Verse 12. Jonathan said – O Lord God of Israel] There is, most evidently, something wanting in this verse. The Septuagint has, The Lord God of Israel doth KNOW. The Syriac and Arabic, The Lord God of Israel is WITNESS. Either of these makes a good sense. But two of Dr. Kennicott’s MSS. supply the word chai, “liveth;” and the text reads thus, As the Lord God of Israel LIVETH, when I have sounded my father – if there be good, and I then send not unto thee, and show it thee, the Lord do so and much more to Jonathan. This makes a still better sense.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

O Lord God of Israel, do thou hear and judge between us. It is an abrupt speech, which is usual in great passions.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel,…. Or by the Lord God of Israel, I swear unto thee; for this is the form of the oath, as Jarchi and Kimchi observe:

when I have sounded my father about tomorrow any time, [or] the third [day]; searched, inquired, and found out how his disposition is:

and, behold, [if there be] good toward David; if he is well disposed to him, as may appear by speaking respectfully of him, or kindly inquiring after him, and by being satisfied with the account given him:

and I then send not unto thee, and show it thee; then let the vengeance of God fall upon me in some remarkable manner or another, as follows; or “shall I not then send unto thee, and show it thee” t? certainly I will; that is, I will send a messenger to thee to acquaint thee with it, who shall tell it, and cause thee to hear it, as from myself.

t “an non tune mitterem?” Junius Tremellius “nonne tunc mittam ad te?” so some in Vatablus.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

In the field, where they were both entirely free from observation, Jonathan first of all renewed his covenant with David, by vowing to him on oath that he would give him information of his father’s feelings towards him (1Sa 20:12, 1Sa 20:13); and then entreated him, with a certain presentiment that David would one day be king, even then to maintain his love towards him and his family for ever (1Sa 20:14-16); and lastly, he made David swear again concerning his love (1Sa 20:17), and then gave him the sign by which he would communicate the promised information (1Sa 20:18-23).

1Sa 20:12-15

1Sa 20:12 and 1Sa 20:13 are connected. Jonathan commences with a solemn invocation of God: “ Jehovah, God of Israel! ” and thus introduces his oath. We have neither to supply “Jehovah is witness,” nor “as truly as Jehovah liveth,” as some have suggested. “ When I inquire of my father about this time to-morrow, the day after to-morrow (a concise mode of saying ‘to-morrow or the day after’), and behold it is (stands) well for David, and then I do not send to thee and make it known to thee, Jehovah shall do so to Jonathan,” etc. (“The Lord do so,” etc., the ordinary formula used in an oath: see 1Sa 14:44). The other case is then added without an adversative particle: “ If it should please my father evil against thee ( lit. as regards evil), “ I will make it known to thee, and let thee go, that thou mayest go in peace; and Jehovah be with thee, as He has been with my father.” In this wish there is expressed the presentiment that David would one day occupy that place in Israel which Saul occupied then, i.e., the throne. – In 1Sa 20:14 and 1Sa 20:15 the Masoretic text gives no appropriate meaning. Luther’s rendering, in which he follows the Rabbins and takes the first (1Sa 20:14) by itself, and then completes the sentence from the context (“but if I do it not, show me no mercy, because I live, not even if I die”), contains indeed a certain permissible sense when considered in itself; but it is hardly reconcilable with what follows, “ and do not tear away thy compassion for ever from my house.” The request that he would show no compassion to him (Jonathan) even if he died, and yet would not withdraw his compassion from his house for ever, contains an antithesis which would have been expressed most clearly and unambiguously in the words themselves, if this had been really what Jonathan intended to say. De Wette’s rendering gives a still more striking contradiction: “ But let not (Jehovah be with thee) if I still live, and thou showest not the love of Jehovah to me, that I do not, and thou withdrawest not thy love from my house for ever.” There is really no other course open than to follow the Syriac and Arabic, as Maurer, Thenius, and Ewald have done, and change the in the first two clauses in 1Sa 20:14 into or , according to the analogy of the form (1Sa 14:30), and to render the passage thus: “And mayest thou, if I still live, mayest thou show to me the favour of the Lord, and not if I do, not withdraw thy favour from my house for ever, not even ( ) when Jehovah shall cut off the enemies of David, every one from the face of the earth!” “ The favour of Jehovah ” is favour such as Jehovah shall cut off,” etc., shows very clearly Jonathan’s conviction that Jehovah would give to David a victory over all his enemies.

1Sa 20:16

Thus Jonathan concluded a covenant with the house of David, namely, by bringing David to promise kindness to his family for ever. The word must be supplied in thought to , as in 1Sa 22:8 and 2Ch 7:18. “ And Jehovah required it (what Jonathan had predicted) at the hand of David’s enemies.” Understood in this manner, the second clause contains a remark of the historian himself, namely, that Jonathan’s words were really fulfilled in due time. The traditional rendering of as a relative preterite, with understood, “ and said, Let Jehovah take vengeance,” is not only precluded by the harshness of the introduction of the word “saying,” but still more by the fact, that if (saying) is introduced between the copula vav and the verb , the perfect cannot stand for the optative , as in Jos 22:23.

1Sa 20:17

“ And Jonathan adjured David again by his love to him, because he loved him as his own soul ” (cf. 1Sa 18:1, 1Sa 18:3); i.e., he once more implored David most earnestly with an oath to show favour to him and his house.

1Sa 20:18-19

He then discussed the sign with him for letting him know about his father’s state of mind: “ To-morrow is new moon, and thou wilt be missed, for thy seat will be empty,” sc., at Saul’s table (see at 1Sa 20:5). “ And on the third day come down quickly (from thy sojourning place), and go to the spot where thou didst hide thyself on the day of the deed, and place thyself by the side of the stone Ezel.” The first words in this (19th) verse are not without difficulty. The meaning “on the third day” for the verb cannot be sustained by parallel passages, but is fully established, partly by , the third day, and partly by the Arabic usage (vid., Ges. Thes. s. v.). after , lit., “ go violently down,” is more striking still. Nevertheless the correctness of the text is not to be called in question, since is sustained by in the Septuagint, and by descende ergo festinus in the Vulgate, and also by the rendering in the Chaldee, Arabic, and Syriac versions, “and on the third day thou wilt be missed still more,” which is evidently merely a conjecture founded upon the context. The meaning of is doubtful. Gesenius, De Wette, and Maurer render it “on the day of the deed,” and understand it as referring to Saul’s deed mentioned in 1Sa 19:2, viz., his design of killing David; others render it “on the day of business,” i.e., the working day (Luther, after the lxx and Vulgate), but this is not so good a rendering. The best is probably that of Thenius, “on the day of the business” (which is known to thee). Nothing further can be said concerning the stone Ezel than that Ezel is a proper name.

1Sa 20:20

“ And I will shoot off three arrows to the side of it (the stone Ezek), to shoot for me at the mark,” i.e., as if shooting at the mark. The article attached to is either to be explained as denoting that the historian assumed the thing as already well known, or on the supposition that Jonathan went to the field armed, and when giving the sign pointed to the arrows in his quiver. In the word the Raphe indicates that the suffix of is not a mere toneless , although it has no mappik, having given up its strong breathing on account of the harsh sound.

1Sa 20:21

“ And, behold ( , directing attention to what follows as the main point), I will send the boy (saying), Go, get the arrows. If I shall say to the boy, Behold, the arrows are from thee hitherwards, fetch them; then come, for peace is to thee, and it is nothing, as truly as Jehovah liveth.”

1Sa 20:22

“ But if I say to the youth, Behold, the arrows are from thee farther off; then go, for Jehovah sendeth thee away,” i.e., bids thee flee. The appointment of this sign was just as simple as it was suitable to the purpose.

1Sa 20:23

This arrangement was to remain an eternal secret between them. “ And (as for) the word that we have spoken, I and thou, behold, the Lord is between me and thee for ever,” namely, a witness and judge in case one of us two should break the covenant (vid., Gen 31:48-49). This is implied in the words, without there being any necessity to assume that had dropped out of the text. “ The word ” refers not merely to the sign agreed upon, but to the whole matter, including the renewal of the bond of friendship.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(12) O Lord God of Israel.Now that the two friends have come to a remote solitary spot, Jonathan prefaces his reply to Davids piteous request by a very solemn invocation of that God they both loved so well. The vocative, however, O Lord God, &c., of the English Version has been generally looked upon as an impossible renderingthere being no analogy for such a mode of addressLange.

The versions avoid it by supplying different words. So the Syriac and Arabic render The Lord of Israel is my witness; the LXX., The Lord God of Israel knows. Others have supplied a word which they find in two Hebrew MSS., As the Lord God of Israel liveth. The meaning, however, is perfectly clear.

Or the third day.This statement of time on the part of Jonathan evidently assumes that the festival was continued the day after the new moon by a royal banquet. The time is thus reckoned: the present day; the morrow, which was the new moon festival; and the day after, which would reckon as the third day.

Behold, if there be good toward David.In the event of the news being goodthat is, if Saul, contrary to Davids expectation, spoke kindly of himthen Jonathan would send to him a special messenger; if, on the other hand, the king displayed enmity, in that case Jonathan would come himself and see David (for the last time). This sad message should be brought by no messenger.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

1Sa 20:12-13. Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God, &c. Houbigant, after the Syriac, renders these verses thus: Then Jonathan said unto David, The Lord God of Israel is witness, that I will sound my father to-morrow, and until the evening of the third day; and that if there be good towards David, I will send unto thee, and inform thee; 1Sa 20:13. So may the Lord be gracious to Jonathan! If my father is determined that thou shouldst perish, I will shew that to thee, &c. It is plain, from the last words of the 13th verse, that Jonathan was no stranger to the rejection of Saul, and to the divine appointment of David to the crown. See ch. 1Sa 23:17.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Sa 20:12 And Jonathan said unto David, O LORD God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about to morrow any time, [or] the third [day], and, behold, [if there be] good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and shew it thee;

Ver. 12. O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded, &c. ] Broken language from a troubled spirit. Love will creep where it cannot go, and shine as a candle through the chinkers.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

O LORD God of Israel. Syriac reads “Jehovah, God of Israel, [be] witness that I will sound”, &c.

God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

O Lord: This verse is evidently deficient. The LXX have , “The Lord God of Israel doth know;” the Syraic and Arabic, “The Lord God of Israel is witness;” either of which makes good sense. But two of Dr. Kennicott’s manuscripts supply the word chai, “liveth;” and the text reads thus: “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, when I have sounded my father – if there be good unto David, and I then send not unto thee,” etc.; which is a still better sense. Jos 22:22, Job 31:4, Psa 17:3, Psa 139:1-4

sounded: Heb. searched, Pro 20:5, Pro 25:2, Pro 25:3

show it thee: Heb. uncover thine ear, 1Sa 20:2

Reciprocal: 1Sa 23:18 – General

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jonathan and David’s long-range covenant 20:12-17

Jonathan appealed to the Lord in an oath indicating the seriousness of the situation (1Sa 20:12-13). He prayed that God would be with David as he had been with Saul, namely, as Israel’s king (1Sa 20:13). These verses indicate clearly that Jonathan believed David would someday be king and subdue his enemies, including Saul (1Sa 20:13-15; cf. 1Sa 13:14). He had come to appreciate Yahweh’s loyal love (Heb. hesed, 1Sa 20:14-15), and now called on David to deal similarly with his descendants in the future. He secured a promise from David that when he reigned he would protect Jonathan’s family. "Lovingkindness" (Heb. hesed, 1Sa 20:14-15) is a covenant term of commitment (1Sa 20:16; 1Sa 20:42; cf. Deu 7:7-9). Previously David and Jonathan had made a covenant that Jonathan would yield the throne to David and support him (1Sa 18:3-4). Now David promised not to kill Jonathan’s descendants after David became king. It was common in the ancient Near East for kings who began a new dynasty to kill all the descendants of the former king to keep them from rising up and trying to reclaim the throne. Jonathan called on God to require an accounting for antagonism at the hands of David’s enemies (1Sa 20:16). This was the second vow that David had made after the one in which he pledged his love for Jonathan personally (1Sa 20:17; cf. 1Sa 18:3-4).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)