In the previous chapter we read about God’s judgment on David and his household because of his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah her husband, 2 Samuel 12:7-12, in this chapter we will see God’s judgment having an immediate happening. Because David had so many wives, he is now going to reap what he sowed, Galatians 6:7-8, because he had children with different his other wives.
When David was on the run from Saul, he married Maacah and they had two sons together, Absalom and Amnon, 2 Samuel 3:2-3. Because Amnon was the half-brother of Tamar, he wouldn’t be allowed to marry her because the law said he couldn’t, Leviticus 18:9.
Ammon loved Tamar and knows he shouldn’t marry her but Jonadab, his cousin, gives him some advice, he tells him to pretend to be ill, this way Tamar would come to him, especially since David would ask her to go to him.
David informs Tamar that Ammon is ill and tells her to go to him. she makes bread but he refuses to eat and after asking everyone to leave, Tamar enters his bedroom and he grabbed her and tells her to come to bed with him. Tamara immediately knows what he’s trying to do and refuses because she knows it’s immoral and she knows that the practising incest was against God’s law, Leviticus 18:11.
Although Tamar is thinking about God and his laws, Ammon is being completely selfish, all he wanted was his sexual desires to be fulfilled, he didn’t stop to think of the consequences this act would have on his half-sister. His desire to fulfil his own selfish needs was so great, that he refused to listen to anything she said and went on to rape her, which is the lowest of lows for any man to do.
Interestingly, one minute Ammon loved his half-sister, 2 Samuel 13:1, and the next minute he intensely hates her. The true nature of Ammon’s so-called love for Tamar is shown here, he hated her and treated her badly, and he refuses to listen to her. This was all about him because if he truly did love her, he would have listened to her and never committed such a vile act against her and treated her the way he did, Deuteronomy 22:27.
Tamar wore an ornate robe, Genesis 37:3, which means she was high ranking as a virgin daughter of the king.
It’s in these verses we see the effect of Ammon’s sin against Tamar, she put ashes on her head and tore the ornate robe she was wearing. This shows us how sorrowful she is, she is expressing her complete humiliation, she’s overwhelmed with what’s happened to her and can’t control her emotions.
When her brother Absalom meets her, it appears that he knows what’s happened to her but he doesn’t help the situation because he more or less tells her to forget about it and so she goes to live in Absalom’s house as a desolate woman. This is tragic, the tragic effect that rape had on this innocent woman.
When David got news about what happened, he was furious but notice he did nothing about it. We don’t know why he didn’t do anything, maybe he remembered his own sinful actions with Uriah, 2 Samuel 11:14-17, maybe he couldn’t bring himself to have his son, Ammon punished, which meant death, Numbers 35:30-31.
One thing is clear because David did nothing about Ammon’s behaviour, his sorrow over this wasn’t going to end well, it was going to lead to more sorrow as Absalom was going to take revenge on Ammon for what he did to his Tamar, his sister.
We can imagine throughout those two years that Ammon, would have had his suspicions about what Absalom was thinking because of what Ammon did to Absalom’s sister, Tamar. Absalom has been very patient, he’s waited two years for an opportunity to get his revenge, 2 Samuel 13:22.
A festival was planned and Absalom knows that Ammon would be very apprehensive about attending, so he intentionally also invites David, knowing that David wouldn’t leave Jerusalem to attend the festival. His plan worked because Ammon believed that David was also going to be at the festival, he decides it would be safe for him to go.
As the party is in full swing and people were drinking wine, notice that Absalom himself didn’t murder Ammon, but he ordered his men to do it for him. Absalom was the next oldest son of David, and because Ammon was now dead, this put him first in line to be king after David. It’s clear that Absalom’s murder of Amnon not only satisfied his revenge, but also set him up to be the next king of Israel.
When word God back to David about how his son Ammon was murdered, I’m sure he would have remembered Nathan’s word to him, 2 Samuel 12:10, and I’m sure he would have remembered his orders to have Uriah murdered, 2 Samuel 11:14-17.
Notice that Absalom fled and went to Talmai, the king of Gusher, who was the grandfather of Absalom, 2 Samuel 3:3, we can imagine how welcome he would have been and how the king would have approved of everything Absalom had done.
Geshur was north of Jerusalem in Syria and it was here that Absalom waited until the time when David would be comforted concerning his act of revenge against Amnon.
Notice also that David mourned thinking that all of his sons were dead and he mourned over Absalom, but he quickly forgave him, this is possibly because he understood that his son, Ammon deserved to die. Uriah should never have been murdered because he was innocent, whereas Ammon did deserve to die because of his actions with Tamar, 2 Samuel 13:14.
This was the beginning of God’s judgement against David and his household and things were only going to get worse as time goes on.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."