1st
Samuel 23:16-18: And What it Means to All People
By: Anthony Joseph
Hopkins August 14, 2020
16. Then Jonathan
Saul’s son arose and went to David in the woods and strengthen his hand in God.
And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went [into the woods] to David at
Horesh, and encouraged him in God. He said to him, “Do not be afraid; the hand
of my father Saul will not find you. You will be king over Israel and I will be
second in command to you; my father Saul knows this too.” So, the two of them
made a covenant before the LORD; and David stayed [in the woods] at Horesh and
Jonathan went to his house.
17. And he said to him,
do not fear, for the hand of Saul, my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be
next to you. Even my father Saul knows
that.
18. So the two of them
made a covenant before the Lord. And
David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his own house.
This is a story about
two good friends, King Saul son Jonathan and the anointed king David son of
Jesse. I am going to place emphasis on
the 16th verse of 1st Samuel 23. It specifically states that Jonathan arose
and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God. Jonathan was a very loyal friend to
David. Even though, Saul his father
tried to kill David because David was anointed King over Israel.
David was only 12 years
old when he was anointed King over Israel by Samuel. The word strengthen means to give strength to
or nourishment to another person.
Jonathan appeared to David inside of the woods, and he strengthened his
hand in God. This means that he
encouraged David at his time of need.
This is simply because David was in danger at the hand of Saul;
Jonathan’s father. Therefore, Jonathan
indicated to David do not fear. For the
hand of his father Saul will not find him.
Therefore, Jonathan and
David were very good friends toward each other.
Jonathan encouraged David to be strong, and do not fear. Eventually, the two of them made a covenant
with each other. The covenant was made
in blood from each other. This was made by
using a knife to cut into their flesh, and the two of them were friends until
Jonathan and his father were killed in battle.
However, Saul committed suicide by falling on his own knife. Jonathan showed compassion toward David. Frankly, I have shown all of my enemies’ compassion
from 1972 to 1990. I did not like
fighting my friends, even though they were fair weather friends.
Both of my grandmothers
told me not to fight any of my friends.
My fair-weather friends had beaten me up for 18 years. Even though I did not like fighting
anyone. I prefer playing football and
basketball with my fair-weather friends.
I will admit that I was all by myself as a child growing up because of
my aggressive friends. I remember
attending church with my grandmothers. I
remember the Beatitudes that are located inside of the New Testament in the
Book of Matthew the 5th Chapter.
When it pertains to the story of Jonathan and David, it was Jonathan and
David who had compassion towards each other.
I was filled with compassion
as a child. Do you agree? I will admit that I used to get beaten up as
a child by my fair-weather friends considered me as a very weak person. I was not a weak person. I suffered from depression all of my entire
life. I was abused as a child by my
stepfather and my friends.
I did not consider my
friends as fair-weather. My fair-weather
friends used to oppress me for 18 years.
They used to intimidate me and take my lunch money from me. Currently, I suffer from depression for the
past 23 years. From July 15, 1997 to the
present day, I have consulted with therapists and psychiatrists on a regular
basis.
In order to strengthen
someone, you will have to show compassion for the next person. You need to become transparent. You need to become honest, truthful, and
respectful toward other people. This is
my personal interpretation of 1st Samuel 23:16-18, and what it means
to all people. My name is Anthony Joseph
Hopkins, and I love all of you very much.
Please take care of yourselves.
Sincerely,
Anthony Joseph Hopkins
Comments
Post a Comment