The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 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."
Upon hearing of the death of Saul and his son Jonathon, David mourned and penned the lament this verse comes from. In it he recalls the love he had for Jonathon, and that of Jonathon for himself.
We live in a day when the world shakes its collective fist in rebellion against its Creator. Instead of acknowledging God as he who "created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them", Genesis 1:27, many today have subscribed to fanciful notions of how mankind came into existence apart from the creative acts of our great Designer. Mankind has also seized (only in its own mind) for itself the role as to who it is that determines our gender. Nothing speaks more loudly, in pushing for the lie that our Creator God does not exist, than seizing credit for ourselves for determining what gender we are.
Our culture today demands homosexuality be accepted as a legitimate and bona fide behavior and lifestyle. As such, biblical Christianity is under attack. From without, Christianity's teachings are simply rejected. From within, attempts are made to distort what the Bible has to say about homosexuality. In short order we read in the Bible, "Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable." Leviticus 18:22. The penalty God gave Moses for those who committed acts of homosexuality was they were to be cut off from their people and be put to death. Also we read in 1 Corinthians 6:9, "Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men...will inherit the kingdom of God."
Not to be put off by what the Scriptures actually teach, the many who fancy themselves as being on the cutting edge of today's society, who consider themselves in tune with the latest cultural movements and directions, but yet would like to retain their place in the church - embrace homosexuality (they have "evolved" on the issue) by deceiving themselves and others through a thorough twisting of the Scriptures. Our verse here about David and Jonathan is one such place. Another is 1 Samuel 20:17, "And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself."
The very same God who declared homosexuality as detestable is the same God who said, "I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do." Acts 13:22. It is this very same God whose apostle said of those who reject Jesus Christ, "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error." Romans 1:24-27.
No, David was no homosexual and to construe him as such is a misreading of 2 Samuel 1:26. David's point in his lament was that he was going to miss a friend whose love and friendship transcended even the sexual embrace of another, which was his point in his reference to the natural love of a woman for a man. Not that Jonathan's embrace was better than a woman's in terms of sex, but that his friendship with him transcended a relationship of the type that would include sex. This was a deeply held friendship that had its roots in a common bond of love for God with underpinnings of a strong spiritual desire for God. In speaking of his friendship with him, Johnathon told David, "Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, 'The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.'"
"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."
Upon hearing of the death of Saul and his son Jonathon, David mourned and penned the lament this verse comes from. In it he recalls the love he had for Jonathon, and that of Jonathon for himself.
We live in a day when the world shakes its collective fist in rebellion against its Creator. Instead of acknowledging God as he who "created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them", Genesis 1:27, many today have subscribed to fanciful notions of how mankind came into existence apart from the creative acts of our great Designer. Mankind has also seized (only in its own mind) for itself the role as to who it is that determines our gender. Nothing speaks more loudly, in pushing for the lie that our Creator God does not exist, than seizing credit for ourselves for determining what gender we are.
Our culture today demands homosexuality be accepted as a legitimate and bona fide behavior and lifestyle. As such, biblical Christianity is under attack. From without, Christianity's teachings are simply rejected. From within, attempts are made to distort what the Bible has to say about homosexuality. In short order we read in the Bible, "Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable." Leviticus 18:22. The penalty God gave Moses for those who committed acts of homosexuality was they were to be cut off from their people and be put to death. Also we read in 1 Corinthians 6:9, "Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men...will inherit the kingdom of God."
Not to be put off by what the Scriptures actually teach, the many who fancy themselves as being on the cutting edge of today's society, who consider themselves in tune with the latest cultural movements and directions, but yet would like to retain their place in the church - embrace homosexuality (they have "evolved" on the issue) by deceiving themselves and others through a thorough twisting of the Scriptures. Our verse here about David and Jonathan is one such place. Another is 1 Samuel 20:17, "And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself."
The very same God who declared homosexuality as detestable is the same God who said, "I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do." Acts 13:22. It is this very same God whose apostle said of those who reject Jesus Christ, "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error." Romans 1:24-27.
No, David was no homosexual and to construe him as such is a misreading of 2 Samuel 1:26. David's point in his lament was that he was going to miss a friend whose love and friendship transcended even the sexual embrace of another, which was his point in his reference to the natural love of a woman for a man. Not that Jonathan's embrace was better than a woman's in terms of sex, but that his friendship with him transcended a relationship of the type that would include sex. This was a deeply held friendship that had its roots in a common bond of love for God with underpinnings of a strong spiritual desire for God. In speaking of his friendship with him, Johnathon told David, "Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, 'The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.'"
The Lord condemns homosexuality. But he offers his love and forgiveness to homosexuals as well as to all who have engaged in any sin our corrupted hearts have conceived (that would be all of us). All sins were paid for on the cross of Jesus Christ and he offers paradise in the next life to all who embrace him in faith and seek his forgiveness.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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