Were Jonathon and David -gay? No.
1. David and Jonathan. Some of the incidents in the David and Jonathan narrative might lead one to believe that the two were homosexual lovers. For instance, David and Jonathan embrace, weep together and kiss each other (1 Sam 20:41-42), they make a covenant of friendship (1 Sam 18:1; 20:8, 16-17, 42; 23:18) and express their love for each other in strong terms (1 Sam 18:3; 19:1; 20:17). At Jonathan’s death, David writes a passionate lament for Saul and Jonathan in which he articulates his love for Jonathan: “I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women” (2 Sam 1:26).
While the relationship between David and Jonathan could be construed to be homosexual, there are factors that suggest otherwise. Embracing, weeping together and kissing were (and still are) standard customs among heterosexual males in the Near Eastern world. Rather than establishing a sexual union, “the covenant” between David and Jonathan was a covenant of loyalty and regal recognition set in the context of transferring throne rights to David and symbolized by Jonathan giving David his cloak and armor. Also, the description of their love as “more wonderful than that of women,” while intriguing data, is part of a poetic lament full of passionate hyperbole. In the same poem David speaks of Jonathan and Saul as “swifter than eagles. . . stronger than lions” (2 Sam 1:23). Thus the poetic nature of the passage argues against a homoerotic reading of the lament.
2. Ruth and Naomi. Certain features of the Ruth and Naomi story might similarly suggest a lesbian love relationship. There are scenes of physical intimacy (e.g., kissing and weeping together [Ruth 1:10]). Also, Ruth expresses in covenant terms (not unlike marriage covenants) her relationship to Naomi: “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried” (Ruth 1:16-17).
Despite these intimate features, the possibility of lesbian love being presented in the Ruth story is highly improbable. The language of covenant develops the broader theme within the book of Ruth—crossing between people-group boundaries, not necessarily voicing the idea of marriage; this language is used elsewhere to express loyalty between people without sexual connotation (e.g., 2 Sam 15:21). Also, the proposal of lesbian love seems farfetched when one considers that Naomi did not really want Ruth to come with her. Naomi functions as something of a matchmaker for Ruth and Boaz, and Ruth’s marriage to Boaz at the end of book “fills up” the empty and bitter Naomi. The intimacy between the two women seems fully accounted for in the “mother and daughter” model that the story presents.
Few recent authors advocating a homosexual position use these biblical examples to support their case for homosexuality; most scholars arguing for same-sex relationships do not find such texts persuasive.
