Bible Passage:  2 Samuel 13

Following the death of David’s first son with Bathsheba, David’s family continues to experience serious tragedies and trials as a consequence of his sin.  Soon, David’s sin will divide the nation and deprive David of his throne for a time.

For anyone who has never read the Bible before, I am very sure they would be amazed to read such a chapter in the Bible.  The recordings here would not be out of place in a tabloid magazine, novel or even a movie.

What are your thoughts as you read this chapter?  What can we learn?

The character of Amnon warns us about the pursuit of fleshly lusts (just compare how he acts with 1 Cor 10).

The case of Jonadab warns us about the dangers of using the sins of others to further our own interests, making them a part of our own agenda, rather than paying the price of rebuke and correction.

Amnon obviously confused his “love” for his sister Tamar with lust.  As a result, Tamar suffers terribly as a result of her brother’s sin.  

But what I would like to focus on is David’s seemingly passiveness towards sin.

Yesterday we had KHF and we were studying about a very similar incident – the Dinah incident.  One of the things discussed was Jacob’s silence when his two sons were plotting their murderous deceit.

And now I read about David – normally a man of decisive action but now, strangely passive and indecisive.

Why is this so?

But when King David heard of all these things, he was very angry.

~ 2 Samuel 13:21

Now David was furious about the rape of Tamar.  But surprisingly we do not see David following up with a rebuke or discipline of Amnon.  A great wrong has been done in his household but David did nothing, not even going to comfort Tamar.  This caused Tamar to live in shame while Amnon continued in his life as a prince.  This injustice proved too great for Absalom and he took matters into his own hands.

Why do you think David did not do anything?

I think he did not do anything because he felt that he did not have the right authority to deal with the matter.

The rape of Tamar happened after David’s affair with Bathsheba.  When confronted with Amnon’s actions, he must have recalled how his lust for Bathsheba made him do all those terrible things and now his son Amnon had done something similar.

And so now he felt that it would be hypocritical of him to correct and admonish Amnon.

But his silence had huge ramifications.  His own son murdered his own son.  

So what does it mean for us?

We cannot hesitate in our dealing with sin.

While none of us are sinless or innocent, when confronted with sin, we must learn to speak up – even though we may feel that we are no way worthy to speak of it.

In pointing out the sin of someone, we may not only save others – but we can also save ourselves – as we are reminded of the severity of the evil that is being committed.

The consequence of silence is just too great. 

The devil would be most happy if we go about our ways and not confront sin.  Silence only makes the problem worse and allow sin to fester and grow.

Something to think about as we start the week.

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