Jonathan's exemplary attitude.
Have you ever
studied the personality of Jonathan, son of King Saul? Have you ever realized
the dilemmas he has faced successfully? Here is a short meditation on this
subject.
Jonathan's life must remind us of
the need for everyone to remain humble, but in parallel, events in his life
show how much we have the potential to look great if we walk with our Creator!
Walking with his Creator meant for
Jonathan to make serious decisions but only after consulting with Him, I mean with
Elohim. This is what comes out from this famous story when his action supported
by Yehoah (translated by the Lord) was at the origin
of a great victory of the Children of Israel over the oppressive occupation made
by the Philistines. Read this in I Samuel 14 from verses 8 to 22:
" 8 Then Jonathan
said, “Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to
them. 9 If they say thus to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we
will stand still in our place and not go up to them. 10 But if they
say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For Yehoah
has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us.” 11
So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the
Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of
the holes where they have hidden.” 12 Then the men of the garrison
called to Jonathan and his armor bearer, and said, “Come up to us, and we will show
you something.” Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come up after me, for Yehoah has delivered them into the hand of Israel.” 13
And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armor bearer after him;
and they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armor bearer
killed them. 14 That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bearer
made was about twenty men within about half an acre of land.
15 And there was trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all
the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked,
so that it was a very great trembling. 16 Now the watchmen of Saul
in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and there was the
multitude, melting away; and they went here and there. 17 Then Saul
said to the people who were with him, “Now call the roll and see who has gone
from us.” And when they had called the roll, surprisingly, Jonathan and his
armor bearer were not there. 18 And Saul said to Ahijah,
“Bring the ark of Elohim here” (for at that time the ark of Elohim was with the
children of Israel). 19 Now it happened, while Saul talked to the
priest, that the noise which was in the camp of the Philistines continued to
increase; so Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.” 20 Then
Saul and all the people who were with him assembled, and they went to the
battle; and indeed every man’s sword was against his neighbor, and there was
very great confusion. 21 Moreover the Hebrews who were with the
Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp from the
surrounding country, they also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and
Jonathan. 22 Likewise all the men of Israel who
had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines
fled, they also followed hard after them in the battle. 23 So
Yehoah saved Israel that day, and the battle shifted
to Beth Aven."
Another particularly difficult
situation Jonathan faced was that created by the deep friendship he had with
David, the anointed of Yehoah, while he himself was
the son of King Saul, the David's sworn enemy. Jonathan showed his strength of
character and loyalty to his Creator by always submitting himself to the Ten
Commandments. In fact, on the one hand, he has always been David's faithful
friend by not hiding from him the criminal intentions of Saul, his father, and
on the other, he honored the same father by following him the death in a fight
lost in advance against the Philistines near Mount Gilboa. Jonathan never let
himself be seduced by his father who incited him to kill David because with
this death, the throne was assured for Jonathan. Let's read that in I Samuel 20
from verses 30 to 34:
" 30 Then Saul’s
anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse,
rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your
own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? 31 For as
long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor
your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely
die.”
32 And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, “Why
should he be killed? What has he done?” 33 Then Saul cast a spear at
him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to
kill David.
34 So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food
the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father
had treated him shamefully."
And finally let us read how Jonathan
courageously faced death by accompanying his father, King Saul in his last
fight in I Samuel 31 verses 1 to 6:
" 1
Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel
fled from before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. 2
Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines
killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua,
Saul’s sons. 3 The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit
him, and he was severely wounded by the archers. 4 Then Saul said to
his armor bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these
uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me.” But his armor bearer
would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on
it. 5 And when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell
on his sword, and died with him. 6 So Saul, his three sons, his
armor bearer, and all his men died together that same day."
So are you ready to live like
Jonathan? It's not very complicated ! We must first
seek to follow the good advice of our Creator as summarized in the Ten Commandments.
If these commandments are always before our eyes, we will always have the
courage to follow the path that leads to eternal life without ever being
cold-eyed.
Then we will always recognize the
men that our Heavenly Father will put in our path and we will bond with them. Moreover,
we will have the greatest respect for our parents and we will honor them. But
this will never be done at the price of yielding to the pride of wanting to
take the place of another if it is not offered to us by the Father.