Verse 30
THE EXAGGERATED REPORT OF THE MURDER
"While they were on the way, tidings came to David, "Absalom has slain all the king's sons, and not one of them is left." Then the king arose, and rent his garments and lay on the earth; and all his servants who were standing by rent their garments. But Jonadab the son of Shemeah, David's brother, said, "Let not my lord suppose that they have killed all the young men the king's sons, for Amnon alone is dead, for by the command of Absalom this has been determined from the day he forced his sister Tamar. Now therefore let not my lord the king so take it to heart as to suppose that all the king's sons are dead; for Amnon alone is dead."
The amazing thing in this passage is that Jonadab should have had this information in advance of the event. Was he a collaborator with Absalom in the murder? How did he know? Or, was it merely a shrewd guess? "Jonadab does not seem to speak from conjecture; he is much too sure of what he says."[26]
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