The fascinating thing about the biblical David *is* his faith. In the biblical story David is immensely flawed yet immensely devout, to God and proximately the very King seeking to kill him. This is the David who led a band of ruffians around and killed whole villages of Philistines to the last man, woman and child just so he could lie and tell the Philistine king he ransacked Israel's towns. And yet he wrote half of the book of Psalms. The David of the Bible is moody and nuts...his mighty men kill through their enemies to get David a drink and he pours it out of the ground. Despite being deeply connected to God, he goes to the temple and eats the sacred bread, basically because he's hungry. God killed people for less, but he was deeply fond of David.

The entire notion that David and Jonathan had a homoerotic relationship is simply nuts, not to mention culturally ignorant and insensitive. Middle Eastern hand holding between men isn't sexual, neither is kissing. Just because Fmr. President Bush held hands with King Abdullah doesn't mean they were all brokeback at his ranch. Drawing conclusions based on 21st century american social mores is just stupid.

The one fascinating passage on David and Jonathan's relationship is that the love of Jonathan was more precious to David than that of a woman...but considering how David treated women (having, what, at least six wives?) he didn't seem particularly drawn to them. In the end, it's a marvelous story of friendship, where Jonathan is more loyal to David than his father and his royal inheritance. To read sexuality into the relationship takes something marvelous and makes it dull.

Bro-mance, at its finest (apparently).

That's certainly one reading, but not the only one, as... if this kind of bromance were so culturally universal, why did this one case receive such special treatment in the Bible? Conversely, gay history and gay contributions to history are often belittled and covered up for a variety of reasons, so I don't think one can conclusively suggest anything either way. And, frankly, I think the reverse... to completely dismiss the possibility of a homoerotic relationship between the two is nuts, and to turn them into nothing but simply "best buds" is making it something exceedingly dull.

There's a fine line between the homoerotic and the homosexual. Whenever you have a culture where all important relationships are between men, and where women exist on the margins of male life to provide domestic service, bear the next generation, and scratch the old sexual itch, there is possibility that men who share a deep emotional intimacy will express it sexually. Sometimes they do, as in classical Greece and among modern day Pashtuns. Sometimes they don't, as (for the most part) among 19th century upper class Anglo-Saxons.

As for David and Jonathan, like Achilles and Patroclus, the contemporary author hasn't put them in bed together. Our own predispositions, religious and otherwise, lead us to resolve the resulting ambiguity as we would like to. And I wouldn't be as certain as you seem to be about the mores of the Biblical Hebrews c. 1000 BCE. The Bible wouldn't be quite as vehement as it is on the subject of homosexuality if it wasn't a real phenomonon.

David and Jonathan were no more gay than Oprah Winfrey and Gail King are gay. Apparently no one can believe two people can have a deep bond and love and not be sexual.

The Bible doesn't shy away from the embarrassing and unpleasant. King David had an aldulterous affair with Bathsheba and then sent her husband to the front lines of battle to die. David was the greatest king of Israel and it sure would have been tempting for the author to leave the reputational black marks out. The greatest men of God were just that, men. Fallible. Human. The Bible potrays their failings as well as their great deeds. It's a beautiful theme, that God can use us for His greatest accomplishments even with our shortcomings and backsliding.

The part about David eating the sacred bread (the shew bread) is taken out of context. Jesus himself referred to David eating the shew bread to teach that the law allows for compassion and common sense. Yes, it's okay to heal on the Sabbath. And if you're famished and starving, then by all means eat the shew bread!