What do you think of the Old Testament so far? You have sin all over the place. Every type of sin. Consider this, God wouldn’t have had to give us the 10 Commandments if people where not committing each sin. He wouldn’t have had to give all the laws in Exodus – Deuteronomy. It all started with the first time man gave Satan a foothold in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had it made! They had everything they could possibly need. Everything was perfect until Satan’s irresistible temptation plot worked.
Here, in this next chapter, the lust of the flesh envelops someone else. This time it’s David’s oldest son, Amnon. And obviously, David, was not a good moral example. Let’s dig in…
2 Samuel 13
Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. And Amnon, her half brother, fell desperately in love with her. 2 Amnon became so obsessed with Tamar that he became ill. She was a virgin, and Amnon thought he could never have her.
3 But Amnon had a very crafty friend—his cousin Jonadab. He was the son of David’s brother Shimea. 4 One day Jonadab said to Amnon, “What’s the trouble? Why should the son of a king look so dejected morning after morning?”
So Amnon told him, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”
5 “Well,” Jonadab said, “I’ll tell you what to do. Go back to bed and pretend you are ill. When your father comes to see you, ask him to let Tamar come and prepare some food for you. Tell him you’ll feel better if she prepares it as you watch and feeds you with her own hands.”
6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. And when the king came to see him, Amnon asked him, “Please let my sister Tamar come and cook my favorite dish as I watch. Then I can eat it from her own hands.” 7 So David agreed and sent Tamar to Amnon’s house to prepare some food for him.
8 When Tamar arrived at Amnon’s house, she went to the place where he was lying down so he could watch her mix some dough. Then she baked his favorite dish for him. 9 But when she set the serving tray before him, he refused to eat. “Everyone get out of here,” Amnon told his servants. So they all left.
10 Then he said to Tamar, “Now bring the food into my bedroom and feed it to me here.” So Tamar took his favorite dish to him. 11 But as she was feeding him, he grabbed her and demanded, “Come to bed with me, my darling sister.”
12 “No, my brother!” she cried. “Don’t be foolish! Don’t do this to me! Such wicked things aren’t done in Israel. 13 Where could I go in my shame? And you would be called one of the greatest fools in Israel. Please, just speak to the king about it, and he will let you marry me.”
14 But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her, and since he was stronger than she was, he raped her. 15 Then suddenly Amnon’s love turned to hate, and he hated her even more than he had loved her. “Get out of here!” he snarled at her.
16 “No, no!” Tamar cried. “Sending me away now is worse than what you’ve already done to me.”
But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her. 17 He shouted for his servant and demanded, “Throw this woman out, and lock the door behind her!”
18 So the servant put her out and locked the door behind her. She was wearing a long, beautiful robe, as was the custom in those days for the king’s virgin daughters. 19 But now Tamar tore her robe and put ashes on her head. And then, with her face in her hands, she went away crying.
20 Her brother Absalom saw her and asked, “Is it true that Amnon has been with you? Well, my sister, keep quiet for now, since he’s your brother. Don’t you worry about it.” So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in her brother Absalom’s house.
21 When King David heard what had happened, he was very angry. 22 And though Absalom never spoke to Amnon about this, he hated Amnon deeply because of what he had done to his sister.
- Amnon was David’s oldest son and heir to the throne. He had no shame. He had just witnessed his father’s example of what a man with power can do. He can have any woman he wants. Amnon thought he loved Tamar, his half-sister. Even a marriage would have against the laws of Moses. It was pure lust, not love. He used her. He was only thinking of himself.
- David did nothing about it. He was “very angry” — and that’s it. Because of his indiscretion with Bathsheba, he felt unworthy of being a moral authority. He failed in the area of parenting. As a parent, he still had authority.
- Tamar’s life was ruined, as was the relationship between the two brothers. Look what one sin can do.
Going on…
Absalom’s Revenge on Amnon
23 Two years later, when Absalom’s sheep were being sheared at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, Absalom invited all the king’s sons to come to a feast. 24 He went to the king and said, “My sheep-shearers are now at work. Would the king and his servants please come to celebrate the occasion with me?”
25 The king replied, “No, my son. If we all came, we would be too much of a burden on you.” Absalom pressed him, but the king would not come, though he gave Absalom his blessing.
26 “Well, then,” Absalom said, “if you can’t come, how about sending my brother Amnon with us?”
“Why Amnon?” the king asked. 27 But Absalom kept on pressing the king until he finally agreed to let all his sons attend, including Amnon. So Absalom prepared a feast fit for a king.
28 Absalom told his men, “Wait until Amnon gets drunk; then at my signal, kill him! Don’t be afraid. I’m the one who has given the command. Take courage and do it!” 29 So at Absalom’s signal they murdered Amnon. Then the other sons of the king jumped on their mules and fled.
30 As they were on the way back to Jerusalem, this report reached David: “Absalom has killed all the king’s sons; not one is left alive!” 31 The king got up, tore his robe, and threw himself on the ground. His advisers also tore their clothes in horror and sorrow.
32 But just then Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimea, arrived and said, “No, don’t believe that all the king’s sons have been killed! It was only Amnon! Absalom has been plotting this ever since Amnon raped his sister Tamar. 33 No, my lord the king, your sons aren’t all dead! It was only Amnon.” 34 Meanwhile Absalom escaped.
Then the watchman on the Jerusalem wall saw a great crowd coming down the hill on the road from the west. He ran to tell the king, “I see a crowd of people coming from the Horonaim road along the side of the hill.”
35 “Look!” Jonadab told the king. “There they are now! The king’s sons are coming, just as I said.”
36 They soon arrived, weeping and sobbing, and the king and all his servants wept bitterly with them. 37 And David mourned many days for his son Amnon.
Absalom fled to his grandfather, Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. 38 He stayed there in Geshur for three years. 39 And King David, now reconciled to Amnon’s death, longed to be reunited with his son Absalom.
2 Samuel 13 NLT
Give Satan a Foothold and Sin becomes like a Cancer
When biblical writers talk about sin, they use the analogy of yeast. When a baker adds yeast to dough, a little bit will penetrate the whole mound of dough. That’s what sin is like. Cancer is like that, too.
Earlier this year a dear friend of mine died of cancer. It started as ovarian cancer, but it metastasized — it spread — to some of her vital organs — liver, spleen and stomach. Cancer is like sin. One little cancer cell multiplies, as it feasts on good cells and finally takes over and eventually kills the person. Sin starts as a little sin, that grows bigger and bigger feasting on good character and morals until it finally takes over a person’s life and eventually kills them.
Look around the world today and think about this. This even applies to the church! It started way back with Constantine. He gave Satan a foothold.
There’s Good News!
Though God hates sin, He loves Us! As messed up as we are — He loves us SO MUCH — that He sent HIS ONLY SON to take away the sin of world. Everyone who believes in HIM — JESUS — is saved from death because He defeated death. He conquered sin.
Only Jesus can cleanse us from sin and sanctify us so that we are good enough to enter Heaven. There is nothing you can do by yourself. There is nothing a church can do for you. Salvation is THROUGH JESUS ONLY!
If you’re not sure if you’re saved or not, if you truly want to be born again and have the assurance of salvation, receive the Holy Spirit, feel His Shalom — a peace that surpasses all understanding, and get a 1-way, non-stop ticket to Heaven after you die, or that you won’t be left behind at the Rapture, which can happen at any moment, this is what you have to do…
Believe. Repent. Be Baptized. Receive the Holy Spirit.
- Believe — have Faith — that Jesus is the Christ and He died taking your sins away forever and that He rose from the dead 3 days later.
- Repent of your sins — stop sinning! Do a complete 180-degree turn in your life and surrender your life to Him. When you ask Jesus to forgive you He will. ALL your sins will be wiped clean — past, present, and future! And All means ALL!
- Be Baptized by water baptism — show the world and yourself that you have died to your old life and are born again in Christ.
- Receive the gift of Holy Spirit in your heart.
Invite Jesus into Your Heart and Receive the Gift of Grace, Joy, Peace, and the Confident Hope of Eternal Life…
Nothing but the Blood of Jesus
Top image by Sweet Publishing from FreeBibleImages.org, (CC BY-SA 3.0)
