The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Samuel 13:14,
"But he [Amnon] refused to listen to her [Tamar], and since he was stronger than she, he raped her."
Following the account of David's sins of adultery and murder, we have the account of one of his worthless, despicable sons, Amnon.
Amnon was so worthless that he required any kind of idea as to what to do about his lust for his half-sister, Tamar. We are told she was a beautiful woman and that he was so enamored (he "fell in love with Tamar", verse 1), he became obsessed with her. He eventually got an idea from David's nephew, Jonadab, which brought Amnon the opportunity to be alone with her.
Once alone with Tamar, this worthless son of David raped her. She pleaded with him to ask David for her hand in marriage, but (did I mention how worthless Amnon was?) his anticipated gratification of lust for her was more important to him than Tamar's well-being and he raped her.
Being the worthless half-wit he was, he then hated Tamar and sent her out of the room in shame and disgrace. "Get up and get out!" Verse 15. The next thing we hear this worthless son of David say is, "Get this woman out of my sight and bolt the door after her." Verse 17. She left in her shame (at being raped) with ashes on her head, having torn her ornate robe in grief, "weeping aloud".
"But he [Amnon] refused to listen to her [Tamar], and since he was stronger than she, he raped her."
Following the account of David's sins of adultery and murder, we have the account of one of his worthless, despicable sons, Amnon.
Amnon was so worthless that he required any kind of idea as to what to do about his lust for his half-sister, Tamar. We are told she was a beautiful woman and that he was so enamored (he "fell in love with Tamar", verse 1), he became obsessed with her. He eventually got an idea from David's nephew, Jonadab, which brought Amnon the opportunity to be alone with her.
Once alone with Tamar, this worthless son of David raped her. She pleaded with him to ask David for her hand in marriage, but (did I mention how worthless Amnon was?) his anticipated gratification of lust for her was more important to him than Tamar's well-being and he raped her.
Being the worthless half-wit he was, he then hated Tamar and sent her out of the room in shame and disgrace. "Get up and get out!" Verse 15. The next thing we hear this worthless son of David say is, "Get this woman out of my sight and bolt the door after her." Verse 17. She left in her shame (at being raped) with ashes on her head, having torn her ornate robe in grief, "weeping aloud".
One wonders, with the juxtaposition of this account just following the account of David's adultery with Uriah's wife and his murdering of Uriah, if there is an intent to express that when sin enters the door, it spreads throughout the family. Just musing here...
At the end of the chapter we read that Tamar's full brother, Absalom, eventually avenges Tamar's rape. No sympathy from me for the worthless Amnon. Here is a man who "since he was stronger than she, he raped her."
I always laugh (and usually out loud) when I hear some fool claim the Bible was written by the religious elites back in the day to keep the masses under their control by feeding them phony stories... and this is where the Bible came from. Obviously, it is much easier to lay these claims when the material they are so confident about is so foreign to them. They really ought to actually read it some day.
If any of us were to engage in developing a literature to fool everyone with, why would we include the weaknesses, the failures, the shortcomings of its heroes and the families of those heroes? Why would we include an account of David's sinful folly? Why would we include an account of a worthless half-wit like Amnon? I wouldn't and you wouldn't either.
The simple truth is that this material is right in the middle of our Bibles because these are the things that actually took place in the accounting of God's dealing with mankind in general, Israel in specific, and the written revelation of his atonement and redemption of all mankind.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment