The biography of David is more extensively covered in the Bible with more details than any other person.
1 Samuel 18:1-2 – The irony is, as Saul becomes more resentful of David, Jonathan finds a "soul-mate" of friendship with David.
{Absurdly and sadly, some mis-interpreters have added to this passage a component of fornication between these two to bolster their contention that God and the Bible condone sodomy, as homosexuality.}
18:3 – The term for making a covenant in Hebrew is to "cut a covenant" and here the verb is in the singular for Jonathan and David, as a plural subject.
David and Jonathan were making or cutting a "blood covenant."
Many will understand the concept of covenant between God and believers. It is this concept of covenant being applied between to believers. Often believers within a Christian fellowship will find a closer kindred feeling than they will find even with their own unsaved family members.
18:4 – This covenant was saying, "I yield my life over to you…my position, possessions, and power."
Jonathan saw something in David where the covenant would eventually have Jonathan recognizing David as heir to throne of King Saul and Jonathan, as the commander of the army in 1 Sam. 23:17, "And he said to him, "Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that."
18:5 – Even Saul recognized David’s ability and promoted him.
19:4-5 – This is some months later after ch. 18. King Saul has continued in his irrational persecution of David, even after giving him Michal, his oldest daughter, as David’s first wife.
Jonathan persuades his father to back off persecuting David.
19:6-7 – Saul is on-again and off-again about David.
20:10-11 – Jonathan continued to see something in David and God’s future for him, which his father, King Saul, could not or would not see.
20:12-13 – Saul was king, so they had to walk lightly.
20:14-15 – It was common in that era and locale for a new king to kill off all other rivals and heirs to a throne. Upon becoming king, David would have killed off all of the descendents of Saul, however God’s people were not like other nations. Even later in 2 Sam. 9 King David had a special measure that he took in honoring Mepibosheth, a son of Jonathan.
20:16 – The covenant renewed.
"So Jonathan did thus with the house of David, saying, ‘Have Yahweh require [that this {v. 15a} might be done] from the hand of the enemies of David."
Jonathan had seen what God had planned for David and cut a covenant with David. So he asserted that, if David sought to destroy his descendents, God would have David’s enemies bring vengeance on David. Of course, David would do no harm to Jonathan and his family by any means. This vengeance coming from David’s enemies is the "it" in the NKJV & NASB - New King James "Let the LORD require it at the hand of David’s enemies." New American Standard Version "So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "May the LORD require it at the hands of David's enemies."
However, other translations go a different direction:
New American Bible "the name of Jonathan must never be allowed by the family of David to die out from among you, or the LORD will make you answer for it."
English Standard Version "May the LORD take vengeance on David’s enemies."
New International Version "May the LORD call David’s enemies to account."
New Living Translation "May the LORD destroy all your enemies!"
New Revised Standard "May the LORD seek out the enemies of David."
20:17 – Life is relationship. When all is said and done, life in its importance and essence is relationships with others.
Questions to consider:
