Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, special ones.

Please tell me it’s not really 10:33am! My goodness…with somuch2doo!! (new word) Thano just gave Bimbo a bath as the goony canine rolled in something about as foul as you would ever want to smell while Becki and I were on our walk/jog earlier. They’re romping and playing outside this window. Bimbo really is a powerful gymnastical dog. He can go incredibly airborne on a whim. Now Thano has brought him into the studio…and he’s now irritating our young cat who has found one of her favorite places snuggled down between my back and the backrest of this chair. I guess it’s warm there. “Go lay down, Bimbo!” He did. Good dog. Here it is so late, and I’m on another tangent telling you trivia. I think I need a better manager.

Blessings on your day…including your trivia.

Love. Dad/Ray.

Jonathan—what a guy!—what a friend! He didn’t seek out David to help him by joining forces with him. He was smart enough to know that would not go over well in the culture. Nor was military strength the basis for achieving the will of God. Jonathan already knew that David would become King of Israel. The secret anointing of David by Samuel was no secret (16:1-13). And the evidence of God’s anointing on David’s life was glaring. Jonathan also knew that David was coping with a huge amount of stress and discouragement. How could it be otherwise when he is being hunted down by the King and sentenced to die for no wrongdoing that he could identify? Jonathan understood too that true success and blessing can only flow out of right relationship with the Sovereign Lord—a HEART AFTER GOD. In that sense, Jonathan and David were definitely on the same page—“birds of a feather”—true “kindred spirits.”

The political “rule of thumb” within this period of history was for rival kings to kill the competition, along with their entire families. Jonathan was aware of this trend. So was Saul (23:17-18). I think that helps to explain why Jonathan made such a big deal out of oaths and covenants between himself and David.

If David was truly such a man of integrity and loyalty to King Saul, and who performed the King’s orders with successful magnificence, how is it that Saul was so successful at motivating his troops against David?—to pursue and kill him? The answer to that strikes me as being in parallel with political strategies I see being implemented around us today. Saul had to resort to a lie. It was a credible lie based on how political positions were typically established. Here’s the lie as expressed in one of Saul’s rampages before his officials—“None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me as he does today” (22:8). Saul proclaimed that David was conspiring to usurp the Kingdom by killing Saul. And as history confirms, along with current events, if a lie is told often enough, and punctuated with passionate emotion, people will come to accept the lie in exchange for the truth.

As an attempt to be your friend and bolster your “strength in God,” let me quote Jesus: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).