Just Good Friends: Soulmates

Godly friends

Here I want to look at David and Jonathan. Out of all the relationships that are shown in the Bible, they seem to be the closest friends. The others that I considered include Jesus with his disciples - but Jesus is a special case!

The qualities of a good friend

Derek Kidner in his commentary on Proverbs identifies four characteristics of the good friend as found in that book:

Constancy. Not a fair-weather friend. It’s about ‘giving and giving’ as well. Not just friend with someone for what they can give you. (I can develop this with reference to the covenant that David and Jonathan make to each other).

Candour. Prov 27:6 - faithful are the wounds of a friend.

Counsel - Jonathan strengthened David’s hand in the Lord, in 1 Sam 23:16 when David was at a low point. But also sometimes the alternative point of view, a clash of personalities. Prov 27:17 Iron sharpening iron (more on this?)

Tact - respect for another’s feelings and a refusal to trade on your affection. E.g. outstaying your welcome, forcing your friendship on someone, giving bad advice (e.g. Job’s counsellors, but summed up in Prov 25:20) taking a joke too far etc.