1 Samuel 20
David and Jonathan devise a test and a signal. When Saul throws his spear at his own son, they know David must flee.
Summary
Chapter 20 is the climax of the David-Jonathan friendship in 1 Samuel and one of the most carefully structured chapters in the book. David comes to Jonathan from Naioth in a state of near despair and makes the argument that there must be a step between Saul's attitude and death — just one step — and asks directly: what is my sin, what have I done? Jonathan is still reluctant to believe his father wants David dead; surely if Saul planned this Jonathan would know. David counters: your father knows that you favour me, and thinks you should not know. They devise a plan to test Saul's intentions through David's unexplained absence at the new moon feast and Jonathan's explanation of it.
The signal system is elaborate and careful — long arrows mean danger, short arrows mean safety. Jonathan also renews the covenant, asking that David show him kindness when the Lord has cut off every enemy from before him. He asks David to show the kindness of the Lord not just to him but to his house forever, and never to cut off his kindness from his house even when the Lord has cut off all the enemies of David from the face of the earth. David swears it. At the feast Saul's reaction on the second day is violent and revealing — he calls Jonathan a son of a perverse woman, accuses him of choosing David to his own shame and the shame of his mother's nakedness, and declares that David must die. When Jonathan asks what David has done, Saul throws his spear at his own son. Jonathan rises in fierce anger, grieves, and eats nothing. The next day he carries out the arrow signal. The boy is dismissed. David comes from behind the stone, falls on his face three times, and they embrace and weep. David weeps the more. They part. Jonathan says: go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the Lord, saying the Lord shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants forever.
- 1 Samuel 1Chapter 1 opens at the sanctuary at Shiloh, where Elkanah of Ephraim brings his household each year to worship.
- 1 Samuel 2Chapter 2 opens with the Song of Hannah, one of the most influential poems in the Hebrew Bible — my heart exults in the Lord, the mighty brought low, the hungry fed, the barren bearing seven.
- 1 Samuel 3Chapter 3 is one of the most carefully paced call narratives in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 4Chapter 4 is the disaster that the previous chapters have been building toward.
- 1 Samuel 5Chapter 5 is the ark narrative in Philistine territory, told with something close to sardonic comedy.
- 1 Samuel 6Chapter 6 is the ark's return to Israel, engineered by Philistine priests who want to know whether their afflictions are the Lord's doing or mere coincidence.
- 1 Samuel 7Chapter 7 is the closing movement of the Samuel-as-judge arc.
- 1 Samuel 8Chapter 8 is the pivot of the entire book.
- 1 Samuel 9Chapter 9 introduces Saul, and the introduction is built on irony.
- 1 Samuel 10Chapter 10 is Saul's anointing and public selection.
- 1 Samuel 11Chapter 11 is Saul's first military action and the only chapter of his reign where he functions without any reservation or failure.
- 1 Samuel 12Chapter 12 is Samuel's formal farewell as Israel's judge, a speech that occupies the whole chapter.
- 1 Samuel 13Chapter 13 begins the decline.
- 1 Samuel 14Chapter 14 is a chapter of action and its costs.
- 1 Samuel 15Chapter 15 is the final disqualification.
- 1 Samuel 16Chapter 16 is the introduction of David and one of the most carefully constructed scenes of divine election in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 17Chapter 17 is the book's most famous chapter.
- 1 Samuel 18Chapter 18 is where the book's two great relationships crystallize.
- 1 Samuel 19Chapter 19 is the escalation from hostility to overt murderous intent.
- 1 Samuel 20Chapter 20 is the central scene of the David-Jonathan friendship and one of the great parting scenes in ancient literature.
- 1 Samuel 21Chapter 21 is a chapter of disguise and desperation.
- 1 Samuel 22Chapter 22 is one of the darkest chapters in the book.
- 1 Samuel 23Chapter 23 is a chapter of pursuit and one extraordinary meeting.
- 1 Samuel 24Chapter 24 is the first of two episodes in which David has Saul's life in his hands and refuses to take it.
- 1 Samuel 25Chapter 25 opens with Samuel's death — mourned by all Israel — and then turns to a story of David's near loss of self-control and the woman who stops it.
- 1 Samuel 26Chapter 26 is the second episode in which David refuses to kill Saul and, like chapter 24, it is structured to make the refusal as emphatic as possible.
- 1 Samuel 27Chapter 27 is the chapter of David's double game among the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 28Chapter 28 is one of the strangest and most debated passages in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 29Chapter 29 is the resolution of a problem the narrative has been building toward: David, marching with Achish and the Philistine forces to fight against Israel.
- 1 Samuel 30Chapter 30 is the crisis of David's time among the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 31Chapter 31 is the last chapter of 1 Samuel and the end of Saul's story.