How could David have a romantic, sexual partnership with Jonathan when it is written that he had wives/children and even committed adultery with Bathseba?

by Cyril
(Switzerland)

Rick Brentlinger Answers

Great question Cyril. Many gay men and lesbian women have biological children. Entering a heterosexual marriage and having biological children does not mean someone is not gay or bisexual.

The answer to your specific question about David and Jonathan is found in the timeline of the Biblical story. When David first met Jonathan, he was around 15-17 years old, 1 Samuel 17.

Their partnership began a few months after that, 1 Samuel 18:1-3, and lasted for 15 years, until Jonathan's untimely death in battle, 1 Samuel 31:2.

The last time we see David and Jonathan with each other in the Biblical narrative, 1 Samuel 23:16-18, they are planning to rule Israel as a couple. There is nothing in scripture to indicate their love for each other had waned.

Four facts enlighten
our understanding of
the David and Jonathan story

1. The story of David and Jonathan is the greatest human love story in the Bible. Have you ever paused to consider why the greatest human love story in the Bible is about a loving partnership between two men?
   
   
2. The question we need to answer is: "Can God bless two people of the same sex in loving, romantic, intimate, committed, sexual partnership?"
   
   
3. The words used in Hebrew scripture provide helpful insight into the kind of loving partnership David and Jonathan enjoyed.
   
   
4. David's words are startlingly clear about his unfailing love for Jonathan. David publicly states that Jonathan's love was better to him than the love of his wives. To interpret that as nothing more than a statement of friendship is to seriously undervalue the shocking impact David's words must have had on his mighty warriors when he uttered them.

In my book, Gay Christian 101 - Spiritual Self-Defense For Gay Christians, I go into more detail than on the website.

The David and Jonathan chapter of the book pictured above, which is 54 pages long, has been praised by several readers as the best, most convincing argument they've ever seen for Jonathan and David having a long-term, romantic sexual partnership.

In the Jonathan and David story,
God has given the church
a principled basis on which to accept
committed gay partnerships,
within the Biblical moral framework,
if the church will listen to God.

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