[[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[1 Samuel Overview]] | [[1 Samuel 19]] | [[1 Samuel 21]] # 1 Samuel 20 📖 > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts]] [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Jonathan Seeks to Protect David [[#Verse 01.]] David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my offense? How have I sinned before your father, that he is seeking my life?” [[#Verse 02.]] Jonathan said to him, “By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing large or small without making me aware of it. Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won’t happen!” [[#Verse 03.]] Taking an oath, David again said, “Your father is very much aware of the fact that I have found favor with you, and he has thought, ‘Don’t let Jonathan know about this, or he will be upset.’ But as surely as the Lord lives and you live, there is about one step between me and death!”  [[#Verse 04.]] Jonathan replied to David, “Tell me what I can do for you.” [[#Verse 05.]] David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am certainly expected to join the king for a meal. You must send me away so I can hide in the field until the third evening from now. [[#Verse 06.]] If your father happens to miss me, you should say, ‘David urgently requested me to let him go to his town Bethlehem, for there is an annual sacrifice there for his entire family.’  [[#Verse 07.]] If he should then say, ‘That’s fine,’ then your servant is safe. But if he becomes very angry, be assured that he has decided to harm me.  [[#Verse 08.]] You must be loyal to your servant, for you have made a covenant with your servant in the Lord’s name. If I am guilty, you yourself kill me! Why bother taking me to your father?” [[#Verse 09.]] Jonathan said, “Far be it from you to suggest this! If I were at all aware that my father had decided to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you about it?” [[#Verse 10.]] David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”  [[#Verse 11.]] Jonathan said to David, “Come on. Let’s go out to the field.” When the two of them had gone out into the field,  [[#Verse 12.]] Jonathan said to David, “The Lord God of Israel is my witness! I will feel out my father about this time the day after tomorrow. If he is favorably inclined toward David, will I not then send word to you and let you know?  [[#Verse 13.]] But if my father intends to do you harm, may the Lord do all this and more to Jonathan, if I don’t let you know and send word to you, so you can go safely on your way. May the Lord be with you, as he was with my father.  [[#Verse 14.]] While I am still alive, extend to me the loyalty of the Lord, or else I will die.  [[#Verse 15.]] Don’t ever cut off your loyalty to my family, not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth  [[#Verse 16.]] and called David’s enemies to account.” So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David. [[#Verse 17.]] Jonathan once again took an oath with David, because he loved him. In fact Jonathan loved him as much as he did his own life.  [[#Verse 18.]] Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will be empty.  [[#Verse 19.]] On the third day you should go down quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself the day this all started. Stay near the stone Ezel.  [[#Verse 20.]] I will shoot three arrows near it, as though I were shooting at a target.  [[#Verse 21.]] When I send a boy after them, I will say, ‘Go and find the arrows.’ If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them,’ then come back. For as surely as the Lord lives, you will be safe and there will be no problem.  [[#Verse 22.]] But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on the other side of you,’ then get away. For in that case the Lord has sent you away. [[#Verse 23.]] With regard to the matter that you and I discussed, the Lord is the witness between us forever.” [[#Verse 24.]] So David hid in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat down to eat his meal.  [[#Verse 25.]] The king sat down in his usual place by the wall, with Jonathan opposite him and Abner at his side. But David’s place was vacant.  [[#Verse 26.]] However, Saul said nothing about it that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to make him ceremonially unclean. Yes, he must be unclean.”  [[#Verse 27.]] But the next morning, the second day of the new moon, David’s place was still vacant. So Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why has Jesse’s son not come to the meal yesterday or today?” [[#Verse 28.]] Jonathan replied to Saul, “David urgently requested that he be allowed to go to Bethlehem.  [[#Verse 29.]] He said, ‘Permit me to go, for we are having a family sacrifice in the town, and my brother urged me to be there. So now, if I have found favor with you, let me go to see my brothers.’ For that reason he has not come to the king’s table.” [[#Verse 30.]] Saul became angry with Jonathan and said to him, “You stupid traitor! Don’t I realize that to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness you have chosen this son of Jesse?  [[#Verse 31.]] For as long as this son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now, send some men and bring him to me. For he is as good as dead!” [[#Verse 32.]] Jonathan responded to his father Saul, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”  [[#Verse 33.]] Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan in order to strike him down. So Jonathan was convinced that his father had decided to kill David.  [[#Verse 34.]] Jonathan got up from the table enraged. He did not eat any food on that second day of the new moon, for he was upset that his father had humiliated David. [[#Verse 35.]] The next morning Jonathan, along with a young servant, went out to the field to meet David.  [[#Verse 36.]] He said to his servant, “Run, find the arrows that I am about to shoot.” As the servant ran, Jonathan shot the arrow beyond him.  [[#Verse 37.]] When the servant came to the place where Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan called out to the servant, “Isn’t the arrow farther beyond you?”  [[#Verse 38.]] Jonathan called out to the servant, “Hurry! Go faster! Don’t delay!” Jonathan’s servant retrieved the arrow and came back to his master.  [[#Verse 39.]] (Now the servant did not understand any of this. Only Jonathan and David knew what was going on.) [[#Verse 40.]] Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the servant who was with him. He said to him, “Go, take these things back to the town.” [[#Verse 41.]] When the servant had left, David got up from beside the mound, knelt with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then they kissed each other and they both wept, especially David.  [[#Verse 42.]] Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn together in the name of the Lord saying, ‘The Lord will be between me and you and between my descendants and your descendants forever.’” ### David Goes to Nob [[#Verse 43.]] (21:1) Then David got up and left, while Jonathan went back to the town of Naioth. ## ==📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary== ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ###### Verse 34. ###### Verse 35. ###### Verse 36. ###### Verse 37. ###### Verse 38. ###### Verse 39. ###### Verse 40. ###### Verse 41. ###### Verse 42. ###### Verse 43. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights - coming soon. %% PRIVATE NOTES (only I see this) Write down things that are not straight from commentary but interesting facts that ground the text in history. %% ## 🧠 Chapter Summary - coming soon. %% PRIVATE NOTES (only I see this) Write a short paragraph (3–5 sentences) summarizing what happens in this chapter. - What is the main event or teaching? - How does this chapter fit the book’s overall story? - What stands out immediately? Anything Apologetic to point out? %% ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application - coming soon. %% PRIVATE NOTES (only I see this) - 📌 Observation 1 - 📌 Observation 2 - 📌 Observation 3 - (Add more as needed.) %% %% #### Today, I can apply this chapter by: - ✅ Application 1 - ✅ Application 2 Make these very practical: - "Trust God's timing in an uncertain situation." - "Speak truth even when it’s unpopular." Think: - What do we learn about God here? - What do we learn about people? - Are there promises, commands, or warnings? %% ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - coming soon. %% PRIVATE NOTES (only I see this) - 📖 [Verse Reference] – "Quote of important verse." - 📖 [Verse Reference] – "Quote of another important verse." (You can link to deeper notes if you want later.) %% ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 coming soon. - 🔗 coming soon. %% Examples: - John 1:1 and Genesis 1 - Romans 5 and Genesis 3 %% ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection - coming soon. %% PRIVATE NOTES (only I see this) Write 3–6 sentences reflecting on: - How this chapter encourages your faith, - Convicts your heart, - Reveals God's character. Optional format: "In light of this chapter, I am challenged to..." or "I am comforted by..." %% ##### 📂 Internal Links/Personal Notes