I sat down in a friend's home last night and listened to the final points of a boy's bible study going on in the next room, as I arrived early to pick up AA.
They were talking about relationships and "sticking up for your buddies" - also about being able to rejoice when your friend gets a boost and you didn't.
The dad leading the discussion brought up Jonathan and David; and how Jonathan gave up his shot at the throne in preference to his friend, David.
This morning my reading in preparation for our Bethel Bible series at church took me to 1 Samuel 13 & 14. I think this may be the first place Jonathan - the son of King Saul and heir-apparent to the throne of Israel is mentioned.
Saul, it seems, put together 3 platoons (?) of troops, one-thousand each. He took charge of two-thirds and appointed Jonathan over the other thousand. Relations were "chilly" (to say the least) with their vastly equipped enemy - the Philistines. These troops would try to keep the peace.
Be it wise or no - I can't say - but Jonathan went on the offensive and attacked the garrison of Philistines. I just like that he did something; it is one of the things I admire and long to see among leaders in a rightful cause.
This attack angered the Philistines, which resulted in calamity among the Israelites, who were subservient to the Philistines and possessed little or no weaponry. So they scattered. Some hid, some defected, many went home.
Saul tried to muster the people to take a stand should the Philistines attack - he could now only put together 600.
I love "against the odds" stories. I have probably blogged about this very one before; but this story just appeals to my affinity for the underdog.
It seems that among this army of 600, only Jonathan and his father were properly armed - the rest were not even allowed to have sharp farming instruments without the permission of the Philistines. So Jonathan, again, decided that he could no longer just sit around; he must do something.
He and his armour-bearer contrived a plan and even included God in the plan, by laying out a "sign" without which the plan would be aborted.
They would give themselves up. If the enemy troopers told them to be still and wait until they sent soldiers to take them into custody - then God was NOT going to grant a victory to Jonathan that day. However, if the soldiers beckoned them to come into the camp... well that would be the "sign" that this tandem would be empowered to fight like poet-warriors... to borrow from Braveheart.
God allowed Jonathan and this nameless armour-bearer to join Him in the fray that day as they took on and emaciated a squad of about twenty. That's when God's partnership in the plan really became apparent!
Verse 15 of Chapter 14 says something I don't remember noticing before: one translation says the Philistine army "trembled" and there was an earthquake ; another says "panic struck" the enemy and the "ground shook". The enemy began to "melt away" before Jonathan and his armour-bearer. God was showing up.
Impossible odds.
Simply put, Jonathan was a man of great heart (not unlike that of his friend, David); he saw that something needed to be done; he willingly joined God in what He had already planned to do. In so doing, Jonathan got to be God's linchpin.
What unlikely odds lay before you this Christmas season?
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