Whose Hearts Fail Not

In the Come, Follow Me manual we read this related to this week’s material: “‘Jonathan loved [David] as his own soul.’ As you read 1 Samuel 18, consider contrasting Saul and his son Jonathan (who, if not for David, could have assumed he would be the next king). How did Saul and Jonathan react to David’s success? What can you learn from this experience?” Jonathan was the son of Saul, the king, and they were both witnesses to the rise in power and prestige of David. Jonathan was faithful to the Lord like David, and right after David’s miraculous defeat of Goliath, we read that “the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” After David’s success against the giant, Saul sent David to a leader in the wars with the Philistines, and eventually the women of Israel took note of David’s success and started to sing, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” In other words, they were suggesting that David was more successful at war against the Philistines than Saul, and Saul became bitterly jealous. We read, “And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?” (1 Samuel 18:1, 7-8) From that time forth Saul sought for ways to kill David because he felt that David was a threat to him on the throne. Unfortunately, he had drastically changed from the time he was anointed king and exclaimed, “Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me?” (1 Samuel 9:21) His humility was gone, and full of pride and jealousy he sought to protect his kingdom from his perceived threat of David. David, who had played the harp for Saul in times of distress and saved the people from Goliath, should have been someone that Saul loved and appreciated. But envy took over in Saul’s heart and turned him against David.  

               Jonathan, on the other hand, did not think evil of David but rather came to truly love him. Instead of trying to compete with each other, “Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle” (1 Samuel 18:4). When Saul declared that he wanted to kill David, Jonthan sought to protect his friend: “Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself.” David consulted with Jonathan, trying to understand why Saul wanted to kill him, and Jonathan continued to faithfully help his friend. As Saul learned of Jonathan’s devotion to David, the king was angry: “Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother’s nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die.” In other words, Saul knew that David was a threat to become then next king, and if he did then Jonathan would not become a king. So Saul thought that would help convince Jonathan to turn against David, but for Jonathan his friendship with David was far more important than becoming the next ruler in Israel. Jonathan warned David further and stayed true to him. When it was totally clear that David needed to flee, they “wept one with another, until David exceeded. And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever” (1 Samuel 20:30-31, 41-42). Jonathan was a true friend who was not jealous of the success of David but sought only to help and bless and protect his friend who would indeed take his place as the next king. He is a powerful example to us of the kind of friend that Joseph Smith described when he said, “How good and glorious it has seemed unto me, to find pure and holy friends, who are faithful, just, and true, and whose hearts fail not; and whose knees are confirmed and do not falter, while they wait upon the Lord.”