[0:00] As we come to this second part of chapter 14 in 1 Samuel, we're continuing on the third part of our study in Jonathan. And this prince of Israel and all that he was, and the right-hand man of his father, the friend of David, as he came to be.
[0:18] And this is still, we must take it, comparatively early on in Saul's reign. If we were to perhaps take where we finished at verse 45, and then to take on from verses 46, 47.
[0:35] After the battle, Saul took the kingdom over Israel, fought against all his enemies on every side, and enlists them all. He gathered a host, that's an army, spoke the Amalekites.
[0:46] He lists his sons at verse 49, which indicates again that Jonathan is the eldest, as it were, the crown prince of Israel going to be. And lists his wife, his children, and so on.
[0:59] There was war against the Philistines all the days of Saul, when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man and took him unto him. If this was a psalm, we might expect the term Selah at that point.
[1:12] Pause. Because when we begin chapter 15, almost certainly somewhere between 8 to 10 years has passed. And it's a good deal later on that we find then this exchange between Samuel and Saul and about the Amalekites and so on.
[1:29] And that's when Samuel says to Saul, the Lord's taken the kingdom away from you, and he's going to give it to somebody who's a man after his own heart and what have you. And then the next chapter, you've got Samuel sent to Jesse and anointing David.
[1:42] And by which time, David is at least a teenager, probably in his mids to late teens, which means that by the time that has happened, Saul must have been king for like 20 plus years.
[1:58] So there's a good 10 years or so before 20 years between the end of chapter 14 and the beginning of chapter 15. Remember that David becomes king aged 30.
[2:13] And that we're told in the Acts of the Apostles that Saul has reigned for 40 years by the time he dies. In other words, there is 10 years of Saul's reign before David is even born.
[2:25] So there are these silent passages and long amounts of time between chapters, as it were. So going back to chapter 14 here, still early in Saul's reign.
[2:37] We have Jonathan who had, if you like, initiated the attack on the Philistine garrison with his armour bearer. And then when the Lord caused there to be a trembling in the host and a sort of earthquake, and then all the people suddenly came out of the caves and the holes in the rock and suddenly became brave and chased the Philistines.
[2:56] And they began to strike them down as they were going and they were fleeing in absolute panic. We read here that the men of Israel were distressed that day. For Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on my enemies.
[3:14] So none of the people tasted any food. And we read again at verse 26, When the people were coming to the wood, behold, the honey dropped. But no man put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.
[3:29] Now, you'll notice how to, this evening, you've got the dovetailing here of the two immediately preceding chapters of our confession of faith. We've been looking at the biblical basis of in the previous two Lord's dates.
[3:42] We've got the lawful oaths and vows. And Saul has made this oath that in order to focus people's attention on the job in hand, and to devote them specifically to the service of the Lord and the smiting down of the Philistines, nobody has to eat out of them.
[4:00] They have to do it fasting. Now, that may or may not be militarily good sense. And as Jonathan points out here, you know, we could have done so much better a job of attacking and chasing the Philistines if we had physical strength.
[4:14] If we had been able to eat and drink, we would have more physical strength for this extremely taxing job. Because warfare and battle will be exhausting.
[4:25] Never mind any wounds you might sustain. Never mind any attacks on the enemy. Simply chasing the enemy armed. And when you're going in a hot country all day and having to keep up with them and trying to attack as you go, it's going to be a physically exhausting process.
[4:43] And you're not allowed to eat anything. Which means that all the energy that's drained out isn't getting put back in. Militarily, it may not be the wisest thing to do. Nevertheless, it has been done.
[4:56] It is a lawful oath. And although Saul doesn't explicitly use the name of the Lord in it, he just said, Cursed, being a man that eateth any food.
[5:07] Clearly, we can see from later on in the chapter, the Lord owns the oath as being applicable. Otherwise, he would not silence himself before Saul and the priest.
[5:21] He would not indicate by his silence that it was sin in the camp. He would not identify by means of causing the lot to fall out the way that it did. That it was first of all Saul and Jonathan and then just Jonathan who was at fault in what had been sworn.
[5:38] The oath that had been sworn. It probably was unwise, the oath that Saul took. Nevertheless, it was not an unlawful oath.
[5:49] It was perfectly valid. And it was made by a legitimate authority. The civil magistrate, the king of Israel, whose authority everyone feared.
[6:00] And whose, you know, recognition before God that if the king, the anointed of the Lord, has placed this solemn oath on us, if he says we'll be cursed, if we eat anything today, then we believe it.
[6:13] We believe that we will be cursed. So they didn't touch it, even when they saw Jonathan do it. Now, most people, of course, they tend to act, especially in a crowd, they tend to act a bit like sheep.
[6:27] They see somebody in authority or somebody who's a kind of celebrity or important, they're doing something. Oh, well, if it's okay for them, it must be okay for us. You would expect them to say, well, Jonathan's doing it.
[6:37] And he's getting away with it. Look, lightning hasn't fallen from heaven. The ground hasn't opened and swallowed him up. He's okay. So, come on, boys. Let's all have some honey. Let's all eat. And then we can follow the enemy.
[6:48] No, they don't. You say, well, if Jonathan wants to do that, that's up to him. But we're not touching it. Because they feared the oath. The curse had been a man that he did any food this day.
[6:58] And the people were faint. Nevertheless, they stayed true to the oath. You've got this lawful oath and vow which may or may not be sensible.
[7:10] In military terms, probably isn't sensible. But it is valid. And the Lord requires it at the hand of Saul and of the army. And you've got the authority of the civil magistrate.
[7:22] Whether he is a foolish king at this stage. Or whether he is doing the Lord's will or whatever the case may be. He is the one whom the Lord has put in place. And the Lord recognizes and acknowledges his authority.
[7:35] And he holds him to his oath. Lawful oaths and vows. Power of the civil magistrate. And then in the middle of it all, you've got the tragedy here of Jonathan. Well, I would say tragedy.
[7:47] When he's joining in with the people. Yes, he takes some honey. And we're inclined to think, oh, come on. It's a bit of a stupid oath anyway, wasn't it? You know, my father hath troubled the land.
[7:58] See, I pray you how mine eyes have been enlightened. Because I tasted a little of this honey. And Jonathan said, I did but taste a little of the honey that was on the end of the rod that was in mine hand. And, lo, I must die.
[8:10] Now, Saul, for all his faults. And maybe he doesn't know the Lord as devoutly and closely as he should do. But he's trying to do the right thing.
[8:20] He has called down this curse. Because he feels that if he devotes the people to the Lord with this solemn fasting. In the heat of battle, admittedly. Then the Lord will bless their victory.
[8:32] And avenge them on their enemies, the Philistines. And God will honour them if they seek to honour him. Which, to an extent, he does, yes. But on the other hand, he says, well, if I made this so, I have to fulfill it.
[8:45] I have to keep it. Whether it's me, whether it's Jonathan. Whoever's done it is going to be cursed. He's got to die. Now, of course, the curse doesn't say that the man that eats it will surely die.
[8:58] It just says that he'll be cursed. Cursing doesn't mean you necessarily die that day. He says, tell me what thou hast done. He says, oh, I must die. He says, he'll surely die.
[9:10] Saul says, whoever has sinned in this way. Whoever is guilty of the oath that he will surely die. But that's not part of the original oath.
[9:21] That's Saul adding it on. What is part of the original oath is that the person will be under a curse. In other words, Jonathan, the shining prince of Israel, who has been the most successful military commander in his father's army, the hero, the darling of the people, so much so that they actually rise up against Saul's decision.
[9:47] And the voice of the people saved Jonathan. The people rescued Jonathan that he died not. That day. But he is, nevertheless, under a curse.
[10:00] And we are inclined to think with our 21st century attitude to such things of solemnity. Ah, yes, but surely that doesn't really matter. I mean, God obviously doesn't smite him down.
[10:11] God obviously accepts the will of the people. And they saved Jonathan. And so Saul went back on his own word. He didn't go back on the curse itself or the oath itself.
[10:21] Because, obviously, if the Lord owns this oath, which he does, we see in verses 37, 38, and so on. The Lord owns it. He acknowledges it.
[10:31] Made by a lawful authority. It's a lawful oath and vow. God owns it. He recognizes it. It's as though maybe you've got a sweetheart in one country.
[10:42] And then your job takes you off to another country. And you're there for a couple of months. And for whatever reason, you become romantically involved with somebody in a different country. You fall head over heels in love.
[10:53] You marry them. And you come back to the shock and abhorrence of everyone in your own community with this foreign life. That nobody knew about. And then after we've got it, oh, what was I thinking?
[11:05] This is a total mistake. I was too young. I was too stupid. This is never going to last. This is the girl I really love. This is the one I really should have gone for. And all of that may be true.
[11:17] But what's the truth of it? This is one that is your lawfully wedded wife by then. It's too late. The oath, the sacred vow has been made before God.
[11:29] That is what God will honor. It may have been foolish. It may have been unwise. Nevertheless, it is in place. And that is what will be held to.
[11:39] And this is what God holds to. And you think, oh, come on. You're not saying Jonathan's under a curse now, are you? I think we have to recognize that in Scripture, God takes both blessings and cursings extremely seriously.
[12:01] And we might think my first inclination was to think, well, actually, you know, you think of God blessing and you think of God with holy blood. But surely you don't actually hear of God cursing people.
[12:12] Well, actually, of course, you do under certain conditions. You look at Deuteronomy 27 and 28. You've got a whole list of conditions under which the people will be blessed.
[12:25] And then you've got a much longer list of conditions under which they will bring a curse upon themselves if they do these things. Blessed will you be in your harvest. Blessed will you be in your store.
[12:36] Blessed will you be in this, that, and the next thing, if you're faithful to the Lord. But if you're not, curse it will you be in this. Curse it in that. Curse it in the next thing. You can read it for yourselves. Chapters 27, chapter 28 in Deuteronomy.
[12:47] It's all there. And so God clearly takes solemnly and seriously the facts of both blessings and cursings.
[13:00] Remember way back in Genesis when you've got blind old Isaac blessing Jacob and doing so ignorantly. And he doesn't mean to it.
[13:12] He thinks he's blessing. He's so. And we've got there in chapter 27 in Genesis verse 36, 37 onwards. And he said, Hast thou not reserve the blessing for me?
[13:25] Esau says. And Isaac answered and said, He shall behold, I have made him thy Lord and all his brethren have I given to him for servants and with corn and wine have I sustained him. What shall I do now unto thee, my son?
[13:37] And Esau said unto him, And his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and went. Now that's what we looked at when we did look at that chapter formally, months ago and so on.
[13:54] I'm going to say, well, God's not going to recognize that blessing because that was obtained by subterfuge. He was deceitful. Isaac didn't know that he was blessing Jacob. He didn't realize he thought he was blessing Esau.
[14:06] Well, we might as well say, Jacob didn't know that he was marrying Leah. He thought he was marrying Rachel. So does that make it okay? No. That still is what? This is still the blessing. God takes the blessing very seriously.
[14:19] God still applies the blessing to Jacob, not to Esau. And God still recognizes blessings and curses extremely seriously and takes them extremely seriously.
[14:34] If you think of another example. Think of, we might leave open as a question for now. Why does Jonathan not inherit? Why doesn't God just take Jonathan, the crown prince, the darling of Israel?
[14:51] Why doesn't he make him the man after his own heart? Well, we can leave it open as much as we like. But let's, we'll come to a thought in it in a wee minute.
[15:01] But remember there is this curse. Remember God takes his curses seriously. God takes blessings seriously. Let's think of another instance.
[15:12] We go to Matthew chapter 1. And if you've got the genealogy there of Jesus. You think, you see what it says. Judas begat Pharaoh and Zahra of Tamar.
[15:24] Pharaoh begat Ezra and Ezra begat Adam. Now, think of that relationship between Judah and Pharaoh. How was Pharaoh and Zahra conceived and born?
[15:36] Well, you've got it there in Genesis 38. Tamar. Judah's daughter-in-law. He shouldn't actually have been having relations with her at all. He, again, was deceived because he wasn't faithful in giving his sons to his daughter-in-law to raise up posterity and children for his deceased sons.
[15:54] And you can read all about that there in Genesis. In other words, Phares and Zahra are illegitimate. They are not born in wedlock. They are born by deceit. Their daughter-in-law fooling her father-in-law in that sense.
[16:08] Now, in Deuteronomy 23, it says at verse 2, A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. Even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord.
[16:22] Now, we don't know exactly what enter into the congregation of the Lord means. It cannot mean, therefore, he cannot ever be one of the Lord's people because he must be, you know, cursed from the generation.
[16:33] He can't belong to the Lord's people. He cannot be one of the same because that would not be just. God is the judge of all the earth. Shall not the judge of all the earth do rightly, do justly.
[16:44] It cannot mean he cannot be part of the Lord's people. He cannot belong. He cannot believe. Because it's no fault of the child. Whatever else the parents may have engaged in, it's no fault of the child that it's been born illegitimate.
[16:59] But at the same time, the Lord has to preserve the sanctity and purity, not only of the marriage bond, but also of those who do what?
[17:10] Those who we must take it officiate in some kind of official capacity, whether as priests at the altar or kingship or prophets of the Lord or whatever it must be.
[17:22] To enter into the congregation of the Lord, I would suggest to you, means to enter in to fulfill one of these major offices, which are the anointed offices, the anointed kings, anointed priests, anointed prophets.
[17:40] And that this will not be possible whilst one carries the stain of illegitimacy until the tenth generation. That is what it says, Deuteronomy 23, verse 2, that an illegitimate person, a bastard, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord to his tenth generation.
[18:01] Now, you could either take that and mean that it goes all the way to the tenth and only in the eleventh generation will he enter in, or given that sometimes biblical numbering is more inclusive or exclusive, depending on how you judge, you know, three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, just like doing those three days and three nights in the heart of the whale or the belly of the whale.
[18:22] So, Jesus clearly was not three nights as well as three days in the earth. So, the numbering, obviously, is a wee bit of flexibility, but what do we find going back to Matthew chapter 1?
[18:34] Judas begat Phaeraz and Zahra of Tamar. Phaeraz, generation 1. Phaeraz begat Israel, 2. Israel begat Aram, 3.
[18:46] Aram begat Aminadab, 4. Aminadab begat Nasson, 5. Nasson begat Salmon, 6. Salmon begat Boaz of Recha, 7. Boaz begat Obed of Ruth, 8.
[18:58] Obed begat Jesse, 9. Jesse begat David the king, 10. Tenth generation, David is able to become king, to enter into the congregation of the Lord, to take up this sacred office, because the curse that was upon his ancestor has been fulfilled.
[19:21] It has run its course. It has expired. It has been filled out to its full requirement. God has honoured his own words, whereas Jonathan, for better or for worse, rightly or wrongly, is a man under a curse.
[19:43] A man under a curse, perhaps issued foolishly, but issued lawfully. Lawfully by the Lord's anointed, the lawful civil magistrate.
[19:55] God takes these curses seriously. God does not answer Saul and the priest when they ask, shall we go on to attack the Philistines? God just doesn't say a word.
[20:06] Let's go on. Let's ask counsel of the Lord, said the priest of God doesn't answer. Why doesn't God answer? Because there is a blemish, there is a tainting, within the army of Israel.
[20:19] There is a disobedience against that which has been promised, just like in Joshua, the book of Joshua, after the sack of Jericho, we read, the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing.
[20:32] For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabbi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing. And the anger of the Lord was kindled, not just against Achan, but against the children of Israel.
[20:45] And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-Aban, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai, and they turned to Joshua and said unto them, Let not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai, and make not all the people to labor thither, for they are but few.
[21:04] Now you see what's begun to happen already. The curse has entered in, and already, whilst the people are not yet smitten before the Lord, they have begun to act in a complacent manner.
[21:17] They are not asking counsel of the Lord here. They are not saying, Well, let's go to the tabernacle first, and let's prostrate ourselves before the Ark of the Covenant, and see God's will, so that the Lord could show them, Look, there's something amiss here.
[21:30] Or he doesn't answer them at all, and they wonder, Why isn't the Lord answering us? Maybe there's a curse upon us. What could possibly happen? No, they just go blithely on. Don't make everybody go.
[21:41] We are strong. We are confident. We'll go up, and we'll smite them. And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men, for they chased them from before the gate, even unto Sheberim, and smote them in the going down, wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.
[21:57] And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face, before the Ark of the Lord, until the eventide he and the elders of Israel put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people out of Israel?
[22:12] And then the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up. Wherefore liest thou thus upon my face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant, which I commanded them, for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have stolen and dissembled also, and put it amongst their own stuff.
[22:28] The whole congregation is under judgment because of one man's sin. And the whole congregation of Israel, the Lord, is silent to them here in 1 Samuel 14, because however unwittingly, Jonathan has broken the oath.
[22:45] Jonathan is under the curse. Now, you might say, Yes, but he didn't know. That can't be fair. He didn't know he was doing it, so he shouldn't be held to account for that.
[22:57] Well, when we were last in Edinburgh last year, our car was photographed in a bus lane that it shouldn't have been, by CCTV or app cams or whatever it may have been, and sure enough, a few weeks later, there was a little slip through the post saying, This is where you work.
[23:16] This is a photograph of your car. That's the lane you shouldn't have been in. Here's the fine. Pay it. When were we in a bus? Then what did we do? It wasn't marked. There was nothing to indicate. There was absolutely nothing on the roads that ever indicated that we would be at fault at all, but there was the photograph.
[23:32] There was the demand. There was no use us going to the police or to the civil authorities saying, We didn't know. We didn't know. Because they just say, Well, there's the proof that you did it. That's all we're concerned with.
[23:42] Everybody's going to say, No, we didn't know. We just pay the fine and be done with it. Just do it. You're guilty. There's the proof. Pay the fine. So, of course we pay the fine. You haven't got a choice, really.
[23:53] The ignorance doesn't get you off the hook. Or pleading ignorance doesn't get you off the hook. Jesus acknowledges this. Luke's account of the gospel. Chapter 12. We see, for example, verse 47.
[24:05] That servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes.
[24:20] For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall much be acquired. And to whom men have committed much of him they will ask them what. And we think, Oh, come on. That isn't fair. Why should they be beaten with any stripes at all?
[24:32] Because if they didn't know, but as we've just established, ignorance is not going to get you off the hook in the eyes of the law. Ignorance is not going to get you off the hook in the eyes of God either.
[24:44] If we are guilty before God, we are guilty. And yes, God takes into account the depth or level of our guilt. If you know you're doing it, that's worse than if you do it by ignorance.
[24:56] Of course it is. God recognises all these things, but God takes his curses seriously. And this, of course, was a gospel application. Just as the idea of the curse has a gospel application.
[25:11] For example, we are to say that if people do not know about the Lord Jesus Christ, if they don't know the gospel, it's totally unfair that they should be lost.
[25:22] So it's much better. No, we have to say that unless they know about Jesus and reject him, then they should be okay. They should be allowed to go to heaven just as they are. Ignorance should be okay.
[25:33] Ignorance should be your salvation, in other words. But if that were the case, then the gospel, which means good news, wouldn't actually be good news, would it?
[25:44] Because if you're a heathen in complete ignorance of the Lord, you're going to heaven anyway. Somebody comes and tells you the gospel, then you can either accept it or reject it. So if you reject it, well, you're going to hell.
[25:56] But if you accept it, well, you're going to heaven, but you will go into heaven anyway. So how are you better off? No, that means that when the missionary comes with this message of Jesus Christ, instead of a certainty of going to heaven, you've got a 50-50 chance of going to hell.
[26:11] Instead, how is that good news? That's not good news. That's bad news. But if, on the other hand, you are facing a lost eternity without any means of knowing how to be saved, and somebody comes with the news and says, this is how you can be saved, repent and believe the gospel, and you'll go to heaven.
[26:30] Because if you didn't, you're all going to go to hell. That's the truth. How can you be saved by somebody you don't believe in? And how can you believe in them if you haven't heard of them?
[26:42] And how can you've heard of them if somebody isn't sent to proclaim the good news to you? So you see, ignorance doesn't save. Ignorance damns. Ignorance does not get us off the hook.
[26:53] Ignorance simply shows, okay, maybe you didn't know, but you're still guilty. You still did it. You still as guilty before the law, as guilty before the Lord, as anyone else.
[27:05] Now, this idea of the curse, this is a further gospel implication to it. As you know, it says in Deuteronomy, chapter 21, towards the end, if a man had committed a sin worthy of death, and he had been put to death, and I'll hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day.
[27:26] For he that is hanged is a cursor of God, that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. Now, to the unbelieving Jews, this is a proof text, which means Jesus of Nazareth could not have been the Messiah, because he's cursed.
[27:43] He was hanged on a tree. Therefore, he cannot possibly have been the Messiah, because the Messiah can't be cursed. But, of course, we read, Galatians 3, verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.
[27:59] But it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. In other words, Corinthians says, he has made him to be sin for us. He has made him to be cursed for us. He who knew no sin, he took the curse himself.
[28:12] He was hanged on the tree, hanged on the cross. He became accursed so that we wouldn't have to be. Now, if God does not apply his curses in his law with the severity and consistency that his word says it does, we are not saved.
[28:33] Because our salvation depends upon somebody having taken that curse for us. Our salvation depends upon God actually applying the curse that his word says is applied so that when his son, Jesus Christ, is hanged on the cross, the curse applies to him.
[28:54] And he takes that curse, which he had done nothing to earn and nothing to merit. He becomes that sin who didn't know sin himself. And God fulfills and applies the last full measure measure of the severity of his perfect law to his only beloved son, Jesus Christ.
[29:18] If the curse is not fulfilled, just like if the blessings are not fulfilled, God would not be true. God would not be who he was.
[29:30] Why does God bring in David a man after his own heart? David too, his ancestors were under the curse. That's why it would be David and it couldn't be Jesse and it couldn't be Obed and it couldn't be Boaz because they were still under the curse of the illegitimacy of their ancestors.
[29:49] By David's generation, it's been worked through. The tenth generation has come. Until the tenth generation they're under the curse. Come the tenth generation. The curse is fulfilled.
[30:01] It is expired. He enters into the congregation as the anointed of the Lord. Jonathan, however, for better or for worse, is under the curse of God.
[30:16] The people saved his life there and then. And he doesn't get killed by his father. Of course, as we said, the killing of a person there and then was not part of the original oath.
[30:27] Simply cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening. Jonathan's life is spared. But the curse doesn't go away. And yes, he serves and he labours and he fights faithfully for his father whose cause he never betrays.
[30:46] When David becomes popular, Jonathan meets with him. He loves him. He exchanges gifts with him. But he never deserves his father. He stays by his side. He's a king of Israel.
[30:57] He's a king of Israel. He's a king of Israel. But never to be king. Never to be the Lord's mounted. Because when Saul dies, his sons are already dead.
[31:11] Jonathan and Malkishua and all the others, they're already dead on Mount Go-Go-A by that time. The Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons.
[31:24] This is chapter 31 of 1 Samuel. And the Philistines slew Jonathan to name him first. And Abinadab and Malkishua, Saul's sons.
[31:35] And the battle went sore against Saul and the archers took him and he was sore wounded of the archers. And he said, Let his arm of the air draw thy sword and thrust me through. Lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through.
[31:47] His sons were already dead by the time Saul dies. He stays faithful to the end. And he dies with honour. But because of the curse, although his life may be very blessed and very privileged as the royal son of Israel, he is never to inherit the kingship, never to become the anointed of the Lord.
[32:11] He may have acted in ignorance. His father may have sworn his oath inadvisably with his lips. But it was a lawful oath and it was a binding oath by a lawful authority.
[32:27] And God held him to it. Now, though God spared Jonathan's life through the people there at that point, the curse still applied.
[32:40] And I would suggest to you, I cannot say authoritatively. I cannot say definitively. This is the mind of God. All I can say, truthfully, is this is where the evidence would lead us.
[32:52] This is where the evidence of God's word would suggest that God takes curses and blessings very seriously throughout. God applies them to the last full measure.
[33:05] God requires them at the hand and at the lips of those who swear them and he will hold them to it. And it is because he holds his blessings and curses as pronounced in his infallible law faithful to the end.
[33:24] And because he takes them and applies them as much to himself and his own beloved son, just as Saul is ready to apply the curse to his son here, that we have a Savior who becomes a curse for us by being hung from the tree, who becomes sin for us who knew no sin, because God's blessings are blessed forever and God's cursings will be required to the last full measure.
[33:57] We do not hear of Jonathan again now until David is on the scene. And then we have that beautiful friendship that is so famous in the Bible, yes, and we think, oh, Jonathan's giving up his claim knowing that David will come.
[34:13] Jonathan, I would suggest to you, much older than David at that point, already knows perhaps in his heart, prince he may be, but he will never be king because God's word will never fail.
[34:29] Let us know.