David and Jonathan’s Covenant

Scripture:

1 Samuel 18:1-4 (Chapter 20)

Quick Summary:

David and Jonathon cut a covenant, which is a vow of being best friends (BFFs). When Jonathon’s father, King Saul tried to kill David, Jonathon protected him because of their covenant.

The Point:

God wants a covenant with you. 

Questions for Family Time:

1.     What did it mean that David and Jonathon had a covenant?

a.      They were BFFs and everything they had belonged to both of them.

2.     What does it mean when you have a covenant with God?

a.      It means that you are BFFs with God. Everything he has is yours. You stand up for each other.

3.     How are you a good BFF to your friends?

a.      (I help them when they need help. I tell the teacher if someone is bullying them…)

4.     How are you a good BFF to God?

a.      (I take good care of the world. I help people out that he loves, which is everyone…)

Deeper:

There are a couple themes that run through the whole Bible beginning to end. Covenant is one of those themes. Covenant is the old school word for relationship. But not just any kind of relationship. It is the word for an unbreakable relationship and bond. David and Jonathon had this kind of bond.

David and Jonathon were said to love each other as they loved themselves. That language should sound familiar. Jesus uses that same language, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ to describe the 2^nd most important rule in the whole Bible. (Matthew 22:39). So many of us struggle to know what that looks like. We see a good example in David and Jonathon in Chapter 20. Jonathon’s father, King Saul wanted to kill David. David was a great commander in the military and had become a threat to his throne. This put Jonathon in a weird position. He was the rightful heir of the throne and siding with his father was the socially accepted thing to do. (Let’s be honest, siding with your family is still a socially acceptable thing to do.) On the other hand, he had cut a covenant with David. That covenant meant his loyalties were to be to David. David had done nothing to deserve this death sentence.

Jonathon chose to protect David’s life, even though it meant his father would be so angry he would pull a knife on Jonathon. He would warn David and send David away for his own protection. He would do for David what he would want David to do for him if the roles were reversed. He loved David as he loved himself.

Sometimes we see a glimpse of Jesus in others. I see a glimpse of him in Jonathon. What Jonathon did for David was a selfless act. He reminds me of how Jesus gave up his own life for us. Jesus could have been royalty, but instead he chose to hang on a cross for our well being.

We don’t get a chance to have many relationships that our covenant relationships these days. For me, I have had two:

 1. Nick, my husband. He has been there for me through depression, a master’s degree, negative bank accounts, and the like. He has loved me like he loves himself, and has sacrificed for me. To the best of my ability, I’ve done that stuff for him too. I have loved him as I love myself.

2. Jesus. He has never left me, not once. Even when I have been angry at him, refused to talk to him, or questioned his very existence. Jesus loved me before I loved him, enough to suffer and die for me. And one day a long time ago, I decided I wanted to love him as I love myself. I chose to live for him, rather than myself. And it is in living for him, that I have found life.

Jesus invites all of us into covenant relationship with God. Jesus has already held up his end of that covenant. He has loved us more than he loved himself. He offers each of us a chance to love him back, to live for him. And it is in that covenant relationship, we find someone who will never let us down, who will always be there for us, and who will perfectly love us as they love themselves.   

Personal Reflection:

Who do you have a covenant relationship with? Who do you love as you love yourself and they do that back to you?