Day 28: Jonathan

1 Samuel 14, 20

- at the beginning of chapter 14, Jonathan and his armor-bearer slip away from the Israeli forces and go up to a Philistine outpost. There they attacked and killed 20 men because the Lord was with them.
- that same day, the Lord rescued Israel by throwing the Philistines into chaotic confusion. They were killing each other. So all of Israel came out of hiding and chased the Philistines down.
- later on, there is a dispute between Jonathan and his father, King Saul. Saul forbid his men to eat until they had defeated their enemies. But as a result, the men were tired and exhausted. Jonathan thought it was a dumb move on his dad's part and ate some honey.
- They finally slaughtered some of the sheep, cattle and calves to eat. Saul built and altar to the Lord after they had eaten. Here it states that it is a sin to eat meat with blood still in it.
- Saul asks God for guidance but was not answered. He assumed it was because someone sinned. Then he finds out his son disobeyed him by eating some honey earlier. He wanted to kill him but the men rescued Jonathan.

- chapter 20 outlines the friendship between David and Jonathan.
- David insists that Saul wants him dead but Jonathan won't believe him because his father didn't say anything about it to him. David knew this because they were best friends.
- they promised each other that their friendship would remain above all else.
- in the end, David departs from Jonathan.


Jonathan is a great example of what a true friend is all about. My prayer is that I can be a friend to my friends like Jonathan was to David.