1 Samuel 18:1

the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David The same expressive phrase is used of Jacob's love for Benjamin in Genesis 44:30, which might be rendered "seeing his soul is knit up with the lad's soul."

loved him as his own soul Cp. 1 Samuel 20:17; Deu 13:6; 2 Samuel 1:26. Thus commenced that attachment "which is the first Biblical instance of a romantic friendship, such as was common afterwards in Greece, and has been since in Christendom; and is remarkable, both as giving its sanction to these, and as filled with a pathos of its own, which has been imitated but never surpassed, in modern works of fiction. Each found in each the affection that he found not in his own family." Dean Stanley in Dict. of Bible, I. 1122. Theseus and Peirithous; Achilles and Patroclus; Orestes and Pylades; Damon and Pythias; Epaminondas and Pelopidas; are the most familiar instances in classical literature.