Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 133
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with my father. And may you treat me with the faithful love of the Lord as
long as I live. But if I die, treat my family with this faithful love, even when
the Lord destroys all your enemies from the face of the earth.”
So Jonathan made a solemn pact with David, saying, “May the Lord
destroy all your enemies!” And Jonathan made David reaffirm his vow of
friendship again, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.
Then Jonathan said, “Tomorrow we celebrate the new moon festival.
You will be missed when your place at the table is empty. The day after
tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid before, and wait
there by the stone pile. I will come out and shoot three arrows to the side
of the stone pile as though I were shooting at a target. Then I will send a
boy to bring the arrows back. If you hear me tell him, ‘They’re on this side,’
then you will know, as surely as the Lord lives, that all is well, and there
is no trouble. But if I tell him, ‘Go farther—the arrows are still ahead of
you,’ then it will mean that you must leave immediately, for the Lord is
sending you away. And may the Lord make us keep our promises to each
other, for he has witnessed them.”
So David hid himself in the field, and when the new moon festival began,
the king sat down to eat. He sat at his usual place against the wall, with Jon
athan sitting opposite him and Abner beside him. But David’s place was
empty. Saul didn’t say anything about it that day, for he said to himself,
“Something must have made David ceremonially unclean.” But when Da
vid’s place was empty again the next day, Saul asked Jonathan, “Why hasn’t
the son of Jesse been here for the meal either yesterday or today?”
Jonathan replied, “David earnestly asked me if he could go to Bethle
hem. He said, ‘Please let me go, for we are having a family sacrifice. My
brother demanded that I be there. So please let me get away to see my
brothers.’ That’s why he isn’t here at the king’s table.”
Saul boiled with rage at Jonathan. “You stupid son of a whore!” he swore
at him. “Do you think I don’t know that you want him to be king in your
place, shaming yourself and your mother? As long as that son of Jesse is
alive, you’ll never be king. Now go and get him so I can kill him!”
“But why should he be put to death?” Jonathan asked his father. “What
has he done?” Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan, intending to kill
him. So at last Jonathan realized that his father was really determined to
kill David.
Jonathan left the table in fierce anger and refused to eat on that second
day of the festival, for he was crushed by his father’s shameful behavior
toward David.
The next morning, as agreed, Jonathan went out into the field and took
a young boy with him to gather his arrows. “Start running,” he told the boy,
“so you can find the arrows as I shoot them.” So the boy ran, and Jonathan