2 Samuel 13:5

_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._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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....

MAKE THYSELF SICK - “Feign thyself to be ill.” (Compare 2 Samuel 14:2.) THAT I MAY SEE IT - He was to feign that he could not fancy anything that came from the kitchen, but that if he saw it cooked he should be able to eat it....

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 JONADAB SAID UNTO HIM,.... Being a subtle man, he presently formed a scheme to relieve him, and open a way for the enjoyment of what he desired: LAY THEE DOWN ON THY BED, AND MAKE THYSELF SICK; feign thyself sick, pretend that thou art so, by lying down on the bed, and making complaints of one kind or another: AND WHEN THY FATHER COMETH TO SEE THEE; as he quickly would, after hearing of his illness, being very affectionate to his children: SAY UNTO HIM, I PRAY THEE LET, MY SISTER TAMAR COME, AND GIVE ME MEAT; here he is directed to call her not Absalom's sister, but his own, the more to cover his ill design upon her: AND DRESS THE MEAT IN MY SIGHT, THAT I MAY SEE [IT], AND EAT [IT] AT HER HAND; pretending that his stomach was very weak and squeamish, that he could not eat anything which his servants dressed for him, and which he did not see done with his own eyes....

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

MAKE. feign. MEAT. heart-shaped cakes. Occurs only here and in verses: 2 Samuel 13:6; 2 Samuel 6:8; 2 Samuel 6:10....

_make thyself sick_ FEIGN THYSELF SICK, and so in 2 Samuel 13:6. _to see thee_ To visit in sickness, as in Psalms 41:6; 2 Kings 8:29....

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