Friendship is so attractive in its offer of happy companionship to individuals of like tastes, pursuits, and aspirations that there can be few indeed who have not at some time awakened and responded to its warm appeal.
A dictionary defines "friend" as "one who entertains for another such sentiments as esteem, respect, and affection, that he seeks his society and welfare." In Proverbs we read, "A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity," and, "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."
Among the Bible records of friendship, perhaps the best known is that classic portrayal in I Samuel wherein it is written, "The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." Many may also remember the attachment of Ruth for her mother-in-law, Naomi, as expressed in the moving words, "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."
