Please, if you are capable, interpret or point out the meaning of this verse. Christians and Atheists alike?

Question

2 Samuel 1: 26
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.

And no I am not homesexual.


I just never understood the nonacceptence of freedom of love in the Christians mind.

How does a man surpass the love he can obtain from "women"?

Answer 1

There are different kinds of love: love of family, friends, spouses, children, pets, and greatest of all. The Bible says that our highest love should be for God. Next is family. And then friends... and so on.

Jonathon loved David like a brother, not like a lover.

Answer 2

Saul an affectionate father, therefore dear to each other. David had reason to say, that Jonathan's love to him was wonderful. Next to the love between Christ and his people, that affection which springs form it, produces the strongest friendship.

David and Jonathan were kind of like "brothers", uniting to fight the Philistines. The giving away of one's garb in ancient war time was like a pledge to surrender or to show a sign of unity to fight with a king, which David was going to become.

Anyhow, there was a huge war going on at the time of David and Jonathan, and it was against the Philistines.

There is no question that Jonathan and David's love and loyalty ran deep (1 Samuel 18:1-3; 20:17), even though the friendship between these two men was an unlikely one. God rejected Saul (Jonathan's father) as king and promised the throne to David and his descendents (1 Samuel 13:14; 15:23, 16:1-13). In spite of all this, Jonathan showed David a level of selfless support we rarely see. Even though he was in the position to be Israel's next king, he graciously set aside his personal aspirations and never once questioned David as God's choice to succeed his father as king.

David paid tribute to this unselfish, caring quality when he said that Jonathan's love for him was "more wonderful than that of women." David wasn't implying a sexual relationship. He didn't say that Jonathan's love was greater than his love for women. He said it was greater than the love of women. He was simply stating that Jonathon's love was so remarkable that it exceeded the kind of sacrificial love women are known to display towards their families.

There is no biblical account that shows even a hint of David and Jonathan sharing a homosexual relationship. Both men were married and had children. In fact, David was married to Jonathan's sister, Michael (1 Samuel 18:20-27). Some have simply inserted a homosexual relationship into 2 Samuel 1:26 that did not exist. They have also made the false assumption that love equals sex.

The relationship between David and Jonathon demonstrates that two men can form deep bonds of love even though eroticism is the farthest thing from their minds.

Answer 3

It is quite clear that David and King Saul's son Jonathan were very close friends. They had a strong brotherly love They were not homosexual . This is proved by the fact that God loved David so much that he called David a man after God's own heart. We also can be sure that David never commited acts of homosexuality because God said this in 1 Kings 15:5

Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

This of course was the murder of Bathsheba's husband , which David commited by the hand of Joab and the Ammonites . Bathsheba was pregnant by adultery with David. This was Davids imfamous sin that was forgiven by God

2 Samuel 12:13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

David's punishment was the death of the son conceived in sin.

.2 Samuel 12:14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

Now since homosexuality is an abomination to God. If David had done so, it surely would have been mentioned. David was a very righteous man his only sin serious enough to be mentioned by God was the above affair. And God loved him so much that he promised that he would always have a son on the throne for ever , That son is Jesus Christ. he is on the throne in heaven and will soon come back and sit on the throne on earth. Halleluia!!! Cap'n Arlo

Answer 4

If you have ever noticed - men who are important to each other, respect and admire each other - are extremely close because they can share things with each other that they feel they could never expect a female to understand. When they have such a bond, woe to the female who tries to interfere with it. It is not sexual but a friend who knows them and is non-judgmental. And yes, such a friendship can surpass the love of women because they share their soul with each other. Personally, I think it is sad that the female - male relationship usually doesn't equal such close bonding. I personally do not think this verse has anything to do with sexual love. Too bad - I have always longed for such a bonding with a male but it is rare between female and male.

Answer 5

We are certainly free to love - there is no law against loving someone of the same sex! But we are not free to have sex with whomever we choose. Sex is ONLY permitted within the boundaries of marriage. Since the human race was created, marriage was intended to be between one man and one woman (as described in the garden of Eden). Engaging in sex outside of marriage is like taking fire out of the fireplace - instead of being beautiful, it causes destruction in a person's life.

As far as the verse is concerned, read all of 2 Samuel and you will discover many things about David's life. First of all, he had many, many, women - a harem! But he never really connected with any of them. He was disobeying God's command that Kings should not have many wives. He was disobeying God's order of creation that marriage is between one man and one woman - because of this, he did not have any satisfying relationships with women.

And I am not speaking about sexual satisfaction, but about emotional satisfaction - friendship, companionship, etc. marriage never provided him with the loving, respectful helpmate that a wife is meant to provide.

I hope this makes some sense to you? David is my favorite person in the bible :)

Answer 6

Johnathon was good to his brother. Brotherly love used to be the best, and not in a sexual way. Nothing could come between brothers. I'm guessing that Johnathon was in some kind of trouble? And, the writer is upset about the trouble.

Answer 7

Back in those days women were nothing so Jonathan's love was more and better than nothing.
It was important.
The writer feels bad for his brother who maybe treated him in a homosexual way.
For men to do that in those days was very degrading to them, that is why he is distressed for his brother.

Answer 8

David is saying that the brotherly love of Jonathan was better than the love of a woman. It's like when you see a King Arthur movie or something like that when a Knight says to another brother in arms that he loves him more than a woman. It has nothing to do with sex. It has to do with the bond that forms between men who trust their lives to one another on the battlefield like David and Jonathan did.

Answer 9

These two brothers were very close and shared much in their lifetimes. They knew each other almost better than they knew themselves, but not in a sexual way. There was total acceptance and understanding of who and where and what the other had been and gone through. This was written when one learned of the other's eminent demise.

Answer 10

2 Samuel 1:24-27
Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. [25] How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. [26] I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. [27] How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!
This was David morning for his friend Jonathan.