For Teaching

1 Samuel 20: What the Passage Says

138 claims across 42 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What 1 Samuel 20 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

David escapes to Jonathan and says Saul is trying to kill him. The two make a plan: David will skip the king's new moon feast while Jonathan tests his father's mood, and Jonathan will signal the result with arrows shot in a field. At the feast Saul rages at Jonathan and throws a spear at him, proving he means to kill David. Jonathan passes the warning by the agreed signal, and the two friends part after renewing the sworn agreement between themselves and their descendants.

Claim by Claim

20:1
- David fled from Naioth in Ramah.
- David came to Jonathan.
- David asked Jonathan what he had done.
- David asked what his iniquity was.
- David asked what his sin against Jonathan's father was.
- David said that Jonathan's father was seeking his life.
20:2
- Jonathan said to David that it was far from being so.
- Jonathan said David would not die.
- Jonathan said his father did nothing great or small without disclosing it to him.
- Jonathan asked why his father would hide this thing from him.
- Jonathan said this was not so.
20:3
- David swore again.
- David said Jonathan's father knew well that David had found favor in Jonathan's eyes.
- David said Jonathan's father had said that Jonathan must not know this.
- David said the reason given was that Jonathan would be grieved.
- David swore by the life of the LORD and by Jonathan's own life.
- David said there was only a step between him and death.
20:4
- Jonathan said to David that whatever David desired, he would do for him.
20:5
- David said to Jonathan that the next day was the new moon.
- David said he was expected to sit and eat with the king.
- David asked Jonathan to let him go.
- David said he would hide in the field until the third evening.
20:6
- David said that if Jonathan's father missed him at all, Jonathan should speak.
- David told Jonathan to say that David had earnestly asked leave of him to hurry to Bethlehem his city.
- David told Jonathan to say the reason was a yearly sacrifice there for the whole family.
20:7
- David said that if Saul said 'It is good,' then David would be safe.
- David said that if Saul became very angry, Jonathan should know that evil was determined by him.
20:8
- David told Jonathan to deal in covenant loyalty with his servant.
- David said Jonathan had brought his servant into a covenant of the LORD with him.
- David said that if there was iniquity in him, Jonathan should kill him himself.
- David asked why Jonathan should bring him to his father.
20:9
- Jonathan said far be it from David.
- Jonathan said that if he knew for certain that evil was determined by his father to come upon David, he would tell David.
20:10
- David asked Jonathan who would tell him.
- David asked what would happen if Jonathan's father answered him harshly.
20:11
- Jonathan told David to come and go out to the field.
- The two of them went out into the field.
20:12
- Jonathan invoked the LORD, the God of Israel.
- Jonathan said he would sound out his father about that time the next day or the third day.
- Jonathan said that if his father was favorable toward David, he would send to David and disclose it to him.
20:13
- Jonathan called on the LORD to do so to him and more also if he failed.
- Jonathan said that if his father intended evil against David, he would disclose it to David.
- Jonathan said he would send David away so that he might go in peace.
- Jonathan asked that the LORD be with David as he had been with his father.
20:14
- Jonathan asked David to show him the covenant loyalty of the LORD while he still lived.
- Jonathan asked that he might not die.
20:15
- Jonathan asked David not to cut off his loyalty from Jonathan's house forever.
- Jonathan said this should hold even when the LORD cut off every one of David's enemies from the face of the earth.
20:16
- Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David.
- Jonathan said the LORD would require it at the hand of David's enemies.
20:17
- Jonathan made David swear again.
- Jonathan did this because of his love for David.
- Jonathan loved David as he loved his own life.
20:18
- Jonathan said to David that the next day was the new moon.
- Jonathan said David would be missed.
- Jonathan said the reason was that David's seat would be empty.
20:19
- Jonathan told David that after three days he should go down quickly.
- Jonathan told David to come to the place where he had hidden on the day of the business.
- Jonathan told David to remain beside the stone Ezel.
20:20
- Jonathan said he would shoot three arrows to the side of it.
- Jonathan said he would do this as though shooting at a target.
20:21
- Jonathan said he would send a boy to go find the arrows.
- Jonathan said that if he expressly told the boy that the arrows were on this side of him and to take them, then David should come.
- Jonathan said that in that case it was safe for David and there was no harm.
- Jonathan swore this by the life of the LORD.
20:22
- Jonathan said that if he told the young man that the arrows were beyond him, David should go away.
- Jonathan said that in that case the LORD had sent David away.
20:23
- Jonathan referred to the matter he and David had spoken of.
- Jonathan said the LORD was between him and David forever.
20:24
- David hid in the field.
- The new moon came.
- The king sat down to eat food.
20:25
- The king sat on his seat as at other times.
- The seat was by the wall.
- Jonathan rose up.
- Abner sat at Saul's side.
- David's place was empty.
20:26
- Saul said nothing that day.
- Saul thought something had happened to David.
- Saul thought David was not ceremonially clean.
- Saul concluded that David was surely not clean.
20:27
- On the next day, the second day of the month, David's place was empty.
- Saul spoke to Jonathan his son.
- Saul asked why the son of Jesse had not come to the meal either yesterday or today.
20:28
- Jonathan answered Saul.
- Jonathan said David had earnestly asked leave of him to go to Bethlehem.
20:29
- Jonathan reported that David had asked to be let go.
- Jonathan reported David saying that his family had a sacrifice in the city.
- Jonathan reported David saying that his brother had commanded him to be there.
- Jonathan reported David saying that if he had found favor in Jonathan's eyes he should be allowed to slip away and see his brothers.
- Jonathan said that this was why David had not come to the king's table.
20:30
- Saul's anger burned against Jonathan.
- Saul called Jonathan the son of a perverse and rebellious woman.
- Saul said he knew that Jonathan had chosen the son of Jesse.
- Saul said this was to Jonathan's own shame.
- Saul said this was to the shame of his mother's nakedness.
20:31
- Saul said that as long as the son of Jesse lived on the ground, Jonathan and his kingdom would not be established.
- Saul ordered Jonathan to send and fetch David to him.
- Saul said David was a son of death and must die.
20:32
- Jonathan answered Saul his father.
- Jonathan asked why David should be put to death.
- Jonathan asked what David had done.
20:33
- Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan to strike him.
- Jonathan knew from this that his father was determined to kill David.
20:34
- Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger.
- Jonathan ate no food on the second day of the month.
- Jonathan was grieved for David.
- The reason was that his father had shamed him, the text leaving unclear whether the one shamed was David or Jonathan.
20:35
- In the morning Jonathan went out to the field.
- He went at the time appointed with David.
- A little boy was with him.
20:36
- Jonathan told his boy to run and find the arrows he shot.
- The boy ran.
- Jonathan shot an arrow beyond the boy.
20:37
- The boy came to the place of the arrow Jonathan had shot.
- Jonathan called after the boy.
- Jonathan asked whether the arrow was not beyond him.
20:38
- Jonathan called after the boy again.
- Jonathan told him to make speed and hurry and not stand still.
- Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows.
- The boy came to his master.
20:39
- The boy knew nothing of the matter.
- Only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
20:40
- Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy.
- Jonathan told the boy to go and carry them to the city.
20:41
- The boy went.
- David arose from the south side.
- David fell on his face to the ground.
- David bowed himself three times.
- They kissed one another.
- They wept with one another.
- David wept the more.
20:42
- Jonathan told David to go in peace.
- Jonathan said the two of them had sworn in the name of the LORD.
- Jonathan quoted the oath that the LORD would be between him and David.
- Jonathan quoted the oath that the LORD would be between his seed and David's seed forever.
- David arose and departed.
- Jonathan went into the city.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

20:1: Naioth in Ramah was where David had taken refuge with the prophet Samuel; Ramah was Samuel's home town. David is now back near Saul's home at Gibeah, a few miles away.
20:2: The King James "God forbid" is not a prayer. It was simply a strong denial, the equivalent of "absolutely not" or "no chance."
20:3: "As surely as the LORD lives, and as surely as you live" was the standard Hebrew oath formula, swearing by the life of God and by the life of the person addressed. It was the strongest assurance a speaker could give.
20:5: The new moon, the first day of the lunar month, was a monthly festival marked by sacrifices and a feast. At court it meant a formal meal at the king's table, and members of the royal household and officials were expected to attend, so an absence would be noticed.
20:6: Bethlehem was David's family town, roughly ten miles south of Saul's base at Gibeah. Extended families (clans) held their own yearly sacrifice, a shared meal at which the animal offered was eaten by the relatives who gathered for it. It was a family obligation, and a plausible reason to be away from court.
20:7: "Your servant" is David speaking of himself. Referring to yourself as the other person's servant was ordinary polite speech to a superior, and Jonathan was the king's son.
20:8: The "agreement before the LORD" is a covenant: a formal, sworn bond, made with God called on as witness, that created obligations as binding as those of blood kinship. David and Jonathan had made this pact earlier.
20:13: "May the LORD punish me severely" translates a set oath formula, literally "may God do so to me and more also." The speaker calls down an unnamed punishment on himself if he breaks his word.
20:14: "Faithful kindness" translates the Hebrew word hesed: the loyalty and practical help owed to someone you are bound to by covenant or kinship. It is not warm feeling but committed obligation.
20:15: Jonathan is asking for the lives of his descendants. When a new ruling family took the throne in the ancient Near East, the previous king's male relatives were commonly killed to remove rival claimants. Jonathan is asking to be exempted from that.
20:16: "The house of David" means David's family line and his descendants after him. The agreement is made not just with David personally but with everyone descended from him.
20:17: In this period, "love" was also the ordinary word for loyalty inside a formal agreement, used of kings and their officers and of allied rulers. Jonathan's affection for David is genuine, but the word simultaneously signals binding commitment.
20:19: "The third day" is counted inclusively, the usual Hebrew way: today counts as the first day, so the third day is the day after tomorrow. The stone called Ezel is otherwise unknown; the meaning of the name is uncertain, and the Hebrew of this verse is difficult, so translations differ over the details of the landmark.
20:21: The signal has to work in the open. Jonathan cannot risk being seen talking to David, so he shouts instructions to a boy retrieving arrows; the boy carries the message without knowing there is one, and anyone watching sees only archery practice.
20:23: Calling the LORD a witness between two people made him the guarantor and enforcer of the agreement, the party who would act against whichever man broke it.
20:25: Abner was Saul's cousin and the commander of his army, the highest-ranking man at court after the king. The seat by the wall was the protected, honored position. The Hebrew of this verse is unclear about Jonathan's movement; the ancient Greek version reads that Jonathan sat opposite Saul rather than getting up.
20:26: "Unclean" here means ritually unclean, a temporary condition, not dirty or immoral. Contact with a corpse, a bodily discharge, or certain foods put a person in a state that barred them from a sacred meal until they washed and waited a set time. Saul assumes a harmless explanation for David's absence.
20:27: Saul calls David "the son of Jesse" rather than using his name. Naming a man only by his father this way was a way of holding him at a distance and refusing him respect; Saul does it repeatedly from here on.
20:30: The insult is aimed at Jonathan, not really at his mother. "Son of a twisted, rebellious woman" is an attack on Jonathan's worth by way of his origins. The King James "thy mother's nakedness" translates a Hebrew idiom for sexual shame attached to the family a person came from.
20:31: Jonathan was Saul's eldest son and the expected heir. Saul's point is that Jonathan is destroying his own inheritance by protecting a rival to the throne.
20:33: Saul's spear was kept beside him as a mark of royal authority as well as a weapon; he had already thrown it at David on two earlier occasions.
20:34: Refusing to eat was a public sign of grief and protest. Because the new moon feast ran a second day, Jonathan's walking out and staying away from the table was visible to the whole court.
20:35: The boy is a servant attendant. Sending a boy to retrieve shot arrows was normal practice: arrows were made by hand and worth recovering.
20:40: "Artillery" in 1611 English meant a person's weapons or gear, here the bow and arrows he had been shooting. It had nothing to do with cannon.
20:41: Bowing face to the ground three times was the formal gesture of respect given to a king or a superior; David is honoring Jonathan as the king's son. A kiss on greeting or parting was the ordinary custom between men, with no romantic sense. The final Hebrew phrase, literally "until David made great," is unclear: it may mean David wept the longest or hardest, or that he wept until he could control himself.
20:42: "Seed" is the King James word for descendants. Swearing the oath between their descendants as well as themselves made it a permanent family obligation rather than a personal favor between two men, binding sons and grandsons who had not been born yet.

Read 1 Samuel 20