1 Samuel 18 Footnotes

18:1-4 The Bible indicates that Jonathan and David loved each other deeply (19:1; 20:17; 2Sm 1:26) and made a covenant with each other (1Sm 20:8,16; 22:8; 23:18), but there is no indication of their having a homosexual relationship. Scripture teaches that God disapproves of homosexual activity (Lv 18:22; 20:13; Rm 1:24-27; Jd 7). Jonathan and David were men who were careful to obey God in all matters (1Sm 23:16; 1Kg 11:4), with the notable exception of David’s sin with Bathsheba. It is reasonable to conclude that these two men obeyed God in this matter as well.

In the ancient Near East, as in conservative Islamic societies today, adult men and women were not permitted to have friendships, casual or otherwise, with one another. Because social roles assigned to males and females differed greatly, men could not usually have close friendships, based on mutual interests, even with their wives. Women were excluded from many activities common to men; they could not take part in military affairs, and were generally excluded from religious rites as well. Men, in like fashion, were not expected to engage in most activities associated with women. Men had to cultivate their friendships with other men, while reserving sexual activity for their wives (or prostitutes). Sometimes such friendships could be intense, but they did not have a sexual component. Jonathan and David were great friends, fellow soldiers, brothers-in-law, and brothers in the faith, but they were not homosexual “lovers.”

18:12 Once God the Father gives the Holy Spirit to a person, does the Spirit remain with that person or can he depart? At least three other OT passages in addition to the present verse suggest that the Holy Spirit could be taken away from people who persisted in living in disobedience toward God (Jdg 16:20; 1Sm 28:15; Ps 51:11). On the other hand, Jn 14:16 indicates the Holy Spirit will abide forever with people who receive him.

The NT teaches that the death and resurrection of Jesus fundamentally changed certain aspects of humanity’s relationship with God. The old covenant at Sinai was replaced with the covenant of Christ’s body and blood (1Co 11:25; Heb 8:13), and with this change the Holy Spirit began operating differently in the lives of God’s people. The NT speaks of the Holy Spirit as a gift to believers in Jesus Christ (Ac 2:38; 10:45) and a seal on their hearts, a guarantee of eternal life (2Co 1:22; Eph 1:13). Besides being given to women and Gentiles (there are no examples of either of these receiving the Spirit in the OT), the Holy Spirit is a permanently indwelling presence in the lives of all Christians. The NT provides no instance of the Holy Spirit departing from a Christian; this suggests that what happened to Saul cannot happen to a believer in Christ.