2 Samuel 13:20

_AND ABSALOM HER BROTHER SAID UNTO HER, HATH AMNON THY BROTHER BEEN WITH THEE? BUT HOLD NOW THY PEACE, MY SISTER: HE IS THY BROTHER; REGARD NOT THIS THING. SO TAMAR REMAINED DESOLATE IN HER BROTHER ABSALOM'S HOUSE._ Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house. He was her natural protector, as Simeon and Levi were of Dinah (Genesis 34:1); and the children of polygamists lived by themselves, as if they constituted different families....

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....

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 ABSALOM HER BROTHER SAID UNTO HER,.... Either meeting her in the street, or rather when come to his house: HATH AMNON THY BROTHER BEEN WITH THEE? been rude with thee, and lain with thee, which is the meaning of this modest expression; which he guessed at, having heard of her being sent to his house, and knowing his lustful disposition, and seeing her in such a forlorn condition: he calls him Aminon, for so it is in the Hebrew text, and not Amnon, by way of contempt, as Kimchi observes: BUT HOLD NOW THY PEACE, MY SISTER; be silent, take no notice of this matter, say nothing of it to the king, nor any other, keep it in thine own breast, and make thyself easy: HE [IS] THY BROTHER, REGARD NOT THIS THING; it is thy brother that has done it, and not so disgraceful as a meaner person, done in the heat of lust, and a youthful one, and should be forgiven; besides, to divulge it would bring...

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

DESOLATE. Hebrew "remained and [remained] desolate". Compare 1 Timothy 5:5....

_Amnon_ The Heb. form here, and here only, is _Aminon_, which has been explained as a diminutive intended to express contempt, but may possibly be only an accidental variation. _hold now thy peace_ Absalom urged her to bear the outrage patiently, and avoid a public scandal; feeling sure that David would not be persuaded to inflict an adequate punishment on Amnon, and intending to watch his own opportunity for revenge. To him, according to Oriental custom, belonged the duty of avenging his sister's wrongs. Cp. Genesis 34:27. _desolate_ Ruined and deserted. Cp. Isaiah 54:1, where "the desolate" is contrasted with the married wife....

HATH AMNON THY BROTHER BEEN WITH THEE— Oppressed with sorrow, and overwhelmed with shame, Tamar went to her brother Absalom's house, who, seeing her confusion and distress, easily apprehended the cause of it, and put the question to her, _whether her brother Amnon had been with her;_ covering the gross injury he suspected, under the veil of the most decent and distant phrase which could hint his suspicion; and, as if all this had not been enough to save her blushes, and let her see that he understood her distress, he stopped her short from attempting any answer: _but hold now thy peace, my sister; he is thy brother: regard not this thing._ However, as all he could say could not remedy the evil, so neither could it relieve it; which seems sufficiently implied in what is added, _So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house._ In all probability she continued so her whole life l...

_Absalom Kills Amnon._ 2 Samuel 13:15-29 15 Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her _was_ greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone. 16 And she said unto him, _There is_ no cause: this evil in sending me away _is_ greater than the other that thou didst unto me. But he would not hearken unto her. 17 Then he called his servant that ministered unto him, and said, Put now this _woman_ out from me, and bolt the door after her. 18 And _she had_ a garment of divers colors upon her: for with such robes were the king's daughters _that were_ virgins appareled. Then his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after her. 19 And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers _colors_ that _was_ on her, and laid her hand on h