2 Samuel 13:2

_AND AMNON WAS SO VEXED, THAT HE FELL SICK FOR HIS SISTER TAMAR; FOR SHE WAS A VIRGIN; AND AMNON THOUGHT IT HARD FOR HIM TO DO ANY THING TO HER._ For she was a virgin. Unmarried daughters were kept in close seclusion from the company of men; no strangers, nor even their relatives of the other sex, being permitted to see them without the presence of witnesses. Of course, Amnon must have seen Tamar, because he had conceived a violent passion for her, which, though forbidden by the law (Leviticus 18:11), yet, with the sanction of Abraham's example (Genesis 20:12), and the common practice in neighbouring countries for princes to marry their half-sisters, he seems not to have considered an improper connection. But he had no means of making it known to her; and the pain of that disappoint

1-20 From henceforward David was followed with one trouble after another. Adultery and murder were David's sins, the like sins among his children were the beginnings of his punishment: he was too indulgent to his children. Thus David might trace the sins of his children to his own misconduct, which must have made the anguish of the chastisement worse. Let no one ever expect good treatment from those who are capable of attempting their seduction; but it is better to suffer the greatest wrong than to commit the least sin....

Verse 2 Samuel 13:2. _AMNON WAS SO VEXED - FOR SHE_ WAS _A VIRGIN_] It has been well remarked that "the passion of love is nowhere so wasting and vexatious, as where it is unlawful. A quick sense of guilt, especially where it is enormous, as in the present instance, strikes the soul with horror; and the impossibility of an innocent gratification loads that horror with desperation: a conflict too cruel and too dreadful for human bearing." - _Delaney_....

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 13:1 AFTER THIS. This phrase, as we have seen on 2 Samuel 10:1, has little chronological force, but the date of the sad event which formed the second stage in David's punishment can be settled with considerable certainty. Tamar was the daughter of Maacah, a princess of Geshur, and David's marriage with her, while still at Hebron, is mentioned as a proof of his growing power, and consequently some time must have elapsed after his appointment as king before this alliance took place. As Absalom was apparently older than Tamar, if she were now fifteen or sixteen years of age. David would have been king of all Israel at least thirteen or fourteen years, and would have reached the summit of his glory. His wars would be over, Rabbah capt

AND AMNON WAS SO VEXED,.... Distressed, straitened, and perplexed in his mind through unruly and unbridled lusts that raged in him: THAT HE FELL SICK FOR HIS SISTER TAMAR; as Antiochus son of Seleucus did for his mother in law Stratonice, who, to cure him of it, was delivered to him by his father s: FOR SHE [WAS] A VIRGIN; and so kept very recluse from the company of men, that he could not come at her; so Philo t, speaking of the Jewish women, and particularly virgins, says, that they were shut up in their chambers, and through modesty shun the sight of men, even those of their own house; hence they are called עלמות, from a word which signifies to hide; and Phocylides u the poet advises to the shutting of them up in like manner: AND AMNON THOUGHT IT HARD FOR HIM TO DO ANYTHING TO HER; that it was difficult to have access to her, almost impossible, what he despaired of, and what, if at...

3. FURTHER CHASTISEMENT: AMNON, TAMAR, AND ABSALOM CHAPTER 13 _ 1. Amnon's wicked desire (2 Samuel 13:1)_ 2. The incest (2 Samuel 13:6) 3. His hatred (2 Samuel 13:15) 4. Amnon murdered (2 Samuel 13:19) 5. Absalom's flight (2 Samuel 13:37) “Behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house.” This was Jehovah's sentence and it is now carried out. The evil which he had nourished in his heart, the passion which he had fed now breaks out in his own family. His oldest

2 SAMUEL 13. AMNON, TAMAR, AND ABSALOM (J). 2 SAMUEL 13:1. Amnon, David's eldest son, forces his half-sister, Tamar, the full sister of Absalom. He might have married her (2 Samuel 3:5 *) but did not choose to do so. She rent her royal tunic, probably a garment reaching to the hands and feet (_cf._ Genesis 37:3 *); Joseph's coat of many colours represents the same Heb. word. David was angry, but he did not vex him by punishing him, for he loved him because he was his first-born (so LXX). 2 SAMUEL 13:23. Two years later, Absalom induced Amnon to be his guest at the sheepshearing (p. 101) at Baalhazor

_Amnon thought it hard_ IT SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE TO AMNON. Tamar lived a secluded life in the women's apartments, where Amnon could not obtain access to her....

AMNON WAS SO VEXED, THAT HE FELL SICK— It is natural to think, that the passion of love is nowhere so wasting and vexatious as where it is unlawful. A quick sense of guilt, especially where it is enormous, as in the present instance, strikes the soul with horror; and the impossibility of an innocent gratification loads that horror with desperation. Witness the two most remarkable instances of this kind found in history; that of Antiochus for Stratonice his mother-in-law, and this of Amnon for Tamar his sister. Indeed, that of Antiochus appears the less criminal of the two, inasmuch as he seemed determined to conceal his till death, and at the same time to hasten that death to prevent its publication, had not the sagacity of his physician discovered it. Though possibly Amnon had done the same, had not the importunity of his false and subtle friend Jonadab the son of Shimeah, David's broth...

4. Amnon's Death, 2 Samuel 13:1-39. _Amnon's Sin With Tamar._ 2 Samuel 13:1-14 And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name _was_ Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. 2 And Amnon was so vexed, that he fell sick for his sister Tamar; for she _was_ a virgin; and Amnon thought it hard for him to do any thing to her. 3 But Amnon had a friend, whose name _was_ Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David's brother; and Jonadab _was_ a very subtle man. 4 And he said unto him, Why _art_ thou, _being_ the king's son, lean from day to day? wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister. 5 And Jonadab said unto him, Lay thee down on thy bed, and mak