Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 23:17
And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth.
17. Saul my father knoweth ] Both that thou art destined to be king (see on 1Sa 18:9), and that I am ready to resign my claims in thy favour. This is the climax of Jonathan’s unselfish generosity.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1Sa 23:17
I shall be next unto thee.
A sermon to boys
This conduct of the kings son teaches some important lessons.
1. Stand by the weak and defenceless. There is no nobler feature in any boys character than a determination to do this.
2. We also learn to be content with a lower place when God has clearly marked out another for a higher. Jonathan saw that God was with David, and he made his own conduct to serve Gods purpose. Be always on the look out to render others service. Fear not the taunts of men or the frowns of the world. Take Christ as your pattern. For yourselves do not forget that unselfishness is the ornament of every true man, the mark of every true gentleman, the essence of pure religion, and the germ of an undying character. (Arthur Vinter.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
I shall be next unto thee; which he gathered either from Davids generosity, ingenuousness, and true friendship to him; or from some promise made to him by David concerning it. Or the meaning of the words, next unto thee, may be as much as to say, I shall be under thee, after thee, or inferior to thee, as the phrase tibi secundus oft signifies. So that the whole imports thus much: I do not look to be king myself, (as by my birth I might expect,) but that thou shalt be king, (God having so appointed,) and I but in a secondary place inferior to thee.
That also Saul my father knoweth, by strong and well-grounded conjectures, as hath been noted.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he said unto him, fear not,…. Distrust not the power, providence, and promises of God, nor dread the wrath of Saul, or fear falling into his hands:
for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; to lay hold on him, seize him, and do him any hurt:
and thou shalt be king over Israel; meaning after the death of his father; which he knew either by some special revelation made to him; or rather by being informed he had been anointed by Samuel, and which he had either from Samuel or from David himself; and this he most firmly believed, though David was now in so low a condition:
and I shall be next unto thee; not succeed him in the kingdom; but if living when he came to the throne, he should be the second man in civil affairs, as he now was, and that he should be content with:
and that also Saul my father knoweth; having knowledge of the anointing of David by Samuel; or he might, and did conclude this from various circumstances, that David was his neighbour Samuel had told him of, God had given his kingdom to, 1Sa 15:28.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(17) And I shall be next unto thee.To uswho read a few pages on in the record of these times how this same generous, loving friend found a grave on Mount Gilboa instead of a home with David, whom he admired with so ungrudging an admirationthese words of Jonathan possess a pathetic interest of their own. That brave, romantic career was nearly run when he met David for the last time in the woods of Ziph. As far as we can judge, if Jonathan had lived he would have certainly ceded any rights he had to the throne of his father Saul in favour of David, unlike that other comparatively unknown son of Saul, Ishbosheth, who set up as a rival claimant to the son of Jesse. But his generosity was not to be exposed to any such severe test, and David was spared the presence of such a rival as the gallant and gifted Jonathan would assuredly have been to him.
And that also Saul my father knoweth.It is very likely by this time that the circumstance of Samuels mysterious anointing of the son of Jesse years before at Bethlehem had become known to Saul. Now that David had been openly proclaimed a public enemy, and that the king had repeatedly and openly sought his life, there was no reason for any concealment. No doubt, by this time very many in Israel looked on him as the anointed successor of Saul. The covenant alluded to in the next verse was, of course, the old covenant of eternal friendship which they had made when they parted outside Gibeah at the New Moon feast, as we find related at length in 1 Samuel 20.
After this meeting David never looked on Jonathans face in life again.
Oh, heart of fire! misjudged by wilful man,
Thou flower of Jesses race!
What woe was thine when thou and Jonathan
Last greeted face to face!
He doomed to die, thou on us to impress
The portent of a blood-stained holiness.
Lyra Apostolica.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1Sa 23:17-18. And I shall be next unto, &c. i.e. “The “next person to thee in thy kingdom.” And they too made a covenant before the Lord; that is, solemnly renewed the covenant which they had formerly made. Jonathan’s conduct in this remarkable transaction appears truly disinterested, generous, and great. He could not now be ignorant of David’s destination to the throne of Israel by the will of God, and knew that nothing could prevent his succession to it, as God had appointed it. In such a situation how does he act? He scorns by fraud and violence to attempt the life of the man whom God had fixed on to be king, even in preference to himself; but seeks him out in the wilderness, where his father was hunting him to destruction, and strengthens his hand in God: not by promising to assist him in dispossessing his father of the kingdom, or disturbing and distressing his government; not by entering into any conspiracy or plot with him against his father’s interest and honour; but by comforting him under his cruel persecution, and assuring him of God’s protection from the hand or power of his father, his future advancement to the crown, and his own confidence in David’s friendship, that he should be advanced to the highest honours in his court. He lets him know also, that Saul his father very well knew that David should be his successor; and that Jonathan said the truth in this, is evident from what Saul himself said to David but a little while after, chap. 1Sa 24:20. In this whole affair, therefore, between Jonathan and David, nothing passed but what was perfectly consistent with the allegiance and duty of these two eminent friends to their common sovereign and father: there was no treason talked of; no event spoken of, but what was known to Saul equally as to Jonathan: not any treasonable measures concerted to precipitate and hasten the event before the proper season appointed by Providence; nor any covenant entered into by Jonathan to engage with David in any common cause against his own father. David’s succession to the crown after Saul, as we have said above, was well known both to Saul and Jonathan: and the only circumstance in which Jonathan’s conduct differed from his father’s was, that, with respect to an event which both of them foresaw would come to pass, Jonathan was for quietly submitting to it, as an appointment of God; while Saul was for practising every expedient to prevent it, if possible.
Note; (1.) The words of a pious friend are a reviving cordial to a fainting heart. (2.) Where true love is, even kingdoms are not too great to part with. (3.) Renewed engagements are a strengthening to the bands of friendship; and the friend of Jesus is glad of every opportunity to repeat his vows of fidelity to him.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Sa 23:17 And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth.
Ver. 17. And I shall be next unto thee. ] In heaven he might be, but not on earth, because prevented by death; but otherwise they might have lived together in as great unity and unanimity as did lately Frederick and John, dukes of Saxony; who as they dwelt both in one and the same house, so their mutual love grew to the last, in utriusque periculis et gravissimis deliberationibus, saith mine author, a dum omnia in rep. communicatis sententiis constituebant; so that they did nothing in the commonwealth without one another’s counsel and consent. Those that say, as some do, that Jonathan is next unto David in heaven, have as little assurance of it as those that tell us – but who told them? – that John Baptist, for his humility, Mat 3:11 hath the same place in heaven that Lucifer lost by his pride.
a Exner.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fear not: Isa 41:10, Isa 41:14, Heb 13:6
shall not: Job 5:11-15, Psa 27:1-3, Psa 46:1, Psa 46:2, Psa 91:1, Psa 91:2, Pro 14:26, Isa 54:17
thou shalt be: Luk 12:32
I shall be: Pro 19:21, Act 28:16, Rom 15:24
that also Saul: 1Sa 20:31, 1Sa 24:20, Act 5:39
Reciprocal: 1Sa 25:30 – according 1Sa 27:1 – And David 1Sa 31:2 – Jonathan Est 10:3 – next unto king Psa 63:11 – the king Pro 27:9 – so
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 23:17. Thou shalt be king, and I shall be next unto thee Or, hold the second place in the kingdom; which words import thus much: I do not look to be king myself, as by my birth I might expect, but that thou shalt be king, God having so appointed, and I but in a secondary place, inferior to thee. The first part of this sentence Jonathan might well speak, as he had the promise of God for it, which must stand; but the other he spoke in human confidence, and the event showed how little is to be built on that. He ought, as we ought all to do with respect to what is future and only in expectation, to have spoken in the language of St. James: If the Lord will, I shall be next unto thee. And that also my father knoweth For he could not but remember what Samuel told him, (1Sa 15:28,) and, from Davids wonderful successes, he probably inferred that he was the person of whom Samuel spake.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
23:17 And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be {f} king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth.
(f) Jonathan assured David, that God would accomplish his promise, and that his father warred against his own conscience.