Innocent of the crime, wrongly sentenced with circumstantial evidence, pronounced guilty by the court of law of murdering his wife; the former doctor saw a chance to flee and took it. Now a fugitive, he runs for his life for the purpose of gathering evidence to prove his innocence while looking for the “one-armed man” who actually did kill his beloved wife. That’s the premise that held our attention weekly as we breathlessly watched as each episode unfolded from 1963-1967! When will it all come together? We all know he is innocent! Why can’t everyone else see the goodness of this man who helps others as he works to clear himself? With each episode Dr. Richard Kimble, comes close enough to touch the allusive one-armed man but not enough to catch this enemy so he can be exonerated of all charges against him—until the end of the series. All of America watched to see how it would all turn out!
And so it is with David, the shepherd boy who played his harp for King Saul and then became a great soldier of God, is now accused of wrongdoings with false charges against him by the King who lost his mind. David is the fugitive avoiding King Saul’s desire and treachery to murder him. David, the one who once soothed King Saul of his dark moods with his songs of praise and hymns about God and then fought Israel’s giant enemy in the Name of the Lord remained loyal to Saul, God’s first chosen king!
Notice that all glory was given to God by David and this alone angered the King who was filled with anger, envy, arrogance, jealousy, and greed. King Saul once knew God well, was chosen by God to the first King, but turned from God and tried to take God’s place in all decision making. Saul’s heart was far from God’s heart. God pulled His power, His Holy Spirit, from Saul. Yes, God intervenes for the good of His people and for His glory and authority to be declared and known as the One and Only God.
Will this fugitive be exonerated? Read on….
1 Samuel 20
David and Jonathan
20 Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?”
2 “Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!”
3 But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”
4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.”
5 So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. 6 If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.’ 7 If he says, ‘Very well,’ then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. 8 As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”
9 “Never!” Jonathan said. “If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?”
10 David asked, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
11 “Come,” Jonathan said, “let’s go out into the field.” So they went there together.
12 Then Jonathan said to David, “I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? 13 But if my father intends to harm you, may the Lord deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. 14 But show me unfailing kindness like the Lord’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, 15 and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family—not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord call David’s enemies to account.” 17 And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.
18 Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon feast. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19 The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. 20 I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. 21 Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,’ then come, because, as surely as the Lord lives, you are safe; there is no danger. 22 But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, because the Lord has sent you away. 23 And about the matter you and I discussed—remember, the Lord is witness between you and me forever.”
24 So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon feast came, the king sat down to eat. 25 He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan, and Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty. 26 Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.” 27 But the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”
28 Jonathan answered, “David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. 29 He said, ‘Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
30 Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 31 As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!”
32 “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. 33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.
34 Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.
35 In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, 36 and he said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37 When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” 38 Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. 39 (The boy knew nothing about all this; only Jonathan and David knew.) 40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, “Go, carry them back to town.”
41 After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most.
42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
David and Jonathan stand out as examples of devoted friends. Jonathan was put in the middle between friendship and family. Jonathan wanted to be loyal to his father while at the same time being a friend to the next king of Israel. Conflict of loyalties, especially in the family, is one of the most painful difficulties we face in the life of faith (Matthew 10:34–39), but Christ calls for supreme devotion to Him and His will for our lives.
Seek first God who created us in his image, believe in Jesus who stated this Truth because He was Truth. Jesus came to earth with purpose from God: to reconnect all God’s created to God who seeks a relationship with us by sacrificing Himself to pay for our sins—once and for all. This relationship desire began in the Garden of Eden. But was ushered in by the Enemy of God who tempted his first beloved humans. They fell for sin. Sin entered and disconnected Adam and Eve from God. But God had a Plan from the beginning to bring us back to a right relationship with God—His Son, a part of God who came as Son of Man. Centuries of animal sacrifices only covered the sins of God’s chosen people. Jesus came, taught, loved and then died and rose again to reconcile ALL people to God who created ALL and is in ALL. Our Almighty God knew all people created by Him would need a perfect sacrifice to remove our sins forever—”to be remembered no more.”
Our response is to lean in to listen closely to God’s Holy Spirit who lives in with counseling and helpful guidance. Then do what He says is best for us. God’s gift of His Spirit comes to dwell in us to guide us, with resurrection power. That power is available to us! Tap it and watch His power enable us to join God in His work in ways beyond our thinking or dreaming! God’s Spirit teaches us all that is true and right as we walk through life in an imperfect world. His Spirit encourage us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus as we look up toward heaven as our final home. His Spirit reminds us daily of our great hope of eternal life with God! Listen to Him!
Because God in us; we are assured and blessed by God’s Presence with us. This is God who never changes, never lets us down, never gives up on us, never takes his love from us, never leaves or betrays us but is always faithful, loving, kind, generous, helpful, and gentle lives in us! (Colossians 1:27) God’s Spirit will correct us with gentle discipline as Jesus did His beloved disciples who were learning and growing in an intimate relationship with Him! (Notice that discipline and disciple share the same letters and purpose—”one who learns”.)
Our God is with us always, promised by Jesus who knew! God is Provider, Healer, Redeemer, Restorer, Protector, Savior, and Lord. And God wins always and at the end when His Son, Jesus comes back to claim His own.
God is for us. not against us. No one on earth can claim all these characteristics, promises, and provisions. No one. Only God.
Lord,
There is no reason to stop believing in you now or ever! You are God and we are not. You made us in your own image but your work of molding and shaping us to be more and more in every way like you in our being and doing is not complete yet. So, do what you must to help us grow in faith, love like you, while avoiding the enemy’s temptations to be like him. I’m listening…
In Jesus Name, Amen
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 