II SAMUEL 13:20-39 Lesson # 15
THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH
I. Introduction:
Q Is there a place where getting angry is appropriate? When?
An = Often, when we witness injustice done to another person who is weak or vulnerable we have what is sometimes called: “righteous anger”. I have two questions to ask you concerning “righteous anger”.
1) Q Question #1: Is it good to express this type of “righteous anger”?
Q How? Can you give an example?
2) Q Question #2: Or is it better to hide or suppress your anger over something that is unjustly done to another person?
Note: Today’s passage will look over two responses to injustice. One is an emotional response to injustice and another is suppression of emotion. You judge which one is correct.
II. Immediate Reaction to Tamar’s Rape: II Samuel 13:19-22.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 13:19-22.
Q How many responses to the rape do we have here in these verses?
An = Actually, we have four. Three different persons: Absalom twice, Tamar and David.
Q What is Tamar’s response?
An = It is one of shame, tears, visible and outward grief (19) and finally in 13:20 we are told, sadly, that she would remain a desolate woman.
Q What is David’s response?
An = David gets angry. But notice, the king does nothing. He is the supreme judge of the highest court of appeal in the land. He does not discipline or punish Amnon.
Q Should David have punished and disciplined Amnon? Why? And if so, why did David do nothing?
An = Perhaps, David’s own sin paralyzed his action. The LXX (the Septuagint, the ancient Greek Version of the Old Testament) says he did nothing because he loved Amnon because he was his first born. David should have brought justice to bear though. At the very least he should have defrocked his eldest son from being the “crown prince”.
David showed emotion but did not act. He did not render justice for his daughter, nor for that matter, for Absalom. How would you feel if your sister was raped and the perpetrator got off scott-free?
Q What is Absalom’s reaction?
An = His first and private reaction is to comfort his sister Tamar with seemingly soothing words (13:20). They seem to ring hollow though. Then we are told that his public reaction was to never say a word, either good or bad to Amnon. However, deep inside we are told that he hated his brother Amnon because of what he did to his sister.
Q So what are the two reactions to this injustice?
An = David’s reaction is to “get angry”, have emotion, but do nothing. David’s own daughter is disgraced, but he does nothing. Absalom’s reaction is to suppress the public display of his emotions, but deep inside he is filled with hatred towards his sister’s rapist.
Q Which is the better reaction?
III. Absalom’s Revenge: II Samuel 13:23-29.
A. The Plot to Bring Revenge: II Samuel 13:23-27.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 13:23-27.
Q How much time has elapsed?
An = Two years. I am sure that Amnon thought there would be little consequences to his actions. After all, he was the crown prince. He had a bright and promising future.
Note: David seems to have traveled with a large body guard, and this is probably why he does not want to burden his son with the cost of providing for all of his retinue. Sheep shearing time was a festival, a harvest festival.
Q Is David totally at ease with Absalom’s request for the presence of Amnon at the feast?
An = Seemingly not. David is aware, but not totally aware of something being suspicious in 13:26-27.
Note: We will soon see that Absalom used deceit to accomplish his plans. Just as Amnon used deceit to get Tamar alone (13:6).
Q Did David use deceit to try to cover his action with Uriah’s wife?
An = Yes, twice. Once to try and cover the deed with attempting to have Uriah sleep with his wife so that the pregnancy could be passed off as due to Uriah. Then deceit is used to kill Uriah. WHAT A MAN SOWS, HE WILL ALSO REAP.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 13:28-29.
Q Who actually kills Amnon?
An = It is Absalom’s servants. Absalom kills by “proxy”, just like his father David. David used the sword of the Ammonites. Absalom uses the sword of his servants.
>> Have someone read II Samuel 12:10.
Q Did Amnon get away with rape?
An = No he did not. For two years it looked like he would.
IV. The Report of Absalom’s Revenge: II Samuel 13:30-36.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 13:30-33.
Q How did David react to the news that all of his sons at the banquet had been killed by Absalom?
An = He arose, tore his clothes, and lay on the ground. This is the second time David has laid on the ground since his murder of Uriah. See 12:16. In both cases his servants are concerned but just stand by (12:17, 13:31). What else can they do? David must bear his own grief.
Note: We have Jonadab brought back into the story. The wise, shrewd Jonadab is given two more speeches in this chapter.
Q What do you think of Jonadab’s speech here?
An = Jonadab seemingly is one of those people who like to be “Mr. Information”. He wants you to appreciate his insight and skill. To be sure, Jonadab is wise and smart. He speaks accurately about the situation. He does bring comfort to a chaotic situation.
Note: There is irony to this little speech of Jonadab. He tells the king to “not be concerned”. In Hebrew it is literally, “not take it to heart”. This is the same thing Absalom told Tamar in 13:20.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 13:34-36.
Note: Here again we have the crafty and always “in the know” Jonadab speaking.
Q What does he want everyone to recognize?
An = That everything he said was accurate.
Q Do you know someone like a Jonadab?
Q Whose advice started this whole thing in motion in the first place?
An = With friends like Jonadab you do not need enemies. Jonadab is smart, but his intelligence and wisdom is not driven by a concern for righteousness or God’s will. He is a dangerous friend. He seems totally amoral and seemingly unmoved by Amnon’s death. He seems to be more concerned with “showing off his intelligence” than showing any concern for the brutal murder of his acquaintance.
>>>> Have someone re-read II Samuel 13:36 and then 13:19.
Q What did Absalom succeed in doing?
An = Absalom caused the king, the court, and his brothers to experience what his sister felt in 13:19.
V. Conclusion to the Revenge: II Samuel 13:37-39.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 13:37-39.
Note: In 34a, 37a, 39a we have three reports of Absalom’s action: He fled.
Note: Ironically, 13:37 says David mourned for his son everyday. We are not told which son: Absalom or Amnon. He is eventually consoled concerning Amnon, but then he is grieved with the loss of his son Absalom.
David is a multiple loser in this whole affair. He has seen his daughter’s life ruined, Amnon’s life morally and physically destroyed and his other son banished.
Q Which of the two men, David or Absalom, handled their anger at the injustice of Tamar’s rape correctly?
An = Neither. David’s emotional reaction was fine, but it should have been followed by a just course of punishment and correction. Such inaction was a lack of justice and helped propel Absalom to seek his own justice.
Absalom did not confront his brother but rather let the anger smolder until it bore the fruit of cold blooded murder by proxy.
Expression is fine if followed by reasonable and just action. Control is fine, but not a control that allows anger to smolder. Neither man confronted Amnon. An angry confrontation would have been better than what either man did.