Yesterday was a little bit of a rough day. I was trying to look over my slides and everything and get everything prepared and about halfway through the day I realized that I'd lost my wallet when I took the trash out to the dumpster site. Never could find it yesterday. So I spent about half the day going through the banks and putting a hold on credit cards and bank accounts and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, that was it was a challenge yesterday. So that's a big one too. So anyway, I've been looking forward to doing this. And like I said, it's it's been a challenge this week, how to how to approach this lesson because like Caleb said, there's so much here and I didn't want to, there, there would just be no way I could go through the whole book of first Samuel and, and do justice. Plus he wouldn't want to listen to me for five hours trying to read through it either. So, um, so let's pray first and then we'll, we'll get into the lesson. Gracious God, we thank you for this morning. Thank you for the time together in your word. And Lord, I pray that you would calm my heart, and Lord, to just give me the words to say, Lord, as we go through this lesson and discuss it, Lord, and learn from your word what you'd have us to learn today about your servant, Jonathan. And Lord, we just thank you again for this day. In Jesus' name, amen. All right. Jonathan the title and this was from the book the man who would Not be king right and we're gonna start out and I've got a lot of scripture in here. So Well, we'll go through it So this is where we're at in our study Almost about halfway through Looking at Jonathan today so the surrounding events going on around this time first Samuel so what Put on your history caps now. What was going on at this time? When Samuel came on the scene. So who was Samuel? You guys know this. So Samuel. He was. It was the last judge over Israel. What God chose to do wasn't good enough for them, and they wanted to be like everybody else. Yeah, that's right. They wanted to do and be like everybody else, basically. So, we're going to look at Samuel, or at Jonathan, and just from reading through the book and looking through this whole chapter, I kind of broke it down into three areas where we can look at, or how we can look at Jonathan. He was a faithful warrior, he was a faithful prince of Israel for a time, and he was a faithful friend. Okay, so I found this map online. This is basically the area that Saul was ruling in when he became king. I know it's a lot of small letters and I can barely read it with my glasses up here, but inside that red box right there, that's basically most of the story in 1 Samuel. The battles, the main battles and everything that happened was right there in that little box within Israel. Always gotta have a map and a lesson, right? So let's turn to 1 Samuel 13. I'll read a couple of verses here. And by this time, and I'm going pretty quick through this, cuz if I started from the very beginning, we would be here for a long time. Up to this point, as we said, the people basically rebelled against God and demanded the king to lead them. They rejected God as their king and wanted an earthly king to rule over them. So Saul was chosen because basically he was the tallest guy around and he looked good. He looked like a king. We'll find later on through the lesson that he didn't really have the qualifications to be a king and never should have been, but basically the people got what they asked for in him. So, uh, so verse two, chapter 13 says, Saul chose 3000 men of Israel. 2000 were with Saul and make mash and the hill country of Bethel and a thousand were with Jonathan and give you a Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent." And verse 3, "...Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba. And the Philistines heard of it, and Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear." So this small battle, relatively, that Jonathan won for Israel, actually was a tipping point and caused a larger war. Through that, we see Saul's failure that would take the kingship away from him. This was actually the first mention of Jonathan in the biblical record, was him winning this battle when he was set as commander of the thousand and did this raid. That was the first mention of him. It's unclear if the attack was actually ordered by Saul or if Jonathan just went on his own. The Bible doesn't make that clear. So, as a faithful warrior, Jonathan was most likely not at Gilgal when Saul failed to wait for Samuel. Now with this, going back, reading back through, Samuel had told Saul, wait seven days, wait for me, Before you do anything, wait for me those seven days, and I'll come and perform the sacrifice and tell you what the Lord wants you to do. Well, of course, in Saul's fashion, he didn't do that. He didn't wait. He waited the seven days, but not the full seven days like he was told. Well, I find it interesting as you're mentioning that, because at one point in time, Saul is characterized as being Hesitant, not decisive. Like for instance, that's why David had to step in with the wife. It's because Saul would not act. Jonathan gets the glory in this story. And I particularly love the verse in that chapter where he prompted his armor bearer and said that there's no restriction on the Lord. It's just an amazing truth. There's no restriction on the Lord to say by me or by you. Can I have a go at that? But now, he seems to be doing the opposite. We know he has a pride issue. Because even later on, he specifically told that he was lifted up in pride. He started well, he ended foolishly. But I find it interesting that David acted when he didn't, and he got glory. Jonathan acted when he shouldn't have, and he got glory. And I can't help but wonder if he was tired of letting other people get the glory. Because before he was characterized by a lack of decisiveness. And now he's acting when he shouldn't be. It's a very interesting opposite. Yeah, it is. And we'll look at the verse you're talking about here in just a minute. But in this section, he was talking about Samuel came after the seven days. The way it was described in the book, it's almost like one of those sketch comedies where somebody's messing around, messing up. And right after that happens, the guy comes in and says, what are you doing? That's basically what Samuel did. And he told Saul, basically, what are you doing? What have you done? You've done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God. with which he commanded you, for then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you." So thinking about Jonathan, how much of a disappointment would this have been to Jonathan? He's the eldest son of the king, right? At this point, probably, Saul had only been king for maybe two years. But still, Jonathan was the eldest son and he was the heir apparent. After a time, whatever happened with Saul, he would have been the next king. So, Saul fails. Basically, he finds out that His kingdom is not going to stand. We don't know at this point for how long, but Jonathan knows that he will not be king ever. So jumping over to chapter 14, verse 1, one day Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man who carried his armor, come, let us go over to the Philistine garrison on the other side. But he did not tell his father. Saul was staying in the outskirts of Gibeah in the pomegranate cave of Milgrom. The people who were with him were about 600 men, including Ahijah and all these other names. And the people, they're at the bottom, and the people did not know that Jonathan had gone. So Jonathan, in the midst of all this, and there were only 600 soldiers, basically, with Saul. That's all he had. with this rising army coming up against them from the Philistines. The Philistine army, they called up 30,000 chariots, just the chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and an untold number of footmen. So you can imagine what this country is facing, overwhelming odds, right? But God had a plan. He gave that plan to Jonathan. In verse 4, chapter 14, it says, "...within the passes by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistine garrison, there was a rocky crag on the one side and a rocky crag on the other side." And it gives the names of these two. They actually named these two cliffs, basically. But in the Hebrew, one name meant slippery, and the other one meant thorny. So this was Jonathan's plan with his armor bearer, just he and him. They were going to attack this Philistine garrison. But we're going to go up a slippery and thorny crag in the rocks, climb up, and attack these Philistines. Doesn't seem like a very logical plan. But Jonathan, the faithful warrior, said to the young man who carried his armor, come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. And we'll see that again from David later on when he confronts Goliath. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few. And his armor bearer said to him, do all that's in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you, heart and soul. Jonathan was fearless. Not because he was confident in his own ability, but because he had placed his faith firmly in the promised will and power of God. That's a quote from the book. And I like what his armor bearer said, do all that's in your heart. Do as you wish. I'm with you heart and soul. So his armor bearer was influenced, I believe, dedicated to this godly man that was leading. And so, through that action, I'm skipping over a big swath of what happened here. After that, it sent the whole army of the Philistines basically into a panic. They saw what had happened to this small garrison, and it was reported to the larger group, and they went into a panic, and God caused an earthquake to happen at the same time this panic was going on, and they basically started killing each other through this panic, which we can't even imagine nowadays. But God gave Israel the victory through this action over a small group. by two men, Jonathan and his armor bearer. And God can do big things through just a few people. So Jonathan, I call this the loyal prince. So being the next in line would, by our terms, he would be called the prince. And we see in verse 14, 24, during these battles and everything, Saul gives a, basically, out of, I don't know, stupidity, I don't know, in a better way, pride, but he tells his army, if any of you eats anything, basically, before I say to you, then you're cursed, and you're gonna die, even if it's my own son that does it. in the midst of this battle. He wants to win this battle before anybody beats. So can you imagine an army that's marching through an area and they're ordered, you can't eat anything until we win. Oh yeah. Yeah. And even once you reach the end of his, He literally says, won't anyone feel sorry for me? Yeah. I think that he's becoming so paranoid that he's making foolish decisions that are affecting people. Yeah. Yeah. He does a lot without thinking about any of the ramifications of it. So, going back through, skipping down to verse 42, and after all this, basically Saul finds out that somebody had broken that command that he gave, not to eat, right? Because they were getting ready to go in, but their, I guess for lack of a better word, their priest that was following them, Basically, they asked God if they should go or not, but God never answered them. So that was a sign to them that there was a sin. There was some kind of sin within the camp that they had to find out and make atonement for basically before they could move on. And so Saul said, after all this, and cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan. So he cast the lot. between all the soldiers on one side and Saul and Jonathan on the other side. And the lot fell between Saul and Jonathan. And then they cast the lot between them two, and it was cast on Jonathan. So Saul said, cast the lot between me and my son, and Jonathan was taken. And Saul said to Jonathan, tell me what you've done. And Jonathan told him, I tasted a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am. I will die. So here's basically the prince of Israel. He's the second in line talking with his father. But he said, if that's your rule, then I'll die. He was still faithful even in that, even though he did kind of justify himself a little bit. I got this from Matthew Henry says many a good son has been thus entangled in distress in more ways than one by the rashness of an inconsiderate father. Jonathan for his part lost the crown. He was an heir to buy his father's folly, which it may be this was an ill omen of he He backed it with a curse upon himself. If he did not see the sentence executed, and this curse did return upon his own head, Jonathan escaped. But God did so to Saul. And more also, for he was rejected of God and made anathema." So after this, it's a long downhill slide for Saul, basically, his whole life. trying to kill his own son when he got angry enough, throwing the javelin at him, and later on trying to kill David as well. So he spent the rest of his life in that downward spiral of anger and jealousy. After his failure to kill the Amalekite king, he never saw Samuel alive again, and a new king was anointed just after that. That's David. I've got to wait to do something. I think I got it. No. Time down. Keep going. All right. Cool. Thank you. So as I said, Saul spent the rest of his life basically in this downward spiral. anger and jealousy. After the bout with Goliath, all the people of Israel were just terrified. They were shaking in their sandals, or whatever they were wearing, until David came around, who was the new anointed king, even though he was probably a young teenager at this point. But after this fight with Goliath when David took him down, Jonathan immediately recognized a kindred heart. In 1 Samuel 18.1, he says, as soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, that's David, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. And Jonathan loved him as his own soul. So Jonathan recognized as a loyal friend that the new king had come. It says that he took his own armor, he took his own robe, all his royal accoutrements that he had, and put it on David, recognizing that he was the incoming king, eventually. In verse 14 to 17, it says, if I'm still alive, show me the steadfast love of the Lord that I may not die. And do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever. And the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth. And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David saying, may the Lord take vengeance on David's enemies. And at this point, we know that Saul was David's enemy. So he's actually proclaiming this against his own father. Think about that. And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul. I wish I had that kind of friendship around. I mean, I have friends, but I don't know that I could ever say of my wife that I love someone else that deeply as my own soul. That's the kind of love that I don't think we really fully understand in this relationship. Looking at some of the commentaries, they had to specify, because of some of the language in there, that they were so close that they loved each other like that. We let the modern thinking of two men loving each other corrupt that kind of thought as some kind of weird thing. But it's not. It's a deep, abiding, brotherly, it's kind of like soldiers in battle. They are brothers, deeper than they're brothers with their own family. I think this is how best I can describe the love that there was between Jonathan and David. So Jonathan spent the rest of his life defending his friend David and his country. Even defending him with his own life, getting in the way, going in front of his father, who was still the king, defending David, trying to keep him protected. John 15, 13, greater love has no one than this that he laid down his life for his friends. And Jonathan will certainly epitomize that. He showed that through the battles that he went to, through defending his friend. Jonathan knew his place in God's plan. Here he is. He grew up the son of a farmer. That's what Saul was before he was called to be the king. And then he was the prince. He was next in line for the kingship whenever that should happen. And then finds out because of his father's sin, that will never happen. But yet, Jonathan stayed faithful to God and went along with God's plan. So just a few thoughts that I had, and going back to the point that Caleb brought out. Remember what Jonathan said, whether by many or by few, God can give the victory, right? So for me that says, stay confident in God's power and put faith into action. The faith that we have is not supposed to be stagnant. It's not supposed to just sit with you and do nothing. Do not operate in life in fear and doubt. As we see Saul doing through this whole episode, through his whole life, basically, he was paranoid, fearful, indecisive, not really a good qualifications for a king. But we are to live in faith and courage. How many times in the Bible, going all the way through, how many times did God say, be strong and courageous? Especially, I think, of Joshua. He was told that many times going in to take the promised land. But be strong and courageous. That's what we're supposed to do. And embrace the roles that God has for you. Not everybody's gonna be king. Not everybody's gonna be a prince. But we all have a role that God gives us in whatever we're doing. Whether it's the head administrative, whatever in a school, or a team leader, or just a parent. And I say just a parent, parent is the most important thing I can think of. But embrace those roles that God gives us. Anybody else have any thoughts? That slide right there. Is. Challenging. Yeah. The tragedy of Jonathan is dead. Yeah, I mean. He mentioned a minute ago. That his father's actions disqualify him from being keen. We can't even begin to imagine the privilege of being king, being president, whatever, and our dad doing something so foolish that it had a lifelong impact on us. And I just don't know about all of that, Sam. The fact that he remained loyal to his dad while his father was the epitome of provoking his child's anger is just, it's mind-blowing. Yeah, and followed him all the way to death. Him and his brothers, the whole family basically, they died in battle. With their dad. Yeah, with their dad. Who caused their death. Yeah, yeah. And what a good example of leadership, you know, in Jonathan and not so much in solid, you know, everybody's worked for that. I know, do this, I don't care what it costs. Yeah, it comes up to buy the ball. So yeah, you know, very good. Leadership lesson right there. Oh, yeah, it is. I mean, we saw that many times in the Air Force. Oh, yeah, you know, I know, I've gotten into some arguments with the E9s before. And just as parents being a parent, and today, and what are we doing today that's going to affect our children and our grandchildren, you know, for generations. Yeah. And, you know, through all this too, and I didn't get a slide for it, but we see the influence that Jonathan had on David as well, you know, They made this covenant together that his name basically would not perish. And so later on, Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son, who was crippled from the time he was five years old, David the king brought him into his own household. Not only that, he restored the lands to him and said, here, this is yours again. This is your family's. You go take care of it basically and you'll stay with me and you'll be under my protection. It's basically what he said. And that's amazing to me. I've told people several times, I find myself telling people this more and more as kind of a mid-level leader, that it's very easy for us to criticize the man because of the decision that he or she made when we don't have to live with the consequences of that decision. And to be very careful about being critical of a leader, because one day you might be at getting where God says, Tag, you're it, now it's your turn. And all of a sudden you realize the weight that comes with the privilege of that authority. And the thing that I just cannot get over, that last part, is embracing the role God has for you. And I'm sure he struggled to a certain extent, but we just see a man who just said, I'm fine being number two. I'm fine being number two to my dad, and I'm fine if God has me as a number two for David, who gets more credit than I. Because he even said that. He said, you're going to be king, and I'm going to be my man. I'll be right there next to you. And he embraced it. Right. But at the same time, God has roles specific to us. And if it's a role that we might not have seen ourself in, I mean, embrace the role that God has for you, whatever level that is. Yeah. Anybody else have any other inputs? I think so. The picture of God that Saul must have had to do the things that he did is interesting. It's almost like he exemplifies everything that we saw coming through Judges. Judges essentially just starts and ends with the people did what was right in their own eyes, and then a judge, and then eventually the people went back to doing what was right in their own eyes, and that's what Saul was as a king. They essentially just transitioned from that as a nation. to having that for a king, where Saul's picture of God was almost in like a pagan sense of like, oh, we need it to rain, okay, we'll do whatever we need to get it to rain. And as soon as it rains, he goes back to doing his own thing. And something that I picked up on, too, reading through that whole book, a couple of times Saul, talking to Samuel, said, the Lord your God, not the Lord our God, So who knows what kind of belief that Saul actually had in God. He knew that probably he was a God because he talked about him. But he said, the Lord your God. The word of God was very rare in those days. Yeah. It was very interesting. Anybody else? All right. Well, that's all I've got for today. We'll go into some prayer time. It's the same mic you're getting. Cody and Carl had their debut this week. Just point him over to John. Congratulations. But Priscilla did post a meal train, and technically, since they're not members, there are some things that we kind of can't help publish. And so, at the same time, organically, we're still trying to do some things for them, you know, and really, you know, just try to be a minister to their family and discipleship. And so, I don't know, Hawk signed up, we signed up, we all signed up. It works with people, but... Who else has a prayer request this morning? us traveling back and forth on Thursday. Eric was telling me some adventures with the weather out there. Bad hailstorms. It wasn't in the hailstorms. And we didn't put a garage on the house. Because, I mean, I'm used to hurricanes from up in Galveston. So it never dawned on me any hailstorms, so that our car got totaled a month and a half ago. I don't know if she'd have driven her car into that. But just like water in the wine, Pray for Max and Pam as they're traveling back. And we saw there was a wedding, apparently, over there. Yeah. And then continue to pray for Tom's shoulder and arm and all of that. And also, so Tom and Michelle's teaching. So he and Martha are going to be moving back here. stuff going on as far as hiring crews and all of that. So they're trying to figure out time. So just pray for their plans as they make plans to move out this way. Keep praying for the oldest shoulder too. It's still not recovering as fast as we'd like to. It's still hurting a lot. Anybody else? Yeah, yeah, she's got to follow up with her doctor tomorrow. Anybody else? Yes. That's it. Let's go ahead and pray. We'll be dismissed this morning. Gracious Father, God, you are so good to us. And we just thank you again for this time and your word this morning, Lord. And as we bring our request to you, Lord, we thank you that you've heard each one of the requests that were mentioned, Lord, those for healing travels, Lord. that you're there with them already and Lord we trust that you have their best interest Lord at heart and we pray for healing and for those that need it and protection Lord. God we pray for the service this morning that as your word is preached once again that our hearts and minds will be open to what you would have us to learn of you today. God we love you and we pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.