Father Mike Schmitz hosts this Bible in a Year podcast episode, reading 1 Samuel chapter 20 about the friendship between David and Jonathan, along with Psalm 142. He serves as a Catholic priest and uses the Revised Standard Version 2nd Catholic Edition with the Great Adventure Bible timeline.

The episode explores the profound friendship between David and Jonathan through the lens of C.S. Lewis's four types of love from The Four Loves. Father Schmitz distinguishes between storge (affection), eros (romantic desire), philia (virtuous friendship), and agape (divine love), emphasizing how David and Jonathan's bond represents the rare and precious nature of true friendship that transcends romantic love in depth and permanence.

David and Jonathan's Sacred Covenant of Friendship

David flees to Jonathan after escaping Saul's murderous intent, saying 'there is but a step between me and death' - Jonathan immediately pledges 'Whatever you say, I will do for you'

They devise an elaborate signal system with arrows to communicate Saul's intentions, with Jonathan promising to warn David of danger even at personal cost

Jonathan makes David swear loyalty 'by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul' - establishing a covenant that extends to their descendants forever

When Saul throws a spear at Jonathan for defending David, Jonathan 'rose from the table in fierce anger' and chooses friendship over family loyalty

The Four Loves Framework from C.S. Lewis

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis distinguishes storge (affection) as the foundational love everyone experiences - 'like the bed of rice' that underlies other loves

Eros (desire) can move people 'either to give themselves or to take' and while powerful, is 'fickle' and 'pretty cheap' because it can disappear as quickly as it arrives

Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream illustrate eros's instability - Romeo begins 'head over heels in love' with Rosalind before transferring to Juliet

Philia (friendship) represents 'virtuous friendship pursuing something even bigger than the individual' and 'happens maybe once or twice in a person's life, if ever'

Why Friendship Love Surpasses Romantic Love

Married couples 'almost always end up saying I married my best friend' because they recognize friendship's depth beyond romantic attraction

David and Jonathan exemplify philia through their 'pursuit of glory for God' and 'doing great things in the name of the Lord' - united in virtue rather than personal desire

True friendship connects to agape (divine love) as seen in Jesus who 'loves us to the point of death, calls us his friends, and gives us his spirit'

The weeping farewell between David and Jonathan represents 'this kind of love' that 'very few of us can really understand' in its depth and permanence