The Prince: Jonathan

by Francine Rivers

  “You eat well.”

  David shrugged. “Some of the people are good to us.”

  “Be careful whom you trust. Even though you delivered Keilah from raiders, they were only too eager to turn you over to Saul.”

  David nodded, pensive. “How is Michal?”

  Jonathan felt the heat mount in his cheeks. Michal was like those of Keilah. Fickle and shallow, she had nothing good to say about David. Jonathan shook his head. “She is well and lives alone.” He didn’t want to speak against his sister.

  David looked grim. “This is no place for a woman like Michal. We’re always on the run.”

  “One day you will come home, David.”

  “For now, I must live in the wilderness.”

  “Remember our history. The wilderness is a sacred place to our people. God called us into the wilderness. It was in the wilderness God met with our forefathers and traveled with them. It was in the wilderness God performed His great miracles.”

  “It is a barren, difficult place where every day is a challenge to the body and soul.”

  “The wilderness refined the faith of our forefathers and prepared them to enter the Promised Land. It is in the wilderness that you will learn God is sovereign. The Lord will meet your needs. He will train you as He trained Joshua and Caleb. God prepared them for battle and gave them victory. Surely, God’s voice is heard more easily here in the quiet than in the cacophony of a king’s court.”

  David grinned. “And yet you would make a king of me.”

  “Only great men like Moses have the wisdom to follow on the heels of God.” Jonathan rose. “It is time for me to return to Gibeah.”

  David helped him with his breastplate.

  Jonathan strapped on his sword. Grief welled up in him as he looked at David’s face. “The king has left me in command of the kingdom while he—” He could not speak. How many years might pass before he saw his friend again?

  “Stay with me, Jonathan!”

  “I can’t. But I will never raise my hand against you. I will do all I can to guard the kingdom and teach the people to revere the prophets and obey the Law.” He embraced David. “I must go.”

  They went out together and Jonathan faced David’s men. He saw death in their faces, an eagerness to conquer. Jonathan turned to David and they clasped hands. “If anything happens to me, David, protect my wife and children.”

  “You have a child?”

  “Not yet, but God willing, I hope to have as many as the arrows in my quiver.”

  “May the Lord so bless you. You have my word, Jonathan. I will protect your wife and children.”

  Jonathan bowed at the waist as he would to the king.

  Uriah stood holding the reins of the horse. Jonathan took them and mounted. “I know the way back.”

  “May the Lord your God watch over and protect you.”

  Jonathan looked at David, raised his hand in fellowship, and then rode away alone.

  King Saul returned to Gibeah, morbid and glum. Jonathan relinquished his duties beneath the tamarisk tree and turned his attention to strengthening the tribes.

  Months passed.

  Ziphites came. David was hiding among them in the strongholds of Horesh. They would hand David over to Saul if the king came down to capture him.

  “I have also received reports, Father. David has protected their flocks and herds. What reason have they to betray David? Do not trust these men. They are too eager to take you away from Gibeah.” His arguments merely delayed Saul’s departure and planted more seeds of suspicion.

  “The Lord bless you,” Saul told the Ziphite messengers. “At last someone is concerned about me! Go and check again to be sure of where he is staying and who has seen him there, for I know that he is very crafty. Discover his hiding places, and come back when you are sure. Then I’ll go with you. And if he is in the area at all, I’ll track him down, even if I have to search every hiding place in Judah!”

  Jonathan sent Ebenezer to warn David against the Ziphites.

  But before the week was over, Saul summoned his warriors and headed south into Judah’s territory.

  Jonathan awakened in the middle of the night. His body streamed sweat, his heart pounded. He had dreamed that his father was riding along one side of a mountain with his warriors while David and his men were on the other side running for their lives. The king had them trapped and outnumbered.

  Someone pounded on his door.

  Rachel awakened beside him. “What is it?”

  Jonathan threw his clothes on. “I’ll send your maid. Bar the door until I return.” He ran out the door, shouting to the servants.

  Ebenezer had come for him. “The Philistines are heading this way, my lord.”

  “Send word to King Saul! Tell him, ‘Come quickly! The Philistines are attacking!’” Jonathan strapped on his sword as he ran.

  Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.

  The wandering king would have to come home. For now. But Jonathan knew that as soon as the immediate crisis subsided, his father would once again resume his mad quest to kill David.

  * * *

  SIX

  * * *

  As Jonathan had feared, King Saul continued after David even as the Philistine threat grew. “He’s gone to En-gedi. I have him now! I’ll get him this time!”

  Year after year, the chase went on, Saul never tiring of the hunt.

  “Let him go, Father! We must keep our eyes upon the Philistines! Would you have them overrun the land and put the yoke of slavery around our necks? Israel needs you here!”

  “What good if I am no longer king?”

  Saul took his contingent of three thousand and went after David once again, hunting him and the growing numbers following him near the rocks of the wild goats.

  Left to defend the kingdom, Jonathan sent for representatives from the tribes to gather and discuss defense tactics. He worked night and day, hearing reports, sending out warriors to strengthen defenses, and soothing the people’s fears.

  When Saul again returned home, unsuccessful, he compounded his sins by arranging a marriage between Michal and Palti, the son of Laish.

  “You cannot do this, Father! You’ll make her an adulteress!”

  “Palti is besotted with your sister. I can use that to my advantage. If Michal were not agreeable to the match, I might hesitate.”

  Jonathan knew he argued in vain, and sent a message to Samuel, pleading that the seer come and speak to the king. When Samuel did not answer, Jonathan went to his sister, but she was far from mourning the arrangement. As far as she was concerned, David had deserted her.

  “Why shouldn’t I have some happiness? David is such a coward! All he does is run and hide in caves like a wild animal.”

  “Would you prefer he defended himself and killed our father?”

  “Why should I spend the rest of my life without a husband, locked away in my chambers?”

  “You have a husband! David is your husband!”

  “Then where is he? Does he send me love songs? Does he long for me as I longed for him for years? He doesn’t care about me. He never did. He thought our marriage would put him a step closer to the throne.” She lifted her chin. “Besides, Father wants me to marry Palti and I’m going to obey. And Palti is far more handsome than David.”

  “Is that all you care about, Michal? What the man looks like?”

  Her eyes darkened. “Palti loves me! Have you seen how he looks at me? We will have many fine sons. Beautiful, strong sons. I will help build up Saul’s house!”

  “Be careful how you talk, little sister. One day, David will be king.”

  “You speak treason against the king, our father!”

  “Father knows. Samuel told him that God had chosen another. It’s why Saul hates David so much, why he pursues him relentlessly. But God will prevail—”

  “God! God! All you ever think about is God.”

  “David will reign, Michal. If you wait, you will be his queen. If you go t
hrough with this marriage, what do you suppose David will do with you when he returns?”

  The fire went out of her eyes. She turned away and lifted her shoulders. “David will take me back.” She faced him again. “I will tell him King Saul commanded me to marry, and I had no choice in the matter. It’s true, after all.”

  “It won’t matter. According to the Law, you will be defiled. David will never sleep with you again.”

  “He will!”

  “No, he won’t.”

  She burst into tempestuous tears. “It’s not my fault what plans are made for me.”

  She sickened him. “You go into this marriage as a willing participant!”

  “You care more about that wretched shepherd than you do about your own sister!”

  “You, my sister, are no better than a harlot who gives herself to the highest bidder and prostitutes herself before idols!”

  Stunned, she stared at him, fear filling her eyes. “I loved David. You know I loved him.” Angry color surged into her cheeks. “And what good did it do me? Do I have sons? It’s so easy for you to condemn me. You have a wife. Soon you will have a son!”

  Her mouth twisted as she spat bitter venom. “She’ll probably have a dozen sons and daughters for you, perfect as you are. God’s delight! Firstborn son and the delight of the king! And what hope have I ever to have a son of my own? Tell me that, brother. If David won’t defend himself against father, then he’s destined to run and keep running for however many years father lives. And Father is a strong man, isn’t he? I’ll be an old woman by the time David returns, if he returns. Too old to have children! I hate him! I hate the life I live because of him! I wish Father would kill him and we’d all be done with it!”

  “May the Lord reveal the truth about you!” Jonathan left, vowing never to look upon his sister’s face again.

  Saul returned once again and retreated into his house. Only Jonathan and the king’s most trusted personal servants were allowed close. Saul paid little attention to matters of state. He sat brooding, chin in hand, face sallow, dejected as Jonathan went over the reports that came in from the tribes. Only maps of the regions interested him, especially those showing areas in which David lived.

  Frustrated, Jonathan summoned Abner. “What happened at the rocks of the wild goats to put the king in such a foul mood?”

  A muscle twitched in the commander’s jaw. “We almost captured David. We were so close. We just didn’t realize how close.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Abner looked embarrassed. “The king needed to relieve himself. He went into a cave while guards stood outside, keeping watch. When the king returned, we were ready to set off again and then David appeared.”

  “Where?”

  “At the entrance to the cave. He and his men had been inside with the king.” His eyes darkened. “How they must have laughed.”

  “What did David do?”

  “He called down to us. He said his men had encouraged him to kill Saul.”

  “Joab and his brothers, no doubt.” Jonathan could imagine those men urging David to take advantage of the moment, murder the king and take the crown for himself.

  “What did David say?”

  Abner’s jaw clenched. “He said a lot of things.” The commander glowered, lips pressed tight.

  “Tell me everything, Abner.”

  “He said he’d spared the king because Saul is God’s anointed. But he had cut away a piece of your father’s robe to prove how close he had been. Of course, he claimed he was innocent of any wrong. And then he cried out for the Lord to judge between him and your father, and prayed that God would take revenge for all the wrongs he claims the king has done to him.” Abner sneered. “Oh, of course, David swore his hand would not touch the king. He said, ‘From evil people come evil deeds.’ He dared speak as though your father were the interloper. That man has done more damage to your father than any Philistine ever hoped to do!”

  “And what damage would that be, Abner, when Saul broke faith with David?”

  “Your loyalty must be with your father.”

  “It is! Am I not here running the kingdom while he runs after David? Have I not proven my loyalty year after year?”

  “David humiliated Saul before his men. Do you not call that damage? You could have spared your father long ago. You had opportunity after opportunity to destroy his enemy.”

  “David is not the king’s enemy!”

  Abner leaned close, furious. “Saul wept aloud! And then he confessed loud enough for all of us to hear! He said that miserable Judean shepherd is a better man than he. Saul said he had treated David badly and David had returned nothing but good.”

  Tears sprang to Jonathan’s eyes, tears of joy, but Abner didn’t understand. He and David’s relative Joab had much in common. “The Lord delivered King Saul into David’s hands, and David honored him.”

  “Honor?” Abner’s eyes darkened. “What honor did he show when he cut into the royal vestments? Where is the honor when men hide in the darkness to snigger at the king who seeks privacy for his most personal needs?!”

  “Where is the honor in hunting down a man who has done nothing but serve king and people?” Abner drew back at Jonathan’s words, eyes fierce. Jonathan held his stare. “No answer to that, Abner? Then how about this? Did you send warriors into the cave before my father went in?”

  Abner flushed deep red.

  “Perhaps it is your own failure to do your duty that angers you most. You failed to protect the king.”

  Abner’s eyes grew colder. “It might interest you to hear that King Saul said the Lord would reward David for his treatment. King Saul said David would surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel would flourish under his rule. You were not mentioned, my prince. Although King Saul did beg David not to murder all his descendants and wipe his family from the face of the earth.”

  Jonathan smiled. “David follows the Law of the Lord our God. He does not follow the customs of the nations around us.”

  “Then why are they now his allies?”

  Samuel died. King Saul and all Israel assembled to mourn for him. King Saul spoke to the throng of people. The king spoke glowing words of praise for the seer, and led the procession to the prophet’s resting place.

  Jonathan had insisted that raisin cakes be given to the people before they returned home. Some had come great distances to pay Samuel respect. Saul had groaned loudly, claiming such gifts would impoverish him, but Jonathan persisted. “A generous king is loved by his people. The people will pay their taxes more willingly when they know the king has an open hand in their regard.”

  The king sat on a dais beneath an elaborate canopy and watched the crowds. He was looking for one man: David. He had stationed men throughout in case David appeared. Abner made certain if David did come, there would be no escape.

  Thousands filed past the stacks of cakes, receiving their allotment. Jonathan spoke blessings and words of encouragement to those who came through his line.

  A man dressed in rags and bent with years hobbled forward. His head covered, his beard dusty, he leaned heavily on a crooked cane. His head bobbed in repeated bows as he mumbled.

  Jonathan stepped closer and supported the man’s arm as he gave him a raisin cake.

  “My lord the prince is most kind to his people,” the man murmured.

  “It is the kindness of God who gives us the wheat and the grapes to make these cakes. Praise His name.”

  The man took the proffered raisin cake, shoved it into his pouch, and grasped Jonathan’s hand. His grip was not that of an old man. “May the Lord bless you for your generosity, my son.” David lifted his head just enough that their gazes met.

  Jonathan held firmly to David’s hand. “And may the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob protect you in your travels.”

  The Philistines raided the land once again, and Saul and Jonathan led warriors to fight.

  When the Ziphites reported that David was hiding on the hil
l of Hakilah that faced Jeshimon, Saul turned aside, took Abner and his three thousand chosen warriors of Benjamin, and went after him, leaving Jonathan to drive the Philistines back. Ebenezer, now one of Jonathan’s most trusted commanders, remained to protect Gibeah.

  When Jonathan returned home, he learned that Rachel had given birth to their first child. But infection had set in, and Rachel was dying. “Nothing can be done, my lord,” he was told.

  Jonathan went to her.

  “Your son.” Rachel gazed at the baby in the crook of her arm. “So beautiful. Like his father.” Her breath was faint. She looked at the nurse standing close by, who, weeping, leaned down and took the infant.

  Jonathan’s throat closed. He was filled with regrets. He loved his wife, but Israel had always been his passion. Not once had Rachel complained. Now, she wore the pallor of approaching death. He struggled with guilt. “He is perfect, Rachel. A gift from the Lord.” His voice caught in his throat. He took his wife’s hand and kissed the palm. “Thank you.”

  “Jonathan. Do not look so sad, my love.” She could barely whisper. “The people need you.” He leaned down so that her lips were against his ear. “Our son must have a proper name.”

  His eyes filled. “Try to rest.”

  “No time,” she whispered. “Merib-baal is a good name.”

  One who contends against idols. Jonathan couldn’t speak. He held her hand tighter.

  Her fingers moved weakly. “Or Mephibosheth.”

  One who would destroy the shame of idol worship in Israel. Jonathan could only nod. Let it be so, Lord. May my son rise up to praise Your Name. He kissed Rachel’s hand again and held it cradled tenderly between his own. She sighed softly, the light fading from her eyes. He closed them with shaking fingers and wept.

  He did not leave her chambers until morning light. He washed, prayed, gave offerings as the Law prescribed, and then returned to the increasingly difficult duties of a prince guarding the realm for an absent king.