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Do Not Let the King Sin
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May 20, 2012 |
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 "Then Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, 'Do not let the king sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial to you.'" (1 Samuel 19:4)
Suppose you have a friend and share true love with him. And it is someone you love as you love yourself. Let's say your father's company in the danger of bankruptcy, and with your friend's help, it recovered. It would be natural for your father and you to want to repay his grace all your lives. But your heart would be broken if your father forgets the grace and tries to harm your friend.
But there was a man of goodness who performed his responsibilities as a dutiful son until the end even though his father had been forsaken by God due to his evilness. It was Jonathan. He was the son of Saul who was the first king of Israel. When Jonathon's father committed sins his son didn't hesitate to admonish him. Jonathon didn't even spare his own life to keep his father from sinning. What if you were in his situation?
1. Jonathan tried to stop his father from sinning with spiritual love.
As the first son of Saul, Jonathan was a successor to the king Saul. He gained love and trust from the people because he was a great soldier and a respected leader.
About this same time, David suddenly appeared before Jonathan. He defeated Goliath, the champion of the Philistine army, in the name of the LORD and led a difficult battle to victory. Without David, the Israelites would have lost the battle against the Philistines. When Jonathan saw David, he could see David was a man of God and he came to love David as he loved himself.
Since David made a significant contribution to the battle, King Saul made him a military commander. He secured his position more and more as a hero of the nation by achieving every battle. But there was an incident that agitated King Saul. When David was returning from a victory over the Philistines, the women sang "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands."
Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on. He thought, "Now what more can he have but the kingdom?" Saul even hurled a spear at David while was playing the harp. It was Jonathan who was the most broken-hearted seeing Saul's terrifying enmity towards David. He continually pleaded with Saul to have mercy on David, but it was of no use.
Jonathan spoke well of David to his father, Saul. In 1 Samuel 19:4-5 it is recorded he said, "Do not let the king sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial to you. For he took his life in his hand and struck the Philistine, and the LORD brought about a great deliverance for all Israel; you saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death without a cause?"
What would you do if you were in Jonathan's position? An old saying says that authority and power are not the things that even parents, children, and siblings can share. Jonathan was the person who was to succeed Saul if David had not existed. On the contrary, his family would fall apart if David became the king.
But Jonathan didn't give way to fleshly affection nor choose evil. He could discern between what is right and wrong. Jonathon couldn't just stand by and watch his father go the way of destruction. That's why he could admonish his father with spiritual love not to commit sins.
2. Jonathan fulfilled his duty to his father with goodness until the end.
As David's reputation had been enhanced over time, Saul officially commanded his men to kill David. Jonathan helped David escape and petitioned for Saul to save him. In 1 Samuel chapter 20, seeing David's place was empty, Saul asked why David hadn't come to the meal on the second day of the new moon. In order to see how Saul would respond, Jonathan said, "David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem, since his family has a sacrifice in the city." If Saul hadn't intended to kill David, he would have taken it lightly.
But when Saul heard this, his anger was burning and said, "You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you are choosing the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Therefore now, send and bring him to me, for he must surely die" (1 Samuel 20:30-31).
Jonathan answered Saul saying "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?" and tried to prove David's innocence. Then Saul hurled his spear even at his son to strike him down out of anger. Jonathan was grieved because he realized his father's dishonor of David was so serious.
In this way, Jonathan protected David, man of God putting his life at risk and admonished Saul with love so that he could turn away from his sins. The reason why Jonathan's goodness was more beautiful is that he didn't just try to prevent his father from sinning but also he fulfilled his duty as a son. In addition, men of goodness are heart-broken when they see others reveal evil, but if the person who reveals evil is one of their beloved family members, it's more painful for them.
Jonathan knew that God had already forsaken his father. He anticipated what would happen to him when he was with the evil one and abandoned by God, but he never left his father. In the end, he drew his last breath with his father when they were engaged in a battle against the Philistines. He didn't leave his father until he died.
3. True goodness stops people from sinning and leads them to the truth.
When the Bible relates a story about a person who commits sins, it also records how his whole family feels pain and his neighbors suffer from damage as well. There are a few people whose sins cause pains for all the people of their nation. If a leader of a group commits sins, the harm to leader's following is more serious.
Sins are our dangerous enemy that destroys not only ourselves but also others around us. But when your beloved one takes the wrong way, if you don't give advice to him fearing that you might hurt his feeling and break peace, it's not love and goodness. It's just fleshly affection.
Eli the priest had such fleshly affection in 1 Samuel 2:12. His two sons committed sins greatly before God, but he didn't punish them but told them not to commit sins. His sons didn't turn away from their sins. As a result Eli and his two sons died and his family faced disaster. True goodness leads with truth and advice to stop people from sinning.
One of our church members doesn't keep quiet when his family members spoke negative words or used words that disappoint God. He admonished them encouraging them to speak the truth with love because he knows what goodness is. He knows what pleases God and what perfect goodness is. In such goodness, he loves his family, so he leads his family to practice God's Word and not to commit even small sins. In this way he leads them to the truth.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, because he was full of spiritual love, Jonathan could give advice out of goodness to his father until the end even though his father sinned. I pray in the name of the Lord you will love even evil people until the end and boldly point out their sins and lead them to the way of the truth.
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