1 Samuel 20:12

DAVID AND JONATHAN REAFFIRM THEIR COVENANT

"And Jonathan said to David, "The Lord, the God of Israel, be witness! When I have sounded my father, about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if he is well disposed toward David, shall I not then send and disclose it to you? But should it please my father to do you harm, the Lord do so to Jonathan and more also, if I do not disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. May the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father. If I am still alive, show me the loyal love of the Lord, that I may not die. And do not cut off your loyalty to my house forever. When the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth, let not the name of Jonathan be cut off from the house of David. And may the Lord take vengeance on David's enemies." And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul."

It appears that this appeal by Jonathan to David was made during their journey together "into the field." There was a dreadful premonition on Jonathan's part that Saul's enmity against David would terminate in Saul's being "cut off from the face of the earth." Jonathan exacted from David a solemn oath that, "after Jonathan's death," and after David's coming to the throne, that David would remember the house of Jonathan with kindness. David honored his promise here as revealed in 2 Samuel 21:17.

"If I am still alive, show me the loyal love of the Lord, that I may not die" (1 Samuel 20:16). In these words it is clear that Jonathan recognized the grave danger to himself when God would take vengeance upon all of David's enemies. Jonathan, through filial loyalty, would not desert his father even when that inevitable day of reckoning would come.