This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Misc. OT Sermons” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 18, 1990.
About this sermon
Saul, Jonathan, and David each carry real symbolic weight here, in a sermon that doubles as a case for reading the Old Testament redemptive-historically rather than merely morally. Jonathan’s soul knit to David’s, in the covenant language of chapter 18, pictures a bond that goes beyond ordinary friendship. Christ himself stands behind David in that pattern.
Sermon transcript
Now, when Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, Abner, whose son is this young man? And Abner said, By your life, O king, I do not know. The king said, You inquire whose son you did. So when David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head in his hand. And Saul said to him, Whose son are you, young man? And David answered, I am the son of your servant Jesse, the Bethlehemite.
Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. And Jonathan loved him as himself. And Saul took him that day and did not let him return to his brother’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt.
So David went out wherever Saul sent him and prospered. And Saul sent him over the men of war. And it was pleasing in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. And it happened as they were coming, and David returned from killing the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments. And the women sang as they played, and it said, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.
Then Saul became very angry, for this saying displeased him. He said, they have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom? And Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on. Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit came from God mightily upon Saul And he raged in the midst of his house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, as usual, and a spear was in Saul’s hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, I will pin him, I will pin David to the wall.
But David escaped from his presence twice. Now Saul was afraid of David, for the Lord was with him. but he had departed from Saul. Therefore Saul removed him from his presence and appointed him as a commander of a thousand, and he went out and came in before the people. And David was prospering in all his ways, for the Lord was with him. When Saul saw that he was prospering greatly, he credited him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, and he went out and came in before them.
So tonight we are engaging in a little experiment, a little experiment in interpretation. And the focus of this experiment will be verse 1 of chapter 18. Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him after himself. Now, there are a couple of reasons for this experiment.
One is to place before you, in a capsule-like way, an example of the kind of approach that I have been taking to the scriptures since I arrived in this pulpit in 1976. Now, you may not have caught up to me yet. You might not quite understand what I’m doing. And if you feel that way, don’t think that you’re alone. When I first arrived here, I, of course, was privileged to have in my congregation my aunt. Well, that may have been a dubious privilege because you see my aunt was a lifelong speech teacher and she knew what made for good speeches so she must have sat in her pew for over a year trying to figure out what my method of speaking was I didn’t have the traditional three points And I didn’t have the appropriate summations and applications at the end of each point.
And it just didn’t seem to fit. Just didn’t seem to square with what she was used to. But she tells me she persevered. And she hears what I say and hangs with me. She picks up the transitions in the message and is able to pick out the main points, which invariably are few. There are few main points in the messages that I give. Actually, believe it or not, the outlines to my sermons are very simple.
That is another instance, you know that We did assimilate some from Oakdale and one of those was Sharon Crowley. And Sharon also had her troubles when she first came here to Grace Church. She would sit and listen and she would puzzle and peruse and reflect and conclude, what in the world is he talking about? She decided that She wasn’t going to let me get the best of her. So she started bringing pen and pencil and pad and started taking notes and endured that first year and it got easier and easier for her to grasp.
The experiment interpretation, and I like to do this periodically so that we have sort of a refresher course, and this passage offers us a very, very clear example and a relatively easy text to demonstrate what I’m all about when I preach. My purpose is to for this passage now, in terms of the covenant, and in terms that will draw out for us its rich testimony to Christ and His Church. You could say that that is the motto for my preaching. If you add to that little formula the glory of God, you have it all. My intent is that you might know God better, that you might see Christ more clearly, that you might grab hold of the covenant more tightly, and that from the texts that we have in Scripture, be it Old Testament or New. If you want a little help in understanding better this approach to scripture, you may want to check out of the library the first volume of S. G. DeGrasse’s four-volume work, Promise and Deliverance, and read his little introduction. Because in that introduction, he sets out this method of preaching and teaching for you.
All right, enough of the introduction. The first focus that I want you to see in this passage is the figure of Jonathan. Jonathan. Who is Jonathan? Now, if you say he is the son of Saul, you have certainly said the truth. But have you said all that can be said? See, that’s where we start to dig. That’s where we start to ponder and reflect. Jonathan is truly the son of Saul.
But he is more than just the son of Saul. Abstracting it a little bit, he is the son of the king. He is the son of the king of Israel. This throne is different than all thrones, this king is different than all kings, and this son is different from all sons of royalty. The throne in view is nothing less than that throne that belongs uniquely, not to Saul, but to God. And the one who sits upon that throne is brought into a unique relationship to the God whose throne it is.
As son of the King, this one is heir. Every time you see son, translate heir. Every time. Now, think about that for a minute. Here’s a lesson for you. Son of God. Heir of God. the inheritor of God, son of man, heir of man. All that is man. All right. This one, then, who is the son of the king, is the heir to the throne. He is heir to that which that throne symbolizes, indicates.
You could say that this one, Jonathan, is entitled to the title Son of God, because of his proximity to the throne that belongs to God. In the Old Testament, There are occasions where the kings of Israel are called the Son of God. Solomon is called the Son of God. There are psalms in which that title is applied to David in light of the eventual coming of David’s seed and greater son.
Son of God. who is Jonathan, son of Saul, but also son of God, and as son of God, like unto Christ, a Christ-like figure, a Christ figure, if you will. We see in Jonathan an anticipation of the figure All right, if Jonathan is a Christ figure, who then is Saul? Jonathan is Saul’s son, Saul himself is upon the throne that is proximate to God, the throne that is bound to God uniquely. Yes, don’t shy away from it. If you’re leaping ahead here in the analysis, if Jonathan can be compared to Christ, then Saul can, yes, be compared to God, God himself. He is a lord over God’s kingdom, seemingly at this point. He is a king who is bestowing kingdom blessings and meeting out the inheritance. He is seen in the role of God himself, and he is to be disciplined by that role. As is God, so should be Saul. Therefore, in Israel’s king and in the king’s son we have a picture of God and of God’s son.
Now if Jonathan is like Christ and Saul is like God, who is David? Who is David in relationship to them? promote how the passage develops. You see how in verse 1, Jonathan’s life, as it were, his soul is knit to David, he loves David as himself, he is bound to him. Think of what then Christ is bound to. When you are trying to understand David in relationship to Jonathan, Jonathan being the Christ figure. Go with it a bit.
Saul takes David that day and doesn’t let him return to his father’s house. Why, it is as if David has now been made a son in the house of Saul. He has been, as it were, adopted. Former house, he doesn’t belong there, he now belongs with Saul and his household.
So this union that exists between Jonathan and David, this bond that exists between Saul and David as David is brought into the house by Ruth of adoption, in this relationship David’s devotion to Saul displaces his devotion to his natural father. The description now of what takes place in the relationship between Jonathan and David. For Jonathan, the son, is bound in a remarkable way, spelled out for you in this text, to the one who has become a son. The son, the son, is bound to a son. Now look at the way in which this bond is explained for us.
This covenant brings David into such relationship to Jonathan that it seems as if they are together in a way that they are inseparable. Whatever is Jonathan’s is David’s. David becomes an heir with Jonathan to all that Jonathan shall in fact lay claim to. And Jonathan withholds nothing from David because Jonathan loves David as himself. Nothing will be denied or kept back from David. So great is Jonathan’s love for him. David is thus exalted by root of this union with Jonathan to share in all things with him.
Look what happens. Jonathan actually humbles himself for the sake of David. He takes off his robe and gives him his royal dress. Verse 4, he gives him the royal robe. Not only does he give him the robe, he gives him his armor, his sword, his bow, and his belt. He gives him all his implements indicative of his power, his pride, and his karate.
David is exalted by root of this union with Jonathan to share all things with him. And now, David himself becomes a royal figure, an heir of all things, and he fights in Jonathan’s strength, with Jonathan’s armor, his sword, and his bow, and his belt. And David then is commissioned as a servant of the king. and he prospers under the eye of his son. Why, if Jonathan is the Christ, and Saul is as God, then David is as the believer, a son of God. And what every son of God is destined to have is seen in what David gains through the exaltation that comes to him by root of the humiliation, or the humbling, of Jonathan, the great prince.
Why, it’s the gospel. And in this picture of the gospel for you, Jesus Christ is preached to you in the figure of Jonathan. And hardly ever in no testament has it been preached more eloquently. There are few as great as Jonathan. And let’s see just how good he is. So our first point here is the figure of John. The second point is, you guessed it, the figure of David.
Because it isn’t adequate to just go through the story with Jonathan as the Christ. Because Jonathan isn’t the Christ. And in this picture, ultimately, he will not be the final picture of Christ. So we have to read the story again. from a little different point of view. This time focusing on David. Who is David? if we start now thinking about him, walking through the passage with our eye focusing upon him. Well, what’s gone before? Two instances of great significance.
One, David has been anointed by Samuel. Saul has proved himself unworthy not once but twice, and God has commanded the prophet Samuel to go and anoint David in Saul’s stead. David is the secret and hidden anointed one of the law. He is truly the heir apparent to the throne. in Saul’s place.
But not only that, we also have the story of David fighting against the giant. And the giant is the epitome of all the forces of wickedness, as if the very powers of hell were resident in Goliath. And David has been triumphant over him, and he has vanquished the enemy He has slain the giant, he has been victorious over the powers of hell, over the powers of wickedness. So now, David is ascending to his rightful place, and that in keeping with the ancient prophecy.
Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin. But the ancient prophecy given by Jacob in the 49th chapter of Genesis tells us that the scepter shall not depart from Judah. Judah is the one who is destined to reign, and David is coming from the tribe of Judah. Therefore, David is the rightful heir to the throne, the true son, and the veritable son of God.
Here he is, though entitled, though veiled. And along this line, then, we move from seeing Jonathan as the Christ figure to seeing David as the Christ figure, and that’s par excellence. But if David is the Christ who is Saul, Now, we might want to hold out along the lines of what we’ve already established, that Saul is to be viewed positively as God himself, but we see in relationship to David, as David becomes the Christ, Saul is no longer a positive figure, he’s a negative figure.
He stands over against. David. He is failing in his kingship. His kingdom is going to be taken away from him. So God has told him through Samuel. His anointing has been rejected. He is being removed. When it came time to fight the Philistines and face the champion of the Philistines, where was Saul? He was shaking in his tent. And the little shepherd boy, the one who was the embodiment of weakness, proved to be the deliverer.
So, Saul, not a positive figure now, but a negative figure. One rejected by God, one who is ignorant of David, even after the battle he’s asking questions. sends Abner to find out who he is. And in time now, as the story progresses, as we’ve read, he becomes David’s sworn enemy, set upon destroying him. Did you know, for instance, in verse 11 of chapter 18, when Saul hurls the spear at David, the literal translation of his words there are these, I will pierce David to the wall. Did that give you a clue?
The piercing of the Son of God? And who is responsible for the piercing of the Son of God? Who sets himself to destroy the Son of God? No, it’s not specifically Satan, though Satan is at work. It is Israel. Israel in his apostasy. Saul becomes a picture of the eventual state of Israel, when Israel rejects the cross and sets a course upon destroying God’s Christ. So then, if David is the Christ and Saul is apostate Israel, Who is Jonathan?
Going through the grid from this point of view. Jonathan recognizes David immediately. Immediately. He witnesses what happens to Goliath when David fights And everything clicks. Everything makes perfect sense to Jonathan. Though there may be a veiling of the glory in this shepherd boy, in this child without any apparent claim to the throne, Jonathan sees it immediately.
He recognizes David as if by a ministry of the Spirit within him. and he is bound to this one and he loves him as himself. This one has become David’s champion. I’m sorry, this one has become Jonathan’s champion. David has become Jonathan’s champion. Jonathan in this relationship to David now becomes as a son and is knit to the son. Before, Jonathan was the son, David was a son, but now David is the son and Jonathan is a son.
Jonathan, then, who has privilege, Jonathan who has rightful claim, Jonathan who has everything, surrenders everything. No one ever had more. He is heir to the throne, to a throne in this world, and he surrenders it all to the one whose claim is greater. In fact, he gives away everything for the sake of this one that he loves. In the former picture, David was the picture of the believer.
In this picture, Jonathan has become the picture of the believer, whose faith and love is set solely upon the Lord’s true anointed one. If Saul is apostate Israel, Jonathan is true Israel, faithful, faithful Israel, who finds life in Christ. In many ways, Jonathan anticipates a New Testament figure, one that bears his name, John the Baptist, who says in John 3.30, he must increase, I must decrease. We may well start by seeing Jonathan as a picture of Christ, but we end by seeing David as the picture of God’s Son. We may well start seeing David as the picture of the believer, but we end with Jonathan being the picture.
Here’s how it works itself out. We have in this brief passage then, a picture of the Messiah in Jonathan, and what the Messiah gives When we look at Jonathan and his role as Messiah in this passage, we concentrate specifically upon what the Messiah gives to the believer.
He gives exaltation, royal privilege, sonship, power, honor, glory. He gives all those things. just as Jonathan gave to David. But as we look at the picture a second time, the passage a second time, we see here a picture of the Messiah as it relates to David, and what in fact the Messiah gave. What a blessing blessed gain it is, a throne, exaltation to be sure, power over enemies, the ability to please God, to please the people that belong to Him.
The picture of the Believer, insofar as it relates to David, paints for us what the Believer gives. And the picture also given us here of the Believer in relationship to Jonathan is of what the Believer gives. There remains the figure of Saul, the great ambiguity of history. In him we see the privilege of Israel, brought nigh unto God. but who through pride and envy is judged and cast out of the presence of God.
And finally, we see the covenant. What is the covenant all about, in the end, as this covenant is struck between Jonathan and David? Is it just merely a contractual arrangement a legal document signed by both. It is a binding and a living of souls. So that the life of the one becomes the life of the other. That’s the nature of covenant.
The language is repeated for you twice. verse 1 and verse 3, so that you don’t miss the point. How is it between God and his people, Christ and his church? Christ makes his life yours. He humbles himself in such a way that everything to which you are subjected, He subjects Himself and that in life, in order that you might be exalted and come to have that station, that standing, that enjoys every blessing that belongs to Him. His life is knit to yours. You are bound to Him. He has given His all for you, and now you give your all to Him.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.