[Pastor Shane’s note: I recommend reading 1 Samuel 18 before reading this devotional]
In 1 Samuel 18:1-5, we read the start of a covenantal friendship between David and Jonathan. Some people take this passage out of context and say that David and Jonathan were homosexual. This entire idea should be thrown in the garbage because the Hebrew word “love” used in these passages is not used for sexual activity. Besides, advocating homosexuality in these passages contradicts all the other scriptures in the Bible; therefore, it must be known that the Bible does not contradict itself.
We must understand that these two men were very close good friends. We can see three qualities that we all need to see in our real friends in their friendship. (1). They sacrificed for each other (1 Samuel 18:4). We see where Jonathan gave David his clothes as a gift because he spotted that David would be king of Israel one day. (2). In 1 Samuel 19:1-3, we read over where Jonathan was loyal and defended David by King Saul, who told his people to kill David. Jonathan rebuked Saul and reminded him of David slaying Goliath (1 Samuel 19:1-3). (3). Jonathan and David expressed their emotions with each other. We read in 1 Samuel 20, where David and Jonathan cried together.
What an example of a biblical account of true friendship. We must all realize that a real friendship, according to the Bible, involves devotion, sacrifice, cooperation, and even emotional attachment. I’ll close with one thing, David was “a man after God’s own heart,” and any thought or idea that Jonathan and David were practicing homosexual (or bisexual) is absurd and outlandish and has absolutely no biblical basis. Amen!