No Rest for the Wicked

“And Amnon was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her.”—2 Samuel 13:2.

There is no rest for the wicked. In today’s passage we have King David’s oldest son Amnon lusting after his half-sister, Tamar. His lust becomes so unbridled that he spills it out to his friend Jonadab. Jonadab proposes a terrible and tragic solution: pretend to be sick, when your father shows up and asks if there is anything that can be done, tell him to send your sister, Tamar to come and take care of you—then take your shot.

Amnon agrees with Jonadab and follows the plan to the “t.” Everything appears to go according to plan: he pretends to be ill and his father, David, shows up. He asks what Amnon needs and Amnon tells him to send Tamar to take care of him, which he does. Tamar shows up, but he’s still not alone with her, there are other friends, family, and possibly household servants around so he orders them to leave. He goes to the bedroom, tells her to bring the food to him there, which she does. At this point he grabs her and begins to force himself on her. She pleads for him to stop, going so far as to ask for him to make a request of their father that she would be his wife. It would be better to be married to her half-brother than to do what he was about to do. Intercourse between siblings was forbidden (Leviticus 18:9), but her request indicates that she either thought their father might bend the rules or, the more likely version is she was just trying to get out of the situation.

Whatever the case, he refuses to listen and rapes her. And like a broken dam, anguish and hate rush over him. The Scripture records that as a result of his sin, he hated her, in fact he hated her more than he ever loved her (2 Samuel 13:15). He commands her to leave—which is what sin wants—to be left alone, to not want to deal with the consequences, to not have to look in the eye those whom we have hurt. Sin always wants to blame. Tamar pleads not to be sent away. It was bad enough that he raped her, but this act was even worse. Where would she go? Who would want her now? Who would she marry? Virginity was prized among women and to have sex with someone outside of marriage could mean death (Deuteronomy 22:20-21). Rape was an entirely different animal which could result in death for the rapist or permanent marriage, all depending upon the location of the rape, her response, and her status (if she were betrothed or not) (Deuteronomy 22:21; 23-29).

But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her pleadings. He has her thrown out. He doesn’t even have the guts to do it himself and forces one of his servants to do it.

What happens next is astonishing. Tamar leaves his presence weeping—she tears her garments and puts ashes on her head—both signs of deep sorrow. And what does her father David do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He hears the news and gets angry, but doesn’t do anything! What kind of father would overlook the pain of his daughter? He shows favoritism to his oldest son and lets him get by with an egregious crime.

His son, Absalom, does act though. He is Tamar’s full brother and ends up plotting and overseeing the death of Amnon two years later, much to David’s sorrow and shame (2 Samuel 13:23-29). One sin that wasn’t dealt with properly, led to even further sins.

What can we learn from the story of Amnon and Tamar? Perhaps the greatest lesson we can learn is that sin by its nature alienates and destroys. Our fallen desires lead us to places we do not want to go and bring about consequences that we did not realize would happen—so is the nature of sin—it makes those who do it restless and there is no rest or peace for the wicked. Their conscience is continually nagging at them, a reminder of their wrongdoing and impending justice. And for Amnon, justice was served, albeit in a wrong manner—it wasn’t his brother’s responsibility to order his execution, but it was his father’s (provided it met the criteria outlined in Deuteronomy 22). Justice was meted out nonetheless.

I pray that each of us would guard against our sinful desires. The pleasure it offers is appealing, but like Eve eating of the fruit, the result is alienation and death. Are you nurturing your sin? Are you allowing your sin opportunity to grow like Amnon’s did? Do you feed it, not realizing that it could and probably will destroy you if left unchecked? Don’t be fooled, God is not mocked, what a man sows he will reap. Better to reap to the Spirit than the flesh—one results in a harvest of righteousness while the other yields death and destruction. Which harvest would you prefer? Amen.