1 Samuel 17:57-58 (KJV)
And as David returned
from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before
Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
And Saul said to him,
Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy
servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.
1 Samuel 18:1-4 (KJV)
And it came to pass,
when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was
knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
And Saul took him that
day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house.
Then Jonathan and David
made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
And Jonathan stripped
himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments,
even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.
In a series such as I am
attempting this year, where we examine various characters of the Bible for
clues as to what it means to be spiritual, I doubt that many would include a
message on the person I want to preach about today.
That is not to say that
Jonathan is not acknowledged, by Bible students and preachers, as a good man,
but:
· He is the son of King Saul – not so good of a king
· His story is not that detailed in the Bible and
· He does die with his dad in the end
But I am compelled of
the Lord to give Jonathan at least one full service dedicated just to him.
Fact is, Jonathan’s is
an amazing story of godliness in what had to have been tumultuous
circumstances.
Notice first of all that
he was,
I. FAITH FULL
IN COMBAT
1 Samuel 13:2-3 (KJV)
Saul chose him three
thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in
mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the
rest of the people he sent every man to his tent.
And Jonathan smote the
garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it.
And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews
hear.
Saul blew the trumpet
but Jonathan smote the garrison.
Jonathan’s faith in
combat is clearly represented in,
1 Samuel 14:1-16 (KJV)
Now it came to pass upon
a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his
armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison, that is on the
other side. But he told not his father.
And Saul tarried in the
uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the
people that were with him were about six hundred men;
And Ahiah, the son of
Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD'S
priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was
gone.
And between the
passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines' garrison,
there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and
the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.
The forefront of the one
was situate northward over against Michmash, and the other southward over
against Gibeah.
And Jonathan said to the
young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of
these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for
there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.
And his armourbearer
said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee
according to thy heart.
Then said Jonathan,
Behold, we will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto
them.
If they say thus unto
us, Tarry until we come to you; then we will stand still in our place, and will
not go up unto them.
But if they say thus,
Come up unto us; then we will go up: for the LORD hath delivered them into our
hand: and this shall be a sign unto us.
And both of them
discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines
said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid
themselves.
And the men of the
garrison answered Jonathan and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and
we will shew you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armourbearer, Come up
after me: for the LORD hath delivered them into the hand of Israel.
And Jonathan climbed up
upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armourbearer after him: and they fell
before Jonathan; and his armourbearer slew after him.
And that first
slaughter, which Jonathan and his armourbearer made, was about twenty men,
within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow.
And there was trembling
in the host, in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the
spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great
trembling.
And the watchmen of Saul
in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and, behold, the multitude melted away, and they
went on beating down one another.
Saul and his company
seem to have a knack for inactivity when they should be fighting.
Jonathan was of a
completely different spirit.
I think he might have
known something about his father that others had to learn over time – he wasn’t
a leader.
So while Saul and the rest
of the army shaded themselves under the pomegranate tree, Jonathan got his
armor bearer and went out to engage the enemy.
Now, the key to the
story is,
1 Samuel 14:6 (KJV)
And Jonathan said to the
young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of
these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no
restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.
Jonathan adventured into
the field of battle, by faith.
I don’t want to imply
that a spiritual man doesn’t count the cost.
Jesus said,
Luke 14:28-30 (KJV)
For which of you,
intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost,
whether he have sufficient to finish it?
Lest haply, after he
hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it
begin to mock him,
Saying, This man began
to build, and was not able to finish.
Wisdom and discretion
dictates that a soul study out the consequences and costs of his actions.
He does not run headlong
into situations without forethought and prayer.
But neither does a spiritual man let numbers prevent him
from doing what God has called him to do.
It was years ago I heard
David Gibbs challenge the pastors attending one of his Christian Law
Association pastoral courses to make sure we do SOMETHING by faith every year.
His argument was this –
churches claim to be organs of faith.
But we operate many
times, much like any typical business, perhaps a secular non-profit.
When taken to court for
our faith, a judge can reasonably expect that we demonstrate that we are
different than other businesses by the action of our faith.
An action of faith would
simply be doing what we believe God has led us to do, even if we don’t have any
apparent means of doing it.
Jonathan believed that,
if God was in it, he and his armor bearer could defeat a whole garrison of the
enemy.
I note secondly that
Jonathan was
II. LOVING IN
FRIENDSHIP
1 Samuel 17:57-58 (KJV)
And as David returned
from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before
Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
And Saul said to him,
Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy
servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.
1 Samuel 18:1-4 (KJV)
And it came to pass,
when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was
knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
And Saul took him that
day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house.
Then Jonathan and David
made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
And Jonathan stripped
himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments,
even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.
It’s not difficult to
see why Jonathan and David would have become close friends.
· Jonathan was an adventurer in combat
· David was the same
While Saul talked a big
game, both Jonathan and David were the kind of men who got out and played the
game.
Though the Bible does
not go into details, I can imagine that the two were able to “feed off of each
other.”
Men can do that.
· A great coach
· A great officer
· A great member of the team
They inspire and
generate passion in others.
I listened to an
interview of Kris Tanto Paranto this week.
Paranto was a part of a
team of specialists to responded to the assault on the embassy at Benghazi.
For 13 hours he and the
team of, I think six, men held off the attackers.
He said that when he
heard the guns begin to fire and stepped out to respond his first thought was
“Thank God I am the one going!”
He knew it was going to
be bad, but he knew that he and the rest of the team were capable of their
assignment.
He was glad it was him
and not a less experienced team.
He said that, as the
action was unfolding, he didn’t really have to think about his
responsibilities, he knew exactly what he was supposed to do and he knew
exactly what the others would do.
It’s called synergism
“The interaction or cooperation of two or
more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect
greater than the sum of their separate effects.”[1]
Did you notice that
Jesus sent His disciples out by twos?
Two can do more than
twice is much as one.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
(KJV)
Two are better than one;
because they have a good reward for their labour.
For if they fall, the
one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for
he hath not another to help him up.
Again, if two lie
together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?
And if one prevail
against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly
broken.
I believe the modern
acceptance of homosexuality is of the devil.
And one of the devilish
things that has resulted is that real men don’t develop the bonds with other
men for fear of it looking “weird.”
Men need to be around
men.
They need to:
· Feed off one another
· Provoke one another
· Inspire one another
to be greater
· Men
· Leaders
· Husbands
· Parents and
· Conquerors and
· Providers
A spiritual man will
inspire others to be spiritual men.
Jonathan was:
Faith full in combat
Loving in friendship
Finally Jonathan was,
III. FALLEN
WITH HIS FATHER
1 Samuel 31:1-3 (KJV)
Now the Philistines
fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines,
and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.
And the Philistines
followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan,
and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons.
And the battle went sore
against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers.
It would be impossible
for me to explain the relationship Jonathan had with his father, King Saul.
Jonathan would have been
so much better king than his father was.
· But he was not king, so he served his father
· He understood, I think, that God had chosen David to replace
Saul and not himself, so he was a friend to David
· He served his father and
· He supported his father
And all the while
· He sustained his friendship to David
He died fighting in a
contest, the Philistines believed David would be helping them to win.
His story reminds me a
little bit of what some of the men of the civil war went through.
General Grant wrote in
his memoirs about some of the personal struggles he went through concerning the
war.
He believed that the
Civil War was the judgment of God upon our country for the Mexican-American
War, which he said, was an unjust conflict, instigated by our government to
steal Texas from Mexico.
He claimed that all of
the ranking officers he knew personally all felt the same about it.
But they fought anyway –
because they were soldiers – they served their country, right or wrong.
Then came the Civil War.
Officers and soldiers
who had fought side by side in Mexico, now had divided loyalties.
Men who had been
classmates at West Point, now found themselves competing against one another,
each fighting for what he believed his country stood for.
· Fathers and sons
· Brothers and cousins
Faced off against one
another; each willing to kill the other for a cause much bigger than their love
for one another.
What should Jonathan
have done?
· Should he have betrayed his father and joined David’s ragtag
band?
· Should he have shirked his duties and not gone to battle
with his father that day?
All I can tell you for
sure is that:
· He never quit loving David
· David never held it against him and
He fell in combat,
alongside his father.
A spiritual person will
die for his convictions.
Jonathan was:
· Faith full in combat
· Loving in friendship
· Fallen with his father
Conclusion
· A spiritual man will act in faith
· A spiritual man will inspire others to be spiritual men and
· A spiritual man will died for his convictions (and live for
them too)
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