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David Slays Goliath and

Marries Jonathan

A Queer Marriage in the

House of Saul

An Essay for Queer Lit - English 173, DVC

February 2019

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1 Samuel 17 So when David returned after killing the Philistine, Abner took him and

brought him to Saul, with the head of the Philistine still in his hand. 58 Saul said to him, “Whose

son are you, my boy?” And David answered, “The son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

1 Samuel 18 When [David] finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan’s soul became bound

up with the soul of David; Jonathan loved David as himself. 2 Saul took him [into his service]

that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. 3 Jonathan and David made a pact,

because [Jonathan] loved him as himself. 4Jonathan took off the cloak and tunic he was wearing

and gave them to David, together with his sword, bow, and belt. 5 David went out [with the

troops], and he was successful in every mission on which Saul sent him, and Saul put him in

command of all the soldiers; this pleased all the troops and Saul’s courtiers as well.

These biblical passages from the first Book of Samuel take place immediately after

young David kills the Philistine giant, Goliath. They describe the welcoming of David into the

house of King Saul and the initial moments of an intimate relationship between Saul’s son
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Jonathan and Jonathan’s lifelong soulmate, David. The passages indicate a happy period of

unmitigated success for David and his filial acceptance by King Saul.

On reading references to “love” between two men, one may wonder about the nature of

their relationship. Modern interpretations assure us that theirs is a fraternal love, a chaste

“bromance” born of loyalty and mutual admiration. However, one must strip away the modern,

homophobic context from the common interpretation and examine the relationship on its own

merit, absent influences from the dominant cultural context. A close reading of the text indicates

that Jonathan and David were in a committed, spiritual and physical relationship. Furthermore,

their love was far from frowned upon, but warmly welcomed by Saul who brought David into his

family as a son-in-law. In this analysis, we will interpret these verses line-by-line, unhindered by

modern homophobic assumptions. From a close reading, we find that in biblical times, gay

marriage may have been normal and accepted.

To continue, we will need to define marriage. According to the online Oxford English

Dictionary, marriage is “The legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a

personal relationship.” Let us see whether the intense bond between Jonathan and David is

supported by this definition, and therefore qualifies as a marriage.

In 1 Samuel 17.57 David is brought before King Saul, holding the head of Goliath, the

slain Philistine, mortal enemy of the Israelites. The King had previously advertised far and wide

among his soldiers and beyond, that the one who slayed Goliath would be rewarded with one of

his own children in marriage (outside of this reading, JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh, 1 Sam.

17.25). Saul’s promise was widely discussed among the soldiers and was made explicitly clear

to David, twice, before he decided to kill Goliath (1 Sam. 17.27 and 17.30). In other words, the

giant Philistine’s life is very clearly the bride-price for marriage into the royal family, and David

is very well aware of that promise. When David walks in with Goliath’s head, King Saul is
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relieved, gratified, and presumably, prepared to make good on his promise to bring the slayer

into his royal household through marriage. This verse sets the stage that a marriage is to occur.

The very first thing Saul does upon verifying Goliath’s death is to ascertain David’s

lineage. The question of David’s parentage is an important first step in establishing David’s

suitability to join the royal family. With David’s simple answer, Saul learns two things: that

David is an Israelite; and that David’s brethren are serving Saul as soldiers in his army (1 Sam.

17.58). These confirm David as an honorable and loyal member of Saul’s own people, and

therefore suitable for marriage into the family. In a few short sentences, we are privy to the steps

which foretell a royal marriage.

Once David’s lineage is established, Saul and David speak for some time, possibly about

marriage arrangements or the other portions of Saul’s promise (1 Sam. 18:1). We picture David,

who is not much more than a child, yet he is bathed in a manly virility. He is fresh from his

battle: sweaty, dirty and bloodstained. His combination of bravery, fierceness, fearlessness and

nubile innocence would have been plainly on display while he speaks with Saul. When David

walks into the King’s quarters, Jonathan immediately sees, hears and smells evidence of David’s

virility and success. A flood of sensual input must have been overwhelming to Jonathan, who

remains quiet during the conversation between Saul and David.

Jonathan is attentive in the background during the conversation, free to absorb David’s

presence, and seems to fall hopelessly in love. Without exchanging a word, Jonathan becomes

one in spirit with David: “Jonathan’s soul became bound up with the soul of David; Jonathan

loved David as himself” (1 Sam. 18.1). Contextually, this is occurring during the very instant

that David has arrived to claim his prize, the marriage of a royal.

From that day, Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. (1

Sam. 18.2). This is what happens when a young lady would marry into a family of importance –
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she would leave their own family and join the family of her husband. Similarly, David joined

Saul’s home, just as a welcome bride would.

With David now living in the royal household, Jonathan physicalizes his bond with David

when he removes his own princely clothing and gives it to David, then offers him his royal

weapons. (1 Sam. 18.4). The scene portrays a stripped-down and vulnerable prince handing his

virility (weapons) to the virginal (with respect to weapons) young David. We are presented with

an image of Jonathan, naked and vulnerable, face-to-face with a newly armed and virile David.

The series of events is clearly descriptive of a love-at-first sight, till death do we part

relationship; something much more than a chaste friendship. Add the fact that they make a

covenant to one another, and their relationship begins to look very much like a marriage.

Although the language in our section speaks of a “pact” between Jonathan and David, later in the

narrative they refer to their own union as a covenant with the Lord (1 Sam. 20.8 and 20.16), very

strong promissory language.

We have seen that Jonathan and David go through specific steps that would indicate a

marriage, but why then is this not broadly accepted? For a moment, let us strip away the

uncomfortable context of our modern culture’s reaction to male-male love. Looking at the same

story through the lens of a heterosexual relationship, we can comfortably observe the same steps

as leading to a consecrated marriage. In the following imaginary scenario, let’s replace Jonathan

with Saul’s beautiful, fictitious daughter, Joan:

King Saul has promised a bride for the man who slays Goliath. David ascertains this

offer, twice! David arrives, holding Goliath’s head. Saul establishes David’s lineage as

suitable to join the family. Joan, the King’s daughter, waits in the background, smitten

while David speaks with Saul. Before a word is spoken between them, Joan binds her

soul to David’s! King Saul immediately brings David into his household, not even
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allowing him to return to his own family and puts him in charge of his royal army. Later,

Joan takes off her robe and tunic and presents them to David along with her most

valuable royal possessions. They make a pact to one another and before G-d, which lasts

the rest of their mortal lives and beyond.

If Jonathan were Joan, there would be no doubt at all that they had entered a very

personal, very formal relationship, recognized in the royal household and beyond, i.e. that they

became married. Theirs would be the makings of an eternal love story, with promises made and

promises kept. Marriage as covenant is not uncommon in the Bible, and in this case, the text

supports this as yet another instance.

There is no judgement within the text regarding the binding of their souls, their

commitment, or the entering of David into Saul’s royal family. Because the text points so clearly

to their lifelong soul-bond, one can conclude two things. That their union as partners in a

personal relationship was formally recognized, both by the Lord and by the King, defining it as a

marriage; and that the house of Saul was without prejudice toward this union, welcoming David

into the family.

One of the beautiful, and dangerous, aspects of the Bible is that it can be endlessly

interpreted and reinterpreted. Each person can infuse it with their own personal meaning, and

each culture provides a context from which to base individual interpretations. It isn’t surprising

then, that the mainstream interpretation tiptoes around and avoids proclaiming the covenant

between Jonathan and David as romantic love. In this analysis, we have attempted to strip away

the crucible of homophobia that influences modern-day interpretations, and look only with the

purest and most logical eye at the sequence of promises made and promises kept. Within these

verses, there is an abundance of evidence that David and Jonathan are physically, romantically

and spiritually bound together, in the eyes of one another, their families, and G-d. That is, they
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are married, and not simply brotherly companions. And furthermore, that the families accept

their marriage.
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Works Cited

JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh: The Traditional Hebrew Text and the New JPS Translation. 2nd

ed., Jewish Publication Society, 1999.

“marriage, N.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, 2019;

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/marriage