2 Samuel 13:1

THE SWORD COMES TO DAVID'S HOUSE

Following David's adultery with Bathsheba and his wholesale murder of eighteen men including her husband Uriah, the prophet Nathan had warned David of God's punishments that would ensue, declaring that, "Therefore the sword shall never depart from your house" (2 Samuel 12:10). In this chapter, the sword of God's judgment fell upon David's first-born son and heir apparent to his throne.

AMNON'S SHAMEFUL LUST FOR HIS HALF-SISTER

"Now Absalom, David's son, had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar; and after a time Amnon, David's son, loved her. And Amnon was so tormented that he made himself because of his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her. But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother; and Jonadab was a very crafty man. And he said to him, "O, son of the king, why are you so haggard morning after morning? Will you not tell me"? Amnon said to him, "I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister." Jonadab said to him, "Lie down on your bed and pretend to be and when your father comes to see you, say to him, `Let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and prepare food in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it from her hand.'" So Amnon lay down and pretended to be and when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, `Pray let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.'"

"Absalom ... had a beautiful sister ... Tamar" (2 Samuel 13:1). Both Absalom and Tamar were David's children by his wife Maacah the daughter of King Talmai of Gesher whom David married during his reign in Hebron. Both Absalom and Tamar were noted for their beauty. "David himself was known for his handsome appearance; and Absalom sheared his head yearly and weighed the hair."[1] Absalom seems to have been inordinately proud of his hair, which ironically gave Joab his opportunity to kill him. The name Tamar means "palm tree,"[2]

"Amnon, David's son, loved her" (2 Samuel 13:1). Amnon, David's firstborn son was the child of Ahinoam a woman of Jezreel whom David married while he was still a fugitive from Saul. She, along with Abigail the widow of Nabal, was captured by the Ammonites while David was still at Ziklag, but was promptly rescued by David. Amnon was the heir-apparent to David's throne (2 Samuel 3:2).

"Loved her" (Tamar) (2 Samuel 13:1). This is an unfortunate translation, because Amnon in no sense whatever actually loved Tamar. He simply allowed himself to be consumed with a savage animal lust after her beautiful body. Furthermore, his "friend" Jonadab fully understood this for what it was and proposed to Amnon the ruse by which he would have the opportunity to rape her.

As Payne quite properly observed, the entire episode of Absalom's rebellion against David began, "With the same sins which David had committed, namely, adultery leading to murder."[3] That a son of David should have been so wicked as Amnon appears in this passage is actually no surprise; because, as Matthew Henry said, "Grace does not run in the blood but corruption does"![4] None of David's children followed him in his devotion to God; but they followed him in his shameful sins and even went far beyond them.

"Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab" (2 Samuel 13:3). We learn from 1Chr. 2:13,1 Samuel 16:9; 17:13 that Jonadab was the son of David's brother Shimeah (or Shimea, or Shammah), making him a cousin of Amnon. In the real sense, he was no `friend' whatever of Amnon, because his advice led to Amnon's rape of his half sister and his murder by Absalom.

"Jonadab was a very crafty man" (2 Samuel 13:3). Although the word "crafty" "is not used here in a bad sense,"[5] Jonadab's cleverness was here prostituted to a very evil purpose. There is no doubt whatever that Jonadab fully understood what the purpose of Amnon was and that by the clever device which he proposed he himself became an accessory before the fact in the rape of Tamar. The picture that emerges here is that both Amnon and his `friend' Jonadab were partners in very evil lives.

"Pray let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it from her hand." (2 Samuel 13:6). Amnon lost no time in acting upon Jonadab's evil suggestion and made this request when David came to visit his "sick" son. It must not be thought for a moment that Amnon was Jonadab's instructions were that he should, "pretend to be (2 Samuel 13:5)." Something of the arrangement of the various living quarters in the king's palace appears here. "The king's children lived in different houses; probably each of the king's wives lived with her children in one particular compartment of the palace."[6]