David and Jonathan have made a covenant, and when they separate, the text says: 'David rose from beside the stone pile, knelt down with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then they kissed one another and wept together.' Two soldiers, a prince and a commoner, crying as they part.
There's something in this moment that modern Christian culture has become uncomfortable with. We've made David and Jonathan's relationship into a distant loyalty or a political alliance. But the text is clear: they loved each other. Their covenant was enacted through physical affection and tears. Jonathan was risking his life by being David's ally - Saul wanted David dead, and Jonathan was Saul's son.
I had a college roommate who became like a brother to me. We're both men, and there's an awkwardness in Christian circles about expressing that kind of deep love. We've been trained to be suspicious of physical affection between men, to keep emotional distance. But this passage from Scripture shows male friendship as something worth weeping over, worth binding yourself to covenantally. I think we've lost something important. Jonathan didn't just help David; he loved him with his whole heart, and that love cost him everything. That kind of friendship is rarer and more beautiful than we usually admit.
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