Today’s Reading: 1 Samuel 20
Jonathan was king Saul’s son and next in line for the
throne of Israel. At least, that’s how Saul viewed the matter. But God had
other plans. He planned to remove Saul
from the throne and install David as the new king. Although Saul knew in his
heart that this was God’s plan, he refused to yield to it. He fought hard to keep control of the kingdom
and to pass it down to his son and succeeding generations.
Jonathan and David were best friends. They had grown
up together in the royal household and their hearts were knit together in a
true bond of friendship. But David was
in trouble. Saul was trying to kill him to prevent him from taking over the
kingdom. So, against his own best interest, Jonathan devises a plan to protect
David from his vicious father. To seal
the agreement, Jonathan invoked the statement, “The LORD is between you and me
forever.” By uttering those words, Jonathan was invoking the watchful eye of
God to keep an eye on both of them and to make them true to their words.
This phrase was commonly used in the Bible by two
parties who entered a covenant or agreement.
It really started in Genesis 31 when Laban and Jacob, two sneaky,
conniving, and deceitful men entered into an agreement to establish a boundary
between them. Laban recognized that both
he and Jacob were “slippery” characters so he invoked the Lord’s help in keeping
an eye on them and catching either one of them in the act if they attempted to
renege on their deal. Thus, this phrase became a way of swearing to keep an
agreement under penalty of God’s watchful eye.
Jonathan and David were not sneaky, conniving men like
Laban and Jacob. They were good friends
who cared deeply for one another. When
Jonathan entered the covenant with David and the house of David, he did so
honestly and with every intention of keeping the deal. There was no chance of either party reneging
on the deal. Nevertheless, Jonathan still sealed his promise by invoking the
watchful eye of the Lord. In essence, he
was saying, “With the Lord watching over us, we are certain that our covenant
will be fulfilled. May He watch over us forever.”
It is so important for all of us that the LORD keep
His watchful eye on our relationships with others and on our integrity to keep
commitments. Today, we don’t normally
utter the phrase, “The Lord is between you and me” when entering into a
relationship, or covenant, or agreement. Nevertheless, we should always seek
God’s watchful eye over our hearts such that He “catches” us when our hearts
begin to veer off course or we begin to falter in our commitments. We must always keep the LORD “between” us and
those He brings into our lives.
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