Amnon and Tamar
After some time, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s son Absalom. 1Ch 3:92Sa 3:2-31Ch 3:22Sa 13:152Sa 14:271Ki 11:12Sa 11:2Gen 29:18 Amnon was sick with frustration over his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed implausible for him to do anything to her. 1Ki 21:42Co 7:10Sng 5:8
Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah. 1 Jonadab was a very shrewd man, 1Sa 16:91Co 3:192Sa 13:322Sa 14:19-202Sa 14:2Est 5:10Est 5:14Est 6:13 so he asked Amnon, “Why are you, the son of the king, so depressed morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?” Est 5:13-14Isa 3:9Jer 8:12Lev 18:9Lev 20:17Luk 12:32Mic 7:31Ki 21:7
Amnon replied, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”
Jonadab told him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend you are ill. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare it in my sight so I may watch her and eat it from her hand.’” Mrk 6:24-252Sa 16:21Act 23:15Pro 19:27Psa 50:18-19
So Amnon lay down and feigned illness. When the king came to see him, Amnon said, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight, so that I may eat from her hand.” Gen 18:6Mat 13:33
Then David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare a meal for him.”
So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked them. Then she brought the pan and set it down before him, but he refused to eat. “Send everyone away!” said Amnon. And everyone went out. Gen 45:1Jdg 3:19Jhn 3:20
Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom, so that I may eat it from your hand.”
Tamar took the cakes she had made and went to her brother Amnon’s bedroom. And when she had brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said, “Come lie with me, my sister!” Gen 39:11-12
“No, my brother!” she cried. “Do not humiliate me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing! Jdg 19:23Jdg 20:6Lev 20:17Gen 34:7Lev 18:11Lev 18:9Deu 22:29Gen 34:2 Where could I ever take my shame? And you would be like one of the fools in Israel! Please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.” Gen 19:8Gen 20:12Jdg 19:24
But Amnon refused to listen to her, and being stronger, he violated her and lay with her. 2Sa 12:11Deu 22:25-27Est 7:8Jdg 20:5
Then Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that his hatred was greater than the love he previously had. “Get up!” he said to her. “Be gone!” Ezk 23:17
“No,” she replied, “sending me away is worse than this great wrong you have already done to me!”
But he refused to listen to her. Instead, he called to his attendant and said, “Throw this woman out and bolt the door behind her!”
So Amnon’s attendant threw her out and bolted the door behind her. Now Tamar was wearing a robe of many colors, 2 because this is what the king’s virgin daughters wore. Gen 37:3Jdg 5:30Gen 37:23Gen 37:32Psa 45:13-14 And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her robe. And putting her hand on her head, she went away crying bitterly. Jer 2:37Jos 7:62Sa 1:112Sa 1:21Sa 4:12Est 4:1Job 2:12Job 42:6
Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has your brother Amnon been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister. He is your brother. Do not take this thing to heart.” Rom 12:19Gen 34:2Gen 46:15Pro 26:24
So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in the house of her brother Absalom.
When King David heard all this, he was furious. 3 Gen 34:71Sa 2:22-251Sa 2:292Sa 12:102Sa 12:52Sa 3:28-29Psa 101:8 And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon for disgracing his sister Tamar. Gen 31:24Lev 19:17-181Jn 2:111Jn 3:15Gen 24:501Jn 2:9Ecc 7:9Eph 4:26
Absalom’s Revenge on Amnon
Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, he invited all the sons of the king. 1Sa 25:4Gen 38:12-131Ki 1:191Ki 1:251Ki 1:91Sa 25:21Sa 25:361Sa 25:7 And he went to the king and said, “Your servant has just hired shearers. Will the king and his servants please come with me?” 2Sa 11:8-15Jer 41:6-7Psa 12:2Psa 55:21
“No, my son,” the king replied, “we should not all go, or we would be a burden to you.” Although Absalom urged him, he was not willing to go, but gave him his blessing. 2Sa 14:22Act 16:15Gen 19:2-3Jdg 19:7-10Luk 14:23Luk 24:29Rut 2:4
“If not,” said Absalom, “please let my brother Amnon go with us.” 2Sa 11:13-152Sa 20:92Sa 3:27Psa 55:21
“Why should he go with you?” the king asked.
But Absalom urged him, so the king sent Amnon and the rest of his sons. 4 Pro 26:24-26
Now Absalom had ordered his young men, “Watch Amnon until his heart is merry with wine, and when I order you to strike Amnon down, you are to kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you? Be courageous and valiant!” Jdg 19:6Jdg 19:22Jdg 19:91Sa 25:36-38Nam 1:10Rut 3:71Ki 20:161Sa 22:17-18
So Absalom’s young men did to Amnon just as Absalom had ordered. Then all the other sons of the king got up, and each one fled on his mule. 1Ki 1:332Sa 18:91Ki 21:11-131Sa 22:18-192Ki 1:9-12Gen 36:24Lev 19:19Mic 7:3
While they were on the way, a report reached David: “Absalom has struck down all the sons of the king; not one of them is left!”
Then the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground; and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn. 2Sa 1:112Sa 12:162Sa 3:31Gen 37:29Gen 37:34Job 1:20Jos 7:6
But Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, spoke up: “My lord must not think they have killed all the sons of the king, for only Amnon is dead. In fact, Absalom has planned this since the day Amnon violated his sister Tamar. 1Sa 16:92Sa 13:3Gen 27:41Pro 24:11-12Psa 7:14 So now, my lord the king, do not take to heart the report that all the sons of the king are dead. Only Amnon is dead.” 2Sa 19:19
Absalom Flees to Geshur
Meanwhile, Absalom had fled. When the young man standing watch looked up, he saw many people coming down the road west of him, 5 along the side of the hill. And the watchman went and reported to the king, “I see men coming from the direction of Horonaim, along the side of the hill.” 6 2Sa 13:37-38Amo 5:19Gen 4:8-14Pro 28:17
So Jonadab said to the king, “Look, the sons of the king have arrived! It is just as your servant said.”
And as he finished speaking, the sons of the king came in, wailing loudly. Then the king and all his servants also wept very bitterly. 2Sa 12:212Sa 13:152Sa 18:33
Now Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But David mourned for his son every day. 2Sa 3:32Sa 14:231Ch 3:22Sa 13:342Sa 14:32
After Absalom had fled and gone to Geshur, he stayed there three years. 2Sa 14:232Sa 14:322Sa 15:8 And King David 7longed to go to Absalom, 8 for he had been consoled over Amnon’s death. Gen 24:67Gen 37:35Gen 38:122Sa 12:19-23Deu 28:32Gen 31:30Php 2:26Psa 119:20