Bible Commentaries
1 Samuel 20

Verse 6

1 Samuel 20:6

The word in this verse rendered "sacrifice," is in the margin of our English Bibles rendered with somewhat greater felicity "feast." The family of Jesse continued to keep up their residence in Bethlehem after David had been chosen and anointed as the successor of Saul upon the throne, and carefully observed the household festivals through the year as in earlier days they had been accustomed.

I. At the outset let us notice some of the advantages found in the observance of this yearly thanksgiving festival. (1) First and chief of these is the consideration that for all God's love and care for us, there is due at least full acknowledgment of the hand which has given them to us. (2) There is manifest advantage in these annual festivals growing out of the cultivation of our domestic affections and the perpetuation of our home tastes and feelings. (3) Again there is manifest advantage in these thanksgiving festivals found in the perpetuation of ancestral memories to which they are calculated most strongly to minister. (4) The yearly festival gives an opportunity for kindling and quickening a true patriotism in the hearts of the people.

II. Notice, secondly, where David went to keep the festival. (1) To his own city, the story says, and that city was Bethlehem; a poor little town indeed, but it was his, and that was enough. (2) David went to his own home in Bethlehem. Escaping for a day from the frightful dangers of Saul's palace, he would rehearse at home the many troublous experiences he had had. (3) David would go to the various houses of his brethren.

No appliances are within our reach so easy of employment and so sure in result as thanksgiving associations carefully observed. Once a year, at least, the fetters of business and care drop off, and the worn man becomes a sort of hero in a family triumph and is refreshed by becoming a child again.

C. S. Robinson, Sermons on Neglected Texts, p. 193.

References: 1 Samuel 20:6 . Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 523. 1 Samuel 20:10 . Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1188. 1 Samuel 20:16 , 1 Samuel 20:17 . F. W. Krummacher, David the King of Israel, p. 102. 1 Samuel 20:25 . J. Hiles Hitchens, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 153; E. Mellor, The Hem of Christ's Garment, p. no; Parker, vol. vii., pp. 73, 74. 1 Samuel 20:27 . Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1454. 1 Samuel 20:34 . Parker, vol. vii., p. 8 (see also The Ark of God, p. 264). 1 Samuel 20:39 . Ibid., p. 74

Verse 42

1 Samuel 20:42

This was the last meeting and the final leaving of two young men whose friendship has been a proverb for nearly thirty centuries.

I. There are partings in every life; the ties of yesterday are loosened to-day, and will be broken to-morrow. We are closely bound to each other by the strong bonds of circumstances one moment, and the next we are severed and each goes on his way to strive or to suffer, and to conquer or to fall, alone. The hour of parting came to David and Jonathan, and nought remained but this, "Jonathan said to David, Go in peace."

II. There was one thought which took away some of the bitterness of that moment and allowed them to go each on his way with a firm step and a strong heart, for theirs had been no light and trifling friendship, which had sprung up in a day and might be dissolved in an hour, but a serious, manly, steadfast love, rooted in a common faith and held together by a common object animating their lives; and therefore the one could say to the other, "Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord." One might go back to the haunted house, where Saul would curse and rave, and the other might wander abroad in the wilderness; but come what might, they were both prepared for good or evil fortune. Both had sworn to put their trust in the living God.

A. Jessopp, Norwich School Sermons, p. 263.

References: 1 Samuel 21:1 . F. W. Krummacher, David the King of Israel, p. 118. 1 Samuel 21:6 . J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 82. 1 Samuel 21:7 . Parker, vol. vii., p. 74. 1 Samuel 21:8 . Ibid., p. 75.