And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David having a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar, Amnon the son of David loved her.
Nathan had told David that the sword would never leave his house. Chapter 13 is where that word starts to come true — not on a battlefield, but inside David's own family. Verse 1 sets three of his children side by side and calls what Amnon felt "love." Everything ugly that follows grows out of that one word.
David had confessed his sin, and God had forgiven him. Forgiveness did not cancel the consequences.
God has restored David's soul, cleansed his conscience and humbled his heart. Even so, the ways God governs him must still run their course. What Nathan had foretold must all come true, without fail: "The sword shall never depart from your house… I will raise up evil against you out of your own house… I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun." David will go through this necessary discipline with a broken heart.
The verse names both brothers. Each name has a meaning, and neither man lives up to his.
The mockery in their names sums the whole thing up and announces it to everyone: Amnon, the "faithful one," breaking all faith; Absalom, the "father of peace," the murderer of his brother! What different hopes there were when those names were given long ago!
The same writer notes that David is caught between them, feeling the wound from both sides: "Two of his sons are reciprocally the injured and the injurer, and David is made to feel the pain on each side."
The verse says Amnon loved Tamar. What he does next shows what that love was worth.
Amnon was guilty of the cruel rape of Tamar. That proved his claim to love her completely false, for he turned against her with vicious hatred. This is what often happens when infatuation drives a man. He knew he had done evil, and the one he had wronged is the one who becomes the object of his worst hatred. From then on, every time he saw her, his conscience would burn.
Readers often wonder why a story this ugly belongs in the Bible at all.
The incident recorded in this chapter is loathsome. It was infamy in Israel. God's Word tells it because it is "the truth." It shows man as he is, in all his ugliness, so that we may hate his corruption. Two of David's sons, Amnon and Absalom, did these terrible acts of immorality and violence. Both were far from God, the one as much as the other.
Verse 1 names Absalom before any crime has happened. His anger did not cool with time.
Absalom was Tamar's brother, but we hear nothing about him until now. He appears at once as the crafty, strong-willed man whose heart and eye were full only of his own schemes. Amnon's wrong against his sister had lit a deadly fire in Absalom's heart, and two full years had no power to put it out. His crafty soul had to find the most satisfying way to pour out his rage on its victim. The fire burns as if it had been lit only yesterday, and his cunning finds a sure channel for it. It is all of Satan. The cunning of the serpent serves the fury of the lion, and Absalom plans the sheep-shearing feast so that he can shed Amnon's blood.
The sin in this chapter was not new in David's house.
What David had done to Bathsheba, Uriah's wife, his eldest son Amnon now does to Tamar, David's fair daughter. Sad, sad record… But did David realize that he himself had set the wicked example before his eldest son — the very sin that now angered and humiliated him?
That is the sober lesson — but it is not the last word:
But who can tell when the effect of one sin ceases?… Sin is alive and breeds, full of the seeds of a bitter harvest. Blessed be God that He has provided a remedy for sin!
- Sentence. God forgave David and restored his soul. The discipline Nathan announced still ran its course, and it began at home.
- Seed. The father's private sin comes back in the son, in public. David set the example that now angers and humiliates him.
- Sham. What verse 1 calls love was exposed as its opposite; the man who claimed it hated the woman he wronged.
- Shadow. Absalom is named before the crime happens. His two-year silence hid a fire that ended in his brother's blood.
- Stop. The names Amnon and Absalom mock what they were meant to mean. No one can tell where the effect of one sin stops — but God has provided a remedy for sin.
And Amnon was so vexed, that he fell sick for his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and it seemed difficult for Amnon to do the least thing to her.
Chapter 13 begins the long run of trouble God had announced over David's house. It opens with a young man feeding a desire he has no right to satisfy — a desire strong enough to make him ill, and held back only by an obstacle he thinks he cannot get past.
The passion David had once indulged now reappears in his eldest son. One writer ties this outbreak to the sentence God had passed on the family:
"Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house." This was the Lord's sentence and it is now carried out. The evil which he had nourished in his heart, the passion which he had fed, now breaks out in his own family. His oldest sons and Tamar, a daughter of David, half sister to Amnon, are the chief actors in the first tragedy... Brought up among scenes of loose living, as it must have been in David's household of many wives, the lust of the flesh gets the upper hand.
God had already restored David. That did not cancel what came next:
God restored David's soul, cleansed his conscience and humbled his heart. Even so, the ways of God's government toward him must still run their course.
Amnon did not stumble into this. He fed the thought until it took over his body, and he knew all along what he was doing:
David did not have to wait long. The sad results of his sin, under God's government, began to show in his own family. His son Amnon was so drawn by the beauty of his half sister Tamar that he made himself sick dwelling on thoughts of her, though he knew well that his lust was wrong.
She was out of reach, and that was what tormented him. One writer argues the barrier itself pulled him on:
The fence around what he wanted was low enough to jump, and that may have encouraged him. A rule broken through has a charm of its own — "the fleeting pleasures of sin": "Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol."
David's own sin came back to him, split between two of his sons — and their names turned into an accusation:
With David himself the outbreak of lust, permitted in clear violation of the law of God, had led to murder... The repayment now follows. Drop a stone into calm water and the ring spreads wider but grows lower. So the lust and the murder are now on different sides, yet both inside the appointed circle of his own house. Two of his sons are in turn the injured and the injurer, and David feels the pain on each side... The mockery of their names gives meaning to the whole, and proclaims it to all: Amnon, the "faithful," breaking all faith; Absalom, the "father of peace," the slaughterer of his brother!
Amnon had watched his father sin and had seen no immediate penalty. He drew a conclusion, and it was the wrong one:
Sin gathers its arguments at will, and refuses whatever does not serve its purpose. Sin is the height of unreason, yet it finds its reason in what the will wants... Amnon only saw that his father had sinned and had not suffered for it. He could not know that his own vices would be the whip that punished his father's sins.
The obstacle in this verse did not hold. A cousin was on hand to push him past it:
These terrible acts of immorality and violence are the doings of two of David's sons, Amnon and Absalom, who are far from God, the one as much as the other. A friend named Jonadab, who is a cousin and a counselor, is there on the scene urging Amnon onward in his muddy path; this same man later knows of Absalom's plot but does nothing to oppose it.
What Amnon felt passed for love. The rest of the chapter shows what it was worth:
Amnon was guilty of the cruel rape of Tamar. That proved his claimed love for her utterly false, because he turned against her with vicious hatred. This often happens when infatuation takes over. He knew he had done evil, and the one he had wronged becomes the object of his worst hatred.
- Sown — God had restored David, but the passion he once fed now broke out in his sons.
- Fed — Amnon made himself sick over thoughts he knew were wrong. The barrier around Tamar only added to the pull: "Stolen water is sweet."
- Excused — He saw only that his father had sinned and escaped. He never guessed that his own vices would punish his father's sin.
- Assisted — What seemed impossible did not stay impossible. His cousin Jonadab urged him on, and later knew of Absalom's plot and did nothing to stop it.
- Reaped — The love he claimed turned into vicious hatred, and the name Amnon, "faithful," ended as a mockery of the man who bore it.
And Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David's brother; and Jonadab was a very shrewd man.
Amnon's obsession with his half-sister would have stayed a private sickness if no one had shown him how to act on it. This verse introduces the man who did. He was a cousin and a friend, with a mind quick enough to turn a shameful wish into a plan.
The man who supplies the plan is not an outsider. He belongs to the royal family:
Son of Shimeah and nephew of David: he subtly led his cousin Amnon into sin.
Shimeah is one of David's own brothers, listed elsewhere under a different spelling:
Son of Jesse and brother of David. 1 Samuel 16:9; 1 Samuel 17:13. Called SHIMEAH in 2 Samuel 13:3; and SHIMMA in 1 Chronicles 2:13.
Scripture calls Jonadab crafty, and the next verses show what that craftiness produced. His intelligence was real; his moral sense was missing:
When his friend Jonadab asked what was making him ill, Amnon told him about his lustful thoughts. Jonadab had no sense of moral decency. He was crafty enough to suggest a dishonest way for Amnon to get his sister alone in his bedroom and force her. Amnon foolishly followed his advice, without thinking about what would probably follow. The deceit he used reminds us of the deceit of David in trying to cover his own sin.
Amnon had the desire. Jonadab had the method.
Names in this chapter work against the people who carry them. Jonadab's is a case in point:
Amnon, too, has his "subtle" adviser, Jonadab — a man with a beautiful name, "Jehovah freely gives," and a satanic spirit. Here names everywhere contradict the facts. David's own godliness, sadly stained by the flesh, seems to have worked to destroy godliness in others.
The prince's own name works the same way:
Amnon means "faithful." That is what he should have been, but he is the very opposite.
The verse calls Jonadab Amnon's friend. Everything he does afterwards empties the word out. He pushes Amnon forward, and when Amnon's life is in danger he says nothing:
Jonadab is a friend, a cousin and a counselor. He is there on the scene, pushing Amnon further along his filthy path (vv. 4-5). Later this same man knows about Absalom's plot, and does nothing to stop it (v. 32).
After Amnon's death, Jonadab's reaction shows what the friendship was worth:
Jonadab showed no sign of regret that he had influenced Amnon. He showed little sorrow at losing a man who was his friend. He seems to have known about Absalom's plan, so why did he not warn his friend Amnon?
None of this stands alone. God had already passed sentence on David for his own sin. This chapter begins to carry it out:
"Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house." This was the Lord's sentence and it is now carried out. The evil which he had nourished in his heart, the passion which he had fed now breaks out in his own family.
A father's example shaped the son who took Jonadab's advice:
Amnon would only see that his father had sinned and had not suffered for it. He could not know that his own vices were to be the whip that punished his father's sins. Those who reject God's wisdom must be blind in this way, and that blindness excuses no one.
The story is ugly. One writer explains why it stands in the Bible at all:
What this chapter records is disgusting. It was an outrage in Israel (vv. 12-13). God's Word tells it because it is "the truth." It shows man as he really is, in all his ugliness, so that we may hate his corruption.
The practical lesson is plain, and writers press it directly on anyone reading:
Select only decided Christians to be your friends. Be sure your companions are strongly on the Lord's side. A man is known by the company he keeps. Stay clear of people with loose opinions and lax morals. Your companions will influence you either for good or for evil.
- Friend — Jonadab urged Amnon on, kept quiet about the plot to kill him, and showed no regret afterwards.
- Access — Jonadab was family, the son of David's brother Shimeah. The ruin came from inside the household.
- Craft — He was clever enough to plan the trap, and had no moral decency to stop him. Amnon supplied the desire; Jonadab supplied the method.
- Name — His name means "Jehovah freely gives," but his spirit was satanic. In this chapter names contradict the people who carry them.
- Harvest — The passion David had fed in himself now broke out in his family. The Lord had said it: evil raised up out of his own house.
And he said to him, Why dost thou, the king's son, get thinner from morning to morning? Wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said to him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.
Amnon, David's firstborn, is wasting away. It is not illness. It is desire for his half-sister Tamar. The first person to notice is his cousin Jonadab, who asks why the king's son looks thinner each morning. The answer he gives, and the man he gives it to, decide everything that follows.
This scene does not stand alone. Nathan the prophet had told David what was coming, and here it begins.
David's soul is restored, his conscience is purified, and his heart is humbled. Despite this, the ways of God's government toward him must run their course. What Nathan had foretold must all be fulfilled without fail: "the sword shall never depart from your house … I will raise up evil against you out of your own house … I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun." David will go through this necessary discipline with a broken heart.
A son can see his father's sin and never see his father's repentance. One writer traces Amnon's ruin to that gap.
No doubt his father's sin worked on a man like Amnon, and worked without the check that his father's repentance might have put on it. Sin gathers its arguments at will, and refuses whatever does not serve its purpose. The natural man has no ability to weigh spiritual things, such as faith or repentance. Amnon would only see that his father had sinned and had not suffered. He could not know that his own vices were to be the scourge upon his father's sins. All this had worked together to make Amnon the coarse, sensual, cruel despot that he was — a figure that might well terrify the father of such a son, a father who had done so much to make him what he was.
Jonadab's question in this verse sounds like concern. What he does with the answer shows what he is.
When his friend Jonadab asked why he was unwell, Amnon confided in him about his lustful thoughts. Jonadab had no sense of moral decency. He was crafty enough to suggest a deceitful way for Amnon to get his sister alone in his bedroom and force her. Amnon foolishly followed his advice, without thinking of the likely consequences. The deceit he used reminds us of the deceit of David in trying to cover his own sin.
Why does the Bible record such an ugly story at all? One writer answers that, and follows Jonadab to the end of the chapter.
The incident recorded in this chapter is disgusting. God's Word relates it because it is "the truth" and shows man as he is in all his ugliness, so that we may hate his corruption. A friend named Jonadab, a cousin and a counselor, is there on the scene, urging Amnon on down his filthy path (vv. 4-5). This same man later knows of Absalom's plot and does nothing to oppose it (v. 32).
Even the names in this chapter say the opposite of what the people are.
Amnon, too, has his "crafty" adviser, Jonadab, with his beautiful name, "Jehovah freely gives," and his satanic spirit. Here the names stand against the facts everywhere. The godliness in David, stained, sadly, by the flesh, seems to have worked toward the loss of godliness in others.
Amnon calls it love. The chapter measures it by what came the moment he got what he wanted.
How short-lived and empty are the pleasures of sin! Your lips have barely touched the rim of the cup, and already you are tasting unbearable bitterness. "Then Amnon hated [Tamar] with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her" (v. 15). At once he loathes this poor unwilling victim of his shameful act. He judges everything except himself.
Older translations read "lean from day to day" where the ESV says "haggard." One writer turns Jonadab's question on believers today:
We are children of God, sons and heirs of glory. God has given us all the wealth of heaven, and blessing that it will take us all eternity to explore. Is it not possible, even so, that something is sapping the root of our spiritual health and making us lean?
- Harvest. Amnon's wasting is the first of the harvest Nathan foretold. The sword would not depart from David's house, and evil would rise out of it.
- Inheritance. Amnon saw his father's sin but never his father's repentance. A son can copy the fall and miss the sorrow that followed it.
- Counsel. A caring-sounding question turns the whole tragedy. Amnon told his desire to a crafty friend, and the friend supplied the plan.
- Names. Jonadab's name means "Jehovah freely gives," yet his spirit was satanic. In this chapter names say one thing and lives say another.
- Payment. What Amnon called love turned to hatred greater than the love had been. The cup of sin is bitter before the lips are dry.
And Jonadab said to him, Lay thee down on thy bed and feign thyself sick; and when thy father comes to see thee, say to him, I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come, and give me food, and dress the food in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it from her hand.
Jonadab turns Amnon's private lust into a plan: fake an illness, wait for the king's visit, then ask for Tamar. The verse shows how bad advice grips a willing heart, and how a family's kindness becomes the tool of a crime.
This chapter follows a warning. Commentators see the scene as the start of what God had already announced against David's house:
"Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house." This was the Lord's sentence, and it is now carried out. The evil which he had nourished in his heart, the passion which he had fed, now breaks out in his own family. His oldest sons and Tamar — a daughter of David and half sister to Amnon — are the chief actors in this first tragedy. Amnon means "faithful." That is what he should have been, but he is the very opposite. He was raised among scenes of loose living, as life in David's household of wives must have been. So the lust of the flesh gets the upper hand, and he commits the terrible deed — an outright breaking of the law (Lev. 20:17).
Amnon did not invent this scheme. A friend handed it to him — a friend whose name and whose spirit did not match:
Amnon, too, has his "crafty" adviser, Jonadab — a man with a beautiful name, "the Lord freely gives," and a satanic spirit. Here the names everywhere contradict the facts. David had piety, stained, sadly, by the flesh, and it seems to have led to a loss of piety in others.
Amnon confided in a friend. What came back was not sympathy but a method:
When a friend of his, Jonadab, asked about the cause of his illness, he confided in him about his lustful thoughts. Jonadab had no sense of moral decency. He was crafty enough to suggest a deceitful way for Amnon to get his sister alone into his bedroom and force her. Amnon foolishly followed his advice, not thinking of the probable consequences. The deceit he used reminds us of the deceit of David in trying to cover his own sin.
Jonadab appears again at the end of the chapter. What he fails to do there shows what his friendship was worth:
A friend named Jonadab, a cousin and a counselor, is there on the scene urging Amnon onward in his filthy path (vv. 4–5). This same man later knows of Absalom's plot but does nothing to oppose it (v. 32).
Amnon was ready for such advice. He had watched his father sin, and his father's repentance never put a check on him:
No one can doubt it: his father's sin worked on a man like Amnon, and his father's repentance put no check on it. Sin gathers its arguments as it pleases, and refuses whatever does not serve its purpose... Amnon would only see that his father had sinned and had not suffered. He could not know that his own vices would be the punishment on his father's sins.
The scheme depends on David. He must come, hear what Amnon asks, and agree to it. Two verses later he does:
Here in 2 Samuel 13 everything turns against David — his good intentions, and his wish for harmony among his children. Without knowing it he acts in a way contrary to what he should have done. So it is David in verse 7 who sends Tamar to Amnon's house... All this probably does not show a very clear spiritual judgment.
The plot succeeded, and what it produced was not satisfaction but revulsion:
How short-lived and empty are the pleasures of sin! Your lips have hardly touched the rim of the cup, and already you taste unbearable bitterness! "Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her" (v. 15). At once he loathes this poor unwilling victim of his shameful act. He judges everything except himself.
- Sentence. The scene is the opening of what God foretold over David's house — evil raised up from within his own family.
- Seedbed. Amnon saw his father's sin but never his repentance. He concluded that sin costs nothing.
- Scheme. Jonadab's name speaks of God's free giving. He gave no decency at all — only a crafty way to get Tamar alone.
- Snare. The plan needed David's kindness to work. It turned his wish for family harmony against him, and he never saw it.
- Sequel. The pleasure turned bitter at the first taste. Love collapsed into greater hatred, and the adviser who began it lifted no finger when the next crime came.
So Amnon lay down and feigned himself sick; and the king came to see him, and Amnon said to the king, I pray thee, let Tamar my sister come, and make a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.
Amnon fakes an illness, and what he asks for sounds harmless — a sister, a sickroom, food from a familiar hand. Behind that small family scene sits a planned crime, a cousin's advice, and the first fruit of David's own sin inside his household.
The pretended sickness is a piece of playacting designed to get Tamar alone. One writer shows who supplied the plan, and whose example it echoed:
When a friend of his, Jonadab, asked about the cause of his illness, he confided in him about his lustful thoughts. Jonadab had no sense of moral decency. He was so crafty that he suggested a deceitful way for Amnon to get his sister alone into his bedroom and force her. Amnon foolishly followed his advice, not thinking of the probable consequences. The deceit he used reminds us of the deceit of David in trying to cover his own sin.
The same writer sets it in a longer story:
David did not have to wait long to see the sad governmental results of his sin begin to show in his own family. His son Amnon was so attracted by the beauty of his half sister Tamar that he became sick as he dwelt on thoughts of her. Yet he knew well that his lust was improper.
The plan is not Amnon's own. It comes from Jonadab, his cousin and adviser. One commentator points to the gap between what his name means and what he is:
Amnon, too, has his "subtle" adviser, Jonadab, with his beautiful name, "Jehovah freely gives," and his satanic spirit. All through this story the names contradict the facts. David's own piety, sadly stained by the flesh, seems to have worked toward the loss of piety in others.
Another writer follows Jonadab to the end of the chapter. He pushes at the start and keeps quiet later:
A friend named Jonadab, a cousin and a counselor, is there on the scene, pushing Amnon further down his filthy path (vv. 4-5). This same man later knows of Absalom's plot, but does nothing to stop it (v. 32).
Amnon does not send for Tamar himself. He asks his father, and it works. What David means kindly becomes the very thing that wounds him:
Here in 2 Samuel 13 all David's good intentions and his desires for harmony among his children turn against him. Without realising it he acts in a way contrary to what he should have done. So it is David in verse 7 who sends Tamar to Amnon's house. Later, when Absalom's plans for murder have ripened, David at first tries to resist. He thinks that evil might come of it if he gives in to what his son asks. But in the end he gives in, and sends his other sons along to protect Amnon. All this probably does not show a very clear spiritual judgment.
Why did the desire grow strong enough to produce this elaborate lie? One commentator finds part of the answer in Amnon's upbringing and part in the attraction of the barrier itself:
He was the firstborn of a ruler with absolute power. That had no doubt helped to feed in him the growth of an unrestrained will. He also grew up in a household with many wives, and such a home loosens family ties. It could only encourage the wandering inclinations of a self-indulgent temper. The fence around the object of his pursuit might even encourage him, since it was not so high that it could not be jumped. A rule broken through has its own charm — "the fleeting pleasures of sin": "Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol."
One writer explains why such an ugly story belongs in Scripture at all, and how fast the promised pleasure turns bitter:
God's Word relates it because it is "the truth." It shows man as he is in all his ugliness, so that we may hate his corruption… How short-lived and empty are the pleasures of sin! Your lips are barely wet at the rim of the cup, and already you are tasting unbearable bitterness!
- Sown. David's own sin is the seed. The harvest starts inside his own family, with Amnon.
- Counselled. A clever relative hands Amnon the plan. His name speaks of God's free giving; his spirit serves the enemy.
- Staged. The fake illness copies the father's method: cover the sin instead of confessing it.
- Enlisted. Amnon turns his father's kindness into a tool. David himself sends Tamar to that house.
- Bitter. The cup promised sweetness and gave bitterness at once. Scripture tells it plainly, so that we may hate what sin really is.
And David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go, I pray thee, to thy brother Amnon's house, and dress him food.
David sends an ordinary message: a sister asked to cook for a sick brother. Yet it is the exact step Amnon's scheme needed. Commentators read this verse as the moment a father's own hand opens the door to the ruin of his house.
The order that moves Tamar comes from the king himself:
Here in 2 Samuel 13 all David's good intentions and his desires for harmony among his children turn against him. Without knowing it, he acts in a way contrary to what he should have done. So it is David in verse 7 who sends Tamar to Amnon's house. Later, when Absalom's plans for murder have ripened, David at first tries to resist. He thinks that if he gives in to his son's ask, evil might follow. But in the end he gives in, and sends his other sons along to protect Amnon. All this probably does not show a very clear spiritual judgment.
Amnon did not invent the plan. The sick-bed story, and the message that reached his father, came from a friend:
When a friend of his, Jonadab, asked about the cause of his illness, he confided in him about his lustful thoughts. Jonadab had no sense of moral decency. He was crafty enough to suggest a deceitful way for Amnon to get his sister alone into his bedroom and force her. Amnon foolishly followed his advice, not thinking of the probable consequences. The deceit he used reminds us of David's deceit in trying to cover his own sin.
The adviser's name carries its own irony:
Amnon, too, has his "subtle" adviser, Jonadab, whose beautiful name means "Jehovah freely gives," and whose spirit is satanic. Everywhere here names stand in opposition to things.
Another writer sets the whole chapter under words God had already spoken to David:
"Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house." This was the Lord's sentence, and it is now carried out. The evil he had nourished in his heart, the passion he had fed, now breaks out in his own family. Amnon means "faithful." That is what he should have been, but he is the very opposite. He was brought up among scenes of license, as it must have been in David's household. So the lust of the flesh gets the upper hand, and he commits the awful deed — a direct breaking of the law (Lev. 20:17).
Tamar goes where her father tells her to go, and the palace gives her no protection. One writer draws the line straight back to David:
Tamar flees across this scene to her refuge in her brother's house. Ashes are on her head and her robe of many colours is torn — a childlike figure of wronged innocence. A king's court is no refuge, no safeguard. The king may be angry, but it does no good: has he not himself brought in this shadow of wrong never put right, which now pursues him? Did he not work the first dishonour to his home, and dig through its wall with his own hands?
Scripture does not soften the account. It has a reason for telling such a story:
The incident recorded in this chapter is loathsome. It was an outrage in Israel (vv. 12-13). God's Word relates it because it is "the truth," and it shows man as he is in all his ugliness so that we may hate his corruption. These terrible acts of immorality and violence are the work of two of David's sons, Amnon and Absalom, who are both far from God. A friend named Jonadab, a cousin and a counsellor, is there on the scene urging Amnon onward in his filthy path (vv. 4-5). This same man later knows of Absalom's plot but does nothing to oppose it (v. 32).
One writer draws a wider lesson. A fall leaves its mark even on a soul that is restored:
When a believer falls by giving in to his own self-will, his soul — even though it is restored — loses a certain spiritual sharpness. Suppose he has come to despise fellowship with the Lord, or to think little of it. Then it takes him some time to recover the spiritual understanding that goes with that fellowship. It is as though the fall had brought with it a halt in spiritual growth.
- Sent. David himself is the one who sends Tamar to Amnon's house — the king's good intention becomes the scheme's final move.
- Scripted. Amnon acted on a plan from Jonadab, a crafty adviser whose name means "Jehovah freely gives" and whose spirit was satanic.
- Sown. God had said evil would rise out of David's own house. A king's court gave Tamar no safeguard — the first dishonour there was David's own.
- Shown. Scripture records the filth because it is the truth, so that we hate corruption instead of admiring it.
- Slowed. A restored soul can still lack its former sharpness — David is forgiven, yet no longer quick to see what he is walking into.
And Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house; and he had lain down. And she took flour and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes.
Tamar's baking looks like a kindness done for a sick brother, but Amnon's illness is a lie and the room is a trap. Why did a king's son plot this, who put the plan in his head, and how did their father come to send her there?
The chapter does not begin a new story. It carries out a sentence already passed on David for his own sin. Even the name of the son lying in that room testifies against him:
"Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house." This was the Lord's sentence, and it is now carried out. The evil he had nourished in his heart, the passion he had fed, now breaks out in his own family... Amnon means "faithful." That is what he should have been, but he is the very opposite. He grew up surrounded by loose living, as he must have done in David's household. There the lust of the flesh gets the upper hand, and he commits the awful deed — a clear breaking of the law (Lev. 20:17).
What made Amnon into this kind of man? One writer looks at his upbringing, and at the pull of a fence low enough to climb:
He was the first-born of a king with absolute power, and this had no doubt helped to feed in him the growth of unchecked self-will. At the same time a household of many wives loosened family ties, and could only encourage the wandering appetites of a self-indulgent nature. The very fence around what he was chasing may have encouraged him, since that fence was low enough to jump. A rule broken through has its own attraction: "the fleeting pleasures of sin." "Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol."
Amnon did not think this up alone. Someone in the family kept pushing him on, and stayed quiet later when another crime was planned:
A friend named Jonadab, a cousin and a counsellor, is there on the scene urging Amnon onward in his filthy path (vv. 4-5). Later this same man knows of Absalom's plot, but does nothing to oppose it (v. 32).
The advice began with a lie rather than with force, and the lie ran in the family:
Jonadab had no sense of moral decency. He was so crafty that he suggested a deceitful way for Amnon to get his sister alone into his bedroom and force her. Amnon foolishly followed his advice, not thinking of the likely consequences. The deceit he used reminds us of David's deceit in trying to cover his own sin.
Tamar came because her father sent her. What David meant for good served the evil instead:
Here in 2 Samuel 13 all David's good intentions and his desires for harmony among his children turn against him. Without knowing it, he acts in a way contrary to what he should have done. So it is David in verse 7 who sends Tamar to Amnon's house. Later, when Absalom's plans for murder have ripened, David at first tries to resist. He thinks that if he agrees to what his son asks, evil might follow. But he gives in at last, and sends his other sons along to protect Amnon. All this probably does not show a very clear spiritual judgment.
Tamar's careful baking bought her no kindness. What Amnon called love did not survive getting what it wanted:
Amnon was guilty of the cruel rape of Tamar. His claimed love for her proved completely false, for he turned against her with vicious hatred. This is what will often happen when infatuation leads someone. He knew he had done evil, and the one he had wronged becomes the object of his worst hatred. From then on, every time he saw her, his conscience would burn.
- Sown. This is the harvest of David's own sin. The evil God said would rise "out of your own house" now breaks out among his children.
- Fed. Amnon's desire grew in a household of loosened ties. The fence around what he wanted only drew him on: stolen bread is sweet, and the eater does not see where it ends.
- Counselled. The plan came from Jonadab, a cousin and adviser. He pushed Amnon along, and later kept silent about Absalom's plot too.
- Disguised. The plan worked by deceit before it worked by force — the same weapon David had used to cover his own sin.
- Reaped. Tamar walked in because her father sent her. Amnon's claimed love turned to hatred as soon as he got what he wanted, and then his conscience burned.
And she took the pan, and poured them out before him; but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, Put every man out from me. And they went out every man from him.
Verse 9 is the moment the trap closes. Tamar, Amnon's sister, has baked and served. He will not touch the food, and he orders every witness out of the room. The illness he faked to get her there has now served its purpose. Behind that closed door lie three questions. Who put this plan in his head? Why does sin want no witnesses? And why does the blow fall inside the king's own family?
The empty room was someone else's idea before it was Amnon's order. One writer names the man who pushed him on, and says why Scripture records a story this ugly at all.
The incident recorded in this chapter is disgusting. It was outrageous in Israel (vv. 12-13). God's Word relates it because it is "the truth" and shows man as he is in all his ugliness, so that we may hate his corruption. These terrible acts of immorality and violence are done by two of David's sons, Amnon and Absalom, who are both far from God. A friend named Jonadab, a cousin and a counsellor, is there on the scene urging Amnon on in his filthy path (vv. 4-5); this same man later knows of Absalom's plot and does nothing to stop it (v. 32).
Amnon had asked for this meal; he now pushes it aside. One commentator traces the trick back to the adviser who supplied it, and then to a deceit closer to home.
Jonadab had no sense of moral decency. He was crafty enough to suggest a deceitful way for Amnon to get his sister alone into his bedroom and force her. Amnon foolishly followed his advice, not thinking of the likely consequences. The deceit he used reminds us of the deceit of David in trying to cover his own sin.
Amnon wants the room empty. One writer sees the secrecy itself adding to the pleasure, and names where that pleasure ends.
The fence around the thing he wanted was not so high that it could not be jumped. It may even have encouraged him. A prohibition broken through has its own charm: "the pleasures of sin for a season"; "Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol."
One writer sets Amnon's name against the household he grew up in — and both against a sentence already spoken over David.
"Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house." This was the Lord's sentence, and it is now carried out. The evil David had nourished in his heart, the passion he had fed, now breaks out in his own family... Amnon means "faithful." That is what he should have been, but he is the very opposite. He was brought up among scenes of loose living, as it must have been in David's household of many wives. So the lust of the flesh gets the upper hand, and he commits the terrible deed — a clear breaking of the law (Lev. 20:17).
David sent Tamar to that house himself. Another writer hears in the whole episode a voice aimed straight at David.
The sin of Amnon and the sorrows of Tamar had their purpose. God's grace could well have used them to keep poor David in fresh memory of his own sin and sorrow. It was a voice "in his own house" that must have spoken like thunder to him. Blood and uncleanness were staining his own children under his own eye.
One writer weighs how long the pleasure of this sin lasted, and what replaced it.
How short-lived and empty are the pleasures of sin! Your lips have barely touched the rim of the cup and already you are tasting unbearable bitterness! "Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her" (v. 15). Straight away he loathes this poor unwilling victim of his shameful act. He judges everything except himself.
- Counsel. The plan that empties this room came from Jonadab. He urged Amnon on, and later knew of Absalom's revenge and warned no one.
- Concealment. Refusing the food he asked for completes a lie that began with a fake illness. His father had used the same cover-up instinct.
- Closed door. A forbidden thing has its own pull. Stolen water tastes sweet and secret bread seems pleasant — but the dead are already there.
- Character. Named "faithful," Amnon proved the opposite. A house of many wives and loose living let the flesh take charge.
- Consequence. The first sip is already bitter. Love flips to hatred, and inside his own house David hears the thunder of his own sin.
And Amnon said to Tamar, Bring the dish into the chamber, that I may eat of thy hand. And Tamar took the cakes that she had made, and brought them into the chamber to Amnon her brother.
Amnon has faked an illness, watched his sister Tamar cook for him, and sent everyone else out. Now he calls her into his private room to feed him by hand, and the trap closes inside the house of Israel's king.
What happens in this room works out words God had already sent David through the prophet Nathan.
David's soul is restored, his conscience is purified, and his heart is humbled. Even so, the ways of God's government toward him must run their course. Nathan had foretold this: "The sword shall never depart from your house … I will raise up evil against you out of your own house … I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun." All of it must be fulfilled. David will go through this necessary discipline with a broken heart.
Amnon did not invent the sick-bed scheme by himself. He talked about his desire with a friend, and the friend supplied the method.
A friend of his, Jonadab, asked why he was unwell, and Amnon told him about his lustful thoughts. Jonadab had no sense of moral decency. He was crafty enough to suggest a deceitful way for Amnon to get his sister alone into his bedroom and force her. Amnon foolishly followed his advice, not thinking of the probable consequences. The deceit he used reminds us of the deceit of David in trying to cover his own sin.
Amnon's name and his home both belong to this tragedy. So does the law he was breaking.
Amnon means "faithful." That is what he should have been, but he is the very opposite. He was brought up surrounded by loose living, as he must have been in David's harem. So the lust of the flesh gets the upper hand, and the awful deed is done — a plain breaking of the law (Leviticus 20:17).
Tamar is in that room because her father sent her there. David meant well, and his good intentions worked against him.
In 2 Samuel 13 all David's good intentions turn against him. So does his desire for harmony among his children. Without knowing it, he acts in a way opposite to what he should have done. It is David, in verse 7, who sends Tamar to Amnon's house. … All this probably does not show a very clear spiritual judgment.
Being a king's daughter gave Tamar no protection. The palace was already unsafe, and the question is who made it so.
A king's court is no refuge, no safeguard. The king may be angry, but it does no good. Has he not himself brought in this shadow of wrong never put right, which now pursues him? Did he not do the first dishonour to his own home, and dig through its wall with his own hands?
Amnon wanted this moment badly enough to lie for it. What it gave him came at once.
How short-lived and empty are the pleasures of sin! Your lips have barely touched the cup, and already you taste unbearable bitterness! "Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her" (v. 15). Straight away he loathes this poor unwilling victim of his shameful act. He judges everything except himself.
There is a reason a first sin rarely stays alone.
The slippery path of sin is always walked with quickening steps. The first sin tends to weaken in the soul the authority and power of what alone can keep us from committing still greater sins. That is the Word of God, together with the sense of His presence, which gives the Word all its practical power over us.
- Sown. David was forgiven, yet Nathan's word stood. Evil would rise out of his own house, and this chapter is that word coming true.
- Advised. Jonadab supplied the method: a faked illness and a private room. Amnon took the advice without asking where it led.
- Arranged. David himself sent Tamar to the house, meaning well. The palace could not protect her, because David had already broken through its walls.
- Tasted. The pleasure lasted no time at all. Love turned to hatred greater than the love, and Amnon judged everyone but himself.
- Reaped. The first step is the dangerous one. Each sin weakens the hold of God's Word and the sense of His presence, which alone hold us back from the next.
And she presented them to him to eat; and he took hold of her, and said to her, Come, lie with me, my sister.
Amnon faked an illness so that Tamar would bring him food. Now the room is empty and the pretence drops. He grabs his half-sister and calls her "my sister" in the same breath as his demand. Two questions follow. How did such a thing reach the house of God's anointed king? And where does unchecked desire end?
God had told David that evil would rise against him out of his own house. One writer sees this chapter as that word coming true. He also notes that Amnon's name means the opposite of what the man was.
"Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house." This was the Lord's sentence, and it is now carried out. The evil which he had nourished in his heart, the passion which he had fed, now breaks out in his own family... Amnon means "faithful." He should have been that, but he is the very opposite. He was brought up surrounded by scenes of license, as it must have been in David's harem. So the lust of the flesh gets the upper hand, and he commits the terrible deed — a plain breaking of the law (Lev. 20:17).
One commentator explains why a story this repulsive belongs in God's Word at all.
The incident recorded in this chapter is loathsome. It was an outrageous thing in Israel (vv. 12-13). God's Word relates it because it is "the truth," and it shows man as he is in all his ugliness, so that we may hate his corruption. Two of David's sons do these terrible acts of immorality and violence: Amnon and Absalom. Both are far from God, the one as much as the other.
Amnon knew his father's sin. He could not see his father's repentance, and he could not see that he himself was becoming the punishment for it.
There is no doubt that his father's sin influenced a man like Amnon, and it worked on him with no check from his father's repentance... Amnon would only see that his father had sinned and had not suffered for it. He could not know that his own vices were to be the whip laid on his father's sins. Those who reject divine wisdom must be blind, and that blindness excuses no one. All this had worked together to make Amnon the coarse, sensual, cruel despot that he was.
Amnon did not act on his own idea. The same writer points to the adviser at his side, whose name promised far better than the man delivered.
Amnon, too, has his "subtle" adviser, Jonadab. His name is beautiful — "Jehovah freely gives" — but his spirit is satanic. Here the names are the opposite of the things themselves.
The story calls this demand love. Four verses later the feeling has turned into hatred. One commentator uses that turn to measure what the "love" was worth.
How short-lived and empty are the pleasures of sin! Your lips have barely touched the rim of the cup, and already you taste unbearable bitterness! "Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her" (v. 15). At once he loathes this poor unwilling victim of his shameful act. He judges everything except himself.
Another writer points to his conscience. Amnon wanted the woman he had wronged out of his sight, because "every time he saw her, his conscience would burn" (Leslie M. Grant).
David learned what had happened. One writer records what the king did about it.
David heard of it too and was very angry, but he made no attempt to deal with his son. We do not read a word that he even rebuked him.
David showed Absalom the same softness later on, and another writer turns it into a warning.
David's excessive tenderness only paved the way for Absalom's open rebellion. Terrible warning! Deal tenderly with evil, and it will certainly come to a head and crush you in the end. On the other hand, meet evil in the name of the Lord, and your victory is sure. Do not play with the serpent, but crush it under your foot at once. Plain, unflinching decision is, after all, the safest and happiest path. It may be hard at first, but the end is peaceful.
- Seed. The Lord's sentence stood over David's house: evil would rise out of it. Amnon is the first crop.
- Soil. The soil was a home full of license, and a father whose repentance his son never saw. Amnon knew only that sin had gone unpunished.
- Counsel. A subtle adviser with a beautiful name stood at Amnon's side. His counsel turned desire into a crime.
- Sequel. What called itself love turned into hatred greater than the love. A guilty conscience cannot bear the sight of the one it wronged.
- Silence. David was angry, but he acted on nothing. Deal tenderly with evil and it will rise up and crush you in the end.
And she said to him, No, my brother, do not humble me; for no such thing is done in Israel do not this infamy.
Tamar is alone with her half-brother Amnon. Her words are the last barrier between his desire and the deed. She appeals to three things at once: the standard of conduct in Israel, the shame she would carry, and the disgrace he would bring on himself. None of them stops him.
God had already passed sentence on David for his sin with Bathsheba. One writer shows that sentence being carried out here, in a crime that also broke a written command:
"Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house." This was Jehovah's sentence, and it is now carried out. The evil he had nourished in his heart, the passion he had fed, now breaks out in his own family. Amnon means "faithful." That is what he should have been, but he is the very opposite. He grew up among scenes of license, as he must have done in David's house of many wives. So the lust of the flesh gets the upper hand, and he commits the awful deed — a clear breach of the law (Lev. 20:17).
Tamar calls the act something not done in Israel, and the Bible records it in full. A commentator explains why such a repulsive chapter belongs in a holy book:
The incident recorded in this chapter is loathsome. It was infamy in Israel (vv. 12-13). God's Word relates it because it is "the truth," and it shows man as he is in all his ugliness, so that we may hate his corruption.
Tamar also told him what the act would cost them both:
Tamar pleaded with him not to force her. She warned him that this would bring disgrace on his own head, and would cover with shame the one he thought he loved. Still he went through with his evil intentions. This too reminds us of David's virtually forcing Bathsheba, for he brought her to his own house, and since he was king she no doubt thought she could not resist him.
Tamar's reminder that "such a thing is not done" may itself have added fuel. One writer notes what a limit does to a will that nobody has ever restrained:
The fence around the thing he wanted was low enough to jump, and that may itself have encouraged him. A prohibition broken through has its own charm: "the fleeting pleasures of sin." "Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol."
The same writer adds that Amnon drew his own lesson from his father's sin:
Amnon would only see that his father had sinned and had not suffered. He could not know that his own vices were to be the whip upon his father's sins.
The desire he refused to restrain did not last. It turned into its opposite:
How short-lived and empty are the pleasures of sin! Your lips have only touched the rim of the cup, and already you are tasting unbearable bitterness. "Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her" (v. 15). At once he loathes this poor unwilling victim of his shameful act. He judges everything except himself.
Tamar begged him not to do this outrageous thing. One writer shows where that outrage ended for two of David's sons:
This truth found clear confirmation among his own brothers, especially those two who did sin and folly in Israel. They came to an end that was both violent and disgraceful to themselves, and full of anguish to his father and theirs.
- Sentence. The crime in David's own house is the carrying out of the word spoken to him: evil raised up out of his own household.
- Standard. Tamar's protest was no private opinion. The act broke the law, and Scripture records the whole ugly story so that we may hate such corruption.
- Fence. The limit Tamar named only sharpened his appetite. A prohibition broken through has its own charm — and it hides the dead in the depths.
- Example. A father's sin left its mark on the son. Amnon saw only that David had sinned and had not suffered. He never guessed that his own vices would be the whip on his father's back.
- Harvest. The pleasure lasted moments, then turned to hatred greater than the love. Both sons who did folly in Israel came to a violent end, and left their father in anguish.
And I, whither shall I carry my reproach? and thou wouldest be as one of the infamous in Israel. And now, I pray thee, speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from thee.
Amnon has trapped his half sister Tamar in his room, and she answers his violence with reason. She names what the act would cost her, what it would make him, and points him to their father the king — and he refuses to listen.
Her words "such a thing is not done in Israel" put a public label on a private act. One writer explains why the Bible preserves such an ugly record at all.
The incident recorded in this chapter is loathsome. It was infamy in Israel (vv. 12-13). God's Word relates it because it is "the truth" and depicts man as he is in all his ugliness so that we may abhor his corruption.
Tamar tells him what the deed would make of him : one of the outrageous fools in Israel. His name meant the opposite of what he became, and the law had already condemned the act.
Amnon means "faithful." That is what he should have been, but he is the very opposite. He was brought up in the middle of scenes of loose living, as it must have been in David's harem. The lust of the flesh gets the upper hand, and he commits the awful deed — a clear breaking of the law (Lev. 20:17).
She pleaded not only for herself. Her warning covered them both, and Amnon answered it with force.
Tamar pleaded earnestly with him not to force her. She warned him that this would bring disgrace upon his own head, and would also cover with shame the one he thought he loved. Still he went through with his evil intentions. This reminds us too of how David in effect forced Bathsheba. He brought her to his own house, and since he was king she no doubt thought she could not resist him.
Tamar appeals to what is done and not done in Israel. But Amnon had watched his own father sin and, as far as he could see, go unpunished.
Sin gathers its arguments at will, and refuses whatever does not serve its purpose… Amnon would only see that his father had sinned, and had not suffered. He could not know that his own vices were to be the scourge upon his father's sins.
Her last argument points away from the room to her father's authority: she is sure the king will not refuse her. Yet the law itself stood against such a union (Lev. 20:17), and David's own past had weakened his house.
A king's court is no refuge, no safeguard. The king may be angry, but it does no good: has he not himself brought in this shadow of unpunished wrong that now pursues him? Did he not do the first dishonour to his home, and dig through its wall with his own hands?
Tamar had told him the act would leave her carrying shame. What followed showed that the shame landed on her by his own doing, and that what he called love collapsed instantly.
How short-lived and empty are the pleasures of sin! The lips have barely touched the rim of the cup and already one is tasting unbearable bitterness! "Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her" (v. 15). At once he despises this poor unwilling victim of his shameful act. He judges everything except himself.
- Named. Tamar calls the act by its right name: infamy in Israel. Scripture records the whole ugly scene so that we will hate the corruption it shows.
- Warned. Her plea covered him as much as her: disgrace on his own head, and shame on the woman he claimed to love.
- Learned. Amnon grew up amid loose living, and he saw a father sin and seem to escape. Sin finds its arguments where it wants them.
- Refused. She pointed him to the king. But the king's court was no safeguard: David had already dishonoured his own house with his own hands.
- Reaped. His love turned at once into a hatred greater than the love had been. He judged everything except himself, and the bitterness came before the cup was drained.
But he would not hearken to her voice, and was stronger than she, and humbled her and lay with her.
The chapter turns from David's forgiveness to David's family. The first thing we meet is a crime inside the royal house: a son overpowers his half-sister. Two hard questions follow. Why does Scripture record something so ugly? And what does it say about a man whose own sin God had already pardoned?
The Bible does not soften the account. One writer explains why God's Word keeps such a story on record:
What this chapter records is disgusting. It was infamy in Israel (vv. 12-13). God's Word relates it because it is "the truth" and shows man as he really is, in all his ugliness, so that we may hate his corruption. These terrible acts of immorality and violence are the work of two of David's sons, Amnon and Absalom. Both are far from God, the one as much as the other.
Commentators tie this crime back to David's own sin.
David did not have to wait long to see the sad governmental results of his sin begin to show in his own family. His son Amnon was so drawn to the beauty of his half sister Tamar that he became sick from dwelling on thoughts of her. Yet he knew well that his lust was wrong.
God had already forgiven David. Forgiveness did not cancel the consequences God had announced.
David's soul is restored, his conscience is cleansed, and his heart is humbled. Even so, the ways of God's government toward him must run their course. Nathan had foretold: "The sword shall never depart from your house … I will raise up evil against you out of your own house … I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun." All of it must come true without fail. David will go through this necessary discipline with a broken heart.
He would not listen, and he was the stronger. A friend gave him the plan, and Tamar begged him to stop. One writer hears David's own sin repeating in the son:
When his friend Jonadab asked why he was unwell, Amnon told him about his lustful thoughts. Jonadab had no sense of moral decency. He was crafty enough to suggest a deceitful way for Amnon to get his sister alone into his bedroom and force her. Amnon foolishly followed his advice, without thinking of the likely consequences. The deceit he used reminds us of the deceit of David in trying to cover his own sin. Tamar pleaded with him not to force her. She warned him that this would bring disgrace on his own head, and cover with shame the one he thought he loved. He went through with his evil intentions anyway.
The next verse says Amnon hated her more than he had loved her. One writer explains what that reversal exposed:
Amnon was guilty of the cruel rape of Tamar. His professed love for her proved completely false, for he turned against her with vicious hatred. This is what often happens when infatuation drives a person. He knew he had done evil, and the one he had wronged is the one who becomes the object of his worst hatred. From then on, every time he saw her, his conscience would burn.
The account follows Tamar as she leaves. One writer looks at her grief and sees many others in it:
The anguish and shame of what Tamar had suffered filled her with grief and sorrow. She had to tear the beautiful robe that the king's virgin daughters wore. She put ashes on her head as a sign of humiliation and mourning, and went away crying bitterly. How sad it is that so many young women have suffered the same humiliation from the cruelty of wicked men!
The law set a penalty for this crime, and David never applied it:
According to the law, I judge that Amnon ought to have suffered death for his sin. (2 Sam. 13:4.) David fails to be just, "ruling in the fear of God." Judgment then overtakes Amnon by the hand of his brother Absalom. Absalom, now guilty of murder, flees the kingdom.
Why did the king handle this so poorly? One answer offered is that David's own fall had dulled something in him:
When a believer falls by yielding to his own self-will, his soul even though it is restored loses a certain spiritual acuity. If he has come to despise or set little value on fellowship with the Lord it takes him a certain time to recover the spiritual intelligence that accompanies this fellowship. It is as though the fall had brought with it a cessation of spiritual growth.
- Sown. God pardoned David's sin. But the word "the sword shall never depart from your house" still ran its course, starting inside his own family.
- Grown. Lust fed on itself until it became a plan. Jonadab's advice and Amnon's deceit repeated the father's method in the son.
- Ripened. What Amnon called love turned to hatred the moment he had his way. A burning conscience hates the one it has wronged.
- Reaped. Tamar carried the shame that was not hers, and her torn robe stands for countless women treated the same way.
- Reproduced. David never judged the crime, and the evil he left alone ended in Amnon's murder and Absalom's flight from the kingdom.