The Friend or Enemy

1 Samuel 18:1-16

Immanuel – 6/11/23

Saul is Israel’s first king. In many ways, Saul really did want to honor God. He offered sacrifices, he consulted with the prophet Samuel, he upheld Israel’s traditions. Saul’s intentions were really good. He certainly wasn’t like those later kings that would lead all Israel into abominable idolatry.

But as we have all learned in our lives, good intentions accomplish nothing. Though his intentions were good, Saul’s convictions were weak. He repeatedly followed popular opinion rather than the voice of God. With weak conviction came a fearful heart, and more than once he was caught hiding from difficulties (we saw this last week as he hid in his tent from Goliath). Saul was proud, insecure, rash, and (as we see this week) jealous. It’s a combination of attributes which make for a very volatile king.

Add to all of this his knowledge that the Lord had rejected him as king.

Samuel said to Saul…”You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.” -1 Samuel 15:26-28

It’s a pathetic scene: After making an unlawful sacrifice, God – through the voice of Samuel – rebukes Saul and rejects his throne. As Samuel turns to walk away Saul falls to the ground grasping at Samuel, tearing his robe. With such a pathetic, unkingly display, Samuel effectively says to Saul, “God has given the kingdom to someone better than you.”

You might ask, why didn’t God just begin with David? Why establish Israel’s kingdom with a man like Saul?

I believe God is showing Israel what a true king looks like by starting with a contrast. Imagine if we lived in a world constantly filled with Canadian smoke – you have never seen a clear day. You could do most activities, but breathing would be stressed and life expectancy would certainly be lower. Your sight would always be limited by a haze, and its apocalyptic hue would shade your perception of reality. You would think the world was supposed to smell like fire.

Then imagine, after all of your years of living, one day the smoke suddenly lifts. For the first time in your life, you see the world as it is meant to be. It’s a delight to breathe in this new air – so clear and fresh. You would be absolutely dazzled, amazed, overjoyed by this new reality. But this is the true reality, how it is meant to be, how God intended it. Even after a few days we are able to appreciate such a contrast, how much more if it were your whole life.

God is doing something similar with Saul and David. Saul is the haze. David is the clarity. Under Saul you could get by, but your life would be shortened. Under David there is victory and joy, and life would be abundant.

It’s a contrast that we began to see with Goliath, and becomes even more significant in today’s passage. But with this contrast emerges a giant problem, and it unhinges Israel’s volatile king.

Purpose

1. Jonathan and Saul have two very different relationships with David.

Chapter 18 picks up right where chapter 17 ended. By the power of God, David had just slain Goliath. Wanting to learn more about this remarkable teenager, Saul had him brought into his tent. It is here, in his father’s tent, that Jonathan first meets David.

Read vs 1

Jonathan and David

Jonathan is the son of Saul. Already, Jonathan is an accomplished warrior, a successful commander in Israel’s army, and he displays much more wisdom and courage than his father. If David is around the age of 16 or 17, Jonathan is likely in his early to mid-twenties – though that is a bit of speculation.

Jonathan has certainly heard the passionate, God-glorifying speeches recently delivered by David. He has seen him slay the giant. And it appears that Jonathan recognizes something significant, noble, virtuous, in David. For, as verse 1 says, Jonathan’s soul was immediately knit to the soul of David. Jonathan loved David.

In 2023, you can imagine how this verse gets twisted. Certain so-called churches foist homosexual affection upon Jonathan and David’s friendship. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Deceived people are reading into the text what they want to get out of it, and all they get out of it is more deception.

The love of Jonathan and David is a love between friends. As 1 Samuel progresses, you see a steadfast brotherhood develop with Jonathan. They fight together, worship together, sacrifice for one another.

Additionally, the love between Jonathan and David was deeper than ordinary friendship. Many commentators are quick to point out that the linguistic context surrounding the Hebrew word for love has a political overtone.

When verse 1 says that Jonathan loved David, not only is it about friendship, but it implies that he loved what David represented: he loved the reform and passion and theological commitment that drove David. Jonathan loved how these elements might influence the throne. In short, Jonathan loved David, and he loved David’s politics.

We’ll soon see more evidence for this political facet of Jonathan’s love for David.

Jonathan and David hold common ideals, a united purpose. Though David certainly leads, they both want to see Israel flourish in covenant faithfulness unto Yahweh. These two men understand one another in a powerful and unique way, and the effect of their friendship will leave an impression upon Israel for all of its history – even to this day. There may be no better example in the Bible of love between friends.

Don’t you long for a friend like this: one that you can go into the trenches with, one that your heart is unified with, one that you are proud to stand beside? I think we all long for a friend like that. Perhaps in our lifetime we will find one or two, and what a blessing it is! If you find that relationship, you had better treasure it!

Read vs 2

Initially, it might look like Saul loved David too. It says that he wanted David around so much that he didn’t allow David to return home. But this is not love; this is Saul’s M.O.

There was hard fighting against the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he attached him to himself.

-1 Samuel 14:52

To Saul, David was just another weapon in his war chest. Saul is narcissistic, seeing David only as a useful tool, like all the other strong and valiant men that he was keen on collecting.

And remember, Saul does not yet know who God has chosen to be Israel’s next king. David had been anointed in secret. All Saul knows is that God has promised to replace him with someone better than him. In an ironic twist, Saul has no idea that he has just invited that better man into his own court. Neither does Jonathan know this; at least, not initially.

Right from the beginning, Saul and Jonathan had very different relationships with David. Another contrast.

Read vs 3-4

For the second time we are told that Jonathan loved David as his own soul. He loves him so much, especially everything that David represents politically and theologically, that he makes a covenant with David. Scripture does not directly tell us about the particulars of that covenant, but verse 4 certainly appears to imply the nature of that covenant.

Remember, David had just killed the Philistine champion without any armor. David needed no armor or sword, not because of his fighting prowess, but because of the power of the Lord. As David himself said,

The Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s.

-1 Samuel 17:47

As he proved with Goliath, David needed no armor. And yet here is Jonathan, immediately after making covenant with David, giving David his personal armor, his sword, and his robe.

When Saul heard that God had rejected him as king he fell on the ground, grasped at Samuel. It was Saul’s pathetic grasp at holding on to the kingdom, as if he could grasp and stop the unfolding events. But all he got was a torn robe, a kingdom torn away from him. In 1 Samuel, the robe becomes a symbol of the kingdom.

Now, here is Jonathan, taking off his own robe and giving it to David. Jonathan was the rightful heir to the throne, and he was a far more capable leader than his father. He certainly would have made a better king than his father. But he takes off his robe and gives it to David. It appears to be symbolic: that what is rightfully his, he is happily handing over to David.

And I believe this is what his covenant to David is all about. He recognizes that David is God’s man, a better man than his father, a better man than him, and he pledges his loyalty to David, the son of Jesse, the anointed king of Israel.

Jonathan recognizes David’s anointing. Not the anointing of oil, but the anointing of the Holy Spirit that rested upon him. Indeed, the Spirit was with David, for success and blessing followed him everywhere.

Read vs 5

Verse 5 fast forwards. We do not know how much time elapsed, but enough time for Saul to recognize that David wasn’t only able to handle himself in battle, he was an excellent military leader. He is so successful at it that it becomes clear to everyone in Israel. Clearly, David’s fame is rapidly growing.

Everyone is happy with David, even Saul. But the stage has been set for the volatility of an insecure king.

Read vs 6-9

Saul and David

Enough time has passed where it seems that David has become the second most famous commander in all of Israel’s army, surpassed only by the king. And once again, Saul and David were returning, victorious, from battle with the persistent Philistines. And upon their return, the women of Israel sing a song of victory.

It is very unlikely that this song is meant to elevate David over Saul: not a wise thing to do with a king like Saul. In this ancient Israelite culture, both the words for thousand and ten thousand can simply mean “very many.” The song could mean something like, “Saul has struck down his myriads, and David his multitudes.”

How true it was! For the first time since Joshua, the enemies of Israel were being driven back. The people were rejoicing. Saul, too, should have been basking in the blessing of the Lord. But he sees the people elevating David as his equal, if not lifting David above him. And in a time for joy, Saul is boiling inside, brooding with jealousy.

Look very carefully at the wording of verse 8. Saul thinks to himself, “What more can he have but the kingdom?” And then it says, “Saul eyed David from that day on.” Saul is beginning to suspect. Perhaps David is the man that God thinks is better. Perhaps this Bethlehemite is the next king.

It’s tragic that Saul begins to perceive the future through the lens of jealousy. He projects himself into David, thinking David wants to take the throne, thinking David is an ambitious threat. But what Saul entirely fails to understand is that David is not ambitious, he’s anointed. Yahweh is at work. And to resist David, or to look suspiciously upon him, is to fear and fight with the will of God.

You might think to yourself, I’m glad I’m not like Saul. What a terrible way to be. It’s obvious when the contrast is so obvious. But it’s harder to see through the haze of your every day.

Have you ever compared yourself to others and felt a prick of jealousy? Have you wondered if someone was trying to wrestle something out of your hands? Have you battled for control? Have you suspiciously looked upon others, perhaps with a judgmental eye? Have you ever projected your own insecurities and failures upon others? None of these things are far from Saul. None of us are far from Saul.

And all this suspicion and jealousy is just another sign of Saul’s failure. He will continue to pathetically grasp at the royal robe, but it has been torn away and given to David; just as the Holy Spirit was taken away and given to David. Instead, God has given Saul a spirit of another sort.

Read vs 10-11

I’ve read all kinds of psychological diagnoses of Saul: narcissistic, severely depressed, bi-polar, other options and combinations. He was clearly suffering from a psychological illness. But this is not merely a clinical matter. This is a spiritual matter. The text unambiguously says that Saul’s internal torment was because of a harmful spirit sent from the Lord.

If this is not a statement of the sovereignty of God, then nothing is. Without getting too deep into the inner workings of God’s sovereign will, or the activities and intentions of spiritual beings, know this: God is the first cause of all things. Above everything else, that’s what this verse is communicating.

God gives and takes away (Job 1:21). He builds up and He tears down. God Himself has spoken,

“It shall come to pass that as I have watched over [Israel] to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord.” -Jeremiah 31:28

When God gives, it is because He is working all things together for those who love Him. When God takes, it is because He is working all things together for those who love Him (Romans 2:28). And all of this according to His glorious purposes!

Saul has rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has thus rejected him. That rejection is complete as Saul descends into spiritual, psychological, and eventually, physical collapse. Saul’s collapse is his own doing, just as God has sent Saul into collapse. But Saul’s afflictions are Israel’s revelations, like a thick and choking haze that makes clear blue skies an absolute wonder.

Back in chapter 16 – in a passage I did not preach on – we read that Saul was regularly afflicted by this harmful spirit. His moods were so dark and so frequent that they scoured Israel, looking for someone who could help Saul. Eventually a skilled musician was found, a musician that loved to sing about the things of God.

Whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him. -1 Samuel 16:23

The day after Saul’s jealous suspicions are aroused against David – evils within his own heart – God punishes him with a harmful spirit. And it seems that in this moment, as the spirit afflicts Saul, Saul’s sick mind is consumed with his suspicions and jealousies. He becomes convinced that David is not his friend, but a dangerous enemy. He is driven to a completely irrational kill or be killed mentality.

But notice verse 11. It’s not the evil spirit, but Saul’s own thinking that turns murderous. The wording is very careful: He thought, “I will pin David to the wall.”

Saul is entirely responsible for the state of his heart and the actions that follow.

Twice he tries to kill David! Twice he fails. Again, he does not recognize that he battles not with David, but with Yahweh.

Read vs 12-16

Because he is not thinking rationally, Saul perceives David to be too great a threat in his own home. So he kicks him out, sending him to the front lines, giving him the highest command in the army. I imagine he hopes David is killed: A foreshadowing of what David would later do to Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah? That makes for three attempts on David’s life.

But Saul’s plan completely backfires. David is so successful that it is evident to any Israelite with a brain, the Lord is with David; and they love him for it. Conversely, Saul is driven only into greater fear and suspicion and jealousy. We’ll see this play out in the chapters to come.

Clearly, because David loves God, all things seem to work together for his good. Nothing is working out for Saul.

Saul and Jonathan had very different relationships with David. Saul looked at David with suspicion and jealousy. David was a threat to Saul’s control. Conversely, Jonathan looked upon David with love and hope. He saw a better future in the face of David.

As I have now clearly established in this sermon series, David prefigures Jesus. Every human has the choice to approach Jesus in one of two ways: the way of Saul or the way of Jonathan.

Though people might not say they view Jesus with suspicion, how many are willing to give the kingdom of their lives over to Him? How many are willing to surrender control to the man that is better than them?

Jesus is God’s appointed man and Anointed King, to not accept this is to grasp at things already torn from you. I plead with you, before everything is eternally stripped from you, give your trust and loyalty to Jesus!

Like Jonathan, recognize that Jesus is a better man than you, lived perfectly like you could not, turned aside the wrath of God you deserved, then through loyal faith we become friends of the King.

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” -John 15:13-17

What a blessing it is to have a friend in King Jesus! And He is the friend you have been longing for: the friend you can go into the trenches with, that your heart is unified with, that you can be proud to stand beside.

While you were God’s enemy, Christ gave His life to make peace, to make you His friend. Faith – a gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit – is the covenantal seal of that friendship.

“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” – and he was called a friend of God. -James 2:23

Even if this world provides you with no friends, through faith your unfailing friend is Jesus Christ: the crucified, risen, and reigning King of all kings!

Like Jonathan gave David his robe of royalty, you can give Jesus control of your life. Trust Him. Believe in what He has done. Bow your knee and follow Him. He promises that you will live in the shadow of His victory: abundant life, peace, and rest. Life will not be perfect, but the haze of a dying world will be forever lifted.