David and jonathan gay
"But, dude, they were gay."
That was the response from a young collegiate after I shared a devotional on David and Jonathan with a group of Christian college men years ago. A firestorm followed. Several guys approached me asking why I would argue that Christian men hold a page from David and Jonathan. "They were gay," these guys said.
"Were they?" I responded. "Where in the story do you see that?" They pointed out part of the alley from which I'd been teaching – “the soul of Jonathan was knit to the mind of David, and Jonathan loved him as his have soul" (1 Sam. 18:1-5) – and stated that there must be some homosexual context.
I've consistently encountered such misunderstanding, as well as bold-faced attempts to hijack David and Jonathan for the sake of normalizing (and wrongly biblicizing) homosexual relationships. There are literally books on the subject. These allegations are based on a cursory reading of the Bible's description of David and Jonathan being characterized by "love,” a knitting of souls and their making of covenant with each other.
But there are few superior examples of bibli
What was the affair between David and Jonathan?
Answer
We know from 1 Samuel 18:1 that Jonathanloved David. Second Samuel 1:26 records David’s lament after Jonathan’s death, in which he said that his love for Jonathan was more marvelous than the treasure of a female. Some use these two passages to suggest a gay relationship between David and Jonathan. This interpretation, however, should be rejected for at least three reasons.
First, the Hebrew word for “love” used here covers a broad range of meanings and does not express “romantic” or “sexual” love unless the context demands it. Forms of the same word are used for loving God (Exodus 20:6), loving one’s neighbor as oneself (Leviticus 19:18), treating foreigners well (Leviticus 19:34), sharing friendship (Job 19:19), having diplomatic ties (1 Kings 5:1), taking pleasure in the labor of a subordinate (1 Samuel 16:21), and even “loving” inanimate things (Proverbs 21:17).
Second, David’s comparison of his affair with Jonathan with that of women is probably a reference to his experience with King Saul’s daughters. He was promised one of Saul’s daughters for killing Goliath. The first daughter was abruptly given to a
The relationship between David and Jonathan in the Novel of Samuel is the greatest love story start in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). Don’t believe me? Just read Pirkei Avot 5:16, where the rabbis refer to this affair as “a love that did not depend on anything” and thereby a love “without cease.”
Despite the abundant textual evidence of a queer relationship between David and Jonathan — including King Saul openly accusing his son of sexual immorality in regards to David (1 Samuel 20:30) — the life of this queerness has been consistently ignored and denied for thousands of years. Of course, homosexual people have always been able to identify queerness, and intentional references to the homoeroticism of this story have been start from as early as the 12th century CE. But it’s taken until the last century or so before mainstream writers and creators have been able to openly confirm this queerness and incorporate it into their work.
Rather than attempting to confirm a queer relationship between David and Jonathan here — this has been done by many Jewish and secular scholars before — I instead wish for to highlight some recent creators who have been brave enough to depict that queern
In reading of the relationship between Jonathan and David, one is struck by their depth of affection and commitment to one another:
As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul…Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. – 1 Sam 18:1, 3 (cf. 1 Sam 20:17)
Fearful that Jonathan’s father (Saul) will kill David if he remains, Jonathan and David express goodbye to one another with a moving display of emotion:
David rose from beside the stone heap and fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed one another and wept with one another, David weeping the most. – 1 Sam 20:41
Later, after David hears that Saul and Jonathan have died, David composes a song in honor of them both, at one point claiming:
“Jonathan lies slain on your high places.
I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan;
very pleasant have you been to me;
your love to me was extraordinary,
surpassing the love of women.“
– 2 Sam 1:25b-26
This has led some people to speculate that there was an erotic relationship between David and Jo