It must not be left to chance. In making such pledges, we promised to stick by each other even when one or both of us might be acting more like Saul's son than David's friend. Over the years I've lost contact with these childhood friends. I miss them. I miss the love, comfort, and assurance that come from having friends who grew up with me, who knew me before, who knew me when I ate bologna sandwiches for lunch everyday, who knew me when I flunked high-school typing.
True friendship demands that kind of commitment, a spoken commitment to remain friends.
And we see it throughout the story of David and Jonathan. The story teaches us that friends risk vulnerability with each other. David and Jonathan stand out in Scripture as friends because, in an atmosphere of violence and ambition, they dared to trust each other. They also celebrated each other. They hung with each other even when they didn't have to, when nothing was keeping them together but the sheer pleasure of one another's company.