Jonathan would have made a much better king than Saul. He knew that a king of Israel ruled under the kingship of the Lord. He knew that battles were won because the Lord fought them and gave you victory. The only reason he did not become king was because of his father’s disobedience and foolish mistakes (13: 13 – 14). He knew his father’s kingship was doomed after Saul did not follow the Lord’s instructions when fighting the Amalekites (15: 28).
Jonathan fought bravely for the Lord and the Israelites and
had great victories and was popular with the men (14:45). He supported David
and spoke well of him to Saul even when Saul was trying to kill David. He made a covenant with David before the Lord
on several occasions. He was committed to
David but his loyalties must have been divided and I think this lead to one
great mistake.
In the verses above Jonathan told David that he would be
king – even Saul knew that – and he would be second to him. Jonathan was quite
right; I am sure that was God’s plan but look what happened – Jonathan went
home- he didn’t stay with David to work out the call of God on his life. The
tragedy is that they never saw one another again and Jonathan died by his
father’s side. He was meant to be second to David but having been loyal to
David all through the difficult times, at this moment instead of staying with
David, he went home. He knew God’s plan,
he committed himself to both God and David by making a covenant with David
before the Lord but a false sense of loyalty took him in the wrong direction
and he went home back to Saul and later died with him. He never fulfilled God’s
plan for his life. A false sense of loyalty can keep us in the wrong place too. It is important to know when to move on, when God is doing a new thing and how to go with it. Someone told me once they knew they were in the wrong church but it was too difficult to leave – so they stayed and were not fulfilling what God had planned for their lives.
Some people move church or ministry far too often and some do not move when they should. We need to be aware of when God is moving on and calling us to move too and not get stuck in situations that will neither fulfil our destinies nor bring God’s life to us. False loyalty can be a burdensome thing but if we remember that our first loyalty is to the Lord, he will guide us to the right places, churches and ministries in his timing.
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