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1 Samuel 20, verse 16. So Jonathan made a covenant with
the house of David, saying, Let the Lord even require it at the
hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan caused David to
swear again, because he loved him. For he loved him as he loved
his own soul. Then Jonathan said to David,
tomorrow is the new moon, and thou shalt be missed, because
thy seat will be empty. And when thou hast stayed three
days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place
where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand,
and shalt remain by the stone Ezel. And I will shoot three
arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark. And
behold, I will send a lad saying, go, find out the arrows. If I
expressly say unto the lad, behold, the arrows are on this side of
thee, take them and then come thou, for there is peace to thee
and no hurt as the Lord liveth. But if I say thus unto the young
man, behold, the arrows are beyond thee, go thy way, for the Lord
hath sent thee away. And as touching the matter which
thou and I have spoken of, behold, the Lord be between thee and
me forever. So David hid himself in the field,
and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat
meat. And the king sat upon his seat,
as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall. And Jonathan
arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty. Nevertheless, Saul spake not
anything that day, for he thought something hath befallen him.
He is not clean. Surely he is not clean. And it
came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month,
that David's place was empty. And Saul said unto Jonathan his
son, wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meet, neither
yesterday nor today? And Jonathan answered Saul, David
earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. And he said,
let me go, I pray thee, for our family hath a sacrifice in the
city, and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there. And
now, if I have found favor in thine eyes, let me go away, I
pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore, he cometh not unto
the king's table. Thus far the reading of God's
holy word. May the Lord add his blessing
as we consider it together. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven,
we thank you for your word. We thank you that it has been
inspired by the spirit of God, breathed out from your very mouth,
the oracles of almighty God, for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction and for instruction and righteousness, that we might
be equipped unto every good work, drawn near to us by your spirit
and so equip us Lord, in faith and in love, in Jesus name, amen. Please be seated. Last week we continued our study
in 1 Samuel, in the life of David, considering O Lord God of Israel
from verses 9-15 of this chapter. We saw our duty to stand for
innocent life, to inform those who are threatened, the need
to abolish the wicked and horrible national sin of abortion, the
lawful use of self-defense in our homes for ourselves and in
the Commonwealth, the duty of prudence to discern the time
to speak boldly and the time to conceal certain matters. We
saw our duty to pray, God set a watch upon my tongue and to
work toward the true religion of bridling our tongues, keeping
it under control. We saw our duty to pray without
ceasing, even if we are not in suitable conditions for prayer.
We saw the virtue of wishing well to our friends and brethren
and the duty therefore to put off envy. We saw the kindness
of the Lord in forgiveness, consolation and grace given by us to others
as the Lord has given to us. We saw the duty of natural affection
that we should seek the temporal and spiritual welfare of our
children and all in our house as Jonathan sought for his house.
We saw the duty especially of men to work hard, to tithe, to
give freely, and to save as much as possible, as well as spiritually
to grow in grace and knowledge, to profit from the appointed
means of grace, and to be a conduit both for those worldly and spiritual
goods to our households. This afternoon then we will consider
with the house of David from verses 16 through 29 with the
house of David. First verse 16 then. So Jonathan
made a covenant with the house of David saying, let the Lord
even require it at the hand of David's enemies. Jonathan makes
a covenant with the house of David. Diodati notes, a covenant
which should pass from father to son and should be as hereditary
between their two houses. So Jonathan, he will look after
his house and his house will look after David's and David's
will look after Jonathan's. Now this phrase, the house of
David, just turn a page back or so, page 327 to 1 Samuel 19,
11. Notice the attitude of Saul concerning
the house of David, verse 11. Saul also sent messengers unto
David's house. The same exact phrase in the
Hebrew, David's house and the house of David, it's the same
thing. Here, literal house, There in
20, chapter 20, it's a figure of speech for those who dwell
in the house, the descendants, those who come forth from that
house. Turn over to 2 Samuel 3, page 345. 2 Samuel 3, verse
1, concerning the house of David. Now there was long war between
the house of Saul and the house of David. But David waxed stronger
and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. Notice, unlike Jonathan's house,
how was Saul's house toward the house of David? He was fighting,
making war with the house of David. Please turn over to First
Kings, page 394, First Kings chapter 12, concerning the house
of David. The people of God had an opportunity
to be ruled by the house of David and they said, no, thank you.
First Kings 12 verses 19 and 20. So Israel rebelled. Remember this is Rehoboam sent
his tax collector and they killed the tax collector. So Israel
rebelled against the house of David unto this day. And it came
to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again,
that they sent and called him unto the congregation, and made
him king over all Israel. There was none that followed
the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only." Here we see a
rebellious people against the house of David. And how did that
end for them? Did it go well with them because
they rebelled against the house of David? Of course not. Second
Kings chapter 17, page 434. Let's see how this ends for this
rebellious people who cast off the covenant that they had made
with the house of David. Verses 21 through 23. For he rent Israel from the house
of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam
drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great
sin. For the children of Israel walked
in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he did. They departed not
from them until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he
had said by all his servants, the prophets. So was Israel carried
away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. When they rejected the house
of David, they rejected the worship of God, they appointed Jeroboam
as their captain, and they brought themselves to destruction. Look
over at Psalm 122, please, page 658, concerning this house of
David. How important is it to have a
covenant with the house of David? Psalm 122 verses one through
seven. I was glad when they said unto
me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand
within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city
that is compact together. Whither the tribes go up, the
tribes of the Lord, under the testimony of Israel, to give
thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of
judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the
peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love
thee, peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. Notice the blessing of being
united to the house of David. Peace, prosperity, All these
blessings of judgment from the house of David, the worship of
almighty God where the tribes go up, God's testimony, the place
to give thanks and sing his praise, these belong to the house of
David. Those cut off then from the house
of David, what did they have? Idolatry, judgment, destruction. Turn over to Isaiah 7, please,
concerning the house of David. Page 712 of your Pew Bible, 7,
1, 2. Again, concerning the house of
David. Jonathan, in his wisdom, made a covenant, a perpetual
covenant with this house. Verse 10. Moreover, the Lord
spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy
God. Ask it either in the depth or
in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask,
neither will I tempt the Lord. And he said, Hear ye now, O house
of David. Is it a small thing for you to
weary men? But will ye weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel, that is God,
right here with us. Notice here the house of David
does not want to ask a sign and so God gives the house of David
a sign, namely the virgin bearing God in the flesh. Please turn
to Isaiah 55 concerning the house of David. The house of David
has these promises that a Messiah will come forth from them. Notice
here the sure mercies of this house, verse one. Ho, everyone
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money,
come ye buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which
satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me and
eat ye that which is good. and let your souls delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me here, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Do you see
this? The importance of a covenant
with the house of David, that you may receive all of these
riches and goodness in your state of poverty, with nothing to buy. All you have is your sin. All
you have is your guilt before God. All you have is your need
of his righteousness. And he says, come and I will
feed you. Verse five, behold, thou shalt
call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not
thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for
the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. "'Seek ye
the Lord while he may be found. "'Call ye upon him while he is
near. "'Let the wicked forsake his
way "'and the unrighteous man his thoughts, "'and let him return
unto the Lord, "'and he will have mercy upon him. "'And to
our God, for he will abundantly pardon.'" Here, see the mercies
of the house of David, the fatness, the goodness, the salvation,
the forgiveness, the redemption that he gives through his son. These are the mercies of the
house of David. Please turn to Zechariah chapter
12, page 954. Toward the end of our Old Testament
is Zechariah chapter 12, page 954. We'll read verses seven
through 10. The Lord also shall save the
tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and
the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves
against Judah. In that day shall the Lord defend
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that is feeble among them
at that day shall be as David. Notice that. the weakest among
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as mighty as David. And the house
of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before
them." What is he talking about? He's talking about God in the
flesh. David's house being as God himself,
as the angel that led the people through the wilderness. Verse
9, And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek
to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem, and I
will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem
the spirit of grace and of supplication, And they shall look upon me,
whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth
for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one
that is in bitterness of his firstborn. Look over at chapter
13 and verse 1 of the same book, same page in your pew Bibles.
In that day, there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. We won't look at it, but Mary
herself was a virgin in the house of David, as God had promised. Luke chapter one, verses 27 through
33, you may look up at your leisure. I observe then from these passages
we've considered, our only hope stands in a covenant with the
house of David. Our only hope stands in a covenant
with the house of David, just as Jonathan did. What about Saul's
house that opposed the house of David, cut off and destroyed? Jonathan's house, though, is
saved. Israel is forsaken by God and
given Jeroboam the son of Nebat and an early captivity. Why?
Because they rebelled against the house of David. Judah was
preserved by God. They had some good kings and
they lasted much longer and a shorter captivity. Why? Because they
maintained their covenant with the house of David. What does
God offer us in this covenant? He offers grace, sure mercies. They don't fail you. God's mercies
don't expire or come undone. He offers pardon, healing, the
fatness of his house, thrones of judgment, the glories of Zion,
a fountain for sin and uncleanness, the strength of the mighty man
David for the feeblest among us. the spirit of grace and supplication,
looking to the pierced son of David, a miraculous sign of a
virgin with child, even God himself in flesh, Jesus, and salvation
from sin. This is the hope we have. These
are the benefits of this covenant with the house of David. And
as we saw in Acts 16, God says, these sure mercies are not just
for you, but they are for your house as well as they were for
Jonathan's house. His covenant was perpetual from
father to son inherited by his children. What use then of this
observation? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved and thy house receive his benefits, rejoice
in his spirit, receive the spirit of grace and supplication, come
to this fountain for sin and for uncleanness, look on the
pierced savior, mourn as for an only begotten son, turn from
your unrighteous ways to his most godly ways and you will
receive bread and wine without money and without price. Pray
then for the peace of Zion, delight in her means of grace, and grow
in respect of salvation. These are the blessings of the
covenant with David's house. Please turn back to 1 Samuel
chapter 20. We'll look again at verse 16. 1 Samuel 20 verse 16. Jonathan speaking and making
this covenant says, let the Lord even require it. Let the Lord
require it or punish is the basic idea of require there. Punish
the breach of this covenant if David were to break it. The Lord
being the witness of this covenant, Jonathan recognizing that. Verse
17, and Jonathan caused David to swear again because he loved
him. For he loved him as he loved
his own soul. It says he caused David to swear,
or literally in Hebrew, he added David to swear. This is where
we get the name Joseph from in Hebrew, the same exact word.
He added him to the list of signers to this covenant. Verse 17, why
did he do this? Why did Jonathan add him? Because
it says he loved him. He desired David to reaffirm
and enlarge this covenant so that it was not merely a personal
covenant between the two of them, but a household covenant to his
descendants and David's. Verse 18, then Jonathan said
to David, tomorrow is the new moon and thou shalt be missed
because thy seat will be empty. Thou shalt be missed. Why is
it that Saul would miss him? Hadn't Saul attempted to throw
a javelin at David at least twice and he avoided out of his presence?
He came back and he threw it again three times. Then he chases
David down to his house, sends messengers to kill him, follows
him all the way up to Ramoth and seeks his death but is overcome
by God. Andrew Willett comments on this.
Although Saul diverse times before in his fits had attempted to
kill David and cast his spirit him, yet David was brought into
his presence again to play before him as we see or saw in 1910. And he knew that Saul in that
regard would specially miss him upon the festival day. David
had a customary seat. It's called thy seat by Jonathan
here. And we'll see in verse 25, it's
called David's place. He would be expected to sit around
the table with the king, regardless of having tried to kill him.
David had returned before and he would likely return again.
Verse 19, And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou
shalt go down quickly and come to the place where thou didst
hide thyself when the business was in hand and shalt remain
by the stone Ezel. Now he was to stay three days
either in Bethlehem or in the field, we don't know precisely.
He refers him to the stone of Ezel, the stone of going or traveling. That's what that word means in
Hebrew, going or traveling. And we might think of it like
a rest area. The stone might have some kind
of shelter that it could provide like a cave for people to stay
cool or warm depending on the weather. Verse 20. He says, and I will shoot three
arrows on the side thereof as though I shot at a mark. Now think about this. This is
a backup plan for David. There are going to be options
that are presented. He's going to shoot, and then
he's going to say certain things to the lad who goes with him.
And depending on what he says, David will know how things have
fallen out with Saul. Jonathan does not know how Saul
will respond, but this causes him to make a backup plan. Please
turn to 2 Samuel chapter 10, page 352. 2 Samuel chapter 10,
verses 6 through 12. This is a battle that the people
of God are engaged with in chapter 10, starting at verse 6. And when the children of Ammon
saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and
hired the Syrians of Beth-Rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, 20,000
foot men, and of King Maaka, 1,000 men, and of Ishtob, 12,000
men. And when David heard it, he sent
Joab, and all the host of the mighty men, And the children
of Ammon came out and put the battle in array at the entering
in of the gate. And the Syrians of Zoba and of
Rehob and Ishtab and Ma'aka were by themselves in the field. When
Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before
and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel and put
them in array against the Syrians. And the rest of the people he
delivered into the hand of Abishai, his brother. that he might put
them in array against the children of Ammon. And he said, if the
Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me. But
if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will
come and help thee. Be of good courage and let us
play the men for our people and for the cities of our God. And
the Lord do that which seemeth him good. Proverbs 22 verse three says
this, a prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself,
but the simple pass on and are punished. How does Joab handle
this circumstance? He says, there are too many for
us. Let's divide forces and let's have a contingency plan. If yours
are too strong, we will come and help you. If ours are too
strong, you come and help us. He has a backup plan. He was a prudent man. He foresaw
the possible evils and he hid himself. He was not a simple
man who passed on and suffered for it. I observed then our confidence
in divine providence is not nullified by lawful and believing planning. Our confidence in divine providence
is not nullified by lawful believing planning. Isn't providence though
God foreseeing and planning for the future? Does he not provide
all things for the future? Why then should I plan for the
future? Especially contingencies. I can't
know all the contingencies. Why then even plan? If God has
provided all things, it might be objected. Well, first, For
God to have a providence requires that he foresees all things.
This is true. All things actual and all things
that could possibly happen upon certain conditions. He sees all
those things. He also makes provision for every
single step along the way. That is true. We cannot deny
this. Absolutely. And yet, Man, in his own creaturely
way, is to imitate God's providence. Though man is limited in what
he can know and see, yet God requires. Go to the ant, he says,
you sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise.
Why is that? What is it about the ant that
is admirable and what are we to imitate? Will they save up
in the summertime so that the contingency of winter weather,
which means they can't harvest, They will have something to eat.
They have planned for the future. And God says, you, as those created
in my image, you have a duty to do the same thing. So that's
the first answer. The second is this. Lazy men. They can fail to plan for the
future and contingencies that might arise and still distrust
God. It doesn't mean you're spiritual
because you're a poor planner. It just means you're lazy and
the Bible condemns you for it. While the diligent man, he can
plan for contingencies and still continue to trust in God's providence. This is the attitude of faith
in God's overruling providence. We have a duty to plan even for
contingencies, backup plans as Jonathan has. And yet we are
to trust in God's providence and power that he will dispose
of our plans as seems best to him. Is this not what Joab said? Be of good courage and let us
play the men for our people and for the cities of our God. This
is our duty. Men, play the man, act in a manly
way. Be of good courage, don't be
failing and afraid and frightful, he says. Why? For our people and for the cities
of our God. This is our duty to plan appropriately,
to seek to be diligent in using the means at our disposal. Then
what? And the Lord do that which seemeth
him good. Does Joab plan for contingencies? Yes. Does Joab trust in God's
providence? Yes. He does both. And lazy men who fail to plan
are planning to fail as we say. It is no mark of trusting God
to fail to plan. It is a mark of stupidity. It
is a mark that you don't reflect the image of God. And so God
requires that we do both plan for contingencies and trust his
providence. And so that is our duty. As we
saw last week, Work hard, tithe, give to those in need, and save,
save, save. Plan for contingencies. That's just one way. Verse 21.
Let's look back at 1 Samuel 20, verse 21. And behold, I will send a lad
saying, go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad,
behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them, then
come thou, for there is peace to thee and no hurt as the Lord
liveth. He tells him to take them, then
come. In other words, David, come out
from your hiding spot, pick up the arrows and come with me to
the court because peace is determined. Then at the end there, you'll
notice he says, as the Lord liveth. This phrase is used about 27
times in the Old Testament, 27 to 30 times. It is a form of
swearing by the life of God himself. Now, the reason why Jonathan
swears by the life of God, as do the prophets, as does God
himself, is because there is nothing more certain than the
fact that God lives. So if you want to aver something
with certainty, you say, as the Lord liveth, he is the fountain
of life, as we see in Psalm 36, verses five through nine, and
therefore there is nothing else that we could swear upon with
more certainty. Verse 22, here's the other contingency. But if I say thus unto the young
man, behold, the arrows are beyond thee, go thy way for the Lord
hath sent thee away. Notice here, the Lord hath sent
thee away. If the circumstances are this,
and my father responds badly, and he determines evil against
you, David, God is showing you, you need to leave. The course
of providence opens and closes doors. Matthew Poole comments
that this would be an intimation of God's providence. He's hinting
at it, he's showing you this is what is required of you by
my providence. Now I observe that though we
do not expect audible voices from God as he often did in times
past, Yet the course of God's providence is sometimes an indication
for us of what we ought to do in the future. Not always, but
sometimes God will indicate. He will, especially when he closes
doors and he says, no, I'm not allowing you to do this at this
time. That's the point here. God will
send you away, David, through his providence, through the falling
out of the event. What use then? Though Providence
is our diary rather than our Bible. In other words, it just
records events. It doesn't tell us what we're
supposed to do. Yet there are times when we can discern a proper
course of action by observing in principle God shutting and
opening doors, opportunities, in other words. He may take away
an opportunity you once had, and that's how you know God is
sending you away, David. The door is closed. Saul hates
you and wants you dead. This is our duty then to observe
God's providence, to recognize it, not to excuse ourselves from
obedience to his commandments, but as a direction for our future
course of action. Verse 23, and as touching the
matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the Lord be
between thee and me forever. What is he saying? The Lord be
between us. Should he stand in the middle?
Halfway, if we're 10 feet apart, God's at five feet. If we're
20 feet apart, God's 10 feet. No, he's not speaking literally.
He's speaking concerning this covenant, concerning their swearing,
concerning their promise to do good. God is the ultimate and
the eternal arbiter. The Lord forever, he says, be
between us from generation to generation. This is never going
to end because God's judgment, God's wisdom, God's righteousness
never end. So then in use of this, we must
not lie. Do you think that you can lie
and God won't know what you're doing? Do you think you can enter
into an agreement and take your little fingers and cross them
and put them behind your back and say, ha ha, my fingers were
crossed. I didn't mean my promise. Do
you think God accepts that kind of lame excuse? No, God is a
judge. He knows your heart and he knows
your lips. And if you say you will do something
to another person that you will covenant together in this covenant
of friendship or this agreement or this statement of what you
will do, God will be the judge. He will arbitrate and say, did
you say that you would do this? Yes. Did you have a mental reservation? You said, well, I didn't really
mean that. I just said that. God knows the
intent. God will judge. God will dispense
justice in righteousness. And he will not let us off the
hook. That's what he's saying. David, God will be judge of both
of us in this circumstance. He will be between us. Verse
24. So David hid himself in the field. And when the new moon was come,
this king sat down to eat, sat him down to eat meat. David hid
himself in the field. This is likely referring to the
end of the three days David comes back and hides himself. It would
be unlikely for a person to stay without food for the period of
two full days, in other words. It's likely it's referring to
his return. Verse 25, and the king sat upon his seat as at
other times, even upon a seat by the wall and Jonathan arose
and Abner sat by Saul's side and David's place was empty. Notice that Jonathan arose either
for his father or it seems more likely for Abner who comes in,
who is his superior. He is his superior in the state
and in the family. This was a gesture of respect. John Gill says, either in reverence
to his father, when he came in and took his seat, or in respect
to Abner upon his coming in. Please open to Leviticus chapter
19, which we'll consider in a few weeks, God willing. Leviticus
19, page 135 of your Pew Bibles. We'll look at verse 32. "'Thou shalt rise up before the
hoary head "'and honor the face of the old man "'and fear thy
God, I am the Lord.'" Notice Jonathan's obedience to this
precept. The elders to himself, such as
Abner and his father, come in and what does he do? He rises
up before them. This is a biblical courtesy that
he offers to them, a mark of respect. It says to honor their
face. This has to do with gestures.
It has to do with listening to what comes out of their face,
showing a proper respect for them, not being a disrespectful
punk, in other words. Please turn over to Proverbs
30, page 692 of your Pew Bibles, concerning this very thing. The hoary head, the old man's
face, they evoke or ought to evoke under God's law respect.
Verse 17, Proverbs 30, verse 17. The eye that mocketh at his
father and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the
valley shall pick it out and the young eagles shall eat it. Now, by the way, that means you
will be dead. Because when ravens come to pluck
parts out of your body, if you were alive, what would you do?
Brush them away. In fact, they probably wouldn't
consider you unless they smelled the stench of death arising from
you. So this eye that mocks, this
is sometimes what we call rolling your eyes. I will not obey you. Can't believe you told me to
do that. It's a gesture of disrespect. And notice God's curse. Nobody's
gonna bury you. And these unclean animals, notice
he chooses the ravenous raven, the unclean eagle. These unclean
birds, you will be destroyed by unclean animals. It's a curse
upon a curse. No burial, unclean animals. Why? Because you didn't respect
your authorities. You didn't show gestures of respect. You may also look at 1 Kings
2.19, the good example of Solomon toward Bathsheba. Lamentations
5.12, the ill example. and 1 Timothy 5.1 concerning
how even a pastor is to address older men in his congregation. So I observed then, God's law
requires respect in both the internal thoughts and affections
as well as in external behavior. Oh, but I still respect them
in my heart, so what? God requires external as well
as internal. Oh, but I show them proper respect
externally, so what? God requires that you have an
attitude in your thoughts and affections of respect. God requires
both. Jonathan rising was an external
mark of his attitude of respect for either his father or Abner
or both. What use then of this observation
concerning God's law, what is plain? Be careful to use respectful
gestures toward your superiors. In your words, the tone of your
voice, the facial expressions, rising before the hoary head,
the manner in which you speak to your superiors, whether in
age, in rank, in family, in church, whatever it is, the Lord requires
that we speak respectfully and act and behave respectfully. Do not mock with your eyes. Do
not use harsh or biting corrections with your superiors. This is
what is forbidden of Timothy, as you'll see when you look at
1 Timothy 5. Timothy's the pastor, he's the
superior in the church. But when he goes to a man who
is older than him, he's to appeal to him, not to rebuke him harshly,
but to appeal to him as a father. This is a sin for which our generation
has no use to regard it. Verse 26, back in 1 Samuel 20,
verse 26, let's see how Saul responds when David's place was
empty. Nevertheless, Saul spake not
anything that day, for he thought, Something hath befallen him.
He is clean. Surely he is not clean. Have
your thoughts ever done this? You race through thoughts and
you keep on saying the same thing over and over in your head. You're
trying to figure out what exactly is going on. God gives us a window into
Saul's soul. How is he thinking about this?
What was he saying inside of his mind concerning this? Well,
he thought David was surely not clean. Saul expected David to
be there. Now had Saul forgotten that he
made attempts on David's life? Oceander comments in this blindness
of Saul, he says the following. He that hurteth, righteth his
wrongs in the dust. He which is hurt in marble. You kids know what marble is? It's a stone that's hard. They make gravestones out of
it because it endures a long time. So those who are hurt,
they take their wrongs and they write them up on marble. They
chisel them in so they never get erased. Those who do wrong,
they write their wrongs in the dust so that you can brush it
away very easily. This is how Saul thinks. My wrongs
against David are small things. His perceived wrongs, because
there were no real wrongs, are massive, carved in stone. Saul made small account of what
he had done to David. We must not engage in Saul's
self-righteous view of himself. Oh, you've wronged me, poor me. Oh, I didn't do anything wrong
to you. That's his attitude toward David.
We must not engage in that self-righteous view of ourselves. Rather, in
the contrary to what Oceander observes, which is correct concerning
human nature, God requires that we write our own wrongs in granite
and the wrongs of others against us in the dust to easily be swept
away, whereas ours, we take them very seriously. Look at the beam
in your own eye, Jesus says, not in the speck in your brother's
eye. Saul again in verse 26, something
hath befallen him. He is not clean. Now this something,
we looked at Leviticus 15 in our scripture reading. Maybe
that's something. He got defiled, he touched somebody
or something happened through his sleep. We don't know. Maybe
he touched the carcass as Leviticus 11, 24. Maybe he touched the
carcass of a dead animal or an unclean beast and he didn't realize
it and he was defiled. He had to wait until the evening
and then be cleansed. Peter Martyr notices concerning
Saul, who like an hypocrite had kept his body clean from such
legal pollutions. But in the meantime, his heart
was defiled with malice and hatred. Now this was the new moon and
there was a sacrifice that they would eat in festival on these
days. That's what it's talking about
here. Saul was ceremonially clean. He could eat of the sacrifice.
He was not defiled. And he thinks maybe David is,
which means I'm not. But notice what sort of attitude
Saul has about David going about to murder him. The man who does
the most good, you seek to squash his life and assume everything
he does is bad. This is a hypocrite with a clean
body and a foul heart. That's what Saul was. Verse 27. And it came to pass on the morrow,
so David, maybe he's unclean for a day, but what about tomorrow?
He should be here now. And it came to pass on the morrow,
which was the second day of the month, that David's place was
empty. And Saul said unto Jonathan his
son, wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meet, neither
yesterday nor today? Now this phrase, the son of Jesse
is no compliment. Jesse was a shepherd, a lowly
man of the smallest of the small families, David says in Israel.
Furthermore, Jesse was from a mixed background. Remember Ruth the
Moabitess? That's only what, three or four
generations back from David, two or three from Jesse. So here
we have the son of Jesse. Now this same phrase is used
by Doeg the Edomite in chapter 22, verse nine, which we'll consider
God willing, and of Nabal the Carmelite in chapter 25, verse
10, the son of Jesse, this worthless shepherd boy who thinks he's
so great. He's just the son of Jesse. They
have scorn and contempt for David's humble origins. David carries
this through his whole life. His enemies refer to him in this
way. And he asks, why hasn't he come? Saul asks, yesterday
nor today. He had maybe a little bit of
uncleanness, but that's only gonna last a day. He should be
here now, in other words. The second day he should be free.
Jonathan then responds to his father in verse 28. And Jonathan
answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. This is correct. Chapter 20,
verse six, we've already looked at this. This is what David said.
This is what his story was. And he's merely repeating it
exactly as David told him. Verse 29, and he said, let me
go, I pray thee, for our family hath a sacrifice in the city,
and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there. And now, if I
have found favor in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee,
and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto
the king's table. Here, Jonathan does what we call
embellishing. He adds to the story. David did
mention the festival, that's true. He mentioned his family,
he mentioned Bethlehem. He said nothing about his older
brother. There were no words spoken about, say something about
my older brother. So he's adding things, repeating
partially and adding in another way regarding his brother. Now, Lord willing, next week
we will consider Saul's response to this. It's not going to be
pleasant. Very unpleasant, we will see, is Saul's response,
and David will find out that Saul intends murder against him,
which we'll look at, God willing, next week. We've considered today
the pivotal importance of our relation to the house of David,
especially the covenant blessings and sure mercies of God given
in Jesus Christ. Our need then to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ for us and for our house, as Jonathan did,
making that covenant. We saw the truth that the Lord
punishes those who break covenant as the judge and arbiter. We
saw our duty to plan for contingencies, though we'd rely on God's providence
100%, yet God requires that we be provident ourselves and trust
him at the same time. We saw God the fountain of life
and the only sure ground for swearing and for living. We saw
providence as God's diary, often giving us indicators of what
we are to do in the future by God opening or closing doors.
We saw our duty to honor superiors in our behavior, in our gestures,
and in all other ways, as well as with the internal attitude
and affection of respect. And we saw our duty to avoid
Saul's hypocrisy by writing our wrongs against others in stone
and their wrongs against us in the sand, and to rank also moral
pollutions and duties higher than ceremonially being unclean
or the duties of the ceremonies of God's law. and thus far the
consideration of the life of David with the house of David. Let's pray.
With the House of David
Series Life of David
| Sermon ID | 112921165757072 |
| Duration | 51:33 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 1 Samuel 20:16-29; Isaiah 55:1-7 |
| Language | English |
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