Tamar was the daughter of David as stated in part 1. Her mother, Maachah, was a Geshurite princess and the sister of Absalom. You might say that Tamar and Absalom were very much alike in their remarkable beauty.
Purportedly, her beauty sparked the intense passionate lust for her by Amnon, her half-brother. Amnon was the eldest son of David and his mother was Ahinoam. Amnon’s lustful, uncontrollable desire for Tamar proved to be ultimately fatal.
From the reading, it sounds like his health was going bad too, because he was not getting his lust fed. His insatiable lust was being starved. He lost a lot of weight. He really knew he should not pursue this lust mainly because he knew she was a virgin.
One way he would know this was because the virgins were carefully sheltered and kept away mostly inside the royal quarters. The virgin princesses wore special clothing, robes, or gowns with sleeves.
Now we know why the virgins were kept away to avoid vicious wolves such as Amnon. I can almost see him salivating, with secretions running from his lips out of the sides of his mouth. Yes. He had become out of control of his faculties. He had been consumed by lustful, ravishing desire.
Because Amnon’s mother was not a Jewish woman that made Tamar and Amnon half-Jewish. When Tamar said, “Speak to the king,” she may have been ignorant of the law or perhaps the law of Moses may not have been in existence.
Did the king have the overriding power to allow the union in marriage of giving her to Amnon if he asked the king? Since that didn’t happen, we can’t answer that question. Certainly, she and probably others thought King David had unlimited power. The plot to commit the rape—to fulfill her brother, Amnon’s fatal lust.
It went like this. Somewhere around 938 B.C. Amnon, eldest son of David and heir to the throne of David became lust-sick (instead of heart sick) for his half-sister Tamar. David saw Amnon was looking sickly, losing weight, thin face. Amnon’s friend, Jonadab, would see Amnon morning by morning wasting away.
Upon learning what was Amnon’s ailment, he wanted to “have sex with Tamar with unspeakable passion.” But it was shown vividly there was something wrong with him and in Amnon’s mind, it was to be cured in only one way, violate Tamar.
The inventor of the plot, Jonadab set the scenario. He explained the whole plot to him. [it sounds as if Jonadab knew a whole lot about scheming plots and encouraging others how to satisfy their lustful desires. First, Amnon was to feign the sickness. David saw what bad shape Amnon was in. While David was in his house, Amnon told his father he wanted Tamar to make food for him, his favorite food. His desire was for her to make the food in his presence.
She came and kneaded the dough twice in his presence for the “heart-cakes.” It appears that Amnon had seen her make these cakes before. When Amnon asked David’s permission for Tamar to make the cakes, and she consented.
I would venture to say neither David nor Tamar knew of this dark undercover plot. After she had made the heart cakes in his sight. She brought them into his chamber, and he required her to feed him, her brother.
II Samuel 13:11 says, “He took hold of her. Then he said, Come lie with me, my sister.” Tune in next week part 3.
Thanks for reading! Jeanette Grattan Parker is the founder-superintendent of Today’s Fresh Start Charter School, 4514 Crenshaw Boulevard, L.A. 90043, 323-293-9826, www.todaysfreshstart.org, (Ask Dr. Jeanette TM) “Inquiring Minds Want to Know.” All articles are copyright. All rights reserved © Errors? Or Questions? Please let me know. Join Sundays for music and message at 11:30 a.m. by calling (712) 775-8971, code 266751. References: The Holy Bible – II Samuel 13, Cyclopedia of Biblical Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. Don’t stop praying and hoping. “Today is another great day to do good and be successful.”
