Editing David and Jonathan (section)

== Cultural references ==
[[File:Donatello - David - Florença.jpg|thumb|180px|right|[[David (Donatello, bronze)|Bronze ''David'']] by [[Donatello]], 15th century]]

At his 1895 trial, [[Oscar Wilde]] cited the example of David and Jonathan in support of "[[The love that dare not speak its name]]": "Such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan, such as [[Plato]] made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you find in the sonnets of [[Michelangelo]] and [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]."<ref>Neil McKenna, ''The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde'', London, 2004</ref>

In his [[Lambeth conference|Lambeth]] essay of December 2007, [[James Stuart Jones|James Jones]], the [[Bishop of Liverpool]], drew particular attention to the "emotional, spiritual, and even physical" friendship between David and Jonathan:<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=James |editor-last=Stevenson |editor-first=Kenneth |title=A Fallible Church: Lambeth Essays |publisher=Darton Longman and Todd |date=January 2008 |orig-year=December 2007 |chapter=Making Space for Truth and Grace |chapter-url=http://liverpool.anglican.org/people/bishops/jamesspeeches/0712_Lambeth_essay.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212232929/http://liverpool.anglican.org/people/bishops/jamesspeeches/0712_Lambeth_essay.htm |archive-date=February 12, 2008 |url-status=dead |isbn=978-0232527308}}</ref> {{blockquote |text=There was between them a deep emotional bond that left David grief-stricken when Jonathan died. But not only were they emotionally bound to each other they expressed their love physically. Jonathan stripped off his clothes and dressed David in his own robe and armour. With the candour of the Eastern World that exposes the reserve of Western culture they kissed each other and wept openly with each other. The fact that they were both married did not inhibit them in emotional and physical displays of love for each other. This intimate relationship was sealed before God. It was not just a spiritual bond it became covenantal for “Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul” (1 Samuel 18:3). Here is the Bible bearing witness to love between two people of the same gender.}}

In 1993 a member of the [[Knesset]] in [[Israel]], [[Yael Dayan]], provoked controversy when she referred to David and Jonathan in a parliamentary debate in support of gay men and women in the Israeli military.<ref>{{cite web|author=Robert Block |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/gay-king-david-theory-starts-goliath-of-a-row-1472290.html |title=Gay King David theory starts Goliath of a row - World - News |work=The Independent |date=1993-02-11 |access-date=2013-02-10}}</ref>