a Loyal Friend and a Jealous Enemy
1 Samuel 17:55-58; 1 Samuel 18:1-9
These verses make very good reading. They present the one ray of light in a story which, from this point on, becomes more and more somber. David's bearing in the hour of victory was so modest and unaffected that Jonathan's heart leaped out to greet him as a kindred soul; while his advances awoke in David a love almost womanly in its tenderness. When we see Jonathan arraying his newfound friend in his own raiment, we are reminded of our Lord's great exchange with us. He was made sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him, 2 Corinthians 5:21.
David's harp was now, for the most part, exchanged for the sword, and he became a popular hero. It was the refrain of the women's ode of victory that opened Saul's soul to the envenomed dart of jealousy. The milk of human kindness suddenly turned sour. “He eyed David from that day,” not with affectionate admiration, but always with desire to place a malicious construction on every act and word and look. With terrible accuracy James shows the certain progress and development of such an attitude, James 1:14-15.