Special Sabbath - Shabbat Machar Chodesh - On Day Before Rosh Chodesh.
1
Samuel 20:18-42.
1
Samuel 20:18-42.
18 Then Jonathan said to him,
“Tomorrow is the new moon: and you will be missed, because your seat will be
empty.
19 When you have stayed three days, you shall
go down quickly, and come to the place where you hid yourself when this
started, and shall remain by the stone Ezel.
20 I will shoot three arrows on its side, as
though I shot at a mark.
21 Behold, I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go,
find the arrows!’ If I tell the boy, ‘Behold, the arrows are on this side of
you. Take them;’ then come; for there is peace to you and no hurt, as YHWH
lives.
22 But if I say this to the boy, ‘Behold, the
arrows are beyond you;’ then go your way; for YHWH has sent you away.
23 Concerning the matter which you and I have
spoken of, behold, YHWH is between you and me forever.”
24 So David hid himself in the field: and when
the new moon had come, the king sat him down to eat food.
25 The king sat on his seat, as at other times,
even on the seat by the wall; and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul’s
side: but David’s place was empty.
26 Nevertheless Saul didn’t say anything that
day: for he thought, “Something has happened to him. He is not clean. Surely he
is not clean.”
27 It happened on the next day after the new
moon, the second day, that David’s place was empty. Saul said to Jonathan his
son, “Why doesn’t the son of Jesse come to eat, neither yesterday, nor today?”
28 Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly
asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem.
29 He said, ‘Please let me go, for our family
has a sacrifice in the city. My brother has commanded me to be there. Now, if I
have found favor in your eyes, please let me go away and see my brothers.’
Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.”
30 Then Saul’s anger was kindled against
Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse rebellious woman, don’t I
know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame
of your mother’s nakedness?
31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the
earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Therefore now send and
bring him to me, for he shall surely die!”
32 Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said
to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”
33 Saul cast his spear at him to strike him. By
this Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death.
34 So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce
anger, and ate no food the second day of the month; for he was grieved for
David, because his father had done him shame.
35 It happened in the morning, that Jonathan
went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little boy with
him.
36 He said to his boy, “Run, find now the
arrows which I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
37 When the boy had come to the place of the
arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the boy, and said, “Isn’t
the arrow beyond you?”
38 Jonathan cried after the boy, “Go fast!
Hurry! Don’t delay!” Jonathan’s boy gathered up the arrows, and came to his
master.
39 But the boy didn’t know anything. Only
Jonathan and David knew the matter.
40 Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy, and
said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.”
41 As soon as the boy was gone, David arose out
of the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three
times. They kissed one another, and wept one with another, and David wept the
most.
42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace,
because we have both sworn in the name of YHWH, saying, ‘YHWH shall be between
me and you, and between my seed and your seed, forever.’” He arose and
departed; and Jonathan went into the city.
END
of Shabbat Machar Chodesh!
! ! End of Today’s Special TORAH Related Scriptures! Praise Yah! (HNV-yet version, in the public domain.)
When Shabbat falls the
day before Rosh Chodesh.