Love in the Age of Spear-Throwing

I Samuel Chapter 20, the Strange and the Spectacular

Verses: 42

Is It Read At Synagogue?: Yes — verses 18-42 is read at synagogues as the Haftarah (prophetic reading) whenever it is a Sabbath immediately preceding Rosh Hodesh (the start of a new Jewish month.

Famous Quotes/Phrases: Though not original to this chapter, we are reminded several times about the love David and Jonathan have for one another.

Basic Plot: David, now basically a fugitive of Saul’s wrath, commiserates with his best friend Jonathan. Knowing that he is expected to dine with Saul in coming days, he asks that Jonathan tell Saul that David needs to go to Bethlehem to participate in his family’s annual sacrifice. Jonathan pledges his loyalty to David, setting up a system of communication in which Jonathan would shoot three arrows in the sky and, depending on what he says after it, David will know whether or not it’s safe to return to Saul’s palace.

Jonathan eats at Saul’s table the next two nights, and on the second night, when Saul finally notes David’s absence, Jonathan claims that David is in Bethlehem. Saul is enraged, demanding that David be brought to the palace to be executed. When Jonathan argues, Saul throws his spear at him. The next morning, Jonathan shoots the arrows, and calls out the words indicating that David is not safe from Saul. Alone in a field, the two best friends kiss and weep as David runs away again.

What’s Strange: We’ll talk in a moment about the nature of David and Jonathan’s relationship, but an added layer to Saul’s anger at his son might not just be that Jonathan defends David — it’s that Jonathan loves David. Sylvia Schrorer and Thomas Staubli touch on this in their article “Saul, David & Jonathan — The Story of a Triangle? A Contribution to the Issue of Homosexuality in the First Testament” from Samuel and Kings: A Feminist Companion to the Bible (Athalya Brenner, ed.): “The narrative indicates that the relationship between the two men is public knowledge even though it is not lived out openly. … Saul’s angry reaction to David’s absence from the feast of the new moon and to Jonathan’s excuses is informative in this connection.”

What’s Spectacular: Are David and Jonathan more than just friends? It appears so. Schrorer and Staubli indicate several examples.

• One is the phrase in Chapter 18 that the two men loved each other “as their own נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh)”; the final word in that phrase often is translated as “self”, but the scholars indicate that the word is also used to describe erotic love (Proverbs 16:26 & Genesis 34:2-3);

• Another is in Chapter 19 in which Jonathan “delights” (חַפֵץ, chafetz) in David, a phrase used in Genesis 34:19 and Deuteronomy 21:14 to indicate intimate relations;

• And a third refers to this chapter’s final scene in a field, which Schrorer and Staubli note is, in other places in the Bible, “a place of hiding and refuge [for those who wish to be alone] … among those are lovers” in Ruth Chapter 3 and Song of Songs 7:11.

The evidence that David and Jonathan are lovers is ample. But it’s heartbreaking to realize that their love, while deep and genuine, will be short-lived. There are too many forces that stand against it, namely societal norms as well as Saul himself. It will have to suffice that, like so many love stories, this tale is powerful yet fleeting.

Shabbat Shalom!