David & Jonathan

Celebrating Queerness in the Bible

It’s hard to believe that Pride Month is already half over. Pride is a time for LGBTQ people to celebrate who we are, the unique and wonderful selves that God created us to be, and it’s needed now more than ever. But Pride isn’t just a celebration. It’s about standing up to demand justice in a culture that still shames, marginalizes, and persecutes queer people, especially the transgender community. Unfortunately, many people use religion to justify their fear, hate, andmistreatment of others.

Photo by Ken Whytock on Unsplash

While it can be useful to address the mis-use of what we know as the “clobber” passages, those half-dozen or so Biblical references used to condemn LGBTQ people, I want to instead reflect on more positive representations of same-sex relationships and queerness in the Bible. Our holy scriptures are much more complex than people realize. We don’t have to look too far to find positive homoerotic stories and people pushing gender boundaries. Unfortunately, these stories are often ignored or explained away.

However, it’s important that we share the Biblical stories that highlight the inclusiveness of God and celebrate God-created diversity. Seeing ourselves in these Biblical stories affirms that we too are loved and cherished. In a world that tries to shame us for who we are, these sacred stories tell us that it’s ok to feel good about ourselves. They show us that the clobber passages aren’t the last word.

One such story is the tale of David and Jonathan. Saul was the first king of Israel and Jonathan was his son.¹ David, who was still a teenager, was first introduced to Saul as one who could play beautiful, calming music for him when he was upset. We’re told that Saul loved David greatly and made him his armor-bearer. After David volunteered to face and then defeated Goliath, a fierce Philistine warrior, he was brought before Saul for an audience with the King. While he’s talking to Saul, Jonathan sees him and scripture says “the souls of Jonathan and David became intertwined, and Jonathan loved David with all his heart and soul.” According to the scholar Theodore Jennings, the use of the word soul in describing this relationship is an expression of fundamental yearning.² In other words, their love for each other was as fundamental to them as breathing and eating. It was necessary for life.

At that first meeting, Jonathan gives David his robe, tunic and weapons. This act could be interpreted as Jonathan making David his own armor-bearer, which would have been in defiance of his father because David was already Saul’s armor-bearer. But the act can also be interpreted as an act of intimacy and equality, a disruption of hierarchy, Jonathan essentially saying that he “stands naked and powerless” before David. Either way, something extraordinary was happening. Of course, we don’t know for sure that David and Jonathan’s relationship was sexual, but stories of “erotic friendship and love between hero warriors was a rather common theme in antiquity.”³

Saul becomes very jealous of both his son and David and David begins to fear for his safety. He goes into hiding while Jonathan sounds out Saul. However, Saul lashes out at Jonathan, accusing him of shaming “his mother’s nakedness,” which is “an expression [in the Hebrew Bible] that designates the consequence of a sexual act,”⁴ offering further evidence that David and Jonathan’s relationship may have very well been sexual. Saul condemns Jonathan and David, but not because of any sense of immorality. He condemns them out of jealousy.

David is forced to flee and, as he and Jonathan prepare to part, they kiss and weep with each other. Later, after David learns that Jonathan has been killed in a battle with the Philistines, David mourns his love, saying: “greatly beloved were you to me; your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.”⁵

Although Jonathan has been killed, David’s devotion to him lasts the rest of his life, as seen by David’s care for and protection of Jonathan’s son.⁶ We can see that Jonathan and David’s relationship was something special, something out of the ordinary. It isn’t the portrayal of an idealized platonic friendship but was something deep and intimate involving themes of seduction, jealousy, loyalty, and tragedy. It contains all the elements of a passionate romance. In fact, Jennings notes that if one tries to take the eroticism out of the story, then elements of the story – why people said and did certain things – no longer make as much sense.⁷

This is a story of same-sex relationship, a covenant between two men made with God’s blessing. Two men expressing their love and deep affection for each other under difficult circumstances. This is a wonderful, if tragic, love story that continues to inspire LGBTQ people today, demonstrating the deep devotion two men can have for each other.⁸ David and Jonathan’s relationship challenges the concept of hierarchy, the power dynamics of politics and relationships.⁹ It challenges what we think we know about the attitudes of the Bible about same-sex relationships, as well as our own attitudes. It invites us to reflect on our own relationships and how we understand ourselves.

As important as the story of Jonathan and David is, debates about scripture don’t really change people’s hearts. What changes attitudes is sharing our own stories. Sharing ourselves. Sharing our love. While our culture may want us to go back in the closet and some may try to erase those they see as different, never doubt that queer people are the beloved children of God. Be proud of who you are, your true authentic self. God doesn’t ask us to try to fit into small heterosexual or cisgender boxes to make fearful people more comfortable. What God asks is that we be kind, do justice, and walk humbly with God in love.¹⁰

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1. 1 Samuel 18 and 20; 2 Samuel 1

2. Theodore W. Jennings, Jr., “Jacob’s Wound: Homoerotic Narrative in the Literature of Ancient Israel,” pg. 25

3. Inclusive Bible footnote on 1 Samuel 18:4

4. Theodore W. Jennings, Jr., “Jacob’s Wound: Homoerotic Narrative in the Literature of Ancient Israel,” pg. 17

5. 2 Samuel 1:26

6. Theodore W. Jennings, Jr., “Jacob’s Wound: Homoerotic Narrative in the Literature of Ancient Israel,” pg. 31-32

7. Theodore W. Jennings, Jr., “Jacob’s Wound: Homoerotic Narrative in the Literature of Ancient Israel,” pg. 33-34

8. Kittredge Cherry @ https://qspirit.net/david-jonathan-same-sex-love/

9. Theodore W. Jennings, Jr., “Jacob’s Wound: Homoerotic Narrative in the Literature of Ancient Israel,” pg. 35

10. Micah 6:8