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. Over a period of time, David’s son, Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s other son, Absalom, 2 Samuel 13:1. Amnon becomes so obsessed with his sister Tamar that he made himself ill and because she was a virgin, it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her, 2 Samuel 13:2.
Delaney, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It has been well remarked that ‘the passion of love is nowhere so wasting and vexatious, as where it is unlawful. A quick sense of guilt, especially where it is enormous, as in the present instance, strikes the soul with horror; and the impossibility of an innocent gratification loads that horror with desperation, a conflict too cruel and too dreadful for human bearing.’
Amnon goes to his adviser named Jonadab son of Shimeah, who was David’s brother and we are told that Jonadab was a very shrewd man, 2 Samuel 13:3. He asks Amnon, why do you, the king’s son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won’t you tell me? And Amnon tells him, he’s in love with Tamar, his brother Absalom’s sister, 2 Samuel 13:4.
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, 2 Samuel 13:5. And so, Ammon took his advice and did just that, 2 Samuel 13:6.
David now sent word to Tamar and tells her to go to Ammon and prepare some food for him, 2 Samuel 13:7. Tamar goes to Amnon, who was lying down and she makes some bread in front of him, 2 Samuel 13:8. She then takes a pan and served Amnon the bread, but he refused to eat but he demands that everyone else leaves the room, 2 Samuel 13:9.
Tamar enters his bedroom and he grabbed her and tells her to come to bed with him, 2 Samuel 13:10-11. Tamara immediately knows what he’s trying to do and refuses because she knows it’s immoral, Genesis 34:7, and she knows that the practising incest was against God’s law, 2 Samuel 13:12-13 / Leviticus 18:11. She even begs Ammon to speak to David, suggesting that David would allow the marriage, 2 Samuel 13:13.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘So it appears that she thought that the king, her father, would give her to him as wife. This is another strong mark of indelicacy in those simple but barbarous times. There might have been some excuse for such connections under the patriarchal age, but there was none now. But perhaps she said this only to divert him from his iniquitous purpose, that she might get out of his hands.’
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 / Deuteronomy 17:17. 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, 2 Samuel 13:14, 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, 2 Samuel 13:15. Tamar tells him that sending her away would be a greater wrong than what he has already done to her, 2 Samuel 13:16. 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, 2 Samuel 13:16. 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.
Now he asks his servants to remove ‘this woman’ from his presence and bolt the door when she’s out, 2 Samuel 13:17. Notice that Tamar wore an ornate robe, 2 Samuel 13:18 / 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, 2 Samuel 13:19. 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, 2 Samuel 13:19.
When her brother Absalom meets her, it appears that he knows what’s happened to her but he doesn’t help the situation. He more or less tells her to forget about it and so she goes to live in Absalom’s house as a desolate woman, 2 Samuel 13:20. This is tragic, the tragic effect that rape had on this innocent woman.
When David got news about what happened, he was furious, 2 Samuel 13:21, 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.
Notice also that Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad but he hated Amnon because he had disgraced his sister Tamar, 2 Samuel 13:22. 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, 2 Samuel 13:23, 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.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Sheepshearing was always a time of feasting.’
A festival was planned and Absalom knows that Ammon would be very apprehensive about attending, so he intentionally also invites David, 2 Samuel 13:23-24, 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, 2 Samuel 13:25-27.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘He urged this with the more plausibility, because Amnon was the first-born, and presumptive heir to the kingdom and he had disguised his resentment so well before, that he was not suspected.’
As the party is in full swing and people were drinking wine, 2 Samuel 13:28, notice that Absalom himself didn’t murder Ammon, but he ordered his men to do it for him2 Samuel 13:28-29. 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, 2 Samuel 13:30, 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 David’s reaction, he stands up, tears his clothes, and lay down on the ground and all his attendants stood by with their clothes torn, 2 Samuel 12:31.
Jonadab, David’s brother David that he shouldn’t think that they killed all the princes, only Amnon is dead, 2 Samuel 12:32. He also says that this has been Absalom’s express intention ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar, 2 Samuel 12:32. He goes on and repeats what he just said about the kings sons and Ammon, 2 Samuel 12:33. While Absalom fled, a watchman spots the king’s sons coming towards them, 2 Samuel 12:34.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The watchman, as his duty was, had sent immediate notice to the king that he saw a crowd approaching, 2 Kings 9:17-20. Jonadab, who was with the king, was prompt to give the explanation.’
Jonadab tells him that he was right about what he said about them, 2 Samuel 12:35. When he finished speaking, the king’s sons came in, wailing loudly, even the David and all his attendants wept very bitterly, 2 Samuel 12:36. Absalom fled and went to Talmai, the king of Gusher, 2 Samuel 12:37, 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.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘As he had committed wilful murder, he could not avail himself of a city of refuge, and was therefore obliged to leave the land of Israel, and take refuge with Talmai, king of Geshur, his grandfather by his mother’s side, 2 Samuel 3:3.’
Notice also that David mourned thinking that all of his sons were dead and he mourned over Absalom, 2 Samuel 12:37-38, but he quickly forgave him, 2 Samuel 12:39. 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.
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, 2 Samuel 12:39. 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.