was motivated to kill David. We pointed out that Saul was jealous of David...the attention that he got after he killed Goliath...and now we find another reason that Saul would want David dead...with David gone Saul’s heir would be Jonathan, his son. The throne could continue in his family line. You kind of get the impression that Saul is not only motivated for selfish reasons but for his son as well. Perhaps he wants Jonathan to have a chance to enjoy being king...to have his own kingdom...after all any parent wants to see their children succeed and have every opportunity in the world. But, murder? Could that possibly be a realistic scenario?

I know of at least one other instance where a parent has resorted to a murder plot to help their child get ahead in life. In 1991 a Texas mother was sentenced to prison for attempting to hire a hit man to kill another woman. The other woman was the mother of a classmate of the convicted lady’s daughter. The daughter of the victim was vying for a spot on the same cheerleading squad that the would-be murderer’s daughter was trying out for. So, to eliminate her daughter’s competition she was going to kill the girl’s mother.

Pretty sad, huh? And this was just for a spot on a cheerleading team...there was no kingdom involved...so, it doesn’t seem so out of the realm of possibility that Saul would kill to insure the kingdom would go to his son Jonathan. So, we can see that while the primary motivation for Saul is probably jealousy...he has other reasons to kill David as well.

This presents a very interesting problem to Jonathan...he can allow David to be King...or he can allow Saul to kill him and inherit the kingdom for himself.

Now, we all know what the right choice would be...but what decision would we make ourselves? Now I know most of you well enough to think that you wouldn’t stoop to murder...but what about another less heinous act...one that would advance our career...our standing...but at the expense of another...what decision would we make? I am sure that all of us can honestly say that we haven’t always been as true as friends as we should have been all of the time. We have all advanced our careers…our social standing…or maybe even sometimes our church standing at the expense of other people. So, we couldn’t really blame Jonathan if he takes this opportunity to inherit the kingdom of Israel, could we? He would not be the first person in history to turn their back on…or even kill a friend to inherit power and a kingdom.

But Jonathan…Jonathan is a true friend. Let’s read on just a little bit and see the decision he makes. (Read 32-34).

The context of these verses reveal Jonathan’s decision...first, we read that Saul attempts to kill him by throwing a spear at him.... exactly what he had done to David just a few chapters before. Could this possibly be an indication from Samuel that these two have a lot in common...that their hearts were somehow joined...after all, they almost suffered a similar fate at the hands of the same man. Even if we cannot make this connection...we can come to the same conclusion that Jonathan did...if Saul would do this to his own son because of David...how much more would he do to David. This is very revealing of the motives of Saul...but verse 34 tells us of Jonathan’s decision. We read there that he is "grieved" for David