CHAPTER SUMMARY

David runs away from Nayyot and comes to complain to Yehonatan about Shaul’s treatment of him. Yehonatan refuses, at first, to believe the report because his father always consults him on important decisions. David suggests that Shaul was avoiding Yehonatan, knowing of his love of him, but insists that Shaul is really after him.

Yehonatan asks what David wants him to do, and David suggests a test. The next day was Rosh Hodesh, a time when David would ordinarily be expected to eat at the king’s table, and David would absent himself. If Shaul made a fuss, it would prove his intent to kill David, which (David hoped) would lead Yehonatan to warn him and save him. If not, David asks that Yehonatan kill him himself—why bring him to Shaul?

Yehonatan brushes aside David’s worries, promising that he will warn David if there is danger. When David asks how, Yehonatan says come, let us go out to the field. When they get out there, Yehonatan swears he will warn David if he finds out that Shaul is planning to kill him, but then adjures David to swear that when David is in control, he will return the favor and treat Yehonatan and his descendants kindly. He also has him swear to other things, a sign of the mutual love they bear each other. Yehonatan then outlines the plan we all know from the haftarah of Mahar Hodesh, where he will gauge Shaul’s feelings towards David based on his reaction to David’s absence, and will inform David through the code of his instructions to the boy who is gathering up his arrows.

The first day that David is absent, Shaul does not comment, assuring himself that something may have happened to keep him away. The next day, however, he asks about his whereabouts. When Yehonatan says that David had asked permission to go home, since his brother had commanded him to attend a family gathering, Shaul flips out. He calls Yehonatan a rebel, says that he has long known of Yehonatan’s traitorous affection for David, a betrayal of the family, since their kingdom will not last as long as David is alive. Yehonatan protests, and Shaul tosses a spear at him to hit him. Yehonatan, embarrassed by his father’s treatment and angered over his attitude towards David, leaves the table and does not eat that day.

The next day, Yehonatan goes out to the field, and delivers the coded message to David. After he sends the boy back to town, there is no one left in the field, so David feels comfortable revealing himself. The two bid each other farewell, with Yehonatan reminding David of the promises they had made to each other.

WHY LEAVE NAYYOT?

Although the thrust of the chapter portrays Yehonatan and David’s interaction, I would wonder for a moment why David left Nayyot (where Shmuel had protected him by having anyone who came to get him be mitnabei); why not just stay with Shmuel, safe in his protection?

First, it could be that Shmuel couldn’t protect David long-term. While temporarily able to fend off Shaul and his minions, Shmuel perhaps was unable to maintain the level of connection with God that would allow that as a continuing solution. While prophets can perform supernatural actions, they may not be able to do whatever they want.

Second, and more likely to my mind, it may be that it was necessary for David to flee Shaul for a period of time. That might, for example, allow Shaul opportunities to recognize his errors and rectify them (whereas if it was out of his control, he could not make up for his earlier mistakes). Second, there might be some value in David having to experience the role of the outsider, unjustly hunted down by a monarch overextending his power. Having to live on the other side of a king’s power might have been an important preparation for David’s own reign.

WHY GO TO YEHONATAN?

Once David left Nayot, he next goes to Yehonatan, which is surprising, since why does he not simply run away. One answer brings us again to a theme we have discussed before, the extent to which Shaul’s mental problems were guiding his actions towards David. In this chapter, we see Shaul seek to capture David without any mention of a ruah raah, which implies that he has now set killing David as a continuing goal, even when not afflicted by mental illness. An obsession that started out as a function of his mental problems has now crossed the line to become a part of his agenda even when free of a particular moment of insanity.

David, however, may not have known that Shaul had crossed that line. He then may not have known how to react—should he return to working for Shaul, as he had before, assuming that Shaul would calm down and return to himself, or was this qualitatively different from what he had seen before? His coming to Yehonatan was a way to find out the answer.

That possibility, and another one we will suggest in a moment, are supported by the kind of test both he and Yehonatan propose. They each assume (and are correct) that Shaul will expect David to be at the king’s table for the Rosh Hodesh meal. Considering that Shaul had just sent people to David’s home, and then sent several groups of people to Nayot, to kill David, the expectation that he would show up at the Rosh Hodesh meal seems a little odd. It also suggests that Shaul’s mental illness had confused David to the point that he did not know what he was supposed to do in this situation.

In addition, David may have worried about not showing up, since that might constitute a criminal public failure to fulfill his responsibilities. His visit to Yehonatan may have been meant to forestall anyone, especially Yehonatan, from beginning to doubt the purity of his commitment to his national obligations. While Yehonatan and others loved David, that enthusiasm might have lessened had he inexplicably disappeared.

While David proposed the main outlines of how to test Shaul’s resolve—a test whose sole purpose seems to be to see whether Shaul intended to kill David no matter what, or just when the ill mood struck him—Yehonatan adds the element of how he will communicate the results of their test to David. He takes him out to the field, shows him where he will come when he has the information, and how he will get him that information even if they are not alone (since otherwise he could just tell David straight out).

SHAUL’S PART

So Shaul comes to the meal on the first day of Rosh Hodesh, sees that David is absent, but does not say anything, assuming that happenstance had kept David away. His silence instructs also about Shaul, since we could easily imagine asking after David without it seeming suspicious to those around us. If, indeed, all major officers of the realm ate with the king on Rosh Hodesh, it would seem innocuous enough to ask about one who was absent. Shaul’s hesitance, his desire to explain it away, shows that he understood that his animosity towards David had the better of him, and that he therefore had to be extra cautious so as not to give the wrong impression.

In any event, David does not show up the next day either, and Yehonatan is finally asked where David is. His response again shows us how important family structures were in those days. It was reasonable to tell Shaul that David had asked to go home because his brother had demanded his attendance. David, son-in-law of the king and general among the Jewish people, could be seen as offering a brother’s command to justify his need to go home! At least, I find that surprising.

Shaul, however, is not fooled by the ruse. He immediately connects David’s absence to Yehonatan’s feelings for him and embarrasses his son. Most interesting to me, in his anger at Yehonatan, he throws a spear at him, which suggests an answer to a problem we have raised before. Other times that Shaul threw a spear at David, it did not seem to immediately spark David’s fear or desire to flee. Malbim had suggested that David did not see Shaul throw it at him, and that when he did, he in fact did run away. Shaul’s throwing it at Yehonatan, however, raises the possibility that this was one of the accepted ways for the king to show anger. Generally, the spear was not thrown with intent to kill or seriously wound, and was just taken as a sign of anger. If that was true in general, then it could have been true when David was on the receiving end as well. Instead of fleeing, David might have just tried to calm the king down, since then the issue would subside.

Yehonatan leaves the table, and the next day goes out to tell David. Here, they now know they are parting ways—David has to flee Shaul; his official duties have obviously ended, since Shaul has made clear, at an official governmental function, that he intends to kill David. While at this moment Yehonatan is in the higher social position, it is already clear to him that that is a temporary matter. Having fulfilled his responsibilities to David—warning him about Shaul’s now-perpetual animosity—he seeks to remind David, and to implore him, to remember his reverse oath and to take care of Yehonatan or his surviving descendants into the future. And so they part. Shabbat Shalom