The
test of Saul’s attitude toward David began. According to plan, David hid in the
field as Saul’s three-day celebration of the new moon begun. In that
celebration, the king expected everyone in his family to attend. Even Abner his
commander was present there. Of course, Jonathan was there. But David’s absence
on the first day was also obvious. Saul, however, assumed that he was absent
because he was unclean. He convinced himself that David must have touched
something unclean and thus could not attend the feast. So impudent was he that
he was blinded to his own wrong. Despite his unreasonable rage and attempts at
David’s life, he still expected him to come and celebrate the new moon with
him. He attached so much importance to himself that he became presumptuous.
This is the malady of a self-centered leader. He was so totally obsessed with
power. This is something that everyone in leadership must be cautious
about. One must not be blinded by self-centredness to a point of being
unreasonable. Since it was only the first day, he did not make mention of
David’s absence.
On the second day of the celebration, David’s seat was empty again. So he
asked his son, Jonathan saying, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal,
either yesterday or today?” Notice how he refused to address David by name. He
referred to him as the son of Jesse. This tells us how he valued people. Even
when we are not happy with someone, we must always remember that a person has a
right to be properly addressed and treated. No one has the right to denigrate
another person just because he is angry with that person. Notice how
respectful Jonathan was. His reply to the unreasonable father was, “David
earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem, for he said,
‘Please let me go, since our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my
brother has commanded me to attend. And now, if I have found favor in your
sight, please let me get away that I may see my brothers.’ For this reason, he
has not come to the king’s table.” Unwittingly, Jonathan
revealed the truth when he said David pled with him to let him get away.
One lesson in life we can pick from this account is about being reasonable. We must
not allow our anger with someone to render us incapable of sound reasoning. Instead,
we must learn to rightly assess all situations and act with reason and dignity,
even when we are not happy with someone. Don’t let self-centredness take
control in our dealing with others.
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