I made it past Samuel 1 yesterday, which has all the stuff about Saul and boy David in it. So.. Introducing my new favorite Bible character... Jonathan! (and my second favorite, David) First of all, I kind of like the name. It rolls right off the tongue and has that leathery quality to it. Secondly, he's a great guy. Valiant, brave, loyal... And he does the right thing at the expense of a good father-son relationship. I really like how the Bible describes the friendship between David and Jonathan. They love each other as they do themselves, and not just because of convenience or because of heritage- they are truly best friends. I've never seen a relationship quite like this in the Bible. (but I'm not very far into it)
I think Jonathan deserves a bigger part in the story of David, or maybe even a book to himself. He's certainly interesting enough for it, and a lot of things happen to him. (like when he's about to be killed because he ate some honey) I want to know the history of his character. How did he become friends with David?
Of course, by the end of the book, he's dead at the hand of the Philistines. Why does that always happen to the best characters? 
A note: Saul commits suicide. It's interesting how Jonathan and his brothers are killed by enemies, but Saul chooses to kill himself rather than face that particular dishonor/humiliation. (well, I guess he didn't want to be tortured.) But it still reveals something interesting about his character.
I wonder what it'd be like to commit suicide? Is having a death of your own choosing much worse than dying at an unexpected time? Does it hurt to die?
This makes me think of Shi Huangdi, who took arsenic because he thought it would make him immortal. Ironic, isn't it?
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
RIP, Jonathan
Posted by Maria Sondule at 9:04 AM
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6 comments:
Well, I think committing suicide is the sign of mental weakness and a bad thing. By the way you read only half of my post because by accident I clicked to publish instead of save.
i think suicide would hurt. firstly because being emotionally 'scarred' enough to want to kill yourself would - i assume - hurt. and secondly, whatever you can do physically to kill yourself seems like it would hurt...
i don't want to go too in depth about it. lol.
Ok, I read your comment, no problem.
JONATHAN - that's such a cool name ^-^ It's so sad how awesome characters have unhappy endings :(
Hm... as for suicide... I hear that soon after you attempt it, you wish you would live past the experience. I think it's the dying part that hurts and not the actual "Oh, dead" bit. Of course, there are always those Silent Killers that take your life away without being so obvious and messy about it... but I would prefer a natural death to suicide.
Oh, and I'm glad I managed to draw you into the moment I was describing in "How do you do that!?!"! =D It's always a challenge, but it feels so much better when it's out and people let me know I have succeeded =]
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