GIONATA (Hebrew Jónáthán, “Jahweh has given”). — The eldest son of Saul (see), one of the richest and most attractive figures in the Bible. He was perhaps twenty years old when he first appeared beside his father, who had probably been reigning for fifteen years. The Israelites sought to throw off the Philistine yoke, and it was GIONATA who, by killing a Philistine garrison commander, gave the signal for revolt (1 Sam 13). Immediately afterward, accompanied only by his armor-bearer, he attacked another Philistine garrison, scaling impossible cliffs: an exploit that led to a dazzling Israelite victory (1 Sam 14). Slightly older than David, as soon as he met him after the duel with Goliath (see) (that same year), he loved him as his own soul. Even when he learned that David, not he, would be king of Israel, he continued to love and defend him against his father, despite incurring Saul’s wrath and insults (1 Sam 18–20; 23:15–18). He died bravely beside Saul on Mount Gilboa, fighting against the Philistines.
David mourned him in a famous elegy, “the bow of GIONATA that never turned back,” his anguish for “brother GIONATA,” who was “dear to him beyond measure,” whose love was “more precious to him than the love of a woman” (2 Sam 1:19–27). At his death GIONATA left a five-year-old son, Miphibosheth (see), whom David later made his perpetual guest at table in memory of his friend (2 Sam 9).
Other biblical figures: see JONATHAN.