Commentary - 1 Samuel 20:35-42

Bird's-eye view

In this poignant conclusion to a chapter filled with tension, conspiracy, and covenantal love, we witness the sorrowful parting of David and Jonathan. The scene is a masterpiece of understated drama and profound emotion. Jonathan, having confirmed his father Saul's murderous intent, must now communicate this dire news to David. He does so through a prearranged code involving arrows, a method that protects them both from prying eyes. Once the signal is given and the coast is clear, the two friends meet for a final, tearful farewell. Their parting is not one of despair, however, but is sealed with a reaffirmation of their covenant before God, a covenant that extends to their descendants forever. This passage marks a crucial turning point: David's life as a courtier is definitively over, and his life as a fugitive, the king in exile, now begins. Jonathan returns to the city, a righteous man bound by duty to a doomed house, while David heads into the wilderness, the place where God will forge him into the king Israel needs.

Outline

Commentary

35 Now it happened in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field for the appointment with David, and a very young man was with him.

The morning after Saul's explosive rage, the die is cast. Jonathan is a man of his word, and so he goes to the appointed place at the appointed time. Duty, for a righteous man, is not a matter of convenience or mood. He brings a "very young man," a lad, with him. This boy is a necessary prop for the ruse, but he also serves to highlight the profound isolation of David and Jonathan. Their covenant, their peril, and their grief are a world away from the simple task this boy is about to perform. Great moments of redemptive history are often worked out while the rest of the world is busy with its own oblivious errands.

36 And he said to his young man, “Run, find now the arrows which I am about to shoot.” As the young man was running, he shot an arrow past him.

Here is the plan in action. Jonathan gives the simple command, and the boy obeys. The detail that he shot the arrow "past him" or "beyond him" is crucial. This is the signal. It is a wordless message, a sentence of banishment delivered on the tip of an arrow. Jonathan is not playing games; he is a prince of the kingdom engaging in what his father would call treason in order to uphold a higher loyalty to God and to God's anointed. This is faithfulness under pressure.

37 When the young man reached the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the lad and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”

This is the verbal confirmation, the coded message for David's ears alone. For the boy, it is a simple directional query. For David, hiding and listening with his life in the balance, it is everything. It means "flee." It means Saul will not relent. It means the door to reconciliation is closed and bolted. It is a bitter message, delivered by a loving friend. True friendship does not shrink from delivering hard news. Jonathan shouts the truth that will save David's life, even though it breaks both their hearts.

38 And Jonathan called after the young man, “Hurry, be quick, do not stay!” And Jonathan’s young man gathered up the arrow and came to his master.

The urgency in Jonathan's voice is twofold. Ostensibly, he is chiding a boy for dawdling. But the real message is again for David. The danger is real, it is close, and there is no time to waste. Every moment David remains near Gibeah is a moment he is in mortal peril. Jonathan's sharp commands are acts of love, protecting his friend. The boy, none the wiser, simply does his job, gathers the instrument of the message, and returns.

39 But the young man did not know of anything; only Jonathan and David knew about the matter.

The Spirit of God includes this detail for an important reason. The central transactions of God's kingdom are often hidden from the world. A covenant is being honored, a king is being saved, and the line of Christ is being preserved, and the only person on the scene besides the two principals is utterly clueless. This is a secret between the two men, and between them and God. The world does not know what is truly going on, and it does not need to. What matters is that the covenant keepers know.

40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his young man and said to him, “Go, bring them to the city.”

This is a significant gesture. Jonathan, the warrior prince, dismisses the boy and sends his weapons, the symbols of his authority and power, away with him. He is clearing the stage for what is to come. He is setting aside his public role as Saul's son to meet his friend, his brother, his king, in naked grief and loyalty. In this moment, his covenant with David is more important than his bow and arrows. He is making himself vulnerable for the sake of his friend.

41 When the young man was gone, David rose from the south side and fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed each other and wept together, but David wept more.

Now the truth can be unmasked. David's emergence is followed by an act of profound reverence. He bows three times, not as a sycophant, but as the true king honoring the man who has just sacrificed his own future to save him. This is the humility of the man after God's own heart. Then comes the grief. The kiss is one of covenant brotherhood, a seal of their love. The weeping is the proper response to their situation. This is not weakness; it is the strength to feel the full weight of loss. And David wept more. Why? Jonathan was returning to the palace, to his father. David was heading into the wilderness, stripped of everything: his wife, his home, his standing, and now his dearest friend. The weight of the calling to be king was, at this moment, a crushing burden of loss, and his tears reflect that.

42 And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, inasmuch as we have sworn to each other in the name of Yahweh, saying, ‘Yahweh will be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed forever.’ ” Then he rose and departed, while Jonathan went into the city.

Jonathan concludes their meeting with a benediction, a blessing. "Go in peace." How can David go in peace when he is being hunted? Because their peace is not located in their circumstances but in their covenant. Jonathan grounds the peace in their oath sworn "in the name of Yahweh." God is the guarantor of their bond. God is the third strand in this cord, and that is why it will not be broken. The covenant is not just between them; it is between their descendants, forever. This is a promise that looks far down the corridors of time. It is this eternal, God-guaranteed reality that allows them to part. David rises and departs for the wilderness. Jonathan goes back into the city, back into the lion's den. Each man walks the path God has sovereignly laid out for him, sustained by a friendship founded on the rock of God's own name.

Application

This story is a profound illustration of true, Christ-centered friendship. Jonathan's loyalty to David, God's anointed, superseded his loyalty to his own father and his own claim to the throne. This is a picture of what it means to seek first the kingdom of God. Our loyalties must be ordered biblically, with our ultimate allegiance belonging to King Jesus.

Furthermore, the grief of their parting reminds us that obedience to God is not always easy or pleasant. It often involves loss and separation. David was walking into his kingly calling, but the entrance to that path was through the wilderness of exile and the sorrow of a deep loss. We should not be surprised when our own path of faithfulness involves tears. But like David and Jonathan, our stability is not in our circumstances, but in the covenant promises of God. Their peace was in the oath sworn in Yahweh's name. Our peace is in the blood of a better covenant, sworn by a better friend, Jesus Christ, who laid down not just a kingdom for us, but His very life.