Bible Commentaries

Jonathan's Moral Courage

1 Samuel 20:34

WE are to understand that David was in great jeopardy from Saul, the king of Israel. David himself was very sensible of the peril of his condition, so much 1 Samuel 20:25.

I. Some absent who might be expected to be present.—(a) Children of good parents.—(b) Those who have long been hearers of the word.—(c) Those who have proved the vanity of the world for themselves.

II. Some apparently absent who are really present.—(a) The timorous and fearful.—(b) Those whose love is greater than their hope.

III. Some present who ought to be absent.—(a) Hypocrites.—(b) Schemers.

IV. Some absent on the most frivolous excuses.—(a) Nothing worth hearing.—(b) Inconsistencies of other people.

Application.—(a) Are we afflicted by such absences? (b) How far are we responsible for them?—(c) The work of the Church is not done so long as there is one absentee!

"But the lad knew not any thing."— 1 Samuel 20:39.

A sentence of this kind leads us to think of the unconscious ministries of life.—"The "little lad" supposed that he was simply finding out arrows which were shot by Jonathan.—May we not be doing work of this kind, and supposing all the time that we are occupied only with frivolous engagements?—As a matter of fact we know very little about the mystery of life.—In running an errand we may be carrying a gospel.—In sitting in a sick chamber we may be connecting that room of dreariness and solitude with the very precincts of heaven itself.—God sends us upon errands which look trivial; we suppose that we are almost wasting our time; we think that men of our abilities might be more profitably employed; let us be rebuked by the incident before us, for no man can really tell the issue of his simplest transactions.—We are set for signs and tokens to other people.—We know not what inferences are being drawn from our conduct.—Again and again it is said that if such and such a man take such and such a course this or that will be the issue.—The man in question is utterly ignorant of all the reasoning that is proceeding respecting his movements.—Who can tell how we are watched by the angels? are they not all ministering spirits? Who knows the concealments of life: who may be in hiding places watching our conduct, what detectives may be upon our track, what traps may be set for our capture and overthrow?—We are watched for evil as well as for good, for good as well as for evil.—We say, What can it matter whether we go a few yards further, or a few yards shorter?—Everything may depend even upon so trivial an incident as that.—How marvellously a man's destiny is sometimes indicated.—If a feather will tell how the wind blows, the accident of a moment, as we call accident, may show us the course of our whole future upon earth.—Never despise the least services, for we know not with what benefactions they may be charged to others.