Best Friend Forever

David was the young boy who killed the giant Goliath with just a slingshot. This handsome young man played the harp and was a singer and songwriter. It is believed that many, if not most, of the Psalms were written by David. He lived in Israel under the reign of King Saul, whose eldest son and heir to the throne, Jonathan, was David's best friend. Jonathan and David had what David would later say was a love that surpassed even the love of women. Bro's before ho's, I guess the kids would call it.

The prophet Samuel was dispatched by God to anoint the next king of Israel. God was fed up with Saul and his transgressions, so Saul and his family would not be ruling Israel for much longer. Samuel went to the home of Jesse, who had several sons, David being the youngest. David was anointed as future king of Israel. It would be many years before he became king.

Saul hated David for this very reason, which is not at all surprising. He tried on any number of occasions to kill him or have him killed, but that didn't happen. Jonathan should have been envious of David and hated him, too, for after all David was going to take the place that was rightfully his. But he didn't hate him. As the years went by, they stuck together as best friends. BFF's, I guess the kids would call it. Jonathan even protected David from being killed by Saul many times. David had many opportunities to kill Saul, but he never did that, instead waiting for things to run their natural course. David was a great warrior, and the young women fell all over themselves as he walked down the street. They even wrote a song about him, "Saul has slain his thousands, but David his tens of thousands." This blatant hero worship enraged Saul.

David and Jonathan were each married to women, many women in fact, because polygamy was the norm back then. They each had children as well. Fundamentalist and evangelical Christians who purport that homosexuality is a sinful choice tell us that their relationship was strictly platonic. Others speculate that it had homoerotic overtones, without any sex involved. There are those who believe that Jonathan and David were, in fact, the Bible's most visible gay couple. The writer Oscar Wilde stated this categorically. Who knows? Really, should any of us care?

It makes me sad that even today, men have to be careful with their men friends lest anyone think they are gay. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I believe people are born with a sexual orientation, that it is not a choice, and that gay people should be afforded all the rights and privileges that we straight people have always enjoyed. But really, are we so homophobic in our country that men must be hypervigilant to make sure they don't show too much affection to their guy friends? We women must be careful as well, but I think we have a little more leeway with hugging, kissing and touching than males do.

We seem to want to put all of our relationships in neat little compartments, when in fact many times there are blurred lines between our closest relationships. We also want to make love a competition, where we must choose who we love best and who we love most. I think when it's all said and done, love is love, no matter who we love or how we love them.

David became king when Saul was killed in battle. It was a great day for Israel, and it should have been a great day for David, too. But it was bittersweet, because his best friend Jonathan died on the battlefield that day beside his father. Jonathan had a disabled son whom David adopted after his friend's death, a way in which he could honor his fallen BFF.  Here is what David wrote about Jonathan.

O how the mighty heroes have fallen in battle
  Jonathan lies dead on the hills
How I weep for you, my brother Jonathan!
  O how much I loved you!
And your love for me was deep,
  Deeper than the love of women
O how the mighty heroes have fallen!
  Stripped of their weapons, they lie dead.

II Samuel 1:25-27, New Living Translation Bible

Susan