And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? what hath he done?
This was Jonathan's second intercession for David, made at the new moon feast. On the second day of the feast, after Jonathan explained that David had gone to Bethlehem for his family's sacrifice, Saul in ungovernable anger declared that as long as David lived Jonathan could not come to the throne and demanded that David be sent for to be put to death.
By asking why David should be slain and what he had done, Jonathan pleaded his friend's innocence in an effort to preserve David's life while Saul was trying to kill him. The question sprang from a most sacred bond of union in which Jonathan's soul was knit with David's soul and he loved David as his own soul. Jonathan and David had made a covenant to be united as brethren, and Jonathan had stripped himself of his robe and given it to David, with his garments and even his sword and bow and girdle. Their knit hearts remained unbroken until the deaths of Saul and Jonathan.
That friendship was God's providence and the Lord's doing, given so that Jonathan might be the means of preserving the life of the future ruler of Israel. The preservation belonged to God's preparation of David to rule His people. After the slaying of Goliath, Saul had kept David with him and would not let him return to his father's house, and David had been entrusted with important responsibilities while preserving his modesty and winning the affection of the people and the royal household. Through that deliverance and through a long course of hardships and vicissitudes, with wise behavior that obtained the confidence of the people, David was led to put his entire trust in God.
The appeal only made Saul more satanic in fury, so that the spear he had intended for David he hurled at his own son Jonathan.
This was Jonathan's second intercession for David, made at the new moon feast. On the second day of the feast, after Jonathan explained that David had gone to Bethlehem for his family's sacrifice, Saul in ungovernable anger declared that as long as David lived Jonathan could not come to the throne and demanded that David be sent for to be put to death.
By asking why David should be slain and what he had done, Jonathan pleaded his friend's innocence in an effort to preserve David's life while Saul was trying to kill him. The question sprang from a most sacred bond of union in which Jonathan's soul was knit with David's soul and he loved David as his own soul. Jonathan and David had made a covenant to be united as brethren, and Jonathan had stripped himself of his robe and given it to David, with his garments and even his sword and bow and girdle. Their knit hearts remained unbroken until the deaths of Saul and Jonathan.
That friendship was God's providence and the Lord's doing, given so that Jonathan might be the means of preserving the life of the future ruler of Israel. The preservation belonged to God's preparation of David to rule His people. After the slaying of Goliath, Saul had kept David with him and would not let him return to his father's house, and David had been entrusted with important responsibilities while preserving his modesty and winning the affection of the people and the royal household. Through that deliverance and through a long course of hardships and vicissitudes, with wise behavior that obtained the confidence of the people, David was led to put his entire trust in God.
The appeal only made Saul more satanic in fury, so that the spear he had intended for David he hurled at his own son Jonathan.