By Briggs King
Perhaps it would be fitting in our story about Jonathan’s loyalty to David to include a bit of information about King Saul, Jonathan’s father. I Samuel 24:1-16 gives us the information that David was hiding in a cave, when Saul came into the cave, not knowing that David and his men were inside. David arose and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe (verse 4) and could have killed Saul, but he would not do so, because he recognized Saul as the Lord’s anointed (verse 6). When David made himself known to Saul outside the cave, Saul spoke in I Samuel 24:17: “And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.” Then in verses 20-21, Saul said to David: “And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand. Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father’s house.” David’s reply is in verse 22: “And David sware unto Saul, and Saul went home; but David and his men gat them up unto the hold.”
Because of his friendship with Jonathan, and because David recognized Saul as God’s anointed, he would not kill Saul. But more than that, David swore that he would not cut of the descendants of Saul, which would have included Jonathan, when he (David) became king. After all of the attempts that Saul had made, and would still make, to kill David, David would not kill Saul’s descendants. The recognition of Saul as God’s anointed did not mean that Saul was necessarily godly, or that the “power of God” was on him, as many preachers mistakenly assume concerning the word “anointed”. The anointing really means an appointing of Saul to be king of Israel. Scripture shows many men who were anointed (appointed) by the Lord to a position or to do a work for Him, yet many of these men were not godly at all. Such is the case of Jehu in II Kings chapters nine and ten, for II Kings 10:31 says that “Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the LORD…” Also Isaiah 45:1-5 shows Cyrus, a Persian king, as being called “anointed” by the LORD, yet verses 4 and 5 both show God saying to Cyrus: “Thou hast not known Me”. So, we need to use Bible words as the Bible uses them and stop calling the filling of the Spirit “God’s anointing”