2-1-2016

David & Jonathan: Biblical Relationships

In the Old Testament of the Bible there are two men who are mentioned to us. One you are familiar with David, as in David and Goliath. I am sure you are familiar with the story. If not, shoot me a letter and I will explain it to you happily. But Jonathan is the son of Saul, who was King of Israel. David meets Jonathan because he ends up working for Saul as several different positions, starting as a harpist and ending up as a Captain.
Anyway, Jonathan and David become friends and then much closer, in fact, the phrase that the bible uses is "David loved Jonathan because his soul was knit to Jonathans, he loved him like he loved his own soul." To knit a soul to someone is a unity that is very rarely spoke of, in fact, I don't think it's said again in the Bible, if it is...it is new to me.
I bring this up not to try and prove that homosexuality is biblical...we don't know honestly, because the bible doesn't really speak on it. If you read literal translations, modern scripture is grossly misinterpreted by many people. No, I bring it up because that relationship interests me. They were very close, in fact, if you want to read about them you can go to 1 Samuel chapter 16 and start there. There David is mentioned as a "ruddy child who was very good-looking" I believe he was 16 when he fought Goliath.
Jonathan and David made covenants and lied to Saul about David's whereabouts, they did some dirt together! Stuff that only a real close comrade would do, stuff that only someone who loves you would do. In fact, Saul wanted to protect his throne, but the people were demanding that David be crowned King, in fact, God Himself chose David to be King...Jonathan new that and also new that as long as David was alive he could never be King. Saul sought to kill David for years, sending him on the run for months at a time, getting whole cities involved in his evasion. Quite the story...I highly recommend it. The whole time no one would really blame Jonathan, even today, if he wanted to kill the man who was going to take his right to the throne. Instead, he loved him. I mean, loved him alot. Enough to forsake his own kingdom, if in fact you believe it was ever "his" and not God's.
The Bible, or the Word as I refer to it, is a beautiful collection of wisdom and tales that point to the Living Gods work in our lives. How He moved back then and how we can see Him now. You can learn so much from the Word about yourself, it challenges you to follow it's teachings. There is no harm in following them because the teachings are very human friendly, going against the wickedness that is so readily taught to us today. It talks of human kindness, and loving your enemies and being friendly to those who may mean you harm.
In fact, David, knowing that Saul is trying to kill him gets holed up in a cave somewhere on a mountain, and Saul has him pinned. Saul goes into a cave, not knowing that David is in there and relieves himself, the whole time David is standing right there, able to kill him without anyone able to stop him, but he chooses not to because he knows that Saul was initially chosen by God and it's not his job to exact revenge. Instead, he continually tried to love Saul as a father and beloved child of God, till the bitter end when Saul was murdered. David, when he was King wouldn't even allow people to rejoice over Sauls death (Saul was a brutal ruler).

Lots to be learned, I recommend you spend some time...you just might learn a little about love.

With Love,

Jeff Utnage 823469
H3-B-120-Upper
Stafford Creek Correction Center
191 Constantine Way
Aberdeen, WA 98520

Stay Kind...