For or Against Son of David?

The story of King Saul, David, and Jonathan illustrates God's dealings with humanity and how people relate to Christ Jesus, the Son of David. Saul had broken God's covenant and been rejected as king; similarly Adam broke God's covenant and his descendants no longer have the dominion expressed in Genesis 1:26 or Psalm 8. Saul's rebellion continued, especially by refusing to accept God's verdict and trying to cling to power. That involved murderous hostility towards David, God's anointed. Similarly, humanity tries to live independently of God and rejects Jesus as God's anointed King (Psalm 2). Pontius Pilate knew the Chief Priests were motivated by envy. In Saul's case this resulted in 'an evil spirit from the LORD' troubling him, and repeated failure to achieve his murderous designs - the Holy Spirit had withdrawn. By contrast, God gave David victory after victory. When we persist in working against God we find conscience and Satan troubling us; indeed, God's hand may lie heavy on us (Psalm 32). Christ continues to grow God's kingdom across the world in spite of every human effort to hinder it (Revelation 12). Saul's family were not all enemies to David. Jonathan found a kindred spirit in David, a man of faith and faithfulness like himself, and they expressed their attachment to each other by making a covenant that involved Jonathan relinquishing his apparent right to the throne (18:1-5). He did this as a result of their mutual regard for the LORD. That covenant developed (20:12-17) into a provision for future generations. Similarly there is such a thing as a sinful child of Adam entering into covenant with the Lord Jesus - mutual commitment for all time.