{"id":59563,"date":"2019-07-16T16:27:11","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T13:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=59563"},"modified":"2023-02-07T17:49:20","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T15:49:20","slug":"the-power-of-their-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-power-of-their-love\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power Of Their Love\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Although Saul had pursued David relentlessly, David made a point of demonstrating respect for the king. Even after Saul\u2019s death, David does not hesitate to strike the man who killed him, and openly mourns the former king. Yet, as Malbim points out (v. 24), the relationship between David and Saul didn\u2019t exactly lend itself to personal sorrow. His grief is palpable, however, as he shifts the focus of his lament to Jonathan.<\/span><\/p>\n

I grieve for you, my brother Jonathan; you were most dear (\u05e0.\u05e2.\u05dd., n-\u2019-m) to me; your love was wonderful to me, more than the love of women<\/span><\/i> (v. 26).<\/span><\/p>\n

Typically, this verse is understood as a description of David\u2019s feelings for Jonathan: \u201cThe love I felt for you was wondrous, more than the love of women \u2013 who are loved greatly by one who desires them\u201d (Metzudat David). Some suggest the verse builds on David\u2019s earlier words about Saul: he had mentioned daughters of Israel crying over Saul\u2019s death because of what he would do for them; in contrast, David loved Jonathan for his essential goodness, a more exalted love than the women\u2019s feelings for Saul (Malbim).<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the phrases \u201cyour love\u201d and \u201clove of women\u201d are ambiguous: who is the beloved, and who is the one who loves?<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralbag flips the pronouns from the typical understanding and explains \u201cJonathan\u2019s love for David was stronger and more wondrous than the love of women for those they love, which is very strong.\u201d Radak, citing his father, suggests \u201cthose women love\u201d alludes to their children or husbands.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the typical reading of this verse, David is contrasting his love for Jonathan either to romantic love or to the sort of love-for-gain alluded to in the earlier verse about Saul. But if we switch lover and loved, we might find a metaphor of a child basking in a mother\u2019s love.<\/span><\/p>\n

Considering David\u2019s complicated life and relationship with Saul, we might well imagine what a love \u201cmore wondrous than a mother\u2019s love for her child\u201d would have meant to him. David was on the run for so long that Jonathan\u2019s powerful love and support must have been a steadying force and a comfort.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hebrew root translated above as \u201cmost dear\u201d might have other connotations. Malbim in several other instances explains this root as connoting a sense of internal soul-satisfaction. Perhaps when David says \u201cyou were \u05e0.\u05e2.\u05dd. <\/span>n-\u2019-m <\/span><\/i>to me,\u201d he is expressing how the powerful love he felt from Jonathan enabled him to maintain an internal sense of calm and security despite his tumultuous life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps that steadying force in the background even contributed to his ability to maintain his principles and refrain from lashing out at his royal nemesis.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":59564,"id":59564,"title":"2sam1-friends","filename":"2sam1-friends.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-friends.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-power-of-their-love\/2sam1-friends\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam1-friends","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":59563,"date":"2019-07-16 13:26:46","modified":"2019-07-16 13:26:55","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-friends-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-friends-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-friends-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-friends-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-friends.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-friends.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-friends-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-friends-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"The 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