2 Sa. 1: Bros Before Hos

2 Samuel 1:26 "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."

So David is just chillin' in Ziklag, after atomically wedgie-ing the Amalekites, when this Amalekite dude comes running in all haggard-like. The guy tells David he has come from the Israelite camp, and brings news about how Saul and Jonathan are dead. How does he know? He claims to be the one who ran Saul through, which is a lie, right? Because we just read how Saul fell on his own sword and killed himself. David doesn't know this, he wasn't there. This sends David and his men into a mourning and fasting period for the rest of the day. Then David asks the guy why he felt like he could be the one to kill the LORD's anointed. This concept, obviously very important to David (1 Sa. 26:9) led to him reacting in a way that seems harsh, killing the guy...but Israelites were directly commanded to kill Amalekites. This guy's bravado ("I killed Saul!") got him killed.

The mourning was not over yet. David wrote a song about it, and how he missed his friends. This is the second reference to the book of Jashar (Jos. 10:13). This has that famous refrain "O how the mighty have fallen." And this probably doesn't just refer to Saul. I would guess it also refers to Israel, being humiliated as a nation. They wanted a king to lead them, and here they are, crushed and slain as a result of this king's rejection of God. Just as was predicted.

David's lament here makes no mention of Saul's repeated attempts to kill him, rather it sort of exalts what Saul did that was good. 2 Samuel 1:26 is kind of mincy, where David proclaims that Jonathan's love was more wonderful than that of women. I would guess that was a deep friendship, and after all, this was an emotional time. What would you say at your best friend's eulogy? Were the women in David's life that lame? Abigail? The Bible doesn't blink at reporting man-on-man love (Lot in Genesis 19, the Levite six books later in Judges 19). So I have no reason to believe David and Jonathan were lovers. I guess. But who cares, anyway? They were good friends, which is the greater point.