Editing David and Jonathan (section)

=== Traditional Christian interpretation ===
[[File:Saul Tries to Kill David by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.png|thumb|200px|left|"Saul Tries to Kill David" by [[Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld]]]]
In Christian tradition, David and Jonathan's love is understood as the intimate camaraderie between two young soldiers with no sexual involvement.<ref>[http://www.ewordtoday.com/comments/1samuel/mh/1samuel18.htm Matthew Henry, 1Samuel 18:1–5] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100625073708/http://www.ewordtoday.com/comments/1samuel/mh/1samuel18.htm |date=2010-06-25 }}; 2Samual 1:17–27</ref> David's abundance of wives and [[concubines]] is emphasized, alongside his adulterous affair with [[Bathsheba]], and that he only experienced impotence as an old man, while having his five-year-old son Jonathan at his death.<ref>James B. deYoung, ''Homosexuality'', p. 290</ref>

In response to the argument that homoeroticism was edited out, some traditionalists who subscribe to the [[Documentary Hypothesis]] note the significance of the lack of censoring of the descriptions at issue, in spite of the Levitical injunctions against homoerotic contact. Gagnon states, "The narrator’s willingness to speak of David’s vigorous heterosexual life (compare the relationship with Bathsheba) puts in stark relief his (their) complete silence about any sexual activity between David and Jonathan."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.robgagnon.net/articles/homosexNewsweekMillerResp.pdf|title=Prof. Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon}}</ref>

Presuming such editing would have taken place, Martti Nissinen comments, "Their mutual love was certainly regarded by the editors as faithful and passionate, but without unseemly allusions to forbidden practices ... Emotional and even physical closeness of two males did not seem to concern the editors of the story, nor was such a relationship prohibited by [[Leviticus]]." [[Homosociality]] is not seen as being part of the sexual [[taboo]] in the biblical world.<ref>Martti Nissinen, Kirsi Stjerna, ''Homoeroticism in the Biblical World'', p. 56</ref>