Our oldest grandson is named Jonathan, and I like that name very much. The name “Jonathan” comes from a word that means: “Jehovah-given”, and Jonathan the son of King Saul was truly a gift of God to David. The relationship between David and Jonathan was a relationship between two young men who walked with God. The stupid idea of some modern, perverted people is that there was a sexual relationship between Jonathan and David, but nothing could be further from the truth! When a nation like ours comes to the day to believe the perverted person more than the godly person, we are in trouble! I have written a dozen articles on David and Goliath, but I will move forward with the life of David to the friendship that seems to have come instantly between Jonathan and David, after David had killed Goliath. In I Samuel 17:58 we learn that David, while standing before Saul, identified himself as the son of Jesse. Then I Samuel 18:1 says, “And it came to pass, when he (David) 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.”
A friend who would love another like he loves his own soul is the kind of friend each of us would do well to have, and Jonathan was that kind of friend to David. I often wonder just what rewards will be given to those who have been faithful to God and His cause. When I think along these lines, I have the idea that many rewards may go to people that most of the world has never known. Perhaps quite a few people know Jonathan, because of the record the Bible gives of his friendship with David, but I wonder just how many people would put him in the category with men whom most of the world have known and considered heroes? The Bible does not give a great amount of space to the life of Jonathan, but it does give enough to cause me to desire to have at least one friend who is as great a friend to me as Jonathan was to David. By the way, I believe I have a few friends like this, but they could likely be counted pretty easily. Jonathan had little time to know much about David, except he may have known that he played the harp to relieve Saul, Jonathan’s father, from the influence of evil spirits. He also had to know of the bravery of David in fighting and killing Goliath. It is doubtful that he knew much more about David, but he knew enough to desire to befriend him!
By J. Briggs King, Evangelist, Rainsville, AL (678) 451-0921