CHILDREN OF THE COVENANT

After nearly 40 years of travelling, much of it in revival/evangelistic meetings, I guess I have heard at least a hundred different sermons about Jonathan and his armor bearer as told in 1 Samuel 14. Pastors, evangelists and teachers have all used this story to excite and encourage the faithful to step out and do exploits for God. Much of the preaching has focused on the results of Jonathan’s rather outrageous approach to a very difficult situation. The story unfolds with Jonathan and his bodyguard killing twenty Philistines and sudden, unexplainable terror striking the rest of the Philistine soldiers; in fact, their fear was so intense that they fled the scene.

Truly exciting, faith-inspiring stuff! The story, however, left me with a nagging and not very intellectual question: “What in the world possessed Jonathan and inspired him to believe that he and his buddy could take on the entire enemy army? Was he filled with faith or did he have a death wish?” On top of everything, Jonathan was being disobedient to his father, Saul, who was encamped several miles away with his men and did not seem to be willing to engage the enemy.

Was Jonathan just a high-spirited boy who had the good fortune of having an adventure turn into a massive display of God’s power? I don’t think that is what is at work here. The picture we are given of Jonathan in other passages shows him as an intensely loyal and deeply spiritual young man. Jonathan was loyal to his family, to his friends and to his God and that is unmistakable. He had no illusions about his dad and he seemed to work to keep Saul from committing far more grievous mistakes than he did.

So when Jonathan said “Come, let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side” (1 Saumel 14:1), what was at work here? Why would Jonathan say and do this?

We are given a clue in verse 6 when Jonathan said to his attendant, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised…”

Jonathan was doing more than throwing a rather tawdry insult at the Philistines. Yes, the word “circumcised” does mean what you think it does but also a little bit more. Jonathan was saying, “These enemy warriors do not live under the truth or the promises that we do. Our God has agreed (covenanted) to fight for us and against them, no matter how many of them there are. God is not restrained in achieving victory just because there are two of us and thousands of them. We are children of the covenant that God established and extended to all generations and He will fight for us! This is our land and they have no business here! We are the circumcised and they are not!”

Wow, all of that is wrapped up in the word uncircumcised? Yes, frankly it is, and for me it helps to explain why this story is here in the Bible and why it is important for me to understand it as more than just an exciting war story.

Jonathan had grasped the meaning of being a child of the covenant, of understanding that his God had entered into an everlasting agreement to be there for His people, that God was committed to blessing, caring for and fighting for His people.

Genesis 17 tells about God establishing the covenant with Abram: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of many nations…. I will make you exceedingly fruitful…. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendents after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:4-8). The physical sign of the everlasting covenant was circumcision.

This is a powerful truth that seemed to elude Saul as he camped miles away from the Philistines and seemed unwilling to fight. God had made the descendants of Abraham a powerful promise but Saul just didn’t get it and was reluctant to step into the fight for what God had promised. Just a short time later the scene would repeat itself in the Valley of Elah when again the Philistines, this time championed by Goliath, would render Saul and the whole army impotent, unwilling to go into the fight. In the Valley of Elah it was David who said, “Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them…” (1 Samuel 17:36). There again, David was rehearsing the terms of the covenantal agreement.

David and Jonathan, children of the covenant! David and Jonathan, forerunners for us who are also children of the covenant, the everlasting covenant that finds its completeness in the New Covenant.