36 And he said unto his lad, Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37 And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee? 38 And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master. 39 But the lad knew not any thing only Jonathan and David knew the matter. 40 And Jonathan gave his artil lery unto his lad, and said unto him, Go, carry them to the city. 41 And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded. 42 And Jonathan said to David, Go2 in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, The LORD be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city. PARALLEL PASSAGES.-1Verses 21, 22. 2Ch. 1:17. way of anticipation. Hackett. - Time appointed. At the time agreed upon with David (20:18, 23). Keil.-Probably here was some cave or hiding-place. A. Clarke. 36. He shot an arrow beyond. Jonathan would come towards that place, with his bow and arrows, to shoot for diversion; would send his lad to fetch his arrows, and if they were shot short of the lad, David must take it as a signal of safety and not be afraid to show his head. But if he shot beyond the lad, it was a signal of danger and he must shift for his safety. This expedient he fixed upon lest he should not have the opportunity of talking with him and making the report by word of mouth. Henry. 38. Jonathan cried after the lad. When the boy came to the place of the shot arrow (i. e. to the place to which the arrow had flown) Jonathan called after him, "Quickly, haste! do not stand still," that he might not see David, who was somewhere near. Keil. -- Or may it not have been that the words to the boy, as well as the arrows, were meant for David, expressing the greatness of his danger and the pressing need of haste. 40. Artillery. His weapons, his bow and arrows. Wells. 41. David arose, etc. The lad having been sent back to the town with the arrows, and there being no one in sight, the two friends could not refuse themselves the satisfaction of one more farewell interview. It is and was the custom, in approaching a sovereign or prince, to pause, and bow at regulated intervals. Xenophon ascribes the origin of the practice to Cyrus, but it was of earlier date, although he may have first introduced it among the Persians. David thus testified the respect due to Jonathan's high station, in advancing to meet him; but when they came near, everything but their heart-brotherhood was forgotten: "They kissed one another and wept one with another until David exceeded." But time was precious, and delay dangerous, so 'bidding each other hastily farewell, they separated, to have but one more stolen interview in life. Kitto.-David exceeded. Proceeded to an excess of grief, being about to become an exile from his friend, his wife, his kindred and people, and the sacred solemnities of his religion. Bp. Patrick. - We may readily pronounce that it was the sense not of his own distress but of Jonathan's generosity which now overwhelmed David. He was leaving that man, who, though he knew David stood between him and the throne, yet had 'often saved his life, and was now just come from saving it again, at imminent hazard of his own. Delaney. 42. We have sworn. (See 18:3; 20: 16, 17.) Thus, while we are at home in the body and absent from the Lord, this is our comfort, that he has made with us an everlasting covenant. Henry. — They two made a covenant (three times in all), calling God to witness it. True love delights in repeating its engagements, giving and receiving fresh assurances. Our covenant with God should be often renewed, and therein our communion with him kept up. Henry. - The Lord be between thee and me. As a witness and avenger, if we keep not the covenant we have made of perpetual friendship. Bp. Patrick.- A principal fruit of friendship is the ease and discharge of the fulness of the heart which passions of all kinds do cause and induce, We know diseases of stoppings and suffocations are the most dangerous in the body, and it is not much otherwise in the mind. You may take sarza to open the liver, steel to open the spleen; but no receipt openeth the heart but a true friend, to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, in a kind of civil shrift or confession. The second fruit of friendship is healthful and sovereign for the understanding, as the first is for the affections. It maketh daylight in the understanding out of darkness and confusion of thought. Finally, he waxeth wiser than himself (in communicating and discoursing with another) and that more by an hour's discourse than a day's meditation. Add now, to make this second fruit of friendship complete, that other point, which is faithful counsel from a friend. There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth and that a man giveth himself as there is between the counsel of a friend and a flatterer; for there is no such flatterer as is a man's self. Lord Bacon. - Jonadab and Jonathan. There are two per sons mentioned in the Old Testament of very similar names but of very different characters, Jonathan and Jonadab. They are types of two kinds of friends which exist everywhere. Not a village but has its Jonadab friends; not one without its Jonathans. Amnon, David's son, was tempted to do wrong. He might have resisted; but," says the author of second Samuel, "but Amnon had a friend,” Jonadab, who administered no rebuke, but aided him in sin. There is no surer mark of a bad friend than this, that he encourages you in sin. No matter who that "friend" may be, man or woman, the beautiful or the strong, if they tempt and aid you to sin, they have the Jonadab brand upon them and are the purveyors of death and hell; and all the more dangerous because these wolves come in the sheep's. clothing of friendship. How many a young man and young woman will curse forever their Jonadab friends, and cry out in their torment, If it had not been for you, O, Jonadab friend, instead of weeping here in misery, I might have been with yonder throng singing the new song of the Lamb. On the contrary, the friendship of Jonathan with David is one of the most beautiful friendships ever known. Consider, first, that there was real worth in both parties. They were not alike, for the strongest as well as most useful friendships require differences in the friends, so that one shall be complementary to the other. But both were royal souls, both brave and strong, and both loved the same Lord. Both must be worthy of friendship before they can be true friends. "Hope not to find A friend but what has found a friend in thee, Consider, second, in this friendship the spirit of self-sacrifice. Jonathan, the natural heir of the throne, cheerfully gave up his hopes, and rejoiced in the advancement of David over his head. Well said David, Thy love is wonderful, passing the love of woman." This is one of the great missions of all friendship,-to cultivate the spirit of self-sacrifice, which is love. Note, third, the assimilating power of friendship. How much of all the good we have comes from the ministering aid of friendship. They took knowledge of the disciples that they had been with Jesus. This friendship of Jonathan and David teaches us the true lessons of the higher friendship with Jesus. First, we must be friends to him, as well as he to us. He loves us, whether we do him or not; but we are not friends unless we also love him, nor can we claim the benefits of that friendship. Second, the friendship with Jesus is founded on self-sacrifice. He left his kingdom for us, gave himself for us while we were yet sinners; and we should offer living sacrifices to him. And third, by this friendship we become like him. "We shall be like him, for we see him as he is." And dwelling in his companionship, we will grow into his image. — The nearer individuals come into competition with each other, the greater is their tendency to be spiteful towards each other. It is easy to be a patron, and stooping down from a lofty height to take by the hand some struggling beginner; it is easy, too, to be an admiring pupil of one who is acknowledged to be a great way above us; but it is a much harder and therefore a much nobler thing to be the warm, appreciative friend of one who is in the same calling with ourselves, and who is bidding fair to outshine and surpass us. But it was just this hard and noble thing that Jonathan did, when he took to his heart the youthful David. Nay, even when he came to discover that David was the predestined occupant of his father's throne, the heart of Jonathan was never alienated from him. He accepted the lot which was before him, and rejoiced in it for David's sake, saying only, "Thou shalt be king in Israel, and I shall be next unto thee." I have a high idea of David's magnanimity, but I doubt whether it could have equalled this of Jonathan; and so, in the matter of this friendship I am disposed to give the palm to the son of Saul. And I greatly mistake, if, as you read the record, you shall not grow into the belief which I have long entertained, that there are few characters in Old Testament history which, for genuineness, chivalry, self-sacrifice, and constancy at once to his father and his friend, can be put into comparison with Jonathan. Having dwelt so long on this beautiful union between two congenial spirits, you will forgive me if, before proceeding to less agreeable themes, I say a few words on the principles which ought to regulate our choice of friends. It is for the most part in early life that lasting companionships are formed, and their influence on the course and complexion of the after career can scarcely be overestimated. "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise; but the companion of fools shall be destroyed." There are few ways of pitching one's tent "towards Sodom" so common or so insidious as the selection of improper friends. Let me earnestly counsel you all, therefore, and especially the young, to secure first, and before all others, the friendship of the Lord Jesus. Give your hearts in confidence and love to him. Trust him as your Saviour. Follow him as your example. Imbibe his principles. Obey his precepts. Seek to possess his spirit, and to secure his regard. Remember the words which he spake to his first followers: "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." Aim first at securing this confi. dential intercourse with the Lord Jesus Christ, through the study of his Word, and earnest prayer to the Father in his name. Then make this, your fellowship with Jesus, the test by which you determine whether or not you will accept the earthly friendships which are offered to you. You cannot withdraw from all dealings of every sort with the ungodly, for then must you go out of the world altogether; but into the inner circle of your friends let none be admitted who do not love supremely the Lord who has redeemed you, and who cannot "strengthen your hand in God." Make this the indispensable prerequi. site to your intimate companionship. Taylor. DAVID SPARING SAUL. 1 SAMUEL 24:1-16. CONNECTION. David as an outlaw is, to many, a far less pleasant object of contemplation than the same David as a shepherd or as a champion of Israel. Most people feel the beauty of Jonathan's love for him. They can understand that the man who called forth such affections must have deeper qualities in him than those which command the admiration of the multitude. But the captain to whom every one resorted that was in distress, and every one who was discontented, -the freebooter who made a foray one day upon the Philistines and another went down to punish Nabal for not giving food to support his followers, -affronts all our notions of what is decorous, and makes us think that we are reading the exploits of a border chief rather than a passage of a divine record. But David in the Cave of Adullam, amidst his wild, reckless companions, is essentially the same man as David in the sheepfolds or David fighting the Philistine. He had not chosen his circumstances, he had been thrown into them. He did not rebel against Saul. He had no home. I do not know where a better home could have been provided for him than among these men in distress, in debt, in discontent. If it behooved a ruler to know the heart of his subjects, their sorrows, their wrongs, their crimes, this was surely as precious a part of his schooling as the solitude of his boyhood, or as any intercourse he had with easy men who had never faced the misery of the world and had never had any motive to quarrel with its laws. He was now among the lowest of those he would have to govern, realizing the influences which were disposing them to evil; and here he was acquiring more real reverence for law and order, more understanding of their nature, than those can ever arrive at who have never known the need of them from the want of them. He was bringing his wild followers under a loving discipline and government which they had never experienced. Maurice.-During the days of his outlawry at the hands of Saul, David was specially guarded and guided by Jehovah. Indeed, in so far as the direction of his movements was concerne 1, he enjoyed at this time very peculiar privileges. As we have already seen, Gad the seer was among his adherents; and when Abiathar, the high-priest, joined his standard, he brought with him the Urim and Thummim, those mystic treasures of the ephod which were the means by which the answers of the sacred oracle were given. David had thus two distinct channels of direct communication with Jehovah; and whenever the mind of God was made known to him, either through the one or the other, he set himself to obey it. More interesting to us by far than any mere question of topography, however, is the fact that in connection with his wanderings at this time David composed that exquisitely beautiful Psalm which has been a song to the people of God in the house of their pilgrimage ever since, and which is numbered as the sixty-third in the sacred Psalter. Read it in the light of the circumstances out of which it sprung, and you will see in it new loveliness, and feel a new power coming from it. It is generally supposed that the 31st Psalm was composed by him in connection with the events which we have just rehearsed. Taylor. - The story of David among the fastnessess of Judah's mountains is only half told without the help of his Psalm LVII. To see the whole of a man we need to see both his external surroundings and the uprising of his heart to God above all their depression and gloom. In this period of David's history we may locate also Psalms LV and LVIII. That the men of Keilah, suffering from plundering bands of Philistines, should have sought help from David rather than from Saul indicates his standing before the people and the service rendered to the country by his band of armed men. Cowles. Two hundred more like-minded men joined him after his return to the land of Judah, and it 1 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 Engedi. 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went2 to seek David and his men upon the rocks3 of the wild goats. PARALLEL PASSAGES.-1Ch. 23: 28, 29. 2Ps. 38: 12. Ps. 141: 6. must have become a matter of much consideration to him how to employ and sustain so large a body of men, consistently with his purpose of not taking a hostile attitude towards the king, nor of giving the people any cause of complaint against him. He found the means of employing them chiefly, it seems, in protecting the cattle in the wild and open border country into which the great sheep-masters sent their flocks for pasture, from the depredations of their marauding neighbors, such as the Arabs, the Amalekites, the Jebusites, the Hittites, and others. This species of service creates a claim for a kind of tribute from the wealthy persons thus so essentially benefited, of food and other necessaries, which is almost invariably most willingly and even thankfully rendered, and when not so, is enforced as a matter of right. This part of David's history affords an example of this in the case of Nabal of Carmel, whose insulting refusal to afford any supplies to David's troop, by which his flocks had been protected in the wilderness, had brought destruction upon his head but for the prudent intervention of his wife Abigail. It is not to be supposed that while in the wilderness the sole care of David was the protection of other people's cattle. Such daring spirits as he commanded were not to be restricted to such narrow bounds. Of the expedition to relieve Keilah, which was the very first operation performed by David when his troop was organized, it may be remarked that it must have been of signal service to his character; for involving as it did the defeat of a Philistine force, its effect must have been to rectify in public estimation the error he had committed in going over to the Philistines. Kitto. 1. Saul had returned. Just before the incident of this chapter David was surrounded by Saul's forces, and would have been captured; but David had a protector of whom Saul took no thought, and to him he made appeal, for, as we learn from its title, it was while he was thus surrounded by Saul's forces that he wrote and sang the 54th Psalm. I cannot refrain from quoting it entire. "Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Behold, God is mine helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul. He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth. I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O Lord; for it is good. For he hath delivered me out of all trouble: and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies." That is the prayer; now read the history, and you have the answer to it: "But there came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land. Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines; therefore they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth," the Rock of Divisions, as it is given in the margin, or, as some prefer to render it, the Rock of Escape. Taylor. - Engedi — The fountain of the kid-a town in the wilderness of Judah on the western shore of the Dead Sea. It is about the middle of the western shore of the lake. Here is a rich plain half a mile square sloping very gently from the base of the mountains to the water, and shut in on the north by a lofty promontory. About a mile up the western acclivity, and at an elevation of some four hundred feet above the plain, is the fountain Ain Jidy, from which the place gets its name. The water is sweet but the temperature is eightyone degrees Fahr. Porter. - The wilderness of Engedi is doubtless the immediately neighboring part of the wild region west of the Dead Sea, which must be traversed to reach its shores. Kitto. - On all sides the country is full of caverns, which might then serve as lurking-places for David and his men, as they do for outlaws at the present day. Robinson. — These caves are dark as midnight, and the keenest eye cannot see five paces inward; but one who has been long within and is looking outward towards the entrance can observe with perfect distinctness all that takes place in that direction. Thompson. 2. Three thousand men out of all Israel. When Saul had repulsed the Philistines he resumed his designs against David. The opportunity seemed favorable; for although for various reasons he may have hesitated to call out the national force, in addition to his body-guard, expressly against David, it would be in his power to retain for this service a portion of the men who had joined him in his march against the Philistines. Thus it is mentioned that the force with which he returned to the pursuit of the fugitive band amounted to no less than three thousand men. Kitto.-Rocks of the wild goats. This is probably not a proper name for some particular rocks, but a general term applied to the rocks of that locality, on account of the number of wild goats and chamois that were to be found in all that region, as mountain goats are still. Keil. - Rocky, precipitous walls, which rise up one above another for many hundred feet, form the sides of this defile. Stone upon stone and cliff above cliff, without any sign of 3 And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover1 his feet and David, and his men remained in the sides of the cave.2 2 4 And the men of David said unto him, Behold3 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 5 And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart4 smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. 6 And he said unto his men, The5 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. PARALLEL PASSAGES.-1Judg. 3:24. 2Ps. 57. Ps. 142. Ch. 26: 8-11. 42 Sam. 24:10. 1 John 8:20, 21. 51 Kings 21: 3. 62 Sam. 1: 14. being habitable, or of being capable of affording even a halting-place to anything but wild goats. V. de Velde. 3. Sheepcotes by the way. In those countries there were very large caves in the sides of the rocks or mountains for the sheltering of sheep from the heat of the sun. Hence we read of places where the flocks rested at noon, and this cave ¡seems to be spoken of as one of the sheepcotes. Henry.Where was a cave. Near the ruins of the village Chareitun there is a large cave or chamber in the rock, with a very narrow entrance entirely concealed by stones, and with many side vaults in which the deepest darkness reigns, at least to any one who has just entered the limestone vaults from the dazzling light of day. This cave is on the road from Bethlehem to Engedi, and one of the largest caves in that district, if not the largest of all. The Franks call it a labyrinth, the Arabs, the hiding-place, while the latter relate how at one time thirty thousand people hid themselves in it "to escape an evil wind,” — in all probability the simoom. Keil.-Cover his feet. He was in a singular way put entirely into David's power. Seeking relief from the midday heat, and desiring to refresh himself with slumber, he went, all unwittingly, into the very cavern in which David and his men were concealed. Going from the light and looking inward, it was impossible that he should see them; but accustomed as they had become to the darkness, and looking, as they were, from the back part of the cave out towards the dim light at its mouth, they could see him perfectly. Taylor.-They were wont in those countries to sleep in the heat of the day, and then lying down in their clothes, covered their feet with them. Bp. Patrick. - The rabbins have invented a curious conceit here to account for Saul's security. "God, foreseeing that Saul would come to this cave, caused a spider to weave her web over the mouth of it; which, when Saul perceived, he took for granted no person had lately been there, and, consequently, entered it without suspicion." This is a Jewish tradition, and one of the most instructive in their whole collection. A. Clarke. 4. Behold the day of which the Lord said. Although these words might refer to some divine oracle, what follows clearly shows that David had received no such oracle. The meaning of the men is simply this: the speakers regarded the leadings of Providence by which Saul had been brought into David's power as a divine intimation to David himself to take this opportunity of slaying his deadly enemy, and called this intimation a word of Jehovah. Keil. - How apt we are to misunderstand, (1.) The promises of God. God had assured David that he would deliver him, and his men interpret it as warrant to destroy Saul. (2.) The providences of God. Because it was now in his power to kill him, they concluded he might lawfully do it. Henry.—Cut off the skirt of Saul's robe. Cut off the edge of Saul's cloak. Saul had probably laid the cloak on one side, which rendered it possible for David to cut off a piece of it unobserved. Keil. 5. David's heart smote him. His conscience reproached him, because he regarded this as an injury done to the king himself. Keil.-It was an affront to Saul's dignity, and David wished that he had not done it. Note: It is a good thing to have a heart that smites us for sins that seem little. It is a sign conscience is awake and tender, and will be the means of preventing greater sins. Henry. 6. The Lord's anointed. To the comparatively coarse minds of his followers, the relinquishment of so signal an advantage must have seemed, and did seem, like madness; and it needed all the authority he had established over their rough natures to compel their submission to his view of the case. Yet this conduct of David was not only noble and true in feeling, but, although he then thought not of that, it was politically wise. Indeed, that which is in feeling truest is always wisest in the long run; and this is so clearly shown in the history of David that some have perversely argued from it as if the spontaneous impulse of a generous and noble spirit were the results of sagacious political calculation. |