The Prince: Jonathan Read Online Free PDF

lord.” He pointed up. “There is only one Lord. The Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of heaven and earth.”
    Jonathan hung his head. Better to say nothing than to cause more offense.
    “Did your father the king send you here?”
    How should he answer? He did not want the prophet to know that Saul thought the fields more important than the law of God.
    “You won’t answer?”
    “He gave me permission to come.”
    “Why is your father not with you?”
    Jonathan’s heart thumped. “The king has matters of great importance—”
    “More important than copying the Law?”
    A rebuke! “No. I will give it to him.”
    Samuel shook his head. “Everyone heard what I said to your father at the coronation at Gilgal. You were standing right there beside him, weren’t you?”
    “Yes.” Jonathan’s palms sweated. Was God listening? “You said the king was to have a copy of the Law, read it every day, and carry it with him at all times.”
    “The king is to write a copy of the Law in his own hand.”
    Jonathan could not promise that his father would take the time to make his own copy. Despite the warriors who had followed Saul back to Gibeah, the king kept to his fields. Maybe he hoped they would grow tired of waiting and go home. But would God allow that to happen? It was one thing to want to be king, another entirely to be called by God to be king.
    “Are you afraid to say anything?”
    Jonathan looked up at the seer. “I don’t know what my father is thinking. He is pressed from all sides. I didn’t want to add to his burdens.”
    Samuel’s expression gentled. He held out his hand. “Sit.” He approached and sat on the bench with Jonathan. He rested his hands on his knees. “If you wish to honor and serve your father, tell him the truth. If you always speak the truth to the king, he will have reason to trust you, even when he doesn’t like what you say.”
    “As the people trust you.”
    A flicker of pain crossed the seer’s face. “If Saul obeys the Law, the Lord will give him victory over our enemies, and Israel may complete the work God gave them to do when they entered Canaan.”
    “My father will listen.”
    “It is not enough to listen, my son. One must obey.”
    Jonathan was certain his father would have come himself to copy the Law if he had not had so many other responsibilities. He worried about preparing the fields. He worried about the quality of the seed. He worried about sun and rain. He had always worried about many things. Now he had the entire nation to concern him. “Can any one man hold the future of Israel in his hands?”
    Samuel shook his head. “God holds the future in His hands.”
    “May I ask you something?” Jonathan hoped Samuel would agree, for one thing had continued to plague him. He couldn’t sleep for worrying about it.
    Samuel inclined his head.
    “You told us at Mizpah that we sinned by asking for a king. Has God forgiven us, Abba? or will His wrath be poured out upon my father? Saul did not ask to be king.”
    Samuel’s gaze softened. “God calls whom He calls, Jonathan. The people have what they want: a king who stands tall among men. The Lord is compassionate upon His people. When we confessed before Him, He forgave us. God knows the hearts of men, my prince. He gave us commandments to follow so that we will not fall into sin. He knew Israel would one day ask for a king, and He told Moses what that king must be: a brother, a man who writes the Law in his own hand, studies it, is able to teach it, and abides by it all the days of his life.”
    When Jonathan returned home, he would tell his father everything Samuel said.
    “You have great confidence in your father, don’t you?”
    “Yes!” Jonathan nodded. He was proud of his father. “I think I have more confidence in my father than he has in himself.”
    “He will learn what it means to be a king.”
    Who else could Jonathan trust but the prophet of God? “Now that he is king, he has