AMNON AND TAMAR David committed his crime with Bathsheba in secret; and although the matter remained concealed for some time, the smell of corruption started to get exposed in the house of David, in a horrible way. David’s son Amnon fell, with all his freedom, in lust for his half- sister, on his father’s side. He was so obsessed by his love for her, that he became sick; and when he got what he wanted from her, he humiliated her, then he hated her exceedingly, and sent her away. You can imagine David’s condition, and his reputation among his men and the rulers of his people, when that incident became known! Amnon’s behavior aroused the anger of Absalom for the sake of his sister Tamar. After two years of planning, he managed to kill him, and then fled; So David lost the two of them! 1- Amnon fell in love with his sister Tamar 1-11 2- Amnon’s exceedingly hates Tamar 12-19 3- Absalom plans revenge against Amnon 20-27 4- Absalom kills Amnon 28-33 5- Absalom flees 34-39 1- Amnon fell in love with his sister Tamar: This episode of Amnon and Tamar remains along the generations, a live portrait of how love differs from lust1. Love is getting free from egoism, for man to give himself for the sake of his own edification, and that of others; to deal with others-specially the opposite sex-as persons who have their own dignity; While lust, on the other hand, is retiring into one’s shell around his ego, seeking the fulfillment of his own self or dignity, etc.; and dealing with others as tools for his own fulfillment. Love grows every day, and makes the heart more spacious for all; while lust destroys man, narrows his heart, and will soon turn his lustful love into hate. Amnon so much loved Tamar, to presume that only she was the secret of his happiness, who was able to fill the void in his heart. Through his lust, he was captivated by her beauty...; but once he realized his wish, and did not find the fulfillment he thought he would get, he hated her exceedingly, so that the hatred, with which he hated her, was even greater than the love with which he had loved her. Amnon can be likened to Potiphar’s wife, who thought that Joseph’s body was the only source of her pleasure and fulfillment; and because of her great love for him, she disregarded her position as a lady before a slave, her dignity as a woman, and caught him by his garment, to force him to lie with her; ... When he refused to sin before the Lord, she unjustly, delivered him to prison and disgrace!! This is the killing lust that is centered on the ego! ‘Amnon,’ a Hebrew name meaning (honest)2, the firstborn son of David, and the crown prince (2 Samuel 3: 2), was born in Hebron (2 Samuel 3: 2’; 1 Chronicles 3; 1), around the year 1000 BC3; His mother was ‘Ahinoam’ the Jezreelitess. Tamar,’ her name 1 راجع كتابنا: الحب، مفهومه ودرجاته (الحب والشهوة). 2McKenzie: Dict. of the Bible, p. 26. 3Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Chicago 1966, p. 45. 87 means (a palm tree), was the sister of Absalom the son of David from ‘Maakah,’ the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur (2 Samuel 3: 3; 1 Chronicles 3; 2). Amnon loved Tamar very much; he loved her beauty and body, and not her person ; and he coveted to fulfill his lust with her. As she was his sister, he could not marry her (Leviticus 18: 9); nor do anything improper to her (2 Samuel 13: 2). Tamar as a virgin, dwelt in the women’s Suit of the royal palace. Amnon was so distressed over his lust for his sister Tamar, that he became sick, and grew thinner day after day; something that troubled his friend, and cousin, ‘Jonadab’ the son of Shimeah (or Shammah), David’s brother (1 Samuel 16: 9); who was very crafty, and capable of both good and evil thoughts. When Jonadab asked Amnon about his problem, he said: “I love Tamar, my brother Absalom sister” (2 Samuel 13: 4). Jonadab gave him the following counsel: “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill; and when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me food, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand” (2 Samuel 13: 5). Amnon followed this wicked counsel; Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house; and he was lying down. Then she took flour and kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes, and she took the pan and placed them out before him, but he refused to eat. Then Amnon said, ‘Have everyone go out from me,’ and they all went out from him. When he took hold of her trying to rape her, she, with chastity said to him: “No my brother, do not force me, for no such thing should be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing! And I, where could I take my shame? And as for you, you would be like one of the fools of Israel. Now therefore, speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you” (2 Samuel 13: 12, 13) Prudently, Tamar spoke to her brother Amnon: a- She revealed to him that doing this thing was not fitting for a holy nation; as it would bring wrath over the whole people; not on account of being the children of the king, but of being members of the congregation of Israel. As a believer is a member of the congregation, every growth in his life, will be reflected in the growth of the others, and will draw, by his life, many toward the heavenly things . Every fall and deviation, on the other hand, will cause the others to stumble and get destroyed. A believer, will either be, the secret of blessing or of destruction to his congregation. b- Sin destroys those who commit it; Tamar counted it a shame for herself, and a destruction for Amnon; She would be disgraced, and Amnon would be counted as one of the fools. c- She begged him to ask the king to give her to him in marriage; She probably meant to flee from his hands; or assumed that marrying a half- brother, would be more acceptable than falling in adultery. Amnon did not heed her voice, as lust so corrupted his mind, and took away his humanity, that he raped his own sister. 2- Amnon exceedingly hates Tamar: Having fulfilled the lust of his body, Amnon hated Tamar, that, “The hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with he had loved her” (2 Samuel 13: 15). When she humiliated herself before him, begging him to marry her, and not to throw her 88 into disgrace, he ordered the servant to put her out, away from him, and bolt the door behind her. As we said before, lust and violence are two close companions; both of them are the fruit of taking away the grace of God from man, and lead to his deprivation of his existence with God. Lust, may sometimes, provide man with an outer mildness, yet it harbors violence within. Violence, on the other hand, produces lust and ecstasy, man seeks what is his, and not what is others.’ Potiphar’s wife had been very delicate before Joseph; yet she could not hide her violence, when he refused to surrender to her wish, she threw him in prison; While he on the other hand, despite his firmness in refusing the sin, was very decent to her. He did not avenge himself, nor defamed her, even when he came to enjoy glory and authority in the court of Pharaoh. Solomon the wise, connects between adultery and cruelty, saying: “For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; Her steps lay hold of hell” (Proverb 5: 3, 4). Lust gave forth violence in Amnon’s life that he ordered his servant to put his mistress out, and to bolt the door behind her; As for her, she put ashes on her head as a sign of intense grief (1 Samuel 4: 12), as though in a funeral; and tore her robe of many colors, the apparel worn by the king’s virgin daughters; a sign that she lost every glory, and got shame and disgrace instead; laid her hand on her head, and went away crying bitterly. It is a bitter portrait of a soul, devastated by sin, aimlessly going on her way in humiliation, as though driven out of the house; the soul losing, her dwelling place in the bosom of God, wanders alone, with nobody to support, nor to share the depths of her feelings! to look back to see the door bolted behind her! She put ashes on her head as despair destroyed her mind, and deprived her of her hope, peace, and inner joy! The robe of many colors was torn; that refers to the body with all its energies. The body that seeks fulfillment of its senses through lust, will lose its holiness, and will have its senses defiled! She lays her hands over her head; as a sign of her inability to act or to react. She went her way bitterly crying, as though she lost the joyful royal way! 3- Absalom plans revenge against Amnon: Absalom asked his sister to hold her peace, to give himself the chance to plan for revenge. He said to her: “But now hold your peace my sister. He is your brother; do not take this thing to heart” (2 Samuel 13: 20). He asked her to keep silent and quiet; not the silence and quietness that bore peace, but that concealed craftiness and intention of revenge against his brother Amnon. Indeed, how sweet is the silence and quietude, if they bear genuine inner peace; But if they are veils that hide inner bitterness, it would be more violent and cruel than loud harsh words. That is why the holy fathers discern between the holy constructive silence and the wicked and destructive silence as they discern between the good and the bad talk. Tamar remained desolate and in disgrace in her brother Absalom house; not fit for marriage, for no guilt on her part. When David heard of all these things, he was very 89 angry; yet he did not punish Amnon. He probably thought of his own crime with Bathsheba, clearly demonstrated in the life of his firstborn son. Absalom waited patiently two years without taking any action, to let Amnon and David assume that he forgot about the whole matter. And when it was the time for sheep sheering, a time for joy (1 Samuel 25: 7, 36), in Baal-Hazor, Absalom planned to carry out the murder of his brother Amnon. ‘Baal-Hazor’ means (a fenced sheephold)1; near Ephraim, the place where Gabal Qosur’ is nowadays, 4 1/2 miles north-east of ;Bethel’ and 15 miles north-east of Jerusalem. Absalom invited his father and all his brothers, trying to conceal what he harbored in his heart; and as the king did not want to come, he urged him to send Amnon, the crown prince on his behalf. David approved after some reluctance, not sure of Absalom intent. 4- Absalom murders Amnon: Absalom set his plan; When Amnon’s heart became merry with wine, Absalom servants killed him as their master commanded. Then all the king’s sons arose, got on their mules and fled. While they were on their way, the news came to David that Absalom killed all the king’s sons, and not one of them was left. So the king arose and tore his garments and lay on the ground, and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn. But Jonadab the son of Shimeah, David’s brother, told David that Absalom killed only Amnon as a revenge for what he had done to his sister. Amnon reaped the fruit of his dirty act, and also of his drunkenness. The wise Solomon says: “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red; when it sparkles in the cup; when it swirls around smoothly. At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper” (Proverbs 23) Absalom offered Amnon wine that carried the poison of death; While our Christ, offers Himself, the true vine that produces the wine of life, by which the heart gets glad with divine love; rejoicing by life with Him in heaven. That is why it is aid: “Wine that makes glad the heart of man” (Psalm 104: 15). The scholar Origen says: [If the heart is the rational part of man; and what makes it glad is the “Word,” Who gives more joy than any wine; takes away from us, human worries; grants us the feeling of inspiration; and makes us drunk with a divine wine-I can realize what Joseph did, when he fulfilled his brothers with wine (Genesis 43: 34) ... Christ is the true vine, the clusters it bears, is the Truth; and the disciples are its branches; those who produce the truth as their fruits2]. 5- Absalom flees: Absalom fled to his maternal grandfather, ‘Tamai’ the son of Ammihud, the king of Geshor. ‘Geshor’ meaning a (bridge); is a province located between Harmon and Bashan, close to Argob, east of the Jordan; On its boundary, there is a bridge over the River Jordan, between Tabariah and Hola, known as the bridge of Jacob’s daughters (Gesr Banat Jacob). After three years of Absalom absence, having been comforted, as far 1 The Westminster Dict. of the Bible, p. 83. 2Origen’s Commentary on John. 33. 90 as Amnon was concerned, David longed to see Absalom, whom he loved very much (2 Samuel 18: 5, 33); But he feared the criticism of his people, who knew that he killed the crown prince.
Welcome