Does the Bible indicate..?

Question

That David and Jonathan shared a homosexual relationship?

"I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother, you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women" -2 Samuel 1:26

If it does indicate this, then shoud this not mean it was excepted back then? Can someone explain this to me?

Answer 1

Samuel 20:17 :
'And Jonathan caused David to swear again because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul'
Jonathan and David made a solemn compact because each loved the other.

The Scripture do not create hostility to homosexuality, and the word ‘Homosexual’ was not even included in the English translations until about 1940.
Only the confusion and ignorance about the horrible practices of ‘Pederasty’ being falsely translated as ‘Homosexuality’ is the cause of the false teachings, and that which makes life so difficult for so many loving Christian Gays and Lesbians.

Homosexual behaviour has been recorded in every culture that kept detailed enough records -- Sociologists and anthropologists have documented homosexual behaviour in every country on earth -- including in tribes that had no contact with outside human beings until the arrival of the anthropologists. Any behaviour observed among all races, all peoples, all cultures, and in all countries throughout all recorded time must certainly be considered natural for humans.

If the law of love is more important than the laws of biology, I don’t see how Christians can exclude and mistreat people on the basis of sexual orientation. Otherwise you end up with a Matthew Shepherd situation, for which we can all bear some of the blame.

So in the context of the question, neither Biblical scholarship nor biology would seem to preclude or forefend gay love, and therefore, it’s likely that David & Jonathan were lovers, in the same way that Elton John and David are partners, today.

Answer 2

It would be nice if it was a homosexual relationship, and certainly the quote you give is reminiscent of the kinds of things a lot of contemporary Greeks wrote (and many of the Greek city states certainly did accept certain sorts of homosexual relationships), but I really don't think we can say that for definite. It's perfectly reasonable to read the story of David and Jonathan as the story of two men's non-sexual love for each other.

Still, it's a beautiful story regardless of whether the relationship was sexual or not.

Answer 3

If you are a heterosexual, you will assume the relationship was merely a platonic friendship. If you are homosexual you will read it very differently. What I suggest if you are straight is to substitute a girl's name for Jonathan's in the various passages to get a sense of how it sounds if you are gay.

Answer 4

I think people that interpret this verse as a homosexual promoter are just looking for whatever they can to turn it into something that supports homosexuality in the Bible. What makes you think that he is talking about a sexually involved relationship? I think it indicates quite the opposite. David is saying he has known a woman's love (which is sexually involved) but he and Jonathan, without the sexual involvement, has even still had a far greater relationship. It's the fact that that he compares it to a woman's love that I believe it indicates he is seperating the two. Between his relationship with Jonathan and one with a woman what is he trying to compare or differentiate? Well it could only be that one has sex in it and one doesn't.

Answer 5

Why are so many Christians so terrified of homosexuality?

Great answers from Kedar, Mia, and nameless.
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Answer 6

Absolutely not. David and Jonathan were best, best friends, as well as brothers-in-law. There was no sexual relationship between them, not even an implied one!

Homosexuality and related acts were expressly forbidden under Mosaic Law. On top of that, both David and Jonathan were married men: Jonathan was married at least once (probably only once, since the union only produced one son: Mephibosheth), and David collected women like butterflies. David seemed to be propelled around the kingdom of Isreal by his libido, and it led to disaster!

The poem you quote was a song David composed when he was told his closest, best friend had been killed in battle. That David cherished his friendship with Jonathan more than sex (with women)is saying quite a bit, because David pursued filleto beyond reasonable measure (he killed his next-door neighbor to get his wife). It does not, however, indicate that their friendship was anything more than that (ie sexual in nature). Friendship does not have to include sex to be close!

Answer 7

I do not believe it means a sexual relationship. Jonathan gave David warning when his father Saul had ordered David killed. That is like a true brother.

David valued Jonathan more than he would a woman because he risked his own life to warn David.

However, even if it was, that does not mean that it is condoned. David had a son, Ammon, that raped his sister, Tamar, and that was not condoned either. Then another son of David, Absalom, killed Ammon for raping Tamar, and that was not condoned either.

I had a son that put a 12 ga. shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, that does not mean that I condone it or that God condones it.

grace2u

Answer 8

Obviously from the answers you have received the only phrase that springs to mind is: None as deaf, as those who don't want to hear!

Answer 9

If the Bible describes the relationship between David and Jonathan in such vague terms that you interpret this as homosexual, you must shudder to read the words of Soddom and Gomorrah or the book of Romans. Yikes!

Answer 10

It is tragic that love between two brothers can only been seen through the eyes of people today as being homosexual. Have people become so vile that there is no hope.