The friendship between David and Jonathan had run quite deep, to the point that they had made a formal covenant between the two of them (I Samuel 18:3, 20:16). Quite possibly this is because Jonathan recognized that David would be the next king of Israel: which is an interesting notion.

We would ordinarily expect Jonathan to think that he himself should be the king when his father died. Certainly that’s what King Saul expected would be the case. Yet Jonathan had apparently come to understand that, in the plan of the Lord, the next king would be David. And rather than resent that, Jonathan affirmed the decision that God had made (I Samuel 23:17).

As we have seen, however, that was not Saul’s attitude. Saul saw David as a threat to his dynasty, and intended to kill David (I Samuel 20:30-34), despite the efforts of his son Jonathan to intercede for David (I Samuel 19:4-7). So for a considerable period David had had to live as an exile in the desert, or as a foreigner among the Philistines, rather than in his homeland as an honored leader.

After the death of Saul and Jonathan, David did not want to dwell on the hatred which Saul had felt for him; instead, he wanted to be gracious to Jonathan’s family, if any of them remained alive, as he had promised Jonathan he would do (I Samuel 20:14-15). As it turns out, only Jonathan’s crippled son Mephibosheth had survived. And so, in loyalty to his promises to Jonathan, David restored to Mephibosheth all the family land of Saul, and gave him an honored place at David’s own table forever (II Samuel 9:1-7). This covenant faithfulness on David’s part, despite all the bitterness he might have felt, is a model for us all.

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You have been so extraordinarily gracious to us, O Lord: and you are always faithful to your covenant with us. Teach us in our turn to be people of kindness and grace; teach us to be loyal enough to you that we may provide blessing to the grandchildren of our enemies.