And it came to pass, when he had ended speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
Jonathan meets David just after the giant has fallen. No one else in Saul's court reacts as he does. Two questions follow: what won Jonathan's heart, and why a love this strong still left him living in his father's house.
The bond forms at the end of a conversation. One writer traces it to David's words.
Up to this point Jonathan was a young man strong in faith, who had fought the enemy. Now he goes further. When he hears David speak, his soul is bound up with David's soul. He values the moral beauty stamped on David's words more than his own outward advantages. He finds in David a soul to which his own soul answers. All at once a special bond of love and fellowship grows between them, and the charm of David's words produced it.
The victory met a need no one else in Israel could meet. But one writer says Jonathan went further than the victory.
The challenge of the giant, repeated day after day, had exposed how poor Israel was. The eye might have searched up and down the ranks for someone able to meet the urgent need, but in vain... That solemn occasion left a terrible emptiness in the heart. Then a beloved one appeared to fill it. No wonder Jonathan's whole soul went out in genuine affection for him. And remember, it was David himself, and not only his work, that touched Jonathan's heart. He admired his victory, yes, but his person more. It is worth noticing this, and tracing its striking application to the true David.
One writer insists that something steadier than warm feeling was at work here.
The Spirit of God produced this fruit in Jonathan. Those who suppose it was only a question of personal affection are badly mistaken. That was there. But Jonathan was a man of faith, and no affection has the character, power, or permanence of affection driven by faith.
Another writer names what the two men shared:
Like faith, like confidence, in the living God caused free love, mutual love, to flow out of their hearts... It was not a mere matter of sentiment or an impulsive movement of the natural heart: it was a bond in the Lord.
One writer weighs the word "soul" in this verse, and applies it to us.
In the Scriptures the words "soul" and "life" often mean almost the same thing. Here is Jonathan, whose very life was knitted to the life of David. As we enjoy what He has done, may our hearts also be filled with the knowledge of Who He is. Then each of us can come together, having known all week the blessedness of a life bound up with the life of our blessed Lord.
Commentators differ on what moved Jonathan. This writer traces the love to the deliverance David had won, and then puts his finger on a gap in it.
Jonathan looked at David with the marks of victory on him, the head of the Philistine in his hand. He said, in effect, "There is my saviour"... His whole heart was knit to the heart of David. And not only that: he strips himself. He takes what marks him out as a warrior, and puts it on David. There is nothing too much to give to David. Yet notice this: he did not give himself. He gave his possessions, but he kept back himself. Think what he kept back! ... God measures everything that is given not by what is given, but by what is kept back.
Jonathan's love was real, but it had a limit. One writer names it.
Jonathan was Saul's heir, but he knew David would be king. He was ready to take second place in the kingdom. He spoke well of David to his father, even though it made his father angry. He was angry himself when he saw his father's evil attitude towards David. Jonathan's love for David was great, and so was his devotion to him. But one thing was lacking: he was not ready for the place of rejection. He preferred Saul's palace to the cave of Adullam with David.
- Words — the bond forms as David finishes speaking; what he hears wins Jonathan, not only what he saw.
- Person — the victory filled an emptiness no one else in Israel could fill. Yet David himself, more than his work, won Jonathan.
- Faith — this was no passing feeling. Shared confidence in the living God made the love last.
- Gift — love of that kind strips itself. Jonathan gives David what marks him out as a warrior.
- Reserve — he gave all he owned but kept back himself, and God measures a gift by what we hold back. He loved the rejected king, yet chose Saul's palace over the cave.
And Saul took him that day, and would not let him return to his father's house.
After Goliath fell, David did not go back to the sheep. The king kept him. That one line closes David's shepherd years and opens his life at court — but why did Saul want him, and how long would the welcome last?
The plain reading of the verse is a promotion. But look at the post Saul gave him, and at how Saul's son saw the same young man.
Verse 2 shows that Saul was clearly glad to have David in his regular service, after he had served him so well. But Jonathan did not think of David as a servant.
Saul had heard David's harp, and had still forgotten him. Holding him at court did not change that. Keeping David close was not the same as knowing him.
The whole army of Israel profits by David's triumph. Saul, who had forgotten him, will not let him go away. The flesh, and even the flesh in rebellion, can love Jehovah's chosen one because of his kindness and the relief he gives; but it does not know him. When he is doing Jehovah's work, he is as much a stranger to Saul as if they had never met.
Another writer turns this on the reader. We can enjoy what God gives and never come to know Him.
Though Saul knew the power of David's harp for a time, he never knew David himself. He had not learnt David, if I may put it that way — David was still a stranger to him. And how this tells us of man and of Israel still! Man will enjoy the rain from heaven and the fruitful season, but remain ignorant of the Father who orders it all for him. Jesus healed Israel, but Israel did not learn Jesus. Many pressed on Him in the crowd who never touched Him.
Scripture has already said that Saul loved David greatly. Verse 2 looks like that love in action. But love built on usefulness carries a breaking point inside it.
From the beginning Saul shows how little David has been to him. Before the battle in the valley of Elah he was already in David's debt. His harp had broken the power of the evil one again and again and set him free. It was even said that Saul "loved him greatly." But perhaps nothing varies more in quality than love. Nothing takes its colour more from the person who feels it. How much the apostle feels the need to define for Christians what true love is! We "love" those who suit our tastes — perhaps those who gratify our plain selfishness. That love can turn into complete enmity as soon as self has to give way to it in any degree. True love, on the other hand, "does not insist on its own way": it is the very spirit of self-sacrifice. Saul was not capable of such love.
Saul took. Jonathan gave. Notice what each of them put on David.
In Jonathan's eyes, nothing he had was too good for David to wear. He stripped himself of everything that had marked him out before the people, so that David should wear it. Saul acted on human thoughts that shut God out completely. He pressed his own armour on David before he met Goliath. Jonathan, after the victory, clothed David with his robe, his garments, his sword, his bow and his belt. Saul meant to shield David's body from the giant's blows. Jonathan gave to David as a token of his admiration and his love. In him we see that putting self aside which is the fruit of divine grace.
On its own, verse 2 reads like the start of David's rise. Read on, and the welcome proves brief.
Saul took David into favour after his victory over the Philistine (1 Sam. 18:2), but it lasted only a short moment. So did the admiration of the crowd when they said of the Lord, "He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak." Not long afterwards they sought to kill Him.
- Taken — Saul keeps David at court, glad to have in his service the one who had served him so well.
- Used — the flesh can love God's chosen one for the relief he brings, and still not know him. Saul knew the harp, never the harpist.
- Tested — love that rests on usefulness turns to enmity the moment self must yield. True love "does not insist on its own way," and Saul had none of it.
- Answered — Jonathan does the opposite. He strips off robe, sword, bow and belt, and gives David everything that marked him out.
- Short-lived — the welcome lasts only a moment. So did the crowd's praise of Christ, just before they sought to kill Him.
And Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
David has just killed Goliath. Now the king's own son binds himself to the shepherd by a covenant. The reason given is love — but what kind of love, what did it cost Jonathan, and how far did it carry him?
Love is the reason the verse gives for the covenant. One writer traces that love back to its root.
This was the matching fruit of the Spirit of God in Jonathan. Those who think it was only a question of personal affection are badly mistaken. That was there too. But Jonathan was a man of faith, and no affection has the character, the power, or the permanence of one that is driven by faith.
Another writer names what the two men held in common, and what it saved them from.
The same faith, the same confidence in the living God, made free and mutual love flow out of their hearts... Our hearts are so treacherous that faith on its own might have bred pride and perhaps jealousy. But faith and love mixed together formed a strong and blessed link... This was not a mere matter of sentiment or an impulsive movement of the natural heart. It was a bond in the Lord.
Israel enjoyed the rescue David won. One writer points out what set Jonathan apart from the crowd.
It was not only the victory but the victor that filled Jonathan's heart — not only the work done, but the one who had done it. Jonathan was not content to say, "Thank God, the giant is dead, we are delivered, and we can go home and enjoy ourselves." No; his heart was drawn and knit to the person of the conqueror. It was not that he valued the victory less, but that he valued the victor more.
One writer notes that only one side of this covenant is recorded — and what that side gave away.
Because he loved him as his own soul he made a most striking covenant with him. Nothing is said of David's side of the covenant, but Jonathan stripped himself of his robe and gave it to David... This was a plain declaration that, there and then, he was handing over to David all the royal rights that could have been his. Instead of succeeding his father, he would gladly hand his right to the throne to David. If Saul had only been wise enough to do this, how much less tragic would his history have been!
One writer takes the scene as a pattern for how faith in Christ begins.
Here you have a picture of how a truly converted man starts with Christ — there is complete surrender... David stands for Christ; Jonathan for the delivered sinner... It is an immense thing to have the heart wholly surrendered to the One who has blessed you and delivered you.
David did not forget what he had promised.
Jonathan looks for nothing beyond seeing David's throne established in power... David kept the covenant made that day. At the height of his glory and greatness he remembered it, and his kindness to Mephibosheth proved it.
Mephibosheth was Jonathan's son. David's kindness to him flowed from a promise made to his father years earlier.
Yet one writer marks a gap between what Jonathan gave and where he stayed.
Even Jonathan was not there. He still held on to the old order of things. Though he loved David as his own soul, he lived and died at Saul's side. It is true that he dared to speak up for David, and sought his company when he could. He had stripped himself to clothe David, yet he never threw in his lot with him.
- Faith first. Their souls were knit by "a bond in the Lord" — the same faith in the living God, not two personalities that clicked.
- Faith sees the person. Jonathan "valued the victor more" than the victory. Gratitude for the rescue is one thing; love for the Rescuer is another.
- Love strips. Jonathan sealed the covenant with his robe, sword and belt — "handing over to David all the royal rights that could have been his."
- Love binds beyond death. David remembered the covenant "at the height of his glory and greatness," and showed kindness to Jonathan's son.
- Love that never leaves home. Jonathan "stripped himself to clothe David, yet he never threw in his lot with him" — the warning hanging over the whole friendship.