Christian Dem In NC posted a diary about Cindy Jacobs, one of our religious extremists, bringing attention to a Jesus diet/prayer drive she’s launching to influence the 2012 election. As if that wasn’t enough to digest, Jacobs is also known as the kook who claimed that birds were falling from the sky as a sign from God of his disapproval over the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. She’s also very much against same sex marriage.
Cindy Jacobs claims to have some sort of Doctorate in Theology but there's something she should know.
How many people have heard of the story of Jonathan and David in the Old Testament Book of Samuel? People know David from the famous story about how he killed the giant, Goliath. But the story didn’t end there. After slaying the giant, David is introduced to King Saul, an ally in a war against the Philistines. They speak for a while and then King Saul introduces his son Jonathan, who is also a young warrior, to David. The sparks fly.
And it came to pass, when he had finished speaking unto King Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And King Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.
(1 Samuel 18:1-4)
There’s a lot going on here. King Saul presents David to his son, Jonathan, heir to Saul’s throne. Jonathan subordinates himself to David by stripping himself naked, and giving all of his garments and sword to him. In this short passage we’re told twice that Jonathan loves David.
The pair go on to have quite a tumultuous relationship which is easier to understand if you’ll accept that their societal norm was very different than our own. The easiest way to describe it is the same way that the classical Greek society has been explained. Sex between men was for pleasure. Sex between a man and a woman was for procreation. There was no need or expectation to choose one or the other. In fact, the norm was for males to enjoy both. The taboos involved lineage and inheritance. No matter what attachment a male might have for another male, his property passed down to his own children. Jonathan violated this taboo by surrendering his right to inherit the throne to David. Later in the story King Saul becomes angry with Jonathan because of this broken taboo.
Saul boiled with rage at Jonathan. "You stupid son of a whore!" he swore at him. "Do you think I don't know that you want him to be king in your place, shaming yourself and your mother?
(1 Samuel 20:30)
Later King Saul tries to murder David. Jonathan warns him of his father’s plans and they have a final moment together before David flees.
And David falling on his face to the ground, adored thrice: and kissing one another, they wept together, but David wept more.
(1 Samuel 20:41)
Interestingly, King Saul becomes reconciled to David later in the story. All are reunited but tragically, Jonathan gets killed and David laments:
How I weep for you, my brother Jonathan! Oh, how much I loved you! And your love for me was deep, deeper than the love of women!
(2 Samuel 1:26)
Some translations finish the story by harkening back to it’s beginning with a verse that says the souls of David and Jonathan which had been knit together remained together even after their deaths.
What is there to make of this Biblical story which is largely unknown and seldom discussed? The relationship between Jonathan and David is intimate, involving kissing and disrobing, and is exalted in remarkable terms. The condemnation of Jonathan's father, Saul, is later reversed and the final verses seem to lament the tragic ending. This is quite different than what fundamentalists profess about the Bible's condemnation of gays today. It seems to be saying something quite the opposite.
Since I first learned of this story, I've talked about it several times with Christian fundamentalists. Not one had ever heard of it before. A few reacted with a little bit of anger. What do you think?