Useful Bible Studies > 1 Samuel Commentary > chapter 18
After the fight against Goliath, King Saul spoke with David. Saul’s oldest son, Jonathan, was also present during this conversation.
By this time, Saul was perhaps 65 years old; he would rule Israel for about 15 more years. Jonathan was about 45 years old. David was perhaps 15 or 18 years old.
Until this time, David had occasionally worked for Saul as a musician. When David was not working for Saul, he looked after his father’s sheep. However, Saul had now seen how brave and loyal David was. Also, Saul thought that it would benefit him to have someone with a good relationship with God close to him. So Saul insisted that David must now work permanently for him. David continued to be Saul’s musician, but he also became a commander in the army.
This conversation was also the start of the friendship between Jonathan and David. As a young man, Jonathan had shown complete trust in God (14:6). Now, at last, Jonathan had met someone with the same attitudes. They became close friends at once.
Their friendship had a special quality; they had genuine, sincere love for each other. In other words, they cared about each other and they constantly tried to help each other. Jonathan even risked his life to protect David (20:32-33).
Jonathan saw and encouraged that quality of love in David. That love came from the relationship that both men had with God. We remember David as the king who loved God with all his heart. Because of the love that he had received from God, David showed love towards many other people. The result was that they often showed love to David (for example 2 Samuel 15:19-22; 2 Samuel 23:13-17). As Saul had ruled by fear, so David would rule in love.
Next part: Jonathan’s gift to David (1 Samuel 18:3-4)
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© 2014, Keith Simons.