The Arrow Beyond the Boy
24 So David hid himself in the field. When the new moon had come, the king sat himself down to eat food. 25 The king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on the seat by the wall; and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty. 26 Nevertheless Saul didn’t say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him. He is not clean. Surely he is not clean.” 27 On the next day after the new moon, the second day, David’s place was empty. Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why didn’t the son of Jesse come to eat, either yesterday, or today?” 28 Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem. 29 He said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city. My brother has commanded me to be there. Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.” 30 Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse rebellious woman, don’t I 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 will not be established, nor will your kingdom. Therefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die!” 32 Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” 33 Saul cast his spear at him to strike him. By this Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death. 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. 35 In the morning, Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little boy with him. 36 He said to his boy, “Run, find now the arrows which I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37 When the boy had come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the boy, and said, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” 38 Jonathan cried after the boy, “Go fast! Hurry! Don’t delay!” Jonathan’s boy gathered up the arrows, and came to his master. 39 But the boy didn’t know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter. 40 Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy, and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.” 41 As soon as the boy was gone, David arose out of the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. They kissed one another and wept with one another, and David wept the most. 42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have both sworn in Yahweh’s name, saying, ‘Yahweh is between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, forever.’” He arose and departed; and Jonathan went into the city.
An empty seat at a feast, a spear thrown at a son, and a farewell in a field — the friendship survives, the household does not.
The king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on the seat by the wall; and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty.
The first night Saul says nothing and supplies his own explanation about ritual uncleanness 1 Samuel 20:26. The second night he asks, and the way he asks is the tell: why didn't the son of Jesse come...? 1 Samuel 20:27. He no longer uses the name. Through the rest of the book David is the son of Jesse in Saul's mouth — a man reduced to a lineage, which is what hatred does before it does anything else.
Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse rebellious woman, don’t I know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?
The explosion is aimed at Jonathan and routed through his mother, the cheapest insult available to a father. Then the argument that reveals everything: as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you will not be established, nor will your kingdom 1 Samuel 20:31. Saul is fighting for a dynasty God has already refused him 1 Samuel 13:14, and he frames it as concern for his son — the most respectable disguise ambition ever wears. Jonathan, who has weighed the same facts and let the throne go, answers with the question nobody in the court will ask: Why should he be put to death? What has he done? 1 Samuel 20:32.
Saul cast his spear at him to strike him. By this Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death.
The spear that has twice hunted David finds the king's own son, and that settles the matter: a man who will kill his heir to protect his heir's inheritance is past reasoning with. Jonathan leaves the table in fierce anger and eats nothing — for he was grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully 1 Samuel 20:34. The grief is for his friend, and the shame is his father's; Jonathan carries both without becoming either.
"Isn't the arrow beyond you?" 1 Samuel 20:37.
The signal is given exactly as arranged, and the boy who runs to fetch the arrows never learns what he was part of — only Jonathan and David knew the matter 1 Samuel 20:39. Then the code is abandoned, because grief overrules precaution: Jonathan sends the boy home, and the two men meet in the open for a farewell they had planned not to have. They kissed one another and wept with one another, and David wept the most 1 Samuel 20:41.
Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have both sworn in Yahweh’s name, saying, ‘Yahweh is between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, forever.’” He arose and departed; and Jonathan went into the city.
They will meet once more, briefly, in a wood 1 Samuel 23:16. The friendship costs Jonathan his father's table and, eventually, nothing less than the crown he was born to — and he pays without a recorded complaint. He is the finest man in the book, and the book will not spare him the mountain.
settled What this mark means