A Dramatic Tragedy in Israel’s Most Renowned Royal Family

This is a tragic story of the house of David. Israel has always been proud of David, its greatest king ever.  But how come a highly regarded royal family had a lot of messes and upside-downs within itself? David was a young hero, who killed Goliath of the Philistine. He became king over all Israel after Saul. He united all the tribes of Israel under his kingship. His nation was seeing stability, peace and prosperity. He had a lot of children from different wives and concubines. Perhaps, he did not have enough time for his many children, and could not unite them together, so they became selfish, stubborn, and rebellious. They neither really respected their father nor love and care for one another the way they should have done. They had their own lust, selfishness, wickedness and depravity. One day it showed up openly and publicly and exploded in David’s royal house.

The tragic story from 2 Samuel 13:1-33 below tells us something wrong about this renowned royal family. Here is a brief summary of it, “Amnon humiliated his half sister Tamar to gratify his sexual lust by raping her. Though David was very angry but did not chastised or punish him for this offense. Absalom organized a murder banquet to kill Amnon in retaliation for Tamar.” I am going to interlace more with it hereinafter as it goes.

Amnon rapes Tamar

13 Some time later, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar the beautiful sister of Absalom, who was also David’s son. ² Amnon was so upset over his half sister that he made himself sick. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible in Amnon’s view to do anything to her.

Amnon  fell in love with his half sister, Tamar, a beautiful virgin. He became sick because of her. Amnon was helped by Jonadab his cousin and friend to trap Tamar by pretending to be sick on bed. Tamar came to serve him food and was raped by Amnon, her half brother.

Amnon had a perverted sexual desire inside of him. He was selfish, lustful and emotionally uncontrollable. It seems that he followed David’s example or at least carried on this type of hereditary gene from his father (maybe too much estrogenic hormones).

³ But Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, Shimeah’s son, David’s brother, who was a very clever man.⁴ “Prince,” Jonadab said to him, “why are you so down, morning after morning? Tell me about it.” So Amnon told him, “I’m in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom.”
⁵ “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick,” Jonadab said to him. “When your father comes to see you, tell him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me some food to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I can watch and eat from her own hand.’” 

Jonadab was a friend of Amnon, but a real bad cousin of David’s children. I wonder why this clever guy rendered Amnon such an evil device. Were they really good friends? Did he take advantage of Amnon’s sick and depraved mind in this matter to cause chaos and animosity among the royal family members for his unknown purpose or just his mischief?

⁶ So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. The king came to see him, and Amnon told the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of heart-shaped cakes in front of me so I can eat from her hand.” ⁷ David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Please go to your brother Amnon’s house and prepare some food for him.”

⁸ So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house where he was lying down. She took dough, kneaded it, made heart-shaped cakes in front of him, and then cooked them. ⁹ She took the pan and served Amnon, but he refused to eat. “Everyone leave me,” Amnon said. So everyone left him. ¹⁰ Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom so I can eat from your hand.” So Tamar took the heart-shaped cakes she had made and brought them to her brother Amnon in the bedroom. ¹¹ When she served him the food, he grabbed her and said, “Come have sex with me, my sister.” ¹² But she said to him, “No, my brother! Don’t rape me. Such a thing shouldn’t be done in Israel. Don’t do this horrible thing. ¹³ Think about me—where could I hide my shame? And you—you would become like some fool in Israel! Please, just talk to the king! He won’t keep me from marrying you.” ¹⁴ But Amnon refused to listen to her. He was stronger than she was, and so he raped her.

Tamar tried very hard but failed to prevent Amnon from doing such an evil thing to her by explaining and begging him. It is clear that women were treated with contempt and normally as sexual object no matter it is outside or inside the home. Men violently dominated the weaker sex for their own lustful desire. Finally, Amnon raped his sister.

¹⁵ But then Amnon felt intense hatred for her. In fact, his hatred for her was greater than the love he had felt for her. So Amnon told her, “Get out of here!”

After gratifying his sexual lust, Amnon told Tamar to get out of his place. This indicates that Amnon did not care about the consequence. Perhaps, he thought it would be okay afterwards.

¹⁶ “No, my brother!” she said. “Sending me away would be worse than the wrong you’ve already done.”

But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her. ¹⁷ He summoned his young servant and said, “Get this woman out of my presence and lock the door after her.” (¹⁸ She was wearing a long-sleeved robe because that was what the virgin princesses wore as garments.) So Amnon’s servant put her out and locked the door after her.

¹⁹ Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long-sleeved robe she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and walked away, crying as she went.

²⁰ Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has your brother Amnon been with you? Keep quiet about it for now, sister; he’s your brother. Don’t let it bother you.” So Tamar, a broken woman, lived in her brother Absalom’s house.

²¹ When King David heard about all this he got very angry, but he refused to punish his son Amnon because he loved him as his oldest child.

David did not do anything about this horrible offense because his love for Amnon his oldest son. Love sometimes overlooks the wrongdoings of others. It is no fair or just at all.

²² Absalom never spoke to Amnon, good word or bad, because he hated him for raping his sister Tamar.

Absalom kills Amnon

²³ Two years later, Absalom was shearing sheep at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, and he invited all the king’s sons. ²⁴ Absalom approached the king and said, “Your servant is shearing sheep. Would the king and his advisors please join me?”

²⁵ But the king said to Absalom, “No, my son. We shouldn’t all go, or we would be a burden on you.” Although Absalom urged him, the king wasn’t willing to go, although he gave Absalom a blessing.

²⁶ Then Absalom said, “If you won’t come, then let my brother Amnon go with us.”

“Why should he go with you?” they asked him. ²⁷ But Absalom urged him until he sent Amnon and all the other princes. Then Absalom made a banquet fit for a king.

 Why didn’t David sense something wrong from the invitation of Absalom, especially when he insisted on David sending Amnon and all other princes instead? Or he might not expect it to happen yet, at least in his lifetime as he thought he was still in control of his household and keep it in order.

²⁸ Absalom commanded his servants, “Be on the lookout! When Amnon is happy with wine and I tell you to strike Amnon down, then kill him! Don’t be afraid, because I myself am giving you the order. Be brave and strong men.” ²⁹ So Absalom’s servants did to Amnon just what he had commanded. Then all the princes got up, jumped onto their mules, and fled.

Absalom was an undercover murderer. He had harbored the plan of revenge for two years. It was good time for him to put his hand on Amnon, who raped and humiliated his sister Tamar. Absalom was as wicked as his enemy Amnon. He deceived his father and brothers all into his trap for the purpose of killing just one man. From here, I could see how wicked the men of the house of David were. How evil and perverted and brutal this royal family was!

³⁰ While they were on the way, the report came to David: “Absalom has killed all of the princes! Not one remains.” ³¹ The king got up, tore his garments, and lay on the ground. All his servants stood near him, their garments torn as well. ³² But Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, said, “My master shouldn’t think that all the young princes have been killed—only Amnon is dead. This has been Absalom’s plan ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar. ³³ So don’t let this bother you, my master; don’t think that all the princes are dead, because only Amnon is dead.

It is interesting that King David got a wrong report about his princes. We do not know who gave David the report. I guess some of the servants of the princes might have shaken loose and ran sooner and faster than their masters or someone might have known about this murder spree went back to David and reported to him incorrectly. It appears that Jonadab, David’s nephew, knew the tragic result of David’s family because he was giving Amnon a wicked advice earlier, and that David did not know anything about this.

Of course, David was cut to heart because of this happening, and he mourned deeply for the death of his son Amnon, whom he loved so much. After such a tragedy in his family, David might become more precautious in the way of dealing with his children. I still wonder why David, the most honored King in Israel, could not rule his family well enough while successfully ruling his nation.

YHWH had favor on David and promised to build a perpetual dynasty for David and to enduringly support his line (Bandstra, 255). It is the Davidic covenant YHWH made with David. It seems that David neglected his military duty, but focused on his selfish enjoyment of life, building cities and palaces instead.

All the male characters of this story such as David, Absalom, Amnon and Jonadab portrayed the level of moral corruption and depravity in Israel. Tamar, the only female character, presented the wretched and lowly position of women in society, even in the royal family of David. Is it just another story telling the unfair treatment toward women in Israelite society before the eye of YHWH, the God of Israel? Or does this story narrative contain a plot element for something to happen in Israel as the Deuteronomistic historian or editor intends it?