2 Samuel 13
Amnon Desires Tamar 1–20
David's Wrath and Absalom's Silent Hatred 21–22
Absalom Murders Amnon 23–29
Absalom Flees to Geshur 30–39
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for 2 Samuel 13
Verse 1
a fair sister — Tamar is Absalom’s sister (1 Chr 3:9 names her among David’s children), and Amnon, David’s firstborn ‘of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess’ (2 Sam 3:2), is her half-brother. The chapter follows the LORD’s word through Nathan: ‘I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house’ (2 Sam 12:11).
Verse 2
so vexed, that he fell sick — ‘Vexed’ is yatsar, to be in straits, and ‘fell sick’ is chalah, the verb that returns in vv.5–6 for the sickness he feigns. ‘Hard’ is pala, ‘too hard’, as in ‘Is any thing too hard for the LORD?’ (Gen 18:14). The law calls such a union ‘a wicked thing’ (Lev 20:17).
Verse 3
very subtil — The Hebrew is chakam, ‘wise’, the ordinary word, used of the ‘wise woman’ Joab fetched from Tekoah (2 Sam 14:2); what Jonadab’s wisdom serves is shown by his counsel in v.5. The serpent’s ‘subtil’ in Gen 3:1 is a different word (arum). He is Amnon’s ‘friend’ and, as son of David’s brother, his cousin.
Verse 5
make thyself sick — Jonadab’s counsel is a feigned illness (chalah, as in v.2) and a visit: ‘when thy father cometh to see thee’, ask for Tamar. ‘Dress the meat’ uses biryah, a word for food that occurs only here, in vv.5, 7 and 10. The plan works through David, who ‘sent home to Tamar’ himself (v.7).
Verse 12
do not force me — Anah, to humble or afflict, is the verb of Deut 22:29, ‘because he hath humbled her’, and it recurs in vv.14, 22 and 32. ‘No such thing ought to be done in Israel’ recalls what was said of Dinah, ‘which thing ought not to be done’ (Gen 34:7), where the same word, nebalah, ‘folly’, names the deed (also Judg 19:23).
Verse 13
one of the fools in Israel — ‘Fools’ is nabal, the root of nebalah (‘folly’, v.12) and the name of Nabal: ‘as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him’ (1 Sam 25:25). ‘Shame’ is cherpah, reproach. The law forbade relations with ‘thy father’s wife’s daughter’ (Lev 18:11); the chapter records only that he ‘would not hearken’ (v.14).
Verse 14
being stronger than she — Chazaq, to be strong, to prevail; ‘forced’ is anah, as in v.12. Her words were heard and not heeded: ‘he would not hearken unto her voice’ here, and again in v.16 when he sends her away. The evil the LORD said he would raise ‘out of thine own house’ (2 Sam 12:11) now comes from David’s own sons.
Verse 15
Then Amnon hated her exceedingly — The Hebrew joins the verb sane with its noun sin’ah, ‘the hatred wherewith he hated her’, which ‘was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her’ (ahab, the verb of v.1). The dismissal follows at once: ‘Arise, be gone.’
Verse 16
this evil in sending me away — ‘Sending away’ is shalach, the verb of Deut 22:29, where the man who has ‘humbled’ a maid ‘may not put her away all his days’. Tamar calls the dismissal (ra, evil) ‘greater than the other that thou didst unto me’; and the narrative says again that he ‘would not hearken’ (cf. v.14).
Verse 18
a garment of divers colours — Pas is the word of Joseph’s ‘coat of many colours’ (Gen 37:3), and it occurs only in Gen 37 and in vv.18–19 here. The text gives the custom itself: ‘with such robes were the king’s daughters that were virgins apparelled.’ ‘Bolted’ (na’al) is to fasten with a bar.
Verse 21
he was very wroth — Charah, to burn with anger, the verb of Ps 18:7, ‘because he was wroth’. The chapter records the king’s anger and no verdict. The law had named the penalty for a union with a father’s daughter: ‘cut off in the sight of their people’ (Lev 20:17). What follows is Absalom’s own course (vv.22–29).
Verse 22
neither good nor bad — Absalom said nothing to Amnon, in the idiom of ‘speak not to Jacob either good or bad’ (Gen 31:24). His hatred is the verb of v.15 (sane), now turned on Amnon ‘because he had forced his sister Tamar’. Lev 19:17 forbids hating a brother ‘in thine heart’ and bids him be rebuked; 1 John 3:15 calls such hatred murder.
Verse 23
sheepshearers in Baalhazor — Shearing was a time of feasting: Nabal ‘held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king’ (1 Sam 25:36), and Judah went up to Timnath ‘to shear his sheep’ (Gen 38:13). Two full years have passed since the silence of v.22; Absalom ‘invited all the king’s sons’.
Verse 26
let my brother Amnon go with us — The king had declined for himself: ‘let us not all now go, lest we be chargeable unto thee’ (v.25). Absalom names Amnon, the firstborn (2 Sam 3:2), and David’s ‘Why should he go with thee?’ is his only question; Absalom ‘pressed him’ (v.27), and Amnon went with all the king’s sons.
Verse 28
merry with wine — Literally ‘good’ (tov) with wine, as Nabal’s heart was ‘merry within him, for he was very drunken’ (1 Sam 25:36). The command goes to servants, who do the deed (v.29); David’s order about Uriah also passed through other hands (2 Sam 11:15). ‘Valiant’ is literally ‘sons of valour’ (chayil).
Verse 32
by the appointment of Absalom — Literally ‘by the mouth of Absalom’ (peh): it was fixed by his word, ‘determined’ (sum, set) ‘from the day that he forced his sister Tamar’. Jonadab, who gave Amnon his counsel in v.5, reports the purpose of vv.22–23; ‘forced’ is anah, the verb of vv.12 and 14.
Verse 37
Talmai, the son of Ammihud, king of Geshur — Absalom’s mother was Maacah, ‘the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur’ (2 Sam 3:3), so he went to his mother’s father, and stayed ‘three years’ (v.38). David’s mourning prepares the next chapter, where Joab tells a woman of Tekoah to ‘feign thyself to be a mourner’ (2 Sam 14:2).
Verse 39
the soul of king David longed — ‘Longed’ is kalah, to be spent, the verb rendered ‘fainteth’ in Ps 84:2, ‘My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD’. ‘Comforted’ is nacham. The next chapter opens: ‘Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom’ (2 Sam 14:1).