David, Jonathan, and Saul - 1 Samuel 18-26

David:	Jonathan:	Saul:
Wise	Loyal to friends	Deceiving
Righteous	Protective	Jealous
Strong	Righteous	Dishonest
Forgiving	Strong

Jonathan and David had a very strong friendship. It says in the Bible Dictionary that Jonathan’s friendship towards David is one of the most unselfish acts in all of the Old Testament. Jonathan could have been jealous towards David and all that David was given, but instead it says in 1 Sam. 18:3 that “he loved him as his own soul.” When Saul became jealous towards David and all that David was receiving, Jonathan was loyal to David and protected him many times. In chapter 20 of 1 Samuel they make a covenant of peace and friendship towards each other. The love that they have for each other is very unique. I think that it is there because they were both righteous young men. I think that they were joined because they both were striving to do what was right and they had to unite to protect each other against wickedness.

Saul tried many times to kill David – 1 Samuel 18:10-11; 19:9-12; 24:1-2. In contrast to this, David had two opportunities to kill Saul which he did not take. Instead, David knew that judgment was the Lord’s, and it wasn’t his place to take Saul’s life. David also understood that at one point, Saul had been anointed by God to be king over Israel. He still respected that even though Saul was failing in his duties and in what he should have been doing. He understood that it was not his responsibility to remove Saul from that place as King and that the Lord would do it in His own time. The Lord’s anointed today are the prophets and apostles and other leaders that we have in the Church. I think David is such a good example to us of how to respect those around us who are called of God. Even though Saul was trying to kill David, David still respected him as the king. The same goes with other leaders in our church. Hopefully none of them are trying to actually kill us, but we may not always agree with what they do. We might think that we know how to do something better in the ward than the way the bishop is doing it, or the stake president, or even an Elder’s quorum president or relief society president. If we try to put ourselves above them and take away their job from them, that isn’t right. We may not like everything that the prophet instructs us to do, especially when it comes to political or social views, however we need to remember that when it comes from the prophet it comes from the Lord and now the responsibility is on us to accept it.  We need to do our best to support the leaders that we have and to help them uphold their callings.