describe the calling of the disciples, in Mark’s
gospel, Mark says, “He called the disciples in order that they might be with
Him,” as though Jesus needed human companionship.
The special relationship that John had with Jesus, that Jesus would give
His mother’s care into John’s hands.
What did He say in the Upper Room to His disciples?
“I don’t call you disciples, I call you friends.”
“What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry every thing to Him in prayer.”
It’s a great thing in God’s sweet, tender providence to have friends.
Be thankful for them.
II. Saul’s jealousy.
The second thing I want us to see here is Saul’s jealousy or Saul’s envy.
Now counselors, and we’ve got some professional counselors here tonight,
and this is where you make your shekels in this chapter because you must be
having a field day trying to analyze this tortured soul of Saul.
Schizophrenic, split personality disorder, paranoia for sure, depressive
episodes for sure, mood swings for sure, episodic rage — it’s all here in this
chapter. When the Philistine
campaign was over David is coming back.
He’s had great success and the women are out in the street and they’re
singing to tambourines and they’re dancing and they’ve got a little ditty that
they’re singing — that Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of
thousands. Not good.
It’s guaranteed to annoy someone who has a fixation for fame and
self-importance. David has come out
of nowhere like, what’s her name?
Susan Boyle! I didn’t buy the CD,
I’m sorry. “I Dreamed a Dream”
from, what is it? From
Les Mis.
And three billion viewings on YouTube and still counting.
The most sold CD I think perhaps ever.
This nobody, this upstart.
Saul is both insecure and envious and jealous.
Verse 9 — “He eyed David.”
Verse 12 — “He’s afraid of David.”
Verse 15 — “He’s in fearful awe of David.”
In verse 29 — “He’s even more afraid of David.”
But it’s that tenth verse, isn’t it?
“A harmful spirit” — some of your versions might say, “an evil spirit” —
“a harmful spirit rushed upon Saul.”
But it’s not just that, is it? It’s
a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul.
When bad things happen, yes, they happen by God’s decree.
Nothing happens outside of the will of God.
Think of Job. It’s God who
says to Satan, “Have you considered My servant, Job?”
What does Peter say on the Day of Pentecost about the crucifixion of
Jesus? He says to the Jews in Jerusalem, “It was you by wicked hands who
took Him and slew Him and yet it was all by the determinate council and
foreknowledge of God.” God has
departed from Saul. God has allowed
a harmful spirit now to come upon Saul and to distress him.
David is the morning star and Saul is the setting sun.
Jealousy and envy overtakes Saul.
It’s that spirit that when somebody gets a promotion, when somebody gets
applause, when somebody gets success and it isn’t you and you feel resentment
and bitterness and anger because we deserve that, that should have been mine,
and it leads to all kinds of neurosis and paranoia and who knows what in Saul.
Saul has abandoned God. He
made his own reputation an idol.
Some of you are studying Tim Keller’s,
Counterfeit, Counterfeit,
whatever it’s called — Counterfeit gods
– Counterfeit Christianity…gods —
Counterfeit gods. Well, here is
an example of — he’s made his own reputation his idol, his god.
It was envy that killed Jesus.
It’s an awful, ugly thing. The
gospels say it was out of envy that they handed Jesus over to Pontius Pilate,
out of envy, envy because the people hurt Him gladly, envy because who wants to
listen to Pharisees and Sadducees droning on about six hundred and something
interpretations of the Law. Saul’s
envy, it’s in all of our hearts.
You don’t have to dig down deep to find it.
It’s there. When someone
gets success, when someone’s family seems to do so much better than yours, when
someone’s children seem to advance so much better than yours and you’re filled
with envy. And my dear friends, I
beg you tonight, repent of it. Turn
away from it. It’s an ugly,
detestable sin. Turn to Jesus with
that envy and ask Him to take it away.
III. The Lord’s presence.
But the third thing I want us to see is the Lord’s presence.
Did you get that as we were reading this passage?
Three times — verse 12, verse 14, verse 28 — “The Lord was with David.”
Four times we read of David’s success.
Six times we read of love, the verb love, with respect to David as the
object. Jonathan loved David, the
women loved David, the Israelites loved David, Saul’s servants loved David,
Michal loved David.
There’s a description here of David’s marriage to Michal.
He was promised the older sister but got the younger one instead.
Saul has this plot — we’ll be looking at it again in chapter 19 because
the story continues in chapter 19.
Saul thinks that if he puts David out in front of the Philistines, the
Philistines will do his job for him.
He’s already had these, what are they, turns — these episodic rages with
a spear and David and managed to dodge them twice.
It’s not until the first verse of chapter 19 that David is fully aware
that Saul is actually trying to kill him.
Perhaps in chapter 18 David is just thinking this is one of Saul’s turns,
as he’s playing the lyre. But if
David is put out in front of the Philistines perhaps Saul’s desire to see him
dead will be accomplished. But
instead, David is victorious. Even
— we won’t go into these hundred foreskin things.
It’s all a bit yucky. You
know, Egyptians cut off hands, and Assyrians cut off heads, and well this is
what Saul desired. It was a proof
and a guarantee for sure that the Philistines were dead.
At least they were dead before they were mutilated.
The point is, get past that. The
point is at every turn David’s success is attributed to the presence of God.
God was with him. That’s a
beautiful thing. That’s a beautiful
thing. When Paul was in Corinth he had a vision.
You remember? Not to be
afraid because “I am with you. I
have many people in this city. I am
with you, Paul” just as He was with Joseph when he had been falsely accused of
rape and imprisoned and the text says, “I am with you.”
You know I love that Tyndale translation.
Tyndale says, “God was with Joseph and he was a lucky fellow.”
That’s Tyndale’s translation of Genesis 39.
It’s a wonderful thing to have God with you.
When you’re walking in covenant with God, in fellowship with God, in
friendship with Jesus, hand in hand with Jesus, to be able to know, to be able
to be assured — come what may, in sickness and in health, He will never leave me
nor forsake me. “Even when I walk
in the valley of the shadow of death” David wrote in the twenty third psalm,
“Thou art with me.” Even there.
My friends, when John Wesley was dying — what an astonishing man, what a great
man John Wesley was. What an
evangelist he was. What a heart —
travelling thousands and thousands and thousands of miles on horseback to preach
the Gospel to sinners. And when he
was dying his friends gathered around him and began to recite to him the
promises of God from the Scriptures and all of a sudden he sits up in bed and he
says, “And best yet, God is with us.
God is with us.” May we walk
every day in that assurance and in the comfort and the blessedness of that
thought that God is truly with us.
Let’s pray together.
Father, we thank You that these stories, though they are thousands of years ago,
yet by Your Spirit they come alive in our own lives and experiences.
We thank You for friendships.
We pray that You would deliver us from a spirit of envy and jealousy.
And we pray that You would give us an assurance that You are always with
us. Help us to walk in Your ways to
fear Your name, and all for Jesus’ sake.
Amen.
Please stand to receive the Lord’s benediction.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with
you all.