Jonathan's Covenant and the People's Love

Immediately after the Goliath episode, before Saul's jealousy fully surfaces, 1 Samuel 18 introduces what will be one of the book's most important relationships:

"As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." — 1 Samuel 18:1 (ESV)

Jonathan makes a covenant with David and gives him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, and his belt. This transfer of princely insignia — the heir apparent's equipment — is more than friendship. It is Jonathan voluntarily surrendering what his birth entitles him to, recognizing that David's future is greater than his own. Daniel Block observes that Jonathan's act is one of the most theologically significant moments in the book: the crown prince of Israel strips himself of his royal symbols and drapes them on the shepherd from Bethlehem. He sees what Saul cannot — that God's choice of David is real, and the right response to it is not competition but deference.

Jonathan's love is the book's counter-narrative to Saul's jealousy. Both men encounter the reality that God has chosen David. One responds by stripping himself of his royal symbols and covenanting with the chosen one. The other responds with murderous hostility. The two responses define the difference between a heart oriented toward God's will and one oriented toward self-preservation. What strikes us here is that Jonathan is giving up his future. He is the crown prince. The throne is his by birthright. And he gives that away willingly, not under coercion, because he recognizes that God has chosen differently. That is a form of faith we do not see often anywhere.

Meanwhile, David goes out wherever Saul sends him and succeeds. All the people love him, and all the servants of Saul love him. When the army returns from defeating the Philistines, the women come out singing and dancing:

"Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands." — 1 Samuel 18:7 (ESV)

Saul hears it and is furious. The song does not let him rest: "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?" — 1 Samuel 18:8 (ESV). From that day, Saul keeps a jealous eye on David.

The Javelin and the Fear That Grows

The next day a harmful spirit comes upon Saul, and he prophesies raving in his house. David is playing the lyre as before. Saul has a spear in his hand. He hurls it at David twice. David evades both times. Saul grows afraid of David because the LORD is with him and has departed from Saul.

Saul removes David from his presence, making him commander of a thousand. His intention is to put David in harm's way at the front of the army — but David leads with wisdom, and the LORD is with him, and he prospers. His prosperity increases Saul's fear. The text uses the same language twice in quick succession: "Saul was afraid of David... Saul feared him" — 1 Samuel 18:12, 15. The most powerful man in Israel is increasingly governed by terror of a young man from Bethlehem.

Saul's daughter Michal loves David. Saul sees a political opportunity: he will give Michal to David as a wife, hoping the marriage will be a snare for David by enticing him into dangerous military adventures. The bride price Saul demands is a hundred Philistine foreskins — he expects David to be killed in the attempt. David goes out and kills two hundred Philistines. The marriage proceeds. Saul is more afraid. And Saul is his enemy continually — the text says it plainly — for the rest of his days. Saul's jealousy escalates with every evidence of David's blessing. The pattern is precise: David succeeds, the people love him, Saul grows more afraid, his behavior becomes more violent. The harmful spirit does not create a new Saul — it amplifies what was already there.

Jonathan Between Two Loyalties

Chapter 19 begins with Saul openly commanding his servants and Jonathan to kill David. Jonathan refuses and intercedes: "Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you." — 1 Samuel 19:4 (ESV). Jonathan names the evidence — Goliath, the victory, the LORD's work through David — and asks why Saul would shed innocent blood. Saul relents and swears: "As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death." — 1 Samuel 19:6 (ESV).

But when war breaks out again and David succeeds again, the harmful spirit returns and Saul hurls his spear at David a third time. David escapes to his house. Michal warns him: "If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed." — 1 Samuel 19:11 (ESV). She lets him down through a window and puts a teraphim in his bed with goats' hair to deceive Saul's messengers. David flees to Samuel at Ramah.

Jonathan's Proof and Their Covenant at Parting

David returns secretly and meets Jonathan. He says: there is only a step between him and death. Jonathan cannot believe it — but he pledges to find out the truth. He and David devise a plan: David will hide for three days. Jonathan will go to a feast with Saul and feel out Saul's intentions. If Saul's anger is kindled and Jonathan is asked where David is, he will answer that David requested leave to go to Bethlehem. If Saul accepts the answer, David is safe. If Saul is angry, David knows he must flee.

David asks one final thing:

"If I am guilty, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?' And Jonathan said, 'Far be it from you! If I knew that it was determined by my father that harm should come to you, would I not tell you?'" — 1 Samuel 20:8–9 (ESV)

They make a covenant before the LORD. Jonathan asks that David will show him covenant lovingkindness — hesed — even when the LORD cuts off every enemy of David. He asks that David will never cut off his loyal love from Jonathan's house.

At the feast Saul asks where David is. Jonathan gives the prepared answer. Saul's anger is kindled — against Jonathan, whom he calls a son of a perverse woman, and tells him directly that Jonathan knows the kingdom will not be established for him as long as David lives. Jonathan rises from the table in fierce anger. He knows now.

The next morning Jonathan goes to the prearranged location to signal David with arrows. He shoots the arrows beyond the boy, and when the boy has run to find them, Jonathan calls out: "Is not the arrow beyond you?" — 1 Samuel 20:37 (ESV). The signal means David must flee. The boy is sent away. Then:

"And as soon as the boy had gone, David rose from beside the stone heap and fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed one another and wept with one another, David weeping the most. Then Jonathan said to David, 'Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, "The LORD shall be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, forever."'" — 1 Samuel 20:41–42 (ESV)

This is their last meeting before Saul's death. Jonathan will appear once more in the wilderness (1 Samuel 23:16), but the parting here is essentially final. David weeps more than Jonathan. We keep coming back to that detail — David weeping the most. He is the one being sent away, yes. But we think he also understands what this friendship has been and what it costs Jonathan to stand between his father and the man his father wants dead. The covenant between them — sworn before the LORD, binding their descendants to each other — will be honored by David when the kingdom is fully his. Jonathan's son Mephibosheth will eat at David's table for the rest of his life. The love Jonathan showed in giving away his robe and his bow and his sword will be remembered in his son's restored inheritance. What is given in covenant does not disappear.

Last updated: March 3, 2026.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.