What is a friend?
Someone who helps you move. Someone who shows up at the hospital. Someone who knows all about you and likes you anyway.
But the friendship between David and Jonathan took friendship to a whole new level.
Jonathan was a prince, the son of King Saul, and next in line for the throne. David was a shepherd boy who had just become a national hero by killing Goliath.
By all rights, Jonathan should have seen David as a threat. Instead, the Bible says, “Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.”
Jonathan took off his royal robe and gave it to David, along with his tunic, his sword, his bow and his belt. In a single gesture, the crown prince handed over the symbols of his royal future.
When King Saul became jealous and tried to kill David, it was Jonathan who warned him. The two friends worked out a secret signal: Jonathan would shoot arrows in a field, and the way he called out to his servant would tell David whether it was safe to come home.
It wasn’t. So the two friends said goodbye, and wept.
Think about it. Jonathan knew that if David lived, Jonathan would never be king. And he helped David anyway.
That’s what true friendship is. A true friend cheers for you, even when it costs them something.
Years later, after Jonathan died, King David found Jonathan’s son, who was lame in both feet, and gave him a permanent seat at the king’s table. A true friendship outlives the friends.
Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, thank-you for the friends You have placed in my life. Thank-you for helping me be a friend like Jonathan, loyal and generous even when it costs me something. Thank-you for Jesus, the friend who sticks closer than a brother. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Wikipedia: David and Jonathan, Jonathan (1 Samuel), Mephibosheth
Look-It Up:
The story of their friendship is told in 1 Samuel 18–20.
Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. … And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.
One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Free Bonus:
The story of David’s kindness to Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth, is told in 2 Samuel 9.
When David heard that Jonathan had died in battle, he wrote a lament that includes the famous line, “How the mighty have fallen!” (2 Samuel 1:25-26).