Through the Bible – Day 101

₁David escaped from Prophets Village. Then he ran to see Jonathan and asked, “Why does your father Saul want to kill me? What have I done wrong?”

₂“My father can't be trying to kill you! He never does anything without telling me about it. Why would he hide this from me? It can't be true!”

₃“Jonathan, I swear it's true! But your father knows how much you like me, and he didn't want to break your heart. That's why he didn't tell you. I swear by the living LORD and by your own life that I'm only one step ahead of death.”

₄Then Jonathan said, “Tell me what to do, and I'll do it.”

₅David answered:

₉“Don't worry,” Jonathan said. “If I find out that my father wants to kill you, I'll certainly let you know.”

₁₀“How will you do that?” David asked.

₁₁“Let's go out to this field, and I'll tell you,” Jonathan answered.

When they got there, ₁₂Jonathan said:

₁₆Jonathan and David made an agreement that even David's descendants would have to keep. Then Jonathan said, “I pray that the LORD will take revenge on your descendants if they break our promise.”

₁₇Jonathan thought as much of David as he did of himself, so he asked David to promise once more that he would be a loyal friend. ₁₈After this Jonathan said:

₂₄So David hid there in the field.

During the New Moon Festival, Saul sat down to eat ₂₅by the wall, just as he always did. Jonathan sat across from him, and Abner sat next to him. But David's place was empty. ₂₆Saul didn't say anything that day, because he was thinking, “Something must have happened to make David unfit to be at the Festival. Yes, something must have happened.”

₂₇The day after the New Moon Festival, when David's place was still empty, Saul asked Jonathan, “Why hasn't that son of Jesse come to eat with us? He wasn't here yesterday, and he still isn't here today!”

_28-29Jonathan answered, “The reason David hasn't come to eat with you is that he begged me to let him go to Bethlehem. He said, ‘Please let me go. My family is offering a sacrifice, and my brother told me I have to be there. Do me this favour and let me slip away to see my brothers.’ ”

₃₀Saul was furious with Jonathan and yelled, “You're no son of mine, you traitor! I know you've chosen to be loyal to that son of Jesse. You should be ashamed of yourself! And your own mother should be ashamed that you were ever born. ₃₁You'll never be safe, and your kingdom will be in danger as long as that son of Jesse is alive. Turn him over to me now! He deserves to die!”

₃₂“Why do you want to kill David?” Jonathan asked. “What has he done?”

₃₃Saul threw his spear at Jonathan and tried to kill him. Then Jonathan was sure that his father really did want to kill David. ₃₄Jonathan was angry that his father had insulted David so terribly. He got up, left the table, and didn't eat anything all that day.

₃₅In the morning, Jonathan went out to the field to meet David. He took a servant boy along ₃₆and told him, “When I shoot the arrows, you run and find them for me.”

The boy started running, and Jonathan shot an arrow so that it would go beyond him. ₃₇When the boy got near the place where the arrow had landed, Jonathan shouted, “Isn't the arrow on past you?” ₃₈Jonathan shouted to him again, “Hurry up! Don't stop!”

The boy picked up the arrows and brought them back to Jonathan, ₃₉but he had no idea about what was going on. Only Jonathan and David knew. ₄₀Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and told him, “Take these back into town.”

₄₁After the boy had gone, David got up from beside the mound and bowed very low three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and cried, but David cried louder. ₄₂Jonathan said, “Take care of yourself. And remember, we have each asked the LORD to watch and make sure that we and our descendants keep our promise for ever.”

David left and Jonathan went back to town.

₁David went to see Ahimelech, a priest who lived in the town of Nob. Ahimelech was trembling with fear as he came out to meet David. “Why are you alone?” Ahimelech asked. “Why isn't anyone else with you?”

₂“I'm on a mission for King Saul,” David answered. “He ordered me not to tell anyone what the mission is all about, so I told my soldiers to stay somewhere else. ₃Do you have any food you can give me? Could you spare five loaves of bread?”

₄“The only bread I have is the sacred bread,” the priest told David. “You can have it if your soldiers didn't sleep with women last night.”

₅“Of course we didn't sleep with women,” David answered. “I never let my men do that when we're on a mission. They have to be acceptable to worship God even when we're on an ordinary mission, and today we're on a special mission.”

₆The only bread the priest had was the sacred bread that he had taken from the place of worship after putting out the fresh loaves. So he gave it to David.

₇It so happened that one of Saul's officers was there, worshipping the LORD that day. His name was Doeg the Edomite, and he was the strongest of Saul's shepherds.

₈David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or a sword? I had to leave so quickly on this mission for the king that I didn't bring along my sword or any other weapons.”

₉The priest answered, “The only sword here is the one that belonged to Goliath the Philistine. You were the one who killed him in Elah Valley, and so you can take his sword if you want to. It's wrapped in a cloth behind the statue.”

“It's the best sword there is,” David said. “I'll take it!”

₁₀David kept on running from Saul that day until he came to Gath, where he met with King Achish. ₁₁The officers of King Achish were also there, and they asked Achish, “Isn't David a king back in his own country? Don't the Israelites dance and sing,

₁₂David thought about what they were saying, and it made him afraid of Achish. ₁₃So in front of everyone, he pretended to be insane. He acted confused and scratched on the doors of the town gate, while drooling in his beard.

₁₄“Look at him!” Achish said to his officers. “You can see he's mad. Why did you bring him to me? ₁₅I have enough mad people without your bringing another one here. Keep him away from my palace!”

₄₆Jesus' disciples were arguing about which one of them was the greatest. ₄₇Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he had a child stand there beside him. ₄₈Then he said to his disciples, “When you welcome even a child because of me, you welcome me. And when you welcome me, you welcome the one who sent me. Whichever one of you is the most humble is the greatest.”

₄₉John said, “Master, we saw a man using your name to force demons out of people. But we told him to stop, because he isn't one of us.”

₅₀“Don't stop him!” Jesus said. “Anyone who isn't against you is for you.”

₅₁Not long before it was time for Jesus to be taken up to heaven, he made up his mind to go to Jerusalem. ₅₂He sent some messengers on ahead to a Samaritan village to get things ready for him. ₅₃But he was on his way to Jerusalem, so the people there refused to welcome him. ₅₄When the disciples James and John saw what was happening, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy these people?”

₅₅But Jesus turned and corrected them for what they had said. ₅₆Then they all went on to another village.

₅₇Along the way someone said to Jesus, “I'll go anywhere with you!”

₅₈Jesus said, “Foxes have dens, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man doesn't have a place to call his own.”

₅₉Jesus told someone else to come with him. But the man said, “Lord, let me wait until I bury my father.”

₆₀Jesus answered, “Let the dead take care of the dead, while you go and tell about God's kingdom.”

₆₁Then someone said to Jesus, “I want to go with you, Lord, but first let me go back and take care of things at home.”

₆₂Jesus answered, “Anyone who starts ploughing and keeps looking back isn't worth a thing to God's kingdom!”