In the meanwhile David “goes in peace,” as Jonathan said. But why are they parted? Did they not make a covenant with one another? Why does one go in peace, and the other go back into the city? Is there no difference in these two paths which these sworn friends take? and what is the divergence if one leads away from peace? Such questions fairly arise; and how important the answers! Let Mount Gilboa answer for Jonathan, and the lamentations of the anointed David reply likewise.
The shepherd-king, who in early life had learned his lessons by the lion and the bear, and afterward by the sling and the stone in the encounter with Goliath, is passing through the far deeper cuttings of heart and conscience which Saul's enmity had brought upon him. Witness the many psalms which give to us the experience, feelings, and faith of this sweet singer of Israel.
To return to the narrative. Where will David bend his steps now that Jonathan has left him? He is first with Ahimelech the priest, and then escapes to the cave of Adullam.
Faith in God and true heartedness led Jonathan into conflict with the Philistines, the common foe of Israel. Faith in God's purposes respecting David, and real affection too, led Jonathan to brave many a danger on his behalf with Saul; but now that David is the outcast one and hidden in the cave of Adullam, will Jonathan join him there, and own him in the day of his rejection? Alas in the record of those whose loyalty and devotedness drew them to David in the cave Jonathan's name is missing! Saul, his house, and the city pulled the other way, and were too strong. The men who gathered to David in Adullam were, it is true, a motley group; but they were gathered to the right person, and in the right place, as the issue proved. The cave gave birth to the mighty men of renown who are chronicled in 2 Sam. 23, the men of might were from thence. No matter where Jonathan was, he was not with David, and therefore was not with God.
What a searching inquiry should every Christian make, as to his own acknowledgment of the rejected Jesus, and of His rights and titles. He presented Himself to Israel and the Gentiles, and was refused and cast out. The heavens have received Him till a coming day, and God by resurrection has owned all that He was and is in this time of His rejection. He is the anointed One, the true David, King of kings, and Lord of lords. Do Christians think of this and seize the opportunity given them of owning Him now while the kingdom of Saul is running itself out? Are not the throne, the scepter, the government, and the kingdom the birthright—and now the purchased right by redemption—of Christ Jesus the Lord Or is He to be refused again (now that He is in heaven) as the only lawful holder of these dignities and glories, by the very people He came to purchase by His own blood that they might be kings and priests in the day of His glory?
The outcast David and the cave of Adullam are open to us now, or never. The soul cannot get into such an association with our Lord, except in the world which has cast Him out. Jonathan was not equal to the occasion; but what answer do we make to such an appeal? Oh! for whole-heartedness to Christ, that we may know Him and the power of His resurrection, being made conformable unto His death.
Saul continues his hot pursuit of David, and persecutes “the man after God's own heart.” What a picture is this of one who breaks away from God, and following his own will, becomes tenfold more the child of the devil than before! Acting on the flesh himself, he makes his appeal to the flesh in others, and asks “Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields, and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds?” This appeal calls out Doeg, who impeaches the priests of Nob. “And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.”
In chapter 23 we read that “David abode in the wilderness in strongholds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.”
“And Jonathan Saul's son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God.” David is now in the circumstances suited to faith and to God; and this chapter shows how much he is the gainer by being cast beyond the influence, though not out of the reach, of intermediate links, which throw off the soul from entire dependence on God. David never had so much to do distinctly with God as to himself and his path; and he gets his answers directly from the Lord as to Keilah, the Philistines, and Saul. Even Jonathan must come out to David on this footing, no longer to weaken the heart by useless attempts to connect David with the house and kingdom of Saul, by bringing him back, but to strengthen his hands in the path of separation to God. Moreover Jonathan is a step in advance of himself, through the faith of David, and says to him, “Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth.” Nothing of this prophetic assurance breaks down, except that part which refers distinctly to the man who made it. Personal attachment, and covenants made and repeated, yea, the faith which can strengthen another's hand in God, and say, “Fear not,” may yet turn away from the position and the path with God, which are necessary for the accomplishment of His intentions. “And they two made a covenant before the Lord: and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.” And they meet no more! Brighter scenes for David; and heavier ones for Jonathan.
God honors the faith that honors Him and can be happy where He leads. David is not only kept out of the hand of Saul, but God puts his enemy into his power. The skirt of the robes which David holds up to Saul tells how his eye spared him; and Saul is obliged to confess “Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.” The hill of Hachilah further proclaims the moral triumphs of David, as he goes thither with Abishai, who says, “God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand; let me smite him, I pray thee, even to the earth at once.” But David leaves his enemy in the hands of God, with the same confidence, as he has placed himself there. Faith refuses Abishai's wish to kill Saul, and dispenses with him as an adviser, leaving all to the sovereignty of God. A deep sleep from the Lord has fallen on Saul, and upon Abner, and the whole host: so David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's bolster, and they got them away. Coals of fire heaped on Saul's head are David's moral weapons. He demands from Abner where the king's spear is, and where the cruse of water that was at his bolster? “Then said Saul, I have sinned: behold, I have played the fool, and erred exceedingly.” But Saul must not only acknowledge what he has been, but, further, own what David is: “Then said he, Blessed be thou, my son: thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail.” So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place. They part, and they part forever.
Saul is abandoned of the Lord: for when he inquires respecting the host of the Philistines, “the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.” Left to himself, and discovering the insufficiency of everything, to extricate him from the consequences of his sin, or to master them, what can he turn to but the witch of Endor—type of the wicked one, the beast to whom the dragon gives his power, seat, and authority? Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee. And he said, Bring me up Samuel, who says, “Wherefore dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee and is become thine enemy?” Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth and was sore afraid. David, on the contrary, encouraged himself in the Lord his God and recovers the spoil from the Amalekites and rescues his two wives, and there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters. David recovered all. Such is the difference God puts between “the man that feareth him and the man that feareth him not.” Saul forfeits all by disobedience and finally perishes; whereas David prospers in the school of adversity and comes in, at the close of this book of Samuel, possessor of place and partaker of the real power of God, by which he recovers everything from the enemy's hand. Moreover, David sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, “Behold a present for you, of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.” Thus David brings blessing to Israel, as the fruit of the faith which owns God—an important principle too, in the Church of God, “that there should be no schism in the body,” &c.; but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: “they shall share alike.” Hence David will not allow any separate interests to exist, lest selfishness should make a footing for itself, and bring upon the people the judgment of God.
But where is Jonathan who rehearsed his fortunes in the light of David's triumphs, and said, “Thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee?” Alas for Jonathan! he is one with Saul in defeat and falls as they who are slain in battle; for the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons, and the Philistines slew Jonathan. Whose heart does not go along with David in the outbreak of his grief as he utters his lamentations on Mount Gilboa? “The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Oath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice.” And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son: How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished! But he girds himself, in virtue of his anointing, to carry out the intentions of God to Israel, which were connected with himself. Jeremiah's lamentations over Jerusalem and the nation give place likewise to rapturous strains in his prophecy of the future prosperity of Israel, when brought under the new covenant with their Messiah, the true Son of David, in the coming day of millennial glory.
We may note, too, the peculiar searchings of heart, which the Apocalyptic lamentations to the seven churches call forth; yet John's relief is to counsel one and another, and to reveal the present resources for faith in the closing hours of its long day of difficulty. “These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David.... behold I have set before thee an open door,” &c.
The Lord give grace and confidence to the exercised in Saul's day to accept the proffered hand and listen to the voice of love: “Behold I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”
(Concluded from page 116)