1 Samuel 20:42 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 20:42
And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, The LORD be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
David
לְדָוִ֖דle.da.Vid
H1732
David · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
Go
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
peace
לְשָׁל֑וֹםle.sha.Lom
H7965
safe · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
sworn
נִשְׁבַּ֨עְנוּnish.Ba'.nu
H7650
to seven oneself · verb, niphal perfect, 1st person common plural
both
שְׁנֵ֜ינוּshe.Nei.nu
H8147
two · noun, common both genders dual construct + pronominal suffix
name
בְּשֵׁ֤םbe.Shem
H8034
an appellation · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָה֙Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
saying
לֵאמֹ֔רle.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
LORD
יְהוָ֞הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
seed
זַרְעִ֛יzar.'I
H2233
seed · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
seed
זַרְעֲךָ֖zar.'a.Kha
H2233
seed · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
for
עַד'ad-
H5704
as far (or long · preposition
ever
עוֹלָֽםo.Lam
H5769
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
arose
וַיָּ֖קָםvai.Ya.kom
H6965
to rise (in various applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
departed
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
Jonathan
וִיהוֹנָתָ֖ןvi.ho.na.Tan
H3083
Jehonathan · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
went
בָּ֥אba'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
city
הָעִֽירha.'Ir
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Samuel 1:17 Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.
1 Samuel 23:18 And they two made a covenant before the LORD: and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.
1 Samuel 20:22-23 But if I say thus unto the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go thy way: for the LORD hath sent thee away.
Numbers 6:26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
1 Samuel 20:15 But also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the LORD hath cut off the enemies of David every one from…
Luke 7:50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
Acts 16:36 And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 20:35–end
Here is, 1. Jonathan's faithful performance of his promise to give David notice of the success of his dangerous experiment. He went at the time and to the place appointed (Sa1 20:35), within sight of which he knew David lay hid, sent his footboy to fetch his arrows, which he would shoot at random (Sa1 20:36), and gave David the fatal signal by shooting an arrow beyond the lad (Sa1 20:37): Is not the arrow beyond thee? That word [beyond] David knew the meaning of better than the lad. Jonathan dismissed the lad, who knew nothing of the matter, and, finding the coast clear and no danger of a discovery, he presumed upon one minute's personal conversation with David after he had bidden him flee f…
Jonathan said to David, Go in peace--The interview being a stolen one, and every moment precious, it was kindness in Jonathan to hasten his friend's departure.
Next: 1 Samuel Chapter 21
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 20:41
Until David exceeded - David's distress must, in the nature of things, be the greatest. Besides his friend Jonathan, whom he was now about to lose for ever, he lost his wife, relatives, country; and, what was most afflictive, the altars of his God, and the ordinances of religion.
Saul saw David's growing popularity, and was convinced of his own maladministration. He did not humble himself before God, and therefore became a prey to envy, pride, jealousy, cruelty, and every other malevolent temper. From him David had every thing to fear, and therefore he thought it was safer to yield to the storm, than attempt to brave it; though he could have even raised a very powerful party in Israel, had h…
And Jonathan said to David, go in peace,.... In peace of mind, committing himself, his family, and affairs, to the providence of God, who would take care of him, and keep him in safety from the evil designs of Saul; and particularly he would have him be easy with respect to what had passed between them two, not doubting but it would be faithfully observed on both sides:
forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord: had made a covenant with each other by an oath, in the name and presence of God as a witness to it:
saying, the Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever; as a witness of the agreement between them, including them and their offspring…
The Church Fathers
Then Jonathan said to David: Go in peace, etc. However, the Lord rose from the midst of the unbelieving Synagogue, saying: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you, how often I have wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing? Behold, your house is left to you desolate (Matthew 23); and He went to seek a Church for Himself from the Gentiles. But even the more perfect returned to the teachers in the primitive Church from the consideration of the aforementioned right hand of the Most High, to complete the new peaks of the city descending from God out of heaven. If the city, as seen above, is pleasing to be understood as the fortification of prophetic reading, from which it is said: And we have the more sure prophetic word, to which you do well to attend, as to a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the day star arises in your hearts (2 Peter 1); and it is very pleasing for the afflicted and sorrowful to enter this, so that under its protection each one may either more secretly indulge in tears or more wisely wipe away the tears.
And when the boy had gone, David arose from his place, etc. When the disciples, obeying the command of their elders, went to compile the events of their times according to the writings of their predecessors, the grace of Christ appeared more abundantly, shining forth from the virtues of the saints, those, of course, who kept their hearts open to receive the gifts of the most fervent charity given by the Holy Spirit with humble submission. For this is the most splendid diversity of the growing Church, which the forty-fourth Psalm sings, so that some manifest Christ's presence in themselves by shining with miracles; others, still intent on sacred writings, consider how the old and new harmonize with each other; others perform various services of the same faith; and still others embody what the following words signify, that divine love suddenly coming to earthly hearts provokes them with diligent contrition to adore more fervently the glory of the Holy Trinity; which our strong and desirable Lord Himself is said to do when He kindles His saints inwardly to act. As it is also said about the Holy Spirit: "The Spirit helps our infirmities (for we do not know how to pray as we ought), but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspeakable groanings" (Romans VIII); that is, He causes; this figure of speech is very common in sacred Scriptures, called "metonymy" by grammarians in Greek, that is, transnaming, while through the efficient the effect is intended to be understood. Just like the lawgiver's words: "The Lord your God tests you to know whether you love Him or not" (Deut. XIII); that is, to make it known. And they kissed each other and wept. Not in vain; for the more mutual love, which inward virtue nourished, sweetly incited those very holy youths to embraces and kisses, the more the everlasting separation, which they now saw impending for them, provoked them more sharply to tears and lamentations. But in the typological sense, it must be said that our Lord bestowed His holy gifts of His mouth on those believing in Him from among the Jews; for the non-believers and those expelling Him by persecution, He did not refuse to weep, saying: "If you too had known." For David and Jonathan kissing each other signifies the Lord bestowing to the Church the salutary gifts of His word, and the Church responding devoutly to the Lord with the same word's confession or…
Dictionary and topics
David — Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam.…
Arrow · Shot by Jonathan as a sign to David — Shot by Jonathan as a sign to David
Covenant · .Jonathan and David — .Jonathan and David
Love To Man · Exemplified: Jonathan, &c — Exemplified: Jonathan, &c
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The next morning Jonathan made David acquainted with what had occurred, by means of the sign agreed upon with David. The account of this, and of the meeting between Jonathan and David which followed, is given very concisely, only the main points being touched upon. In the morning (after what had occurred) Jonathan went to the field, דּוד למועד, either "at the time agreed upon with David," or "to the meeting with David," or perhaps better still, "according to the appointment (agreement) with David," and a small boy with him.
Sa1 20:36
To the latter he said, namely as soon as they had come to the field, Run, get the arrows which I shoot. The boy ran, and he shot off the arrows, "to go out beyo…