Jonathan

Jonathan is a biblical figure presented in the Books of Samuel as a son of Saul, the first king of Israel, and as a warrior and close companion of David. The narratives introduce him fighting the Philistines and depict him as brave, loyal and capable of independent judgement. Although he is Saul’s heir, Jonathan forms a covenant with David and repeatedly protects him when Saul comes to regard David as a threat to his dynasty.

Jonathan remains loyal to his father while refusing to participate in Saul’s attempts to kill David, creating one of the Hebrew Bible’s most sustained conflicts between family duty, friendship and political succession. He dies with Saul and his brothers during the Philistine victory at Mount Gilboa. David’s lament for Saul and Jonathan gives the relationship its most famous literary expression. The narrative is foundational to later traditions, but Jonathan cannot be assigned independently verified exact dates from the surviving evidence.

Geraldine Brooks’ The Secret Chord is the linked novel in which Jonathan appears. By retelling David’s rise through the voices of people around him, the novel uses Jonathan’s military role, his loyalty to Saul and his bond with David to dramatise the personal cost of dynastic conflict and the transition from Saul’s kingship to David’s rule.