In April 1895 Oscar Wilde stood in a cold London courtroom and quoted the Bible in an attempt to defend his criminal case with auspicious precedent: "Such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare..."
The literary references were not helpful and Wilde was found guilty of “gross indecency” - legal code for the illegal crime of sex between men, labeled by the Victorians as “the love that dare not speak its name.”
Wilde would become a celebrated gay icon. But were David and Jonathan lovers? Were they gay?? Or bisexual?
The debate, quite old, still very much alive, used by all sides on the political-religious map. In today's chapter there is significant evidence that even if no such labels are adequate to describe their relationship - it certainly seems emotional, erotic and possibly romantic. A few details are especially intriguing and have made their love and immortal meme and the closest thing to a role model of sacred, if secret, same sex love between men in the Bible.
They were certainly my go-to aspirational role models. As a curious teen in the early 1980’s, in a Jewish religious household, pre Internet, pre public LGBTQ discourse -- I was looking everywhere for some evidence, proof and validation for the kind of love I started to identify within me - that I knew had to be kept very private.
And here they were, right in the Bible, two men kissing, crying, and expressing their love to each other. I’m pretty sure they skipped a lot of these chapters when we studied Samuel in yeshiva - but today’s dramatic chapter happens to be part of the ritual reading in synagogue for sabbaths that coincide with the new moon - which is part of this chapter’s plot. (and also in fact, happening today. happy new moon.)
There are at least a few such sabbaths each year and I recall sitting in synagogue on one such occasion as the reader chanted on, riveted by what was going on in the intense David drama - and the steamy stuff that was not referred to, discussed or named -- but nevertheless clearly described in detail.
Deception and discrete codes are a big part of this enduring narrative for many who deal with their identity in our age-old heteronormative reality. To survive we’ve learned to hide our truth. It’s easier today for so many queer people coming of age all over the world - but still in too many homes and houses of worship coming out is still dangerous and demands discretion.
Deception and deceit are the qualities that will also define the David plot moving forward - not just with who and how he loves.
Our plot picks up with David on the run from King Saul, Jonathan serving as his accomplice and secret spy. Ahead of the New Moon Feast which was apparently a monthly holiday in those days, David decides not to attend the King’s table (why risk another spear thrown at you?) and hides in the nearby fields. He and Jonathan come up with a secret code that Jonathan will use to let David know if the king is still mad and David should flee or whether he’s in better spirits and David can come back to court.
The king is not just mad - he’s furious - insulting Jonathan with awful curses that implicate his origin and his mother’s reputation - which indicate his knowledge that Jonathan has chosen David as an ally over his loyalty to his father. He’s not wrong.
Jonathan heads to the field with his arms-bearer who carries his bow and three arrows. Per the agreed upon sign Jonathan shoots the arrows and shouts to the boy -- they are too far! For David, that’s the sign to run away, and fast.
But Jonathan is not quite ready to part, and sends the boy away. The two men now are left alone in the field, for an emotional, and possibly quite sexual parting.
וְהַנַּ֖עַר לֹא־יָדַ֣ע מְא֑וּמָה אַ֤ךְ יְהֽוֹנָתָן֙ וְדָוִ֔ד יָדְע֖וּ אֶת־הַדָּבָֽר׃
“The boy suspected nothing; only Jonathan and David knew what the matter was about.”
This drama is poetic. There are three figures in the field, all men, on the third day of the new moon festival, with three arrows shot as a secret sign. This triangle includes two who know what it is all about and one who likely doesn’t. It almost seems like an ironic replication of the David-Jonathan-Saul situation.
What happens next in the field is also quite veiled. Jonathan and David kiss, bow to each other - three times -- and weep. David, we are told, weeps more.
They vow an oath to each other - neither will harm each other’s progeny, ever, even as the House of Saul and the House of David will likely launch into a war.
The exact wording of their vow is intriguing though, and slightly scandalous: ‘The divine will be present in your seed and in mine, forever.’
Is this a wink to the erotic love that they just shared, alone in the field, smeared with each other’s seed?
Or is that just a gay fantasy/midrash to see this kind of love raised up as sacred right within the scriptures?
The mystery of the nature of the love between these two, never mind the specifics, gets center stage in the rabbinic writings, in which a famous and cryptic Mishna in Tractate Avot states:
“Whenever love depends on some sort of matter, when the matter passes away, the love passes away; but if it does not depend on some selfish matter, it will never pass away. Which love did not depend on selfish matters? This was the love of David and Jonathan."
The use of the term ‘matter’ here is a translation of the Hebrew word ‘Davar’ which may mean ‘matter’, ‘thing’, ‘object’ or even ‘word’ -- indicating a tangible and concrete utility. This teaching seems to indicate that there are forms of love that are about utility - for the sake of what one needs from another person - not love for its own sake, with all its messy magic, fire and fury, poetry and pain.
It is the exact word used in our chapter -- when the two men remain alone in the field and the arms-bearer is ignorant of what's going on -- but they ‘know the matter’ -- the ‘Davar’.
Maybe what they know is that in order for both of them to survive in this cruel and complex world they have to keep the thing called love concealed. And yet their love defies the tensions of their problematic political stance and loyalties, abilities and acceptance.
And maybe what’s happening here is not a romantic matter all - but a calculated literary trope to make David’s rise to power seem like a path welcomed by some family members of Saul’s House, whether this was true or not.
There may be some deep hidden secret here way more dark than forbidden love.
But for now, with so few queer role models in our book, let these two lovers linger longer in the field, together, kissing before they part, fueling the permission for generations of people not as brave as Oscar Wilde to find our secret love loud and proud in the pages of the Bible.
When Tom Horner published Jonathan Loved David: Homosexuality in Biblical Times, in 1978, one of the pioneering modern day explorations of what this myth may really be all about he was careful to suggest that we don’t really know what happened there, but there’s enough to invite them to join the rainbow coalition, removing the veils of shame and hiding and celebrating pride of being who we are, in divine image. Love is love.
As for David’s twisted path towards the throne -the deception continues, and the story will get darker and more complex, as he flees and leaves behind the love of the one person who may have really really loved him --and whom he may have loved back, no matter what.
Image: David (Felton Sparks at left) and Jonathan (Ben Freeman) meet for the first time, in a steamy scene from 'Beloved King' A Faithfully Adapted Queer Biblical Musical, written by Jade Sylvan. (Photo by Jonathan Beckley.)
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To my reading, I believe this is the first time we are told of David’s feelings/reactions to the love that he has been show him up until now (i.e., Michal and others). His most intense emotions are being expressed and exposed here - a very special love indeed. 💕
I love this so much.