The nature of their relationship was close friends and not homosexual. How do we know this for sure? Because homosexuality was expressly forbidden by the Mosaic Law and David is described as "a man after God's own heart" in the Bible (1 Samuel 13:14 & Acts 13:22), which explains why the LORD specifically chose him to replace Saul as King of Israel.
Secondly, the Scriptures never describe their relationship in terms of "sleeping together," as is the case when David committed adultery with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:4). Nor is their any reference to the two "knowing" each other in a sexual sense (Genesis 4:1, Genesis 19:5 & Judges 19:22).
So, David and Jonathan's relationship was a platonic friendship of exceptional loyalty and commitment, which was rare amongst males in that culture, but even rarer between men and women. In that day, males in the Near East typically viewed women as inferiors and considered wives as their possessions (that said, the great Deborah led Israel for four decades politically, spiritually, militarily and judicially, as disclosed in Judges 4).
Jonathan loved David as himself, sharing his personal possessions, such as his tunic, robe, bow and sword, which were valuable property to military personnel (1 Samuel 18:1-4). Their covenant of loyal friendship was evident when Jonathan had to defend David from his own father, King Saul (1 Samuel 19:4-7).
All of this helps one properly interpret David's grieving words over Jonathan in 2 Samuel 1:26.
reply
share