UNROLL
Evening over Jerusalem on its narrow ridge: flat-roofed stone houses and the king’s modest house among them, one doorway lit by a small clay lamp, the Kidron valley below already in shadow, under a calm dusky violet sky.

The Book of

2 Samuel 13

The LORD said the sword would never leave David’s house. It begins with his own children.

39 verses≈ 8 min5 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–4King in HebronThe house of Saul falls
  2. 5–6JerusalemThe ark comes home
  3. 7–10A house foreverGod's promise to David
  4. 11–12David's sinBathsheba and Nathan
  5. 13–20The swordAmnon, Absalom and ShebaChapter 13
  6. 21–24Last wordsSongs, heroes and an altar

Amnon and Tamar

After some time, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s son Absalom. 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.

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Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very shrewd man,

Jonadab

and he asked Amnon, “Why are you, the son of the king, so depressed morning after morning? Won’t you tell me?”

Amnon

Amnon replied, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”

Jonadab

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.’”

So Amnon lay down and feigned illness.

Amnon

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.”

Then David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare a meal for him.”

Morning in the stone courtyard of a prince’s house: Tamar, in a long-sleeved robe woven in bands of red, saffron and blue and a saffron head covering, kneels at a low wooden trough kneading dough beside a clay oven with small round cakes baking on its wall.

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.

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!”

Tamar

“No, my brother!” she cried. “Do not violate me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing! 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.”

Do not violate me, for such a thing should never be done in Israel.

2 Samuel 13:12

But Amnon refused to listen to her, and being stronger, he violated her and lay with her.

Then Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that his hatred was greater than the love he previously had.

Amnon

“Get up!” he said to her. “Be gone!”

Tamar

“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.

Amnon

Instead, he called to his attendant and said, “Throw this woman out and bolt the door behind her!”

Late afternoon in a narrow lane of stone houses in Jerusalem: seen from behind and at a distance, Tamar walks away in her long robe of red, saffron and blue, torn at one shoulder seam, ash on her head covering and one hand on her head; behind her a plain wooden door stands shut.

So Amnon’s attendant threw her out and bolted the door behind her. Now Tamar was wearing a robe of many colors, because this is what the king’s virgin daughters wore. And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her robe. And putting her hand on her head, she went away crying aloud.

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.” So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in the house of her brother Absalom.

When King David heard all this, he was furious.

And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon for violating his sister Tamar.

Pray

For all who have been wronged

Tamar cried aloud, and the king did nothing. Pray for everyone who has been wronged and then silenced, that the LORD who sees would comfort them, surround them with safe and faithful people, and bring justice. Pray for courage for all who hold authority, in homes, churches and courts, to act rightly and never look away. Lord, guard my heart from desire that grabs and from anger that festers into hatred. Amen.

Absalom’s Revenge on Amnon

The sword in David’s house

The sword12:10 · never to leavehis houseAmnon and Tamar13 · Tamar violated,Amnon killedAbsalombanished13–14 · three years,then homeThe revolt15 · David fleesJerusalemBroad daylight16:22 · foretold in12:11–12O my sonAbsalom18 · a father’s griefSheba20 · rebellion again

Whiteboard

Nathan told David the sword would never depart from his house (12:10). It falls first here, inside his own family, and it does not stop until Sheba’s revolt. Every turn is human sin, and none of it is excused; yet every turn is the word of the LORD coming true.

Men in plain wool tunics shearing sheep on a hillside at Timnah, heaps of creamy fleece on woven mats and a flock waiting in a stone pen.

Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, he invited all the sons of the king.

Absalom

And he went to the king and said, “Your servant has just hired shearers. Will the king and his servants please come with me?”

David

“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.

Absalom

“If not,” said Absalom, “please let my brother Amnon go with us.”

David

“Why should he go with you?” the king asked.

But Absalom urged him, so the king sent Amnon and the rest of his sons.

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!”

Dusk on a hill road north of Jerusalem, seen from far behind: a scattered line of young men in fine dyed robes ride gray and brown mules hard along the track, dust rising, the hills dark and the road behind them empty.

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.

Evening in the stone courtyard of the king’s house: David, about fifty, his robe torn at the neck, lies face down on the paving in grief with his hands over his head, his servants standing around him with their robes torn and heads bowed.

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.

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. 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.”

0:36

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Question

Quick question

When Absalom’s young men struck, the king’s other sons ran for home.

How did the king’s other sons flee from Baal-hazor?

Absalom Flees to Geshur

Jordan RiverGeshurJerusalemBaal-hazor

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Absalom flees to Geshur

Absalom held his sheepshearing at Baal-hazor, probably the high hill near Ephraim about fifteen miles north of Jerusalem. After Amnon was killed, he fled far to the northeast, beyond David’s reach, to his mother’s father, Talmai king of Geshur. Geshur was a small Aramean kingdom on the east side of the Sea of Galilee.

Meanwhile, Absalom had fled. When the young man standing watch looked up, he saw many people coming down the road west of him, along the side of the hill.

The watchman

And the watchman went and reported to the king, “I see men coming from the direction of Horonaim, along the side of the hill.”

Jonadab

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.

But David mourned for his son every day.

2 Samuel 13:37

Reflect

Anger that does nothing

David “was furious,” and did nothing. Absalom “never said a word to Amnon,” and waited two years to kill him. One anger sat still; the other festered. Where is anger sitting in you, unspoken or unacted on? Write what it would look like to bring it into the light: before God first, and, where it is right, to someone who can act.

You’ve experienced

2 Samuel 13

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A verse to carry with you

But David mourned for his son every day.

2 Samuel 13:37

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